Yesterday's sermon gave two pictures of God at work in the nitty-gritty everyday-ness of life. The first was him pushing up his sleeves to show his power. Isaiah called Israel to be ready and rejoice for God to do large work. The second was of God rolling up his sleeves as a servant. Isaiah speaks of an anointed leader in chapter 53 who is wounded and suffers along with us. I believe these two pictures have to operate together: THe promise of God's power (the irritating voice of the prophet calling us to faith and hope) has to be joined with the humble hands of service.
Here's where my thinking took me after preaching. I think too narrowly in terms of service. I usually think of service in terms of my own spiritual gifts and think those are the "best" ways to serve. Of course that's false. Keep the box wide-open as to what spiritually healthy (i.e., not burning yourself out!) and appropriate (i.e., having necessary boundaries) service can look like with your own spiritual gifts.
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One of the first things that struck me was the root word for Salvage being the same as Salvation. What a picture of God's love! Thinking of an auto salvage yard (junk yard), much of the auto may be damaged to the human eye, but to a seeker...albeit knowledgeable seeker... what treasure lays among the ruin!
Second, Aaron's reminiscene of past Labor Days and the work that was involved as a chore, a drag. Today it seems that is what he misses the most. All to often God allows tough times to come and we curse him. Yet, in times later we recall this time and cherish the lesson learned, the victory achieved. I have not had "tragedy" in my life yet, but remembering what may have been a not-so-good time I can rejoice and what has happened as a result of that experience.
Yesterdays sermon was a great reminder that God is with us all the time, even in the "nitty-gritty" parts of my life. This hit me when Aaron was giving examples of big parts of ourlives when we know we need God, and small parts where we don't think we need Him.
It must make God weep to have the very people He created, not want to involve Him in the smallest, sometimes funnest times of our lives.
Father please forgive us all.
Hmmm....interesting point, Geoff. I think we definitely miss out on not seeing God involved in the most fun aspects of life. Look at the people of Israel and they have parties several times a year!
I just finished a book called "Velvit Elvis" by Rob Bell. He and his wife threw a party--live music in the back yard, grill, games in their house, come and go kinda thing. Just a big party because God likes parties.
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