March
25, 2007
A New
Game Plan
Isaiah 43:16-21
16 This is what the LORD says—
he who made a way through the sea,
a path through the mighty waters,
17 who drew out the chariots and horses,
the army and reinforcements together,
and they lay there, never to rise again,
extinguished, snuffed out like a wick:
18 "Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.
19 See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the desert
and streams in the wasteland.
20 The wild animals honor me,
the jackals and the owls,
because I provide water in the desert
and streams in the wasteland,
to give drink to my people, my chosen,
21 the people I formed for myself
that they may proclaim my praise.
Ever since I first encountered the Christian actor, Curt
Cloninger, at one of our Covenant’s CHIC youth camps, I have kept an eye on his
work; for Curt Cloninger faithfully, and skillfully, uses his acting talents to
help people better understand their relationship with God.
Recently he updated and re-recorded a series of skits called
“God Views” in which he takes common stereotypes people have about God, and
challenges his audience to consider how they view God.
The reason he did this was simple, and it is based on a
truism; that “each person’s picture of God (understanding of God) pretty well
determines how they live their lives.”
Today Americans are shocked when terrorists kill others in
God’s name. But if we remember that their view of God is very different than
ours; that they see God more as a sheriff ready to gun down all the bad people
in this world, it would no longer surprise us that in order to “faithfully”
serve this god, they would, and actually do, devote themselves to labeling and
killing those they see as “evil”.
The mainline Christian view of God is much more like the
Father in the “Prodigal Son” story we considered last week. So when we welcome
home the sinner and celebrate the return of wayward ones, we are emulating a
God we understand as full of mercy, grace and forgiveness.
Our picture/understanding of God determines how we live our
lives.
But today, I want us to consider another view of God that
some people have... even some Christians. Curt Cloninger calls this “The
Grandfather” view, and I wonder if you have ever allowed yourself to view God
this way. For if you have, it will affect how you live your life. And while it
would not lead you to justify the killing of your enemies.... it would rob you
of experiencing a fullness of life available to those living in a relationship
with God .
So what is this view of God; this “Grandfather” stereotype of
God presented by Cloninger? It is....
-
a dawdling forgetful old man who has to look
in his wallet to remember his name, “Je-hovah”... “You can call me ’God’ for
short” he tells his visitors.
-
It is a God who was once very busy:
·
creating all things in 6 days
·
flooded the earth,
·
making a highway in the
·
coming to earth to make salvation possible.
-
It is a retired “grandfather god” just sitting
around, not getting too involved in His world which has become way “too
complicated to deal with”.
This image of God with which Cloninger challenged his
audience is what theologians would call a “Deist’s” view of God; a perspective
that says “I believe in a God of creation, and yet not a God who is actively
involved in the world today.” And with that view comes a way of living that is
very different than those who see God as both alive and active in this world.
For example:
-
Imagine how would a Deist view prayer?
* Maybe “thinking” of someone will give
them the support they need, by
why pray to an inactive God?
-
Imagine how would a Deist view the likelihood
of God’s help in days of trouble?
* You better pull yourself up by your
bootstraps, cause it’s
all up to you. You know, the Lord helps
those who help themselves, right?
-
Imagine, in whom or in what would a Deist put
their hope when life seems hopeless?
* I
better find a good doctor, or politician, or therapist
to solve this problem. It’s who you know
that counts, doesn’t it? Science is our only
hope for discovering new remedies for our growing
needs .
How we view God pretty well determines
how we live our lives.
The scripture passage I have
chosen on this fifth Sunday of Lent from Isaiah 43 describes for us a God that
does not fit with a Deist’s view of God, for it describes a God who is alive
and active; a God who is not only active but whose actions, at times, surprise
us. And today I am asking each one of us:
Upon which view of God do you live your
life?
The God described for us in
the Bible, and very succinctly here in Isaiah 43, is always up to something
new.
While God is “the same yesterday, today and forever”, how God reaches out to us
with His salvation, how he glorifies himself through those who love Him and
obey Him, how the knowledge of Him spreads from nation to nation; how His love
is shared..... all these activities are subject to adaptation.
Are you alert to God’s activity in our world? Do you
understand God as an active player in life? Do you seek to join Him in what
Isaiah calls His “new thing”, or have you too put God is a rocking chair? Have
you too made him simply an observer of your life; a life defined more by
tradition than by engagement?
Let’s look at our passage
from Isaiah, taking note of three important reminders.
1.
God has done great things in the past
16 This is what the LORD says—
he who made a way through the sea,
a path through the mighty waters,
17 who drew out the chariots and horses,
the army and reinforcements together,
and they lay there, never to rise again,
extinguished, snuffed out like a wick:
When these words from Isaiah were first spoken, they were
proclaimed to a people living in exile in
As one commentator put it:
The language here is surely meant to be
reminiscent of the exodus. In other words, God is doing Exodus once again. What God once miraculously did for the
slaves, God is doing
for the exiles. – William Willimon
It is important to know the
story. It is important for us to recognize a God of Creation, a God of power, a
God of deliverance, a God of salvation, a God of forgiveness, a God of love..
all proclaimed in ancient writings.
It is important to
know the stories so that we will know God’s character, His promises and His
faithfulness to His children. But, we are also reminded here in Isaiah 43, that
2.
While the sacred stories inform us of God’s power and His character, we are
called to live in the present looking for God’s activity today and tomorrow.
The prophet proclaims;
18 "Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.
We joke about it in the Church,
but there is truth in the observation that nothing foretells the death of a
church more than hearing the words “But that’s the way we’ve always done it.”
In making that observation, people are not saying that the
past cannot “speak” to us with words of wisdom and with insight that helps
shape our future ways. It also doesn’t mean that traditions are meaningless. But
as Jesus once said, when asked why He and His disciples didn’t do things the
same way as John the Baptist and His disciples did them, He said:
.... no one pours new wine into old wineskins. – Luke 5:37
While we learn from the past, we are called to live in the
present, looking toward the future. As a beloved Covenant theologian, John
Weborg, once titled a book Alive in Christ, Alert to Life.
Is the prophet literally
telling us to “forget the past”? No he’s not. He is simply telling God’s people
to stop “dwelling” (living) in the past, because we are called to see God at
work today, and look for His actions in the future.
A third important reminder we
receive here in Isaiah is that
3.
God is always at work providing what we need so that our lives declare the
glory of God.
19 See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the desert
and streams in the wasteland.
20 The wild animals honor me,
the jackals and the owls,
because I provide water in the desert
and streams in the wasteland,
to give drink to my people, my chosen,
21 the people I formed for myself
that they may proclaim my praise.
Once again the prophet is using the ancient images of God’s
provision for his people in their wilderness exodus in order to talk about His
future actions. And what is the message?
Just as in the Sinai Desert God provided for His people, so
too will he bring those exiled in
Amid all the observations of “strange weather” in recent
times, I don’t know if you remember that just a couple years ago (2005),
Even a place we call “Death Valley”, normally the hottest and
driest place in
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,11069-1518356,00.html
(3-10-05);
Some people call such unusual phenomenon “random” or
“pointless”, but the prophet calls us to consider such things as “intentional”,
“designed”, “purposeful”, or even a “gift” from an active God at work in this
world.
How do you view God?
How do you interpret such things?
Are we here today by “chance” or “coincidence”, or has an ever- active, ever-searching, ever-loving God brought us to this place in our lives in
order to save us, and to
bestow upon us a purpose to reflect His love
and salvation to others in this world?
See,
I am doing a new thing! God says!
Stan Telchin,
a successful Jewish businessman, felt betrayed when his 21-year-old daughter,
Judy, called home from college to say, "I believe Jesus is the
Messiah."
Judy’s new faith caused ripples throughout her family as
Stan, his wife Ethel and even their other daughter Ann sought to prove Judy
wrong.
In his search for truth, Stan
accepted an invitation to attend a National Convocation of Messianic Jews; willing
to meet with anyone who he thought could help him get more information."
After a series of meetings, Stan lay awake in his dorm
room, thinking about his journey. He had arrived at a point of crisis. If the
Bible was true—and he had concluded it was—then he really did believe in the
God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He also admitted to himself that he believed
in the Bible as God's inspired Word. But he couldn't quite say the words to
himself, "Jesus is the Messiah."
He asked his roommate, Art, to pray for him. Art obliged,
praying simply, "God give Stan your peace, and resolve his inner
conflict."
The next morning at breakfast one of the men at Stan's
table asked him to pray before the meal. So Stan bowed his head and said:
"Praised be Thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe. I thank You for
the fellowship and the friendship at this table. I thank you for what we have
learned at this meeting. I ask You now to bless this food, and I do so…in the
name of Jesus, the Messiah."
For a moment, Stan just sat there, amazed at what he had
just prayed. It had not been planned. The others at the table didn't miss it.
Their faces were suddenly jubilant. "Stan," said one of them,
"You're a believer!" And one by one, they each got up from their
seats and hugged Stan. Several cried with joy.
Stan began to weep as well. He wasn't sure how his wife
would take the news, but he just had to call her. Instead of his carefully
crafted speech, he found himself blurting out, "Ethel, honey, it's me.
It's over. I've made my decision. Jesus is the Messiah!"
There was a pause on the other line as Stan held his
breath. Then his wife's voice came back softly, "Thank God! That makes it
unanimous. We've all been waiting for you."
Stan's entire family—his wife and both daughters—had also
made their decisions to trust Christ as the Messiah. They had each been
praying, and waiting patiently, for the Holy Spirit of Christ to draw Stan into
a relationship with Himself.
Citation: Stan Telchin,
Betrayed (Chosen Books, 1981), p.95-100(edited)
See,
I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
.......
.... (I) give drink to my people, my chosen, ..... the people I formed
for myself
that they may proclaim my praise.
Today we celebrate a God
whose unchanging character is proclaimed in historic writings, but whose
actions are fresh... they are new every morning.
Today we celebrate that
because God is alive and active, we have a never-ending hope:
-
no matter how difficult life’s circumstances
become,
no matter what obstacles we face in life,
no matter what snag we hit or what illness gets diagnosed,
we celebrate because Almighty
God, whose love and forgiveness has been displayed for us in Jesus Christ, is
always doing a new thing.
Live your life in hope, reflecting
your knowledge of this God.
Live your life alert to God’s
activity in and through you. AMEN
Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION (r).
Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society.
Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.
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