Things Are Not Always As They Seem

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

If you have ever read or seen Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, you no doubt understand the saying, “things are not always as they seem”. Alice encounters one thing after another, in increasingly odd and peculiar situations. Cats come and go with a wink. Oysters and walruses are fond friends, for a time. Flamingoes are croquet mallets, and playing cards form a royal court. Flowers sing and caterpillars smoke hookahs. Nothing is as it ought to be.

How often do our lives feel like we have slipped down the rabbit hole! Those sworn to protect our Constitution are finding ways to end-run around it or nullify it. The rich are defrauding the poor by appearing as beggars. Marriage is divorced from God's plan, and so it seems to be whatever one wants it to be. Parents allow children to run their lives, and so ours has become a nation of overgrown children.

Ours is the most prosperous age of the most prosperous nation on earth thus far. We have outstripped even the mighty Roman Empire in our quest for wealth. Only time will tell whether we best them in length of days. We have conquered lands Rome only wished for. We have mastered their engineering and made wonders beyond the imagination of Archimedes or Pythagoras.

We have resurrected the Roman orgies. We have reinvented for our own time the emperor worship. We have surrendered to the siren call of lavish living and perpetual drunkenness. We have surpassed Rome in our so-called tolerance for every sort of immorality and debauchery. Even liberal and all-embracing Rome did not allow two men to marry or women to murder their unborn children. Even Rome did not allow the Senate or the Emperor to spend wildly more than was in the imperial treasury.

And yet, these things are called good in our world today. And this problem is not only in the secular realm. There are many in the church who have a skewed perception of reality and the human condition. So they say, suffering is something deplorable, something to be avoided at all costs. So they say, your belief in God will serve as a conduit for health, wealth, and prosperity. So they say, you are the master of your own destiny and ruler of your own life. So they say, Christianity is all about having a strong marriage, above-average kids, and your dream job. So they say, if you can name it, you can claim it, and God must give it to you.

How much would we like to buy into these ideas! We would love to believe that tolerance is the answer to all the world's problems. We would love to believe that God wants us to be healthy, wealthy, and wise every moment of our lives. We would love to believe that there is no real enemy out there, except the foibles of our indecisive minds. We would love to believe that everyone can get along, that we are just one character in that great watchword – “coexist”. After all, this is the year of biodiversity!

Repent!

Biodiversity is not the answer. Tolerance is not the answer. Coexistence is not the answer. These things, nice though they may sound, lead to one place – destruction. Tolerance makes you unable to stand for anything, or anyone. Coexistence makes you incapable of calling a spade a spade. Diversity, biological or otherwise, is only good so long as it forces us to see every person as a child of God and every creature as a precious work of God's hand. As the saying goes, if you stand for nothing, you will fall for anything. And the devil is just waiting to catch you when you fall. He is waiting for you to fall asleep in false security, so that he can snatch your life. He is waiting for you to turn your back, so he can steal that which you prize most in this world. Though he be swept out, if the house goes unoccupied, he will come back with a vengeance.

Repent of your self-centered tolerance. Repent of your go along to get along attitude. Repent of your complacency and complicity in the schemes of this world and its powers. Instead, make yourselves ready for the coming dawn.

In the midst of this present darkness, the dawn has broken. The Light of the World, in the very person of Jesus Christ, has broken through the shades and shadows of sin and confusion, and has shone into our hearts the grace of God. Upon the cross, the Lord of Lords was lifted up for all to see. Upon the cross, the Way, the Truth, and the Life showed to us the way to life. The water and blood flowing from His pierced side have washed you clean of all your sins and evil desires. The death He died gives the life we live, now and into eternity. The life He now lives gives the sure and certain hope of life everlasting, not in diversity but in unity, gathered around the throne of God and the Lamb. In His light, we see light, and His light no darkness can overcome.

So be on guard. Our Lord is a refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. He is our shelter from the storm. He is our anchor in an ever-changing world built on the shifting sands of human whims and the devil's lies. He is our light, and our light, and our salvation. Be not afraid, for He is with you. Be on guard, that you be ready at the day of His return. And continue to spread abroad the Word of God. You do not know the day or the hour of His coming, but rest assured, He is indeed coming to call us home to Himself in heaven. And in His light, we shall see things as they truly are, and that sight shall be glorious.

Now let all the heav'ns adore Thee,

Let saints and angels sing before Thee

With harp and cymbals' clearest tone.

Of one pearl each shining portal,

Where, joining with the choir immortal,

We gather round Thy radiant throne.

No eye has seen the light,

No ear has heard the might

Of Thy glory;

Therefore will we

Eternally

Sing hymns of praise and joy to Thee!

In the Name of Jesus. Amen.