Scripture text: Isaiah 27:1-13
In his discussion of the book of Job, Thomas Long discusses the two biblical monsters of chaos – Behemoth and Leviathan. They both were seen by the ancients as powerful signs of destruction and the ultimate of disorder. For the Hebrews of Isaiah’s time, these two beings were to be feared, almost as apocalyptic symbols.
But God, in Job, the Psalms and Isaiah, doesn’t seem to be taken back at all by these two beasts. In Job (40:15), the Lord says that He created this monster Behemoth, and in Psalm 104:26, we read that God is watching Leviathan frolicking in the sea! For God, they poise no more of a problem than a domesticated pet might. If we ever had any doubt that God is truly in control, here is encouragement that He is.
Long writes:
The images here are so incredible we resist them. We are witnessing [here, though,] the claim that the alternative to our moral scheme of order and disorder is not chaos. It is not even a new and divine scheme of order and disorder. It is rather a vision of only order, of everything — even that which we are now forced to call evil — gathered into the hand of a just God. It is a vision that comes to us from outside the plane of human time, and yet one which serves to give radical hope in the present.
—Thomas G. Long, “Job: Second Thoughts in the land of Uz,” 1988 Theology. Originally published in Theology Today 45 (1988): 5-20. Reprinted with permission.
That’s what Jesus is about –a radical hope, existing in the middle of our chaotic lives, for all who seek peace in Him, not only for His Day of glory that is on its way, but even more so in our day of struggle.
Read Isaiah 27:1-6
The sea has always been a symbol of chaos – from the creation in Genesis to the maritime interests of today. The oceans are vast and uncontrollable – just ask any sailor who has had to endure a storm at sea.
During my Navy days, when we were returning from a Mediterranean cruise, we went through a hurricane. Our ship had 2 inclinometers – devices which show the extent of the rolls that the ship is taking. One of the inclinometers was located on the bridge, and the other amidships just forward of the mess decks. The ship was designed to take 80 degree rolls and still right itself, but you never wanted to actually be on board when it did! One day, as I was passing the lower inclinometer, I stopped to watch for a moment – to see just how far we were rolling. One roll went 35 degrees, the next a little more, and the third went to 45 degrees. Now at 45 degrees, you have two choices – you can either walk on the deck, or you can walk on the bulkheads (the walls) – either one will serve you just as well! And in case you were wondering, the ship did right itself! But trust me – those 2-3 days of storm were, for me, the epitome of chaos!
The sea and everything in it seems to do what it wants, but Isaiah is telling us that even the vastness and power of water comes under the authority of God’s mighty hand. And He is offering peace to all who would oppose His control – to all who sin. And He wants us to have confidence in this assurance. We are to rejoice in the safe place – the sanctuary - that He has created for us, for He is the one who is keeping it safe and secure. God entrusts that task to no one other than Himself.
And does He fear anything? Hardly! “If only there were dangers confronting me!” The opposition that evil can muster up against Him is less potent than that which thorns and brambles could present! Hardly enough to even waste His breath on! But even the opposition is offered the chance for peace with God. “Let them make peace with me.” Give up the fight, and come to me – you can’t win, but in me, you will find victory!
And along with the chosen people of God, anyone who will turn away from the evil that controls them will also “bud and blossom and fill all the world with fruit.”
Read Isaiah 27:7-11
Those who the LORD has chosen, but who still take a stand against the eternal God will not be destroyed – at least not yet, but they will be chastised, and severely at that. The metaphors that are listed here are very descriptive.
- “.. He drives her out as on a day the east wind blows.” – This would be a hot blast that comes at them from the desert, a reminder of the wilderness and desolation. It is a promise of exile.
- The altar stones, Asherah poles and incense altars are those symbols of pagan gods that had taken the people far away from Yahweh. Their reliance on these devices had corrupted their worship and had created an insurmountable barrier between Israel and God. They had to be destroyed.
- The fortified city, as well as the tree, may very well represent Israel herself. Once proud, once strong, once more wealthy than nearly any other nation, she would be laid lower than low. Once tall, pointing the way toward heaven, bearing fruit and giving shade and comfort to many, would be stripped bare for fodder, the branches would wither and die and would have no earthly use except to feed the fires.
- There would be no understanding by the people, and no compassion or favor from their God.
But even in the depravity that awaited them, the prophet also offers a word of hope.
Read Isaiah 12-13
A trumpet will sound, calling all of God’s people home from their exile and slavery. Finally! An end to oppression, an end to separation, an end to abject poverty, an end to hopelessness!
Can’t you just hear the shouts ringing out throughout the nation – “We’re going HOME!” But this homecoming won’t just be any old gala, and it wouldn’t be only the restoration of Israel to the glory of God. It is to be the Day of the LORD’s coming, too. “Those who were perishing .., and those who were exiled ... will come to worship the LORD” on His Holy Mountain.” And He will meet us there.
On August 28, 1963, Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his famous speech “I Have a Dream” in Washington, DC. It told the story of the exile and slavery that has oppressed a people for hundreds of years. It told of the glimmers of hope that this people had seen over the years, but had never quite grasped, never quite enjoyed. It tells of the impatience of the people, as they eagerly wait to go home again, and even in that anxiety, it tells of the hope that must continue to be present in their lives.
He said “You have been the veterans of creative suffering.” But he also said “Let us not wallow in the valley of despair” I think Dr. King was telling the people to never loose hope, that the dream will come to fruition.
He ended his speech with those now famous words that he quoted from a spiritual
“Free at Last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”
He ended his message of hope in the present tense – there is hope and we ARE free. Dr. King knew that the oppression and hatred and “creative suffering” that they all had felt, that it wasn’t over and done with, that it hadn’t stopped, that it was still being forced on the people, but nonetheless, he is free, and no one and no thing could take that away from him – not bigotry, not racism, and not even James Earl Ray.
That is a message that Christians in our country need to learn and live – that in Jesus Christ, there is a glorious hope, and in Him, we are free at last! Yes, there is still persecution toward the church; yes, there is still a worldly distrust of the gospel of Jesus Christ; yes, there is still a battle being waged against the Hope of Christ, but there is hope and we are free, and no one can take that freedom - that salvation in Jesus Christ - away from us! It is promised – “In that day, a great trumpet will sound. Those who were perishing .. and those who were exiled .. will come and worship the LORD on the mountain.”
Deliverance and wholeness – now, not later. The promise is for today. Yes, we aren’t completely home yet, but we’ve begun the journey, and soon, that glorious trumpet will sound, and we will know for certain that His people have arrived!
Now that’s a reason to rejoice and give thanks to God on this Thanksgiving Day 2009.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Sunday, November 15, 2009
“Are We Birthing Spirit Or Just Wind?”
Scripture Text Isaiah 26:16-21
J. Walter Cross,[a UMC pastor and writer,] tells of flying a kite with his son Jay in southern Florida during some windy weather. The wind was strong, and the kite grew smaller and smaller as it tugged against the string. The harder [the wind] blew, the higher [the kite] rose. Then there was a sickening snap! The string had broken. The kite was free, but it was no longer soaring higher. It was tumbling, falling crazily to dash itself against the ground or become tangled in the trees. What kept the kite airborne was [not the freedom of the wind, but] the restraint of the string. When that was lost, the kite was unable to fly. We are never freed until we are restrained by something that pulls us higher and higher. It is not the absence of restraints that makes us free [to soar].
There is no freedom in life until one belongs to God. Every other form of it is an illusion. We find the freedom to achieve the greatest desires of our lives only when we live in that relationship. When Christ binds us to himself, then we are free.
J. Walter Cross, Bradenton, Florida, 23 January 1994.
Are we freed to blow randomly with the wind, or restrained to freedom in the Spirit?
Read Isaiah 26:16-18
The freedom of the wind to blow anywhere it seems to want to, as the prophet notes, has nothing to do with salvation. Actually freedom itself has nothing to do with salvation. Salvation is not the freedom to do whatever we wish, it is the power, given by God, to be freed to do what HE would have us do. It is, as Pastor Cross writes, is about a restraint, a stability that pulls us higher and higher.
Isaiah uses the metaphor of birth to reveal this difference. While the interpretation and understanding of these verses can vary all over the place, I will offer one of my own. I would like you to think of the pain that is described as being our life in this world. If we remain focused on the struggles and trials of life, if we try, in vain, to make something worthwhile of it, we will gain nothing. Think of the birthing process as our efforts to achieve and accomplish in this life. We have experienced God, we have an opportunity to be an active and faithful part of God’s plan, but because of our failure to focus on the blessings of eternity instead of the limitations of the world, we give birth to “wind” – uncontrollable bursts of empty air - instead of the Substance of God. And by letting our focus remain in this life, salvation has not been brought to anyone’s attention – the only thing that will be given are empty, hollow promises, and the people of the world remain in death and condemnation instead of being born to newness of life.
No birth, no life, no hope - only hot air!
That’s one of the problems that I see in liberal leaning theology. It focuses first on societal ills and social justice issues, and only puts matters of faith in second place. It uses social change to influence faith, instead of allowing faith to remain constant, and through our faith bringing about changes in society. Was Jesus a social reformer? Absolutely, but he established that change through a greater understanding of God’s will for our lives. He did not use social ills to change the faith.
Read Isaiah 26:19-20
The prophet tells us that we don’t have to remain in death – even while we’re “blowing in the wind” - we can still gain the stability of the Holy Spirit and begin to live a real life! But he says that we have to wake up first!
Psalm 104:29-30 “When you hide your face, they are terrified; when you take away their breath, they die and return to the dust. When you send your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the earth.” Even our deathly dust can be revitalized when we turn back to the Spirit!
Can you imagine the joy that will come to those who once were dead but now know life through the security of God’s Spirit? Well, don’t hesitate with your answer - of course we do, because we are them!
The dead of earth will know true life again, but that life in eternity will come in the Lord’s time, not the earth’s. And, like Habakkuk, we have to wait for God’s plan of salvation to play out in our lives. That may be the hardest part – to know that a visible, certain, and uncompromising renewal is coming for us, but that we haven’t got a clue as to when the Renewer will arrive.
Verse 20 is almost reminiscent of the Passover story, isn’t it? “Go .. into your rooms and shut the doors .. hide yourselves .. until his wrath passes”. Remember that the people could hear the spirit of death all around them in that dark night of Egypt, and they had to trust that the blood of the sacrificial lamb that they had placed on the doors of their “rooms” would be sufficient to save them from the horrible fate that was enveloping others. (Exodus 12:21-30)
Do we trust in the Blood of Christ? Do we believe that his Blood is sufficient to save us from the dust of death?
Read Isaiah 26:21
Those who live to the world will die, and those who die to the world will be saved!
[Pope John Paul II] took the opportunity to put Bob Dylan right when the two headlined a [benefit] together in 1997 in Bologna. Dylan met the pope on stage during a Catholic youth event before playing three of his best-known songs. After the two men had shaken hands and exchanged a few words, the pope stepped up to the microphone and took the singer to the theological cleaners.
“You say the answer is blowing in the wind, my friend”, [the pope] observed. “So it is. But it is not the wind that blows things away, [that comes from] the wind that is the breath and life of the Holy Spirit, the voice that calls and says, 'Come!'”
Clearly enjoying the thunderous applause that greeted these words, the pope continued in a style that would not have disgraced any TV evangelist: “You ask me, how many roads must a man walk down before he becomes a man? I answer: One! There is only one road for man, and it is the road of Jesus Christ, who said I am the Way and the Life.”
Unsurprisingly, Dylan was not seen to be taking notes for revised lyrics to his song.
--Ship of Fools Magazine Online, September 29, 1997.
There is one God, one Savior, one Spirit, and he is not of this world. Will we be the ones to bring another person to that “birth in new life”, or will we simply birth a lot of empty wind? Will we be the ones who carry and share the “good news” of salvation with a dying world, or will we simply shrug our shoulders and assume that the dust is a final sentence? Will we confidently proclaim that the Blood of Christ and the Spirit of Life are enough for our salvation, or will we set out to “fix it”, and make it better, more palatable, and politically correct?
God doesn’t need our help – he only needs our faithful response.
God doesn’t want our demise – he wants to give us hope and a future.
God doesn’t want us to remain as dust – he wants us to wake up and shout for joy!
No more than that, and definitely no less!!
J. Walter Cross,[a UMC pastor and writer,] tells of flying a kite with his son Jay in southern Florida during some windy weather. The wind was strong, and the kite grew smaller and smaller as it tugged against the string. The harder [the wind] blew, the higher [the kite] rose. Then there was a sickening snap! The string had broken. The kite was free, but it was no longer soaring higher. It was tumbling, falling crazily to dash itself against the ground or become tangled in the trees. What kept the kite airborne was [not the freedom of the wind, but] the restraint of the string. When that was lost, the kite was unable to fly. We are never freed until we are restrained by something that pulls us higher and higher. It is not the absence of restraints that makes us free [to soar].
There is no freedom in life until one belongs to God. Every other form of it is an illusion. We find the freedom to achieve the greatest desires of our lives only when we live in that relationship. When Christ binds us to himself, then we are free.
J. Walter Cross, Bradenton, Florida, 23 January 1994.
Are we freed to blow randomly with the wind, or restrained to freedom in the Spirit?
Read Isaiah 26:16-18
The freedom of the wind to blow anywhere it seems to want to, as the prophet notes, has nothing to do with salvation. Actually freedom itself has nothing to do with salvation. Salvation is not the freedom to do whatever we wish, it is the power, given by God, to be freed to do what HE would have us do. It is, as Pastor Cross writes, is about a restraint, a stability that pulls us higher and higher.
Isaiah uses the metaphor of birth to reveal this difference. While the interpretation and understanding of these verses can vary all over the place, I will offer one of my own. I would like you to think of the pain that is described as being our life in this world. If we remain focused on the struggles and trials of life, if we try, in vain, to make something worthwhile of it, we will gain nothing. Think of the birthing process as our efforts to achieve and accomplish in this life. We have experienced God, we have an opportunity to be an active and faithful part of God’s plan, but because of our failure to focus on the blessings of eternity instead of the limitations of the world, we give birth to “wind” – uncontrollable bursts of empty air - instead of the Substance of God. And by letting our focus remain in this life, salvation has not been brought to anyone’s attention – the only thing that will be given are empty, hollow promises, and the people of the world remain in death and condemnation instead of being born to newness of life.
No birth, no life, no hope - only hot air!
That’s one of the problems that I see in liberal leaning theology. It focuses first on societal ills and social justice issues, and only puts matters of faith in second place. It uses social change to influence faith, instead of allowing faith to remain constant, and through our faith bringing about changes in society. Was Jesus a social reformer? Absolutely, but he established that change through a greater understanding of God’s will for our lives. He did not use social ills to change the faith.
Read Isaiah 26:19-20
The prophet tells us that we don’t have to remain in death – even while we’re “blowing in the wind” - we can still gain the stability of the Holy Spirit and begin to live a real life! But he says that we have to wake up first!
Psalm 104:29-30 “When you hide your face, they are terrified; when you take away their breath, they die and return to the dust. When you send your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the earth.” Even our deathly dust can be revitalized when we turn back to the Spirit!
Can you imagine the joy that will come to those who once were dead but now know life through the security of God’s Spirit? Well, don’t hesitate with your answer - of course we do, because we are them!
The dead of earth will know true life again, but that life in eternity will come in the Lord’s time, not the earth’s. And, like Habakkuk, we have to wait for God’s plan of salvation to play out in our lives. That may be the hardest part – to know that a visible, certain, and uncompromising renewal is coming for us, but that we haven’t got a clue as to when the Renewer will arrive.
Verse 20 is almost reminiscent of the Passover story, isn’t it? “Go .. into your rooms and shut the doors .. hide yourselves .. until his wrath passes”. Remember that the people could hear the spirit of death all around them in that dark night of Egypt, and they had to trust that the blood of the sacrificial lamb that they had placed on the doors of their “rooms” would be sufficient to save them from the horrible fate that was enveloping others. (Exodus 12:21-30)
Do we trust in the Blood of Christ? Do we believe that his Blood is sufficient to save us from the dust of death?
Read Isaiah 26:21
Those who live to the world will die, and those who die to the world will be saved!
[Pope John Paul II] took the opportunity to put Bob Dylan right when the two headlined a [benefit] together in 1997 in Bologna. Dylan met the pope on stage during a Catholic youth event before playing three of his best-known songs. After the two men had shaken hands and exchanged a few words, the pope stepped up to the microphone and took the singer to the theological cleaners.
“You say the answer is blowing in the wind, my friend”, [the pope] observed. “So it is. But it is not the wind that blows things away, [that comes from] the wind that is the breath and life of the Holy Spirit, the voice that calls and says, 'Come!'”
Clearly enjoying the thunderous applause that greeted these words, the pope continued in a style that would not have disgraced any TV evangelist: “You ask me, how many roads must a man walk down before he becomes a man? I answer: One! There is only one road for man, and it is the road of Jesus Christ, who said I am the Way and the Life.”
Unsurprisingly, Dylan was not seen to be taking notes for revised lyrics to his song.
--Ship of Fools Magazine Online, September 29, 1997.
There is one God, one Savior, one Spirit, and he is not of this world. Will we be the ones to bring another person to that “birth in new life”, or will we simply birth a lot of empty wind? Will we be the ones who carry and share the “good news” of salvation with a dying world, or will we simply shrug our shoulders and assume that the dust is a final sentence? Will we confidently proclaim that the Blood of Christ and the Spirit of Life are enough for our salvation, or will we set out to “fix it”, and make it better, more palatable, and politically correct?
God doesn’t need our help – he only needs our faithful response.
God doesn’t want our demise – he wants to give us hope and a future.
God doesn’t want us to remain as dust – he wants us to wake up and shout for joy!
No more than that, and definitely no less!!
Sunday, November 8, 2009
“Trust Works Both Ways”
Scripture Text: Isaiah 26:2-4, 10-15
As you all know, we have two cats – Rusty and Robo. They are good cats, and as cats go, are pretty sociable. At night, especially during colder weather, they both vie for treasured spots on the bed. Treasured for them, I might add, because it usually means that Diane and I wind up cramped for space of our own! We can’t roll over without getting hissed at, and we can’t stretch out our legs without kicking at least one of them.
And as nice as these two furry creatures are, and as much as we both enjoy their attentiveness, there is at least one moment when you simply can’t trust them – and that is when we sit down to have a meal and watch a TV show in our family room. Do not – I repeat – DO NOT trust that either one of them will leave your food alone if you need to get up for a few moments! And sometimes, you don’t even have to leave the room – I don’t know how many times I’ve had a furry little paw sneak up over the edge of the TV tray and reach for my plate, even while I’m still sitting there!
Trust, in this life at least, is something that must be earned through experience, and those two cats still have a long way to go!!
But what about trust in God? Does the Lord have to earn our trust, or should we instinctively give it to Him? I might offer that, experientially, people do not spontaneously give trust, but I will say that while God already deserves our trust, we all must discover that truth for ourselves.
Read Isaiah 26:2-4
And when we finally come to the conclusion that God is deserving of our trust, we also uncover the fact that He has already been giving His trust to us. We don’t deserve it, we haven’t earned it, and we continue to give God all kinds of reasons to withdraw that trust, but He never has and never will. He has given it, and will never take it back.
And verse 3 also tells us that we will gain a peace in Christ because of His trust. I don’t think that I need to remind you, though, that this peace does not mean that life will automatically be wonderful! A life in Christ is still filled with all kinds of trials and troubles and pains, but it is His peace that sees us through those times.
Buell Kazee, a writer, musician and preacher in the early 20th century, tells us that “Faith is not trusting God to get something; faith is trusting God when there seems to be nothing left. When everything is gone with no hope of restoration and when there is nothing on which to base your faith; then can you still trust God?”
--Buell Kazee, Faith Is the Victory (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale, 1983), 149.
Kazee had lived through the Depression in the rural South, and he knew what “nothing” was. When there is nothing left to sustain you, when the world has given you up for loss, when even your faith seems to be teetering on the verge of total collapse, do you still trust God? Isaiah tells us that He will still trust us, but do we still trust Him?
When others seems to be doing very well in the world without God, and when, in faith, we are struggling to make ends meet, do we still trust? That seems to be a real test, doesn’t it?
Read Isaiah 26:10-11
Even the people of this world who want nothing to do with God can still experience His grace and mercy for a while, but it will not last forever. In Jesus’ words, “They have received their reward in full (Matthew 6:2-4).
God gives His trust to all, but how many are willing to return that trust? All too often, we want God to earn our trust before we give it! We want Him to be obvious in His blessings, obvious in His grace, obvious in His trust, but unfortunately, that isn’t how the Lord works! And actually, He works in just the opposite way – trust in Him first, and then His blessings and grace and trust in us will be revealed!
Psalm 46:10 – “Be still, and know that I am God!“
We need to stop demanding those things that we have decided are important from our Lord, and start giving Him our best. We need to be “still” in voice, and “loud” in faith! We need to trust that God is generous and will give all good things to those who believe. We need to believe that God is gracious and loving, and that His greatest desire is for us to have a relationship with Him. We need to know that He is God, and we need to know that we aren’t!
A prayer by Theodore Parker Ferris, rector of Trinity Church in Boston for thirty years, was found penciled on the back of an in-flight beverage list from American Airlines: “Lord Jesus, I would like to be able to do myself the things I help others to do. I can give them confidence that I myself do not have, and I can quiet their anxiety but not my own.
What do I lack? Or is it the way I am made? I want to be free to move from place to place without fear, and I want to face the thing to be done without panic. You did it, and you made it possible for others to do it. You didn't count on drugs. You trusted your Father. You didn't turn away from life, nor did you seek pain or death. You met each as it came.
I would like to do the same, but by myself I can't. I like to think that you can be with me and in me, and with your help I can do better. Amen.”
Now there is a prayer that we all should be praying! We need to trust God enough to know that He trusts us even more. We need to see His hand that rests over us, as well as that same hand that comes against the evil of the world. We need to recognize the ways that He works in and through us, we need to know that “He is with us and in us and with His help, that we can do better" – in faith, in trust, in life.
Read Isaiah 26:12-15
And we have to acknowledge that in everything that we may accomplish, that it is really God who has enabled it to happen. The prophet reminds us that while others have had authority over our lives from time to time, that their power can never be permanent – it rises up, and then it is taken away, it becomes strong and then withers to nothing. During Isaiah’s ministry, he would see the power of the Assyrians rise up and defeat the Northern Kingdom of Israel, and he knew that in another hundred years or so, that the Southern Kingdom of Judah would fall to the Babylonians and that the city of Jerusalem and the temple would be completely destroyed. And he also knew that the power that Assyria and Babylon held would never last, but that God’s would. When you are facing conquest and annihilation, and can still love God, that’s trust! When we can still look to God when everything that we have ever valued is being taken away, when we can trust that God is still in charge, even though the evil in this world seems to be on a never ending rampage, when we can still have a hope for a glorious eternity, even while we see nothing but futility and failure in our own lives, that is the level of faith that God wants for us.
Abraham Heschel writes: “God does not need those who praise him when in a state of euphoria. He needs those who are in love with him when in distress.... This is the task: in the darkest night to be certain of the dawn, certain of the power to turn a curse into a blessing, agony into a song. To know the monster's rage and, in spite of it, proclaim to its face; to go through hell [on earth] and to continue to trust in the goodness of God - this is the challenge and the way.”
(Abraham Heschel, A Passion for Truth [New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1973], 300-301)
Trust with God works both ways. Heschel tells us to “trust in the goodness of God”, and I will add that we should do this because God trusts in the potential for goodness that is in each of us! He loves us, and He rains down His blessings upon us, and in return, we are to give Him the glory.
God trusts that we will give Him our best, and we trust that He will give us His. God’s trust never fails. Will ours be that solid?
As you all know, we have two cats – Rusty and Robo. They are good cats, and as cats go, are pretty sociable. At night, especially during colder weather, they both vie for treasured spots on the bed. Treasured for them, I might add, because it usually means that Diane and I wind up cramped for space of our own! We can’t roll over without getting hissed at, and we can’t stretch out our legs without kicking at least one of them.
And as nice as these two furry creatures are, and as much as we both enjoy their attentiveness, there is at least one moment when you simply can’t trust them – and that is when we sit down to have a meal and watch a TV show in our family room. Do not – I repeat – DO NOT trust that either one of them will leave your food alone if you need to get up for a few moments! And sometimes, you don’t even have to leave the room – I don’t know how many times I’ve had a furry little paw sneak up over the edge of the TV tray and reach for my plate, even while I’m still sitting there!
Trust, in this life at least, is something that must be earned through experience, and those two cats still have a long way to go!!
But what about trust in God? Does the Lord have to earn our trust, or should we instinctively give it to Him? I might offer that, experientially, people do not spontaneously give trust, but I will say that while God already deserves our trust, we all must discover that truth for ourselves.
Read Isaiah 26:2-4
And when we finally come to the conclusion that God is deserving of our trust, we also uncover the fact that He has already been giving His trust to us. We don’t deserve it, we haven’t earned it, and we continue to give God all kinds of reasons to withdraw that trust, but He never has and never will. He has given it, and will never take it back.
And verse 3 also tells us that we will gain a peace in Christ because of His trust. I don’t think that I need to remind you, though, that this peace does not mean that life will automatically be wonderful! A life in Christ is still filled with all kinds of trials and troubles and pains, but it is His peace that sees us through those times.
Buell Kazee, a writer, musician and preacher in the early 20th century, tells us that “Faith is not trusting God to get something; faith is trusting God when there seems to be nothing left. When everything is gone with no hope of restoration and when there is nothing on which to base your faith; then can you still trust God?”
--Buell Kazee, Faith Is the Victory (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale, 1983), 149.
Kazee had lived through the Depression in the rural South, and he knew what “nothing” was. When there is nothing left to sustain you, when the world has given you up for loss, when even your faith seems to be teetering on the verge of total collapse, do you still trust God? Isaiah tells us that He will still trust us, but do we still trust Him?
When others seems to be doing very well in the world without God, and when, in faith, we are struggling to make ends meet, do we still trust? That seems to be a real test, doesn’t it?
Read Isaiah 26:10-11
Even the people of this world who want nothing to do with God can still experience His grace and mercy for a while, but it will not last forever. In Jesus’ words, “They have received their reward in full (Matthew 6:2-4).
God gives His trust to all, but how many are willing to return that trust? All too often, we want God to earn our trust before we give it! We want Him to be obvious in His blessings, obvious in His grace, obvious in His trust, but unfortunately, that isn’t how the Lord works! And actually, He works in just the opposite way – trust in Him first, and then His blessings and grace and trust in us will be revealed!
Psalm 46:10 – “Be still, and know that I am God!“
We need to stop demanding those things that we have decided are important from our Lord, and start giving Him our best. We need to be “still” in voice, and “loud” in faith! We need to trust that God is generous and will give all good things to those who believe. We need to believe that God is gracious and loving, and that His greatest desire is for us to have a relationship with Him. We need to know that He is God, and we need to know that we aren’t!
A prayer by Theodore Parker Ferris, rector of Trinity Church in Boston for thirty years, was found penciled on the back of an in-flight beverage list from American Airlines: “Lord Jesus, I would like to be able to do myself the things I help others to do. I can give them confidence that I myself do not have, and I can quiet their anxiety but not my own.
What do I lack? Or is it the way I am made? I want to be free to move from place to place without fear, and I want to face the thing to be done without panic. You did it, and you made it possible for others to do it. You didn't count on drugs. You trusted your Father. You didn't turn away from life, nor did you seek pain or death. You met each as it came.
I would like to do the same, but by myself I can't. I like to think that you can be with me and in me, and with your help I can do better. Amen.”
Now there is a prayer that we all should be praying! We need to trust God enough to know that He trusts us even more. We need to see His hand that rests over us, as well as that same hand that comes against the evil of the world. We need to recognize the ways that He works in and through us, we need to know that “He is with us and in us and with His help, that we can do better" – in faith, in trust, in life.
Read Isaiah 26:12-15
And we have to acknowledge that in everything that we may accomplish, that it is really God who has enabled it to happen. The prophet reminds us that while others have had authority over our lives from time to time, that their power can never be permanent – it rises up, and then it is taken away, it becomes strong and then withers to nothing. During Isaiah’s ministry, he would see the power of the Assyrians rise up and defeat the Northern Kingdom of Israel, and he knew that in another hundred years or so, that the Southern Kingdom of Judah would fall to the Babylonians and that the city of Jerusalem and the temple would be completely destroyed. And he also knew that the power that Assyria and Babylon held would never last, but that God’s would. When you are facing conquest and annihilation, and can still love God, that’s trust! When we can still look to God when everything that we have ever valued is being taken away, when we can trust that God is still in charge, even though the evil in this world seems to be on a never ending rampage, when we can still have a hope for a glorious eternity, even while we see nothing but futility and failure in our own lives, that is the level of faith that God wants for us.
Abraham Heschel writes: “God does not need those who praise him when in a state of euphoria. He needs those who are in love with him when in distress.... This is the task: in the darkest night to be certain of the dawn, certain of the power to turn a curse into a blessing, agony into a song. To know the monster's rage and, in spite of it, proclaim to its face; to go through hell [on earth] and to continue to trust in the goodness of God - this is the challenge and the way.”
(Abraham Heschel, A Passion for Truth [New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1973], 300-301)
Trust with God works both ways. Heschel tells us to “trust in the goodness of God”, and I will add that we should do this because God trusts in the potential for goodness that is in each of us! He loves us, and He rains down His blessings upon us, and in return, we are to give Him the glory.
God trusts that we will give Him our best, and we trust that He will give us His. God’s trust never fails. Will ours be that solid?
Sunday, November 1, 2009
“Surrounded By Salvation!”
Scripture Text: Isaiah 25:10-26:2
In 1977 Oscar Romero, a quiet, traditional cleric, was consecrated Arch bishop of San Salvador. Deemed a safe bet by government authorities, his installation service was even used as an excuse for more government- sanctioned murders. The killings radicalized Romero, prompting him to agree with the sentiment circulated by the priests aligned with the poor people of the country: The church is where it always should have been: with the people, surrounded by wolves.
The church has always been surrounded by those who wish to destroy it. Christ experienced that. The disciples experienced it. Paul both did it and suffered under it. And throughout the ages, Christians of all walks and all ages have known it. Why? Because the church, if it is to stand beside Jesus Christ, must also be standing with oppressed people, in spite of the number and strength of the oppressors, wherever they may be found. And while we do, Christ stands with us.
Read Isaiah 25:10
Moab is both a nation to the east of Israel and Judah, as well as a representation of those nations and peoples who stand in opposition to them.
Some history regarding Moab:
- Moab was the eldest son of Lot’s oldest daughter, who, as you may remember, had gotten him drunk and had sex with him after their escape from Sodom. ( Genesis 19:30-38) They then migrated to an already populated area and settled in. Moab’s descendents apparently became the dominate family, and the nation was renamed for him.
- Moab was the last area that the Israelites crossed before they entered the Promised Land, and this is where Moses died and was buried. (Deuteronomy 34:1-12)
- The nation constantly harassed Israel through raiding parties and limited invasions.
- Moab would also fall to the advances of Assyria, but when that nation was conquered, Moab regained her identity.
Israel and Moab had a long history, over 800 years, of animosity, and Isaiah was playing on that difficult relationship to represent all who had caused problems for the Hebrews.
The mountain that is referred to in verse 10 is “Mount Zion” – the holy city of God, as well as the faithful who live there. The hand that rests on them is a hand of protection and blessing, but the other hand will be one of judgment against all who have opposed His faithful. Verse 10 - “They will be trampled under [foot] as straw is trampled down in the manure.” I don’t know how many here have ever worked in a barn, but straw that has been used as bedding, walked on and thoroughly messed up with urine and feces, is simply removed and taken out to the fields as fertilizer for other corps. In and of itself, the straw is now useless and can never be reclaimed.
“In that day of the Lord”, all who have opposed and oppressed God’s people will be worth just as much as straw in manure!
Read Isaiah 25:11-12
And no matter how much the wicked of this world will try to rescue themselves from the manure of their own making, no matter how hard they try to stay afloat, how skilled and clever they may be, how much pride and success they may have had in the past, they will fail. Hallelujah!
“Their high and fortified walls will be laid low”. Their strength, their security, their prestige, their authority will no longer exist – it had been raised up from the earth, and it will be taken back down to the earth.
The faithfulness of the Lord will not fail His people. He will triumph, and so will His.
Read Isaiah 26:1-2
As strong as the walls are that protect the worldly around us, they will fail. As scorned as the walls of the church may be, as much as they are mocked, the strength and security and prestige and authority of Jesus Christ will reign long after the power of the world ceases to exist. And that is a promise from god Himself.
“Open the gates that the righteous nation may enter, the nation that keeps faith.” (26:2)
I might rephrase this to say “Open the doors of the church, that all who seek the righteousness of Christ may enter, that all who seek His power, His blessing, His glory, His wisdom, His faith, may find it within.”
May it be so with us!
We finish this message with the rest of Arch Bishop Romero’s story:
The martyrdom of a rural priest furthered Romero's radicalism. Against official policies Romero began to support new liturgies and worship services more relevant to the poor and oppressed. He called for the church to become the voice of those whose voices were stopped up. Romero became more and more of a thorn in the government's side.
On March 24, 1980, Archbishop Oscar Romero celebrated Mass from behind the altar of the Chapel of the Divine Providence in San Salvador. As he raised the elements and proclaimed, This is my body given for you ... this is my blood shed for you, a single shot was fired. Romero collapsed, his heart pierced by an assassin's bullet.
The word sacrament comes from a Latin word used for the loyalty oath a Roman soldier took to the emperor. A soldier took a sacramentum to serve the emperor faithfully, even to death. Similarly, when we drink the cup and eat the bread, are we not renewing our vows to be faithful to Christ, until death? Archbishop Romero knew the meaning of Sacramental discipleship. He stands as one of the great Christian martyrs of our time.
--Christopher C. Walker, “Connecting With the Spirit of Christ, Evangelism for a Secular age” (Nashville: Discipleship Resources, 1988), 104. (From Homiletics On-line
Jesus Christ was faithful to the Father and to us, even to the point of death. As we receive these sacramental elements today, we remember not only Christ’s faithful service to us, but also the faithful examples of those who have lived, and served and died in their life with Christ.
May it be so with us.
In 1977 Oscar Romero, a quiet, traditional cleric, was consecrated Arch bishop of San Salvador. Deemed a safe bet by government authorities, his installation service was even used as an excuse for more government- sanctioned murders. The killings radicalized Romero, prompting him to agree with the sentiment circulated by the priests aligned with the poor people of the country: The church is where it always should have been: with the people, surrounded by wolves.
The church has always been surrounded by those who wish to destroy it. Christ experienced that. The disciples experienced it. Paul both did it and suffered under it. And throughout the ages, Christians of all walks and all ages have known it. Why? Because the church, if it is to stand beside Jesus Christ, must also be standing with oppressed people, in spite of the number and strength of the oppressors, wherever they may be found. And while we do, Christ stands with us.
Read Isaiah 25:10
Moab is both a nation to the east of Israel and Judah, as well as a representation of those nations and peoples who stand in opposition to them.
Some history regarding Moab:
- Moab was the eldest son of Lot’s oldest daughter, who, as you may remember, had gotten him drunk and had sex with him after their escape from Sodom. ( Genesis 19:30-38) They then migrated to an already populated area and settled in. Moab’s descendents apparently became the dominate family, and the nation was renamed for him.
- Moab was the last area that the Israelites crossed before they entered the Promised Land, and this is where Moses died and was buried. (Deuteronomy 34:1-12)
- The nation constantly harassed Israel through raiding parties and limited invasions.
- Moab would also fall to the advances of Assyria, but when that nation was conquered, Moab regained her identity.
Israel and Moab had a long history, over 800 years, of animosity, and Isaiah was playing on that difficult relationship to represent all who had caused problems for the Hebrews.
The mountain that is referred to in verse 10 is “Mount Zion” – the holy city of God, as well as the faithful who live there. The hand that rests on them is a hand of protection and blessing, but the other hand will be one of judgment against all who have opposed His faithful. Verse 10 - “They will be trampled under [foot] as straw is trampled down in the manure.” I don’t know how many here have ever worked in a barn, but straw that has been used as bedding, walked on and thoroughly messed up with urine and feces, is simply removed and taken out to the fields as fertilizer for other corps. In and of itself, the straw is now useless and can never be reclaimed.
“In that day of the Lord”, all who have opposed and oppressed God’s people will be worth just as much as straw in manure!
Read Isaiah 25:11-12
And no matter how much the wicked of this world will try to rescue themselves from the manure of their own making, no matter how hard they try to stay afloat, how skilled and clever they may be, how much pride and success they may have had in the past, they will fail. Hallelujah!
“Their high and fortified walls will be laid low”. Their strength, their security, their prestige, their authority will no longer exist – it had been raised up from the earth, and it will be taken back down to the earth.
The faithfulness of the Lord will not fail His people. He will triumph, and so will His.
Read Isaiah 26:1-2
As strong as the walls are that protect the worldly around us, they will fail. As scorned as the walls of the church may be, as much as they are mocked, the strength and security and prestige and authority of Jesus Christ will reign long after the power of the world ceases to exist. And that is a promise from god Himself.
“Open the gates that the righteous nation may enter, the nation that keeps faith.” (26:2)
I might rephrase this to say “Open the doors of the church, that all who seek the righteousness of Christ may enter, that all who seek His power, His blessing, His glory, His wisdom, His faith, may find it within.”
May it be so with us!
We finish this message with the rest of Arch Bishop Romero’s story:
The martyrdom of a rural priest furthered Romero's radicalism. Against official policies Romero began to support new liturgies and worship services more relevant to the poor and oppressed. He called for the church to become the voice of those whose voices were stopped up. Romero became more and more of a thorn in the government's side.
On March 24, 1980, Archbishop Oscar Romero celebrated Mass from behind the altar of the Chapel of the Divine Providence in San Salvador. As he raised the elements and proclaimed, This is my body given for you ... this is my blood shed for you, a single shot was fired. Romero collapsed, his heart pierced by an assassin's bullet.
The word sacrament comes from a Latin word used for the loyalty oath a Roman soldier took to the emperor. A soldier took a sacramentum to serve the emperor faithfully, even to death. Similarly, when we drink the cup and eat the bread, are we not renewing our vows to be faithful to Christ, until death? Archbishop Romero knew the meaning of Sacramental discipleship. He stands as one of the great Christian martyrs of our time.
--Christopher C. Walker, “Connecting With the Spirit of Christ, Evangelism for a Secular age” (Nashville: Discipleship Resources, 1988), 104. (From Homiletics On-line
Jesus Christ was faithful to the Father and to us, even to the point of death. As we receive these sacramental elements today, we remember not only Christ’s faithful service to us, but also the faithful examples of those who have lived, and served and died in their life with Christ.
May it be so with us.
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