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This sermon was delivered live on Sunday morning, July 27, 2025, and is rooted in two Scripture passages: Hosea 1:1–11 and Luke 11:1–13.
You are invited to watch the video of the full sermon embedded below—and then scroll down to read along with the full text of the message, edited only for clarity and readability while preserving the spoken content in full.
The Two Forces That Shape the Universe
So—gravity and entropy. These are two opposing natural forces that govern the universe, and that’s what we’re talking about this morning.
Now, I’m sure I’m greatly oversimplifying these things, and there’s some physicist out there who probably has several corrective notes for me on the subject. But from what little I do know of physics, the universe and all natural law is, in essence, this battlefield between two great forces: gravity—the force that draws everything together—and entropy—the force that ultimately breaks everything apart.
Gravity, given enough time, brought the particles of this universe together. It forged our galaxies, our stars, our planets, and our own bodies. It holds us safe even now on the surface of this little life raft that God created for us in the heart of the empty void.
And then there’s entropy, which is, even now, pulling the particles of this universe apart, marching us on a slow and steady descent back into that void—into the end.
This universe has a beginning, as we’ve talked about. I can pretty much bring everything back to the creation story. But yes, the universe has a beginning, and it also has an end. “Heaven and earth will pass away” (Matthew 24:35).
What happened before? Well, that’s a matter of faith. What will happen after? That’s also a matter of faith. It’s our trust in the promise that though heaven and earth—all of this mortal reality—shall pass away, God’s Word, or the reality of God, will endure forever.
But the beginning and the end of this universe—those are truths known to science. The law of gravity. The law of entropy.
The Natural Law of Persistence
The point is to understand this question of persistence—or perseverance.
When Jesus tells us, “Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened” (Luke 11:9), this is really nothing short of natural law. It’s been written into the very fabric of how this universe operates.
Because both gravity and entropy—these are forces of unrelenting persistence. Through persistence, gravity pulls the universe together. Through persistence, entropy will tear it apart.
We’ve all heard the persistence stories by now. Why persistence is important. Children’s storybooks are filled with this message. There are folk tales and parables on this theme—“The Tortoise and the Hare,” to name the most popular.
And then, of course, Jesus’s parable that we read today (Luke 11:5–8). This surprise guest shows up at a man’s house late at night. The man has nothing to feed his friend, so he goes over to his neighbor’s house and wakes him up. And he just keeps being annoying until the neighbor finally gives him what he wants.
I remember reading this story as a child and thinking, “Well that’s rude.” Shouldn’t Jesus be teaching us not to wake up our neighbors in the middle of the night?
And just a few quick notes on that subject:
First, I think we need to revisit this notion that Christians are supposed to always be polite and unassuming and inoffensive. Because there’s a difference between politeness and kindness. And more than anything, we’re called to tell the truth. And the truth isn’t always easy to hear.
Also, there’s probably some cultural context at work here, where hospitality was a more communal responsibility in the ancient world. So this might’ve been more socially acceptable then than it is today. Customs change over time.
But more importantly, when we read this story, it helps to understand that the question of rudeness isn’t actually the issue. This isn’t a story about what you should or shouldn’t do when a guest shows up at your house in the middle of the night. That’s not the point. The point is persistence and how it works.
The story is meant to prove that point. If you’re in bed in the middle of the night, and your neighbor shows up and just keeps knocking on your door until you have to deal with him—well, you’re going to deal with him. Right or wrong, rude or not, that’s just how it works. That’s how persistence works.
Persistence, like gravity, is a law of nature that resides beneath the laws of nature—and makes things happen.
Hosea and God’s Persistent Love
So my question for this morning is: Why is that true?
And I think this particular combination of readings—the one from Hosea and the one from Luke—actually shows us why this is such a truth in our reality (Hosea 1:1–11; Luke 11:1–13).
To get the whole message here, you kind of have to understand the whole story of Hosea. This prophet from Israel prophesied to—you just heard the list of kings. But fortunately for us, Hosea’s entire story is contained in about 15 verses, most of which we read. The other eleven and a half chapters of the book are various prophecies against various people.
But the story itself really boils down to this:
Hosea was apparently married to what we’d call today a serial cheater. And God uses that relationship as this extended metaphor for God’s own relationship with the Hebrew people, and by extension, with humanity as a whole.
It leads ultimately to this conclusion: Even the most broken of relationships can be fixed. At the end of the reading, we encountered people who were once called “Not My People” being called “Sons of the Living God” again (Hosea 1:10). This is not an irredeemable situation. God’s persistent love for humanity will ultimately restore and redeem the relationship between God and humanity.
Our Nature and Our Limits
“When the Lord began to speak to Hosea,” the book tells us, “the Lord said to Hosea: Go, take for yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom” (Hosea 1:2).
What I find particularly interesting here is that the unfaithfulness of this wife, Gomer, is presented as essentially her nature. It’s not really described as a series of choices that she makes. It’s kind of just who she is.
Now, our modern research into thing likes addiction—and serial adultery can be a form of addiction—shows that, in certain cases, addiction can indeed be a natural predisposition in certain people, like cancer or depression or diabetes. That doesn’t excuse the behavior. It doesn’t mean the addiction is unavoidable. But it is, or can be, something that some people are more prone to.
For example, I avoid alcohol because I have alcoholism in my family. Is it genetic? I don’t know. I’m not going to take that risk.
So the presentation of Gomer as just by nature unfaithful adds something to the metaphor here. It reminds us that it is our nature, as the non-eternal, non-omnipotent, non-omnipresent, non-omniscient, limited and created beings that we are—it is our nature to fall short of God’s standard. It is our nature to give up, to break down, to grow tired, to be weak, and to fail.
In other words, our failures are not just choices we keep making. They are part of what we are. But—thanks be to God—this is not who we have to be forever.
Again, these predispositions—these facts of nature—don’t excuse the behavior. Right is still right, and wrong is still wrong. These things just explain behavior in a maybe helpful way. Addiction is not inevitable. We can overcome these limitations in our nature—with the help of a greater nature. With the help of God.
Because when our persistence fails, God’s does not.
God’s Covenant Loyalty
Persistence works. It accomplishes things. It literally moves mountains over time. Entire continents drift apart because of deep underground forces—gravity and entropy—these natural laws of the world.
And these laws, I believe, are written into the fabric of the universe because the author of the laws—God—is persistent.
God is what the Hebrew scriptures call hesed.
I did a word study way back in seminary on a verse from Hosea, actually, and I find it fitting to bring that up here. Hosea’s life is literally the embodiment of this word.
The term hesed is used throughout the Old Testament. It is most often translated simply as “love.” We know the phrase: “God is love,” (1 John 4:8) But what does that really mean?
When translators want to be more accurate with the translation of hesed, they often use “loving-kindness.” Another word we use is “mercy.” But the phrase I prefer is “covenant loyalty.”
Hesed means love in the sense of covenant loyalty. I like this term because both the words “covenant” and “loyalty” carry the idea of endurance, longevity, commitment across generations.
The covenants God makes with the people of Israel are meant to span generations. They are built to last. In other words—they are persistent.
The covenant is something that—even when humanity breaks our part of it—God will not.
God will keep God’s end of the covenant until, at long last, because of God’s persistence, we finally get out of bed and toss that extra loaf of bread to our annoying neighbor in the middle of the night.
Because let’s be honest—God does sometimes show up as that annoying neighbor.
What Will You Be Persistent About?
Persistence runs this universe, because God, the author of all natural law, is persistent.
Gravity and entropy—these basic natural forces—run the universe, and through our own persistence, we are able to tap into them, to change the course of our lives, to overcome our shortcomings, and perhaps even change the world.
And so I want to end with this final lesson—or warning—or challenge.
Gravity and entropy—these two cosmically persistent but also opposite forces.
Persistence works. It changes and shapes the world—no matter what we’re being persistent about.
It can do great good. It can also do evil. It can draw us together or tear us apart. It can overcome addiction—or feed it. It can bring us closer to God—or pull us further away.
Persistence is a natural law that will shape your life.
So the question is: What will you be persistent about?
“Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened” (Luke 11:9–10). It is a promise—but it’s also a warning.
Which doors are we knocking on?
Are we seeking the right things?
Thanks for reading, and I’d love to hear your thoughts—feel free to leave a comment below!
Don’t forget to come back next week as we continue to explore the surprising ways God shows up in the middle of ordinary life.
And check out last week’s sermon to join the conversation about what the Bible really says about women leading in the church here.
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