The date was day 6 of creation; it was a Friday. The venue was a beautiful garden in Eden. The reception buffet included the fruit of every tree in the garden except for one. The officiant was the triune God. The groom was Adam, and the bride would be called Eve. Perhaps you can recall the details of the day when you were joined in marriage.
Most of you will be familiar with the names Cain and Abel, those two sons of Adam and Eve. You may recall the sad story of these two brothers from Genesis 4. Cain developed a deep hatred for his brother, and he nursed that hatred in his heart. The Lord God came to Cain and warned him, “Sin is crouching at your door.” (Genesis 4:7) That’s an interesting way to think about sin.
53 years ago, a revolution began. It was an athletic revolution in the track and field world. You could say that 53 years ago the event of high jump was turned on its head. It was the 1968 summer Olympics in Mexico City, and a young high jumper from Oregon named Dick Fosbury did something that the world had never seen.
To begin this morning, I want to read for you a passage from Scripture. It is Matthew 23:26: They placed the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus. Do you remember this scene? It is morning on Good Friday. They are leading Jesus out to Calvary to crucify him. Jesus began the death-march carrying his own cross. But weakened as he was from beatings and blood loss, he is unable to carry it the whole way. So the Roman soldiers grab an onlooker from the crowd.
The Kingdom of God is advancing. It is advancing everywhere Jesus goes. And as the Kingdom of God advances with Jesus, the tyranny of Satan crumbles. As the Kingdom of God advances with Jesus, the symptoms of sin begin to dissipate. Neither demons nor disease nor death can stand against the forward march of the Christ and his Kingdom.
We have all seen the images coming out of Afghanistan over the last weeks. Certainly they are images that touch our hearts and move us Christians to pray for God’s help and healing in that chaotic part of the world. But for the moment, I want you to “freeze” on one image you have seen. I want you to freeze your mind’s eye on the image of the U.S soldier dressed for combat. Can you picture it?
I don’t suppose the culture around us would have very good things to say about Joshua or about the words which he speaks in the text before us today. The cultural elites would probably brandish a few different labels to mark Joshua as someone out of step with their values.
Before us this morning is one of those things we find in the Bible called a “beatitude.” A beatitude is a statement of what is blessed. Perhaps the most well-known beatitudes in the Bible are those Jesus speaks in the Sermon on the Mount. Blessed are the poor in spirit…Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted…Blessed are the meek (Matthew 5), and so on. But those are by no means the only beatitudes found in Scripture.
If you have ever gone on a day hike in the mountains, then you know how important it is to pack some trail mix in your backpack. If you’ve ever run a marathon, then you know how essential it is to take some energy gels or energy gummies along with you on the race. And if you’ve ever worked a full morning out in the fields, then you know how necessary a good dinner is before heading out again for an afternoon of work.
Our culture is obsessed with the whole concept of the “makeover.” People love the home makeover shows. You know the ones. There’s Fixer Upper with Chip and Joanna, and there’s Design on a Dime, and Extreme Home Makeover: Home Edition, and Love It or List It, and on and on and on. For whatever reason people love to tune in to watch houses be transformed.
