DATE: August 12, 2007

LESSON: Matthew 6.9

SERMON TITLE: O God, Where Are You?

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INTRODUCTION:

Translation Oops (1)

A friend was lecturing in Latin America. He was going to use a translator, but to identify with his audience, he wanted to begin his talk by saying in Spanish, "Good evening, ladies and gentlemen." He arrived at the auditorium a little early and realized he did not know the Spanish words for ladies and gentlemen. Being rather resourceful, he went to the part of the building where the restrooms were, looked at the signs on the two doors, and memorized those two words.

When the audience arrived and he was introduced, he stood up and said in Spanish, "Good evening, ladies and gentlemen."

The audience was shocked. He didn't know whether he had offended them or perhaps they hadn't heard him or understood him. So he decided to repeat it. Again in Spanish he said, "Good evening, ladies and gentlemen." "Buena tarde, cuartos de bañño y armarios de escoba."

One person in the audience began to snicker. Pretty soon the entire audience was laughing. Finally, someone told him that he had said, "Good evening, bathrooms and broom closets!"

  1. Someone had a very red face created by the embarrassment of the moment.

    1. He took his reference from the wrong source.

    2. This led to a false sense of security.

  2. What do we testify to when we pray "Our Father in heaven."

    1. Where do we get our information?

    2. What kind of security does our information create?

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MAIN BODY:

  1. The title for this sermon is a variation on the title of the movie, "O Brother, Where Are You."

    1. The hero of the film is a dapper, smooth-talking con man named Ulysses Everett McGill (George Clooney). Everett (as he is referred to in the film) escapes from a chain gang and brings along the two fellow prisoners chained to him, Pete (John Turturro) and Delmar (Tim Blake Nelson)

      1. He promises them that they will recover treasure buried from a heist.

      2. In truth, this is just a lie he tells them to get them to come along with him back to his wife and their seven daughters before his wife marries another man.

    2. The title of the film is a reference to a plot element in a satirical 1941 film, directed by Preston Sturges, called Sullivan's Travels, where the protagonist (a director) wants to direct a film on the Great Depression called O Brother, Where Art Thou?

      1. The film will be "...a commentary on modern conditions, stark realism, the problems that confront the average man... with a little sex in it."

        1. Lacking any real experience as an average man, the director sets out on a journey to experience the human suffering of the average man but is constantly returned to his rich Hollywood environment.

        2. The director's experience and intent in Sullivan's Travels are the opposite of the disadvantaged heroes in O Brother, Where Art Thou?

      2. The men who wish to return home and are constantly being diverted from it.

    3. Sullivan, Joel McCrea is constantly found and returned.

      1. I Don't believe that we desire this to happen to us.

      2. We journey on.

    4. Everett McGill wants to get home and is constantly diverted from his purpose.

      1. I don't believe that we desire this end either.

      2. We journey on.

    5. We are on a quest for something that is perfect and perfectly wonderful.

  2. This is the reason that we pray "Our Father in Heaven."

    1. Carl Smith wrote "This World Is Not My Home"

This world is not my home I'm just passing through
my treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue
the angels beckon me from Heaven's open door
and I can't feel at home in this world anymore

O Lord you know I have no friend like you
if Heaven's not my home then Lord what will I do?
the angels beckon me from Heaven's open door
and I can't feel at home in this world anymore

They're all expecting me and that's one thing I know
my savior pardoned me and now I onward go
I know He'll take me through though I am weak and poor
and I can't feel at home in this world anymore

O Lord you know I have no friend like you
if Heaven's not my home then Lord what will I do?
the angels beckon me from Heaven's open door
and I can't feel at home in this world anymore

Just up in Glory Land we'll live eternally
the Saints on every hand are shouting victory
their song of sweetest praise drifts back from Heaven's shore
and I can't feel at home in this world anymore

O Lord you know I have no friend like you
if Heaven's not my home then Lord what will I do?
the angels beckon me from Heaven's open door
and I can't feel at home in this world anymore

    1. We are not the settlers of this world.

      1. We are not the pioneers who created the settlements.

      2. The Christian is a tourist.

        1. We may enjoy the creativity of artists, musicians, and other talented people.

        2. We may be awestruck by the beauty of our world.

        3. But we are tourists.

        4. It is necessary to remember this for it saves us from becoming moribund settlers who have no hope of anything more.

    2. If this world is not our home, than where is our home?

    3. Heaven is the reward of the saints, that is you and me.

John Salmon likes the story of the church treasurer who, at his retirement celebration after 30 years of service, said "I'd say I got more out of it than I put into it, but I don't think that would be appropriate for a church treasurer." (2)

  1. There are a couple of questions that ought to be asked.

    1. Where do we find assurance that heaven is a reality.

      1. Not in a movie musical with Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire.

Cheek to Cheek

Music and Words by Irving Berlin (3)

Heaven... I'm in heaven,
And my heart beats so that I can hardly speak.
And I seem to find the happiness I seek,
When we're out together dancing cheek to cheek.

Heaven... I'm in heaven,
And the cares that hung around me through the week,
Seem to vanish like a gambler's lucky streak,
When we're out together dancing cheek to cheek.

Oh, I love to climb a mountain,
And to reach the highest peak.
But it doesn't thrill me half as much
As dancing cheek to cheek.

Oh, I love to go out fishing
In a river or a creek.
But I don't enjoy it half as much
As dancing cheek to cheek.

Dance with me! I want my arms about you.
The charms about you
Will carry me through to...

Heaven... I'm in heaven,
And my heart beats so that I can hardly speak.
And I seem to find the happiness I seek,
When we're out together dancing cheek to cheek.

      1. Hollywood does not do a great job portraying heaven.

        1. All Dogs Go to Heaven.

        2. Michael

        3. Heaven Can Wait.

        4. Here Comes Mr. Jordan.

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    1. But then, what difference does it make?

Grace Adolphsen Brame, We have tasted eternity, The Lutheran, April 1998.

Some of my students claim heaven is of no concern to them. Life is precious. This world matters, and it is all we have for sure. So why concern ourselves with something for which we have no evidence?

Every night one of my friends prays that he will die before morning. He fervently hopes there is no hereafter. Something in him says eternal life is pie in the sky, a human concoction that became dogma when it was accepted by enough people. Considering his many disappointments with God, why should he trust the next life will be any better than this one?

  1. For those who believe, how sad to have no hope.

    1. For those who believe there is assurance and certainty.

A professor of philosophy in a university was lecturing on the lack of certainty in our age. "Certainty is impossible," he said. "We can know nothing for certain."

A freshman raised her hand and asked, "Professor, are you SURE of that?"

"I'm certain!" he replied.

Yes, we live in an age of uncertainty. We're learning more and more about everything and yet we seem to know less and less for sure.

However, one of the characteristics of the first followers of Jesus was their certainty. They didn't guess ... or hope ... or wish. They knew for certain. They were even willing to die for that certainty!

They said, "We know that our sins are forgiven ... we know that we are the children of God ... we know that to die is to be present with the Lord ... we know that nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord."

Unfortunately, most people don't have such confidence when it comes to eternal life. They hope, they wish, they would like to think, but they don't know for certain. As a result, they have no confidence in the face of death, because that is tied to the certainty that we know that we have eternal life.

D. James Kennedy, "How to know for sure you are going to heaven," American Tract Society, christianword.org. Retrieved October 18, 2002.

    1. God provides the insurance of assurance.

A father once of a time when he took his 5-year-old son to Disneyland, the boy was most fascinated by black swans in a pond. In the middle of this artificial world designed to dazzle the mind, it was something from a different world that captivated this boy. It was something from the real world. If the best thing in the artificial world is something from the real world, that says that the real world is better.

Perhaps at times it seems as if we're living in a Disneyland of sorts. We're looking for something of substance, of permanence. We're looking for something real. Then something like a black swan swims across our pond, and we know we want something more. We know we want a different world, and in some sense, we can see it. It's a world to come.

Faith gets glimpses of that world here in this world but longs to be there, and it knows that Jesus Christ has been sent to take us there. Faith in Christ sees that God will take us to heaven and secures our ultimate presence there. It secures salvation.

Scott Grant, The black swans, The Eyes of Faith, August 23, 1998, Pbc.org/dp/grant/hebrews/heb20.html.

      1. The word reward is used 23 times in the NRSV New Testament.

        1. 26He (Moses) considered abuse suffered for the Christ to be greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking ahead to the reward. Hebrews 11.26

          1. If you read Hebrews 11.13-16, you discover:

13All of these died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them. They confessed that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth, 14for people who speak in this way make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. 15If they had been thinking of the land that they had left behind, they would have had opportunity to return. 16But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; indeed, he has prepared a city for them, (Hebrews 11.13-16, NRSVA)

          1. There is that word "heaven," again.

        1. Jesus promises in Revelation 22.12:

12"See, I am coming soon; my reward is with me, to repay according to everyone's work. Revelation 22.12

  1. So we believe and have confidence in God when we pray "Our Father in heaven."

    1. We have a heavenly Father.

    2. Our Father lives in a real place.

    3. This is a place that is designed as a reward for those who are faithful and found waiting, no matter how long it takes.

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CONCLUSION:

  1. So, we wait for it.

A little boy was on a train running the long trip between two Western cities. It was a hot, dusty day, very uncomfortable for traveling, and that particular ride was perhaps the most uninteresting day's journey in the whole land.

But the little fellow sat patiently watching the fields and the fences hurrying by until a motherly old lady leaned forward to ask with some sympathy in her voice, "Aren't you tired of the long ride, dear, and the dust and the heat?"

The little boy looked up brightly, and smiled, "Yes, ma'am, a little. But I don't mind it much, because my father is going to meet me when I get to the end of it.

This is basically what Christians are assured of: that heaven is a place where we're sure to be greeted and embraced after a long, sometimes arduous journey.

Source Unknown.

1. Received from Ed.The Good, Clean Funnies List [gcfl-info@gcfl.net]Translation Oops

2. John Salmon, Piqua, Oh., in Ecunet [database online], [cited 23 January 1995], file name: A0000010.NSG.

3. Retrieved from: http://www.reelclassics.com/Teams/Fred&Ginger/lyrics/cheektocheek-lyrics.htm

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