Sermon: "The Lemming, the Pacific Salmon, and the
Caterpillar”
Acts 4:12 Revelation 21:1-4
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In the powerful name of Jesus we are saved-- From what? Sin, satan, and death. Think of how the mere thought of death influences our lives! Many people wonder what they’ll experience when they die. God has already shown me MY FUTURE through John’s vision which took place on the Island of Patmos.
If you are a believer in the Christ Jesus of the Bible, this is what you and I and all believers will see after death according to Rev. 21: "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God prepared as a bride adorned for her husband; and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling of God is with men, He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people; He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away.” And Jesus said, "I am the ressurrection and the life. He who believes in me will life, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?" (John 11:25-26)
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He awoke completely refreshed! Waling out into the garden barefooted, he felt its soft, moist texture beneath his feet. The sun was bright.... the birds were singing... his wife stood before him tall, radiant, smiling–full of innocence and playful joy.
There was only joy for Adam and Eve... joy in their play.... joy in their work.... joy in their relationship with each other and with God.
There was no danger... No again... no sickness... No
dying... no evil! The law of God was written in the hearts of Adam and Eve. Those who do the will of God are forever blessed, and cannot be touched by any harm what-so-ever!
Adam and Eve wore no clothing. They were innocent,
seeing only beauty in each other and within the Garden of Eden. If they had remained pure in God’s law, they and their ancestors--we ourselves!-- would have remained beyond harms way. But disbelief brought disobedience, and the powers of darkness descended like devouring vultures to feast on the corpse of a fallen humanity.
No more perfect protection. No more perfect innocence. After the Fall, Adam and Eve knew that they had sinned and that the consequence of their sin was (and always shall be) death.
The Lord Jesus Christ faced our death for us-- and he beat it for us!
WHAT EXHILARATION MUST HAVE FLOWED WITHIN
THE HEART AND VEINS OF MARY ON EASTER MORNING! Suddenly she knew that the life and ministry of Jesus did not terminate in a dead end. No-- not at all!
Jesus Christ’s resurrection flooded out like a great light shedding meaning by providing a future in heaven;
validating all of our Lord’s words and actions.
The bottom line is this: The resurrection of Christ means that a person’s past, present, and future are potentially busting with meaning and joy.
What about you? Is there gusto to your life? According to a recent book published by Gallop, most people are in a desperate search to find meaning... to believe that somehow they fit into a design which is big, very big and enduring.
Let’s look at the quest for meaning–for meaning in your life, by considering three creatures of the animal kingdom: the Lemming... the Pacific Salmon... and the Caterpillar.
THE LEMMING-- not to be confused with the sour lemon--
is a plump little animal related to the mouse. The lemming lives in cold, northern parts of the world and its best known kind lives in Scandinavia.
Although scientists now question this, legend has it that the lemming will, every few years, gather together in great numbers and race to the sea as they drown themselves. Although, as I say, science now questions this, I distinctly remember a film once showing an enormous number of lemmings racing toward the sea, many falling off a cliff and tumbling into the waters below.
Many people live their lives like lemmings. They live a faced pace life. They are constantly running here and running there. They have a multitude of diversions... Yet in the back of their mind they sense that each day their time grows shorter and death comes nearer.
No wonder people living like lemmings will tell Gallop that they hunger for meaning! It’s impossible for unbelievers to cover up the dark dread that lies ahead, striking fear and sorrow into the most enthusiastic heart.
Imagine with me that you are riding within a train. You are dining on a most delicious meal -- eating whatever and whenever you want. Imagine also that the train is furnished with lush, expensive furniture that invites you and your many friends to relax and enjoy. The scenery from the train is breathtaking! Beautiful!! Exquisite!!!
But, and here’s the catch, you are aware that at some
moment, maybe within seconds, the train will reach a cliff and you will crash to your death hundreds of feet below on a rocky ledge! Wouldn’t this knowledge reach its dark tentacles into your brightest moments on this ride!
Some of us are on a joy ride in life, but we lack meaning because we lack a destiny. All our busy pursuit of pleasure cannot hide our dread concerning death.
Others of us are more like the Pacific Salmon. The Pacific Salmon, like all salmon, will leave the salt water to swim, up to 2,000 miles, in fresh water rivers to reach their spawning grounds. Their work is hard.
The salmon swims up stream, against the current, often
fighting its way up waterfalls as high as 10 feet. When, or even if, the Pacific salmon reaches its spawning grounds, it will spawn and then die.
Some of us are more like the Pacific Salmon then the
Lemming. We work hard. We’re proud of our hard work
and may even look down upon the Lemmings in our midst
who rush and party. Some of us, like the Pacific Salmon, may accomplish great feats of physical or mental or artistic power.
Yet for all our terrible effort, hard work is no better than fast-paced play in keeping the shadow of death away from our mind.
Those of us who work long and hard to keep death away are trapped by death no less than the lemmings. Like the builder of a great sky-scrapper who day by day sees a beautiful, graceful building reaching further toward the sky, we know that at any moment an earthquake is about to strike, sending the building falling down upon us. For all its beauty and for all it represents to the builder, the sky- scrapper ends in rubble.
Some of you are hard workers, but you lack meaning
because you lack a destiny. All of your effort cannot keep away your uncertainty concerning death.
Others of you (and I know this for certain because of the things that you have said and the way you have said it) are like CATERPILLARS.
Caterpillars are interesting creatures. They represent life in transition-- one which seems ugly and wormlike, but ends in beauty and grace.
Did you know that the inner life of the caterpillar grows, but not the skin? Several times in its life cycle the inner life of the caterpillar develops causing the skin to become too tight, and so the caterpillar throws it off. The creature continues to enlarge until a special, wonderful day arrives
and the caterpillar no longer needs to cast away old, ugly skins. (You know what I’m talking about.)
Saints experience spiritual growth in the same way.
Spiritual growth includes experiencing our sinful nature-- wrestling with it in a thousand circumstances and then, through confession and repentance, casting it off!
But soon again our spiritual growth encounters another
dark avenue within our sinful nature. Another time of
struggle, growth, repentance and casting off! Each day is movement as we struggle toward something wonderful. Remember how the process of growth ends for the caterpillar. The day finally comes when the body of the caterpillar is covered with a gray shell-- on the outside it is lifeless and terminated.
But not so! And again you know this. Whatever the
outward appearance may suggest, the life of the caterpillar is not dead but going through a great transition. Indeed, its whole past life-- all its eating activity (and as gardeners know caterpillars have great appetites), the sum of all this energy and eating and moving and struggling and being CULMINATES AS THE COCOON BREAKS OPEN, AND A BEAUTIFUL CREATURE FLIES FOR THE FIRST TIME INTO THE SKY ON NEW WINGS.
Many of us–I hope most of us–are like the caterpillar. Our life is a spiritual journey as we walk, not toward death, but toward a wonderful new beginning. A new beginning which the Lord Jesus promised His followers when He said that He goes to prepare a home for us.
In this Fallen world, of course we have our struggles, and perhaps none greater than with our own sin. Yet, by God’s grace, our struggles end in a wonderful new life filled with beauty and fresh, exciting experiences.
Unlike the butterfly that dies, the Saints of God will soar forever, ever higher, into pleasures and joy unspeakable!
There is only one name under heaven by which we are
saved. Jesus Christ suffered our penalty for sin, destroyed the power of death, and now gives to us an eternal destiny. Eden is recaptured in Jesus Christ! We are given Resurrection Life!
Our new home in eternity was made for us through the
torturous death and glorious resurrection of Jesus Christ who is, as Paul proclaims, the first fruit of Resurrection Life.
Because He lives, exclaims St. Paul, "we too shall live." And we shall be changed, for the mortal will have put on immortality, the Apostle tells us.
"We don’t know what we will be like," the Bible says, "but we will be like Him."
My caterpillar friends in the pews, I don’t need to tell you how powerfully the risen Son chases away the shadow of death. You know the joy-- it searches you out, sometimes when you are feeling very low, and transports you with visions of heaven awaiting you! A New Jerusalem that lasts forever to gives you joy-- Joy! JOY!! J-O-Y!!! forever in the presence of God.
And to the lemmings and Pacific Salmon out there– COME
AND JOIN US! Ask God to forgive your sin and He will. Ask God to change you into a Caterpillar, and He will! Expect that someday He will make you into a Butterfly, and He will!
Be active in your caterpillar colony here at Immanuel.
Worship weekly together with your parish family which
helps keep you strong in the faith; a faith leading to
everlasting life! DO IT! DO IT!!
Join with the saints of God, now and forever! Be fruitful to the glory of God as you stay attached to Jesus Christ the true Vine.
PRAISE BE TO THE LORD JESUS CHRIST WHO CONQUERED OUR SIN AND OUR DEATH AND NOW GIVES US AN ETERNAL DESTINY--AS THE SAINTS SHALL LIVE WITH HIM-- FOREVER IN JOY! AMEN.
