Posts
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Governments, social media, popular
media, distorted gospels, and other voices are all vying for control to rule
and reign over us.
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Isaiah 60 showed us that we must
overcome the world’s distorted voices and be the voices God is calling us to be
in the lives of the outcast and the broken sharing the news of God’s victory in
Christ.
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We must be the voices of comfort to
the broken.
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We must be the voices of good news in
a world full of bad news.
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But what if no one brings good news?
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What if we don’t step out of our
comfort zones?
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What if we don’t connect with the
culture?
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What if we don’t shift our focus amid
our busyness?
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What
if things just continue as they are now?
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The prophet Isaiah was sent by the
Spirit of God to be a messenger of good news.
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God’s prophets mainly spoke his
messages to his people. They were God’s mouthpieces, heralds and messengers of
news from God, called to speak God’s words to his people.
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In those days, as in the days of our
forbearers, a town crier would stand where everyone could hear and speak at the
top of his lungs, being careful to speak slowly and clearly, so everyone would
hear.
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News was meant to be communicated in a
way everyone could hear and understand.
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Last time, we heard that God called
Isaiah to be the voice telling the broken of God’s reign.
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This time, in Isaiah 61, we see who
those broken and outcast are, what Isaiah, and all who heard his news, were to
do, and why.
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What Isaiah was about to proclaim was
not only good news for the exiled people of Israel, but good news that when the
Messiah came, he would overturn the world’s disorder by bringing freedom.
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It is good news that, even within tragedy,
God is working in his garden to grow goodness and glory.
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Isaiah
61:1-4; 8-11:
1 “The
Spirit of the Lord God is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good
news to the poor.
He has sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and freedom to the prisoners;
2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of our God’s vengeance; to comfort all who mourn,
3 to provide for those who mourn in Zion; to give them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, festive oil instead of mourning, and splendid clothes instead of despair. And they will be called righteous trees,
planted by the Lord to glorify him.
4 They will rebuild the ancient ruins; they will restore the former devastations; they will renew the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations.
He has sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and freedom to the prisoners;
2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of our God’s vengeance; to comfort all who mourn,
3 to provide for those who mourn in Zion; to give them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, festive oil instead of mourning, and splendid clothes instead of despair. And they will be called righteous trees,
planted by the Lord to glorify him.
4 They will rebuild the ancient ruins; they will restore the former devastations; they will renew the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations.
8 For
I the Lord love justice; I hate robbery and injustice; I will faithfully reward
my people and make a permanent covenant with them.
9 Their descendants will be known among the nations, and their posterity among the peoples. All who see them will recognize that they are a people the Lord has blessed.
9 Their descendants will be known among the nations, and their posterity among the peoples. All who see them will recognize that they are a people the Lord has blessed.
10 I
rejoice greatly in the Lord, I exult in my God; for he has clothed me with the
garments of salvation and wrapped me in a robe of righteousness, as a groom
wears a turban and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
11 For as the earth produces its growth, and as a garden enables what is sown to spring up, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations.” (Isaiah 61:1-4 & 8-11, CSB)
11 For as the earth produces its growth, and as a garden enables what is sown to spring up, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations.” (Isaiah 61:1-4 & 8-11, CSB)
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Isaiah believed that he was sent by God
to meet the needs of the Jewish community before, during, and after the exile.
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Covered with the Holy Spirit’s special
and powerful anointing, he spoke words of good news to the poverty stricken; he
spoke life and healing encouragement to the depressed and discouraged.
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With
the life and encouragement in Isaiah’s words, those in captivity and imprisoned
experienced the freedom of knowing God’s grace.
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Those
who mourned received the Lord’s comfort and provision; they were empowered to
experience joy amid despair.
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Encouraged in this way, they too could
become like Isaiah, righteous trees planted by God to bring him glory.
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Advent reminds us that Isaiah was not
alone in his calling.
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In fact, Jesus took these words of
Isaiah for his first sermon to his hometown crowd in Nazareth.
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Jesus identified so much with the
mission of Isaiah that he used Isaiah’s words to describe his own mission, just
as we read in Luke chapter 4.
16 He
came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. As usual, he entered the
synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up to read. 17 The
scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him, and unrolling the scroll, he
found the place where it was written:
18 The
Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.
20 He
then rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. And the
eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 He
began by saying to them, “Today as you listen, this Scripture has been
fulfilled.” (Luke 4:16-21, CSB)
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Advent reminds us that the voices of
those who are unable to speak up for themselves such as the poor, the sick, the
dying, the outcast, the hungry, the persecuted, the lonely, the addicted, the
ashamed and many others concerned Jesus.
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Advent reminds us that the only good
news there is, is for them as well as for those of us who are in the same boat.
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Jesus calls on his followers to love
God with all that they are, to love their neighbours as themselves, and to love
one another as he loved us.
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Jesus performed the very works that
Isaiah describes, and Jesus said of his own disciples, meaning us, that we will
do the works he did.
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As
he said, “Truly I tell you, the one who believes in me
will also do the works that I do. And he will do even greater works than these,
because I am going to the Father.” (John 14:12, CSB)
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As followers of Jesus, he calls us to
do the works that he did as his witnesses.
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What
are the works of Jesus? The works of Jesus are the same
as the works of Isaiah: to preach good
news to the poor; to proclaim release to the captives; recovery of sight to the
blind, to set free the oppressed, and to proclaim the year of
the Lord’s favor.
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The Lord Jesus Christ has called each
one of us who are members of his household to do the very same works as he and
even greater works.
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All
broken people need God’s good news, let’s be messengers of his good news.
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According to Isaiah, his ministry
would equip the returned exiles to become righteous trees.
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Their experience of transformation
because of Isaiah’s ministry would bring glory to God, and they would be like
Isaiah.
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Not only was the Spirit of God
renewing, restoring, and rebuilding them through Isaiah’s ministry, but they
also would rebuild, restore, and renew those who were ruined, devastated, and
broken down around them.
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All of us were once like them; our
lives were ruined, devastated, and broken, but someone shared with us the good
news about Jesus and our lives have been changed forever.
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Jesus meant for us to do the same for
those around us who need to be rebuilt, restored, and renewed in him.
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All
broken people need God’s good news, let’s be messengers of his good news.
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Who
are the outcast in our neighbourhoods?
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Who are the poor, the broken-hearted,
the captive, and the imprisoned which need to hear good news, healing, liberty,
and the freedom of God’s matchless grace?
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We live in a time in which there is
unprecedented access to being connected to other people through technology, yet
people are experiencing the worst levels of loneliness and isolation.
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Who
are the lonely and the isolated in our neighbourhoods?
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The Truth and Reconciliation
Commission has exposed the tragic reality that Canada’s First Nations people
are the most oppressed, neglected, poverty-stricken, and racially persecuted
peoples in this country.
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Canada’s First Nations need to hear
our voices bringing them good news of healing, liberty, freedom, and God’s
grace for all who mourn because of oppression and injustice.
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What is God calling us to do? Which calls to action from the TRC are
relevant in our neighbourhoods?
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The prophet Isaiah, while he was
waiting on the fulfilment of God’s words through him, declared and rejoiced in
the justice of God and in God’s promises.
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Many of us, like Isaiah, have spent
many years investing our lives in the works that God has called us to do.
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Sometimes when we do not see immediate
results we get discouraged.
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But just because we do the work does
not mean we will see quick results.
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There are no silver bullets and no
quick fixes when it comes to ministry, so we need to persevere without
discouragement.
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We must want what is best not simply
what is good.
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What
is best? We must want people to see Jesus in us, to cling to his promises, to
plant seeds in God’s garden and wait for God to give the growth.
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Isaiah 61:11, “For as the earth produces
its growth, and as a garden enables what is sown to spring up, so the Lord God
will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations.”
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All
broken people need God’s good news, let’s be messengers of his good news.
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What
stands in the way of our responding to the anointing
and call of the Holy Spirit to do the works of Jesus?
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First, vulnerability.
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Last week when I spoke about
vulnerability I focused on us.
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However, the hurting and the broken in
the world are just like us.
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They do not want to be vulnerable.
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The
only way they’re going to open up and learn that it’s okay to be vulnerable is
if we are vulnerable.
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Coming alongside the broken means we
share vulnerability.
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Second, comfort zones.
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I spoke last week about the truth that
we must step outside our comfort zones.
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How do we do that? Where do we begin?
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I believe the answer is with baby
steps.
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Stepping outside our comfort zones is
very much like learning to climb a mountain for example.
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I have never climbed a mountain
before, so I can’t roll out of bed one morning and suddenly expect to climb
Mount Everest.
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I must start small; I must take baby
steps.
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The same is true when building
relationships with our unbelieving, unchurched neighbours.
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We
don’t just jump in with the Mount Everest of the gospel.
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We
start in the foothills of coffee, and progress to the ranges of a meal.
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As
our friendship grows, we move into the high hills of emotional connection, then
the Holy Spirit will reveal the opportune time to share the good news of Jesus.
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Third, discouragement.
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One of the things our accuser, the
devil, revels in is discouraged Christians.
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When we are discouraged, our worship
of God is weak, our trust in God is timid, and our belief in God’s faithful
promises is belittled.
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The truth is that to overcome
discouragement these are the very spiritual muscles which need exercise.
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To
overcome discouragement we must worship, we must trust, and we must believe.
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Such was the example that Isaiah set
for us.
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He worshipped, rejoicing in the Lord
and exulting in his God.
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He believed God’s promises by clinging
to God’s justice and faithfulness.
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He trusted that God would carry out
his plan that his righteousness and his praise would be seen by all nations.
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To overcome discouragement, we must
worship, believe, and trust our faithful God.
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Advent lays before us the call of
Isaiah and of our Lord Jesus to speak for the poor, the blind, the captive, the
imprisoned, the outcast, the hurting, and the lonely.
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All
broken people need God’s good news, let’s be messengers of his good news.
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God gives this call to us again today
because, as verse eight tells us, he loves justice and hates robbery and
injustice.
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As we speak life, healing, freedom,
and grace to those who cannot speak up for themselves, God promises that he will
give the growth.
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“For
as the earth produces its growth, and as a garden enables what is sown to
spring up, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring up
before all the nations.” (Isaiah 61:11, CSB)
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All broken people need God’s good
news, let’s be messengers of his good news.
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