Hebrews 12:18-29
November 1, 2009
Sermon preached by Rev. Donald Ng at the First Chinese Baptist Church in San Francisco.
As gold prices spike, there’s a rush to go to Jamestown in Tuolumne County to pan for gold according to last Sunday’s San Francisco Chronicle. Driven by the record-high gold prices–$1,056 an ounce last week, double that of just three years ago—the lure of easy money, many prospectors are flocking to the state’s 1849 Gold Rush fields to pan and shake for gold.
Some want to beat the current recession; some just want a quick buck for fun. Some are big companies; some are people like you and me. But they all have dollar signs in their eyes. Prospectors are shaking their sluice boxes hoping to see gold nuggets to at least pay for gas money getting to the old gold mines. Have you noticed that there are 3 page ads inviting you to sell your gold and jewelry for instant cash? This is all the result of high gold prices and the punishing economic times that we live in when cash is scarce and new jobs are hard to come by. When the economy is shaky, we like to trust in gold.
We are living in “earthquake times.” Everything seemed to be shaking. Just twenty years ago when the World Series played in the Bay Area, we experienced the Loma Prieta Earthquake that shook the foundation of both our lives and the infrastructure of the Bay Area. The earthquakes that happened in 1906 and 1989 can define the 129-year history of our church. Out of the ashes and rumbles, our forefathers and foremothers rebuilt our church using the clinker bricks burnt to the point that they became glassy to be our new house of worship. And only 10 years ago, our church was completely seismically retrofitted so that we would have a safe building to worship and symbolically that nothing on earth can ever shake God’s work known as the First Chinese Baptist Church.
Mt. Sinai and Mt. Zion
In our Hebrews lesson for today, we see a comparison between God when he was on Mt. Sinai and God on Mt. Zion. When the law was given on Mt. Sinai, it was a terrifying moment for Israel. It was a time of blazing fire and deep darkness. The voice of God came with trumpets. Even Moses himself was terrified.
On Mt. Zion is where the new covenant is established and the place where the Messiah will appear. The new believers are not surrounded by desert emptiness and danger, but by a festal gathering of angels and saints. They stand not before the presence of God as lightning, shaking mountains and gloom, but with the means of participating as a new people of God in Jesus.
Both in New Testament times as well as in our 21st Century times, everything seems to be shaking. The writer of Hebrews acknowledges that the world is shaking, but does not do so with anxiety. He seems to say, “Let it shake! All that can happen is that the things that are made, that are temporary, that are imperfect and undesirable, will be removed, in order that those things which are not shaken may remain.”
The sure foundation that cannot be shaken is Jesus Christ. The Christian gospel above and beyond everything else is Jesus Christ himself. This is not a theory or a doctrine or an institution or any other creation we may make. What cannot be shaken ever is Jesus Christ himself.
All of us can testify to the truth that the world seems to be on the brink of great turmoil and shaking. We see this in troubled places around the world. We see bad news on the TV or on the internet. It doesn’t take much to become fearful and worried when there’s instability and shaking going on. We witness this all around us as well as in our own personal lives. That’s why we like to buy gold!
Today, I testify to you like I have done in the past that against all trouble, all uncertainty, all problems, God is stable. I know that sometimes where we may be standing is like moving sands and we are shaking in our boots but God is stable. I know that when unexpected and unheard tragedies occurred in my family when everyone thought that my faith would be shaken, Jesus Christ, my Lord has been my firm foundation on whom to stand. God is stable in my life.
I know that wherever God has called me to serve; whether that’s here in San Francisco with you in the 1970s or in Valley Forge in Pennsylvania or back here after 20 years have gone by, God’s promised of an unshakeable kingdom has always been there. I know that today in 2009 or for that matter, 2010 and beyond may be filled with doubt and worries about the lack of jobs, the shaky stock market, and plunging property values and even whether we might make the 2010 Proposed Budget that while the world quakes and shakes, God’s kingdom is stable and dependable.
No matter what is going on in the world and in our lives, God’s unshakeable kingdom is strong, its foundation is firmed, and we have enduring hope. It’s unshakeable because the new covenant is established between God and humanity by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, grounded not in created things, but in God’s own costly, self-giving love. The psalmist says, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change, though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea” (Ps. 46:2).
Unshaken Worship
In response to God’s unshakeable kingdom through the new covenant in Jesus Christ, we come to worship God. We come with a sincere repentance for sin, a deep thankfulness for God’s providence and grace, and utter amazement of God’s majesty, power, and love. When we honestly understand what God has done for us in Jesus Christ, there is no other response but to give thanks.
We know that the acceptable sacrifice to God is a broken and contrite heart and that truly spiritual worship means we give our very bodies as a living sacrifice. Many churches are caught up with debating on the proper form for worship today. Not to say that the way we do worship doesn’t have any theological significance because they do. But what is more critical to God is the attitude of the worshipers. How do you come to worship the Lord?
The great theologian Soren Kierkegaard sees worship like a theatre. The members of the congregation are the actors and the pastor and the choir are the prompters reminding all of you to remember your lines. The audience is God watching us throughout our lives to see if we have been praising God. Acceptable worship to God doesn’t have to be in our own sanctuary. It can be here at Four Seas even in front of these Chinese folklore murals. Ultimately, God is only watching you as you play out your entire life giving thanks to God’s grace and mercy.
The tradition at our church on this special Sunday known as Pledge Sunday is to worship God as one church. We could have had our three separate worship services back in our sanctuary today and still received your pledges. We could have saved a few hundred dollars renting Four Seas and still received your pledges. We could have had our separate choirs like the way it is all the rest of the Sundays in the year to sing only at our particular services and still received your pledges. We could have saved a lot of people from doing all this heavy lifting to set up the pulpit, the PA system, and setting all these chairs and still received your pledges.
But we deeply believe that on this one Sunday we call Pledge Sunday that we should all come together to worship the Lord, to hear the languages of English and Cantonese spoken and sung, to blend all the beautiful voices from our many choirs to make a joyful noise, and to place our pledges together in the offering plates because we thank God for his unshakeable kingdom. This year for the first time in many years, we will celebrate the Lord’s Supper together as the Body of Christ. For one Sunday in a year, we strive to be together being as closely as possible the One Body of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Against a world that is filled with temporary things, created things, things that will rust and moths will consume, Christ himself is shaking us up. Jesus Christ is the only truth that we can trust our lives on especially when everything seems to be shaking. We might think that we can invest our lives on gold nuggets when it’s $1,056 an ounce. But we know that some day even gold is worthless.
The writer of Hebrews says, “Let it shake. All that can happen is that the things that are made, that are temporary, that are imperfect and undesirable, will be removed, in order that those things which are not shaken will remain.” Truly, I say to you, when we worship God like what we are doing right now, we will not be shaken. When we thank God for all the abundance and blessings that we have received, we will not be shaken. When we are living sacrifices for the Lord to follow him in discipleship, we will not be shaken. When we place our pledges and promises on the altar today, God’s unshakeable kingdom is ours to receive.
Let us pray.
Lord, we pray that our lives can be a living sacrifice offer to you as acceptable worship. Forgive us when we are distracted to follow things that are made on earth and not in heaven. Focus our lives only on Jesus Christ who is our salvation and truth on which you have given us a kingdom that cannot be shaken. We pray in the name of Jesus the Christ, Amen.