Oak Chapel United Methodist Church

All Sermons are © Copyrighted and may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without the express permission of the author.

In the days of sailing ships tides were crucial. A vessel had to depart on the right tide, or it might not escape a shallow harbor, or it might be hindered by incoming tides as it made its way out to sea. Thus Brutus tells Cassius, "There is a tide in the affairs of men, which taken at the flood, leads to fortune. Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries." You have to sail when the time is right. We have lots of sayings for that: "Opportunity knocks but once." (It knocks more often than that for most people, thank goodness.) But opportunities do come and go, and we must take advantage of them when they are available, or lose them. Or we say, "Make hay while the sun shines." Same idea. If you wait, it might rain, and soak the cut hay as it lies in the field, and you may never get it in. "Strike while the iron is hot," and so forth.

Isaiah advances the same principle as it applies to faith: "Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near." Our first reaction is to ask, "Isn't God always near?" "Can't we always find him?" The right theological answer is "yes," but the practical answer might not be. My own experience is that God seems nearer at some times than he does at others, and I am able to "get in touch" with him (if you will) more easily one day than the next. I'm sure that says more about me than it does about God. But nevertheless it's important, because finding God and being able to call upon him, at least for me, makes life worth living. So, it seems to me, we have to reach him when we can and build up a reservoir of grace for the other times.

The argument here is for constancy in our faith. The opposite of "Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near" would be, "Seek the Lord when you're in trouble, call upon him when you need him." But that doesn't work so well. One minister friend says his devotional life works like a bank account which one establishes 'for rainy days.' We put money in when we are able - even when things seem rosy - so that it will be there when things aren't so great. And," he says, "with this bank account it's no deposit no return."

This is the best reason for having a Sunday School. Teach children to seek God and call upon him when they are young, when the troubles and confusion of adult living do not distract them. Build up inside them a bank account of faith which they can draw on in difficult times, or in busy times, or in scary times, when they grow up. I have never forgotten the bright, well-dressed woman I met at a wedding reception a couple of years ago (obviously very much a modern person, obviously successful) who told me that she had been a Roman Catholic but had rejected religion in all its forms in her early teens. She hadn't been to church for twenty years, and she didn't seem embarrassed about that, or inclined to return. But she wanted to tell me this. A few months before we spoke she had been seriously injured in an automobile accident, and (she said) "as they were wheeling me into the emergency room, I heard myself saying the 'Hail Mary.' I didn't think I still knew it, but it was in there." She got it when she was little, when times were good and life was easy. And there were still a few bucks left in that old bank account. And, almost unconsciously, she made a withdrawal when she needed it.

Constancy, continuity in our faith is important, That's the reason for promises, oaths, contracts, covenants. They guarantee constancy. Our world is full of such things…every time I turn around, I'm signing my name to something. That's a promise, a "covenant," to use the religious word. A covenant is a promise we make in good times which binds us to do the thing we promised to do even if times change and we would rather not. Civilization depends on faithful covenants, on promises kept. Congress is struggling this week with what to do about promises people have made to credit card companies - outlandish promises, foolish promises. That's what we do when we accept a credit card and use it. We promise to pay the money back on certain terms. The legal issue before Congress, is how to change the bankruptcy laws, but the moral issue is one of keeping promises, of being good to one's word. It worries me that so many people are living beyond their means. But it also worries me that so many people apparently have no problem breaking their promises and walking away.

What are some practical ways we can "seek the Lord" when the tide is in, so that he will remain with us when it's low tide? How can we find a constant faith, a faith for good times and bad? One very practical thought: it helps to make and keep good friends. Friends help stabilize our lives. Sometimes we invite friends to watch us make a covenant, as at a wedding. They are there not only as witnesses, but also as helpers: as those we might call upon to assist us in keeping the vows we are making. Constant and dependable friends are strengths to each other. Good friends are money in the bank. How often I have seen people in serious trouble plunge deeper into trouble because the so-called friends they were relying on for help and for advice were themselves in worse trouble. On the other hand, how often I have seen hurting people healed by the love and support of good friends. We have always talked about Christian fellowship as an important part of our faith. That is why. We cannot all be "up" at the same time. When some are searching for God others have found him. We uphold each other.

"Seek ye the Lord while he may be found." We build up our muscles at the gym, not because we need them right then and there, but because we will need to use them later. We build up the muscles of faith, which serve us well in a crisis, not in the midst of the crisis but in better times. We take care of our health every day so our bodies will weather the storms of illness. Likewise, we read scripture and other books and articles about faith all the time, so when we need the strength these things provide it will be there. We worship regularly. We strive to live as God would have us live, and for that we seek the support of Christian friends and neighbors. We pray. We serve others. These are spiritual vitamins. They keep us spiritually healthy. Quite the contrary, many today try to exist on spiritual junk food. They get discouraged and grasp onto some spiritual Twinkie - something that sounds religious and looks religious, and makes them feel good. They get a brief sugar high, but it doesn't last and, afterwards, they are worse off than before. People will believe a thousand bogus promises of salvation before they will believe the Gospel. In this same passage, Isaiah asks the people of Israel a question which should be asked of Americans today, "Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy?" Because they wanted (and want) to live life by one quick fix after another, relying on Band-Aids, instead of establishing a firm and lasting relationship with God.

These are the same ludicrous people who kept bugging Jesus to tell them when the end of the world would come. They didn't want to fix up their lives. They didn't want to change. They wanted to go on living as they always had, and then, at the last minute (if only they could know when that would be!), they would clean up their act. Jesus knew that. So, in one of the running jokes of the New Testament, Jesus keeps telling them to stop worrying about the day and the hour and be ready all the time. That's what it means to be constant in one's faith. To seek God whenever, and wherever, and however we can find him. And to keep him in our pockets for when we need him.