Here's Your Sign

 The sermon from July 28, 2024. The text is Genesis 9:8-14. The sermon was not recorded. The manuscript is found is included below.

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

I don't know how many know of the stand-up comedian Bill Engvall, but he has a bit in routine called: “Here’s your sign.” In the bit, he gives out signs to people who commit some shockingly dumb fails. For example, he tells of a man driving down the road and he notices that his tire is going flat. So he pulls into a gas station to use the air pump. The mechanic from the tire shop next door comes outside and sees the man pumping up his tire and says, “Tire go flat?” “Nope," the driver answers, "I was driving along and the other 3 just swelled right up on me!” And without missing a beat the mechanic says, “Well, the heat’ll do that!” Here’s your sign. For context, the sign says, "I'm stupid." Because then you wouldn't need warning labels on products. You just wouldn't sell the product to people wearing that sign. As an example, when you buy a set of speakers, you've got little packets of drying agents in the bottom of the box. And what does it say on the packet? "Do not eat this." Well, who, in their right mind, is going to buy a set speakers thinking that there might be something eat in there? Yet you know that someone opened the box and said, “Well look! I've got speakers & a pack of chicklets! I've got music & gum!” Here’s your sign!

Our Old Testament lesson for today comes right after the flood. Noah & his family have just come out of ark on Mt Arrarat. The animals are spreading out on earth. But can you imagine how Noah was going to feel when the next storm clouds gather on the horizon, that kind of cloud that you see & know it's going to rain? The last time it rained it didn't stop for 40 days & 40 nights. The water didn't crest for  a year. And so maybe Noah relives the sounds of the door closing; or all the smells & sounds of animals; or maybe Noah relives the screams of people outside every time he sees storm clouds in sky. Just try  to imagine a child who's lost the family barn to a lightning strike in a storm. Try to imagine just how much anxiety is now going to be caused simply by seeing the next storm cloud. It was as if God: Here’s your sign. Here’s your sign of My judgment & wrath against sin. Here’s your sign that no one escapes My wrath. Here's your sign that sinners deserve death & destruction. I'm not sure we could truly understand  the amount of anxiety & fear Noah felt seeing that dark cloud on horizon. The dark cloud had become a sign of his own sin and the he death deserved for sin. How far is Noah going to be willing venture away from the ark when the smell of rain hit his nose?

We've lost that graphic sign of God’s judgment & wrath against sin in our modern day. The world’s even taken the rainbow and turned it into a symbol for license. A symbol for doing what feels good &  no one can tell you that it's wrong because it feels so good & self-fulfilling. How far might we be willing to venture from the ark of God’s church if we constantly had that sign of God’s all-consuming holy wrath before us? Would we be a little more urgent in way we seek after God’s gifts in Word & sacrament? And yet, God’s given us a sign, though we do our very best to ignore & try to dress it up, or put it in the corner so that we can hide away from it. We, in fact, do have a graphic sign of God’s just judgment against sin. We have it in every funeral that we attend. We have it in every body we lay to rest in grave. It's as if God said Here’s your sign, the wages of sin=death (Rom 6:23). How many times have we passed a cemetery without much of second look? Yet it is a reality that we all must deal with: we are going to die. That's the judgment of God against our sins. The soul that sins shall die, the prophet Ezekiel says. Here’s your sign, God says & hands down His law, which reveals that His judgment sin't the world’s fault, nor the devil’s fault. They may tempt us but we’re ones who dive headlong into it,. God's law reveals that sin is my fault, my own fault, my own most grievous fault. The Law reveals that I deserve far more than death for my sins but even eternal fires & suffering of hell.

So God answers Noah’s anxiety & fear and gives him His promise, “I establish My covenant with you: Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.” (Gen 9:11) But clouds stills get very dark, almost green in colour. The wind gets severe, and the rain falls hard & flash floods still sweep across the landscape & still kill many. It's enough to shoo God's promise away from Noah’s mind. So God says, here’s your sign, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between Me and you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set My rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth” (v. 12-13) Set against the dark backdrop of the storm, God says, "Here’s your sign: I set My rainbow between heaven & earth." It proclaims the promise between God & man. It spans the whole horizon as a sign teaching the all-embracing mercy of God. And when He sees it, He’ll remember: “Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember My covenant between Me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life.” (v 14-15), He’ll remember. Not as some kind of mental exercise, as though God forgot His promise & needs to remember it, but as an action. With every appearance of the rainbow in the sky God puts His promise into action. The rain won't fall to wash away the whole earth. Noah need not fear the rain cloud. Noah need not fear, but place his trust in the God who gives His gracious & merciful promise for all creation and places His rainbow in sky: Here’s your sign

And God's not done giving signs. Here’s your sign God said, and He gave the blood of the lamb that redeemed His people out of slavery in Exodus. Here’s your sign—the manna from heaven to feed Israel as the sign of God’s merciful presence among them to provide daily bread. Here’s your sign, God said and gave the bronze serpent so that anyone bit by a fiery serpent look to it in faith & live. Here’s your sign, God said, "And this will a sign for you: you will find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes & laid in manger." The promised Word of salvation taken on flesh & blood. Here’s your sign, the incarnate Son of God hung upon the cross, giving His life to save the world from sin & death. In the midst of death, God sets the sign of cross & empty tomb as a sign for you: your death has been overtaken by death. It's a sign for you that life walks out from death to resurrection & new life. It is a sign for you set between heaven & earth & when God sees this sign, He remembers & He acts. As He sees the sign of cross applied upon His people through faith in Christ He remembers & He acts on His promise to declare you forgiven, washed of all sin in blood of Jesus. When God sees the sign of cross applied→ upon you through His Word He acts to create faith in you by power of Holy Spirit. He acts on His promise to save you. He acts on His promise to join you to Christ that where He is, there you shall be also. As He lives, you’ll live also

Here’s your sign. Here's your sign given to you for your comfort. Here's your sign given to you when your guilt tortures conscience. Here's your sign when you feel sin’s curse of death in illness and pain. Here's your sign given to you to answer your anxiety & fear when the dark clouds of life gather upon horizon. Here’s your sign. The cross stands as a sign for you that all is forgiven, all is covered by  the sacrifice of Jesus. Your death has been undone by His death. His arms are spread wide upon the cross  to show His all-embracing grace & mercy. Here’s your sign. Jesus is with you even in the gory and messy parts of life with His comfort & peace. Here’s your sign that even death itself isn't beyond His reach save you. Here’s your sign God says, as you live in the midst of the dark clouds of this fallen life. God has given to you the visible signs of your Baptism and the bread & wine that are His body & blood. These are the signs God has given to you to promise you that He's done everything for you to ensure your victory over sin & death for life everlasting. He’s marked you with the sign of the cross upon your forehead and upon your heart to mark you as one redeemed by Jesus Christ the crucified.

Here’s your sign. When dark clouds of life assault you with fear, anxiety, and doubt God says to you, Here’s your sign in the clouds for you to see & know you’re His called baptized, redeemed, justified, bodied & blooded child for life everlasting. He’ll save you. He's put His sign between heaven & earth. He’ll remember. He'll act for you. He's saved you in Christ. Here’s your sign.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.