Transition Glory & Stress

TAKEOFF

So, today is a special day for many people...

Super Bowl Sunday.

This year of professional football actually helps me with todays message.

many of you may be aware that I am a Buffalo Bills fan and over the past few years the Bills General Manager made significant acquisitions, adjustments, and transitions and as a result they made it to the AFC Championship! It’s an exciting thing to see transitions resulting in such great reform and progress toward success on the field....

BUT

even with that transition…and all transition… some things don’t change.. like the fact that Tom Brady is still in the Superbowl…I think its been like 40 straight years of Brady playing quarterback in the Superbowl but hey good for him...

I’ve heard it said that History may not necessarily repeat itself but it does certainly rhyme and today as I begin this message on the topic of Transition I want you to know that the transitions of your life do not catch God by surprise.

TENSION

I Miriam Webster has dubbed 2020’s word of the year to be “Pandemic” but honestly I think a more appropriate word would be Transition....

tran·si·tion

the process or a period of changing from one state or condition to another.

Pandemic (global shift)

Includes the relationship between and among nations and people all over the world

US Election (National succession)

Includes the Congress, Senate, Foreign policy, Economic protocols and more.

Educational System (responsive overhaul)

Full day, hybrid, full remote, online classes and assignments.

the loss of extracurricular activities - sports, music, debate, and the attempt to make those things happen in different ways.

SocioEconomic (reforms and restraints)- Online world impacting your career and relationships (Vocational and Local Community )

Unemployment %’s & paydays

Twitter, Facebook, IG, Podcasts, Youtube, are all finding more airtime in the average American home and adjusting the way we interact

Movies being released first run on HBO Max

includes your neighborhood and ineractions with people at work and at social functions.

Faith Community -

Pastor Randy’s announcement of his retirement but that adds into the mix another level of transition… the Faith community and its movement from one reality to another.

How we worship, Online or in person, phones

Where we gather, large groups, watch parties,

When we worship,

We now have one church in many many different locations engaging in worship at all different times. Some of you are watching and listening to me on Sunday night, and some of you are listneing to the sound of my sweet voice on Monday morning.

Personal/Individual (the you and your immediate family stuff)

includes the loss of loved ones, the birth of grandchildren or children

Working out at home rather than the gym

We’ve all been through significant levels of transition and I want to say it again…NONE of it is catching God by surprise.

History may repeat at times, other times it rhymes…

TEXT

All throughout History we can see times of global, political, economical, tribal, and personal transitions. More specifically we see in scripture all of these different seasons of change and I want to tell you today, there is Hope and strength and wisdom to be found in the history of humanity as we have navigated those seasons.

Today I want to remind you or maybe introduce you to one episode of transition in the life of a nation that predates the USA by thousands of years and is still going strong.

as we walk through this passage today out of the book of Isaiah We will see our need to Look UP, Look IN, and Look OUT and finally Look AGAIN

Isaiah 6:1–8 ESV

1 In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” 4 And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. 5 And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” 6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.” 8 And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.”

Look UP

742-701 BC - Isaiah’s ministry spanned the reign of 4 different kings

assassinations, people being swallowed by giant fish and spit back out again, His country is fractured and certain tribes and states are working together with foreign nations to destroy the other tribes of their own people…by force (734bc Ephraim allies with Assyria against Israel)

destruction of Bethel by Assyria (traditional place of honor)

His life and work span included transitions and shifts and reforms that would make 2020 look like a walk in the park with an ice cream cone.

all this, in the life of Isaiah and as he begins his ministry he states that he LOOKED UP and SAW the LORD. “In the year King Uzziah Died...” but it could just as easily been FOR HIM

“In the year ...

…the economy fell apart

…the country was overhauled

…of the assassination

...my world was turned upside down...”

AND THIS IS FOR US,

“In the year...

… of the pandemic

… of the unemployment

… of the loss and the change and the frustration

In this year we, as Isaiah did, we look up and see the LORD, on the throne, and his presence fills the temple. gloriously and with wonder and strength and power eternal!

ACTION: spend time daily, in Wonder and Awe dwelling on the character of God

Look IN

AS we continue reading through this passage we see that what Isaiah looks up to continue to shape who he is becoming.

What we look to shapes our identity

As we dwell on the the nature of God our true being is revealed

As we dwell on the counterfeit Gods of this world our true being is deceived.

Look at Isaiah’s response to his vision

Isaiah 6:5 LEB

5 And I said, “Woe to me! For I am destroyed! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I am living among a people of unclean lips, for my eyes have seen the king, Yahweh of hosts!”

look to your job for your peace and calm - you’ll be a wreck

look to your grades in school - the pressure will eventually crush you with shame or blow you up with pride

look to the government - you will be disappointed in 4-8 years either way

look to the games you play or the people you know to make you feel more secure and safe in the midst of transitions and you will be at their mercy… when they’re up your up, when they’re down your down. like waves in the see

Look to God and you will be destroyed because you will see how far you are from being able to steady your own hand or find your own footing.

But the good news is this...

In the midst of Isaiah’s undoing and destruction God came to Him....

and He didn’t give Isaiah 7 Herculian tasks to prove himself able. NO

God came to him with the coal from the altar.

And here is were we draw our hope as well. Some may say, “I wish I could have a vision like Isaiah had” I’m here to tell you that I can offer you something better than a vision, I offer you Jesus, the one who became the coal for us, the one whom the fire of Gods wrath was poured out on so that in the midst of our fear, our sin, our shame, our guilt can look to Him, King Jesus and be set free. set free to keep calm and carry on not because of what we have done but because of what he has already done on our behalf.

Thats the good news of the gospel - That Jesus atoned (paid for) the sins of all humanity so that by simple faith we can all be transformed into a new creation…not a transition but a transformation, so that as we walk through the ever shifting and changing world around us we can have a sure hope that steadies us and brings our heart back from the fluttering pace we see all around.

Look up my friends - to Him who is able to steady your hands for the work of the day - to Him who is able to lead your feet in the dark - to Him who is able to transform you into exactly what you were created to be - His Child.

once you’ve looked up and placed your hope and faith in Christ there is a temptation to stay too long in the navel gazing space of self-concept but you, as a transformed child of God, you, have a mission that is very much in step with the prophet Isaiah...

Look OUT

Isaiah 6:8 LEB

8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “I am here! Send me!”

You have a calling to invite others to look UP to the one who has steadied you.

It’s not about you.

As you live in the light of Gods glory, others will see and know that you are not tossed like a wave in the sea.

When the waves around you become so large and they cause you to slip and fall, and you again return to that place of redemption in the presence of God, others will see and know that it wasn’t in your strength that you were made whole but rather in the strength of your king

Look OUT to those who are being tossed around emotionally, vocationally, personally and invite them to look up with you to the one who is on the throne.

Look AGAIN

Your life in and through Transitions will be filled with many more changes I’m sure. Please remember the vision of Isaiah that was a foreshadow of the Saviour Jesus Christ.

In the year that our world was seemingly turned upside down, we looked up and Saw that God was still on the throne, He is not shaken or dismayed, He is glorious and still in the business of transforming us.

ACTION: I wonder what we would look like if we spent time daily in the presence of the King.

Would you test this wonder with me?

Pray and seek God’s presence through the reading of scripture and the quiet of your time with him and lets see what happens. Shut off the blue light of the screens and turn on the bright light of God’s word AND I wonder what will happen in you.

Look UP to Jesus

Look IN with Gratefulness

Look OUT with Grace and Peace