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 January 10, 2010 Sermon: "When You Pass Through the Water" Scripture: Isaiah 43: 1-7 Reverend Larry M. Gerber A little boy was teaching his new kitten about religion. As his mother watched, the two of them knelt to pray, the boy folding his hands and the kitten its paws. They both closed their eyes. It was beautiful to see until the boy dipped the kitten into a pail of water. The kitten wailed in fright and ran away - a very wet and scared little kitten. The mother said: "Son, you know that kittens don't like to be in water." The little boy responded: "then the kitten shouldn't have wanted to become a Baptist." Speaking of water - Do you know what lies at the bottom of the ocean and twitches? A nervous wreck! Today is the second Sunday in January, the Sunday that the Christian Church remembers the baptism of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It is a reminder that God will carry us through rough waters. It is a symbol of God's love. It is a reminder of the time that Jesus was baptized and the Holy Spirit was introduced to the world. It is a Christian trademark that takes us through life in love and faith. It is a symbol of our acceptance of the Lord Jesus Christ who takes us to a life without fear. Thalassophobia. Thalassa means "sea," and phobos means "fear," so thalassophobia is "fear of the sea." This is a legitimate phobia, when you think about it. The ocean can be a place of danger and even death. Take to the water, and you have to deal with waves, wind, tides, currents, rocky shorelines and ever-changing weather conditions. When you venture out onto the ocean, you want to be surrounded by as large a ship as possible. And fortunately, Royal Caribbean cruise line has now launched an authentic sea monster. Called Oasis of the Seas, it's the largest, tallest, widest, heaviest and costliest passenger ship ever built. How big is it? According to The Atlantic magazine (June 2009), it dwarfs a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, stands taller than a 20-story building and carries 8,000 people. It isn't a boat. It's a floating city. Oasis of the Seas features 21 swimming pools, including a waterpark, a beach pool and two wave pools. On-board actors and actresses offer Broadway-style productions in a playhouse that seats almost 1,400, while water ballerinas present shows in an outdoor AquaTheater. In the middle of the ship is a green space called Central Park, which is half the size of a football field and full of tropical plants and 20-foot trees. Walking in the park, passengers can easily forget that they're at sea. "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you," promises God in the book of Isaiah, "and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you" (43:2). This is a stirring and beautiful passage, but just what exactly is God saying here? Is he promising to give us safe passage through deep water, like Oasis of the Seas? Or is there something very different about the One who is Lord of the Seas? God can certainly carry more than 8,000 people through rough waters, but he isn't a floating hotel with glitzy Vegas-style amenities. When we look at the features of the Lord who has formed us, we discover not a celebration of excess but a celebration of creation and redemption. Let's climb aboard and take a look. The first thing we see is that God has created us. "Thus says the Lord," proclaims the prophet Isaiah, "he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel" (v. 1). Each of us is worth far more than the $1.4 billion Oasis of the Seas, because each of us has been created and formed in the image of God. "You are precious in my sight, and honored, and I love you," says God. We are created for God's glory and formed to be his servants (vv. 4, 7). Each of us has an opportunity to bring glory to God by worshiping him, by loving one another and by using our energy and talents to serve the world around us. As St. Irenaeus of Lyons said in the second century, "The glory of God is a human being fully alive!" But we don't live in a perfect world. As much as cruise-ship builders might try to create a picture of paradise with their AquaTheaters and Central Parks, the truth is that we live in a broken creation. We sin against God and each other, indulge our selfish desires and fall victim to the evil of others. So we need to be redeemed. God knows this, which is why he says, "Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine" (v. 1). The Lord comes to us in Jesus Christ to buy us back from captivity to sin, and rescue us from destruction and death. God's redemptive effort isn't easy; it costs God something. In Isaiah, the Lord says, "I give Egypt as your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba in exchange for you" (v. 3). That's a stiff price, but we know now that God is willing to pay even more. He gave the life of his one and only Son on the cross. So we are created by God and then redeemed by God. That's the biblical story in a nutshell. Reformer John Calvin, who was born 500 years ago last July, saw the Old Testament as the story of creation and the New Testament as the story of redemption. From start to finish, the Bible speaks of a God who lives by the promise, "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you" (v. 2). From Genesis to Revelation, our God is the Lord of the Seas. Notice, however, that the Lord does not promise that you will never face rough waters. Being a Christian doesn't mean cruising on the Oasis of the Seas but living with the Lord of the Seas. Cruising with God does not mean you'll never get seasick. You can still be hit by an enormous wave of illness, a cold wind of betrayal, a tidal change in the economy or a strong current of temptation. Isaiah does not guarantee that our sailing will always be smooth but instead gives us the assurance that God will be with us, and we won't be overwhelmed. No matter how rough the seas become, the Lord will protect us from being completely destroyed. If you are not happy with your life ? The great Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy once said, "If you are not happy with your life, you can change it in two ways: either improve the conditions in which you live, or improve your inner spiritual state. The first is not always possible, but the second is." We face many situations and conditions that we can't improve or solve alone. Job loss, illness, car accidents, rejection by loved ones, fear of the unknown, doubts and our childrens future - the future of the church as we know it today -- all are storms that sweep over us from time to time, and we can do little to control them. But we can improve our inner spiritual state by transforming our own lives. That's a change that's always possible. We can pray for those who persecute us, love both God and neighbor, and work to improve the world around us. Best of all, the Lord of the Seas will help us in these efforts, because God's promise is always true: "You are precious in my sight, and honored, and I love you ... Do not fear, for I am with you" (vv. 4-5). Emmanuel - God is with us. Waves may crash around us, but we'll never be overwhelmed. Don't lie at the bottom of your ocean of life and twitch. Get up and go forward. God, in Christ Jesus, promises to be with us through the waters of baptism and throughout our lives. In just a few moments you will have the opportunity to get up (if you are able) and come to the altar rail to receive a blessed seashell or stone sprinkled with the water representing the Holy Baptism. Allow that stone or seashell to be a symbol that God, through Jesus Christ, is your rock and your salvation, and you will be able to pass through all the rough waters of your life because you have been washed through His Baptism. Turn with me now to the Order of Renewal of Baptism found in your bulletin. Sources: Nugent, Rory. "Hope floats." The Atlantic, June 2009. theatlantic.com. White, Josh. "Faith, and friendliness, helped in hostage crisis." Washington Post. July 15, 2009, A1, A10. |
