Noah, not the Movie

Has everyone heard about the movie coming out next week called Noah?  That was the trailer for it.  Now understand that Noah, the Movie is not the same as Noah the Bible story.  And they’ve tried to tweak it to make it work, as a biblical epic, but it just doesn’t.

They’ve tried focus groups and all they’ve done is made people cranky. 

One Christian commentator, Barbara Nicolosi Harrington made this statement “Paramount takes liberties with ‘Noah’ that they would never take with ‘Harry Potter,’“  She goes on to say “if there’s a fan base for a source material, that fan base has a right to expect the fundamental meanings of the material to be intact.”  Which is interesting because she is a script writer for a Movie call “Mary” which is about the first five years of Jesus life, which is covered in about a dozen verses in  the bible. 

And it’s not just a Christian concern that the film doesn’t fall in line with what we would define as the “Historical Noah Story”.  A number of Middle Eastern countries have decided to ban the movie.  Juma Al-Leem the Director of Media Content for the United Arab Emirates stated “There are scenes that contradict Islam and the Bible, so we decided not to show it, it is important to respect these religions and not show the film.”

So if you are looking for a grand biblical epic, this won’t be it, from what I’ve heard it is preachy, but preachy for all the wrong reasons.

Now that’s not to say you shouldn’t go see it, if you are looking for a action flick this might be for you, I’m hoping to get to see it.  If the fact that it doesn’t stick to the biblical script is going to make you cranky, than maybe you should go see “The Muppets” this weekend. 

This is week six of our Old School Sunday School series.  Through February and March we’ve been looking at Old Testament stories and we’ve had so much fun that next spring we are going to do it again with the New Testament.

And I have heard all kinds of positive comments from people who remember their Sunday School days, and we have discovered that everyone seems to have a favorite Sunday School Chorus that they did the actions for.   Probably one of my earliest memories of Sunday School were from when I was a kid and Dad was posted to Germany with the forces and for awhile we attended the Salvation Army, don’t remember going to church but I remember going to Sunday School in the basement.  And they taught us, I’m in the Lord’s Army.  For a five year old army brat it was an awesome Sunday School Song.  Maybe you remember it, it was sung to the tune of the Old Grey Mare. 

I may never march in the Infantry,  

Ride in the cavalry,

Shoot the artillery. 

I may never zoom o’er the enemy, 

But I’m in the Lord’s Army. 

But that’s not what we are singing today, instead I’m going to invite Pastor Jason to come up and lead us in a fairly new Kid’s chorus that goes with today’s message. (Rise and Shine)

And if you are thinking that song sounded familiar but you never went to Sunday School it’s because Nate Flanders sang it on the Simpsons.

The story of Noah happens very early in the Bible, in the very first book the book of Genesis and we are told that God looked down upon the earth and saw nothing but wickedness.  Well, almost.  In the darkness of sin God saw a promise, a beacon and that was the man Noah, the bible tells us in Genesis 6:9 This is the account of Noah and his family. Noah was a righteous man, the only blameless person living on earth at the time, and he walked in close fellowship with God.

Wow, and so God decided to start over by destroying the world and all that was in it with a flood.  And that’s hard to get our heads around and I’ve often said that if we understood God he wouldn’t be much of a God.  And because Noah had found favour in God’s eyes God instructed him to build an ark, a huge floating zoo.  And into that zoo Noah was to bring a pair of each animal and his family.

And you know the story, how it began to rain, and it rained torrentially for forty days and forty nights, without stop, and if that wasn’t enough the bible tells us that all the water erupted from the earth.  And the earth and all that was on it was destroyed.  And then the rain stopped and after 150 days the ark came to rest on a mountain. 

Eventually we are told that Noah released a dove and it came back with an the leaf from an olive tree and Noah knew that the new beginning had begun.  And as part of that new beginning God made a promise to Noah that we read earlier and he sealed it with a rainbow.

This morning’s message isn’t about Noah and the Ark,

Because you all know the story of Noah and the Ark; everybody knows the story of Noah and the Ark.  Even people who are vehemently nonchurched know the story of Noah and the ark.  It is probably the best known story in the Old Testament and it is celebrated by everyone. You don’t find depictions of David and Goliath or Daniel in the Lion’s Den in stores, but you can always find Noah or his boat.

And people are always looking for the silly boat. Here’s a hint; even if they found the Ark in perfect condition tomorrow the sceptics would still disbelieve, and if they never find it the faithful would still believe. It was built out of wood and has been exposed to the elements for thousands of years, if they find it the miracle wouldn’t so much be the story of Noah as it will be the story of a wood boat that was still around after all this time, and I want some of that gopher wood for the next deck I build.

So this message isn’t about Noah and the Ark; and it’s not about animals and forty days of rain, instead it is about rainbows and promises.

We read the scripture earlier that contains the promise, here it is again, Genesis 9:13 I have placed my rainbow in the clouds. It is the sign of my covenant with you and with all the earth.

So the first promise of the rainbow is the Promise of Justice Remember that without rain there can be no rainbow, and had there been no flood there would have been no promise. And the flood was the result of humanities sinfulness. If we go back to Genesis 6:11-12 we read Genesis 6:11-12 Now God saw that the earth had become corrupt and was filled with violence. God observed all this corruption in the world, for everyone on earth was corrupt.

There is an interesting note in Hebrews 11 in the New Testament that tends to put the Judgement of God into perspective. Hebrews 11:7 It was by faith that Noah built a large boat to save his family from the flood. He obeyed God, who warned him about things that had never happened before. By his faith Noah condemned the rest of the world, and he received the righteousness that comes by faith.

Did you ever have a teacher in high school or college that graded on the curve?  You know the theory that if a test was a good test and the teacher was a good teacher then the grades should fall along a bell curve. You’d have so many As and Fs, a few more Bs and Ds and the majority would fall in the C range.  C being average and by it’s very definition most people are average, that’s what average is.  And so a curve would end up looking something like this.  However, if the test wasn’t a good test or the material wasn’t taught well enough the entire curve would move down and when that happened a professor who was committed to the entire curve thing would grade accordingly, and move the marks up. Is that somewhat clear?

The problem was when the curve was here, and one or two students still scored high, thus indicating that the problem wasn’t with the test or the teacher but with the students. And the prof wouldn’t move the marks.  We referred to those people in the nicest possible way as curve blowers.

Noah was a curve blower. Had there not been a Noah then God could conclude that either he hadn’t taught the course properly or that the test was too hard. But if we go back to the book of Genesis we read in Genesis 6:9 This is the account of Noah and his family. Noah was a righteous man, the only blameless person living on earth at the time, and he walked in close fellowship with God.

Because Noah was righteous, because Noah was blameless , because Noah enjoyed a close relationship with God that was the evidence that it could be done, if people had of wanted to do it.

And if there are no consequences for disobeying the rules, then they aren’t rules they are just suggestions.  It was Benjamin Disraeli, onetime Prime Minister of England who said, “Justice is truth in action.”

Think about what happened as Noah was building the ark?  This puppy was 450 foot long, 75 foot wide and 45 foot high. I’m sure that people asked, “So Noah what are you doing?” “I’m building a boat.”  “How come, we live in the middle of the desert?” And then Noah would proceed to tell them what God had told him, but there’s no record of mass conversions or for that matter unmass conversion.  By the time the ark was finished even though people would have been aware of what was going to happen, they continued in their evil ways.

And here my friends is the application for today, God is still just, and he still requires obedience, remember Jesus told us in John 14:15 “If you love me, obey my commandments.

The promise of God’s justice reminds us that in the end justice will be served.  Sometimes we stand and look at the world and history and wonder where all the evil fits into it, and if God is a just God why doesn’t he do something.  Well He will. In the end Justice will be served, and as Solomon wrote in Proverbs 21:15 Justice is a joy to the godly, but it terrifies evildoers.

In the end the Hitlers the Stalins, the Charles Mansons the Osama bin Laden and the Henry Morgentalers will have to answer for their evil.

Two hundred years ago Thomas Jefferson wrote in regards to the United Sates “I tremble for our country when I reflect that God is just.”   Two hundred years down the road when we look at what is happening around us we understand what was meant by Ruth Graham who told her husband, Billy Graham “If God doesn’t punish America, He’ll have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah.”

Promise of Grace  So first there is the promise of Justice, God will not be mocked, the evildoers will not escape punishment. And I know that there are folks out there who are thinking yes, that’s what we need is justice.  I’m not so sure, Margaret Atwood said “Never pray for justice, because you might get some.”

When you cheer the fact that God will judge sinners keep in mind Romans 3:23 For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.

Remember what Mark Twain said “Heaven goes by favour; if it went by merit, you would stay out and your dog would go in.”  Justice by its very definition is getting what we deserve.  Mercy is getting less then what we deserve and Grace is getting what we don’t deserve.  I would never ask my barber to me justice, no sir I want grace.

Grace means the free, unmerited, unexpected love of God, and all the benefits, delights, and comforts which go with it. It means that even though we are sinners God treats us as children and heirs.

Why? Because even though it’s justice that we deserve listen to what God’s word says in Ephesians 2:8-9 God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.

And so we have the promise of God’s grace in our lives.

Promise of Provision  How many of you have pets? How often do you buy pet food?  For six years we had a Great Dane and it seemed that we were always buying pet food.    Noah had to feed all the animals in the Ark for over a year and there’s only one line in Genesis that says Genesis 6:21 And be sure to take on board enough food for your family and for all the animals.”

I wonder if Noah knew how long they would be in the ark.  I wonder if he was able to store enough water, I know it rained for forty days and forty nights, but then it stopped, and they were in the ark for another eleven months.  There is no way that Noah could have taken on enough food to feed that menagerie, instead it is what we see so often with God, first he asks us to do our part, and then he does his part.    I’m going to take a wild guess and make the assumption that a miracle had to have happened here to keep this menagerie fed for over a year. But I wonder if Noah wondered why the food never ran out?

God still provides for us today, but I wonder if we ever give God the credit for His provision?  How about the promise of God in Philippians 4:19 And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.

The promise of God’s provision is still with us today.  And I know that we don’t get everything we want, but the question is do we get everything we need?  Of course it all depends on how we define need. 

Through the years I have had to deliver food baskets or some funds to a “needy” families who desperately needed food.  They call me from their phone, which if I need to call them back they know who it is because they have caller id, when I get to the apartment I choke on the smell of cigarette smoke and they don’t hear me when I knock because they are too busy watching cable on their Flat Screen TV or are on their laptop checking Facebook.  Ok, not always, but enough to make me a little jaded. 

In 1981 I was trying to finish off my private pilots license and prayed “Oh God please provide for this need in my life.”  In the fall I still didn’t have my license and reminded God of my prayer and his promise and he pointed to the car I bought during the summer.  “But God” I cried “I needed that car.”  Uh-huh and what about the eighty percent of the students at the college that didn’t have a car.

Did you know that the children at Cornerstone sponsor a little girl in Ghana?  Her name is Grace.  And because little kids in Nova Scotia do extra chores and give up some of their allowance money a little girl most of them will never meet is provided for.   She gets at least one hot meal a week, she receives a gift at Christmas and on her birthday, she is guaranteed health care and most important she is guaranteed an education.  All for $41.00 a month, so through children God provides for a child.

 I’m trying to make you understand that God has promised that He will provide for you and he does on a daily basis and very seldom do we stop and say “Wow, without God I wouldn’t have. . . whatever.” And understand that there are times that God provides for our needs and we spend it on our wants, and then try to blame Him.

Promise of Deliverance You understand that God saved the lives of Noah and his family, if it hadn’t been for God’s deliverance it would have been Aqua La Vista for all of them.  But there came a time that they had to die. Kind of like the whole healing thing, yes I believe that God heals, but you gotta die sometime.

Here’s another promise of deliverance John 8:51 I tell you the truth, anyone who obeys my teaching will never die!”

You like that?  Oh I know Christians die, if we didn’t we wouldn’t be able to stem the flow of converts, but this isn’t it people.  This is merely a hiccup in eternity and the real promise comes in 1 Corinthians 15:54 Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled: “Death is swallowed up in victory.

If you don’t have John 3:16 memorized in some translation then shame on you, John 3:16 “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

And that my friends is the deliverance that is promised to each one of us.

 Let’s finish with an interesting scientific tidbit I discovered years ago.  Since you’re always standing in the centre of your own rainbow only you can see how the light reflects off the moisture where you’re standing. Therefore every rainbow is unique to each person viewing it.

And every one of God’s promises are unique to the person receiving them, you won’t get my promises and I won’t get yours.

And for Christians here is the greatest promise of all: 2 Peter 1:4 And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.