Choosing to Soar

Teaching Series: VERY GOOD CHOICES Part #1 - CHOOSING TO SOAR Sunday July 8, 2012 Rev. D. Johns Isaiah 40:25-31 See also James 4:7-10 & Psalm 40:1-5, 103:5, Romans 15:13 • If your thinking stinks you will certainly sink! (recall Peter walking on water in Matthew 14:22-32) • Have you ever felt like God has lost track of you? (welcome to the club!) • This may sound more like a medical commercial or sales pitch, but Isaiah is basically saying - “do you have any of these symptoms?: constant complaining, feelings of loneliness, weakness, exhaustion, hopelessness ….. wouldn’t you rather feel hopeful, renewed, energetic, young again?” Eagle imagery: The Israelites were forbidden from eating birds of prey because they were detestable (Leviticus 11:13) yet the 30 references in Scripture depict the eagle as an image of strength and deliverance. (see Exodus 19:4, Isaiah 40:31) …. So how does this image speak to you today? extended notes:

Introduction: When I have been running the (new to me) trails around Kimberley, already twice I have been lost and my 1 hour run has turned into something much longer than planned … due to wrong choices every time the trail forked. Choices have consequences. Choices determine destination. Choices determine energy levels. They determine mindsets, control fears & emotions

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b>Isaiah 40 Isaiah speaks to people who had lost hope. After he reasons with them, he asks them to make a choice. There’s a message for our world too! Hope/wait and rise up! …. Like an eagle!

Illustration: 1. Eagles have very long, large wings, a short neck, and legs short enough to tuck into their belly feathers while aloft, except when they're fishing. Their wings are long and wide enough to carry their own body weight plus the weight of most of the fish that they carry. It takes a lot of energy to flap such large wings, just like it's a lot of work running with a large kite until it takes off! Two scientists who studied eagles, Jon. M. Gerrard and Gary R. Bortolotti, write that "Eagles are capable of sustained flapping flight but they usually spend little time doing it. During the month when Cindy (one of the female eagles they studied) was observed intensively, she averaged less than 2 minutes per hour in flapping flight. That is not surprising when one considers the large expenditure of energy required by the pectoral and supracoracoid muscles to power the huge wings. The energy needed to maintain a bird in flat soaring or gliding flight is much less, perhaps a 20th or less the power needed for flapping. Therefore, eagles will always choose to soar or glide when possible." That is why when eagles are flying long distances, especially on migration, they often soar on thermals until they reach a great altitude, and then use the gliding/soaring method of flying to cover the longest distance using the smallest amount of energy.

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b>Question: What keeps us grounded? Answer: stinking thinking

The impossible had happened: who could have anticipated the fall of a great nation, one chosen of God? … who could have anticipated the destruction a holy temple? Had God not let them down? Crisis behavior, panic, & despair causes brain freeze and theological amnesia. These people needed to hear a word from God desperately so that their thinking would change. Vs. 27 = complain + God can’t find me + God has abandoned me • This is way too low a view of God! • Ie: the caring capable creator affirmed in Isaiah. 40 is either to be trusted or not! Like Peter: when winds & waves draw your eyes away from the one who can walk on water, your thinking starts to stink and you start to sink!

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b>Question: What else keeps us grounded? Answer: exhaustion in this congregation who are members of the “fraternity of the fatigued.” So many believers have allowed the Christian pilgrimage to degenerate into a rat race — and the rats are winning! We faint and have no might. We faint and are weary.

v. 28 — The is of course One Person who is never weary. God neither faints nor is weary. v. 29 —We faint and have no might. We faint and are weary, we utterly fall. The word “weary” means to “feel fatigue.” It is the natural result of labor and toil that reduces strength.

The Signs of Fatigue. “We worship our work. We work at our play. And we play at our worship.” — at a breakneck pace, in the fast lane, involved in everything that comes our way. And some proudly say, “But I would rather burn out than rust out.” Well, my friend, either way you are out!

The Sources of Fatigue. What are the culprits that weary us? Our life style. The way we choose to live - plan, schedule, work, hurry here and there. There is something about this age that wears on you until you wear down or eventually wear out! Our sinful society can sandblast our souls.

Illustration:

I read a cute story of a first-grader who wondered why her father brought home a briefcase full of work every evening. Her mother explained, “Daddy has so much to do that he can’t finish it all at the office.” “Well, then,” asked the child innocently, “why don’t they put him in a slower group like my reading group at school?” It’s hard to find a slower group, isn’t it?

All right. There is the problem. There are those who have allowed themselves to get under a burden and have lost courage and hope. They faint and become despondent in the task. And for every one who “burns out” in God’s work, there are hundreds added to them who just “back out.” “They turned back in the day of battle,” Psalm 78:9.

But there is GOOD NEWS today! There is A WAITING THAT RENEWS, v. 31a. A Contrast that is Declared. “But . . .” God has pointed out the problem and now declares there is another way to live.

A Condition that is Difficult.

“But they that wait upon the Lord.” Most Christian I know have a serious “wait problem” that no diet or exercise program in this world can remedy! You have heard the prayer, “Lord, give me patience. And I want it right now!” It is almost impossible for a high speed internet generation to learn how to wait. Who wants to wait in bank lines when I can get it done in seconds on line?!

I have not enjoyed waiting for . . . the toast to brown . . . the marshmallow to toast …. the light to turn green . . . the next parking space . . . children to get out of school . . . checker at the grocery store . . . game to start . . . the kettle to boil … the jello to jell — and that’s just the big stuff! Illustration: Most of us are not like the little girl at her piano practice, who when asked why she was so quiet, answered, “Mother, I am practicing the rests.” “If Christians do not come apart and rest awhile, they may just plain come apart.” Look at the Psalms. Psalm 27:14 “Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.” Psalm 46:10 “Be still, and know that I am God...” This is the “exchanged life.” • I exchange my weakness for God’s strength. • I exchange my misery for God’s joy. • I exchange my slavery for God’s freedom. • I exchange my foolishness for God’s wisdom. • I exchange my poverty for God’s riches. • I exchange my death for God’s life. Certainly the act and attitude of waiting upon the Lord involves... • Searching the Word of God. • Seeking the fellowship of God. • Surrendering to the will of God. • Selling out to the glory of God. A Consequence that is Delightful. “But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.” A new energy to engage! A new power to perform! A new unction to function! This is the very thing we need — renewed strength. Waiting is not a waste. This is a strange sequence, an odd order. The normal way would be to have it — walk, run, mount up. H. A. Ironsides and W. A. Criswell suggest that possibly the prophet had three stages in mind — youth soaring, middle age running and old age walking. God has strength equal to your age and your task. See p.448 NIV Application commentary by John Oswalt “Even the most vigorous things in creation (young men) cannot get themselves going. They are not self generating but depend on outside sources for strength. But God is self-generating. And that means he has abundant strength to give away to those who will wait in hope for him. We are back to the theme of trust. More than just ‘marking time’, it is living in confident expectation of his action on our behalf. It is refusing to run ahead of God in trying to solve our problems for ourselves. God will provide the strength to soar, run, walk.” Spiritual Rising. “Mount up with wings as eagles.” That’s soaring. God wants to give you strength to soar like an eagle, not simply to be a barnyard turkey. God’s people need the strength to rise above this world and take their place in the heavenlies! This is strength to do the impossible. Illustration: Richard Wurmbrand Tortured For Christ = Hungry, beaten and doped, we could not think any more. In the darkest hours of tortures the Son of Man came to us making the prison walls shine like diamonds and filling the cells with light. Somewhere far away, were the torturers below us in the sphere of the body. But the spirit rejoiced in the Lord. The years of solitary confinement had stilled the storms in my heart. I was in the embraces of the heavenly Bridegroom. I prayed for those who tormented us and could love them with all my heart. Conclusion: Matthew 9:36 (harassed & helpless, distressed & downcast) Matthew 11:28-30 (come unto me...) Illustrations: Soarin' is a multi-sensory attraction for big kids, teens and adults in Epcot theme park that simulates a peaceful hang-gliding flight over the Golden State of California. Fasten your seat belt on the multi-passenger glider and be lifted 40 feet into the air. Swoop up and soar towards the clouds and spectacular California panoramas. An IMAX projection dome wraps 180 degrees around you, so you're engulfed by the impressive scenery. Special cameras on airplanes and helicopters captured many of the shots and the glider moves the same way the aircraft did, so you really feel like you're flying as you glide over such awe-inspiring vistas and landmarks as : • San Francisco • Golden Gate Bridge • Redwood Creek • Napa Valley • Monterey • Lake Tahoe • Yosemite National Park • Camarillo • Anaza-Borrego Desert State Park • San Diego • Malibu • Los Angeles Get a bird's-eye view over a PGA West golf tournament, a skiing and snowboarding exhibition, and float above cowboys on horseback as they race through the wilderness. Feel the wind in your hair. The air fills with the scent of orange groves, evergreens and the sea breeze. Your feet dangle free. Dip down so close to the crashing waves of the Pacific Ocean, you think your toes will get wet. Then return to the sky and continue on Soarin' to a fantastic finale where fireworks burst into sensational colors around you.