August 25, 2013
Sermon preached by Rev. Donald Ng at the First Chinese Baptist Church, San Francisco.
People used to hide their money under the mattress.
But then they figured out that the mattress was one of the first places that burglars look for cash. So they decided to put their money in an old sock in the bottom of the sock drawer…in a Tupperware in the freezer…in a cookie jar in the back of the cupboard…in an envelope inside a DVD case… when I was a child I used to just put it in a toy safety box but in those days, I didn’t have too much money to hide.
Where do you keep your money?
Fearing such losses, most people rent safe deposit boxes in the bank where we keep all of our Chinese 24 carat gold jewelry and other precious things. Most of us choose to put our money in bank accounts that can be accessed online with the use of passwords. To create a password that is considered secure, you have to come up with somewhere between 6 and 16 characters including at least 1 number. The banks figure that such passwords would keep our money safe.
According to a recent Wired magazine, a password is no longer an adequate means of securing precious data. No matter how complex or unique, our passwords can no longer protect us.
Two weekends ago, my online mail account was locked and my secret password to log on didn’t work. I tried everything and even chatted with someone or some robot to try to unlock my account to receive and send mail. It was not until Monday when I could talk with a live person on the phone to restore my account. But the problem was that Wendi in the office set up my account so when the agent asked me “Who is my childhood hero? I had no idea! I said “Superman.” But it was wrong! I had only three tries or my account would be locked forever. She then asked me what Internet address is the account on? I gave my answer and it was wrong. Now I have only one more try. I said to this woman, “Now I was born in Boston and my church administrator was born in China, I have no idea who my childhood hero is. She laughed and said, “Do you want to try to answer again?” I had one more try. So I told her to call me back in 10 minutes and I will call Wendi but it was before 7:00 AM in San Francisco. I woke her up and she said, “I think I put in that your childhood hero is Jesus.” When the agent called me back, I nervously said, “My childhood hero is Jesus.” She laughed and said that’s correct since she had learned already that I was a pastor.
After all of this, I asked her by chance if she knew why my account was locked. She guessed it was probably caused by someone trying to hack into my mail to steal information to my secured passwords.
Sadly for us, hackers are now breaking into computer systems and releasing lists of names and passwords on a regular basis. We are putting so much personal information in the Internet “cloud” that it is becoming easy for criminals to trick customer service agents into resetting our passwords. I think this is what happened to me two weeks ago.
We can only hope that Internet security experts are working hard to stay one step ahead of the bad guys. Or, we might go back to hiding our money under the mattress.
Security
Psalm 71 challenges us to think long and hard about the source of our security. For years, we have trusted our government to provide us with national security, law enforcement to provide us with community security, our medical system to provide us with health security, and our financial system—including online banking—to provide us with economic security. But we are learning every day that there are breakdowns in these systems.
In today’s cloud-based world, where is solid security to be found?
The writer of Psalm 71 calls God “a rock of refuge, a strong fortress,” one who can rescue us “from the hands of the wicked” (vv. 3-4). The psalm challenges us to put our faith in the Word of God instead of in human words like online passwords; to place our faith not in technological fixes, but in theological fixes, and be willing to put our personal information in the eternally secure “cloud” that is Almighty God. We can reveal everything to God and trust God to protect us and save us.
Let us look at each part of Psalm 71. The psalm begins with the words, “In you, O Lord, I take refuge; let me never be put to shame” (v. 1). The Psalmist asks God to be “a rock of refuge, a strong fortress, to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress” (v. 3). We do not know if the psalm-writer was being chased by enemies and needed to hide, or if he was struggling with illness, weakness or age, and needed healing and help. But in any case, he pleaded to God, “In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me; incline your ear to me and save me” (v. 2).
At times, we all need a strong fortress—a refuge that cannot be penetrated by hackers or criminals, illnesses or enemies, failures or betrayals. We long for a place that is a rock of refuge, a mighty fortress, a bulwark that never, ever fails.
What in your life is threatening you that you need a mighty fortress, a rock of refuge? Are you facing some health concerns that need healing? Are there financial challenges that could undermine your future security? Might there even be a hacker or a criminal out there who can steal all of your so-called secured passwords and your personal information is exposed?
The Feste Burg
The Protestant reformer Martin Luther in 1529 felt that he needed a mighty fortress when he took a stand against the Roman Catholic Church. He wrote the hymn which began, “A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing; our helper he amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing.”
These English words are powerful, but the original German is even better. Luther compares God not only to a fortress, but to a stronghold—what he calls a “Feste Burg.” The word “Feste” points to a strong and completely secure tower, and by doing this Luther stresses the absolute power of God over the invading forces. This is why the hymn’s second verse ends with the triumphant prediction, “And (Christ) must win the battle.”
The word, “Burg” was a fortified town. When invaders approached, the surrounding communities fled to the safety of the walls—sometimes layers of walls within walls. In his hymn, Luther is saying that God is like the most powerful of all Burgs, one in which nothing can breach the walls.
When we need a place of refuge, God offers us his Mighty Fortress, his Feste Burg. This stronghold cannot be hacked or broken into, since it stands as a fortified town with eternally unbreakable walls. Within the refuge of God’s fortress, we will “never be put to shame,” because our value is based on our relationship with God, not on our earthly achievements and success (v. 1). Inside this fortified town, we are delivered, rescued and saved by the Lord who desires to have an eternal relationship with us.
But we know that life in the Feste Burg, in the Mighty Fortress is not free of struggles. As long as we live, we are going to face what Luther calls a “flood of mortal ills.” We will still experience personal attacks, betrayals, failures, illnesses, and the difficulties that come with advancing age. But God who acts amid the “flood of mortal ills,” is the one who supports us and shields us from complete annihilation.
Inside the Mighty Fortress, we discover as Paul writes, “neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39).
Nothing can separate us from the love of God. Absolutely nothing. That’s real security, much more powerful than a password.
God Rules
Psalm 71 continues with the words, “Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the grasp of the unjust and cruel” (v. 4) The psalmist is turning to God for help, and asking to be rescued from the cold grip of wicked, unjust and cruel people. The psalmist trusts that God—not the wicked—rules the world.
What a bold statement of faith: God rules the world. When was the last time that you said that? God rules the world. God the Creator is really in charge of the grand sweep of human history, despite the evil, unfair and heartless acts that people commit every day. God can be trusted to work his purposes out, in spite of the selfish and sinful acts and decisions that people make.
There are days when we watch the nightly news and we come away totally depressed and hopeless. When we may be facing personal challenges especially when it has something to do with our health, we become depressed and frustrated that an encouraging word can’t be found.
Today I want you to trust God and to concentrate on living according to God’s priorities. Most of us have learned how to invest our money, putting it in various online accounts with password protection. But have we learned how to invest our lives in God’s eternal salvation?
If you today are ready to look at living according to God’s priorities for your life to believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, we would like to pray for you and walk with you to trust God as your Mighty Fortress?
Many of us here believe that we already know the Lord. The psalmist said, “For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O Lord, from my youth. Upon you I have leaned from my birth; it was you who took me from my mother’s womb” (vv. 5-6). If you have been a Christian since your youth or perhaps since your birth, if outsiders looked at you, would they see evidence that you have put your complete hope and trust in God?
If neighbors assessed your spiritual investment strategies, would they see that you have been leaning on God and offering praise? Are you investing your love, putting into words and actions that serve your neighbors and glorify God?
Where we invest our love, we invest our lives; but, so often we make our investments elsewhere.
Eternal Security
I still don’t understand why anyone would want to hack into my email account. I don’t need to worry about identity theft because no one wants to be me!
Psalm 71 challenges us to put out total trust in God, rather than in the people or institutions of this world. God invites us to depend on Jesus Christ our Lord for security, rather than on anything else that lies behind a password-protected Internet portal. When we put our faith in God, we discover that he is a rock of refuge and a strong Mighty Fortress. We find that God is strong and willing to help us, as he guides us through the grand sweep of our lives.
Invest your love in God and in his plans for the world. Only there you will find eternal security and like the psalmist, we too will say, “My praise is continually of you, O God” (v. 6b).
Let us pray.
Jesus, keep us safe. Fear pervades our lives and gives us too many reasons to worry. We see danger everyday, and we have experienced the pain it causes. But, you have promised to be our refuge, our shelter, and our peace. Even when the storms rage, we know that in your arms we are truly safe. Let us trust you fully, believing that your promises are not empty. You have given us hope, and we cling to that and claim it. Jesus, keep us safe. Amen.