Brand New Thing, Same Old Me?
Isaiah 43:1, 4, 18-21

Bill Hybels, pastor of the Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington. Illinois, said something at an evangelism conference that has significantly shaped my life and my ministry: Lost people matter to God.

Now I know that lost people matter to God. John 3:16 has become the tried and tested slogan of the Christian Church:

Did you know that, for every five births in this world, two people die? And seven out of ten of those who die have never heard the Good News of John 3,16 and have no inkling there is a Savior. Let me help us put our fingers around that statistic:

Since the delegate body left the conference arena in Milwaukee last year, 137 million people were born and 64 million died. Last month, as we were prayerfully anticipating the trip to Kansas City, 11.5 million were born and 4.5 million died. Last week, as we were thinking about what to pack, 2.5 million were born and 1 million died. Yesterday, as we were registering at hotels and getting a lay of the land, 375 thousand were born and 150 thousand died, An hour ago, as we prepared ourselves to meet with God, 15 thousand were born and 6 thousand died. One minute ago, when I began this paragraph, 261 were born and 101 died. Just a second ago, 4.3 people were born and 1.7 people died, Count It: Snap - snap - snap - snap - snap - snap. Ten people in this world have just taken their last earthly breath and seven of those people did so without Christ to lead them home.

Jesus summarized his life purpose in 14 simple words: "For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost," Luke 19:10 (NIV) God is in the salvage business. When you pass through deep waters, I will be with you; when you walk through the fire, I will not abandon you. Do not be afraid, for I have redeemed you! Isaiah 43: 2, 1b (paraphrased) Jesus Christ is the ultimate search and rescue operation!

Hybels said, Lost people matter to God...As a matter of fact, you have NEVER looked into the eyes of someone who DOESN'T matter to God.

Take a look around the auditorium, brothers and sisters: You won't see a soul who is not created in the image of the Creator. You are not seated beside anyone who isn't profoundly loved and precious in our Lord's eyes. Go out into the streets after the service; you will encounter no one for whom Christ would not give His life in a heartbeat. Paul says,

You've never looked into the eyes of a person who does not matter to God - not even the person looking at you in the mirror.

John Ortberg, a pastor and author, tells an amazing story about his paternal grandmother. When she died, a relative was preparing Oma's house for sale and came across a box of blue china in the attic. The relative was going to take it to the mission, but she remembered that Ortberg's mother was particularly fond of blue and offered the box and its contents to her. It was the most exquisite set of dishes she had ever seen: A handpainted, forget-me-not pattern with 14K gold rims on each plate, saucer and tea cup. The cups were inlaid with mother-of-pearl. No one had any recollection of it. They had no idea where their grandmother had gotten it or how long she had had it.

Upon investigation they learned that, when Orna was a girl, she received a piece of this china every birthday and Christmas. She would carefully wrap it and put in a box for safekeeping. The china was made at a Bavarian factory which was destroyed during the war, so it was irreplaceable and priceless. She was saving it for a very special occasion. Evidently, in her mind anyway, no such occasion ever arrived. She went to her grave with the most precious gift she had ever received still in the box.

Henri Nouwen wrote about the Life of the Beloved in which He said the first step of the spiritual life is to acknowledge with our whole being that we are God's chosen: to realize that I, that you, are seen by God for all eternity as - not just special - priceless. May I tell you something? Many of us will go to our graves with that priceless gift of God's in-filling love having never been taken out of the box!

On Easter morning, one of our college students got into her car when our celebration service was over and exited our parking lot, playfully honking the horn to the church-goers who were milling about the sidewalk. Her parents, the intended recipients of this joyful noise, sheepishly shrugged their shoulders and apologetically said, "Youth." But one of our wiser members said something prophetic: "Everybody who came this morning and heard the message that God loves and Jesus saves, should be leaving this parking lot, blowing the horn for all they're worth."

It was Friedrich Nietzsche, the philosopher and self-proclaimed atheist who, in essence, said: I'll believe in a God who loves, creates and redeems when I see Christians acting like they believe it.

Do you believe it? On the morning I wrote this meditation, I had taken a prayerful walk, asking God to center me and show me His heart. That particular day was the annual large item collection in our township. The sidewalks were arrayed with household items no longer valued or needed by their owner. Garbage. Junk. Stuff not even worth putting out for a yard sale. I'm amazed at what we buy, use and misuse, then toss out on the curb so we have room to buy more of the same. But what amazed me more were the things left for the landfill that, placed into the hands of the right person, could be redeemed and made beautiful again. A rocking chair. A large wooden doll house, broken apart and carelessly piled in pieces. As true as I'm standing here, I heard in my spirit,

As often as I've read Isaiah 43 I never realized that God, through His messenger, told those broken and left-to-die-in-a-landfill exiles a minimum of twenty times how much they are loved and how valuable they are to Him. Yet a careful reading of verse eighteen might suggest that, at some point during the telling of that love story, the exiled Israelites didn't believe it. I think God and people must have had a conversation that sounds a lot like some of the conversations God and I have had: What's the use? What's the point? Look at my life. Look what I've done, look at the way I've turned out. Look at who I am, for cryin' out loud: Curb-service not kingdom service!

Let's just be honest, when the world has trashed you, it's very difficult to believe that God would salvage the pieces even if God has the ability to do so. It's even harder to believe it when you've trashed yourself.

I visited a brother and fellow pastor in a nearby city one day. I went to his office for some pastor-to-pastor conversation and some honest feedback. This colleague was not someone I knew very well. While I was there, I've got to confess I engaged in a little friendly competition to mask my insecurity. Although I didn't intend to, I am sure I shined my credentials, be cause I heard myself talking about this program at Gettysburg and this personal philosophy about leadership in ministry. And I mentioned a few big names: Hybels, John Maxwell, Andy Stanley, Emily Mumma. Mind you, I did all of this in under an hour. I've got to tell you, I was impressed with myself! I thought: Man, I am good! I have arrived! When I got in my car, I had a second thought: Joel, You dropped a lot of names back there. Did you drop God's name? Good thought. I made a note to do so the next time.

I had never been to that church before. I pulled out of the driveway and turned right, looking for the highway that would point me north. I drove five or ten minutes until I did something most uncharacteristic for the male species - I asked for directions. I was directed back to the church where-upon I humbly discovered the ramp for the interstate, quite legibly marked and easily accessed, directly opposite the exit where Mr. Has-His-Act-Together had turned in the first place. Lord, I prayed, you're a marvel! You make me a brand new thing; yet, in my hands, it's the same old me.

I'm rubbish, really. But that's not all I am! The Scriptures say I am loved. I am called. I am His. I am salvageable. Anyone who is in Jesus Christ this morning is what, Church? A brand new creation. The old has passed, the new has come. You and I are not in competition with one another because you too are loved. You are called. You are salvageable. Nouwen says, "When love chooses, it chooses at the exclusion of no one."

People who are far from God matter to God. And if you've walked in here this morning from a home in exile, carrying your tail and your pieces behind you, I'm here to encourage you with a word: You're not going to be put out of here for curb-service. You've got a divine appointment for kingdom service! You've fallen into the right hands: they are nail-pierced hands. They are the hands which healed a leper, embraced a traitor, gave a dead child back to its mother and proved to the most famous cynic that God is in control. If the love of Jesus Christ can do a brand new thing in those people, what do you think he can do with you?

You and I will never look into the eyes of a person who is not claimed and who does not matter to God. Never! There are so many lost and broken people who need for us to believe that, brothers and sisters. We are the Body of Jesus Christ. If we don't own John 3:16 and feel the urgency of giving it a voice through our own testimony, I guess the Lord can call someone else who will proclaim this kind of love for God's forgotten people, but who? The greatest joy I ever knew as a Christian was the day I baptized an individual who God had amazingly redeemed and made whole again. Any baptism is special. But what I will never forget about this one is, when I leaned down to help this person to their feet, they literally leapt from the water, hands raised, tears of gratitude streaming down their face exclaiming, Thank you, Jesus! Thank you, Jesus!

Seven out of ten people die, and they never know how deep, how wide, how immeasurable that incredible feeling of being welcomed back and loved really is. Seven out often, brothers and sisters. Many are so close. They are so close. They're out in the hall, or sitting in the back row - sitting in Peanut Heaven. Some of them are on the verge of believing, but then... We may well be the only Bible some people will ever read. Open your heart to God's love, Church of the Brethren. It matters.