Sermons

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We Would Be Toast
November 12, 2000
Pastor Dan Baumgartner     
Psalm 124

On this Middle School Sunday, I drew my sermon assignment from the Middle School class, and have a very short, very simple message for you. Psalm 124 is a Psalm which the Middle Schoolers have discussed in their class, and part of their discussion is reflected in the title of the sermon: “…We Would Be Toast” is actually part of a longer quote… “Without God…we would be toast.” 

Now, if that doesn’t make total sense to you, it may be that “toast” is only in your vocabulary as lightly browned bread. But “toast” can also signify “burned to a crisp,” “finished, done, destroyed, blown up.”

“Without God…We Would Be Toast.” Psalm 124 also happens to fit in nicely with our series on David, because it is ascribed to David.

You’ll probably remember, as I do, the childhood practice of choosing up sides for playground games. Basketball, kickball, soccer…they all worked the same. Captains were chosen, a coin flipped to see who received the rights to pick first, then the choosing. It was important. Who was on your team could make all the difference in the world. If you had first pick, it was critical to quickly and carefully analyze the players and figure out who would make the most impact. If I pick Greg Griffin…what difference will he make in the game? Who was on your side…was vitally important.

Recently, I’ve come to realize that I have been privileged to have a number of people on my side, in a different way. People who have been supportive at different times in my life, who encouraged me and challenged me to grow in new ways. 

I’ve been trying to think back through my life, and focus on people who have been on my side like that. A few weeks ago I called up my Jr. High basketball coach and teacher, Mr. Girod. In ninth grade, Mr. Girod was a very important person for me…he gave me the chance to grow and gain confidence as both an athlete and a person. I hadn’t seen nor heard from Mr. Girod for at least twenty years. I looked him up in the phone book and just called out of the blue. He knew who I was…though I later wondered if he thought I wanted to sell him something, or recruit him for Amway! 

Anyway, we had coffee together, and I had a chance to tell him “thank you.” To describe how important he had been for me, and what a difference it made to have him on my side. It was great. I don’t think he’d heard from too many former students, and I was reminded of a real supporter in my life.

This Psalm 124 wastes no time in cutting to the heart. The Lord IS on our side…really, that’s about all I’m going to tell you today. It starts with the reverse: “If the Lord had NOT been on our side…” Most likely, this Psalm was used by pilgrims going to the holy city of Jerusalem, or by groups of people going to worship. Quiet possibly it had a sort of “call and response” pattern to it, where a leader would shout or sing, and the people would respond.

I wonder, if David indeed wrote it originally, what he was thinking of as he wrote it. God giving him victory over Goliath? Or some other incident? David did a lot of things wrong in his life, but one thing he was quite good at was giving God the credit for any success that came his way.

 And so I imagine this procession winding up the hill in Jerusalem, beginning worship: the leader says “IF the Lord had not been on our side -- let Israel say -- IF the Lord had not been on our side…”

…we would be toast.” Last part paraphrased.

What exactly does “toast” look like? People attacking. Anger flaring.  Being swallowed alive. Being engulfed by a flood, swept over by a river, swept away by the torrent, torn apart by sharp teeth, trapped like a bird. In short, I guess, the picture is of real life. The Psalms are nothing if not real life. 

You will find a part of your life in these descriptions, I think. Things happen. Relationships go sour. People step on you on their way to being someone, or you step on someone else. Around you, the anger flares up, a friend suddenly turns on you. Disappointments come, romances fall apart, schools are dropped out of, economic realities trap you, kids tire you out, your parents divorce, monotony sets in, a grandparent dies, your job is unfulfilling, you begin to wonder why you are here anyway… none of the usual answers work. 

The temptation is to try and fix it ourselves. Vacation solves it only for a moment, a new car for a little while, the job promotion for a few weeks. But it comes back. This feeling, like the Psalmist says, that your are in danger of being swallowed alive, being swept away by the waters. Those are loud voices. And they continue to question us: "Who are you anyway? What are you alive for? I guess this is all there is.” Those are the voices that play over and over. And we hear them so many times, we believe that’s all there is.

In 1995 I spent a summer working at the Multi-Faith AIDS Project of Seattle. It was one of the hardest things I’ve done. Much of what I did was visit hospital rooms of young men, many who were dying. I couldn’t fix that. I remember one young man named Harvey. He was so lonely, thinking that NO one was on his side, certainly not God…thinking he had only himself to rely on. But he felt himself failing. And all the world had ever told him was “You have to watch out for yourself.”

Contrast this with my experience of this last year, as our Bethany organist Mary Pence battled cancer. Mary was in her last months of life. Two months before she died, I visited her in the hospital. I had walked in just after she had a surgical procedure. She was tired, and the doctor had just briefed her. We talked for a second, and prayed together. And as I was leaving, she squeezed my hand and smiled and said, “Dan, how do people do this if they don’t know the Lord?” Neither of us had a good answer for that. Mary was a woman who knew who was on her side…in life, in death and beyond.

And so the Psalmist calls us to worship, knowing we need help. And he gives to us a different voice to listen to, to remind us we are not self-reliant. “Our help is in the name of the Lord, maker of heaven and earth.” Does that sound familiar? It’s all over the Bible, really, all over our Christian faith. 

Psalm 121 says, “I lift up my eyes to the hills…where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, Maker of heaven and earth.” Or in the Apostles’ Creed: “I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth…and in Jesus Christ his only Son.” 

Over and over again comes this other voice, the one that says, “God is for you.” No matter how things may appear outwardly or feel, God is for you and with you. Paul says in Romans “What then shall we say?…If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but gave him up for us all…he will graciously give us all things.” Every time I walk into this sanctuary, no matter how I feel, every time I look up at that cross…I am reminded that the Lord is on my side. And that changes everything.

I want to close by having us say together this refrain from the Apostle’s Creed. I will read a line, and you respond with this refrain from your bulletin: “Our help is in the name of the Lord, Maker of Heaven and Earth.” 

Where does your help come from?
 “Our help is in the name of the Lord, Maker of Heaven and Earth.” 
What do you say when you are in the thick of trouble?
 “Our help is in the name of the Lord, Maker of Heaven and Earth.” 
Why do you come here today? 
“Our help is in the name of the Lord, Maker of Heaven and Earth.”

Amen.