May 5, 2024 – Genesis 8:13–22

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Hope Lutheran Church
Manhattan, Kansas
May 5, 2024
Genesis 8:13–22

Now I’m just going to say what I bet some of you are probably thinking: “Pastor, why in the world out of all the texts and stories and accounts you could have chosen for our first time here at All Faiths Chapel did you pick this one?”
And it’s a good question! Why this account? Let’s think about it for a minute.
This is the last part of Noah’s flood story. Noah had built the Ark and packed up his whole family and all the animals into the Ark. And then that’s where they were when water filled the earth and everything throughout the world was destroyed. But with all of the chaos and the confusion and destruction going on around them, Noah and his family and all the animals on the Ark were safe. They lived.
And then what’s Noah’s reaction to going through the most devastating this world has ever seen or ever will see again? It’s honestly amazing to me. He worships God. He praises God. This is how Noah reacts and responds to the God of grace who had saved him and his family.
But how? How could Noah do that? There was still all this uncertainty in the air. It had been this crazy, unexpected thing. And Noah didn’t know what was going to happen next.
Noah knew who it was that had taken care of him and his family and all those animals during their time on the Ark. He knew it was God who had brought him and his family safely to the other side.
And by faith, Noah knew that if there was anything that could give him hope and assurance about the future, it was going to have to come from the one who had done everything for him up to this point. It was going to be from the one who had taken him from what would have been his death and given him life instead. And for that, he praised God. We worshiped God.
Our God has delivered us from death to life too. But it didn’t happen with a Flood and an Ark. God let his Son, Jesus, hang on a cross, bear the sins of the world, and die so he could be the perfect sacrifice that sin demands. Our Savior walked out of the grave to prove to you and me that sin had been washed away, the devil had lost, and eternal life was a gift given to you and me and all who believe in him.
And God wanted to make sure that you know that what he did for the world, he did for you individually. Just like God did everything to save Noah, God has done everything to save you too. And through the waters of your baptism, God makes it clear that all those things he did for the world, he did for you. Through your baptism, God promises that he has washed away our sin and made us part of his family.
And so how will we react? Because the truth is, we have this amazing opportunity to react with a life of thanks and praise for what God has done for us. And maybe reacting and living like that, living lives of thanks and praise to God during a time like this gets noticed by other people.
Think back to Noah again. Imagine what it was like to be one of Noah’s sons, walking out the Ark, and seeing their dad immediately go to work building an altar and sacrificing animals.
Maybe Noah’s family helped him build that altar and make those sacrifices, maybe they didn’t, the Bible doesn’t tell us. But I’m sure either way it left an impression on the whole family. Here, in the midst of so much that had changed so drastically, Noah boldly and confidently made it his first priority to worship and praise and thank God for what he had done.
Really, I think we’re doing the same thing here today. But let’s not let it stop today. Let’s not let it only be something that happens only on May 5.
Because wouldn’t it be awesome if the world around us noticed the confidence we have during a time like this? Wouldn’t it be something if our lives of thanks and praise to God shined so brightly that people couldn’t help but come and see what happens every week here at All Faiths Chapel?
And then maybe through that, we have the opportunity to share the faith and confidence we have, knowing that whatever happens here and now, we have a completely safe and perfect future in heaven waiting for us.
May God bless our humble efforts to do just that.
Amen!