“And Remember, I Am With You Always”

Genesis 1:1-2:4; Matthew 28:16-20

Trinity Sunday

Genesis 1:1-2:4

¹In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, ²the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. ³Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. ⁴And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. ⁵God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

⁶And God said, “Let there be a dome in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” ⁷So God made the dome and separated the waters that were under the dome from the waters that were above the dome. And it was so. ⁸God called the dome Sky. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.

⁹And God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. ¹⁰God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good. ¹¹Then God said, “Let the earth put forth vegetation: plants yielding seed, and fruit trees of every kind on earth that bear fruit with the seed in it.” And it was so. ¹²The earth brought forth vegetation: plants yielding seed of every kind, and trees of every kind bearing fruit with the seed in it. And God saw that it was good. ¹³And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.

¹⁴And God said, “Let there be lights in the dome of the sky to separate the day from the night; and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years, ¹⁵and let them be lights in the dome of the sky to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. ¹⁶God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. ¹⁷God set them in the dome of the sky to give light upon the earth, ¹⁸to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. ¹⁹And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.

²⁰And God said, “Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the dome of the sky.” ²¹So God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, of every kind, with which the waters swarm, and every winged bird of every kind. And God saw that it was good. ²²God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” ²³And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.

²⁴And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures of every kind: cattle and creeping things and wild animals of the earth of every kind.” And it was so. ²⁵God made the wild animals of the earth of every kind, and the cattle of every kind, and everything that creeps upon the ground of every kind. And God saw that it was good.

²⁶Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.” So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

²⁸God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” ²⁹God said, “See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. ³⁰And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. ³¹God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

2:1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their multitude. ²And on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done. ³So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all the work that he had done in creation.

⁴These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created.

Matthew 28:16-20

¹⁶ Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. ¹⁷When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. ¹⁸And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

The Sermon

Since before the beginning of time, the Holy Spirit has been moving, watching over the world, over the deep waters, and over everything that lives on the earth.

You were not placed on this earth by accident. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,” says the letter to the Ephesians, “who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love.”

Before the foundation of the world, God the Holy Spirit chose you in Christ to be holy and blameless before God in love. There are five eternal essential elements in that sentence: God, Spirit, Christ, love, and you.

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations,” the risen Christ said to the disciples, “baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ... And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

It had only been three years since he had first appeared to John the Baptist, and after his baptism, he had gone into the wilderness for the trial that would initiate his ministry.

He had survived forty days of isolation and famine before the test had even begun. And the Tempter said, “Turn these stones into bread,” and Jesus said it’s not about the bread; it’s about every word that comes from the mouth of God.

And the Tempter took him to the pinnacle of the Temple in Jerusalem and said, “Throw yourself down; God’s not going to let you get hurt.” And Jesus said, “Do not put God to the test.”

And finally, the Tempter had taken him to a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor; and he said to him, “All these I will give you—if you will just fall down and worship me.”

All that authority! Remember that big, triumphant, evangelical song, “Majesty / kingdom authority”? And sure, you and I, riding on the back of two millennia dominated by the Church, find it tremendously easy to say, “Hey, he doesn’t need the Devil’s authority; he’ll get his authority from God.”

But somewhere deep inside us there are times when some small, hidden part of us kind of wishes he had just said, “OK.”

Something within us looks at that moment and says, “All that authority over all the kingdoms of the world: he had it in the palm of his hand…think how much easier this could be if Jesus just took the deal—hey, who doesn’t make a deal with the Devil every once in a while?—just took the deal and said, “OK. Give me authority in all the kingdoms of the world.”

Think about it: No anti-Christian terrorists to intimidate and slaughter and make us cry our eyes out over the stupid finality of their violence. No Myanmars, with their perverse and sickening so-called government that watches its own people, its own children, starve to death in a sea of demolished houses and human misery. No lynchings. No more starvation on a planet that has the capacity to carry 26 billion but at only 6 billion, those who have enough say, “Hey, look; it’s just economics; the lifeboat just isn’t big enough for all of us…”

This is the world into which Jesus said, “Go.” Bringing the Good News to every nation, and discipleship to every people, is our business. Human lives are at stake.

And wouldn’t it be easier for us to do our business if Jesus could have just said, “YES! Yes, OK. I’ll take the deal. My people aren’t going to be able to cope, they won’t have the will or the strength to change their own lives, much less change the world enough to make a difference.

So OK, Tempter—in Hebrew, ha-Satan, “Satan”—I’ll bite the bullet and worship you and then you’ll give me authority over all kingdoms of the earth.

"And my followers won’t have to do a thing.”

But he didn’t take the deal. He never sold out; didn’t even consider it, despite being all but delirious with famine at the time.

He saw with crystal clarity what this test really was, and he said, “Get out of here, Satan! ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only God.’”

And now, three years after that test, after the ministry and the suffering and the death and the resurrection, here he was, on top of another mountain, surrounded by the people who would become the first church—people like you and me—saying to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.

“And remember this one thing”—the last thing he said to them, according to Matthew—“I am with you always.”

We can be glad that he said that, because, sometimes, even disciples feel so alone.

Several years ago, a marine on a ship in the Indian Ocean was walking on the deck in the early morning, and just as he passed by a door that opened out, a gust of wind blew the door open and knocked him over the railing and overboard.

With no one else around at that hour, and no possibility of being seen or heard as he watched the ship sail on, he was left there, bobbing in the middle of the ocean, with only his training, his faith, and his trousers.

The trousers were part of the training. If you remove the trousers and tie off each of the pant legs, in a knot down by the ankle, you can create a momentary flotation device by bringing the waistline down onto the surface of the water, trapping enough air in the trousers to help keep you afloat. This effect lasts for about two and a half minutes if you do it right, and then you keep repeating the process until you are rescued.

It was hours before anyone on board had any idea they were missing a man, by which time the square mileage of the surface they would have to search was enormous.

Only a few can know the loneliness that marine faced in those hours—36 hours, to be exact, until a Pakistani fishing boat which had been blown off course happened to come by. And only a few know the bravery that it took for him to have the will to carry on.

But I imagine that for just about everyone, there is someplace deep inside us where that story resonates.

We can remember the day we were knocked overboard—by a phone call, or a medical report; by an argument, by an accident; by some cruelty of people, or systems, or just dumb luck. We can remember the day we were knocked off our feet and cast adrift.

When you look around your neighborhood, your family, your offices, your home, even your church—maybe especially your church—a lot of those people you see are just treading water, just barely keeping their heads above the surface. It’s not always obvious; in fact, sometimes it is completely unknown to anyone but the one who is stranded.

But you can be adrift, alone, unknown—in a room full of friendly acquaintances, in the middle of a celebration; they may be sitting there, maybe smiling and conversing, but they’re not really there. They’re adrift in the deep, and wondering who is ever going to come along and rescue them.

Maybe that’s you: treading water into the night, looking for light, and life, and companionship.

But you are not alone. The Spirit is always watching you, always moving over the face of the deep, even the deep where you now hold on for dear life, treading water and waiting for rescue.

The terrifying depths of the darkest ocean are still God’s deep water. God is there. And even in your quietest isolation, the Spirit is still moving within you, around you, beneath you, beside you.

Since the beginning of time, your life was ordained with meaning and purpose, given to you by the same God who chose to make this universe, and made a conscious decision to include you in it.

You were not placed on this earth by accident. God has a purpose and a plan for you.

Through the Holy Spirit, God calls you to go into the world, and wherever you can see that it is not as it should be, that is the place where you can show that you are a disciple of Jesus Christ, made in the image of God, empowered by the Holy Spirit.

“And remember,” he said, “I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Keith Grogg

Carolina Beach Presbyterian Church

Carolina Beach, NC

May 18, 2008