Our text this morning is short; only 6 verses. It is on the same topic that we’ve been looking at for the last several weeks: Jesus and the nations. The focus this time is less on what He will do with the nations and more on Judah’s response to what Jesus does with them. I suspect that you will find some lessons here that will get you thinking.
Before I read the chapter let me give you a little information about what’s going on. First, you’ll hear about one of Judah’s neighbors, Ashdod. This was a small nation that rebelled against Assyria. And Ashdod took that bold step because two of her neighbors, Egypt and Cush, told her that they would provide political and military support. Well, Assyria dealt with Ashdod. And it was an easy matter since neither Egypt nor Cush came to her aid, previous promises notwithstanding. While Assyria is busy with Ashdod Jesus gives Isaiah a message to present to Judah. The message is clear enough: soon, Egypt and Cush will also be led away as captives. One thing that’s interesting here is that Isaiah’s prophecy comes through his actions as well as his words.
There are two aspects of this chapter that I would like to talk about this morning. The first has to do with what Jesus called Isaiah to do. He was to walk about naked. I’m sure that this caught your attention and raised some questions. So, what’s going on here? For one thing, Isaiah was adding pictures to his words. He preached to Judah about the foolishness of depending on these two other nations, Egypt and Cush. But he didn’t just talk. His actions depicted what his words were saying. ‘… so shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptian captives and the Cushite exiles, both the young and the old, naked and barefoot, with buttocks uncovered, the nakedness of Egypt.’ Isaiah played the role of a captive. A prophetic act was added to prophetic words.
I have two thoughts from this. I’m not going to develop this first one. Those of you who are interested can develop it further. While words are so very powerful, they are not always enough. There are times when pictures need to be added so that the point of the words is driven home. This is quite common, especially among the prophets. One place that this could be applied is in worship. Reformed worship is very word oriented. That’s usually fine. But there may well be times when it’s not. This text does make it difficult for someone to hold to the idea that there is no place for some kind of dramatic acts in worship and especially in preaching.
Now to my second thought and I will develop this much more. Jesus called on Isaiah to do something that was quite striking, to say the least. And that call helps us to understand the limits of discipleship. It is easy to develop the expectation that there are some things that Jesus would never ask us to do. We all have this sense that there is this line. Things on this side of the line are reasonable expectations. But when it comes to things on the other side of the line we tell ourselves, ‘He would never ask me to do that.’ Well, I think that it’s fair to say that walking naked up State Street is, for all of us, on the other side of that line. But Isaiah’s experience in our text is a good reminder that there is no line. There are no limits when it comes to following Jesus. He can call us to do anything. Taking that seriously changes things. It reminds us that our lives are not really ours, to do with as we please. Jesus is Lord over every aspect of who we are. If you remember I once used the image of a blank check to illustrate this. Following Jesus is like signing a check, leaving the amount blank, and handing it to Jesus for Him to fill out any way He wants. He can do with your life whatever He wishes. And we all need to remember that.
So, will Jesus ever call upon you to do something as unreasonable as walk up State Street naked? How would you answer that question? The right answer is, ‘I don’t know if He will. But I want to obey Him, and I depend on Him to give me the ability to obey whatever His call might be.’ That answer has three important elements. The first is that we have no idea what Jesus will call us to do in the future. And that’s okay. We don’t need to waste time trying to plot out His will for our lives. But that leads to the second element. Whatever it is that Jesus will call you to do in the future, the attitude of a disciple is clear. ‘I want to obey Him’. Now, why would anyone think in those terms? First, there is the understanding that Jesus is Lord, and I am not. He gets to decide what happens, not me. This is simply a matter of creaturely submission. But there is also the knowledge that Jesus knows best. His plans always lead to the best outcomes for us. Obedience, then, is also a matter of wise self-interest. And self-interest is never wrong as long as it’s second on the list of priorities. And it all boils down to faith. Will I trust His wisdom and His love for me? Will I obey His call in the hope of serving Him wells and gaining what is good? But there is also that third element. Responding to Jesus’ call not only takes faith. It also takes grace. Whatever it is that Jesus calls you to, you can’t do it. That’s just a given (and very freeing). And that’s why it’s so important that you remember that He will always give you the ability to respond in faith. He will always give you the ability to obey. That ability will show up at the right time. It will show up as soon as you say, ‘Lord, I want to obey Your call.’
And that’s what’s going on in Isaiah’s life. When Jesus called him back in chapter 6, Isaiah had no clue what that involved. But, as we saw there and see here, Isaiah was ready to obey. ‘Here am I. Send me.’ Bear in mind that Isaiah was no super saint. He was a sinner just like we are. His ability to obey was something Jesus gave him. So, to quote another sinner, ‘I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.’ You will need to remember this because Jesus just might call you to do something that is far more difficult than what Isaiah had to do. But rest assured that Jesus will provide whatever you will need so that you can obey like Isaiah did.
So, there are three things from this that I’d like you to remember. There is no line between reasonable and unreasonable. Your life is a blank check. Jesus will provide grace to obey.
This leaves the last part of the chapter, Judah’s response. ‘Then they shall be dismayed and ashamed because of Cush their hope and of Egypt their boast. And the inhabitants of this coastland will say in that day, “Behold, this is what has happened to those in whom we hoped and to whom we fled for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria! And we, how shall we escape?”’
This is all about hope, right hopes and wrong hopes. I’m going to look at it in terms of ‘hoping for’ and ‘hoping in’. What did Judah hope for? They were hoping for safety. They wanted to be left alone so they might live their lives in peace. Remember who the bully on the block is: Assyria, devastator of nations. Now, is it wrong to hope for this, to hope for safety so that you can enjoy a peaceful life? Clearly not. We were not made for strife and turmoil. We were created to enjoy peace. And yet, there have been many who have been denied this peace for the sake of the Gospel. Recently, I pointed out Joseph and the things that he suffered. So much of his life was filled with anything but peace. Then there was Paul. His was a life filled with great hardship that went beyond the thorn in his flesh. And then, of course, there was Jesus. ‘Man of sorrows, acquainted with grief.’ What understatement! Is it wrong to desire to live a peaceful life? No, unless it becomes too important. You don’t have to do some terrible thing in order to sin. Doing some right things in the wrong way also qualifies, like wanting a peaceful life too much.
Because this safety that they hoped for became too important to the people of Judah, they hoped in the wrong thing. They hoped in Egypt and Cush. They thought that these two nations might keep them safe from the bully. And that’s why Isaiah writes that Judah will be horrified when they hear the news that these two nations have been crushed by Assyria, with the survivors being led off to as captives to a distant land. They had put their hope in what would ultimately fail. So, you see, these nations had become an idol, an idol that couldn’t keep promises of safety. Judah hoped for peace but it became too important and that led to them putting their hope in weak nations instead of in Jesus. Hope for. Hope in.
Part of what makes us sinners is that we ‘hope for’ and ‘hope in’ in the wrong ways. We’re all in the same boat. So, it’s not a matter of avoiding this. It’s too late for that. It is a matter of finding out where we’ve already blown it so that we might repent, be forgiven and changed. So, let me illustrate this by being a bit autobiographical. When I arrived in Erie to be pastor of this church, I was not aware of what I was hoping for nor what I was hoping in. Those things were hidden from me. But, in His kindness, the Spirit revealed some of those false hopes to me. I remember chatting with some folk who didn’t know me well. And in that kind of situation one of the regular questions is, ‘So, what do you do?’ I told them that I was a minister to which they responded, ‘Oh, how many people are in your church?’ I told them whatever the membership was at the time, some tiny number, and they said, ‘Oh…….that’s……..nice.’ And it was clear that they were expecting something a little larger. I remember my response. I was embarrassed. And that emotional response was an indicator that something was up. I was hoping for success. And that was to be measured in terms of the size of my church. Is it wrong to want to pastor a church with a growing membership? Clearly not … unless it becomes too important. Then it becomes an idol. I remember this same kind of thing happening another time. One year at General Assembly, I worshiped at a church pastored by someone I went to seminary with. And I noticed that he was pastoring a very large church. This time I wasn’t embarrassed. This time I was jealous. And it showed by a different emotional response. I got really down. He had something that I was hoping for, something I didn’t have. Those were two different emotional responses that showed that something was wrong within me. There was something wrong with what I was hoping for.
Then there’s also the ‘hoping in’. If, back then, you had asked me how I would achieve my goal of being a ‘success’ I think that I would have said something about the faithful preaching and teaching of the Word. That’s what I put my hope in. Is that good or bad? It all depends on what you mean. What I meant back then was that if I followed the formula that they gave me in seminary then everything would work out well. I put my hope in me, my skills as a preacher and teacher, and as someone who could follow a formula. But what is that but another idol?
In His kindness, Jesus has been disabusing me of my foolishness; not completely to be sure, but there has been some progress. I now see that success is not to be defined by numbers. And I no longer expect my skills to result in startling progress. I still have my idols, but there has been change. I do hope for a growing church, but that it is no longer too important for me. Now, what I hope for most is that some day Jesus will say to me, ‘Not bad. Not bad at all.’ When He says that, Faith Reformed might be a megachurch or just another church that withered away and died. But neither result defines success or failure for me. And what I hope in is the Spirit. Somehow He will act to bring about the results that He wants for Faith Reformed. My responsibility is to pray and read my Bible. I do these things so that by preaching and teaching as well as my skills allow the Spirit will have something to work with. I hope for success as Jesus defines it and I hope in His Spirit to create that success.
Now, here is the question that needs to be asked. What do you hope for and what do you hope in? That is not a question that you will be able to easily answer. The idols of our hearts are way too subtle. But every once in a while they are exposed, even if just briefly. Sometimes that’s tied to our emotional responses to situations where our idols are involved. I was embarrassed and discouraged. But the tip off could also be anger. Next time you get angry, ask yourself why? Was some hope being challenged? Was an idol involved? Another possible emotional tip off could be fear. Do you find yourself anxious, especially in certain situations? Why? What are you hoping for and hoping in during those times of anxiety? In these and other similar situations our hidden hopes are exposed, things we hope for and things we hope in. It’s good to be able to see them clearly so that we can repent.
I want to say something to those of you who are still in school. Many of you are considering things like colleges and careers and things you’d like to do in the future. I won’t ask if you’ve drawn that line I mentioned earlier. I won’t ask you if you’ve drawn it because I know that you already have. You are no different from the rest of us. There are some things that you know that you just couldn’t do, not even if Jesus, Himself, were to ask you to. Be aware of that, and be ready to repent of that attitude when the Spirit shows you where you’ve drawn that line. Work at developing an attitude that says, ‘Lord Jesus, whatever you want me to do is fine with me.’ Bear in mind that that might include things that He does not want you to do, things that you might have already set your heart on. ‘Lord Jesus, whatever you want me to do – or not do – is fine with me.’ And be aware that there are some things that you are hoping for that are just wrong. They don’t have to be evil things. They may be wrong simply because they have become too important or because they define things, like success, in ways that are different from Jesus’ definition. And it’s just a fact that here and there you are hoping in idols, instead of in Jesus. It’s impossible that you are free from them. I say that not to discourage you but so that you might watch for the telltale signs of your idols so that you can be rid of them by repentance and faith. I hope that you students take to heart the things that I’ve said.
We all have some things to work on. We live in a culture that is filled with idols. We live among people who have all sorts of false hopes. And it has affected us. Let me encourage you to spend some time considering the things that I have talked about. As you do, the Spirit will act and He will guide you. And that will lead to a greater experience of the life that Jesus has promised you.
No comments:
Post a Comment