SERMON “Didn’t You Know?” Audio link http://dl.dropbox.com/u/23575548/110807Job38.mp3
Our Lord, you who lovingly care for all this world, guide our hearts and our minds into your truth, that we may see your majesty and trust in your mighty hand. Amen.
Maybe you’ve had the experience of the nice police officer asking you if you know why he has stopped your car. Or you have had the pleasure of receiving a letter from the Internal Revenue Service pointing out a discrepancy in your tax return. Or maybe, and this one is a lot worse, you’ve had a conversation with your wife who was convinced you had forgotten her birthday or your anniversary. Surely you knew when the meeting was. Didn’t you know you had be there a half hour early? Everybody knows you can’t receive a text message here. The date for the final exam was posted on the board, didn’t you see it?
Sometimes, no, often we need to be reminded of our own frailty. We find that we have been exalting ourselves and deciding we are quite sufficient. This happened to our friend Job in a big way. He was defending his own righteousness throughout his time of trial. And God agreed. Job was righteous. This is the claim God made for Job when Satan asked him if he knew where he could find a righteous man. Yet at some point in Job’s discussion with his friends Job moves from having sober judgment about himself to thinking too highly of himself (Romans 12.3). Job begins thinking he should have a talk with God and remind God that he, Job, knows right and wrong. God’s response is to point to Job’s inadequacy before the true God.
You saw all these questions God asked. Did you notice that they didn’t pick on Job? Our Lord shows his greatness and glory, not to run Job down, but to let Job run himself down. Job does well, no doubt. Yet in comparison with God Job is not worthy of praise. Didn’t you know what was going on when the world was created? Oh. I did. I was there. Didn’t you know where the undersea fountains are? I made them and put them in their places. I know how they work. How about the tides? Ever wonder? I’m the one who directs the traffic.You see the hearts of people and know all the ways the wicked are wicked, right? No? Oh. I do. Well, so, Job, what do you know? Surely there’s something you know about that I don’t. There isn’t? Oh. I’m so sorry. Well, now, that does put you in a state, doesn’t it.
Some people say that the goodness and grace of God doesn’t drive us to repentance. But it does. After all, it allows us to see our poverty before God. So our Lord can use the wonders of his presence, his love, his provision for us to create repentance in our hearts. We see him for who he is and we are confronted with our own inability.
This saga continues in our reading from Romans 10. Our Lord asks us again, “Didn’t you know?” But look how the questioning goes here. Didn’t you know that righteousness is by faith, and that faith is directed toward the Lord Jesus Christ? We start to see some glimmers of hope because we do know that. Maybe we needed to be reminded of it, but we did know it. We’ve heard it. It doesn’t take much time around Christians to hear this, at least I hope it doesn’t. Didn’t you know that we trust in Christ and confess with our mouths that God raised him from the dead? You did know that belief on Christ’s death, burial and resurrection on your behalf saves you, right? And did you know that you are completely safe in his arms as you trust him? Did you know that God sends people to proclaim this gospel of Christ so you can believe? And did you remember that the Lord creates faith in our hearts as we hear? Did you remember that? I hope so.
How about from our Gospel passage for today? Did you know that when Jesus tells his disciples to go across the lake he will make sure they get there? Did you remember that Jesus is the true God and true man, who can suspend the laws of nature when he wishes to do so? Did you remember that Jesus would be able to watch over his disciples and bring them help and comfort when they needed it? You did know that Jesus can direct our faith toward himself and that we are perfectly safe when we are looking to our Lord, right?
What kind of a God do we see in the Bible then? Do you know that he is the creator, redeemer, and sustainer of all creation? Do you remember that Jesus Christ came to be a man, to live a perfect life in your place, to be crucified, killed, buried, and raised again from the dead in your place? Did you know that nothing can separate you from the love of God in Christ? Do you know that he calls you again and again to repent and to look to him in faith? Did you remember that he gave his body to be broken for you and his blood to be shed for you, and that he is here, today, really present, for you to receive?
Does this drive us to repentance? Yes, I suppose it does. Does it also remind us that our Lord is the great Savior who provides us with all we need, in whom our salvation begins and ends? Then even as we repent of our sin and inability, let us look to him in joyful expectation. For on this day, the Lord’s day, and especially this Sunday when we receive our Lord’s body and blood given and shed for us, we celebrate his resurrection until he comes. It is a little Easter today and every Sunday, and we joyfully proclaim, “Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!”
Our Lord, you were there, there indeed. Thank you for loving us in such a way that you gave yourself into death on our behalf, rising again as the firstfruits of the resurrection. Remind us of your mercy and your grace. Give us your joy and peace in the comfort of the sure and certain hope of the resurrection of the dead. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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