location: Grace Lutheran Bradford ! date: 9-14-2014

Title: Thriving through Transition key scripture: I John 3:1-3

2nd scriptures: Numbers 21:4-10, John 3:13-17 !Intro: I want to share with you one of my favorite verses in the Bible — its really just a short phrase, “here and now, we are children of God.” That’s it, real short. People often quote John 3:16 “for God so loved the world….” that’s too long for me. You got to be able to text your favorite verse, I’ll tell you my thumbs are all thumbs. !(context) I’m going to give you just a verse before and the verse after, so that you have context. Did you notice that John 3:16 has a really interesting context — John as he get ready to summarize what Jesus really means to us, decides to reach back into the old Testament and talk about Jesus in the context of Moses in the wilderness. Now Moses is leading the through this terrible transition away from living as slaves in Egypt, through the dessert, and the goal is to get to the promised land. But Moses does stop and ask directions, you know the story. Moses’ GPS is on the fritz. He’s lost satellite reception. So their going around in circles and everyone is tired of it. The kids in the back of the camel are saying, “R we there yet?” And the adults are plotting to get rid of Moses and go back to Egypt. You remember this story — this story is the context for John 3:16 — so you don’t get to John 3:16 unless you hear the story of Moses in the wilderness. And you don’t get to hear me tell you about my verse, until I take you back and tell you why is extend the message that is at the heart of God so loving the world, that he sent his only son. So the people are in the wilderness and they are sick and tired and ready to rebel. They have reached the state of maximum anxiety because the food and water are running low. And they start to murmur against Moses. So God gives them a plague of snakes and people start dying. Things always get worse before the get better. When it can get any worse, Moses puts a snake on a stick and lifts it up. Just like Jesus was lifted up on the cross. Everyone who looks at that snake on the stick gets healed. Salvation comes. That’s the context for John 3:16 Now, what’s the context for my verse, “Here and now, we are Children of God…” Let’s hear it: [John 3:1-3] I. (911) Back in 2001, I was given a sabbatical — I had been in ministry for almost 30 years

(9 of them here in Bradford), and I was tired - I needed to go back to my biblical roots. I wanted to see the part of the world that the Apostle Paul walked through… So with the help of the Lilly foundation, the church that I was serving was able to give me this extended time off & I went to Turkey — spent a week roaming the streets of Istanbul then flew down to the coastal town near the ruins of Ephesus — I was excited — about to walk the streets that Paul walked when he preached — shortly after Paul was there, the place was abandoned & today some of the best preserved streets of the ancient world are to be seen there in Ephesus — I spent the whole day walking through those ruins, then I came back to my hotel room and slumped tired on my bed… put my feet up and flipped on the TV — and I saw the strangest thing, there was a city sky line — its a newscast — but since its in Turkish, I have no idea where this city is. But there’s these two big sky scrapers in the middle of the scene. Suddenly a jetliner comes across the picture and strikes one of the buildings. I’m watching

Bill Kemp! www.notperfectyet.com

as smoke and fire bursts out of the upper floors of this building. But, I have no idea as to what I’m watching. I’m in Turkey and I’m alone. And another plane strikes the other tower. And the towers start to fall. That’s when I begin to flip around the channels until I come to the BBC and I hear the news story of what had happened that morning of 9-11 in New York City.

Well, there I was in a predominantly Moslem country watching 911. I have say, that the people I was surround by at the hotel were very good to me and several expressed sincere sympathy for what America was experiencing. But, it wasn’t until two days later, as I was taking the ferry to Patmos island, that I could process the event with English speaking Christians. That day was the beginning of a wilderness experience for me, that lasted a number of years. The reason I tell you that story, is because I think 911 was a transitional moment in American history. After it, we all went into a wilderness as a people. We have changed, in many ways as a nation. Today, I want to talk about thriving through transition. By Transition, I don’t simply mean change. I mean a fundamental shift in identity, mission, and values. I think we undergo transition as a nation, as a church, and as individuals. Transition is often initiated by an external trauma It is usually marked by period of time in the wilderness We can exit any transition spiritually strengthened, if we remember that “here and now, we are children of God…” !II. (seeing it throughout the Bible) Since 911, I have begun to notice that transition is

everywhere in the Bible. It’s the driving plot in some of our favorite stories in the Old Testament: Noah, Jacob, Joseph, Ruth, Jonah, and Daniel. It’s also at the heart of the 23rd Psalm.

OH, did I forget Moses? The biggest story of the Old Testament is the story of the Exodus. When churches are in transition, I often recommend that they study Exodus… do a sermon series on it… pound away on it in their small groups. Because the story of the exodus contains all of the elements that are a part of any spiritual transition. Trauma, Unsolvable Problems, Wilderness, Leader that leads by walking with his people, Healing, and finally, a strengthened relationship with God. II. (Human Transitions) We all will face transitions in our individual lives. Some of those will be initiated by our growing older. Sometime around twelve or thirteen, our children go through that adolescent transition & we say “I wasn’t like that when I was their age.” What marks that uncomfortable moment of life, though, is a sense of being in a wilderness. What we need to say to our kids is that “Here and now, they are children of God.” Some of life’s transitions are initiated by trauma: Divorce, Loss of a loved one, loss of ones job, major illness, and finally the transition into glory. What do we need to remember? “Here and now, we are children of God” During Transition, our focus has to shift from “what we do” to “who we are” When I say, “Here and now, I am a child of God…” I’m not focusing on what great works I’m doing…

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Bill Kemp! www.notperfectyet.com

Being & identity become central. Part of why God sends us through transition is so that we can rediscover, who we are. III. (counter intuitive - focus on process) OH, I told you that Transition is a big part of Old Testament stories, what about the New? Remember the Love chapter? Paul talks about all the things that he could do… then he says, it’s really all about love. Love is a state of being - here and now, I am a child of God. I am loved and now by the grace of God, capable of loving. But that state of love requires a transition, we call that transition, salvation. !None of us likes transition, but the Bible constantly reminds us that it is necessary. We become who we need to become, by going through transition. When you look at the Easter story, that period of time from when Jesus was nailed to the cross until the dawn of Sunday, when he arose. That period of time is all transition. A wilderness of pain. The disciples wondered through that wilderness and were changed. [Carravagio’s ] Notice, Jesus is being held onto. Christ is dead and not doing any miracles. “Here and now… !Just one mores thing, the period of transition involves study and prayer. What we do in the wilderness is attempt to understand and accept. By nature, most of us a action oriented. We go in for a medical procedure and are told that it will take us 6 weeks to recover, and we say, “I’ll do it in two weeks.” That hospitalization, might be God’s attempt to get us to understand and accept. !Let me end with a quote: “Understanding is hard, once one understands, action becomes easy.”

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