Text: Mark
4:26-28
David Endriss
Isaiah 43:16-21
Preached on 6/17/07
COINCIDENCE OR PROVIDENCE?
Introduction
Last Sunday we looked at a passage from Scripture where
the apostle Paul reminded us that in Christ we are new
creations, the old has passed away. Now we are turning
to the Old Testament and we see again God speaking about
both the old and the new. There is a reoccurring theme
in the Bible about God giving new beginnings. And so we
find it here from the prophet Isaiah.
Setting the Context
To help us better understand what is happening in this
passage, we need to understand what was going on to the
Jews at this time. It’s about 600 years before Christ
and many of the people are now captives in the
Babylonian Empire. Their faith has been deeply shaken.
And yet, the prophet reminds them of a similar time in
their history when they as a people were slaves. Back
when they were once captives in Egypt.
Isaiah opens the door for these Babylonian exiles to
their memories and has them recall God’s rescue when
they crossed the Red Sea under Moses’ leadership: Thus
says the LORD, who makes a way in the sea, a path in the
mighty waters, who brings out chariot and horse, army
and warrior; they lie down, they cannot rise, they are
extinguished, quenched like a wick. Do you remember what
God did way back then?, says Isaiah. Well, hold on to
your hats, because you “ain’t seen nothin yet!”
Do not remember the former things, or consider the
things of old. I am about to do a new thing; now it
springs forth, do you not perceive it?
Now Wait Just One Minute!
The Presbyterian minister Anna Florence writing about
this very text comments that, “It’s a beautiful passage,
but a curious one, too. Do not remember the former
things? That’s not what our counselors and psychologists
tell us. They have a word for someone who refuses to
deal with the past: the word is “denial,” and it is not
a quality you especially want. People in denial are like
ostriches who stick their heads in the sand, or a person
who pretends that everything is fine, normal, when an
enormous elephant is smack in the middle of the living
room. Do not remember the former things? That’s not what
our teachers and religious leaders tell us. The
philosopher George Santayana is probably most famous for
the quote; Those who cannot remember the past are
condemned to repeat it.
One look at the newspaper convinces me always of that
truth. And those of us who try to live as people of
faith in this perplexing world have traditions, and
sacred stories, and scriptures that we read, over and
over, to one another. We aren’t in the business of
forgetting tradition. We try to remember it, to keep it,
honestly and faithfully. Do not remember the former
things? How are we supposed to read that?
Looking Forward
Certainly, Isaiah is not asking us to totally forget the
past. In fact, he himself has just reminded the people
of a story from their history. But we can’t become so
absorbed in our past that we lose focus of the future.
It is an expression of our ungratefulness to God if we,
having experienced God’s blessings in the past, fail to
count on them in the future. It is saying to God that,
“Well, that was okay back then, but you don’t do that
anymore today.”
The reality is that God is at work all the time, we just
don’t attribute many of our day to day activities to the
work of God. We call it fate, or coincidence, or
happen-chance. We may call it many things, but not the
divine action of the Almighty.
One of the most beautiful books in the Bible is the
short story of Ruth hidden away after the book of
Judges. It is wonderfully written, but where is God in
this tale? There is no guidance through dreams or
visions, no angelic visitations, or voices from heaven,
and no prophet who is sent with his, “thus saith the
Lord!” God works behind the scenes through the ordinary
motivations and events of the story. God is “everywhere
- but totally hidden in purely human coincidences and
schemes. The story stresses the hiddeness of God’s
providence. Did you know that there is another book in
the Old Testament that never once mentions God? And yet
in that story God’s presence permeates the entire tale.
It is the story of Esther.
Jesus in his little parable in Mark’s gospel likens the
kingdom of God to someone who scatters seed on the
ground and then goes to sleep. One does not need to
understand the mysteries of how the seed germinates and
grow to believe that it does. The kingdom of God exists
and is moving. We need not have to completely understand
the mysteries of God to witness God’s movement in our
world.
Years ago there was a cartoon that was published on
Abraham Lincoln’s birthday. In the cartoon there were
two people talking, “Any news down ‘t’th village, Ezra?”
“Nuthin’ a tall, nuthing’ a tall, ‘cept for a new baby
down t’ Tom Lincoln’s. Nuthin’ ever happens out here.”
Are we prepared to recognize God’s providence not just
in the big things of our lives, but also in the smaller
details? A God who intervenes in the midst of dramatic
crises, but also in the small minutiae of our lives? A
God who miraculously heals but also conveniently fells
trees at appropriate moments?
Today
When Isaiah first wrote these words his readers were
struggling in a foreign land. They had formidable
challenges in front of them. Between where they were
living in exile and where they wanted to be in Israel
was a huge desert. How were they ever going to get back
home? To this God declares, I will make a way”.
Like those ancient Israelites, we too face formidable
challenges. As individuals, as a church, as a community.
We have our own deserts that block our path. And we
wonder, how in the world can we cross? God’s answer
remains the same, I will make a way.
It may not happen in the way that we expect, or in the
timetable that we would want, or even in the direction
that we would have mapped out. But God is making a way.
It has taken this church almost 20 years to get to the
place where we are prepared to do this building project.
Is that the timetable that was envisioned way back then?
I think not.
And was God sitting on God’s hands during all that time?
Again, I would say no. To make that way, God was doing
the necessary prep work. Preparing and moving lives.
This is the quiet, often unassuming work of God. But it
is here too that the providence of God is at work. It
has been said that for the believer, there is no such
thing as coincidence.
Conclusion
Where does all this lead us? In the concluding verse of
our text from Isaiah we have these words: I will give
drink to my chosen people, the people whom I formed for
myself so that they might declare my praise. This is
what we have been created for - our purpose: to declare
God’s praise. This sounds very familiar to those famous
words from the opening lines of the Westminster
Catechism: What is the chief end of humanity? The
answer: “to glorify God and enjoy God forever. “ Yes,
God is making a way.
Texts: 2 Corinthians 5:16-21
David Endriss
Preached on 6/10/07
To See and to be Seen Differently
Introduction
Last week I had the joy of spending some time in
northern California, working with my brothers and
sisters to move my mother into a retirement community.
It was a special time and my mother is thoroughly
enjoying her new neighbors and apartment. While I was
there I spent several hours working on her computer,
making it faster and more compatible with her new
surroundings. As a part of that upgrade, I installed
some new memory. For less than a hundred dollars and in
less than one hour, I was able to significantly increase
its memory capacity. In some ways it seems like a brand
new machine.
And we wonder, “wouldn’t that be nice for ourselves!”
For just a small investment of both time and money, you
too could be a new creation!”
The Old Self
But before we talk a little bit about our new selves,
let’s remember that other part - that old self. The
actual Greek word that Paul uses there is ἀρχαῖος from
which we get the very recognizable word archaic.
That old self had a serious problem. Oh, from the
outside it may have looked okay, but deep down something
was not right. All it would take would be a crisis, and
things would come crashing down. Speaking of crashing
down...some of you may have noticed something missing on
the east side of the church. On Thursday morning, the
linden tree by our east entrance, which we were going to
have take down in a few weeks anyway for our new
building, came down of its own accord. It looked quite
beautiful and stately and strong. What we didn’t
realize, until we saw its broken stump, was that about ¾
of it was dead and rotten. All it needed was a big wind
and it came crashing down. The same is true for those of
us who live with that old self. Those big winds come in
each of our lives. The comedian and artist, Ashleigh
Brilliant once said that he tries to take one day at a
time, but sometimes several days attack him all at once.
That old self can be pretty good at disguising itself.
We may look fine on the outside, but the inside is being
eaten away by selfishness and sin.
That old self has a way of seeing both itself and the
world around it. This is what Paul calls the human point
of view. At one time we saw ourselves, our world and
even Christ this way. But wait a minute! I am human!
What other possible viewpoint is there available to me?
It’s the only one I have! When I look at another person,
I immediately want to fit them into certain categories:
gender, race, economic class, appearance, whether or not
I feel comfortable with them. These are very human
categories that stem from a very human point of view.
But this human point of view has serious limitations. It
is inclined to be selfish, biased, self serving and
often it is just plain wrong. It can be like trying to
look at the world through the wrong side of a pair of
binoculars. This human point of view tends to shrink the
world in a way that does a terrible injustice to other
people and ultimately to ourselves.
Today and for the next two weeks, the Mission Ministry
Team along with the Christian Education team are
emphasizing different countries in the Middle East.
Israel and Palestine today, Iraq and Iran next week and
Egypt on the 24th. The media, politics, and even
religion has often been guilty of looking at these parts
of our world through the wrong end of the binoculars. Is
it any wonder then that we find ourselves in conflict?
When viewed solely from this human and narrow point of
view the inevitable results will be misunderstanding and
conflict.
The New Self
But before you begin to despair, there is hope. It is
here where God steps in and does something miraculous.
Just as my mother’s computer couldn’t just fix itself,
we too need assistance from outside of ourselves. This
newness, writes Paul, is from God. This newness has two
very significant results.
First, our broken relationship with God has been healed.
This is what Paul means when he writes that we have been
reconciled with God. This “newness” is something
radical. Its not simply a covering up of the old self.
Putting a Band-Aid on a terminal illness would not
suffice. God had to do something more fundamental, more
basic. God re-made us in Christ.
St. Augustine was anything but what we think of as a
saint in his early life. He lived a rather riotous and
promiscuous life. Later, when Christ changed his life,
he was recognized on the street by a prostitute that he
had visited on numerous occasions. She called out to
him, “Augustine, it is I.” He ignored her as she
continued to call out, “Augustine, it is I.” Finally, he
replied, “Yes, but it is no longer I.”
In Christ, writes Paul, we are a new creation. We can
see ourselves very differently. But this leads us to the
second fundamental aspect of our newness. Not only do we
see ourselves differently, we also will see the world
quite differently. Paul tells us that we are now
ministers of reconciliation, we are ambassadors of this
‘newness’ that we have experienced.
We no longer see the world with the same lenses that we
once did. Our perception has been radically altered. We
have new way of looking, perceiving, understanding and
evaluating the world around us. We no longer see the
world in the same way. Because of what Christ has done,
we no longer look at people from that human point of
view, we see them as Christ sees them. Remember how
Jesus interacted with those that he met. The people
around Jesus often judged others by their social
standing, their economic status, their religious or
their political affiliations. But Jesus looked not at
their faces, but at their hearts.
Imagine what would happen if we and those around us
began looking at the world that way that Jesus does. How
would our relationships differ with those around us at
home, at work or at school? Expand your horizons even
further. How would you treat others who you used to
judge from that human point of view? People who were
different from you? Finally, how would our perceptions
change of places like Palestine and Israel. Maybe, with
God’s help, its time that we truly become ambassadors of
God. Let’s turn the binoculars around and see the world
the way that God does.
In a few moments we are going to be transitioning from
this time of worship to a very important congregational
meeting. Personally, I believe that when we approach a
congregational meeting properly, it is a form of
worship. Worship is a time when we as a group of
believers gather together to serve God. This morning we
will be gathering together to consider how our service
of God can be enhanced and augmented by a new building.
My challenge to you, as we move towards these important
decisions, is to ask yourself this question, “Which end
of the binoculars are you looking through?”
Conclusion
A computer Memory upgrade, a rotten piece of an old
tree, a pair of binoculars. It seems like a rather odd
collection of things up here this morning. But each in
their own way speak of how we are meant to be Seen and
how we can now see others quite differently because of
what God has done for us through Jesus Christ.
