A Call to Joy

A Call to

A p r e ac h i n g g u i d e f o r f a l l 2 0 1 5

Promise an

By Jennifer Holz

O

ur new sermon series, A Call to Joy, kicks off on Sunday, September 13.

From fall through the Advent Season, we’ll listen to the voice of the prophet Isaiah as it comes through the lens of the Gospel of Matthew. This will also connect to the focus on purpose and call that has defined our journey in 2015.

Jesus is the fulfillment of all the longings of the people of Israel that are found and recorded in the book of Isaiah. Joy isn’t a product of circumstance, but the fruit of a deepening relationship with Christ, alignment with His purposes and fellowship with one another.

The book of Isaiah stands in the Old Testament as a towering voice of prophecy and promise. Most of us are familiar with some portions of Isaiah. In fact, the promises of God penned early in Isaiah often come up during the Advent season: For to us a child is born… Isaiah 9:6 A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse… Isaiah 11:1 The people walking in darkness have seen a great light… Isaiah 9:2 Or we may find refuge more toward the middle of the book where God comforts and refreshes His people: but those who hope in the Lord will renew … their strength… Isaiah 40:31 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you… Isaiah 43:2 Come, all who are thirsty… Isaiah 55:1

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nd Fulf illment We look to Isaiah 53 and the suffering servant during Lent to understand the cross and the cost Jesus paid to take away our sins: ut He was pierced for our transgresB sions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed. Isaiah 53:5 But how might one gain access to a fuller picture of the images and poetry of this great Hebrew prophet? How might we go deeper in receiving Isaiah’s voice? This fall, we are following Isaiah though the organizing pattern of Matthew. Throughout Matthew’s Gospel, Isaiah’s voice rings out in longing while Matthew answers with fulfillment: Jesus is the one who was promised. Matthew’s prompt is clear, “This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah.”

As we dig into Isaiah this fall, will Isaiah’s images and words ring true with our situation? Can Isaiah help us uncover our own deepest longings and needs? And can we receive the Gospel again with joy as we together draw from the waters of salvation (Isaiah 12:3), Christ Himself? I hope so.

Jennifer Holz is the Senior Executive Associate Pastor at First Pres.

Sermon Texts and Topics 9/13 • Isaiah 6:1-8 Commissioning of Isaiah 9/20 • Isaiah 40:1-1-8 Prepare the Way 9/27 • Isaiah 9:1-2 A Light Has Dawned 10/4 • Isaiah 56:1-8 Loving our World 10/11 • Ray Bakke Loving our City 10/18 • Mark Labberton Loving our Church 10/25 • Isaiah 53:1-6

By His Wounds We Are Healed 11/1 • Isaiah 42:1-4 Here is My Servant 11/8 • Isaiah 6:8-13 The Holy Seed 11/15 • Isaiah 29:13-16 Who is the Potter? Who is the Clay?

11/22 • Isaiah 65:17-25 The New Heaven and New Earth

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D

o you ever find yourself counting down to something? Perhaps it’s an upcoming vacation or a long-overdue visit from your grandkids.

You mark the days; you get more and more excited as the day approaches. Maybe some of you are counting down the days until the release of the new “Star Wars” movie. If you Google “countdown to Star Wars” you will find plenty of countdown clocks to help you mark the time, including the aptly named Web site: howmanydaysuntilstarwars.com.

When Chuck and I were engaged, we had a running countdown clock. At any given moment, I could pull up the days, hours and minutes until our wedding ceremony. As the clock ran down, the anticipation built as we looked forward to becoming husband and wife.

(The length of our wedding to-do list also continued to build during the engagement/countdown phase, but that is another story.)

In Isaiah, there is a lot of talk about a future event. A day on the horizon, so glorious, so full of joy and wonder, that mere words fall short in trying to convey it all.

The anticipation for that day, the longing for that day, was great indeed.

You see, the book of Isaiah is certainly not without its dreariness. As Isaiah 5 says, there was much darkness and distress. As we read through Isaiah, we find the terrible realities of sin, judgment and

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Awaken Joy

By Katie Fowler

exile. But woven into the writing of Isaiah is talk of another day, a future day, a new day secured by the intervention of the Living God. As author and pastor Drew Hunter says, “The book of Isaiah has a future tilt.” In the midst of a rather gray world, the bright light of joy is on the horizon.

We read Isaiah with what my friend, Glenn, refers to as the “Jesus lens.” We see the hope of the coming one, Jesus, the one who will restore what has been lost, put an end to all our sin, and usher in new creation.

In Isaiah, we also read of the day, upon Christ’s return, when God’s new creation will be fully here. As Isaiah 25 says, “On this mountain the LORD Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine — the best of meats and the finest of wines. On this mountain He will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; He will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears from all faces; He will remove His people’s disgrace from all the earth. The LORD has spoken.”

Words may fall short in describing the joy that awaits us, but images and word pictures help. A joyous feast is used as an image of what awaits us in the fullness of God’s Kingdom.

While we, as followers of Christ, still await that day of God’s new age being fully here, it is also true that those realities of new creation are breaking in even now. As theologian and author N.T. Wright describes, in Jesus Christ, “God’s future has arrived in the

present.” It’s why Jesus walks around, during His earthly ministry, proclaiming the Kingdom is near. It’s why Jesus was constantly throwing parties, attending celebrations and feasting.

Consider that for a moment, the joy of God’s new creation is breaking in even now, and the darkness and despair of a world tattered and torn by sin is fading away. Paul writes in Romans 13:12, “The night is nearly over; the day is almost here.”

I am reading a book right now by Dan Allender called Sabbath. Allender deals a lot with the subject of joy in his book. It is interesting that Allender names our ambivalence towards joy; in fact, he goes so far as to say we are afraid of joy. Do we dare open ourselves up to joy? Is that a foolish thing to do? Isn’t life hard? Will we ultimately be disappointed?

Yes, we have known despair, mourning and gloom, but could we be so bold as to put ourselves in a place where God might, as Allender says, “Awaken Joy?” Awaken Joy. What a curious phrase. What could it mean? And how might God desire to awaken joy in you? In me? Could it be that as we study Isaiah together this fall, God wants to awaken us all to joy?

As Isaiah 35 says, “They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.” A day is coming; a new day is already breaking in.

Katie Fowler is Associate Pastor for Missional Strategies.

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The Case of the Disintegrating Sofas

By Lindy Keffer

bout the time our first kid turned one, my husband and I sold our starter townhome and bought a “real house.” Unfortunately, the furniture from our first little place didn’t quite fill up the new one.

I started scouring Craigslist and was thrilled to find a four-piece leather living room set for the incredible price of $375. I should have known that deal was too good to be true.

I soon found out that bonded leather isn’t really leather at all. It’s a leather-ish substance adhered to fabric. It also turns out that couches created from such a concoction don’t appreciate sitting in the blazing Colorado sun beneath a pair of skylights. My sofas started falling apart before my eyes.

Within just a few years, our offspring totaled three, the leather was peeling off the furniture in large sheets and the baby was eating it. Something had to be done.

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Talking to God about Furniture I did a lot of talking — OK, maybe it was grumbling — to God about those couches: • God, I’m embarrassed by this furniture. I am having a hard time inviting anyone over for dinner as long as my living room looks like this.

• Really, am I so vain that my furniture would keep me from opening my home in hospitality? Well, yes, I guess I am.

• Talk about first-world problems!

Most of the world doesn’t even own a matching living room set, let alone a house to put it in. I am really thankful for God’s provision. But I’d still like new sofas.

• Can I really justify the money we’d need to spend to get new furniture? Lord, what’s the wise choice?

In my everyday frustration over my stuff, the fact that it wasn’t holding up and the money it would take to replace it, God was

calling to my heart. He asked me to examine my priorities.

It wasn’t about me gritting my teeth and giving Him the response that sounded most holy. It was about me taking a step toward Him, and in doing so feeling my heart soften and my will become more like His.

The God Who Moves Ahead of Us

Dr. Luke Timothy Johnson posits that this is the central point of the way Scripture addresses people’s relationship with money and possessions. When we hold our resources loosely and spend them on behalf of others in need, we grow in faith and in our relationship with God. When we take a grasping approach, growth is stifled.

It’s our daily interaction with money that makes it a perfect greenhouse for growing faith. Johnson says, “The response of faith is never once and for all, but is a lifelong series of responses to a God who constantly moves ahead of us.”

Even (or perhaps especially) in the mundane things like living room furniture, God can call to us and invite us to become more like Him. Will we listen and respond?

It Starts With Yes

Fall has traditionally been the time when our congregation considers what kind of financial commitment we’ll make to First Pres for the next year. This fall, we do so remembering that our life of faith hinges on one word: “Yes.” When God calls — no matter what the call is — we have the opportunity to say yes.

When we do, we move deeper in faith, experiencing more of God’s life, more of His power and more of His purpose.

Our yeses don’t have to be financial ones.

Throughout the fall preaching series, you’ll hear suggestions for many ways to respond to the Lord in the affirmative:

• Say yes to joy • Say yes to being fully present in worship each week you are able.

• Say yes to listening to the stories of someone from a different generation.

• Say yes to seeking out and celebrating new things God is doing in this church.

• Say yes to diving deeper into prayer.

• Say yes to sharing more of your honest self with your brothers and sisters in Christ.

• Say yes to giving something financially. If you’re already giving something, ask God what more He might want to say to you in this area.

I invite you to approach these suggestions the same way I approached the problem of my disintegrating sofas: turn to God in the mundane things of your life and invite Him to examine your heart and call you onward and upward in faith.

If money and possessions are a place where you’ve been reluctant to enter into that conversation with God, I invite you do so now.

Epilogue

In the end, I let God open my heart to hospitality. Our small group met weekly in our home during the Called…Together study, and the richness of those conversations will be remembered much longer than the furniture we sat on.

Meanwhile, God provided a new set of Craigslist couches — this time much more shrewdly purchased. I set the old ones out on the curb with an invitation for anyone to haul them away for free. Nobody was interested.

Lindy Keffer is the Manager of Ministry Giving at First Pres.

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By Matthew Fox

A Chal

“The vocation of every Christian is to live as a follower of Jesus today. In every aspect of life, in small and large acts, with family, neighbors and enemies, we are to seek to live out the grace and truth of Jesus. This is our vocation, our calling. Today.” — Rev. Dr. Mark Labberton, Called Throughout the summer we looked at what it means to be called by God. As servants of the Lord, our primary call is to serve Him. That looks different for each person, and looks different depending on the circumstances of your life in the world.

The way we express that call is different, unique and a product of what God puts on our heart. It could be modeling Christ’s love in a world where that’s not appreciated. It could be serving those in need in far off lands, or in the neighborhoods where we live. Or it could be telling a hard truth to people who don’t want to hear it.

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lenging Call was called to deliver a hard truth to his people.

He was called, as a prophet, to deliver a stern rebuke to a nation on the wrong path. And he had to deliver that hard truth knowing it would be years before it came true.

Isaiah’s name means “The Lord Saves,” a fitting moniker for one who was also privileged to foretell the greatest blessing in human history. Such was the complex call for Isaiah as he was charged with condemning, warning and forecasting the fall of Israel. But at the same time, he was charged with sharing the hope of salvation.

Isaiah began his ministry around 740 B.C., a turbulent period in Israel’s history. While its enemies were on the rise, Israel was beginning to decline. Isaiah lived until at least 681 B.C., but much of the message he was charged to give was about what would happen long after he — and his contemporaries — were gone.

The first half of his prophetic writing, 39 chapters, are known as the Book of Judgment.

Isaiah warned the people of Judah that their sin would lead to the fall of Jerusalem and captivity at the hands of the Babylonians. In fact, from the first chapter, Isaiah warns of God’s coming judgment.

“Woe to the sinful nation, a people whose guilt is great, a brood of evildoers, children given to corruption! They have forsaken the Lord; they have spurned the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on Him.” (Isaiah 1:4) What makes Isaiah’s task even more difficult is that Jerusalem would not fall until 586 B.C. — 100 years after his death. Still, Isaiah remained firm, offering the stern rebuke and warning given to him by the Lord. A challenging call to be a truth teller in a challenging time.

But that was only part of Isaiah’s work. The final section of his prophetic writings

— chapters 40 to 66 — offer a promise of hope and restoration, the promise of salvation from the Lord. That section is known as The Book of Comfort, providing the full dimension of God’s judgment and grace as He offers the hope of salvation.

Isaiah authored some of the most beautiful and oft-quoted words in Scripture. In fact, Isaiah’s words are the second most quoted in the Psalms. They speak of hope, comfort and a joyous vision of the future.

“Do you not know? Have you not heard?

The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and His understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.

Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.

They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” (Isaiah 40:28-31) Isaiah’s inspiring words are foundational to our faith and remain a source of comfort and joy. Theologian Merrill Unger said of Isaiah, “For splendor of diction, brilliance of imagery, versatility and beauty of style, he is unequalled.”

Isaiah’s work was the most oft quoted by Jesus. It is the basis for many songs of worship and a good portion of Handel’s Messiah.

In Called Labberton wrote, “When God’s people fail to live our call, the church buries the Gospel.” Isaiah lived in a hard time and he was given a tough call by the Lord. But he answered that call, and generations later we continue to be blessed because he did.

Matthew Fox is the Manager of Communication at First Pres.

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How do you see God at wo “I am excited for our three special weekends in October: Loving our World Sunday, Loving our City weekend and Loving our Church Sunday. In particular, I see God at work in beautiful ways in our city, and I am eager to see how God uses our city weekend to draw us deeper into His purposes for Colorado Springs. This year we will join with other churches throughout the weekend – in worship, prayer and service. I can’t wait to see how God continues to draw us into unity and partnership in the Gospel!”

— Rev. Katie Fowler Associate Pastor for Missional Strategies “During this unusual season for our church, I’ve seen God working beautifully through greater ministry ownership among members of this congregation. It was natural in previous years for people to think of First Pres as the Senior Minister’s

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church (John Stevens, Jim Singleton, or Graham Baird) – but God has been stirring within so many the conviction that ‘This is my church.’ And that can’t help but enhance this congregation’s Kingdom-impact!”

— Rev. John Goodale Associate Pastor for Caring Ministries “As we move into a new fall together, I see a vibrant congregation who is experiencing the call of God in their daily lives. I see God inviting us to lean into our call as a church to bless our city and to engage in learning and community building with one another and our wider community.

God is at work in our partnerships; and God is at work in each of our stories. This is an exciting time for First Pres.”

—Rev. Jennifer Holz Senior Executive Associate Pastor “I see God at work in so many places in our church. There are so many large things that are happening in local and global mission and the Holy Spirit is giving us patience as we wait upon the Lord for a new lead pastor. But God is at work in individual

ork at First Pres this fall? lives, as well. In our Midday Musings time together, where we reflect on the writings of C.S. Lewis, I see a real intentionality about growing in faith by understanding the things that distract us from our relationship with the Lord and wrestling with the nature and practice of prayer. In our Called…Together series of classes, I witnessed a deep desire to live among our neighbors as the presence of Jesus, full of grace and truth. And I am seeing magnificent transformations as people take their suffering to Jesus and look to Him for hope and healing. To quote Jacob, ‘Surely the Lord is in this place…’”

— Rev. Eunice McGarrahan Supply Pastor for Discipleship “I really believe that God is about to get the attention of all generations here at First Pres through a movement of prayer. The great movements of the Spirit through the church over the

course of history start with prayer. I am excited to see what happens this fall!”

— Rev. Nate Stratman Assistant Pastor for Family Ministries “Lead Pastor, or not, we continue to seek Jesus’ present risenness, His Presence, in our lives. The abiding in Scripture is a vital part of that grand endeavor. Our focus on Isaiah and Matthew this Fall will be a great place of reminder, teaching and exhortation for us all.”

— Rev. Ty Saltsgiver Parish Associate “We are not in a time of ‘transition,’ we are in a season of ‘commission.’ The Kingdom of God is at hand, the Spirit is upon us, Joy is the result of the awareness of the presence of Jesus. We are going to have some fun this fall!”

—Rev. Dan Jessup Parish Associate

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