“Looking To The Future”

This is the message that I presented at Walker Valley UMC for the 23rd Sunday after Pentecost, 11 November2001.  This was also Veteran’s Day.  The Scriptures for this Sunday were Haggai1: 15 – 2: 9; 2 Thessalonians 2: 1 – 5, 13 – 17; Luke 20: 27 – 38.

———————————————————————–

Looking to the future has always proven to be a difficult task. No matter how hard we try, determining what the future holds is a very elusive thing. And more often than not, our vision of the future is a far cry from what it eventually becomes. Consider the following monumental prophecies about the world around us made many years ago:

1. "This ‘telephone’ has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us." — Western Union internal memo, 1876
2. "Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible." — Lord Kelvin, president, Royal Society, 1895
3. "Everything that can be invented has been invented." — Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, U.S. Office of Patents, 1899
4. "I’m just glad it’ll be Clark Gable who’s falling on his face and not Gary Cooper." — Gary Cooper on his decision not to take the leading role in "Gone With The Wind"
5. "I think there is a world market for maybe five computers." — Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943
6. "Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons." — Popular Mechanics, forecasting the relentless march of science, 1949
7. "I have traveled the length and breadth of this country and talked with the best people, and I can assure you that data processing is a fad that won’t last out the year." — The editor in charge of business books for Prentice Hall, 1957
8. "We don’t like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out." — Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962
9. "But what … is it good for?" — Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM, 1968, commenting on the microchip
10. "There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home." — Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp. in 1977
11. "The concept is interesting and well-formed, but in order to earn better than a ‘C,’ the idea must be feasible." — A Yale Univ. management professor in response to Fred Smith’s paper proposing reliable overnight delivery service. (Smith went on to found Federal Express Corp.)

As these statements show, predicting the future is fraught with danger and risk. And as the time between the prediction and the actual event increases, so too does the risk. Uncertainty arises when one is not sure. And with uncertainty comes frustration. For if we are not sure about what we are doing, then we can easily get frustrated by the work that we are doing today. This frustration shows in many ways.

The Sadducees who came to Jesus that day that we read about in the Gospel were certainly frustrated. Their frustration arose because they saw their religion and their future in terms of the law and obedience to the law, not the grace of God as Jesus preached.

Throughout the Gospel, in fact, throughout the whole New Testament, there is a tension between the law and grace. Even as Paul preached grace and salvation, those who would have people rigorously follow the law plagued him.

Jesus pointed out that the future was not in terms of how the law was applied or followed but rather by one’s faith and a belief in God’s grace. John Newton, the author of "Amazing Grace" and many other hymns, understood that very clearly. When you know that he wrote the words to "Amazing Grace" after a mid-ocean encounter with God, when he realized that all he was doing to seek his future was built on a weak foundation, you come to understand what he wrought. Most importantly you understand, as he did, that it was grace that saved him, not adherence to the law and that it was grace that would bring him his future.

An adherence to the law brings a discipline but not a guarantee for the future. It is only through faith and a belief that Christ is our Savior that we are guaranteed the future. As Newton wrote, "it was grace that brought me safe thus far, it will be grace that brings me home."

Through our faith and our understanding of God’s presence in our lives, we will see the future and find a way to reach it.

In Haggai, we read about the frustration of the people of Israel. In the reading for today, the people are feeling frustrated as they struggle to rebuild the Temple. Excited as they were to have come out of exile and to be doing that which they had longed for so many years to do, they were frustrated with the task. Many felt that no matter what they did, the Temple they built would not match the splendor and glory of the old one.

Their frustrations arose because they did not look to the future but rather saw the past. And as their frustrations grew, so too did the feeling that God had abandoned them. If God had not abandoned them, then their work would produce a Temple of as a great grandeur as the old Temple.

But Haggai pointed out that the rebuilding process was the very symbol of encouragement that they wanted to have and that in rebuilding the Temple they would be reminded of God’s presence in their lives. Haggai called on the people to take courage and move forward because God had not forgotten them but was with them at that very moment. Our presence here today and in church on every Sunday is so that we can remember God’s grace, power, and presence in our lives.

The problem many times as we seek to move to the future is that we feel we must do it alone. We take on a task only in terms of what we can do, never thinking that God is a part of the process. We that happens, we are likely to be frustrated because we turn the task into something difficult. But when we allow God’s presence to be there, when we allow the Holy Spirit to provide the power that we need, then the task becomes easy.

Our service is not for the past but for the future. Haggai reminded the people that there would be a day when God will give them prosperity, a day when all their work would be justified. Our frustrations come because we cannot often see the results of what we do but we have to know and understand that what we do is never in vain. One reason why we celebrate Veteran’s Day in the fall and Memorial Day in the Spring is so that we can somehow communicate to those who have served that such service was not in vain.

Paul’s words to the Thessalonians also served to encourage. He reminded the members of that Church that though the present seemed bleak and that God had passed them by, there was still a hope for the future and promise of better days. At the time Paul wrote this letter, there was a feeling that the promised Second Coming of Christ had occurred and that they, the members of the church in Thessalonica, had been left behind.

Paul reminded them to remain steadfast in the faith and to remember that the signs of the Second Coming had not yet appeared, that what they had heard and had been told were false statements, made by insecure people seeking to justify their own thoughts and actions.

To look to the future is a difficult task, especially when what we see around us leads us to believe that the future does not hold much promise. When we let that around us guide us, our actions, our deeds seem futile and we become frustrated. Like the Pharisees and Sadducees of Jesus’ time, we try to find in the rules and regulations of life a basis for faith. It is no wonder that we become discouraged.

But, as Paul encouraged us to do, we hold on to the faith and understand that God’s presence in our live is not just some mystical statement but guaranteed by Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, we cannot be discouraged.

There are many challenges facing each one of us in the coming days and years. There will be times when the future looks bleak, when our hope for the future is not so bright or as clear as we would like. But, if our vision of the future comes through our faith, then we know that there is a hope and promise. We know that the future prosperity that Haggai said would come to the people as they rebuilt the Temple will come to us because of our faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.