Be a Messenger. December 17, 2017.

o   Last time, we looked at the misrepresented realities of the broken, disordered voices of the world.

o   Governments, social media, popular media, distorted gospels, and other voices are all vying for control to rule and reign over us.

o   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.

o   We must be the voices of comfort to the broken.

o   We must be the voices of good news in a world full of bad news.

o   But what if no one brings good news?

o   What if we don’t step out of our comfort zones?

o   What if we don’t connect with the culture?

o   What if we don’t shift our focus amid our busyness?

o   What if things just continue as they are now?

o   The prophet Isaiah was sent by the Spirit of God to be a messenger of good news.

o   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.

o   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.

o   News was meant to be communicated in a way everyone could hear and understand.

o   Last time, we heard that God called Isaiah to be the voice telling the broken of God’s reign.

o   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.

o   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.

o   It is good news that, even within tragedy, God is working in his garden to grow goodness and glory.

o   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.

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.

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)

o   Isaiah believed that he was sent by God to meet the needs of the Jewish community before, during, and after the exile.

o   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.

o   With the life and encouragement in Isaiah’s words, those in captivity and imprisoned experienced the freedom of knowing God’s grace.

o   Those who mourned received the Lord’s comfort and provision; they were empowered to experience joy amid despair.

o   Encouraged in this way, they too could become like Isaiah, righteous trees planted by God to bring him glory.

o   Advent reminds us that Isaiah was not alone in his calling.

o   In fact, Jesus took these words of Isaiah for his first sermon to his hometown crowd in Nazareth.

o   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.

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)

o   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.

o   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.

o   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.

o   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.

o   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)

o   As followers of Jesus, he calls us to do the works that he did as his witnesses.

o   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.

o   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.

o   All broken people need God’s good news, let’s be messengers of his good news.

o   According to Isaiah, his ministry would equip the returned exiles to become righteous trees.

o   Their experience of transformation because of Isaiah’s ministry would bring glory to God, and they would be like Isaiah.

o   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.

o   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.

o   Jesus meant for us to do the same for those around us who need to be rebuilt, restored, and renewed in him.

o   All broken people need God’s good news, let’s be messengers of his good news.

o   Who are the outcast in our neighbourhoods?

o   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?

o   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.

o   Who are the lonely and the isolated in our neighbourhoods?

o   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.

o   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.

o   What is God calling us to do? Which calls to action from the TRC are relevant in our neighbourhoods?

o   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.

o   Many of us, like Isaiah, have spent many years investing our lives in the works that God has called us to do.

o   Sometimes when we do not see immediate results we get discouraged.

o   But just because we do the work does not mean we will see quick results.

o   There are no silver bullets and no quick fixes when it comes to ministry, so we need to persevere without discouragement.

o   We must want what is best not simply what is good.

o   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.

o   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.”

o   All broken people need God’s good news, let’s be messengers of his good news.

o   What stands in the way of our responding to the anointing and call of the Holy Spirit to do the works of Jesus?

o   First, vulnerability.

o   Last week when I spoke about vulnerability I focused on us.

o   However, the hurting and the broken in the world are just like us.

o   They do not want to be vulnerable.

o   The only way they’re going to open up and learn that it’s okay to be vulnerable is if we are vulnerable.

o   Coming alongside the broken means we share vulnerability.

o   Second, comfort zones.

o   I spoke last week about the truth that we must step outside our comfort zones.

o   How do we do that? Where do we begin?

o   I believe the answer is with baby steps.

o   Stepping outside our comfort zones is very much like learning to climb a mountain for example.

o   I have never climbed a mountain before, so I can’t roll out of bed one morning and suddenly expect to climb Mount Everest.

o   I must start small; I must take baby steps.

o   The same is true when building relationships with our unbelieving, unchurched neighbours.

o   We don’t just jump in with the Mount Everest of the gospel.

o   We start in the foothills of coffee, and progress to the ranges of a meal.

o   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.

o   Third, discouragement.

o   One of the things our accuser, the devil, revels in is discouraged Christians.

o   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.

o   The truth is that to overcome discouragement these are the very spiritual muscles which need exercise.

o   To overcome discouragement we must worship, we must trust, and we must believe.

o   Such was the example that Isaiah set for us.

o   He worshipped, rejoicing in the Lord and exulting in his God.

o   He believed God’s promises by clinging to God’s justice and faithfulness.

o   He trusted that God would carry out his plan that his righteousness and his praise would be seen by all nations.

o   To overcome discouragement, we must worship, believe, and trust our faithful God.

o   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.

o   All broken people need God’s good news, let’s be messengers of his good news.

o   God gives this call to us again today because, as verse eight tells us, he loves justice and hates robbery and injustice.

o   As we speak life, healing, freedom, and grace to those who cannot speak up for themselves, God promises that he will give the growth.

o   “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)

o   All broken people need God’s good news, let’s be messengers of his good news.

God Is Still Calling. Sunday, December 10, 2017.

o   The many disordered and broken voices of the world want us to buy their misrepresented realities and much of the time we do.

o   Governments want us to buy the hype that we humans can make things right.

o   We see it in every election and we hear it from the political spin doctors, but injustice and oppression continue.

o   Social media wants us to buy their marketing that our value is in how many likes, followers, and friends we have.

o   What social media does not tell us is that all those likes, followers, and friends cannot replace meaningful, face-to-face relationships.

o   In truth, researchers have found that the growing use of social media is connected directly to the rise in mental illness and suicide.

o   Popular media broadcasts the vibe that only the beautiful people, their styles, interests and voices are important.

o   Translation: the rest of us aren’t.

o   There are also the so-called good Christian distortions of the gospel.

o   Such as, it’s what we can do for God that makes us valuable to God, and it’s how well we keep the rules that makes us worthy of heaven.

o   Such lies create a performance-based legalistic church culture, rather than a church culture built on the grace of God in Christ.

o   We end up feeling guilty when we do not perform, and we either judge or feel judged when behaviour does not measure up to our rules.

o   None of this is normal; it is disordered and abnormal; it is damaging people and destroying relationships.

o   The disordered and broken voices that are attempting to rule and reign over the world need to be overruled.

o   Where are the voices of comfort?

o   Advent reminds us the world is disordered and broken and we need God to tear open the heavens and come down.

o   The Bible teaches that God’s reign is going to destroy every other reign and rule.

o   As God’s people, we need to be the voices of truth, proclaiming his reign, rather than loading guilt on ourselves and others because we have bought the performance lie that it’s all about doing.

o   In Isaiah chapter 40, God calls the prophet to comfort his people with words of good news: good news that God is coming, that he is going to level the playing field by making a highway, silence all other voices, his word and not our word is the final word, and he will be fully present in strength and power, but will gently lead and care for his people like a shepherd.

o   Isaiah speaks to a people who have been demoralized by Babylonian propaganda, reduced to scavenging to fill their starving bellies, crushed by Nebuchadnezzar’s armies, and whose leaders have been dragged off into exile because they listened to the disordered, broken voices of the world instead of listening to God.

o   Isaiah speaks comfort to a people who have given up and resigned to living in captivity.

o   Isaiah 40:1-11(CSB), “Comfort, comfort my people,” says your God.
² “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and announce to her that her time of forced labor is over, her iniquity has been pardoned, and she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.”

³ A voice of one crying out: Prepare the way of the Lord in the wilderness; make a straight highway for our God in the desert.
⁴ Every valley will be lifted up, and every mountain and hill will be leveled; the uneven ground will become smooth and the rough places, a plain. ⁵ And the glory of the Lord will appear, and all humanity together will see it, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

⁶ A voice was saying, “Cry out!” Another said, “What should I cry out?” “All humanity is grass, and all its goodness is like the flower of the field. ⁷ The grass withers, the flowers fade when the breath of the Lord blows on them; indeed, the people are grass. ⁸ The grass withers, the flowers fade, but the word of our God remains forever.”

⁹ Zion, herald of good news, go up on a high mountain. Jerusalem, herald of good news, raise your voice loudly. Raise it, do not be afraid! Say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!”
¹⁰ See, the Lord God comes with strength, and his power establishes his rule. His wages are with him, and his reward accompanies him.
¹¹ He protects his flock like a shepherd; he gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them in the fold of his garment. He gently leads those that are nursing.”

o   God sent Isaiah to be the voice of comfort and good news to a captive people, a people oppressed under the thumb of an unjust and vain, foreign tyrant, a people who had mostly given up.

o   Through Isaiah, God pronounced pardon, forgiveness for the sin of his people. He would punish them no more.

o   Through Isaiah, God declared that he was going to make a highway for his people to return from captivity and cross the desert from Babylon to Judea.

o   Through Isaiah, God announced human ways do not endure, God’s ways, however, are eternal.

o   God was not about to let Babylon have the final word on Israel.

o   Through Isaiah, God announced he would restore his people in his kingdom and he would protect them and care for them as gently and as personally as a shepherd cares for his flock.

o   God would be with his people!

o   Just as God called Isaiah to be a voice to his people announcing good news, so also God is calling us.

o   Believe God is still calling us to comfort the broken with news of his victory.

o   The broken do not need to hear the church voicing a legalistic, performance-based false Christianity.

o   The broken need to hear voices of comfort, sharing the assurance that Jesus Christ has paid the penalty for their sin.

o   The broken need to hear our voices declaring that God has made a highway out of the desert of captivity to sin, injustice, & oppression.

o   The broken need to hear our voices sharing the good news that they can walk with Jesus on the road, he is with them, and they will see his glory.

o   The broken need to hear our voices declaring God will keep his word and it is the final word.

o   Human ways won’t last, but God’s ways last forever.

o   Only God is fully reliable; he is unchanging, but we are not.

o   The broken need to hear our voices crying out that the disordered, unjust, and oppressive human reign and rule is at an end.

o   The reign and rule of God in Christ arrived 2000 years ago, is present now, and will come in all its fullness when Jesus comes again.

o   The broken need to hear our voices saying of Jesus, “Here is your God!”

o   We must all stop listening to voices that misrepresent reality, offering no comfort, and instead listen to the one who is the voice of truth, the Lord Jesus Christ.

o   Whoever is still faithful in this broken world must declare God’s victorious presence whose power is in his gentle, humble leading.

o   The broken need to hear our voices sharing the good news that God is present, his reward is with him, he himself will protect, gather, carry and lead all those who turn to him.

o   Believe God is still calling us to comfort the broken with the news of his victory.

o   What stops us from being the voices the broken need to hear? What prevents our voices from speaking good news to the outcast?

o   First, God’s call is outside our comfort zones.

o   Taking a stand against oppression for order, justice, and truth is unpopular and uncomfortable.

o   We are afraid of what might happen to us.

o   We lack confidence that God will keep his promise to give us the words we need to say.

o   We are afraid of being turned down, shut down, mocked, scorned, ridiculed or persecuted.

o   God’s call is outside our comfort zones, but we must face our fears if we are to obey and bless the outcast and the broken.

o   Second, we don’t know how to connect with the culture.

o   The culture around us is changing so dramatically and so quickly, that many of us feel at a total loss for what to do.

o   All the things we used to do many years ago that worked to get people through the door, so they could hear the gospel no longer work.

o   That scares us because it means we must learn to try new things.

o   It scares us because it means we must learn how to share the gospel with a culture that knows nothing about the Bible, next to nothing about Jesus and has lost interest in the church.

o   It means we can no longer rely solely on our pastors and programs to get people through the doors to hear the gospel.

o   But it is more than just a scary time; it is also a time of great opportunity for God to use each one of us to impact our neighbours for God’s kingdom.

o   It is a time for us to pray and believe that God is going to answer our prayers.

o   We don’t know how to connect with the culture, but God does.

o   As we prayerfully pay attention God will show us where he is working.

o   Third, Busyness.

o   Our busyness and the busyness of those whom we are trying to reach for the kingdom makes it difficult for us to connect.

o   What can we do about the issue of busyness?

o   The answer is about focus.

o   We can either let our busyness be the focus, or we can look for the opportunities God is already sending our way right where we are.

o   When we believe God is still calling us to comfort the broken with the news of his victory, then we must not allow busyness, feeling disconnected from the culture, or our comfort zones to control our witness.

o   These three hurdles must be surrendered to God in prayer.

o   Believe God is still calling us to comfort the broken with the news of his victory.

o   Well, now what must we do?

o   First, we need to declare and believe for ourselves that the penalty for our sins has been paid.

o   To be a comforting witness to the broken, we cannot be enslaved to the legalistic, performance-driven, false version of the gospel.

o   To be free of that, we must embrace the violent grace of the cross of Jesus Christ.

o   Each one of us must know that Jesus paid our debt, so we could be set free.

o   We must stop judging, stop performing, and embrace the freedom of grace.

o   Second, we must confess our sins and be vulnerable with each other.

o   That means we must stop pretending.

o   Scripture calls us to bear one another’s burdens which fulfills the law of Christ, loving one another.

o   When we don’t share our struggles, when we keep our battles to ourselves, when we don’t confess our sins, we shun vulnerability.

o   When we pretend everything is fine and it’s not, we rob each other of the opportunity to bless one another.

o   When we share the load of our burdens our siblings in Christ are blessed to know they are not alone in their struggles.

o   When we share our struggles, confess our sins and are vulnerable, we move into intimate fellowship and are blessed by each other’s support and prayers.

o   The broken, unbelieving world can see Jesus in us when we don’t pretend we’re perfect.

o   Third, we must listen for God’s voice in his written word regularly.

o   The closer we are with God, then the clearer we will hear his voice.

o   Fourth, we must believe God will give us the words we need, and believe we will see the opportunities he sends us right where we are.

o   Fifth, we must trust that God is with us when we are uncomfortable especially in our weakness.

o   “For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor 12:10b, CSB).

o   Believe God is still calling us to comfort the broken with the news of his victory.