Tonight the wind is really blowing outside. It’s usually pretty calm after the sun goes down, but tonight there are thunderstorms around, which means a lot of wind. Wouldn’t it be interesting if you could bottle that wind? What if you took a quart jar, and went outside in a gale, opened the jar and filled it with wind? You could set it on your shelf for a year or so, then open the jar and feel that wind, even on a calm day!
Well, it just doesn’t work that way, does it. Everyone knows that it doesn’t. It would be futile to try. That’s what Solomon says when he writes in Ecclesiastes 1:14 (our lectionary for July 31 by the way), “I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind.” Solomon seems to be in a pretty low place when he writes these words. You live, you die, you gain wealth, you leave your wealth to others, a generation comes, a generation goes. What’s it all about? What’s it all worth? All is vanity – like trying to catch and hold the wind. It’s fruitless. It’s futile.
There’s a lot of that going around lately. Why does my phone want to show me what’s trending? So that I can be in the know, on the inside, because I have a fear of missing out. I need to know what’s popular, because only then can I join in and be popular. I need to know what the right thing to say is, the accepted thing, the acceptable thing, so that I won’t be ostracized or criticized by my peers. I need to know what is true and important today. Because what is true and important today, may not have been what was true and important yesterday. I think if Solomon were writing his thoughts today, he would have said the very same thing: “All is vanity and a striving after wind.”
What is there in this day and age to hold on to? Where is the firm foundation? What is objectively true and lasting that we can grasp and hold on to? Isaiah 40:8 says, “The word of our God will stand forever.” Psalm 119:89 says, “Forever, O Lord, your word is firmly fixed in the heavens.” God’s Word is true and sure and never changes. We can grasp onto and hold firm His holy Word.
And what does that Word tell us? To what truth do we hold fast? That God made us and all things. That humanity fell into sin, that sin separates us from God, and that the wages of that sin is death. That God sent His only begotten Son into the world to pay the awful price owed because of our sin. That Jesus suffered and died to pay that price. That Jesus rose from the dead on the third day and reigns at God’s right hand. That Jesus is coming again in great power and authority to judge the earth. That all who believe in Him will be saved and have eternal life.
Hebrews 10:19-23 says, “Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that He opened for us through the curtain, that is, through His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.”
We seem to be living in the days of Noah. Jesus says that in the days of Noah, “[the people] were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away” (Matt. 24:38-39). Jesus is speaking here in the context of His second coming and Judgment Day. He said this just after he told his followers that His words will never pass away. Jesus came preaching repentance and the coming of the kingdom, but there were many scoffers who refused to listen to him. Just so, Noah preached repentance and the coming judgment (flood), but the people scoffed and refused to listen, going about their daily lives not heeding his prophetic word.
Speaking about the faith of Noah in his commentary on the book of Hebrews, Martin Luther says that Noah believed God and stood firm in his faith for 100 years as he preached and labored to build the ark. In his preaching and faith he was one man against everyone else, but he “persistently preferred” (we might say “stood firm on”) God’s Word over and above the taunts and the cajoling of the multitudes who thought they knew better.
Noah did not change his message. Jesus did not change His message. The Church dare not leave God’s Word and change its message. The truth of God’s Word is something to cling to, something to stand firm on. And the central message of God’s Word is not judgment and law and condemnation, but the revelation that God is love, that God loves all people, and that God would have all people to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:4).
For this reason He has sent out His Church into the harvest field to preach repentance and the forgiveness of sins, and to witness to the great love of God for people, demonstrated in the giving of His Son for the life of the world.
Crowds may not flock to our churches and fill the pews. As in the days of Noah, people may not listen to us even when we share the good news about Jesus with them. The Holy Spirit will create faith when and where it pleases Him. Our calling is to be faithful (Rev. 2:10), to be prepared to give a reason for the hope that is within us (1 Peter 3:15), to love others as Christ loved us (John 15:10), and to remain firm to the end (Matt. 24:13). This is not futility and a striving after wind, because for those who believe, the “End” is just the beginning!!!
God strengthen your faith as you live out your calling in this life, and bring you with great joy and thanksgiving into eternity.
God’s peace,
Pastor