You would have to be obtuse indeed not to notice that the Bible is all about making old things new. The early pages of Genesis tell the story of our expulsion from the garden of delights because of our disobedience, and we discover how it so pained the heart of God for us to ignore Him that He swept us aside in a great flood of wrath. Yet we also learn that He placed in the heavens the rainbow sign to promise that never again would His wrath be all-consuming. He loves us and wants to see us made new. And so in Abraham and his descendants our God began the work of making all things new; there would be a covenant people, close to His heart, a sign to all the nations.
But the people of Israel failed in that assignment, and had to be made new. Slaves they became in Egypt, but God renewed their freedom. Wanderers they became in the wilderness, but God gave them light and food and law and leadership. Culture-bound they became, wanting a king like all the other nations, instead of receiving God’s leadership directly, so God gave them a king and then promised that He would uphold the lineage of David always. Always making them new.
But Israel resisted all of God’s efforts. Instead of following God’s way, they went after idols. Instead of uniting themselves under one Temple and one throne, they divided into two competing nations, and brother shed the blood of brother. Instead of listening to God’s prophets, who counseled them against foreign dalliances, they thirsted after power and lost their nationhood. But God brought them back from exile and made them new again, always making all things new.
And so, as we were watching all through the Advent season – in a time of economic uncertainty, something like our own; in a time of cultural confusion, much like our own; in a time of political transition, again like our own – in such a time, God said through His prophet, “I am about to create a new heavens and a new earth.” All things new, always.
Thus it was that in the fullness of time, God gave us the child of Bethlehem named Jesus, born of woman and yet born also of the Spirit, that we should become, so says the Gospel, the children of God ourselves. All things new.
You would have to be obtuse indeed not to notice that the Bible is all about making old things new.
And you would have had to be asleep to have missed the point of the message brought here on Christmas Eve, as I told the stories of three persons whom God made new. I spoke of a young man who had given himself to alcohol and abuse, but the prayers of God’s people won him over and made him new. I spoke of a woman long estranged from the people of God, but who caught a glimpse of what Christ could do for children and a community, and became a dynamo for change. And I spoke of an elderly man who seemed to have failed at everything he tried, until, after a serious medical crisis, he found a way to live creatively and make new things happen. Surely you caught it, or, if you were not present, this brief summary teaches it to you – what Paul says to the Corinthian church: “So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!”
Everything new? Is that possible? All things new? Even you? Even me?
As we come now to this new year, I am confident that the God who has been able to offer His people new life throughout the ages, and who has in Christ Jesus offered us not only new life now but life eternal – that “about to” God, that “new creation” God is still at work. Even us, even you and even me. Even though some of us think we do not need to be made new, for we like our old selves, thank you very much – even us God will make new. And, on the other side of the ledger, even though some of us think we are hopelessly entrenched in intractable habits and unsolvable problems – even us God will make new. His Word, His promise is clear.
I
Let’s start by thinking about what old things God has already taken away, or has started to take away. If He is to make us new, then, as the Scripture says, “everything old has passed away.” We are not going to retain all the old patterns, the old habits, the dysfunctional and damaging ways of life. Those must go as new patterns, new habits, and new ways come in. We cannot be made new if we cling tenaciously to ways of living that are outmoded and worse, that are dangerously damaging. But our Christ is making all things new, everything old has passed away – all things new, even you, even me.
I have struggled all my adult life with being shy and withdrawn. You may not think that’s true, because you have seen me only in the past sixteen months or so, and I have learned how to cope with this trait over the years. Now being shy and withdrawn is fine if you want to be a student, and I could have stayed in school forever. But they made me graduate and get out there and do something! And so one of the things I had to learn to do was to preach with some degree of confidence, because I am not like many of my colleagues who can stand up and speak eloquently on a moment’s notice. If I have to speak, my tang gets tungled up and I flounder. So my coping mechanism has been to prepare. Prepare, prepare, prepare. Write the sermon, revise it and rehearse it on Saturday night, go over it one or two more times on Sunday morning, and then I can just about recite it. But this past year, late in my career, thanks be to God and thanks also to you and to the comfort level you provide, I have felt more freedom in preaching than ever before. God is making a new creation and is taking away the old anxiety and the fear that I might forget something. That old stuff is passing away, and everything has become new, even me.
How about you? What old thing has God taken away from you in this past year. I t might be a bad habit, it might be a negative attitude. Maybe it is a broken relationship or a burdensome responsibility. Can you testify to the goodness of God as you have seen something that troubled you pass away?
RESPONSE PERIOD
II
Now let’s turn this around. Let’s go to the positive side. If God has taken away old things, what new things is He putting into place in your life? What is God shaping in you that opens up new horizons, new possibilities, or new joys?
Let me tell you about something that I thought was just going to be a hobby, but is turning into much more than that. Some of you know that I have been doing family history study. I have been wandering all over the Internet. I have visited one of the family history centers of the Latter-day Saints Church. My brother and I trekked across western Kentucky and northern Indiana, traipsing through graveyards. It has been fun. It’s astonishing to have traced one or two lines of my genealogy back twelve generations.
But it’s more than just fun. Doing family history provides insight and understanding. It gives me clues as to who I am and where I came from and therefore where I am going. Just a few days ago, a distant relative I had never even heard of saw my family history on line and sent me a photograph of my grandparents and their children, as well as a bunch of other cousins and in-laws, all dated 1920. For the first time ever, I was looking at the face of my father when he was not quite eighteen years old. Now I knew that it was at that age that my father had professed his faith in Christ, and at that same age that he had felt a call to ministry. He is way over at one side of the picture; but way over at the other side is my grandfather, whose face I had seen only once before. Grandfather is looking at the camera with a stern look, his arms folded across his chest, as if to defy the whole world! I know that’s a lot to read into one photograph that was taken almost ninety years ago – but it serves to confirm for me what I felt about my dad. You see, my grandfather, he with the defiant look, told that eighteen-year-old, “We aren’t having any preachers in this family”, and so my dad backed off. And then a number of years later, after my dad and my mother married, he got an offer to move to Cincinnati to sing full-time for a radio station; but his father-in-law, my other grandfather, now told him, “You are not taking my little girl away from Louisville”. So he backed off again.
Fast forward about forty years … my father, sensing that he probably did not have long to live, said to me, “So I didn’t get to be a preacher and I didn’t get to be a musician, but look: I have one son who is a preacher and the other son is a musician … I guess my life has been fulfilled after all.” I knew all of that already – but the gift of this photograph just cements it into place for me, and makes me want to be better at what I do and more committed to what I have been given. My dad deserves that legacy. And in what seemed like nothing more than an interesting hobby, the Lord is making a new creation, making all things new, even me.
What about you, now? What gifts has the Lord given you that make you new or make you better? Is there a new friend? Is there a new skill that you are learning? Is there a new insight or a new idea that holds promise for you? Where is the Lord leading you with something new, something better, in your life?
RESPONSE PERIOD
III
But now, you see, it’s never just about individuals. God is making not just new yous or a new me. The Scripture says that He is making a new heavens and a new earth. From the prophet of Judah’s return last week we heard Him say that He is “about to” create a whole new order. And we affirmed that that new order, that new way of life, has come in Christ Jesus. We believe that in this tiny child, who grew to live among us and teach us and show us the ways of peace, a whole new thing is happening. And more than that, we believe, no, we know, that in the One who at three and thirty years took Himself upon a cross, wild and high against an eastern sky, God has dealt with the burden of the ages, God has fought against the powers of death and evil, and God has won the victory. This we know because of the cross and because of the empty tomb. Remember His cry, “It is finished!” And it is … in a sense.
And in another sense, obviously, not yet. Evil still stalks the streets and takes innocent lives. Madmen shoot whole families, a criminal beats and robs a man arriving for a Christmas Eve service, thieves loot investment funds, and adulterers brag in public about their infidelities. It’s all still so wrong. It’s unacceptable!
And yet – and yet – the vision remains. The hope endures. “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "See, the home of God is among [men]. He will dwell with them; they will be his people, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away." And the one who was seated on the throne said, "See, I am making all things new."
If we did not have that to lean on, we would come crashing down. We would not know which way to turn, and despair would be writ large across our minds. And so I am wondering where we do see God at work making His new heavens and His new earth? Have you seen the presence of God in the world, even though there have been plenty of tears and many deaths and much pain? And, in particular, have you seen God at work through this His church to relieve the sufferings of His children?
RESPONSE PERIOD
I cannot say that I have seen anything immense. But I have had the privilege of sitting with a few of you who were in pain during this past year. I have had the incomparable privilege of listening to a few of you as you spoke of disappointments or as you told of disruptions in your lives. Clearly I cannot say more without divulging too much; but on this day, as we think about how God can and will make new creations in His world, I think of how some of you have found hope and healing. I know that some of you have emerged from illness intact and from distress delighted. Small things, maybe, but signs that God is still in the making-new business.
And I have seen in your church signs of renewal. You have turned around, at least part way, a very difficult financial situation. You have worked to organize more effectively. You have generated new ideas for ministry and have attracted new people. The signs are small, but they are sure, that God is going to make your life new. The home of God is among you; He will dwell with you. And He will take away from you that feeling of anxiety that some of you have about your church’s future. In this new year, I am altogether confident that you will have a new leader and a new vision, and therefore a new energy. “See, I am making all things new.” Even me. Even you. Even your church.
IV
And so, as we conclude, what now do you pray for and hope that God will do in making all things new in 2009? For the world, for the nation; for this community, for this church; for your family, for you personally – what are your hopes and prayers?
RESPONSE PERIOD
And to what shall we commit in order to cooperate with God in making these new things happen? If God is giving us new possibilities, is He not also asking of us new commitments? What will those be?
RESPONSE PERIOD
As for me, I commit to you to be more intentional about my preaching and my teaching. I commit to be as prompt as circumstances allow in responding to your needs. I commit to be faithful to God’s plan for you as it unfolds, and to be totally supportive of the pastor you may call. And most of all, I commit to let the Spirit of Christ dwell in me and wipe away every doubt, every anxiety, and every apprehension. I commit for 2009 to present to you indisputable evidence that our God makes all things new – even you, even me.
