The Bungee Cord. 1-1-24

Today's Bungee Cord is the sermon that I preached yesterday. It seemed Bungee worthy to send to you:

John 1:1-18

As we turn the page on our calendars tonight, many of us will wonder just what the new year will bring. If the year behind has been tough for you, I am sure that you have said to yourself, “I hope this next year is going to be better.” And if the past year has been a phenomenal year, I am sure that you are hoping for a repeat. Of course, we have no way of really knowing what lies ahead of us, and that is why today’s Gospel lesson is so important for us to hear as we stand at this juncture of time.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being.” (John 1)

It must have been words like these that were ringing in the Apostle Paul’s ears when he looked into the future…the unknown future…because in the 8th chapter of Romans, Paul wrote this, “For I am convinced … not just hoping, not just wishing, not just guessing, but convinced….I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Just like you and I, the Apostle Paul had no idea what the year ahead might hold…he’d had some pretty tough years…been beaten and thrown out of cities, been mocked and laughed at by people who used to admire him, been thrown in jail…if his past was any predictor of what the new year was going to bring for him, the prospects for an easy year ahead were not very good. And yet, looking into the mirky future ahead of him, he would say, “I am convinced that one thing is certain, God is not going to let anything take me away from him.”

And why was the Apostle Paul so convinced, so certain? Well, Paul had come to see that when God built a relationship with Paul, God did not cut any corners. When God set the footings for the relationship God was building with Paul, God set those footings in the beginning of time. God didn’t dig into history just so far that the settings should be good enough to handle whatever the forces of nature might bring, no God set the footings for his relationship with Paul so deep that they were set before nature took its place. God did not use materials that should hold up against the storms that would hit…the best materials that the world could offer…no, God built his relationship with materials that were better than the world could offer, God built that relationship with his very self. And God did not let anyone or anything else be involved with building that relationship. Everything, including the relationship that God built with Paul was done through God, and not one part of that relationship came into being without God. God took no shortcuts, shortcuts that might have made building a relationship with Paul easier, faster and less costly. No, when God built his relationship with Paul he went all in. God took no shortcuts.

And that is why I can stand before you today, and say as Paul said, “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate you or me from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” And just like Paul, I too am convinced of this because we have a God that has taken no shortcuts in building a relationship with you and me.

We can’t say that we know how strong the storms are going to be that are going to hit us this year. We can’t say that we know how rumbling the earth underneath us will be this year. And we can’t say how hot the sun will beat down on us this year. But today…today as we see that we have a God who has set the foundation of his relationship with us deeper than time….today as we see that we have a God who doesn’t try and skimp by with cheap materials, but rather builds it with the most expensive materials, his very self…..and today as we see that God takes personal involvement in the building of his relationship with us….pouring into it his own blood, sweat and tears….as our Gospel lesson says today, “grace upon grace.”….Today, you and I can look into the year ahead full of uncertainties galore and say that there is one thing that we are certain of, and that is that God is not going to let anything or anyone take us away from him”…and with that certainty on our lips and in our hearts, you and I can step into the year ahead with confidence, hope, joy, and even peace.

Amen!

Have a great week!

God's grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

Like

Comment

Share