“You’re looking at a storm that’s changed the character of a significant part of our state, and this is going to require, not just the emergency response now and the days or weeks ahead…this is going to require years of effort to be able to rebuild, to come back. Basically, you are looking at a 500-year flood event.”
That was the sober assessment of Florida’s Governor DeSantis after Hurricane Ian slammed into that state ten days ago like a championship boxer pummeling a scarecrow. You’ve probably seen images of the damage. How would you react if that was your house under water or missing a roof? Would you be filled with feelings of despair and helplessness? And what would have been your first order of business after emerging from your hiding place after the storm? Would you have gotten busy picking up the pieces to rebuild, or first sought a source of clean water? Maybe you’d look at the mess and decide to move and just leave it all behind.
It’s not just the people of Florida that have had to deal with disaster. Residents of Puerto Rico, Cuba, other Caribbean islands, the Carolinas—even Canadians way up north have watched their houses get washed into the sea by recent storm activity. And it was just months ago that we here in Flagstaff were dealing with fires and floods. Even if you weren’t directly affected by those disasters, you might be facing another kind of storm—a lingering illness, a loved one’s death, a ballooning debt. How should you, as a Christian, handle the challenges? Begin with gratitude. That’s right. Be thankful. Today, the Old Testament believer Noah will teach us how to begin with gratitude no matter when, and no matter what. Listen to our sermon text.
Governor DeSantis claimed that Florida was hit by a 500-year flood event. Well Noah and his family survived a once-in-the-history-of-the-world flood event. Not just a city or a state, but the whole world, including all the then-mountains were covered with water. Do you remember the cause of this worldwide flood? It wasn’t global warming, but global warping. Genesis 6 reports: “The LORD saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. 6 The LORD regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. 7 So the LORD said, ‘I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground…’ 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.” (Genesis 6:5-8)
Many scoff at the Bible’s report of a worldwide flood. Others question how a supposedly loving God would send such a flood for the purpose of killing off most of humanity. For starters, Jesus refers to the flood of Noah’s day as a fact. We also see evidence of a worldwide flood in the vast sediments and fossils we find all over the world. And as to how such a devastating act could come from a loving God, well, God is loving, that’s why after announcing the flood he still delayed sending it for 120 years. He also didn’t keep his plans of destruction secret. He shared it with Noah, who in turn warned the people of his day of the impending doom. The ark that God directed Noah to build was a football field and a half long and four stories tall. It had the capacity of 570 modern railway boxcars. In addition to all the animals that boarded, there was plenty of room for human passengers. But no one, other than Noah’s wife, their three sons and wives were aboard the ark when the rain started to fall.
Parents, when you warn your children for what seems like the hundredth time about not touching a hot stove and yet they do it anyway, do you feel sorry for them? Of course, you are concerned for them, but there’s part of you that just wants to roll your eyes and say, “Didn’t I tell you?”
Likewise, while our God is loving, he is also a holy God. He cannot continue to tolerate sin and rebellion anymore than the Arizona sun can keep from evaporating a puddle of water on an exposed sidewalk. But unlike the Arizona sun that burns relentlessly, the holy God provided the people of Noah’s day with a shield from his judgment. He gave them a refuge in the form of the ark, and he sent a faithful preacher who directed everyone to that lifeboat. Unfortunately, the whole world, except that preacher’s immediate family, ignored him.
When Noah and his family finally emerged from the ark a year and ten days after they had gone into it, they were greeted with a totally altered landscape. Continents were thrust up so that tall mountains like the Himalayas now poked the upper atmosphere. Family and friends were gone. The homes that they had built for themselves were destroyed. How do you start picking up the pieces after a year-long, worldwide flood? What was Noah’s first order of business upon leaving the ark? Look for fresh water? Find a place to build a house and plant crops? Certainly, those were pressing matters. But what was the first thing that Noah did? He built an altar to the Lord and sacrificed burnt offerings on it.
Noah, who had just survived the end of the world as it were, was filled with gratitude. He had not just been saved from the flood, Noah realized that he had also been saved through the flood. Wickedness was so prevalent before the flood that one wonders how long Noah would have remained safe from the violence. Or how long would he have lasted before giving in to his own rebellious selfish thoughts and losing saving faith?
Noah built an altar and made several sacrifices, but wouldn’t a quick “Thank you, Lord!” have sufficed? Why expend the time and energy constructing an altar, and why “waste” the few animals that existed by burning them up? Lest you think that Noah caused the extinction of several kinds of animals because of his offerings, I want to point out that Noah was instructed to bring on board the ark not just a pair of every animal species, he was also to bring on board seven of every kind of “clean” animal. (We don’t know if this was seven pairs, or three pairs plus one.) “Clean” animals were probably the same kind of animals that God told Moses about later when giving directions about sacrifices. If so, Noah would have had at least seven sheep on board and seven cattle of some kind. He was also to bring on board seven of every kind of bird – though some translations seem to indicate that this means seven of every clean kind of bird.
The point I want to make is this, by sacrificing “some of all the clean animals and clean birds” (Genesis 8:20), Noah’s offering was not insignificant. Noah’s family didn’t have many cattle and sheep and goats. If they were going to burn some of them up, wouldn’t it have made sense for Noah and his family to at least enjoy a BBQ out of it? But Noah is so overcome by his gratitude for God keeping him and his family safe, that he joyfully brings this offering regardless of how few animals remained to repopulate the earth. Noah trusted God’s word of blessing regarding the animals—that upon leaving the ark, they would be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth again. (Genesis 8:17) It’s no wonder God was pleased with the offering. It was evidence of Noah’s heartfelt gratitude AND ongoing trust in God to provide.
How do we compare to Noah? Do we begin our day and our tasks with gratitude? Or do we begin with a litany of complaints? “My back is sore, Lord. And gas prices have gone up again. Can’t you do something about this?” It’s true, you might not have all the things that you want, but God has given you all that you need right now. And for that we can be thankful because we are not deserving of such love and kindness.
Noah was not deserving of God’s kindness either. Although Noah is described as a righteous man, he was not without sin. After God smelled the pleasing aroma of the offering he said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.” (Genesis 8:21) Do you realize that God is repeating what he said at the beginning of the flood? The reason he gave for sending the flood was because “the human heart is only evil all the time.” He repeats that phrase after smelling the offering but adds that the human heart is evil all the time from childhood. But hadn’t God just cleansed the world of sin with this flood? Well no. Noah and his family survived, and they remained sinners. So even though God knew that the world would be filled with sinners again as Noah’s family grew, he promised not to destroy the world with a flood ever again. To remind us of that promise, he set the rainbow in the sky.
God’s love in the face of sin is a theme throughout the Bible. God once said through the prophet Isaiah to the rebellious Israelites: “‘In a surge of anger I hid my face from you for a moment, but with everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you,’ says the LORD your Redeemer. 9 ‘To me this is like the days of Noah, when I swore that the waters of Noah would never again cover the earth. So now I have sworn not to be angry with you, never to rebuke you again. 10 Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,’ says the LORD, who has compassion on you.” (Isaiah 54:8-10)
Friends, do you feel as if God has turned his face away from you? Does your life seem like it’s been hit by a hurricane and is in shambles now? Do you feel paralyzed like you don’t know what to do? One thing that you can and should do is begin with gratitude. Whatever it is that you have experienced or are experiencing, it is not evidence of God abandoning you. He is not punishing you for some sin. He’s already punished Jesus for that sin. So your God continues to be with you, guarding and protecting you. He has limited the harm that has come your way and is turning the rest of your pain into something eternally good—the way a skilled carver can take a gnarled piece of wood and turn it into a work of art. God will bring you safely through the storm as he brought Noah through the flood.
While we ought to marvel at the offering that Noah made after the flood—how he made it his first order of business and how he offered the few animals he had available—consider how God made an even more spectacular offering. God has nothing to be thankful for when he looks at this earth. People he created to love him and love each other, continue to fight each other and disobey him, and we’re each right in the middle of the fray! So what did God do? He offered his ONLY Son for you. Makes you wonder doesn’t it? If Noah would have been down to the last pair of animals on earth, his last chance to save for future generations a cow, for example, to provide milk, and steak and burgers, would he have spared the animals? God did not make such an exception. He willingly handed his ONLY Son over to death. He did that as a payment for each one of your sins and mine. It’s this sacrifice that moves us to gratitude no matter what and no matter when. For Jesus didn’t just die for us, he also rose again promising that our storms too will one day end forever.
When the Apostle Paul considered the sacrifice of God’s Son, he wrote: “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.” (Romans 12:1) We don’t need to offer animal sacrifices anymore like the Old Testament believers did. Instead, we have the privilege of sacrificing our lives in thankful service to our Savior. Continue to show your gratitude as you live for him who lived and died for you. Show this gratitude no matter when and no matter what. Amen.
SERMON NOTES
(pre-service warm up) What’s the worst natural disaster you’ve experienced? What was on the top of your to-do list after the event?
Explain: The world-wide flood of Noah’s day was caused by global warping.
Respond: If God really sent a worldwide flood to kill millions, he must not be a loving God.
Noah wasn’t just saved from the flood, he had also been saved through the flood. What does that mean?
Why are we both surprised and not surprised to hear that the first thing Noah did after leaving the ark was to build an altar and offer a sacrifice?
Surprised:
Not Surprised:
How did Noah’s sacrifice not only express thanks but also trust in God?
God’s love in the face of sin is a theme throughout the Bible. God once said through the prophet Isaiah to the rebellious Israelites: “‘In a surge of anger I hid my face from you for a moment, but with everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you,’ says the LORD your Redeemer. 9 ‘To me this is like the days of Noah, when I swore that the waters of Noah would never again cover the earth. So now I have sworn not to be angry with you, never to rebuke you again. 10 Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,’ says the LORD, who has compassion on you.” (Isaiah 54:8-10)
Circle phrases from those verses that will help you weather the storms you are facing.
Noah’s offering was impressive considering how few animals there were to sacrifice. How does that truth help us appreciate how dear God’s sacrifice was on our behalf?
The Apostle Paul wrote: “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.” (Romans 12:1) List two ways this week you can offer yourself as a living sacrifice to your Savior-God.
