Beginnings, Pt. 6: "Stop the World, I Wanna Get Off" (Gen 6)

STOP THE WORLD, I WANNA GET OFF!
A friend e-mailed me these insightful pointers on Noah by Don Kryer of Frontline Fellowship that has “Things to Learn from Noah and His Ark” for its subject:
(1) Plan ahead. It wasn’t raining when Noah built the ark. (2) Stay fit. When you’re 600 years old, someone might ask you to do something really big. (3) Don’t listen to critics. Do what has to be done. (4) Build on high ground. (5) For safety’s sake, travel in pairs. (6) Two heads are better than one. (7) Speed isn’t always an advantage. The cheetahs were on board, but so were the snails. (8) If you can’t fight or flee -- float. (9) Take care of your animals if they were the last ones on earth. (10) Don’t forget that we’re all in the same boat. (11) When the doo-doo gets really deep, don’t sit there and complain – shovel! (12) Stay below deck during the storm. (13) Remember that the ark was built by amateurs and the Titanic was built by professionals. (14) If you have to start over, have a friend by your side. (15) Remember that the woodpeckers inside are often a bigger threat that the storm outside. (16) No matter how bleak it looks, there’s always a rainbow on the other side. (17) DON’T MISS THE BOAT!!! (Don Kryer, Frontline Fellowship)

The Lord commanded Noah to build an enormous ark, one and a half football field long and nine standard rooms high, on an extra wide house lot. In seven days the animals voluntarily came to Noah (7:15) - seven of every kind of clean animals and a pair of every kind of unclean animals (7:2). After Noah had done his part, the rain poured forty days non-stop (7:12) and the waters rose twenty feet over the mountains (7:20) and flooded the earth for the next 150 days (7:24) before receding the next 150 days (8:3), but Noah, his wife, his three sons and their wives did not get off the boat for another two months (8:6, 10, 12).

God delivered Noah and his family because Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord (6:8). How does one do that? How are we to remain in God’s favor in an atheistic society, before an antagonistic people, in an abominable world? Noah was a man of inspiration, of perspiration and aspiration. He was a righteous man who attempted to save others and he walked with God.

How are we to be the salt and the light of the world, ambassadors to the world?

Inspire Others by Your Inward World
5 The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. 6 The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. 7 So the LORD said, "I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth--men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air--for I am grieved that I have made them." 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD. 9 This is the account of Noah.Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God. (Gen 6:5-9)

I asked my wife when I was preparing this message: What is the difference between this world and Noah’s? How are we different and what does the clause “that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time” in verse 5 mean?

Doris was surprised by the question. After all, like Noah’s generation, violence, depravity and chaos are the order and norm today. She recovered and said: “That is a good question. I never thought about that. I think the difference is that not only were wickedness and evil present at that time, but love and care were totally missing. Our present world, corrupt as it is, still has some good qualities remaining.”

That sums up Noah’s generation. Not only were immorality and violence present and love and honor absent, but remorse and correction were unlikely, derided and opposed. All negative and no positive or redeeming quality. Every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time (v 5).

Noah was a righteous man, one of a kind and a candle in the dark. His inward world was an inspiration. He was one of three, along with Job and Daniel, to define and personify the word “righteousness” (Ezek 14:20). Further, he and Job were the only biblical characters known as blameless (v 9) – godly men marked by the integrity of character, the fear of God and the abhorrence of evil (Job 1:1). He was a shining light in the darkness, a shimmering star in the night, a single spark lit and aflame for God.

Championing and upholding integrity, character and uprightness is not easy, especially when the family, the society, and even the world are surrounded, seduced and shaped by evil.

Three centuries ago, Jonathan Edwards (1703-58), who single-handedly influenced the Great Awakening, wrote a list of 70 resolutions over two years, in his own words “to fight against the world, the flesh and the devil to the end of my life” (Eerdman’s Handbook to the History of Christianity p. 438). He was 19 at that time, exposed to temptation like most youngsters but was mature beyond his years. The revival would occur under this spiritual giant twelve years later. Here are his 10 shortest resolutions:
(1) Resolved, to live with all my might, while I do live.
(2) Resolved, never to do anything, which I should be afraid to do, if it were the last hour of my life.
(3) Resolved, when I feel pain, to think of the pains of martyrdom, and of hell.
(4) Resolved, to be endeavoring to find out fit objects of charity and liberality.
(5) Resolved, never to do anything out of revenge.
(6) Resolved, never to suffer the least motions of anger to irrational beings.
(7) Resolved, that I will live so as I shall wish I had done when I come to die.
(8) Resolved, to maintain the strictest temperance in eating and drinking.
(9) Resolved, to cast away such things, as I find to abate my assurance.
(10) Resolved, in narration's never to speak anything but the pure and simple verity (truth). http://www.dallas.net/~trigsted/text/resolut.htm

So, be on your toes. Guard your heart (Prov 4:23), watch your steps (Eccl 5:1), and check for error so that you may not fall from your secure position (2 Pet 3:17).

Perspire in Your Outward Witness
5 if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others (2 Peter 2:5)

A rich man, who was wasteful, drunk and lecherous, died in a certain town and the entire community mourned his death. When his coffin was lowered the people wailed and cried loudly. In the recollection of the oldest inhabitant of the town no man departed with such sorrow.

The following day another rich man died. He was just the opposite of the first in character and living. He was ascetic and dined on practically nothing but dry bread and turnips. He had been pious all the days of his life and sat all the time studying religious books. Nonetheless, no one except his own family mourned his death. His funeral passed almost unnoticed, and he was laid to rest in the presence of a handful.

A stranger, who happened to be visiting in the town at that time, was filled with wonder, and asked: “Explain to me the riddle of this town's strange behavior. It honors a reckless man, yet ignores a saint!” One of the townsmen replied, “The rich man who was buried yesterday, although he was a lecher and a drunkard, was the leading benefactor of the town. He was easy-going and merry, and loved all the good things in life. Practically everybody in this town profited from him. He'd buy wine from one, chickens from another, geese from a third, and cheese from a fourth. And being kindhearted, he paid well. That's why he is missed and we mourn after him. But what earthly use was the saint to anybody? He lived on bread and turnips and no one ever made a cent on him. Believe me, no one will miss him.”

Like his great grandfather, Enoch (Jude 14-16), Noah walked with God and ministered to men. Noah had an innocent mind, a resolute purpose, but a heart of gold. He perspired to save the lost. Noah was the preacher of righteousness who attempted to save others. Never mind he had seven days (Gen 7:14), or that he had seven family members to save, he preached to all who were willing to hear, not just family members, as if his life depended on it, as if he himself was drowning, and as if he had room on board for them.

Noah didn’t shut the world out, but he couldn’t get them on or invite them up either. Do you know who many people he convinced? None, except his family. He painstakingly relayed God’s message, reasoned with them, but eventually resigned with regrets.

Noah was the salt of the earth, the salvation of the world but, nevertheless, a sword to the unsaved (Heb 11:7). He did all he could though he couldn’t convince them, correct or convert them, but he talked to as many people as possible, tried out as many methods as available, made as much adjustment as he could, and used up all seven days he had. That’s why he was called a preacher of righteousness.

Aspire for an Upward Walk
7 By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. (Heb 11:7)
20 Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. 21 The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: "Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done. (Gen 8:20-21)

Several years ago, a pastor friend (Rev. Tang) and an immigrant from Hong Kong related how learning the English language when he was young shaped his spiritual life as an adult. He fondly remembered an English teacher who required him to memorize a short verse by Walter Savage Landor (1775–1864). The pastor could remember the poem after more than 30 years, recited all of the 35 words to me, and then wrote parts of it down on a piece of paper for me. I had kept it since in my photo album. The words were short, but rich and invaluable, especially the first ten words: “I STROVE with none, for none was worth my strife.” http://www.bartleby.com/101/576.html

The maverick attitude is true and admirable: nothing is worth our strife. God alone is present through thick and thin, through life’s ebb and flow, for today and tomorrow. Noah walked on earth, rode the storm, and escaped the wrath, all by God’s grace. A Jewish proverb says, “Whosoever walks toward God one cubit, God runs towards him twain (twice).” (3,000 Quotations p. 8).

Noah walked and leaned close to God as God addressed him directly through every chapter of Genesis 6 through 9, revealed to Noah His plans, and directed Noah about the ark, into the ark (Gen 7:1), out of the ark (Gen 8:15).

Amazingly, Noah listened patiently, obeyed consistently, worked speedily and said nothing in all three chapters! A man of God who walks with God is one who fears God, obeys Him, and honors Him. Noah’s fear was not emotional, patchy or crippling, but reverential, godly and rational (Heb 11:7). He obeyed all that God had commanded him (Gen 6:22, 7:5). He remains the only individual in the Bible credited with the line “did all that the Lord commanded” or “did all that God commanded.” Noah would not do anything that would pain, grieve or displease God. As soon as they landed, Noah was distinguished as the first person in the Bible to build an altar to the Lord (Gen 8:20). The altar would symbolize the starting place, the mending fence, and the turning point of one’s relationship with God.

Noah’s story was remarkable. In the end, everything was water, waste, wet and wild. No one outside of God’s refuge survived. In the midst of all this, Noah seized the three greatest spiritual blessing one can have in life: to belong to God, to be with Him, and to believe in Him. God was the leader, Noah the student, but God talked to, interacted with, and confided in Noah like a friend.

God desires His children to be occupied with the presence of God, ordered by the word of God, and offered for the use of God. Believers are to dwell on the things of God, to develop a meaningful relationship with God, and to devote themselves without reservation to Him.

Are you totally given to God, guided by Him and growing in Him? While we rejoice that we will no longer be swept by the flood, will the fire of God consume you on Judgment Day? Will you be left behind on earth or caught up in the air at the Lord’s coming? Will you meet the Lord alone or bring others to Him?

Conclusion: It’s been said: “Any dead fish can float downstream -- it takes a live one to swim against it.” http://www.focusongod.com/faith.htm A believer stands out like a sore thumb, stands up as a godly man should, and stands firm in the midst of the corruption of men, the collapse of culture, and the condemnation of the world.

The Bible warns us not to be deceived (Gal 6:7), defiled (Matt 15:18), or depressed by evil (1 Cor 13:6, Ps 37:7). A man reaps what he sows. However, do not delight in evil; rejoice with the truth (1 Cor 13:6), rejoice in the hope of the glory of God (Rom 5:2) and that your name is written in heaven. (Luke 10:20).