Isaiah 50 - Relationship Reliance Resolve

Today’s Old Testament passage is the third of the four so-called "servant songs" in the second part of Isaiah, which we’ve been looking at recently.

Written around 680 BC the “Suffering Servant” which these passages speak about, point to Jesus, the Messiah - the one foretold in many Old Testament passages – who would save God’s people – both Jews and Gentiles.

We see this particulalry clearly in the fourth song of chapters 52-53 where the servant is wounded for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities – which points to Jesus offering himself upon the cross for our sins.

And today’s passage prophesies Jesus’ suffering in the run up to his crucifixion – being flogged and insulted and spat at.

However this morning I’d like to talk about three things which I think we see clearly in this passage as the servant fulfils his God given role.

And they are things which we as Christians need to emulate if we are to fulfil our God given roles. These three things all begin with the letter R – and the first one is Relationship.

The servant clearly has a very close relationship with God – who wakens him morning by morning and teaches him – so that he in turn will be able to teach others.

Having a relationship with God – is at the very core of what it means to be a Christian. As I said a few weeks ago – God isn’t looking for us to come to church and perform religious rituals.

God wants a relationship with us. He is looking for people who recognise their need for Him and who want to live their lives with Him – His way.

Who will freely come to Him and offer Him their time and their love and their service. Who will talk to Him during the day and share the ups and downs of life with him.

Coming to church is then just an extension of that ongoing relationship – and an opportunity to worship Him and to offer Him ourselves and our service.

We’re currently looking at the subject of prayer in the Thursday house group at Duncan and Kerry’s and the course gives links to some useful on-line video clips.

I watched one of these and it was about a man who had become a Christian – but who had quite a demanding job and told his pastor that he simply didn’t have the time to pray much.

His pastor told him that if he didn’t spend time praying, his Christian life would remain stunted – and that he should try and make this a priority – and really that this should be something which wasn’t a chore but which was enjoyable.

The man took his pastor’s advice seriously. He decided that he’d set his alarm clock half and hour early and he bought himself a rocking chair – because he’d always liked them – and he positioned it in his favourite spot in the house with a view of his garden.

He then spent this half hour every morning sitting in his rocking chair with a nice cup of coffee reading his bible and talking to God.

The pastor said he met this man again a few months later and he couldn’t believe the change in him. He’d always looked a bit stressed but he looked much more relaxed and happy – and clearly his relationship with God had deepened enormously.

And the man’s wife said that he had become much calmer and more patient with the children.

Sometime later this man decided that he’d give up his day job – and work as an administrator for his church. He became a real pillar of the church and was much loved.

Several years later when he died – his wife said that right up until he’d gone into hospital - he was still getting up and spending time each morning with God in his rocking chair.

Isaiah tells us that morning by morning God wakens his servant who listens to him. Perhaps there is a lesson for us here?

And our relationship with God is so important – because it will determine our fruitfulness.

The deeper the soil of our relationship with God – the more fruit we’ll produce. If our relationship with God is shallow – like shallow soil – our fruitfulness will be limited.

Isaiah 40 verse 31 says – “those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”

Like the man with the rocking chair we need to choose to put time aside to simply be still in God’s presence – and talk to Him.

So my first R is Relationship. My second R is Reliance. The servant in this passage is totally reliant on God. The Lord God helps me he says therefore I know that I shall not be put to shame.

And of course Jesus was totally reliant on God the Father to guide him and God the Holy Spirit to empower him.

Paul tells us in his letter to the Philippians that Jesus – although he was God - made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.

As God – before he was confined to a human body – Jesus was omnipresent (he was everywhere) - he was omniscient (he knew everything) – and he was omnipotent (he was all powerful).

But when he was born into this world as a human baby – he let go of these things. He was confined to a human body. He knew only what he learned and what His Father revealed to him, and he relied on the Holy Spirit to empower him.

He then modelled for us – a life of faith – a life lived in reliance on 

His Father to guide him and the Holy Spirit to empower Him to do the miracles he did.

And we too need to rely on God in order to live as Christians. We need to rely on God to help us live rightly – and to help us to love and reach out to others.

Jesus said – apart from me you can do nothing. Apart from him – relying on our own strength - we will continue to sin and to find that we repeat the same patterns of behaviour that we don’t like.

But as we acknowledge our weakness and cry out to him to help us to change – he will then help us.

And of course apart from Him we can’t bear fruit. We can’t open people’s eyes to believe in him. We can’t touch people’s spirits and lift them.

We can’t heal people or remove fear from them or drive away the evil spirits that oppress them.

But Jesus can – and he can work through us to do these things if we will offer ourselves to him in faith.

I like praying with people who are seeking God’s help – but there is nothing useful I can say or do – unless God works through me to touch the life of the person I’m praying with in some way.

And as I’ve said before, when Campbell and Ayline and I pray for people to be healed at the communion rail – we of ourselves have absolutely no power to heal anyone.

Only God can do this – so if you do experience healing please realise that God has touched your life because He loves you – and give your thanks to Him.

And Campbell and I are totally reliant on God to touch people’s lives as we preach. We can come up with all sorts of clever or entertaining words to say – but unless the Holy Spirit takes these words and imparts life to them – they will fall to the ground like dust.

So as Christians – like the servant in this passage who relies on God - we need to ask God each day to fill us with his life and His love – so that with His help we can live rightly and seek to impart that life and love to others.

So my first R was Relationship. My second was Reliance, and my third is Resolve.

The servant in today’s passage is not rebellious and doesn’t turn backwards; rather he sets his face like flint – and is utterly resolved to do God’s will – whatever it costs him.

And of course we see this resolve with Jesus particularly in the Garden of Gethsemane – as the time of his crucifixion approaches.

As I said at the start of this sermon - today’s passage is a prophecy about the suffering that Jesus will endure and humanly speaking of course he doesn’t want to go through the agony of the cross – so he prays “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”

Jesus is being totally honest with his father. He knows that his journey to the cross is inevitable – but he also knows that a time of terrible suffering is about to come upon him – so he prays.

But he has resolved in his heart to do God’s will – “not my will but yours be done.”

And we as Christians need to be determined and resolved to continue to walk with God – whatever life throws at us.

All Christians go through times of testing when life goes pear shaped and God seems very distant. And these times can be really awful and we can be at a complete loss to understand what’s going on – and why God is allowing it.

In his first letter Peter says these (trials) have come so that your faith - of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire - may be proved genuine and may result in praise, 

glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed.

So when as Christians we go through hard times – our faith is being tested to prove that it is genuine – and if we persevere and continue to trust in God - we will eventually come out on the other side.

All we can do is follow Jesus example – and be honest and pray – but at the same time be resolved to keep trusting in God.

And rather than becoming downcast and negative – although it’s much easier said than done – ideally we should try to remain positive and thankful to God.

And we can thank God because we know that He loves us and will never leave us or give up on us. We know that in all things He is working for our good and we know that He won’t allow us to be tested beyond what we can bear.

We can pray - ‘Lord I don’t understand what’s going on and why I am going through this – but I thank you that you are always with me and that you understand everything.

‘I thank you because you love me and because you are working for my good and for the good of those I love. Lord help me to get through this as I continue to trust in you.’

So to conclude, in today’s passage from Isaiah about the suffering servant – we see a little portrait of Jesus – and we see something of his Relationship with God the Father, his Reliance on God the Holy Spirit and his Resolve to fulfil his God given mission to lay down his life for mankind.

And these 3R’s are key ingredients for all Christians – 

Relationship, Reliance and Resolve.

In the name of the living God. Amen.

Luke 11 verses 45 to 54

Luke 11 verses 45 to 54

In today’s gospel reading from Luke we see Jesus being very critical of the religious leaders of his day – in particular the Pharisees and teachers of the law.

So firstly who were these people? Well the Pharisees were a Jewish religious party who accepted God’s written word – the Law and the prophets - but who gave equal authority to oral laws that had evolved over many years.

And to the Pharisees, strict observance of these oral and written laws was everything.

The teachers of the law were those who had been professionally trained to teach and apply the Old Testament law. And as with the Pharisees, the oral traditions of these people, often assumed greater authority than the original written law of Moses.

So, Jesus is highly critical of these two groups of people who as the religious leaders of the day - advocated strict religious observance, even though some of it was man-made - but whose hearts were far from God.

Just to set the scene for today’s reading, we’re told in verse 37 that Jesus has been invited for a meal by a Pharisee who is very surprised that he doesn’t wash himself beforehand.

The Pharisees made a point of washing themselves before eating as a sign of washing away any contamination from touching anything unclean – although originally this was only something which was expected of the priests.

Jesus tells the Pharisees sitting at the table very bluntly that although they go to great lengths to wash the outside of cups and dishes - inside – in their hearts - they are full of greed and wickedness.

Their religion is purely an outward show – because spiritually they are alienated from God.

He doesn’t stop here though, in verse 44 he says “woe to you for you are like unmarked graves which people walk over without realising.”

The Old Testament laws said a person who touched a grave was unclean. Like unmarked graves the Pharisees corrupted those who came into contact with them.

He then criticises the teachers of the law – “woe also to you lawyers, for you load people with burdens hard to bear and you do not lift a finger to ease them.”

He accuses them of loading the people down with burdensome religious demands, many of which were of their own making.

They were more concerned with outward appearances and the respect in which they were held – than humbly seeking to love God and having genuine concern for the people in their care.

And it can be the same today. Some church leaders can be more concerned with their own political and social agendas than they are with serving God or loving people.

And some church goers can be more concerned with outward religious observance and appearing respectable – than they are with finding a relationship with God.

But Christianity is fundamentally about finding and then living in relationship with God rather than just observing or performing religious rituals.

Sacraments like baptism, confirmation and communion only have value or meaning where they reflect and nurture a genuine faith in God.

They are outward signs of what should be an inner reality – a living faith and relationship with God.

Little Oscar’s baptism today is a genuine celebration of his entry into God’s family – the church. Chris and Mercy and their families have a living faith in God – and they will pass this faith onto Oscar as he grows up.

But sadly this is not always the case.

Perhaps some of you have seen a programme called Big Fat Gypsy Weddings???

I was quite shocked to see some young Irish traveller girls taking their first communion.

They arrived for the service in limousines, dolled up to the nines in huge dresses - like brides – and their older sisters and cousins came to the service dressed in extremely skimpy outfits – looking more ready to go to a nightclub than a church service.

I don’t want to be judgmental – and I may be wrong - but there seemed to me to be a total lack of any spiritual understanding of what they were doing. It seemed like just an excuse for a celebration.

And sadly some baptisms and confirmations can be the same. People can dress up and take photos for the family album and tick off a religious box – but completely miss the inner spiritual significance of what they’re doing.

And some people believe that the act of taking communion – if they do it regularly enough – is what God requires.

You see I think there is fundamental misunderstanding which many people have – which is that doing religious things puts us right with God.

That when we get to the pearly gates God will have a note of whether we’re baptised of confirmed - and a list of our church attendance and good deeds and let us in if we’ve been good enough.

But this is completely wrong. We are only put right with God by repenting and then believing in Jesus. By acknowledging that we need God in our lives and then inviting Him to come and live in our hearts.

The rituals or sacraments of the church - are meant to be "visible signs of invisible grace”. But like the Pharisees some people can perform the rituals – sometimes regularly and religiously - while their hearts remain far from God.

You see what God really wants is a relationship with you. He loves you and He wants you to share your life with Him. All of it.

I’ve recently come across a preacher called Joyce Meyer on a new Christian TV Channel - called TBN.

And I really like Joyce – because her teaching is very practical and down to earth.

She told a story the other day of a time when she went ten pin bowling with some friends – and she wasn’t bowling very well.

She said she was really surprised when she heard God say to her clearly – ‘why don’t you ask me to help you?’

She said but Lord I’m not doing church stuff – why should I ask you to help me?

And then she realised that God was interested in – and wanted to be involved in all her life. Not just the church stuff.

She realised that God was with her always – whatever she was doing – and that 

He wanted her to enjoy all her life with Him – not just the churchy bits.

And she said she started to understand what Jesus meant when he talked about abiding in Him.

You see, God doesn’t just want a little bit of attention from you on a sunday morning – and then for you to forget about Him for the rest of the week.

He wants - with your permission - to come and live in your heart and life.

And then, when you’ve said yes – He wants to guide you and direct you  – and help you discover His plan for your life.

And He wants you to enjoy life with Him - and as I said a few weeks ago – to share His life – His love and His power with others.

If this relationship with God is lacking – if our hearts are far from Him – as with the Pharisees and lawyers – the religious rituals we perform can be empty and meaningless.

The Pharisees and teachers of the law had no space in their hearts and lives for God. This is why Jesus said, “these people honour me with their lips but their hearts are far from me.”

Outwardly they were very religious and the people looked up to them – but inwardly they were spiritually dead and cut off from the life of God – full of dead men’s bones as Jesus put it.

So you’ve come to Church today - what does God require of you?

Does He want you to sing the songs and say all the right words – while doing your best not to think about what’s for lunch  - and then to walk out of the door thinking you’ve done your bit - but to forget about him for another week?

Of course not. So what does He want??

Well the service sheet tells us in the prayer after communion, which is based on what Paul wrote to the church in Rome.

Paul wrote; “I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God - this is your true and proper worship.”

So God wants us to offer ourselves to him – and this is what true worship is about.

What God wants is you! Just as He gave his life for you on the cross – so he wants you to offer your life back to Him.

When we come to worship Him, He is looking for us to offer Him ourselves - our time, our energy, our thoughts, our love and our service.

This is why also in the prayer after communion - we invite God to send us out in the power of His spirit to live and work for his praise and glory.

The Pharisees were extremely religious - but they totally failed to recognise Jesus – God made flesh – even when he was standing right in front of them.

We must make sure that we don’t make the same mistake. Jesus is present here in this church by His spirit every week when we meet together.

It’s easy to sing the songs and reel off the words on the service sheet but to completely miss Him.

It’s easy to do religion and miss out on a relationship with Him. But nothing else will satisfy Him.

God loves you and he wants to be involved in your life – all of it. He wants you to invite Him into your heart and your life and to mean it.

And when you do this - the religious rituals of the church will have true meaning and significance – as they do for little Oscar and his family this morning.

And you will start to find that you are worshipping your creator in spirit and in truth – because as Jesus said - these are the kind of worshippers that God is really looking for.

As the service continues and little Oscar is baptised and then as we take communion – reflect on your own baptismal promises and then offer yourself to God - because there is nothing more precious that you can give Him.

In the name of the living God. Amen.

Isaiah 9:1-7 - Brenchley

How would you assess the state of All Saint’s church?

What about the Diocese of Rochester…?  Or the C of E…?

If God decided to tell you what he thought of All Saints, what would he say to you, his people, here?

The book of Isaiah begins with God’s verdict on his people, and however bad your assessment of the church today, you’d have to be in a very, very bad place to match this!

Turn to chapter 1 of Isaiah.    READ v1      739-690BC    READ vv2-6

If we were to read on, we’d find that the judiciary are corrupt, the rulers are rebels and associate with thieves, the priests convene nothing but ‘evil assemblies’.

“But wait a minute” you might say, ‘this isn’t about the church, it’s about the nation.’

And you’d be right… and wrong!

Israel, remember, was a theocracy. The nation was the people of God and the people were the nation.   It’s anachronistic, but you might even say that the nation was the church & the church the nation.

So when God criticizes & condemns the nation, he’s criticising & condemning his own chosen, redeemed people.

And  as Isaiah looks around him, he sees the calamity that’s afflicted Israel as a very tangible demonstration of God’s punishment on his people, so, v5, God has beaten them.

But while God hates each and every individual sin that Israel commits, the real issue lies deeper: chapter 1 verse 2 – I reared children & brought them up, but they have rebelled against me.  Verse 4, They have forsaken the LORD, they have spurned the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on him.

You see, the real problem is not moral or ethical – it never is.

It’s not so much about greed or injustice – these are the symptoms> The disease runs deeper:

The real problem is turning their backs on God. Their hearts are set on self-interest, not on worshipping & adoring their Lord God.

God has given the whole nation over to calamity and desolation because they’re living for themselves. And now they’re in this terrible, terrifying position – they’re on the receiving end of God’s wrath.

And yet… as is always the case with God, in his wrath there is always compassion & mercy. With God there is always hope. So he says, ‘Why should you be beaten any more? Why do you persist in rebellion?’

Later on the Lord calls to his people, ‘Come now, let us reason together, though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.’

The Lord is holding out his hands to his people. Calling them to come and sort out their differences. Offering forgiveness and reconciliation, blessing and joy.

Now let’s move to the end of Isaiah. Ch 65. READ vv17-19

What a different – what a glorious – picture!  

God is no longer angry with his people – now he rejoices over them & delights in them!

The people are no longer suffering, weeping or crying, but full of joy!

God and his people have been reconciled.

So the book of Isaiah takes us on a journey from rebellion & curse to peace & blessing.

From a city & nation under God’s just & sever punishment to a city & nation that will be his joy & delight.

But how will God do this? How can the holy, just, evil-hating God be reconciled to an unholy, sinful, evil-loving people?

This is where passages like chapter 9 come in. They give us glimpses behind the curtain – we see just a part of God’s great plan of salvation – the plan that we’re caught up in & involved in here today.

At the very end of chapter 8,  The people are in distress & darkness & fearful gloom, they’re in danger of being thrust into utter darkness.

Then comes one of those great Bible words, ‘But’ [‘Nevertheless’].

But [Nevertheless], there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress…

And now, as I read vv2-5, notice how God promises a total reversal of fortunes for his people…

The contrasts couldn’t be starker could they?

Darkness to light; the shadow of death to joy; the burdensome yoke shattered; the warriors’ boots & bloody garments of war burned in the fire & put to good use.

But again, ‘How?’

Well, it’s a remarkable answer, v6, a child. God will give his people a child – a son.

But what a child!

READ vv6-7

Now, of course, having heard this reading so often – and especially at Christmas – our thoughts naturally turn to the Lord Jesus as fulfilling this.

He is the child who will redeem & renew Israel – God’s people – because he has the power, the authority, the compassion, the justice, the righteousness to do so.

Well that’s all very well. But it seems so distant.

Even if we accept Jesus as this wonderful, eternal, omnipotent ruler, still he seems distant – out there; back then.

But we’re here in lovely Brenchley in 2015. What does this have to say to All 

Saints Church – the gathered people of God today?

First of all, we have the great benefit of living this side of the coming of that child-king.

We can look back and see Jesus, the Son of God, the eternal ruler, the prince of peace. We know who this child is.

We know that Jesus died under the wrath of God taking the punishment for our rebellion.

Like the Israelites, were at one time under God’s wrath. We too had our hearts set on pleasing ourselves. We too were self-indulgent.

But God shone his searchlight into our lives, and enabled us to see our rebellion. 

And he called, and we responded in repentance and faith.

And we were reconciled to God, he became our Father, and we became his children.

Then, second, though we don’t see his perfect peace & just reign in operation all over, yet we do see something of the in-breaking of his kingdom here at All Saints, at St Peter’s and in gospel-churches all over the world.

Where individuals turn back to God in faithfulness & trust, so he binds us together into a new community.

A community where we can say, in all humility, that God delights in us. As he looks on his people he rejoices in them.

And as we submit to the Wonderful Counsellor, the Prince of Peace, so we begin to bring his peace, righteousness & justice into our communities.

No longer serving ourselves, we serve one another until all people will know that we are his disciples, because we have love for one another.

Is that a pipe dream? Certainly not.

Let me share with you a few comments people at St Peter’s have made in emails to me over the last few weeks:

‘I feel so lucky that God led me to St Peter’s! J’

“as ever we thank God for the St P's church family!”

“Thank you so much … for your care of us all over the past weeks - we're very grateful to God”

I have no doubt that many of you will feel the same way about All Saints.

And you do so, not because you’re particularly good or nice or welcoming, but because you have received the grace of God, and now you share that grace with one another. Because you mean it when you pray, ‘Your kingdom come, your will be done’.