“All Things New ”
Isaiah 65:17-25
November 16, 2008
Twenty-Seventh Sunday after Pentecost

Rev. Erin Walker

This passage from Isaiah could be easily overlooked as some pretty poetry about something God will do sometime in the future. We can read it and dismiss it quickly as a collection of words that don’t affect our lives right now. We can read it that way, but we’ll miss the real power in this text!

God is about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind. The rest of the chapter lists distinctions of the new way in contrast to the way things were in the old way. We like to think of the “old days”. We usually refer to them as the “good ‘ole days”. We like to look at where we’ve been, how things have gone for us, and we often hold the things that have happened in the past as fond memories. We do it as a church very often. We think back 10, 15, 20 or more years into our history and remember people and programs and events that give us warm, happy feelings. And it is wonderful to have a rich and happy past on which to build for the future. But, let’s not fall into the trap of looking back only through rose-colored glasses. This morning’s text can help us to see how God moves us and all of creation ever forward into the fullness of God’s plans for us all.

v. 19 I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and delight in my people; no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it, or the cry of distress.

God speaks, through Isaiah, in contrasting terms. There will be no more death too soon, but there will be long life for all. There will no longer be those who build houses but never get to live in them, but those who build will inhabit. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together; no longer will they be enemies. In God’s new creation things are very, very new! These contrasts show us how wholly different things are in the new way God is creating.

Contrast is a literary tool that helps to emphasize distinctions that exist. We first learn about contrast by learning about opposites. One of my favorite television shows when I was a child was Sesame Street. I loved it and Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood equally. But Sesame Street taught me about opposites. A friendly, furry, blue guy named Grover would hop on the screen and commence to running close to the TV camera and then away from the TV camera all the while calling in his sing-song voice, “Neeeaaarrr…….Faaaaarrr.” He would say, “Neeeeaaarrrr” as he ran very, very close to TV screen. And he would say, “Faaaaaarrrrr” as he ran away to the back of the picture. This simple, repetitive game taught me the words “near” and “far”, and it taught me that there is a difference between those words.

In life we don’t always get friendly, furry helpers to explain to us the way things are. We listen and watch in the world around us. Simple observation makes it clear to us that there are some people in the world who have more things and money, and people who have less things and money. We learn this at very young ages just by noticing the clothes of our classmates in elementary school or what people bring in their lunch boxes. We who follow Christ also learn about the way things are from reading God’s story in the Bible. Reading from the very beginning, way back in Genesis, we learn that there was a way God wanted the creation of earth and its inhabitants to go, and there was a way things actually did go. And we learn that those two ways are different from each other.

Look with me at Genesis 2 beginning in verse 4 (through v. 7). When God created the heavens and the earth, God formed a human from the dust of the ground. We see God here down in the dirt. Gathering together in God’s hands the lovely and beloved creation, the human. And God gives the human life by pressing God’s lips to the human’s nostrils and breathing into him the breath of life. God is intimately tied to this, God’s creation. There is much care and love, and self-giving in this creation story. And through the rest of the chapter God creates and forms and provides for the human, even in forming with God’s own hands another human as a partner. There is beauty and plenty and peace in this scene.

And then comes the third chapter of Genesis. And the humans take matters into their own hands. And the paradise of God’s creation is altered. By the end of chapter 3 the humans no longer live in the garden God has made and placed them in.

Things are new…and not good. God wants for us the peace and stability outlined in Genesis 2 and Isaiah 65. But we don’t experience that harmony. We know more of the imbalanced, off-track way of Genesis 3 and beyond. If God is doing something new, what’s taking so long? Why is this “new thing” so long coming? What good is it, from our perspective, for the newness of creation to come slowly?

Here are a few ways that, perhaps, God’s timing really is working in our favor.

We get to participate in, to be part of the work God is doing. Yes, God could have chosen and could still choose now to snap God’s fingers and make a new reality suddenly come to be. But, wouldn’t we be left out in that scenario? The good news of God’s continuing redemptive work in the world is that God invites us to join in. God invites us, through no righteousness of our own, to be partners with God. Like in that creation story where God is pressing God’s lips to the human’s nostrils to give life, God is with us as we work alongside God in our world. We can have the same intimacy with God that God offered to the very first humans.

Another way that the coming of something new can be good for us is in the experience itself of the way life is. Experiencing chaos helps us to appreciate peace. That contrast is important. If we did not know how it feels to be in chaos, would we be able to fully appreciate the profound peace we read about in Isaiah?

When we are part of the process of God making all things new, we get to see God at work. This might be my favorite possible way that waiting for all the “newness” benefits us. We are not just seeing the finished product, the work God has done. But, we are able to see God currently work all around us. How incredible would it have been to have watched God kneel and form the first humans? God is forming and transforming lives every day. And we are here to see it if we open our eyes and look.

Earlier in our worship together, Beverly Weavil read for us from Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians. Hear again some of the words from 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11. You are all children of the light, children of the day. Let us be sober….for God has destined us not for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ…that we may live with him.

We have to get to the point where we realize that it is not all about us. God creates. God is the subject of this great story. We are God’s beloved creation. We are deeply loved and valued by God. But God is the One acting in this story of the world as we know it. God is bringing something new.

What happens when we make this shift in perspective?

Pressure is taken off of us. Praise is given to God. Focus is shifted from our selfishness to God’s selflessness. We realize God’s great power and grace are so much bigger than anything any of us could ever accomplish.

All things can be new because God is always bringing new things to our attention when we stop looking only at ourselves and can finally see what God is really up to.

The good news for us this morning is that God is, even right now, making all things new. Our world is not perfect yet, and so God continues to work. God continues to love. God continues to offer grace and mercy. God continues to call people into relationship with him through Jesus Christ.

Love brings newness. Grace and mercy present a new chance. A relationship with Jesus Christ gives new meaning and purpose and direction to this life we’ve been given. God is making all things new.

So, how do we respond?

We follow Jesus. In every sense of those words, we follow Jesus. It starts, like every great adventure, at the beginning. For each one of us, God offers salvation through the life, death, and resurrection of his only Son, Jesus Christ. We first follow Jesus by believing in Him and accepting the gift of a personal relationship with God through Christ. You can take that first step this morning if you haven’t yet taken it by praying a simple prayer. Acknowledge that you are in need of the direction and purpose and renewing love God offers. Express your thanks to God for the redeeming life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Then ask Jesus to be Lord of your life, to guide you on your way, and to be the center from which you act and serve in the kingdom of God.

In our time of response in a few moments you can pray that sort of prayer and then share with us that new thing God is doing in your life. 

We follow Jesus, also, by being in community together with others who are following Him. We follow Jesus together here at Union Cross Baptist Church. If this is a place you sense God is leading you to serve and follow Him, we welcome you into our fellowship.

In our time of response you can start something new by joining us in an official way as we all seek to do God’s kingdom work.

We follow Jesus into the newness God is creating. God speaks to us in so many ways. There may be a project or a person or a part of the world that is particularly on your mind these days. God may be speaking to you about work you can join in! We follow Jesus by paying attention and acting when God speaks. You can pray and listen to how God may be calling you today.

In our time of response you can listen and let us all know, if you need to, how God is working in your life.

Again, the good news for us is that God is making all things new. Let us be clear-headed and take our place as children of the light that we may live with the One who is ever on the move making all of creation new. God grant that it be so. Amen.