“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!!