What Made Noah Righteous - Genesis 7:1

 Noah's righteousness. Noah's righteousness was qualified. His righteousness was greater than those around him but not perfect. His righteousness was explained--he did all that the Lord commanded (5). Righteousness comes to us as we obey; righteousness is not within us, not even Noah. Only in connection to the Lord are we made and counted and seen as righteous. Our moments of obedience are just moments. None of us is always obedient and in right standing with the Lord. Only God's grace which we see in Christ provides the assurance of a right relationship to God, even for Noah.

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SBC Meetings are being held this month in California. As almost always there is controversy on the agenda. SBC leadership and the messengers at the convention will keep working on the challenge of how to put into the structure of the denomination a means of helping churches address sexual abuse. The controversy on this matter has arisen from past failures. It is good to face the issues, hold people accountable and to come together to find a way to be faithful as churches in protecting people from abuse.

Past controversies in the SBC remind me of a professor I had in seminary whom I consider, now, many decades later as an influence for good on my life that only grows. He was a teacher in a time when professors in SBC seminaries were being challenged on their faithfulness to Scripture; many were dismissed based on these challenges. The professor who meant so much to me was, in my mind, a candidate for challenge and dismissal because he simply did not use the acceptable language of the day in describing the Christian life, Scripture, church, ethics or much of anything else. He was a mystery to students and faculty alike. He was different in tone and language--even body language. He moved in a calm that made one slow down and think and in my case become more prayerful and I hope, more faithful. When I became a pastor in San Francisco I would visit him from time to time just to talk. Always, I left our conversations puzzled but invigorated in ways I could not explain. On one occasion I simply asked him, "How have you survived? You are so different from everyone else! I would think they (the challengers) would have you on their list." Quoting from Shakespeare's "King Lear," he told me, "I am one of God's spies." I am still trying to understand what he meant. I have thoughts about his comment that make me believe, I too, would do well to be one of "God's spies."

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Grandchildren, a Theological Conversation. The "Littles" (aged four and six) had a "sleep over" with us on Saturday evening last. At breakfast on Sunday morning (when I say morning, I mean early morning. The six year old woke us at 4am asking when the sun would come up. Judy got him back to bed, but both boys were up at 6am putting on their "fancy" clothes for church)--so, at our early morning breakfast of pancakes, the question of death came up. The youngest asked if my parents, Maw Maw and Paw Paw, were dead. We replied, yes. The youngest asked if we buried them, again yes. Judy told them that these loved ones were in heaven, so the six year old asked, "Is heaven under the ground?" Talking theology with children reminds me how little I know and how difficult it is to share what I believe I do know. We talked about body and spirit. The body is buried and the spirit is with God. (I know theologians dispute this picture, but I find it in the New Testament). The six year old said, "That's right, the spirit leaves and God catches it--like a football!"  

I love all our grandchildren for being who they are individually and as a part of the family, and I love the fact that they keep me thinking and hopefully, growing. My professor friend, mentioned above, once said that he hoped his last words would be, "what will I be when I grow up?" Stay close to children and youth. They are a blessing. They challenge you intellectually as in all the other ways that youth have always challenged their elders. 

I am sure that I do not always give the right answers to my grandchildren, and from time to time, I remember my faulty attempts at parenting my three sons. Like Noah I need God's grace. Occasionally, I am obedient--for a moment--but all my moments of obedience are far less than children, grandchildren, friends, all I love, need from me. I cast them and myself upon the grace of God.

Any They Chose - Genesis 6:2

 A sexual perversion arose.

It was some form of behavior that contradicted the purposes of God, the ideal for male-female relationships, for marriage, for child bearing. This behavior typified the "wickedness" of humanity. In the midst of the wickedness, the man Noah stood out as one who refused to participate in the wickedness which had become widespread in his community. God chose, called and instructed Noah to build an ark that would provide safety to him and all within the ark as the flood of God's judgment came upon humankind.

The ark that Noah built has become a symbol of the church. The flood in Noah's day cleansed the earth of mankind's sinful behavior. In the New Testament the baptism of water symbolizes death to sin, the cleansing of God's grace through Christ's death on the cross and resurrection to a new life. As the ark brought Noah safely into a new world, so baptism into the church brings the believer into a new life.

Here is an experiment in thought: what if there had been multiple ark builders in the days of Noah? What if some folks had believed that judgment was coming, and they decided to create their own vessel of salvation? Would the arks that they built have survived the flood that brought God's judgment? To carry the experiment in thought forward: what if there are churches today that are built to the specifications of someone other than God? Will those churches be a safe place?

Escape from judgment was not the basis for building the ark.  Noah received his call because he "walked with God" (Genesis 6:9). He was not escaping. He was being saved. Sexual perversion or any other kind of sin--violence is mentioned in Genesis in particular--will result in judgment. No amount of ark building on one's own will offer an escape from the flood. Only the call of God brings salvation. In history the ark has become a symbol of the church, but the ark is a safe place only when God calls his people to take refuge. An ark built for escape or pleasure or pride or social service or cultural acceptance or any other reason will not survive the flood.

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"It's Unlikely"

"It's unlikely," said the four year old.

He was serious, seeming almost old.

We stifled a laugh as he left for home.

We'd asked for a hug from out little gnome.

Hug yes, but to ask for a smile was bold.

So, we asked him, "a hug without so cold

and mean a face?" Once again we were told

and his stern face made him seem almost grown:

"It's unlikely."

We closed the door so our laugh we could hold

and not show humor at what we'd been told.

For we both knew,  a good night's sleep at home

with us tomorrow he'd be not so grown.

Withhold hug and smile? One another we told,

"It's unlikely."