Sermons

February 19, 2006

DOING A NEW THING

(Isaiah 43:18-25; Mark 1:1-12)

The Farewell Sermon of Gordon E. Simmons, Pastor

Reformation Lutheran Church

I’ve been reading the Scriptures a lot over these last weeks, especially to prepare for my sermons, to see, each week, what God was trying to say to us along the way. I’ve decided that God has a great sense of humor, because each week when I opened my Bible to prepare for that week’s sermon, there seemed to be a message that was directed right towards what was going on in our lives. The week that I preached over at Holy Trinity Church in Wallingford, when I and they had to make a decision about my going there, the Scripture lesson was from Jonah. This is the story about the man whom God wanted to send somewhere, and he didn’t want to go. God wanted Jonah to go to Nineveh, which was not a very desirable place to be. I told the people at Holy Trinity that if they called me as their pastor, we’d all be going to Nineveh. Then the week that I came back here, after my resignation, the text given to me for that Healing Service was from Isaiah 43, where it said that God would carry us through this, mounting us on the wings of an eagle, so that we would run and not grow weary, walk and not faint. Then the next week, there was the lesson from Mark chapter 1, where the disciples wanted Jesus to come back to Capernaum, and he said, “No, I have to go on to neighboring towns.” Each week there seemed to be something that the Lord had to say to us in these appointed Scriptures. But I was curious about what the lessons would say on the day that I was leaving. In fact, several weeks ago, I peeked ahead to see what would be coming, and that was when I found Isaiah 43, v. 18-19. The Lord is saying, “Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing...” Can you believe that this lesson would come up on this week? I guess the Lord has something to say to us.

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Let me give you a background on this text from Isaiah. The people of Israel were n exile. The Babylonian army had captured them in Jerusalem, and taken them off captive into Babylon. This was a terrible time in the history of Jerusalem, and taken them off captive into Babylon. This was a terrible time in the history of Israel. Remember the story of Daniel in the lion’s den — when Daniel was thrown in with the lions because he was worshipping his God? That is a story from the exile. Remember the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, when they were thrown into a fiery furnace because they were worshipping their God? That is a story from the exile. It was a terrible time in the history of Israel. The people longed to be free, but sometimes they thought that God had forgotten them. They remembered how God had delivered them in the past — when they were slaves in Egypt, God has sent Moses and they were brought out of slavery into the promised land. But that seemed too far away, and their longing for the past wasn’t taking them into the future. So one day the Lord sent a prophet to the people, and this is what the prophet said, on the Lord’s behalf, ‘Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing...” The Lord was saying, Don’t look backward, look forward. I have some great things in mind for you.

And the great thing was forgiveness. Look over at verse 25. “I am He who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.” The new thing that God was promising was forgiveness. The exile had happened, the prophet said, because the people had sinned against their Lord. Now God was bringing forgiveness, and the exile would be over. The people were going home. The Lord said, “I am about to do something new.”

Our Gospel lesson for today is this great story from the second chapter of Mark, where there was man who was paralyzed, and his friends wanted to bring him for healing. The crowds were so great, though, that they couldn’t get close to Jesus. So they got up on the roof of the house where Jesus was, and they cut a hole in the roof~, and they let their friend down right .in front of Jesus. And Jesus saw the man, paralyzed, and he said, “your sins are forgiven.” Not exactly what you would have expected. You’d think that Jesus might have cured the man’s paralysis. But Jesus knew what the man needed. He needed forgiveness. Jesus forgave him his sins. This is the great thing that God can do. God can bring forgiveness. Oh, the man was cured of his paralysis too, and he did pick up his bed and walk, but the really important thing that happened was that he was forgiven. Forgiveness is great because it forgets about the past and it opens up the future for new possibilities. The Lord says, “I am about to do a new thing.”

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Forgiveness is important within a congregation because forgiveness allows people to work together. It’s hard to work with people when you don’t forgive them. There are too many memories, too many hurts, too many evil thoughts, too many worries about what might happen in the future. Congregations that work together have to be able to forgive one another. It’s the only way to get over the past and move onto the future. When the Lord says to us, “I am about to do a new thing”, these are words about forgiveness. And forgiveness is important within a congregation, because it allows people to work together.

Forgiveness is also important because it helps us to welcome others. If you know that God has forgiven you, then you can be forgiving of others. It’s the people who think they don’t need forgiveness who look down on everybody else — those other sinners. It’s the people who don’t think they need forgiveness who let their prejudices boil, and think they are better than others. It’s the people who don’t think they need forgiveness who try to form little enclaves where others aren’t welcome. People who are filled with forgiveness form churches that are welcoming churches. That’s the way churches are supposed to be. The Lord says, “I am about to do a new thing.”

I would like to ask all of you who are here this morning who were here, as members of this congregation, in 1987 — if you were here when I came to Reformation, I’d like to ask you please to stand up. Let’s give these folks a hand. These folks were here in some tough times. Things weren’t always going so well. And people were leaving. Hundreds of people left, right? But these folks had some faith. They believed that God hadn’t given up on them yet. They believed that God could still do a new thing. They hung in there, and some great things happened. Now this is a lesson for all of you who are here today. Some believe that this is going to be a tough time for the congregation. Hey, there may be some people leave. Now what the congregation needs again are some people of faith. People who believe in the future. People who know that God hasn’t given up on you yet, and can still do a new thing. And someday, someday, you will be able to look back on these days and say, we just trusted in the Lord, and God did a new thing, and it was good.” This is how you will want to face tomorrow.

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I want to leave with you with some advice this interim period. This can be a great time for Reformation Church. I hope that you will take advantage of it. This will be a time to take a look at your ministry; to scrutinize the past and to plan for the future. This will be -a time to experiment and to try some new things. You know, if you try some new things during the interim, and they don’t work, so what? You can just move on. I hope that you will be inviting new people during the interim. People that join Reformation during the interim will be strong members; you’ll know that they didn’t join just because of the pastor, because that matter won’t have .been decided yet. There is an Open House being planned for May 6 — it is to show off our congregation’s ministries — what a great time to do that, when you can show that your ministry is not all dependent upon your pastor. I hope this will be an exciting time in Reformation’s history.

The Lord came to the people of Israel in a difficult time, when they were in exile, and God said, “Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing...” And that’s what we all need to remember today. God hasn’t given up on us yet -- not me in a new place -- not you as you look for new ways to serve in this place. What did God say? “I am about to do a new thing.” That’s what we need to remember today. There will be some surprises in the days to come, and they will be good surprises. What did God say? “I am about to do a new thing.” That’s what we need to remember today. There have been some good things happening in the past, thank God for them, but God can cause even greater miracles in the months and years that lie ahead. What did God say? -“I am about to do a new thing.” That’s what we need to remember today. New people will come into our lives, and we will experience the love of God through those people. What did God say? “I am about to do a new thing.” New ministries will happen, and new paths will be followed. And what did God say? “I am about to do a new thing.” New opportunities will present themselves, and new gifts and talents will be called forth. And what did God say? “I am about to do new things?’ And new people will be lifted up to serve. And that will be a good thing too. The Lord came to the people of Israel in a difficult time, when they were in exile, and God said to them, “Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing...” I’m not making this up. This is what the Scriptures say. These are words for us today too. This is the Good News. Thanks be to God!

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