Sunday Sermon
Promises
Isaiah 54:9
The Lord says, “This day is like the time of Noah to me. I promised then that I would never flood the world again. In the same way, I promise I will not be angry with you or punish you again.
Basic math has always come easy to me. It was like breathing, I didn’t think about it I just did math in my head. The question of how math worked never crossed my mind until a few years ago but it has now become a question I think a lot about. Why does math work and why is “this answer right” and “that answer wrong?” Dealing with this question might seem a little strange but thinking about why math works will help us understand other parts of our world. Even though many well-educated people have considered this question the basic answer is, relatively simple math just works. It seems it is merely a part of the fabric of the universe that we as humans have been able to unravel. When thinking about this it should lead us to the God who created the universe and tell us something about who He is. Just as math always tells us what is right and wrongs our God always tells us what is right and wrong. One of the most power things about God is His righteousness. God always does the right thing and God is always right about all things. Thus math reveals part of the character of God and I find hope in that. That God is always right means there is something I can count on in a world that seems to shift from moment to moment. With humans there seems to often be this fog about what is right and wrong. When it comes to each of us there is one standard and when dealing with other people there is another. God cuts through that fog and makes things very clear. I know this can make us uncomfortable because we all know in the clear light of day we do not measure up to the standard. But it does give us hope because we have a God who does not hide what is right and lives by what is right. Because God does what is right we have Jesus and we have a book filled with God’s instructions about life and how to live it. If God had wanted to He could have not given us anything and left us on our own to figure things out but that would not be the right thing to do. So God explains the universe to us because we need it and it is the right thing to do. Grace, mercy and forgiveness are all examples of God doing the right thing when He did not have to. We are the ones who rejected God’s directions and we are the one’s who broke the relationship with God and yet it is God who does the right thing and calls to us to come to Him and find healing. Our faith is based on God being righteous and we need to grasp how central that is to all that we hold. To bow down and praise God because He is right is not hard to do. Math reveals to us part of who God is and I rejoice in a God who sets right and wrong.
We cannot speak of the righteousness of God without touching on the fundamental principle the undergirds what makes God righteous. If God is not first the source of truth then God being righteous would not matter. It needs to be made clear God does not make truth but God is truth. This simple point changes God from a starting point of truth to thinking of God as what is true and real. Our faith makes no sense unless God is the truth and all things true flow from Him. The question is how do we know that God is truth and that is simple we read what He tells us. Either the wisdom that God gives is true and so we can then trust God or it is not and we have no hope in God. When I was in school I had a hard time with true or false questions and it caused a great amount of confusion for me. I would read a question and I would see truth in it but there was also false parts. This led me to often mark the question true. Finally someone explained to me that no matter how much truth was in the question if any part of it was false the whole thing is false. It is the same today as we face questions about life and how to live. Everything God says is fully true. Other places might offer some truth but there is also falsehood in it. But then consider the Ten Commandments. Nothing in those statements is false. Each command tells us what is real about the world and about how to live in it and that is why the Ten Commandments still are so powerful over the millennia. God is true when all other things are false and that gives us such hope for our lives. Learning to trust God is about learning to trust that God is true and that we can count on God even when nothing else seems to make sense. Jesus in chapter seven of the book of Matthew tells us that if we build our lives in the truth of God we will never be disappointed. It will however take work to dig past all the unstable stuff of the world to find the solid rock that God is but it will be worth it.
The greatest truth that God speaks to us is also the hardest truth that we as humans have to face. For God this truth is vital to the starting point of dealing with the broken places in our lives. That truth of course is that we are sinners who have broken our relationship with God by ignoring the ideas and principles that the universe is built on. The reason this truth is so important to God is because is means life or death to the creation He loves. It is at this point we find the verse we are looking at very essential to God’s truth. Because we are in trouble God wants us to know He can and is willing to fix things if we will just trust Him. God promises not to destroy us but to redeem us if we will return to Him. This is why God as truth is so central. Unlike us humans God cannot lie and so when He makes a promise it is a powerful and world changing thing. Hoping in the promise of God is not like hoping in promises made by people. God always tells us the truth because He wants us to believe Him when He makes a promise. When we are told by God that he can give us life instead of the death our sin deserves that is literally a world changing promise. Humans no longer have to fear death but can know that God seeks to give us life. Best of all is that God wants to give us lives of meaning and purpose. Scripture makes it clear that what God tells us about how to live is aimed at making our lives have what is real and meaningful in them. This promise is not some light weight words but it is backed up by acts of God culminating in the cross and the empty tome. We celebrate Easter because God keeps His promise and we don’t have to guess what God is doing. As people of faith and trust in God taking God’s promises seriously should be a major part of how we live each day. Think about what God promises, not just forgiveness of sin but a relationship with God through the Holy Spirit. That is one powerful promise that I think most of us just ignore. God promises to come and live in us and we some how just go about our lives as if that promise means nothing to us. Our verse both references past promises and makes new promises and God is in the business of keeping those promises. What hope we have in this God who is true and righteous so we can then trust that what God says has real meaning to us. Being people of God’s promises should make us people filled with hope and joy.
The promises of God are bold and powerful and the glory of God is found in those promises. God promises life instead of death, peace when the world is coming apart, hope in the middle of pain and strength to get through life. These are not small promises but we don’t have a small God. In exchange for these promises we commit to live by the wisdom that God pours out to us. No matter how you look at this it is the deal of a life time. What God promises are not light weight things because they address the core issues that we as humans face. Knowing these promises leads us to seek out God and to trust in this God and to become what God calls us to be. One of the things about God is that He is a lover of humans souls and he makes these promises because He cares deeply about us. I like the first promise that is referenced in this verse. It is about God promise not to flood all of His creation again. The flood happened because people were so evil the only answer to the evil was to wipe them out. Imagine that the creation you love so much becomes so damaged that the only answer is to start over. This must have been very painful to God. This promise flows from God wanting to redeem us not destroy us. So God promises to not do that again. The next promise looks forward and God tells the Israelites that he will not be angry or punish them any more. Both of these promises tell us about a God who wants to save us from sin not punish us for our sin. These promises tell us about who God is and what He is all about. Seeking God’s wisdom will led us to know that He is a God who keeps His promises and it lets us develop the trust in God we need. Leaning into the promises of God lets us make steps to be people who live by what God teaches us because we have a God who loves us like He does. God makes promises that He plans to keep and that is a place to start our faith and to build on who God is. A loving God who tells us the truth and then makes promises that we can hold onto as we live our lives is amazing. This is the God I serve and the God who fills my life with joy.
What I like about this verse most of all is the idea that God takes responsibility for His promises. Four times God says “I” when it comes to what He is doing and what He promises. From this we can get the idea that we can count on God. These promises reflect who God is and we can watch as God works in our lives to fulfill His promises. It is critical that we have to hold on to these promises. There will be times in our lives where we question where God is and what God is doing but God never goes back on His promises. The peace God offers is not a lack of struggle but peace as we battle through life. Our hope is not that we will be good people but that God will make us into good people. Trusting God is not easy and remembering God’s promises help us remember that even more important things about our loving God. That God is the Truth and God is righteous. Come and fall before the God who makes promises He keeps.
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