Never Again

Sermon on Genesis 8:21-9:17

Have you ever made a promise to yourself? I have made a few in my life thus far. I’ve found that these promises, for better or for worse, have become pivotal moments in my life. In these moments, I would make up my mind about some matter, and that decision would become the ultimate guide at every similar dilemma and crossroad. I’ve also come to realize that these personal convictions define who we are. It’s not our abilities, not our background, or even our achievements. I’ve listened to enough eulogies to know this. Our convictions define who we are. There was a time where I went through a rough patch at TTC. On my side, I didn’t know what I was doing with my life. My entire education had been in the Science and Business streams and Art subjects fitted me badly. At the same time, I heard some news from church that was rather disheartening. Should I give up? That was constantly on my mind. Second thoughts can be the biggest danger to a person on a difficult journey. James said in 1:6 “ the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.” Jesus said in Luke 9:62 “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.” I was disillusioned for some time. Then one morning, I had a moment of epiphany. I made a personal pledge to Jubilee. That pledge has carried me through the years in TTC and more than ten years in Church. In ministry, there are often ups and downs. I’ve changed in temperament, in thoughts, and evidently, even in size. But my conviction has stayed the same. I say this not because it is something very special. Some of you, and especially my colleagues, have been in Jubilee much longer than I. But I hope that on the day I die, they will say: “this guy is a Jubilean”. I would be defined at least by this conviction of mine.

In our passage today, after the flood, God made a promise to himself. And I think this promise is a defining moment of our God. In 8:21, God said in his heart, “Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.” The promise sounds like a simple one. I’ll never do this again. We’ve all made promises like this. On a smaller scale, you might say “I’ll never eat in this shop again” or “I’ll never wear this dress again”. On a larger scale, you might say “I’ll never smoke again”, or “I’ll never drink and drive again.” But brothers and sisters, although this conviction may sound simple, it does not come easy. I would even say that God had to live with this heart-wrenching decision for good. This is what we were told in Genesis 6:

5 The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. 6 The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. 7 So the Lord said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.”

Essentially, God came to the same verdict after the flood as he had before the flood: before the flood in 6:5, the verdict was “every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time”; after the flood in 8:21 the verdict was also “every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood”. Both verdicts were the same. This verdict was not saying that there were no nice or good-hearted people. I’m sure there were many. There are good and noble non-Christians throughout history as well. The issue is whether humanity as a whole can “transcend calculated self-interest which inevitably leads to death?” [1] Through my reflection across thousands of years of civilisation until modern history, I would agree with God’s verdict. Humanity alone leans towards self-destruction.

However, though it was the same verdict as before the flood, it was a totally different sentence after the flood. Before the flood, in 6:7, the sentence was “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created”. After the flood, in 8:21, the sentence was “never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.” The contrast in sentencing could not have been greater, from sending the flood previously to never again thereafter. Precisely because we know that the verdict was the same, we would also know that the subsequent conviction from God did not come easy, because the effects of the verdict were also the same. We were told in 6:6 that after the verdict, that “the Lord regretted, and his heart was deeply troubled.” Was humanity still sinful? Yes. Would judgement and punishment be fair and justifiable? Yes. And depending on your translation of Genesis 6:6, was God’s heart not filled with pain (NIV 1984)? Yes. Was his heart not broken (NLT)? Yes. Was there no sorrow (Douay-Rheims Bible)? There was. Yet despite this, God pronounced a different sentence: never again. Why?

I think the reason is because just as the waywardness of creation was regrettable, the futility of punishment alone was equally regrettable. God can punish repeatedly, but the eventual verdict will not change with punishment alone, human depravity remains inevitable after every fresh beginning. In the Flood, “God has tried all but destroying the earth, but God knows that although this action makes a point, it gets no one anywhere. So God decides to accept the world as it is because it is necessary to accept humanity as it is. This does not mean being happy with the world and humanity, but it does mean coming to terms with who they are. Only when you have acknowledged the situation can you start to do something about it.” [2]

Let me be clear, acceptance is not resignation. The fact remains that there is nothing to prevent God from destroying his creation to yield a fresh start repeatedly. Heck, “God could decide that creating the world was a bad idea” [3] and end the world once and for all. So when God made this promise to himself, this conviction to never again punish in this way, it was an active choice, a deliberate exercise of his sovereign will. And in doing so, you and I know, he has chosen to live with the grief that comes with the constant rebellious nature of Man. “God resolves that he will stay with, endure, and sustain his world, notwithstanding the sorry state of humankind… The flood has effected no change in humankind. But it has effected an irreversible change in God, who will approach his creation with an unlimited patience and forbearance… God has been committed to his creation from the beginning… Now the commitment is intensified… it is marked by grief … it is now clear that such a commitment on God’s part is costly.” [4] In God’s promise of “never again”, it is no mere toleration of evil. God has taken a decision to go with the world, to persist in staying the course, transforming whatever may come in the way of human wickedness. It would be painstaking, but he would never give up.

God made up his mind at the end of Genesis 8. In our passage today in Genesis 9, it was the pronouncement of his personal conviction to humanity as represented by Noah. It was a new beginning. Life, both animals and humans, would be fruitful and multiply. It was like a repeat of Genesis 1, yet you can feel that something is different. God wants the new humanity to respect life. There will be individual accountability. When we eat meat, we must not eat an animal that is still alive. Human life with the image of God is even more precious. Killing a human being means a direct attack on God. We can continue to be fruitful and multiply as before, but with a stronger warning on the respect of all life.

And the biggest difference lies with the covenant. God wants to reveal his promise to himself to us, his personal conviction to never again destroy his entire creation. On one hand it is wonderful, that the covenant was given so that we are secure in the faithfulness of God to his own word. “The covenant will be as good as God is. God establishes it in goodness and love and upholds it in eternal faithfulness. It will never need to be renewed; it stands forever, regardless of what people do.” [5] On the other hand it is sad, that the flood has “imperiled the relationship on both sides. God cannot trust human beings, and human beings cannot trust God. So now God makes a formal and solemn binding commitment to humanity.” [6]

The sign of this covenant is the rainbow. This doesn’t mean that the rainbow was created for this covenant, but rather, God is using this natural phenomenon as a sign of his covenant. But though the sign is a visible reminder to us of God’s promise, its function is mainly for God. Whenever God sees the rainbow, he would remember his covenant, the promise to himself. The rainbow is “the bow after the rain”. Though the rainbow is beautiful, I feel somewhat melancholic when I see a bow without arrows. This metaphorical bow can no longer function as a weapon, it is good only as an ornament. I can only imagine what it takes to have the level of resolve for God to make this promise. He is intentionally limiting himself, disabling his arm of strength. This bow can never again shoot, and it is a constant reminder of God’s sacrifice, yet also of his corresponding impotence.

Yet I believe what is reduced in destructive strength, is amply multiplied in the intensity to persevere and endure. The rainbow is a reminder of the turbulent relationship between God and Man; and the work must continue. It is a reminder that cannot be ignored or neglected. God sees it after every rain, and he then remembers his resolve to stay on with humanity. God is like the father with a prodigal son. The rainbow is the reminder that he will never again choose to have another son, this is the only son he will forever love. Yet he had such a rebellious son, the son carrying his own image. And so he waits, he endures, he grieves, but his love is eternal.

All of us have a bow. We have not made any promises like God’s, and so our bow can still kill. We can always choose to end our work, our project or whatever creation we made. When the going gets tough, when we feel troubled or angry, we can shoot and kill it, and walk away and never look back. Maybe we do have the right to do so. We feel justified of our destruction when it is others who were in the wrong in the first place. We are only exercising our right of judgment. But I want to ask today, “What makes us never give up?” Violence is easy. To destroy is easy. We don’t even need God’s standards to be critical. All of us are amply talented in fault-finding already. But looking at God, I learned a lesson. Destruction alone doesn’t resolve anything; neither does walking away. True transformation comes from enduring the pain and the suffering. It‘s knowing that things can go wrong and falls are inevitable. Yet, in forsaking the power of “giving up”, we gain the conviction of never giving up.

In the past, I often wondered about God’s unusual methods. Choosing an old guy called Abram, waiting for him to start his family, saving his descendants out of Egypt and through the wilderness, building a nation yet failing with the first guy, and eventually the kingdom divided and fell, but God restored it with the sacrifice of his only Son. What kind of conviction is this? What makes him never give up? All this, from starting to always enduring, is it just because of a promise he made to himself? But we are defined by our convictions. God is known not just as the God of judgment but also of grace, precisely because of his conviction of grace. His actions demonstrate that this human sinfulness can only be resolved by his choice of grief and pain, and eventually with grace.

Today, I want to give a word of encouragement for each of our lives and our ministries. It can be the relationship with your family. It can also be the cell group that you are leading. Sometimes it does seem like we are dealing with a prodigal son. Maybe you have a child who never listens. Maybe your cell group is never committing themselves, or more interested in chit-chat than the bible. Whichever the case, you feel like giving up or moving on. And you come to a moment of choice. Remember the rainbow. The “bow after the rain”, pretty but laid-down and without its arrows. God knew he would be grieved and heartbroken again and again. But instead he made a promise to himself: never again the destruction; never again the wiping out. He will stay with whatever it is, no matter how much the sacrifice, until the work is done. What about your own convictions? How would you be defined? Let us pray.

Footnotes
[1] Brueggemann, Genesis (Interpretation), p 82
[2] Goldingay, Genesis for everyone, p 110
[3] Goldingay, Israel’s Gospel, p 179
[4] Bruggemann, p 81
[5] The New Interpreter’s Bible, v.1, p 400
[6] Goldingay, Israel’s Gospel, p 181