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Great Hungers Part 4: Security

Sermon by Rev. Doug Pratt — October 21, 2007
 

Introduction
There are many people in our world today who have rejected the Christian faith, written it off, dismissed it, decided it’s not for them — and yet they don’t understand it. They’ve been turned off by false impressions, or by some imperfect and flawed church, or by the bad example of some hypocritical Christian whose life was inconsistent with their values, or by the skepticism of a respected college professor. And thus the great Savior of the world and His life-transforming Gospel are unknown to them. In ignorance they try to find their way through life all on their own, while God their Creator stands with open arms ready to help them, if they’ll only turn to Him. The deep needs inside every person are precisely what Jesus came to satisfy. But so many people don’t realize what a profound difference in their lives it would make if they’d just open up and receive Him.

This is the fourth and final message in a series entitled GREAT HUNGERS OF THE MODERN WORLD, based on incidents recorded in the Book of Acts in the New Testament. Just as we were created to have physical hunger in our bellies, so God made us in such a way that we hunger or long for certain intangible qualities. And He, our Creator, is the One who can uniquely satisfy these hungers. Do you recall what the first three were? We all have a hunger for:

• Community — true and caring relationships


• Fulfillment — things that will last


• Wholeness — experiencing all of life in the physical, mental and spiritual dimensions

Today we look at the fourth great hunger: the hunger for Security. In a dangerous, frightening and uncertain world we all long to find something or Someone truly secure and unchanging to protect us.

Scripture Reading
This story we’re about to read is part of an exciting adventure. It would make a terrific movie or an exciting bestseller. This account predates (by nearly 2000 years!) the 1997 hit book A Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger — the story of a New England fishing boat that was lost at sea in a horrific disaster. This passage in Acts is an eyewitness record of some people who survived a hurricane at sea, written by a medical doctor named Luke who was a friend and traveling companion of the Apostle Paul.

Here’s the background. Paul is a prisoner of the Roman Empire, and he’s being taken under armed guard to the capital city for his trial before Caesar, the one-man Supreme Court of the whole world. The time of year is mid- to late fall, a time when storms can be severe in the Mediterranean, just as they can be in the western hemisphere (the Caribbean, the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico). The soldiers and the captain of the ship are impatient, reckless men who are about to make some foolish decisions that they will regret. Let’s pick up the action in verse 9 of Acts chapter 27.

     ⁹Much time had been lost, and sailing had already become dangerous because by now it was after the Fast. So Paul warned them, ¹⁰”Men, I can see that our voyage is going to be disastrous and bring great loss to ship and cargo, and to our own lives also.” ¹¹But the centurion, instead of listening to what Paul said, followed the advice of the pilot and of the owner of the ship. ¹²Since the harbor was unsuitable to winter in, the majority decided that we should sail on, hoping to reach Phoenix and winter there. This was a harbor in Crete, facing both southwest and northwest.
     ¹³When a gentle south wind began to blow, they thought they had obtained what they wanted; so they weighed anchor and sailed along the shore of Crete. ¹⁴Before very long, a wind of hurricane force, called the “northeaster,” swept down from the island. ¹⁵The ship was caught by the storm and could not head into the wind; so we gave way to it and were driven along. ¹⁶As we passed to the lee of a small island called Cauda, we were hardly able to make the lifeboat secure. ¹⁷When the men had hoisted it aboard, they passed ropes under the ship itself to hold it together. Fearing that they would run aground on the sandbars of Syrtis, they lowered the sea anchor and let the ship be driven along. ¹⁸We took such a violent battering from the storm that the next day they began to throw the cargo overboard. ¹⁹On the third day, they threw the ship’s tackle overboard with their own hands. ²⁰When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days and the storm continued raging, we finally gave up all hope of being saved.
     ²¹After the men had gone a long time without food, Paul stood up before them and said: “Men, you should have taken my advice not to sail from Crete; then you would have spared yourselves this damage and loss. ²²But now I urge you to keep up your courage, because not one of you will be lost; only the ship will be destroyed. ²³Last night an angel of the God whose I am and whom I serve stood beside me ²⁴and said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand trial before Caesar; and God has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you.’ ²⁵So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will happen just as he told me. ²⁶Nevertheless, we must run aground on some island.”

Acts 27:9-26

Finding a Safe Place
Here it is, nearly the end of October 2007. It appears that we will have gone through another fall without a hurricane visiting us here in South Florida. I realize that, technically, the official hurricane season runs through November; but statistically, the incidence of storms after this date is quite low. So it’s almost time to exhale, breathing a huge sigh of relief that, once again, we’ve been spared. We know that every fall brings some uncertainty with it here on our beautiful tropical peninsula. And some people can’t handle that.

In 2004 a man was living in central Florida — in Osceola County, to be exact, just south of Orlando — where three successive hurricanes blew through in August and September of that year. As soon as the damage from Charley was cleaned up, Hurricane Frances arrived, followed swiftly by Hurricane Jeanne. So this guy decided to throw in the towel: he put his condo on the market, and he started researching within his corporation for other job openings that could get him out of the danger zone. An opportunity finally emerged. In July 2005 he relocated and started his new job, and purchased a new home, many miles away from Florida. Now, at last, he could feel safe, and he wouldn’t have to worry about the hurricane season in Florida. Where was his new, secure residence? You guessed it: New Orleans.

There is no totally safe, secure place anywhere on this planet! If you go where you think hurricanes can’t reach you, it’s very possible that you’ll encounter another type of natural calamity: a tornado, an earthquake, a blizzard, a flood or a drought. It’s even possible a meteorite from outer space could enter our atmosphere and plunk itself on your head! Welcome to the reality of life on earth.

Our Hunger for Security
Security is a very big concern today, and a very big part of all our lives. By no means do I want to dismiss it or take it lightly. We all need and long for a feeling of being safe and protected — even if we know that it’s partial and incomplete. Let’s think about some of the ways in which the hunger for security impacts us.

We long for safety from violence. Since that recent “date of infamy,” 9/11/01, security has become a consuming passion of our federal government and its newly-created “Department of Homeland Security.” At times this obsession with protecting us from Islamic terrorists has resulted in great success — possible attacks foiled, terror cells broken up. In other ways it has resulted in some absurd over-reactions — such as TSA regulations at airports (which are, it seems to me, perfectly designed to inconvenience law-abiding citizens but probably ineffective in preventing a real attack).

We long for safety for our children. Random violence at schools — Columbine, the Amish school, Virginia Tech and, most recently, Cleveland — has made every campus, from preschools to universities, highly focused on surveillance and protection for students and teachers. Yet even if we make our schools as high-security as federal prisons, there’s no 100% guarantee of safety. Some lunatic can still cause mayhem.

We long for job security. A recent Wall Street Journal article on the United Auto Workers’ new contract with General Motors proclaimed: “Labor union sacrifices wages and benefits to gain some job security.” The economic reality of the workforce today, however, is that very few people any more will work their entire careers for one employer. Job security is a relic of a past age.

We long for health security. All around us we find encouragement towards healthy eating, keeping physically fit, getting regular medical check-ups, and receiving our flu shots. We want to protect ourselves from disease. But the Divine Manufacturer did not design these bodies to last forever. In spite of our best efforts, things happen. Why does a person who has never smoked a cigarette develop lung cancer? It’s a mystery.

We long for financial security. Whenever the stock market or the bond market or the real estate market takes a plunge, it causes feelings of panic: What will happen to me, to my retirement, to my future plans? Will I run out of money? Some people who were badly wounded in the Depression decided to seek security by stuffing their cash under their mattress — only to discover that inflation ate away at the buying-power of their money because they weren’t earning anything on it. As much as we may long for absolute, 100% financial security, it’s hard to find.

Crippling Fears
In our hunger for security, we become vulnerable to two deadly, crippling fears. One fear is the fear of loss. Ironically, the more we have, the more we worry about losing it. I suspect that the biggest worriers are not always the poor, those who have very little of the wealth and material things of life. Sometimes it is those who are greatly blessed who struggle the most with worry, because they have become attached to what they possess and are frightened by the prospect of losing any of it. Therefore, if we decide to try to satisfy our inner longing for security by acquiring more and more stuff, psychologically it doesn’t always work as we think it will. Piling up money and things doesn’t always produce lasting security. The more we have, the more we may fear loss. And that kind of fear can be crippling to us.

The other type of crippling fear is the fear of risk. It’s impossible to count how many opportunities to make life full and enjoyable and meaningful have been missed because people were afraid to take a risk. Many Depression-era folks who kept their cash in the cookie jar lost out on some great runs of the stock market. Many union members who decided to cling to the security of the UAW wages and benefits, rather than take the risk of going to college to get a degree and learn a new skill, found themselves laid off and without options when the relentless downsizing of the auto industry hit. Many men and women who were afraid of the changes that marriage would bring decided to pull away from making a commitment to a person they loved. By doing so, they missed out on the unspeakable fulfillment that intimacy and life-partnership can bring.

Risk is, by nature, scary. It requires leaving behind the security of the known. Some risks, of course, are reckless and foolish and disastrous. But any really worthwhile achievement in life comes with some risk. If you really want to be safe and totally sealed off from all dangers, there is one place I can offer you. The most secure spot on earth is inside a casket, sealed in a concrete vault, six feet below ground. What a wonderfully secure, risk-free place: nothing can get in, no storms can threaten you, no bad people can touch you, and no changes can upset you. But, of course, you’d be dead. When you care about security only, above everything else, it can suck your life out.

Paul’s Security
Let’s revisit for a minute our friend Paul and his terrified companions on this ill-fated voyage in Acts 27. What a dramatic difference we see when the storm hit. The passengers and crew are all wigging out in panic and desperation — all, that is, except Paul. What allowed him, in Kipling’s words, to “keep his head when all around him are losing theirs”? What made him so calm and secure in such a scary and unsettled situation? Paul was calm and at peace because he knew two things that the rest of his ship-mates didn’t know. And these two truths are as real and applicable to us today as they were 20 centuries ago. Here they are.

Paul knew that the Lord was with him. Nothing, not even a hurricane, could take him out of the Lord’s hands. Everything that happened to him, Paul knew, was a part of God’s sovereign plan. From the perspective of faith in an all-powerful and all-loving God, there are no true accidents. This same Paul had recently written and mailed on ahead of himself a letter to the people in Rome, whom he would soon be meeting in person. And in chapter 8 of what we now call the Epistle to the Romans, he wrote these prophetic and profound words:

“We know that in all things
God works for the good of those who love Him.”
Romans 8:28
 
“Nothing in all creation will be able to separate us
from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 8:37

How does that satisfy our hunger for security? It gives exactly what we most need: an assurance that we’re not alone, no matter what life brings. God hasn’t yet removed us from this dangerous, problem-plagued world. Until He does, He guarantees that He will be right beside us in every storm. He will live in our hearts, giving us strength and courage, comfort and peace to deal with our challenges. I was speaking a few years ago with a missionary who was preparing to go to northern Iraq to work with a newly-formed fellowship of Christian believers among the Kurdish people. The city where she would be stationed had been experiencing car bombings and other radical Islamist violence. “How do you and your teammates deal with anxieties about your safety?” I asked. She replied, “I am convinced that the safest place in the world for me is where God sends me, because He’ll be with me there.” Wherever you and I are, God is with us — as He was with Paul in the hurricane. And now, the second truth.

Paul knew that this world is not all there is. If real security continues to escape our grasp here on earth, Christians have a deeper eternal confidence that anchors them securely in the midst of storms. We’re only here temporarily. This world is not our real home, not our final destination. How does this satisfy our hunger for security? It redirects our focus away from the transient and passing things towards the things that will be permanent. I believe that God created us with a longing for eternity … and I believe that if this life actually were all there is, it would make everything feel ultimately meaningless. But Paul knew the “open secret” — one that the Bible lets everyone in on. He also wrote in Romans chapter 8:

“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing
with the glory that will be revealed in us.”
Romans 8:18

These human lives we’ve been given are not just brief flickering candles, burning brightly for a short time and then being consumed, the wax gone and the wick extinguished — either having been blown out by a sudden gust of wind (an accidental or unexpected death) or having dwindled to nothingness as the candle is consumed (the ravages of time and illness). God’s Word tells us that the reality is very different. You and I are not wax candles. We are like the oil-filled candles on our communion tables: lights which keep on burning without being consumed because of the deep reservoir of oil and the permanent wick that draws upon the oil. And we, similarly, are attached to the eternal, unquenchable reservoir of God — who sustains our souls forever.

Conclusion
Security is a deep longing placed in our souls by our Creator. As we live in a dangerous and uncertain world, we long for it and cling to it and sacrifice to get it. There is nothing wrong with pursuing financial security, material security, home security, and health security. But Scripture tells us that the two greatest sources of security we will ever find are the constant presence of God, who is with us every moment throughout our lives, and the promise of eternity with God when this life ends.