The Last Sunday of the Church Year
Don’t Save the Planet
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ!
Amen! Listen again to what God says to you in today’s Old Testament:
Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look at the earth beneath;
for the heavens vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment…
but My salvation will be forever.
Dear Christian friends,
When God baptized you and made you His child, He forgave you all your sins
(Acts 2:38). There are many reasons for us to gather for worship each Sunday,
but the main purpose is this: here in worship God the Father assures you that
“the blood of Jesus His Son [truly] cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7),
despite the continual river of sin we see flowing through our lives and even
out of our own hearts.
God wants you to know that His forgiveness of your sins is more than a simple
act of erasing the wrongdoings of your past and remembering them no more
(Hebrews 8:12). God’s forgiveness of sins goes far beyond His casting your
transgressions “as far as the east is from the west” (Psalm 103:12). God’s
forgiveness of your sins has the power to change every aspect of your every
day. Stated another way, God’s forgiveness of your sins—which is now yours
permanently and eternally—God’s forgiveness of your sins has the power to
change your perspective and your attitude toward everything around you.
Here are some examples of what I mean:
• Because God has forgiven you all your sins, it is now much more
possible for you to forgive your neighbor. That is not to say that your
forgiveness of your neighbor should come easily: maybe forgiveness will come
easily for you, but maybe it won’t. When you have been deeply wounded—when you
have been broken by another person—forgiveness is a monumental effort. God
wants you to know that His forgiveness of your sins is a miracle-producing
power in your life. Your forgiveness toward others might not come easily to
you, but God’s Word “is at work in you who believe” (2 Thessalonians 2:13). God
not only “began a good work in you” (Philippians 1:6) when He gave you His gift
and miracle of forgiveness, but He also promises you that He will bring His
good work of forgiveness to completion for you. That completion will eventually
include your ability to forgive other people for the dark ways they have
treated you.
• God’s forgiveness of sins has power to change more than your attitude
and perspective toward your neighbor. God’s forgiveness of sins has the power
to change your attitude toward your own future. Today is the Last Sunday of the
Church Year. Today the thoughts of the Church turn toward the Last Day of all
time, when our Christ “shall come to judge the living and the dead” (Apostles’
Creed). Because God has forgiven you all your sins, you now have nothing to
fear! Some people may laugh and say, “Where is this coming that He promised?”
(2 Peter 3:4) Others may cringe in their fear and hatred of God, knowing that
they must give their account (1 Peter 4:5). What has God’s forgiveness of sins
made it possible for you to do? God’s forgiveness makes it possible for you to
face your God and Judge without fear. As the Last Day dawns, God’s forgiveness
of your sins makes it possible for you to smile, to “straighten up and raise
your heads,
because your redemption is drawing near” (Luke 21:28).
• Has not God’s forgiveness of your sins also changed your perspective
and your attitude toward your possessions and your accumulations? Because of
God’s forgiveness, you now have “an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled
and unfading, kept in heaven for you” (1 Peter 1:4), where “moth and rust do
not destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal” (Matthew 6:20). In
essence, God has changed and transformed your possessions for you. The power of
God’s forgiveness has transformed your possessions from things that you once
needed to hoard now to things that you can use in showing love and mercy toward
your neighbor.
In today’s Old Testament, God wants you to know that His forgiveness of sins
will do more than change your attitude toward your neighbor, your future, and
your possessions. In today’s Old Testament, God is telling you that His
forgiveness of sins will change your perspective and attitude even toward the
dirt beneath your feet! God says to you today:
Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look at the earth beneath;
for the heavens vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment…
but My salvation will be forever.
Yes, God’s rich and miraculous gift of forgiveness will even transform your
attitude toward the environment!
Such a change of attitude toward the environment is important for you. Why?
Many people are working hard to save the planet these days. For a large portion
of these people, their efforts to save the planet are a confession of what they
believe—or rather, a confession of they lack faith. Stated another way, many
people are working hard to save the planet because they refuse to believe God’s
promises; because they wrongly think that this planet is the only thing they
have in their future. Save the planet because the planet is the only thing
we’ve got!
God’s forgiveness of your sins makes it possible to escape the bondage and
slavery of saving the planet.
• By all means, take good care of this good earth—but do it as an act of
love toward your neighbor. Use less gasoline so that other people can use some,
too. Dispose of chemicals properly so that your neighbor downstream can still
drink clean water. Clean up the lake so that your children do not glow in the
dark after eating fish.
• Don’t try to save the planet. USE the planet because the planet—and
everything in it—is God’s gift to you.
• Saving the planet is a great act of futility. From ancient times, God
has assured you that this planet will not endure and it will not remain. “The
earth will wear out like a garment,” and that is a good thing. “The heavens
will vanish like smoke” and no matter how hard you work to protect the ozone
layer, the ozone layer is still going to go away. This, too, is a good thing.
It is a good thing because this earth is not the only thing we’ve got! God has
forgiven you all your sins, and with forgiveness of sins comes hope for the
future—not only for you, not only for your loved ones, not only for your fellow
Christians, but also for the whole creation of God! Your prayed it yourself
earlier today: “We are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the
home of righteousness” (2 Peter 3:13b).
God’s forgiveness of your sins—which is now eternally yours on account of
Christ’s death and resurrection—God’s forgiveness of your sins has the power to
change your attitude and perspective on absolutely everything. This good earth
in which we live is no exception. Nothing needs to be grasped except God’s
promises. Nothing needs to be loved except God Himself, because through Him you
truly do love all things in heaven and on earth. God promises you today, “My
salvation will be forever.” God’s salvation is yours, because God has forgiven
you all your sins.
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