Sermon for the Sixth Sunday After the Epiphany
Burn, Baby, Burn
Theme: Global warming gives you a great opportunity to confess the Christian
faith
that Jesus “shall come to judge the living and the dead.”
Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ!
Amen. Today’s Introit from Psalm 98 uses human terms to speak about the way the
entire creation right now rejoices in its Creator: “Let the sea roar, and all
that fills it; the world and those who dwell in it! Let the rivers clap their
hands; let the hills sing for joy together before the LORD.” Why should the
creation rejoice so resoundingly? The psalmist explains: “Let the rivers clap
their hands; let the hills sing for joy before the LORD, for [because] HE COMES
TO JUDGE THE EARTH.”
Dear Christian friends,
“I am praying for global warming.” This sentence was written across the top of
a letter that arrived in my mailbox at Christmastime. It was a form letter
written by a fellow pastor. The letter had been sent to hundreds, if not
thousands, of people. The opening sentence caught me completely off guard.
“I am praying for global warming.” It is not that I disagree with the idea. In
fact, I am now totally on board with the thought of praying for global warming.
I was caught off guard—and immediately a little jealous—that this pastor had
stated the Christian faith so simply, so jarringly, and so beautifully.
· You can hear all kinds of messages in the media, shrieking that global
warming is a terrible trend and we must act immediately to save the planet,
especially if we want to live here for millions of years. (Do we?)
· You can also hear plenty of other people snort and say that the whole
idea of global warming is hogwash; that global warming is merely a leftwing
conspiracy to establish communism by means of environmental terror.
· You do not hear many people saying, “Global warming? Grooooovy! ‘Your
redemption is drawing near’” (Luke 21:28).
“I am praying for global warming.” The pastor who wrote these words was only
echoing those many passages in God’s Scriptures that say essentially the same
thing.
· In today’s Introit from Psalm 98, why does the sea roar? Why do the
rivers clap their hands and the hills sing for joy? The entire creation
expresses such rejoicing “before the LORD, BECAUSE He comes to judge the
earth.” It is almost as if this Third Rock from the Sun were waiting with bated
breath for Jesus and His glorious return, even now clapping and whistling and
hooting like a concert crowd before the band takes the stage.
· God’s apostle Paul said a similar thing in Romans, although he used
Words that sound opposite to the Words used here in Psalm 98. Where Psalm 98
speaks about the earth’s longing for Jesus in terms of exuberant rejoicing,
Romans chapter 8 speaks in terms of travail and suffering and the pain of
childbirth.
For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.
… the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay … the whole
creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now
(Romans 8:19-22).
· This yearning for the completion of childbirth echoes back into
Isaiah’s prophecy. God promises you in Isaiah that even the rocks and the dust
beneath your feet will benefit from the glorious return of Creation’s Christ.
When Jesus comes again, “the earth will give birth to her dead” (Isaiah 26:19b,
NIV).
In the resurrection of all flesh on the last day, “You who dwell in the dust
[will] awake and sing for joy!” (Isaiah 26:19) The song you will one day sing
is the song that the creation now sings in yearning and anticipation and hope.
“Let the rivers clap their hands; let the hills sing for joy together before
the LORD.” Psalm 98 allows us to believe that the creation sings and
rejoices—even in the midst of possible global warming and its threatened
chaos—the creation sings and rejoices “BECAUSE He [the LORD] comes to judge the
earth.”
“I am praying for global warming.” Consider the possibility that the planet
does not want you to save the planet. Someone much greater and more able than
you has, by means of His crucifixion and death and resurrection, already saved
the planet. And Jesus is coming again to judge. The sea roars and the rivers
clap their hands with joyful anticipation.
There are all kinds of technologies being developed right now—technologies that
stand to make this earth a cleaner and somewhat safer place to live. It is
entirely possible that alternative energy sources and “greener” living will
eventually drive down the costs of heating and cooling, reduce waste and
pollution, improve medical technologies, and relieve the poverty and the
suffering of countless people. (Then again, things might not change all that
much on this earth—after all, nothing can reform human nature.)
Let’s develop all of these technologies and more, each of us according to our
abilities and opportunities. Let’s not do these things so that we can save the
death-infested planet. Trying to save the planet is just as good as denying the
resurrection of all flesh on the Last Day. Unbelievers feel the need to save
the planet: this planet and this life are all that they have. Christians do not
feel the need to save the planet because their Lord Jesus Christ has already
done that. Christians feel the need to love and serve their neighbor—and to
confess with their bodies and their lives their hope in the coming Last Day,
when the LORD “comes to judge the earth.”
· Go ahead and cut your consumption as much as you are able—or as much as
you see fit. Reduce and recycle if you have the motivation for it. Improve your
home’s insulation and grow a larger garden. Conserve fuel, compost, teach your
diesel engine to run on bacon grease. These are all wonderful ways for you to
show deep and abiding love for neighbor. These are ways for you to love your
neighbor, not merely with an occasional gesture of good will, but with the very
lifestyle you lead. Doesn’t it stand to reason that, the less you consume, the
more you are able to provide for others?
· Think about the opportunity global warming presents to you. With your
hope set firmly on your Lord’s glorious return, you do not even need to decide
whether global warming is a phenomenon or a complex hoax. You do not need to
take political sides on the issue, pointing at the other guy as though he were
a tree-hugging leftwing granola or a consumption-driven rightwing
empire-builder. Whenever you hear about global warming, you can put a big grin
on the face and say what my colleague said at Christmastime: “I am praying for
global warming.” Then you can point Psalm 98 and suggest to your friends that
maybe the planet doesn’t feel the need to be saved, now that the Lord of
Creation died and rose again.
· Many times, when Christians take a walk in the woods or watch a
beautiful sunset, they pray thanks and praise to God the Father for the wonder
of His creation. Psalm 98 allows you to add a new petition of thanks and
praise:
Let the sea roar, and all that fills it; the world and those who dwell in it!
Let the rivers clap their hands; let the hills sing for joy together before the
Lord, for He comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world with
righteousness, and the peoples with equity.
As you rejoice in the beauty of God’s creation, give thanks all the more for
the magnificence of God’s redemption. Thank God also for the death and
resurrection of your Lord Jesus Christ, which now gives shape even to the
creation that you see around you. Jesus’ death and resurrection have been given
to you for the forgiveness of your sins and the assurance of your eternal life
with Him. But forgiveness created and earned the death and resurrection of your
Lord Jesus goes far beyond people. Forgiveness extends deep into the very core
of this planet, which itself was indelibly marred by the fall into sin.
Forgiveness and redemption have now bent every leaf and every twig toward the
Last Day.
o All things in heaven and on earth rotate around the axis of the cross.
o All things in heaven and on earth—from the microorganism on your skin
to the farthest star system in the universe—all things in heaven and on earth
wait with you for the resurrection of all flesh, which is yours in Christ Jesus.
o Look at the sunset; walk along the beach; scan the landscape as it
rolls toward the horizon: it is all waiting. It is all yearning; it is all
waiting; it is all singing for joy at the coming of the Lord. You sing, too.
___________________________________________________________________
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