Many of you know that I recently spent a week in Kentucky and Indiana doing a family history search. My companion for that week in archives rooms and on cemetery grounds was my younger brother, who is a professor at Southwestern Baptist Seminary in Texas. We planned for that particular week, as he would be finished inflicting final exams on his students, and I would be equally finished inflicting Wednesday Bible studies on the good folks of a Silver Spring church. We talked for a while about starting on Sunday evening and continuing through the following Sunday. But as I looked at the calendar more closely, I saw that that date, Sunday a week ago, was his fortieth wedding anniversary. I said, “You do not want to be away with your brother on your fortieth wedding anniversary. That is a recipe for disaster. Go home before Sunday!” And so he did.
Bob tells me that when he got home, his wife greeted him by taking him to the room he uses as an office, and there showed him her anniversary gifts – a high-definition television, a new computer desk, and fresh paint. Good stuff; I hope he did something better than take her a 99-cent card from the discount! But here’s the point: he entered that room, and without having to be prompted at all, he saw every new thing. To him it was obvious and clear. He saw it right away. That’s my little brother. The one who literally stumbled over the right gravestones in our searches, who effortlessly found what we were looking for, and who instantly spotted his wife’s new gifts. He readily sees what is there.
I, on the other hand, am justifiably accused of being less than observant. Had that been me, the conversation would have been something like this – She: “Do you notice anything different in here?” I: “Uh, didn’t that chair used to be over here?” She: “Look over in that corner”. I: “Uh, did you straighten up my papers?” I would not have seen it. It would have had to be in the original carton with a red sale tag on it before I would have seen it. I am just not a particularly observant person. I look at those Washington Post magazine photographs every week, the ones where they tell you there are twelve differences between the original and the retouched versions, and I can never find more than three or four at the most. My wife puts on a new blouse, and I say precisely nothing about it. It may be new, but I don’t perceive it. It may be right in my face, but I don’t get it. I am just not observant. In fact, only this moment did I notice that most of my preaching platform is gone out from under my feet!
And so it is with God and God’s people. God is at work, doing a new thing, and we don’t see it. God is at work, making things happen that have never happened before, and we don’t perceive it, we don’t get it. Our creator, who makes all things new; our redeemer, in whom we are ew creations; our indwelling Holy Spirit, who brings new life – the prophet of the Exile cries out, on God’s behalf, “I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” Responding to the dilemma of the people of Judah, caught in Exile in Babylon, wondering if they would ever get to go home again, the prophet insists that if they would just open their eyes and look, God is doing a new thing. God is already at work. Don’t you see it? Don’t you get it? Wake up! God is making a way to go home.
So it was with God’s people in the eighth century before Christ, in Babylon. So it is with God’s people in the twenty-first century after Christ, in Gaithersburg. God is at work. Do you see it? God is making a way for us. “I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.”
I
Why do we not see God’s new thing? Maybe we do not see what God is doing because we are afraid about change. I said, “afraid about change.” I didn’t say that we are afraid of change. We are, but more broadly, we are afraid about change. I mean that we are afraid not to change, but we are equally afraid that change is coming. We are afraid that if we do not change, we will miss out. But we are also afraid that if we change too much, we will fall off the right path. We are afraid about change.
My last Sunday in the pulpit of the church I served for two decades was exactly four years ago, the last Sunday of June 2004. On that day I felt fear. I was afraid, afraid about change. On the one hand, I was afraid to retire and do something different from what I had been doing for twenty years – afraid that the phone would not ring with someone wanting counsel, afraid that I would not quite know what to do with my time, and afraid even of having to listen to someone else preach! Afraid to change.
And yet I was also afraid of not retiring. I was afraid that if I stayed on at that church, decline would set in. I was afraid that the new challenges we had to meet were ones for which I was not well equipped. I was afraid that the task of replacing an aging building was one that I could not survive emotionally. And so I was afraid of not retiring as well as fearful of going ahead to retire. I was afraid about change.
But fear prevents us from trusting God’s leadership. Fear keeps us paralyzed and unwilling to make decisions. And so our God says to us, “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. … For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior … you are precious in my sight, and honored, and I love you ….
I want you to notice the verb tense used in that passage. God says, “I have redeemed you”, “I have called you by name.” I have – it’s done – it’s over – it’s finished. Now remember that when those words were uttered, Judah was still in exile. Her people were still locked up in Babylon. No one had yet gone back to Jerusalem, there was no rebuilding plan, there was no blueprint for the future. There wasn’t even a clear understanding about who would lead the nation, once they returned. Nothing had been done; but everything had been done. No human plans had been made; but God’s will had already been set in motion. So, “I have redeemed you”, “I have called you by my name.” It’s done, even though we don’t see it.
Brothers and sisters, to echo FDR, the only thing we Christians have to fear is fear itself. The only thing that will hold us back from triumphant living is that nagging fear about change. It will not serve us well to moan and groan about the good old days when more people worshipped here than we have now; there is in that a deadly fear. To complain that things are not like they once were is to fail to see what God is doing among us. If we let fear take us over, we will deny the hope that is in us.
The week of my family history trip I stood in the cemetery in Syracuse, Indiana, and looked down at three small tablets, each of which bore a name and the inscription, “Child of P and C Miles.” That would be Preston and Catherine Miles, my great-grandparents. They lost child after child after child, four in all, not unusual in their day. But I am so glad that they did not give up; I am so glad that they did not get paralyzed with fear, for they kept on bringing children into this world, even after all those losses. Their eleventh and last became my grandmother. Had Preston and Catherine allowed fear to consume them, I would not be here today.
God is doing a new thing right here in Gaithersburg, and the only thing that will keep us from seeing it is fear. Hear then the word of the Lord, “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by name, you are mine .. and I love you.” Church, it’s done. God has named you; that settles the issue. You will succeed. You are His.
II
Now I have continued to speak about God’s new thing that we do not see. I have mentioned how God is doing something special, but we do not perceive it. What might that be? What is it that God is doing among us?
Those of you who sat with me for several Sunday nights this fall will remember that we talked about how, when people find themselves in uncertain times, they resort to unproductive religion. You will especially remember that I taught you how Judah, after the Exile, tried to rebuild its life by becoming exclusive and legalistic. They tried to put distance between themselves and other people. Judah felt that the only way that to preserve itself
was to get inside a time capsule and stay away from others who were different. How do you live in unsettled times? Well, if you look at Judah’s history, you learn that one thing you can do is to become exclusive, restricted, and closed down.
But what does God say about that? What is God’s new thing? Listen carefully:
I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you; I will say to the north, "Give them up," and to the south, "Do not withhold; bring my sons from far away and my daughters from the end of the earth – everyone who is called by my name …."
What is this new thing that God is doing? He is bringing His children from all across the globe, and is pulling them together in this community. God is drawing His children from the east in Asia and from the west in Africa, from the north of Europe and the south of Central America. All these are in this community, and many in this congregation. You are not here by accident. You are here by the will of God. God is making you into an international church, ever more attentive to the needs of many nations, ever more creative about reaching and growing all sorts of people. I will tell you that my heart has soared as week by week of late we have welcomed new people into membership, and they have spoken with varying accents and have presented the lovely varieties of the human face. The ends of the earth are coming here; this is God’s new thing for you.
How new a thing is this? Is this really special? I think of my own history in churches. My home church in Louisville had, during my growing-up years, no one who was not white and Euro American. In fact, when my future wife and her family joined our church, they were exotic, they were an occasion for comment because they were British. They were really different, and my father said he couldn’t understand my father-in-law’s preaching. You know the line, “Why can’t the English learn to speak?” But we just assumed that churches were the most segregated hour in America, as Dr. King said. Just the way it was.
After graduation from seminary Margaret and I joined a church near the college campus where I was to serve, in Berea, Kentucky. The congregation was all-white, all-American. A few years later we moved to Lexington, Kentucky, for me to serve at another campus, and we joined a church – all-white, all-American. Just the way churches were. We moved again, to Silver Spring, Maryland, and we joined a church. Aha, two Spanish families, one of whom had Anglicized their name to make it easier to fit in. But other than those two families, all-white, all-American. Who knew of any other way to be church? And then I was called to a pastorate in Washington. Nigerians and Cameroonians, English and Canadian, Jamaican and Panamanian, Congolese and Liberian, black and white, the whole gamut. Even somebody from theSeychelles Islands! God had changed His church. “I will [bring] from … from the east and from the west … the north … and the south … my sons … and my daughters – everyone who is called by my name.”
Brothers and sisters, I believe that the future of this church lies in a willingness to reach all peoples. And by reaching them I do not mean simply trying to make them look and sound and smell like Americans. I mean that God’s new thing for us is understanding and affirmation of all peoples as sons and daughters of the Most High. What a future you have as an international, multicultural church!
III
And so today, I have one word to offer, one concept to proclaim. And that is “witness”. Witness. Bear testimony. If you see what new thing God is doing, then bring a witness about it. If you understand that God is doing a new thing, and you perceive it, then tell somebody about it.
And so the word of Isaiah, urging God’s command, “Let all the nations gather together, and let the peoples assemble. … Let them bring their witnesses … and let them hear and say, "It is true." You are my witnesses, says the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand …”
You are my witnesses. Brothers and sisters, if God has done a new thing in your life, you must share it. How can you not share it? Did you catch the excitement in Steve Babcock’s voice as he told you how Christ had worked decisively in his life? His new thing was so clear that he can give you the day and time on which it all occurred! A witness! Did you sense the quiet intensity in Raymond James’ mind as he told his story – quite different from Steve’s, a long slow burn rather than a lightning strike – but nonetheless real? Nonetheless life-changing. A witness. I wanted you to hear these men because I know that what they have to say will be contagious. If you see it, you will share it. If you get it, you will give it. If you know it, you will teach it. It is God’s new thing.
Make no mistake. God is doing a new thing at First Baptist Church. Do you not see it? A stream of nineteen new members since the beginning of this year, with diverse experiences and cultural backgrounds. It’s God’s new thing. Do you see it?
God is bringing a spirit of outreach to First Baptist Church. Do you see it? Did you know that some got concerned about how we had never successfully reached into the Londonderry community across the street? Some began to pray about that, and on two successive Sundays recently came new members from that very community! God is doing a new thing. Do you see it?
God is bringing a spirit of serious discipleship to First Baptist Church. Do you see it? We are beginning to train people in the skills they need, everything from public speaking to child protection. God is doing a new thing, pushing us toward deeper discipleship. Do you see it?
God is bringing a renewed spiritual concern to the leadership of First Baptist Church. Our deacons spoke about not being sure what they were supposed to do. Now, however, our spiritual leaders are confidently moving forward to bring back to fellowship marginal members of this church. Our God is redeeming, our God is empowering, our God is doing a new thing. Do you not see it?
Oh, First Baptist, hold your breath, for you are in for an exciting ride. Do not be afraid, for being afraid about change will paralyze you. Do not be afraid, for God has already won the victory and calls us to join Him in what He is doing. Oh, who will come and go with us, we are bound for the Promised Land!?
First Baptist, look out. Look out to the east and the west, the north and the south, and see who you can become. Embrace one another’s differences, celebrate one another’s gifts, be patient with one another, and marvel at where God will take you. Oh, who will come and go with us, we are bound for the Promised Land!?
And just watch and pray, pray and watch, and then speak. Witness. Share what your heart has in it. If God has done nothing, then you have nothing to say. But if God is doing a new thing, and you see it, testify! Witness! Invite. Oh who will come and go with us, we are bound for the Promised Land!?
