"MISSION INSIDE OUT"

Isaiah 43:1-7, 16-21

God is up to something around here!

Don't you feel it?

Something is up.

The Session surely felt it

at our retreat yesterday.

I can say for a fact

that they are ready to lead you into a new year,

in some exciting new directions.

But there's that "new" word.

Isaiah says this morning

that God is doing a new thing.

But who are we to believe it?

Scripture has always had this rather bipolar relationship

with newness.

Qoheleth the Preacher,

in the book of Ecclesiastes,

says that there is nothing new under the sun.

In Hebrews 13:7 it says

Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today and forever.

But then John of Patmos in the book of Revelation

quotes God as saying,

"Behold, I make all things new."

You and I

are also seven days now into a new year,

which is plenty of time to break all of our resolutions

at least once,

if we haven't already thrown away the list.

Even if we managed to stay awake until midnight

on New Year's Eve,

somehow things didn't seem very different the next day,

did they?

There's nothing new under the sun.

Or is there?

Well, all I have to say

is that God is up to something new in this place,

whether we can see it or not.

And if we are unable

to see and believe in that new thing,

that may be a fairly decent sign

that you and I are still living in exile.

--------------------------------

Isaiah wrote these words

thousands of years ago

to a people who were strangers in a strange land,

exiled from their home

mainly because of who they were

and who they worshiped.

All they wanted to do was get home.

But all they could see was oppression,

and injustice,

and the fact that they were having to eat unfamiliar food

with unfamiliar people

in an unfamiliar place.

The land of exile

is about the last place you'd ever expect

to hear a new word:

a word of hope,

a reminder of who they really were

and why they really were created.

But that is precisely what they heard.

You and I

are not all that far removed from exile,

no matter what our level of comfort might be.

Is there still oppression in the world?

I think so.

All it takes to affirm that

is five minutes with the news.

Is there still injustice,

not just in the world,

but maybe even in Fannin County?

Yep.

And are there times

when we feel like a stranger in a strange land,

even when we're driving down Center Street?

I suspect that's the case as much for you

as it is for me.

You and I can still be exiled

just because of who we are

and who we believe in.

Times of exile

weigh down on our souls.

Oppression and depression

make it hard enough to look ahead for thirty minutes,

much less for thirty years down the road.

But all it takes

for us to get out of that kind of place

is a hearing aid.

Can we hear the prophet Isaiah

speaking to us this morning?

God is up to something.

And it involves us.

We're going to be okay.

Nothing can hurt us,

because it is God who has created us

AND redeemed us.

God is walking with us all the way.

We are going to be okay

because we have a purpose.

You and I have been created for God's glory.

We weren't created to be slaves to a job,

to make a buck for ourselves or the company store.

We weren't created to be mindless consumers,

buying the latest thing just because we can,

and just because somebody else has one too.

But neither were we created to be pampered

at the expense of others,

or to live lives of isolation from others.

Your life has a purpose.

It's right there in black and white

in the forth-third chapter of Isaiah:

you and I and all of us

are created for God's glory.

Our main purpose in life

is to glorify God and enjoy God forever.

Everything else is gravy.

We have life and breath

in order that we may praise and glorify God -

in ALL that we do:

in our worship,

in our work,

in our study,

in our relationships with others,

in feeding the hungry

and bringing release to others who are captive.

Praising and glorifying God

 is what we were created for.

And if we do that,

there will always be enough.

Everything else will fall into place.

Mission Inside Out //

is about doing together

the things we were made for.

Your Session has come up with a list of things

that will praise and glorify God:

good stewardship of the building God has given us,

the center of our worship life together.

Improving our ministry with youth and young adults.

Sharing the good news of the gospel

with those who don't have a church home.

Improving our own discipleship

with study and service.

In a nutshell,

Mission Inside Out

is calling us to our mission:

to seek others to become believers,

equip believers to become disciples,

nurture disciples to become ministers,

and deploy ministers

to serve the world.

Friends,

we've got some important things to do this year,

and all of us

are going to have to step up

and help make them happen.

The first thing we have to do

is to get our heads enough out of exile

to believe that God is indeed doing something new.  

Then all of us

are going to have to show we believe it

with our dollars,

with our presence in worship and fellowship,

our commitment to study,

our commitment to service,

our commitment to each other as we work together.

Charlie Avila, Sandy Barber, and John Williams

will all have more to tell you at lunch today

about where the Session is leading us to go.

It's going to take all of us together,

working with each other,

to get this mission accomplished.

But you know what?

We were created to praise and glorify God.

If we can do that,

all the rest will fall into place.

It's a promise.

Amen.