January 1, 2012
Time for the New Thing
- Isaiah 43:16-21
- Rev. Scott Shelton
I think as I get older, into my late 40’s I realize how precious time is – and how fast it goes. When I was in college, and in my 20’s, it seemed as though time moved slowly along. Sometimes even creeping along when things weren’t going well. Then actually moving more quickly when life was good.
But now, I feel like time is streaking by. I’ve been married 16 years and my kids are growing before my very eyes, ages 13, 11, 9 and 9. It seems like some days they are changing by the day. I want to hold on to this time – not wish it away – even on the tough days – but to appreciate them.
At the time of Isaiah, the people of Israel – God’s people - probably thought time was creeping by. The people who were listening to Isaiah were convicted of how they had failed God. And Isaiah was telling them of judgment and defeat to come. Isaiah was sent by God to tell them where they had gone wrong – he brought words of judgment in chapters 1-39. But in chapters, 40-66, sometimes called second Isaiah, the prophet brings words of comfort and words of hope.
We looked into Isaiah just a few weeks ago in early December and on Christmas Eve we read that the people were waiting for a savior in Isaiah 9:6-7 where it says,
“For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
It is in this second half of Isaiah where we look today, for words of hope Isaiah 43:16-21.
Let’s read now about the old and the new.
READ ISAIAH 43:16-21
The greatest new thing which the people had a hard time seeing, was the coming of the Messiah. Later in this book, Isaiah gives more detail of the Messiah
What will this Messiah do? What will he be like?
It says in Isaiah 42,
“and he will bring justice to the nations.
2 He will not shout or cry out,
or raise his voice in the streets.
3 A bruised reed he will not break,
and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.
In faithfulness he will bring forth justice.” Isaiah 42:1-3
Several chapters later, Isaiah gets even more specific about the Messiah when he says,
“Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.” Isaiah 53:4-5
And finally part of the Messiah’s role will be:
“to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners.” Isaiah 61:1
How can the Messiah guide us right now that we know he has come at Christmas – and guide us into new things in a new year?
Back to today’s passage, in chapter 43:16-21, Isaiah gives guidance to the people and to us to forget the former things and look to the new thing.
He says, God made a way through the sea – this is from the time of Moses and how God provided for his people in desperate times and despite the odds – saved them in miraculous form.
The people had to find a way through the water – to go the Promised Land. The Bible commentator Geoffrey Grogan says, “Water, formerly a barrier, would now be a blessing, with God as its source.” God is the same God of the exodus, but doing something with “wonderful freshness.”
When the people would be in exile, they would be in a desert – and if they are literally to return home – to cross that desert. God says he will provide water – life-giving water –which will get them across a wasteland and back home to that land. Spiritually, he will offer new life through new water as they return to their homeland.
For the people of Israel 700 years later – he gave life-giving water through Christ, the long-awaited Messiah. If people were thirsty for God – and needed to have their thirst quenched like the woman at the well – God would provide. God could provide not just water to drink for this woman but living water for a new life as she met Jesus for the first time. Jesus himself is the life-giving water – like a stream in a spiritual desert – who had sprung up – to provide life to the poor, lost, hurting people of Israel.
What about us? Here we are 2700 years after the time of Isaiah, and we are still thirsty. Bono, the charismatic leader of U2, sang in the song “I still haven’t found what I’m looking for” many years ago,
“You broke the bonds
And you loosed the chains
Carried the cross
Of my shame…
You know I believe it
But I still haven't found what I'm looking for.”
As we enter a new year, some of us still feel as if we still haven’t found everything that we are looking for. Even when we know Christ, the Bible says we are longing for all things to be made right in creation. We can feel that things in the world are unjust, broken, and just aren’t right. Our world today longs for something better, something new, that the old things we’d like to forget – so we could move ahead in the new year into something much more grand and God-honoring.
In verse 16-17, God has the people to look to the past – remembering what he had done – saving them, rescuing them, and providing them reason to trust. They are to base their trust for his future salvation – because he is a God worth their trust – based on the truth of the past. For them, it was the miracle and the providence of the Exodus. For us, it is the places where we’ve had our God moments, where we saw God at work, heard his voice, when we first came to faith, or at a Great Banquet where we saw God’s grace for the first time, or on a mission trip where we saw that God could use us in powerful ways. To put it in one phrase: We believe in God’s goodness because we have seen that God is trustworthy.
And yet, in vs. 18, Isaiah says “forget the former things, do not dwell on the past, see I am doing a new thing.” One commentator, David Guzik says,
“there is a sense we must forsake and forget the past, with all its discouragement and defeat, and move on to what God has for us in the future…Staying stuck in the past (whether dwelling on the glory days of youth – or dwelling on the defeat of the recent past) can keep us from the new thing God wants us to do.”
Just as the people then had to be ready for change, so do we. The message of this passage then is, we know from our past with God, that God is trustworthy. But we let go of the past, wherever it holds us back from God’s best. Don’t dwell on the past in wherever it holds you back from God’s best.
We live in a world which is constantly changing. The way we communicate is constantly changing – from face to face, to land line phone, to cell phone. From email, to instant messaging, to texting, to Facebook and twitter. Frankly, I don’t keep up very well. The election of Barack Obama to the presidency was a historic event for our country, and yet already in 2012, this year we will be having another election for President – time flies!
Churches change too. The way we worship, the styles of music, the architecture, what we wear to church, the way many people migrate from church to church, they all change. It’s not like our parents or grandparents – many of who stayed in the same towns they were born in and the same churches for a lifetime. Technology and the ease of travel has made the world seem smaller – as we can have good friends and mission partners in Romania, Mexico, and Egypt, and in many other nations. As the world changes in the new year, good, bad, or neutral, let’s consider what will change for us in 2012.
Let’s ask ourselves:
- What do we remember of God’s goodness that gives us confidence and trust that God is with us?
- What is it we need to forget, or stop dwelling on, from 2011?
- What is the new thing – not that we are doing on our own – but that God may be doing in us and through us in 2012?
To help us answer those questions briefly as individuals and as a church, let’s look again to Jesus, whom Isaiah foreshadowed 2700 years ago.
Jesus forgiveness through the cross, allows us to wipe clean the slate – he removes our sins as far as the east is from the west - so that we can have do-overs. I remember playing wiffle ball with Walt Holmes in my front yard, and if we had a disagreement whether a hit was fair or foul, we had a do-ver. Life often doesn’t give do-overs for mistakes we make. But God does. He is the God of second chances. With God, all things are possible. With God, we can have all the re-words, you know, the words that begin with “re.” With God, we can show repentance, and with repentance can come a re-do, renewal of spiritual life and hope, re-affirmation of our faith, renewal of relationships, not a repeat of past failures.
What about helping others to have a do-over or a re-do in their lives? What about people who are hurting or lost?
For you and for me, for many of us who live in Carmel, Zionsville, or on the north side of Indy – suburban life can sometimes make it hard to reach those who are poor or imprisoned or oppressed. But who do you know that is poor in spirit, downcast in their outlook on life, or oppressed by a situation of broken relationships, unemployment, or feeling alone? Ask God to see those around you who need help. If that’s you, be courageous and reach out for help in the new year – to move away from the hurt of the past into the light of the future with Christ.
For ZPC – how can God guide us into a new year?
One example is the Neighborhood Christian Legal Clinic. Starting this month, on the second and fourth Saturdays next door at the Cabin, ZPC will be hosting the NCLC Boone County edition. They will be doing intake on those Saturdays, referring clients to other attorneys and referring clients to other services as needed. It’s a great example of how people with a dream to help right injustice can look for practical new ways to help the hurting and the disenfranchised and the poor. This is an excerpt from the Legal Clinic explanation of what they will be doing at ZPC: “At the legal clinic, we routinely see people in need of services. An immigrant comes to us for help with her visa, but fundamentally she is struggling in a sometimes inhospitable land. A woman comes to us for divorce, but what she may need more is counseling. Former prisoners come to us for help expunging their records, but they really need job training as well. People come to us on the verge of losing their homes, and need to know their options. Bankruptcy assistance is in high demand, and many of the people seeking this help also need to learn better stewardship of their resources.
Quite simply, we want to make referrals to caring people who can help these clients with their other needs. We certainly recognize the secular sources of aid in each of these areas, and we include those on our list, but we obviously do not want to overlook Christian sources of aid in these areas. Indeed, honestly the biggest need is not material, but spiritual. Even if a church cannot help our clients with their material needs, if a church is willing to help these neighbors by holding their hands and praying with them, and loving them, we want to know about those opportunities most of all.”
Also at ZPC, this year we will be heading in many new directions. We will receive a new worship director next Sunday, and new direction led by our interim pastor, our elders, and most importantly input and discernment by you as you speak into our future with a strategic plan. We need to ask each other: What can God do with ZPC in the future, knowing the strengths of people, their gifts, facilities, location, and the resources with which God has blessed us? As our church moves into a new year, you can help us think and dream in new ways of what God can do through us and through this church.
For me, I need to think about this in the new year about what God is wanting from me and my family. I’ve been convicted in a healthy way, that my family needs to get out of our comfort zone and find places to serve. We’ve done that in a few ways this year, serving with the Shepherd totes, and with the Response Church downtown once this fall, but need to find more ways to challenge ourselves and our kids to think more about others than ourselves. We have a long way to go in this area, and it is something we are working on as a family in 2012.
So, let’s ask ourselves these two questions which I mentioned at the beginning of the service and are printed on your business card in your bulletin:
- Lord, I commit to leaving this old thing behind and to give to you my burden about which I have been carrying. The old thing is:
- Lord, I commit to you this new thing which you are bringing about or I commit myself to the new thing I can’t even see yet. The new thing is:
Let’s pray and commit to leave one piece of our past behind, giving it to God, and to commit to his guidance to be open to the new things He is bringing about.
Let’s pray.
Communion (by intinction)