Fresh Start
Written by John Fontanella
Sunday, 14 June 2009 09:00
Has there been any part of your life where you need a fresh start?
When I think of what could possibly be the biggest fresh start of my I think of my freshman year at a new college. On my way down to Salisbury University, my mind would wonder to what I would be in college. I was going to bleach my hair and get some earrings and buy an acoustic guitar and I would be a whole new person and no one would second guess me because they didn’t know who I was before. I could be anyone I wanted to be. Well I’m glad the photos aren’t hear because I did all those things and more.
But fresh starts aren’t limited to kids heading off to college. Why if most of you remember back 6 months to a little thing marketed as a new years resolution. That’s a fresh start. I bet back in January you started doing a devotional every morning and by June you can’t even remember where it is. A fresh start is about a new beginning.
We are addicted to new beginnings, we love them.
Marketers know this. Its why there is already a new I-phone, and I am like I thought the I-phone is new… now there is a new new one? Have you ever looked at a package of Colgate, it says new and improved, but its tasted the same since I was 4 years old and our tide detergent says new and improved and my clothes are still clean, but we buy that stuff because it is new… we love new.
The Great thing about God is that he too knows that we are always searching for new things. Check out this passage in Isaiah 43… very exciting.
For I am about to do a brand-new thing. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness for my people to come home. I will create rivers for them in the desert! (Isaiah 43:19 NLT)
See God knows that we love new things and he is ready for us. Let me preface this, that what we are hearing is Isaiah’s vision... Its one of the great fresh starts of the Bible, and we will see what we can learn from this.
A FRESH START . . .
1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3 And they were calling to one another:
"Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory."4 At the sound of their voices, the doorposts and thresholds shook, and the temple was filled with smoke. 5 "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty."
6 Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 With it, he touched my mouth and said, "See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for." 8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!"
(Isaiah 6:1-8 NIV)
See I believe that in light of this there are some things that we need to do to help this process along. Part #1 or step #1 to this is we need to ...
Step #1: IDENTIFY THE PAIN
Right off the bat in verse 1 Isaiah says, “in the year that King Uzziah died.”
God lets King Uzziah die and this is painful, this has obviously affected Isaiah and is giving cause for this vision for what is about to take place next.
Maybe its not Uzziahs death, but it could be a political shift that is burdening Uzziah or a change in leadership or a friendship. Whatever it is...
Isaiah identifies what is causing this situation and he can pinpoint it exactly. That’s what you’ve got to be able to do. Let me demonstrate.
- Relationship
- Because Pete Kim didn’t like my video slide show, I am not going to feel like going out to lunch with him.
- I am depressed and I keep getting in to fights with my friends...
- I don’t think the rules apply to me because I’m arrogant... and that gets me in trouble.
- My boyfriend left me and now I don’t trust anyone...
And if you can’t do it we aren’t going anywhere.
God knows and we know that most significant fresh starts usually follow some sort of pain. Maybe not physical pain, but the death of a dream, or a botched relationship, or some a part of your life that has been strangled by apathy. And so King Uzziah has died and you have got to deal with it.
See in order for a fresh start to have any sort of sticking power you need to identify what needs to change. A counselor might say something like, don’t treat the symptom, treat the problem. Now this seems like a really simple question, but its never a simple answer.
Be honest why should I change because the pain hurts, because I’m lonely, because I’m angry, I’m hurt. But a lot of us walk right by step #1. Have you ever seen what happens when some one misses a step on the stairs? You have got to get to the heart of your pain, you see that King Uzziah has died pinpoint that is the reason why I am doing this.
Here is what makes fresh starts difficult
Instead of trying to identify the pain they try masking the pain, in fact they try wearing masks... the mask that I’m not sad or I’m not tired, I’m busy, or I’m a rebel, or I’m an overachiever.
Another thing about masks is that sometimes you don’t even realize you are wearing them... Have you ever seen anybody come in to work and the just look like they are bleh... or maybe someone walks in to staff meeting about 10 minutes late and they throw themselves down and are just like bleh and you try to ask them whats wrong and there like nothing... I’m good lets go. What you are really asking is can you identify the pain... whats the reason you are wearing that mask.
Masks have an incredible ability to change how people see us. Even on a day to day basis.
Master chief mask. (died hair, pierced ears, bought an acoustic guitar, shaved my head) So drop the mask and answer the question. It is okay if you are like “I just don’t want to feel this way” or “I always choose the wrong relationships” or “I am just dry and I want purpose”.
I think pain pushes us to two ends of a spectrum... on one end you have:
- a fresh start or a change
- it moves you towards apathy.
“In the year King Uzziah died...” I picked up drinking, or I started smoking or doing this I sold my camel and bought a tent. What is pain and what if you don’t do anything?
So why should I change? Because the pain that you are carrying around is changing the life you are leading...
God doesn’t bring the pain to you, but he is waiting for you and me to bring the pain to him. He’s ready and willing to take care of it and if we believe that to be true, step #2 says...
(Step one can be the most difficult because we bury it so far away that we don’t even remember what the original source.) God allowed that tragedy this vision that brought him in touch with himself, brought him closer, God used this feeling of loss.
Step #2: IT IS ALL ABOUT GOD
. . . I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3 And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory" (Isaiah 6:1b-3 NIV).
See God is the real motivation hes the real reason we can change
When I identify my pain I, is it brings me to a place where I think about God. And in the moment I find my motivation to change. I don’t want to live in this pain any more. I don’t want to live this way and abuse things and take advantage of people. Where we get confused is that the world wants to convince us that its self-help.
Is it all about God or is it all about self-help… Oprah, Dr. Phil, Tony Robbins?
You know, after only 6 CDs and 3 easy payments of $100 I can walk on coals... See here is what is funny about that, they want to charge you to use your own power... Shouldn’t I get a discount or something if you are going to use my power... and then why is it that there is a second edition... because I’m not enough.
So here is a fair question for you: Who is my God? Who do you turn to for a solution? Is it going to be a work out tape or a new diet or maybe the latest indie movie that has a hinting of morals?
If it is not all about God, it is all about something. That’s the way we are wired we have to make it about something. For Isaiah its Holy Holy Holy the whole earth is full of his glory, its all about God. So why, whats the big deal, why should I make it all about God.
Step #3: REVEAL THE TRUTH ABOUT MYSELF
That’s what I said
"Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips...” (Isaiah 6:5a NIV).
When Isaiah says God is holy and I’m a dirtbag, now that’s a loose translation, but I think it reflects the original language pretty well. When you say woe to me, that is very important. Isaiah has come to a realization about the truth about himself. He looked in the God mirror and he saw something different from he way he looked in his self mirror.
In light of God’s light I look Ugly
U G L Y you ain’t got no alibi you ugly… uh uh you ugly
Have you ever seen these mirrors that are concave that maybe your wife uses to put make up on... and it is you.
Isaiah says I put a magnifier in front. “Woe to me” is a Hebrew word for holy cow that’s disgusting On an ugly scale of 1 to 100 where is my heart. If 100 is Jesus Jr. and 1 is.
Because of God’s glory, honest evaluation yields some things in my life that I didn’t see before, such as self reliance. Self Reliance I would venture to say is the one thing that you are not going to see on your own. In fact I think that is the reason that self-reliance is trendy in the secular world and is seen as a good thing. I’ve seen some other things such as the need for generosity as a way of life, we talked about that last week.
The point is I promise you that if you are willing to look at yourself in the mirror of God’s glory its going to be beneficial in the long run… I think we can understand better when Christ talk about that you are the light of the world. If you want a head start on being different than the rest of the world and different from the person you were, this is it.
Because here is what is inevitable: If you do this if you look in the mirror, you will say woe to me and wow to God. You can’t help but want what He’s got. But you gotta do it. You will say woe to me and wow to God. Ugly me, Holy God ***Josh Hamilton***
Here is the good news, because right now this is kind of a really difficult, but here comes the big dog.
- Identify the pain
- Recognize its all about God
- Reveal the truth about yourself.
Then 4, in verse 7, you are released the past.
Step #4: RELEASE THE PAST
With it, he touched my mouth and said, "See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for” (Isaiah 6:7 NIV).
Finally, I confessed all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide them... And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone (Psalm 32:5 NLT).
He forgives all my sins . . . (Psalm 103:3 NLT).
WHAT am I holding on to?
I need to experience what Isaiah experience in verse 7. Your Sin is gone, he doesn’t want us to live with regrets and since they are inevitable for all of us forgiveness is available for all of us.
Read Psalm 32:5 together
See God cares about fresh starts.
Check this out if the Bible teaches that if you give your sin up God your forgiven. Pretty simple huh? But here’s what happens, people hold on to the past. **People still feel guilty from things that you have been forgiven of, but that guilt is not from God. If you have received that free gift of Christ then you have been forgiven and therefore that guilt cannot from God.
We can release the past because God has released us from it.
So here is the question, what am I holding on to? The regret of wrong relationships or wrong choices or wrong words?
God forgives, that’s God’s part. Then my part is to acknowledge and confess the wrong that I’ve done. It’s then to receive God’s forgiveness and release the regrets and live like I have been forgiven.
But we want to relive the past or others relive them for us. Have you ever had this happen? Someone brings up something that you had released and then you are re-wounded maybe for a funny story or just because?
Regret... absolutely
Forgiveness from God?... Yes
Restoration from?... Yes
Forgave, but didn’t forget?
In God’s eyes forgiveness results forgetfulness
I see so many people who have been forgiven, but don’t live like it.
And if your doing this you are paralyzing your life and the lives around you.
If you’re having trouble doing this, talk about it with someone. Do it in a life group and if your waiting to get into one don’t wait. This is where the rubber meets the road.
(this is what is hardest for me) Conflict story...
- Identify my pain – pushes me to say I’m ready for a fresh start
- Recognize that the fresh start “is all about God”
- I evaluate my heart
- release my past into God’s hands
Finally, #5: Say Yes to God
Step #5: SAY “YES” TO GOD
Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!" (Isaiah 6:8 NIV)
WHEN will I get started?
Send me to a fresh start. There are very few things in life we have control. We can’t control other people and others situations. But we can control whether we say yes to God. So that you can experience a fresh start.
My point is not to make it formulaic because this is intimate personal stuff. I am not even trying to oversimplify it. But God set it up this way. He does most of the work. But Isaiah got a fresh start.
So what are you going to do, how are you going to impact your own life and the lives around you?
Are you going to Let God re-write a better version of you?
Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning . (Lamentations 3:23 NLT).
Seniors, you have a built in opportunity to have a fresh start, will you take it and grab a hold of it. Congregation, January 1st is a long way away, what will you do with the rest of your year? If you are new or visiting here, maybe something you’ve been struggling with fresh starts all you life and something made sense about why it ain’t working. Wherever you were this morning is not where you have to be when you leave here today.