Our most important task - developing spiritual maturity in the lives of God's people.

Isaiah 43:18-25

Sunday, February 20, 2000

Christ Church Cathedral

Keith Joyce

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We are being called to a "new thing," a deep and life-transforming work of God, in the lives of his people.

In today's passage from Isaiah we hear God speaking to his people in Exile who are looking for a way home, a way out. But who is this God? He is the One who speaks to them through the prophet, he is "the Lord, your Redeemer," as we know from verse 14. The next verse tells us that the Creator is their king, in contrast to mere earthly kings of other nations. He is the one who freed them from Egypt and saved them from Pharaoh's pursuing armies.

Yet he tells them, at the beginning of our passage today, that now they are not to remember past glories. He says "Do not remember the former things" (v. 18). Why? Because they will pale in comparison to the new thing God is doing. They are not to hang on to, "to consider" them, in such a way that they continue to control their expectations. This is not the same as forgetting them, as if they are of no more consequence. Simply, they weren't to be the controlling factor of coming expectations. They weren't therefore to confine to past observation what God is doing and what he is going to do. They weren't to restrict God to simply what he has done in the past and say he cannot, or will not do anything differently, let alone do it in a greater manner.

This area of thinking can bring us into a debate between old and new, between the so-called traditional and the so-called contemporary. After all, the text says, "Do not ... consider the things of old" (V.19). Occasionally we approach this debate lightheartedly. There's the story of someone who mentioned that a certain parish had a 7:30 a.m. service of Holy Eucharist each Sunday and that was, at least in part, a reason why the priest was having such a hard time getting Sunday supply. When he was asked "Why 7:30?? Why not the more civilized time of 8?" he responded that the time seemed odd to him, too, and when he checked it out with some older parishioners he found out that the trolley used to make a Sunday morning stop at 7:20 a.m.!!!

I believe the discussion can be artificial, a conflict between what people merely like. One happens to like the so called "old" and the other the so-called "new." Now we don't want to dismiss such discussion out of hand. There is room to examine the merits of anything, whether it is old or new, but simply coming to a conclusion as to which one is better, or simply thinking that the old has to go in favour of the new, does not always guarantee we get what is best. That's why we need to hear what God says in verse 19 of this chapter. Through the prophet Isaiah he is calling his people to something profound, something radically deeper than the conclusion of any debate. God says "I am about to do a new thing." The emphasis is on God and what he is doing. God is at the centre of the new thing. God, who one could say is truly "old," is the One at work.

God has already done a great work in getting the Hebrew people out of bondage in Egypt. But now they were not to look to those former glories. They are to look to God himself. While we still look back to the Exodus, we don't confine God to act only in that way, or lock him into historical greatness! He who is forever "old," the Ancient of Days, the God of times past, is also the One who is forever "new," always fresh and not limited by the past, even his own great past. God is - he is who he is.

But things are not totally disassociated from the past. Like his provision for his people in the desert he will provide new refreshment and direction. He say, "I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert" (v. 19b) This newness will take death and bring forth life. And we read that the very elements of nature will acknowledge God's provision for his people. It says, "The wild animals will honour me, ... for I give water in the wilderness, ... to give drink to my chosen people ..." He also adds that these are "the people whom I formed for myself..." Not only is God God but there's a special relationship between God and those for whom his is providing. They are his people. These are the people of his choosing; his people are special to him. We see revealed the closeness between God and his people.

He goes on to say that these are "the people who I formed for myself so that they might declare my praise." The natural response to this attitude and action of God towards his people is one of worship. It is worship that recognizes who God is, and sees his love and grace towards his people. Worship is at the heart of that renewing, strengthening work of God in the souls of his people. That which is truly new, that really brings refreshment to the soul is what begins, not with ourselves, nor even with our needs, but with God, and it is expressed in the praise of his name.

Rather than looking to the new or to the old as the best way forward, we are to look to God. Remember the emphasis - it is "I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?" And as we look we are called to perceive God as the maker and giver of the "new thing." This new thing is an expression of who he is as their King, their Redeemer, their Saviour. Paul Tillich says, "I points to the source of the really new, to that which is always old and always new, the Eternal." (The Shaking of the Foundations)

God then seems to chastise the people, because, he says, in v. 24 "you have burdened me with your sins; you have wearied me with your iniquities." Unlike other such indictments, this is not a warning of coming punishment. Instead he is shaking them from their complacency, from their incapacity, or unwillingness to see him and what he is doing for them. But immediately upon these words God indicates what he is going to do to them in the face of their stubbornness and seeming incapacity to see his hand at work. He says "I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins" (V. 25)

There is nothing "newer" than the soul set free from its bondage of sin, nothing fresher or truer than such release from guilt. This comes from a true recognition of who God is and from a deep willingness to see the new thing he is doing and receive it into one's life. This forgiving, healing work of God is not to patch things up, not to put them back to their former glory. When God heals and forgives he makes something brand new, something better than what it once was, no matter how grand, no matter how wonderful it used to be.

God is not there to fix things, to make them like they once were. When we take things in for repair we expect it to come back as it was before it was broken. We may wish for a new car when we take it into the garage, but we realistically expect it be in the same condition as before it broke down. But God's new is a really genuine new, a newness that we at times cannot but perceive by faith, cannot but stand back in awe and therefore worship the maker and giver of the "new thing."

That is God's call to us, to perceive and receive what is really and truly new, made by him. When Jesus, in our Gospel reading today (Mark 2:1-12), healed the man in Capernaum, and forgave him his sins, it was shocking. It was too new, too different from the old ways they had known. The people could see and glorify God but the religious leaders couldn't. The only explanation was this man was blaspheming. He told the man to stand up, to take his mat, and to go home. This was not a matter of having the man just "feel better," and then stay where he was. Instead, that which had "held" him, his mat, he now holds and carries away. He no longer has to lie on that mat - he can take it wherever he wants to take it. The sickness that had held him in bondage is no more - its hold is broken, and he is free. And, more importantly, the bondage of his sin is also broken. He is truly free.

This is a deep work of God, this new thing, because it is ever from our God who constantly makes available to us the "rivers in the desert." This is the greatest need of the church today, to have that genuinely "new" work of God cleansing, healing and reforming our souls into something that is not simply "like it once was" but a continuing, real expression of the nature of God, of the "I" who is doing a new thing.

This spiritual work needs a clear recognition of who God is, and not of the God of our speculations. It needs for us to have open hearts and minds to perceive and encounter the nature and purpose of God. It needs ever-growing real spiritual maturity in the people of God. We are never past growing. It is reported that when Pablo Casals reached 95, a young reporter threw him a question: "Mr. Casals, you are 95 and the greatest cellist that ever lived. Why do you still practice six hours a day?" And Mr. Casals answered, "Because I think I'm making progress." We're never too old to grow in the ways of God and in our relationship with him. We are never too old to grow and develop spiritually.

Spiritual growth, yet, is a challenge. It can be unsettling, and learned, almost always, in the hard times rather than when things are going well. In Disappointment with God, Philip Yancey (pp. 207-208) says, "Human beings grow by striving, working, stretching; and in a sense, human nature needs problems more than solutions. Why are not all prayers answered magically and instantly? Why must every convert travel the same tedious path of spiritual discipline? Because persistent prayer, and fasting, and study, and meditation are designed primarily for our sakes, not for God's. Kierkegaard said that Christians reminded him of schoolboys who want to look up the answers to their math problems in the back of the book rather than work them through...We yearn for shortcuts. But shortcuts usually lead away from growth, not toward it. Apply the principle directly to Job: what was the final result of the testing he went through? As Rabbi Abraham Heschel observed, "Faith like Job's cannot be shaken because it is the result of having been shaken.""

And as the reality of God's character meets hearts yearning for him, to know him and love him, to serve him alone, then the glory of God's new work will be seen and known in and through his people. This is the Church's highest priority, to yearn for God and welcome his deep life-transforming work in the lives of his people. It calls for single-minded devotion to God and his ways. It invites greater knowledge of God through prayer and Scriptural study. It asks for a greater cultivation in the soul of things eternal. It produces a longing for God from the depth of our souls. It enables us to worship God with hearts longing for his presence.

It's a joy and a privilege then to come to church. The sermon is ready, the choir has done its practising, the Vergers have everything laid out, the Servers are set to serve, our pre-church family squabbles are behind us, and while we're settling in our seats, we can pause for a time and attune our minds and hearts to the living God who loves and forgives and makes new. We focus then on the object of our worship, the Lord God Almighty himself, and as we begin to worship, we surrender to God all that we have brought with us into this place of worship. Our attention moves away from the things of worship to the object of our praise. And we begin to sense in that holy hush, in that momentary quiet, that we are in the presence of the most awesome of beings, that we are encountering that which is holy and mighty and glorious. We sense for a moment that THIS is TRUE reality, this is worth both living and dying for, and in that moment we say, "YES, this is what we want more than anything else!" And we want it more than life itself, we want all that he would give us and work in us.

From this development and growth in the souls of God's people will spring the resources and capacities and the skills and the gifts and the money to do the ministry of God. It will come from hearts and minds and lives committed to and expressing the active presence of God in our desires and ambitions and in our service. And we will continue to desire to perceive and live in the new things of God. We will enter into the passion and heart-cry of God, namely his love for this world, which means us caring for the world around us so that it, in turn, knows God's great love.

This entry into the purposes of God will be expressed in acts of compassion towards the weak and helpless and the needy, including those who at times come in here to get out of the cold, those who are abused, those who are injured by society, those whom we hurt, and those who hurt us. It will also be expressed in words to those who haven't heard, to explain who this God is that we worship and love and serve, whom we know uniquely and supremely in Jesus Christ. It's not all just action but also our speech. In that same passage in Mark we read that Jesus "was speaking the word to them" (Mark 2:2). It's an inner work of God's Spirit to be, at times, lived out in acts of kindness that are simply done because they are the kind thing to do. It includes care for the elderly and the young and everyone else in between. And the list goes on. Very simply, that spiritual growth and maturity, that "new thing" that God is doing in willing hearts, will be the well-spring, that "river in the desert," out of which will flow the worship and ministry and service to be done by all God's people.

So, may we then live for, and see ever more deeply, in our lives and in our congregations, this "new thing," this deep and life-transforming work of God, to his glory, to the up-building of the church and to the extension of the kingdom of God. And then let it be said, as was said by those observing Jesus with the man from Capernaum, "We have never seen anything like this!"

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