Pastor Sherry’s message for October 13, 2024

Scriptures: Job 23:1-10, 16-17; Ps 126; Heb 4:12-16; Mk 10:17-31 

This is apparently a true story:  Years ago, a fellow wrote a letter to the president of Pontiac, a division of General Motors.  His letter spelled out a complaint he had with regard to his new car.  The guy’s family would vote on what flavor of ice cream they wanted after dinner and the man would drive his new Pontiac to town to pick it up.  If they chose chocolate, strawberry, or butter pecan, the car would crank right back up and carry the man back home.  If, however, the family chose vanilla, the car would not start.  The man could not figure out what there was about vanilla ice cream that would cause his new vehicle not to start.

The president of Pontiac was puzzled, wondering if the man was a crank, but he sent an engineer to check into it. The engineer, expecting a nut, was surprised to find a well-dressed, educated man in a nice neighborhood.  That night, the family selected vanilla, so the engineer traveled with the car owner to the ice cream store. Sure enough, the car would not start.  The next two nights, the family chose other flavors and the car started just fine. Several nights later, the family wanted vanilla again, and sure enough—following the purchase—the car would not start.

The engineer could not believe that the family’s flavor choice would have any impact on the car’s tendency to start. He thought to himself,  “Pontiacs don’t operate that way.”  So he was determined to study the problem until he solved the mystery.  Over several days’ observations, he discovered the true issue:  Vanilla, the most popular flavor, was conveniently located toward the front of the store for ease of purchase.  The other flavors were in a larger display case toward the back of the store. Those selections took longer to make, and check out time was lengthier.

Time was the crucial factor, but what relevance did that have to the car starting/not starting?  The engineer discerned that the problem was not due to vanilla but rather to a condition called “vapor lock.”  The other flavors took more time to check out, allowing the car to cool down sufficiently to start.  The vanilla choice took less time to purchase, so the car engine had less time to cool and for vapor lock to dissipate. 

(Source unknown.)

One of my church members who knows a lot about cars says this is why they invented fuel injection engines.  Now you may be wondering what vapor-lock or vanilla has to do with today’s Scripture lessons.

Nothing.  But perhaps an argument could be made that this story simply illustrates that it’s often easy for any of us to draw the wrong conclusions about what causes our troubles.  You have probably heard that many believe our 4 hurricanes in the past 13 months were due to climate change or fossil fuel emissions.  Or you may have heard that the pile up of disastrous storms is due to God’s judgment on either Florida or the USA.  Causation is difficult to identify, and difficult to prove.

This is exactly what poor ole Job is trying to pin down.

A. In Job 23:1-10, 16-17, it’s clear he doesn’t know what he has done to bring about the calamities in his life.  You see, the prevailing belief in Job’s time was that wealth and wellbeing indicated a righteous life, while poverty, chronic illness, and just plain bad luck was due to sinfulness.  This is why Job’s friends worked so hard to “help” him determine his besetting sin.

But Job was pretty clear that he had lived a righteous life.  So, he wanted to meet up with God to try to understand what was going on.   In verses 3-4, he says—If only I knew where to find Him [God]; if only I could go to His dwelling!  I would state my case before Him and fill my mouth with arguments.  Job wants to meet with God, but can’t find Him.  He wants to plead his case and fall upon God’s grace.  Afterall, other biblical greats did:  Abraham bargained with God not to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah if 10 righteous persons could be found there (Genesis 18:20-32).  Sadly there were less than 10 so God wiped the two cities out.  Moses successfully bargained with God not to destroy the rebellious, idolatrous, and ungrateful Israelites (Exodus 32:9-14; Numbers 14:13-20).

In today’s passage, it appears that Job is beginning to believe God is testing his faith (v.10)—But He [God] knows the way that I take; when He has tested me, I will come forth as gold.  Even so, he appears to be depressed.  He worries that God has rejected him.  Chris Tiegreen, the contemporary Christian author of over 60 books, and a successful blogger about biblical themes, writes—Few things are more painful than rejection.  Deep in the heart of every human being is a longing to be known, to be understood and appreciated.  That’s one reason judging others is such a dreadful sin; it rarely takes into account their true selves, and it amounts to a rejection of their value.  From the Garden to the grave, rejection has been at the core of human relationships and fears. 

(Chris Tiegreen, “Job’s Rejection,” www.Filament.com, 10/9/2024)

We can identify with this, can’t we?  To me, rejection ranks right up there as the worse of all emotional hurts.  So here is Job, feeling rejected by God, but still trusting Him enough to want to meet with the Lord and hash things out.  He is still hopeful.  He has not given up on God, despite his troubles.  This is such a good example for each of us.

b. The message of Psalm 126 is actually very similar:  This is a “Psalm of Ascents,” sung by Hebrew pilgrims on the way to Jerusalem, which was essentially up hill.  Verses 1-3 celebrate Israel’s return to the Promised Land from exile in Babylon.  Babylon was not their home; exile means being away from our true home.  Refugees from Hurricane Milton in our area now are in a sense exiled from their homes.  Hopefully they will be able to return home soon.  When we humans can’t locate our true home, we often create for ourselves false homes, like money, pleasure, influence, fashion, fitness, power, etc.  

Verses 4-6 are essentially a prayer for full restoration from a troubled world to the conditions of the Garden of Eden.  When that happens, when Jesus comes again, we will all be so happy to be home.  Real return from exile comes from finding and following Jesus.  Job knows he is far from “home.”  He aches to return to a deep connection with his Lord.

C.  The writer to the Hebrews (4:12-15) wants us to know it is “home-safe” (as in baseball, or with my home security system which tells me I am “home safe” when the system is turned on) because Jesus Christ is our great high priest!  The Old Testament high priests could only enter the Holy of Holies once a year on Yom Kipur, the Day of Atonement.  They went into the holiest place in the Temple to intercede in prayer for the nation.  No one could go in there except the high priest; they firmly believed anyone else would die.  In fact, in case the high priest had not made sacrfices for his sins, he had bells attached to his hem, and a rope tied to one foot.  If the bells stopped ringing, the other Levites there knew he had died behind the curtain.  Since no one else could go in to reclaim his body, they would have to pull him out by the rope.

But Jesus Christ so far surpasses human priests that He has entered into Heaven, the true Holy of Holies.  He is continuously in the presence of God, not just on Yom Kippur.  And He makes active, effectual intercession for us with God the Father.  Again, Jesus, God’s Word made Flesh, is able to rightly discern our motives and behaviors, but loves us and forgives us anyway.

 We can count on our Mountain-moving Jesus.  Like Job, we never want to give up on God.  Job’s our model for enduring in the face of hardship.  Even if we don’t understand why we are being smacked again and again by devastating hurricanes; even if we don’t understand why we are so often sick, or in debt—seemingly unable to “get ahead”–or struggling with troubled relationships with family or coworkers, our God wants us to keep the faith.

Remaining connected to Christ is our “true home.” It’s where we experience God’s grace and mercy.  It’s home-safe for recovering from fear or rejection.  It is home-safe for feeling loved and secure.

This is where the rich, young ruler from our Gospel (Mark 10:17-31) missed out.  He claimed to have kept the last 6 commandments, the ones having to do with how we relate to and love others—the horizontal arm of the Cross.  He apparently didn’t keep the first 4, having to do with loving and worshipping God, the very important vertical of the Cross.  His wealth insulated him from needing God.  He’d found security in a false home such that he could not give it up in order to follow Jesus.

I would like to close with this poem about the mountain-moving Jesus:

Lord, I’ve never moved a mountain and I guess I never will.

All the faith that I could muster wouldn’t move a small ant hill.

Yet I’ll tell you, Lord, I’m grateful for the joy of knowing Thee,

And for all the mountain moving down through life You’ve done for me.

When I needed help You lifted me from the depths of great despair.

And when burdens, pain and sorrow have been more than I can bear,

You have always been my courage to restore life’s troubled sea,

And to move these little mountains that have looked so big to me.

Many times when I’ve had problems and when bills I’ve had to pay,
And the worries and the heartaches just kept mounting every day, 

Lord, I don’t know how You did it, Can’t explain the where’s or why’s.

All I know, I’ve seen these mountains turn to blessings in disguise.

No, I’ve never moved a mountain, for my faith is far too small.

Yet I thank You, Lord of Heaven, You have always heard my call.

And as long as there are mountains in my life, I’ll have no fear,

For the mountain-moving Jesus is my strength and always near.  Amen!

©️2024 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams