The Same Old Same Old
TCF Sermon Text
January 3, 2010
Things change, don�t they? Things about our life, our looks, our love, our work, our living circumstances.
For some of us, 2010 begins looking much different than life looked when we began 2009. Some of us have more children. All of us with children have older children, whose life circumstances are changing with their ages, which brings more changes to us as parents.
Some of us now have fewer children at home, now facing the empty nest - there are a lot of us dealing with that new reality in the past few years. For some of us, our family makeup has changed for other reasons � a loved one has died, a child has gotten married. For some of us, our work situation is different now than it was a year ago.
When you think further back, we�ve just ended the first decade of a new millennium. Think of all the things that have changed in our lives these past 10 years. Looking back 10 years, many more children have been born. Many more children have gone off to school. Many more have gotten married. Many have moved away. Many of our loved ones, spouses, children, parents, have left this world for the next.
Think back 10 years ago. Here we are at January 3, 2010. For many of us on January 3, 2000, which was a Monday that year, there was relief that the y2k bug didn�t catapult us back into the stone ages.
On that date, Bill Clinton was still president, so that�s now 2 presidents ago. When the last decade began, blackberries were still a fruit. Green was still more of a color than a movement, or for some, almost a religion.
You didn�t have to take your shoes off before you got on an airplane, and you could bring a bottled drink on board the plane with you. 911 was only the number you called when you had an emergency. Few people had ever heard of a blog. Facebook was when you were actually reading a book and had your face in it. Google was a funny word but not a verb yet. Nobody had an ipod. Hardly any of us knew someone who texted. Tweet was only something birds did.
2000 was the year that the human genome was mapped for the very first time. In the year 2000, very few people knew who Osama Bin Laden was, and Tiger Woods was just the world�s best golfer and not the fodder for tabloid headlines.
For some of us, high school or college were still ahead of us � now all that�s behind us. For some of us, marriage and children were ahead of us when the decade began � now we�ve experienced that and are on to new circumstances.
The end of one year and the beginning of another often prompts reflection, and resolutions, and planning, and hopes, and dreams. It often prompts celebration � as if there�s something magical about the clock turning from 11:59 to midnight on New Year�s Eve � perhaps something that will make our lives different and better. How else can you explain the spectacle of the thousands who gather in NY�s Times Square each New Year�s Eve?
We reflect on the year gone by, and think forward to the year ahead, wondering or hoping or even planning for what�s to come. There�s something in us that has a need to mark milestones, and the beginning of a new year is one that many people mark in some way.
A month or so ago, I was thinking about TCF�s 40th anniversary, another important milestone, and looking at all the clippings and photos, and I began to think about this habit we have of looking back and looking forward.
We seem to have a need to remember, and in fact, we�re encouraged by scripture to remember. In some contexts, we�re also encouraged to forget. But one of the things we�re often encouraged to remember is what I want to focus on this morning as we begin a new year.
In many ways, we�re beginning a new era here as a church. We�re in the 2nd generation of TCF, and things have changed since those early days. I think Jim�s admonition at the end of his talk on the day we celebrated our 40th anniversary as a church was appropriate. He said:
�Sometimes individuals get hung up on genealogies, and start researching from whence their families came. And somehow they find identity and worth in that. Let�s not do that here - let�s not live in the past, or even in the future, but in the moment, as the Holy Spirit is speaking to us every single day as we seek to serve Him. On the other hand, let�s give thanks to Our Lord, who has sovereignly, through a series of events, and through some extraordinary people, brought TCF into existence.�
So, with that in mind, as we look back, and also look forward to the new year, I think the most important thing for us to remember is what�s constant. If we had to choose between a friend who�s never reliable, who�s always late, who never shows up when he or she says he will, who�s never there when you need him; or on the other hand, a friend who you know you can absolutely count on � you can call and say �I need you� and he�s there, who always keeps his word and does what he says he�ll do� who would you choose?
Now, I�m not encouraging you to abandon those friends who are less than reliable � just trying to draw a comparison here. There are some things or people we can depend on and others we can�t.
You can depend on:
Death and taxes (and taxes are getting to be more dependable). You can rely on the fact that a slight tax increase costs you two hundred dollars and a substantial tax cut saves you thirty cents.
You can depend on Old Faithful � you know, the geyser in Yellowstone Natl Park.
You can depend on this: Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day; teach a person to use the Internet and they won�t bother you for weeks.
You can count on bills moving through the mail at twice the speed of checks.
You can depend on the reality that money can�t make you happy � of course, all I ask is a chance to prove that money can�t make me happy.
You can also count on the cost of living going up, but it�s interesting to note that the cost of living hasn�t affected its popularity.
But getting a little more into the serious vein�.What can we depend on? Who can we depend on?
We can depend on morning and evening, each and every day. The sun comes up � the sun goes down � count on it. The seasons, without fail they come and they go. Remember that as you bundle up now, and battle the ice on the roads like we did last week, you�re sure to sweat this summer and wish for just a little bit of this cold. Count on it.
What is constant, what�s always true, regardless of our life�s circumstances, regardless of what�s going on in and around the world, is God�s faithfulness.
Hebrews 13:8 (NIV) Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
In scripture, faithful means:
Steadfast, dedicated, dependable, and worthy of trust. It is derived from the Hebrew root having the basic meaning �to trust (a person),� or �to believe (a statement).� This is the same root that gives us the word �amen.� The derived meaning is that the one so described is trustworthy, dependable, trusting, or loyal. Holman Bible Dictionary
Reliable, trustworthy, faithful, dependable, steadfast. These are all wonderful truths about the character of the great and mighty God we serve.
In thinking ahead to the challenges that I know many of us are facing, it�s encouraging to me to remember that we serve the same old same old. The ancient of days. The God who never changes. The God who is always reliable. Always faithful. Always keeps His Word.
The days seem uncertain, don�t they? Some of us are facing uncertain futures with our work. Some of us are facing uncertain futures in various circumstances related to our families or our loved ones or our school or our career. The economy still looks kind of scary � where will all this spending take us as a nation? Terrorism still looms as a huge threat.
So, entering 2010, the 2nd decade of this millennium, what can we rely on? On whom can we rely? What is sure and certain? The same old same old God.
The one about whom the Psalmist said:
Psalms 36:5 (NIV) Your love, O LORD, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies.
Psalms 100:5 (NASB95) For the LORD is good; His lovingkindness is everlasting And His faithfulness to all generations.
Raised as a Catholic, I had many hymns that I became familiar with, but in the Catholic church, they only sing hymns written by Catholics. So many of the hymns that you might know from your Protestant upbringing were new to me until after I came to Christ when I was 16. Since that day, one that has become my favorite relates to what we�re looking at this morning.
The hymn Great Is Thy Faithfulness is based on
Lamentations 3:21-24 (NASB95) This I recall to my mind, Therefore I have hope. The LORD�S lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. "The LORD is my portion," says my soul, "Therefore I have hope in Him."
Now, the prophet Jeremiah wrote these words. These are wonderful words of faith and hope. Wonderful reminders of God�s lovingkindness. His compassion. His mercy. His faithfulness.
But Jeremiah didn�t write these words in a vacuum. He wasn�t in some ivory tower just philosophizing or theologizing. When we think of the difficult things we might be facing, it�s helpful to go back to the beginning of this chapter and see what preceded these words of faith.
Lamentations 3:1-20 (NIV) I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of his wrath. He has driven me away and made me walk in darkness rather than light; indeed, he has turned his hand against me again and again, all day long. He has made my skin and my flesh grow old and has broken my bones. He has besieged me and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship. He has made me dwell in darkness like those long dead. He has walled me in so I cannot escape; he has weighed me down with chains. Even when I call out or cry for help, he shuts out my prayer. He has barred my way with blocks of stone; he has made my paths crooked. Like a bear lying in wait, like a lion in hiding, he dragged me from the path and mangled me and left me without help. He drew his bow and made me the target for his arrows. He pierced my heart with arrows from his quiver. I became the laughingstock of all my people; they mock me in song all day long. He has filled me with bitter herbs and sated me with gall. He has broken my teeth with gravel; he has trampled me in the dust. I have been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is. So I say, "My splendor is gone and all that I had hoped from the LORD." I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me.
So, we go from this long lament about his sufferings, the very real, very trying circumstances of his life � this is, after all, the book of Lamentations � to this complete turnaround, in the space of a sentence.
Lamentations 3:21-24 (NIV) Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the LORD�s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for (or have hope in) him."
It�s as if Jeremiah were grabbing his own face and saying � look at the truth � remember what you know to be true. These are the real emotions of a real man experiencing real suffering � emotional and yes, physical. He was recognizing reality, and knew that God is big enough to handle his laments.
But where Jeremiah ends up is what we want to focus on. He says to God - Great is Your Faithfulness.
Some hymns have amazing stories behind them. Think of Amazing Grace, written by a former slave ship captain. Think of It is Well with my soul, written by a man who had recently lost a child.
But Thomas Chisholm lived a fairly normal life. He became a Christian at age 27, and a pastor at age 36, but had to leave the pastorate a year later because of poor health. Most of the rest of his life, he was an insurance salesman in New Jersey. He died in 1960 at the age of 93. During his lifetime, he wrote 1200 poems, most of which no one will ever hear.
But in 1923, he sent a few of his poems to William Runyan. One of those poems was Great is Thy Faithfulness. Runyan liked it, and set it to music. The song quickly became a favorite.
Thomas Chisholm was an ordinary guy who lived a fairly ordinary life. Just like most of us. But he lived in, and relied on, God�s faithfulness. When he was 75, he wrote this in a letter.
�My income has not been large at any time due to impaired health in the earlier years which has followed me on until now. Although I must not fail to record here the unfailing faithfulness of a covenant-keeping God and that He has given me many wonderful displays of His providing care, for which I am filled with astonishing gratefulness.�
We can sure appreciate a slave ship captain who was redeemed and later able to write of God�s Amazing Grace. We can also appreciate a man who, in the depths of his grief, was able to say because of his relationship with the God of all comfort, It is well with my soul. Those things mean a lot to us, and many of us can relate to those kinds of circumstances in such a way that these songs minister God�s truth and comfort to us.
But Great is Thy Faithfulness is what one writer called �a hymn for ordinary Christians.� Written by an ordinary guy, dealing with life�s ordinary challenges.
The hymn has three verses and a chorus. In the first verse, we sing of God�s faithfulness revealed in his Word.
Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father;
There is no shadow of turning with Thee;
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not;
As Thou hast been, Thou forever will be.
This verse quotes the idea from James 1:17:
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
It�s another way of saying � Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever God never changes. His good gifts never change.
The next verse:
Summer and winter and springtime and harvest,
Sun, moon and stars in their courses above
Join with all nature in manifold witness
To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.
In the 2nd verse, we see God�s faithfulness as it�s revealed in creation. As we already noted � something we can rely on is the seasons. The sun, moon, and stars all do their thing consistently � faithfully. They are orchestrated day and night by God�s faithful hand, without any help from us. Then, we see in the next verse
Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide;
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!
In the 3rd verse, we�re reminded of God�s faithfulness in our spiritual lives and in our day to day existence. This is where the rubber meets the road � because it�s very real to us. He pardons all our sins. He gives us a peace that passes understanding, sometimes in spite of circumstances that are far from peaceful. He gives us the Holy Spirit, a guarantee of His presence with us. His faithful presence strengthens us, gives us hope in the midst of despair, hope for this day, and the next. He blesses us with things too numerous to count.
And then, of course, the chorus:
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided;
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!
Here�s a great example of a song which affirms many truths we see in scripture. We see these truths again and again in the Word of God. If you want to encourage yourself sometime, do a word study on faithful or faithfulness.
One of the things you�ll notice is that faithfulness is often paired with truth. Sometimes the same word is used � and translated as either truth or faithfulness. In the Old Testament, the word for faithfulness is related to the word for truth � because they both come from a similar root � which means �firmness� or �stability.�
Think about this for a moment. Faithfulness actually flows from truth. What is true must also be trustworthy. Even Balaam, who was basically a pagan fortune-teller, had to admit that the same God who tells the truth will also keep His promises.
Numbers 23:19 (NIV) God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?
If God can�t lie, that makes Him reliable. We can count on Him to do whatever He promises. Let me take just a few minutes and sample some passages that speak of God�s faithfulness. Listen to these, and let them sink in � let the Holy Spirit use God�s Word to assure you of His faithfulness.
Deuteronomy 7:9 (NIV) Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands.
Deuteronomy 32:3-4 (NASB95) "For I proclaim the name of the LORD; Ascribe greatness to our God! "The Rock! His work is perfect, For all His ways are just; A God of faithfulness and without injustice, Righteous and upright is He.
Psalms 33:4 (NIV) For the word of the LORD is right and true; he is faithful in all he does.
Psalms 89:1-2 (NIV) I will sing of the LORD�s great love forever; with my mouth I will make your faithfulness known through all generations. I will declare that your love stands firm forever, that you established your faithfulness in heaven itself.
1 Corinthians 1:9 (NASB95) God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
2 Corinthians 1:18-22 (NIV) But as surely as God is faithful, our message to you is not "Yes" and "No." For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by me and Silas and Timothy, was not "Yes" and "No," but in him it has always been "Yes." For no matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in Christ. And so through him the "Amen" is spoken by us to the glory of God. Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 (NIV) May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.
2 Thessalonians 3:3 (NASB95) But the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen and protect you from the evil one.
2 Timothy 2:13 (NASB95) If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.
Hebrews 10:23 (NASB95) Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful;
We�re called to be faithful, too, but in reality, we sometimes fail. I can think of many faithful people in this room, but no one perfect in that faithfulness.
We sometimes go back on our word for reasons beyond our control. Someone here may have said to a family member or friend, �Hey, I�ll be there for Christmas dinner.� But the snowstorm Christmas Eve made you unable to keep your promise.
But God is omnipotent. We may have legitimate reasons to fail in keeping some of our promises � because we can�t keep them. But God has no such reasons. He is able to do whatever He promises to do.
We�re sometimes unfaithful for less legitimate reasons. Our sin nature needs approval or acceptance, or our sin nature is self-pleasing, or for some other reason we fail to keep a promise.
But God doesn�t need anyone�s approval or acceptance.
He is His own reason for everything He does. Richard L Strauss
Sometimes we don�t keep our promise because we lose interest. I�ve often seen this in recruiting volunteers. As board president of Mend Pregnancy Center, I often asked people to be involved at one level or another.
And at first, they�re enthusiastic. But after a while, the work isn�t as exciting as they thought, so there�s some attrition.
We serve a God totally unlike us. He doesn�t get tired of anything or lose interest. Sometimes I get tired of praying for someone because I don�t see anything happening�or working on something because I don�t see instant results.
But thanks be to God, He doesn�t get tired � not only of hearing my prayers about this person, but He doesn�t get tired of working in that person�s life. We live in a microwave culture that wants things done in minutes. God is a baker � or maybe a slow-roaster. He�s satisfied to let things cook for a while, and doesn�t get tired of waiting. He�s patient, and His patience is a sign of His faithfulness.
Faithfulness is an integral part of who God is.
Psalms 89:8 (NIV) O LORD God Almighty, who is like you? You are mighty, O LORD, and your faithfulness surrounds you.
We can trust God. We can absolutely rely on His faithfulness.
What does that have to do with the New Year? I believe God wants 2010 to be a year in which each of us grows in our ability to rest in His faithfulness. Life always brings storms and trouble. In some ways, and with some of us in this day and time, we might tend to think there are bigger storms brewing.
I�m not predicting that, only recognizing the ebb and flow of life. So, when we hear bad news, will we be more able to say, in 2010: �Yet, this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope.�
When our finances are challenged, will we be able to say with Jeremiah, �your mercies are new every morning.�
When we struggle with the reality of the spiritual state of some of our loved ones, will we join Jeremiah in saying, God, great is Your faithfulness.
Finally, it�s not just about our peace, or our rest in Him. That�s not unimportant, but ultimately, when we trust God, when we are able to say to Him, �Your mercies are new every morning, great is Your faithfulness,� we have the opportunity to bring glory to Him.
People in the world today are fed up with empty religious claims. They want to see something that does what it says it will do. Few things give evidence to the reality of life in Christ more powerfully than a believer who exhibits genuine peace in trying circumstances. That is the by-product of knowing a faithful God and believing His promises. When we are assured that He cares because He is loving and good; when we are convinced that He is in control because He is omnipotent; when we believe that He is with us and knows all about the problem because He is omnipresent and omniscient; when we believe that He is working everything together for good because He is sovereign and wise; then we will have peace when things around us are falling apart. And that will make a powerful impact on the world. Richard L Strauss
So, as the Holy Spirit brings to us the ability to trust in Him, to completely rely on the absolute reliability of a faithful God, think about what that will look like to the world around us. To the people we know.
Hey, you�re unemployed � how can you be so calm about it? Hey � the economy is terrible and you�ve lost half of your retirement � aren�t you upset about that?
We�ll be able to tell those people what the Psalmist tells us.
Psalms 91:1-4 (NLT) Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty. This I declare about the Lord: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I trust him. For he will rescue you from every trap and protect you from deadly disease. He will cover you with his feathers. He will shelter you with his wings. His faithful promises are your armor and protection.
Some of us here are like me this morning. You sometimes waver about the faithfulness of God. You�ve prayed and prayed, and nothing seems to be happening. You�ve done all the right things in a given circumstance, and it seems to be for naught.
This morning, you may want to join me here at the altar and respond to the Word of God this morning. You may want to come and declare, with me, a new refrain for the coming year. This I declare about the Lord. He alone is my refuge, my place of safety, He is my God, and I trust Him, because He�s faithful.
Pray
