Expectations

We’re into Isaiah’s third sermon. Before I read it let me mention a bit about the structure so that you can listen well. The first section is about the vineyard. This is a picture of the relationship of Jesus with His Church. The picture starts out very positively, but it quickly turns sad. The second section has six statements that begin, ‘Woe to those who…’ These woes are expressions of punishment and regret. In the last section Jesus gets specific about the punishment He is sending. It’s all about His anger and how He will send powerful and fearsome armies to destroy His vineyard.

Listen as I read Isaiah 5.

Verse four captures a key thought of Isaiah’s sermon. ‘What more was there to do for my vineyard, that I have not done in it?’ What a thing for Jesus to say! He did everything anyone could imagine so that His vineyard, His Church, might flourish. What grace! What kindness! The love of Jesus for His own is highlighted by this verse. He will do whatever to see His Church thrive. However, that only leads to the shock of the rest of the verse. ‘When I looked for it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes?’ Jesus provided for His Church all that it might need so that she might produce something good. Jesus had expectations. He expected good grapes. But what did he find? He found wild grapes, worthless grapes. The kind of grapes that Isaiah is talking about are so bad that you can’t eat them. They are only good to be thrown out. Jesus had expectations of His Church. ‘… He looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; for righteousness, but behold, an outcry!’ Here, Isaiah highlights behavior. Jesus’ expectation was for a certain kind of behavior. He picks two examples of what He means: justice and righteousness. Jesus had expectations of His Church, actions that He had called for, but His expectations were not being met.

Now, clearly, there were reasons for this. A person’s actions are simply a reflection of what is going on in his heart. That’s why Jesus says, elsewhere, ‘Out of the heart, the mouth speaks.’ Isaiah points to three attitudes that ruled the hearts of so many in Israel. The first has to do with money. When Joshua conquered the Promised Land all the land was divided up among the different clans. According to God’s Law, the land was not to be sold by one clan to another. It was the heritage of that clan. But when the poor are desperate and powerless, the rich can take advantage of them. And that’s what happened here in Jesus’ Church. These rich bought homestead after homestead. Behind this was the idolatry of money and its allure. That’s why Isaiah says, ‘Woe to those who join house to house, who add field to field, until there is no more room…’ That was one attitude behind the evil actions of Israel. Then there is the pursuit of pleasure – ‘the good life’. And Isaiah writes this: ‘Woe to those who rise early in the morning, that they may run after strong drink, who tarry late into the evening as wine inflames them! They have lyre and harp, tambourine and flute and wine at their feasts…’ Their pursuit of pleasure took the form of living for the parties, for wine and song. There are many variations on this theme, but the main goal is the same. For some, life is all about partying while for others it’s all about stamp collecting. But both worship at the same idol. ‘I live so that I can enjoy this life.’ That was a second attitude that yielded evil actions. Then there was this third attitude of the heart that Isaiah points to: unbelief. Woe to those … who say: “Let him be quick, let him speed his work that we may see it; let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near, and let it come, that we may know it!”’ Do you hear what they are saying? ‘We’ll believe it when we see it. Until then, we won’t believe what Jesus has said.’ They may not have said this out loud. In fact, they might not have even said it to themselves in so many words. But that was the attitude of their hearts. ‘I don’t believe what Jesus has said. I don’t believe Him when He promises to act, to bless or to curse. And I’ll only believe it when I see it.’ Remember, these are members of Jesus’ Church.

All of this led to evil fruit. For one thing, a sense of right and wrong was flipped on its head. ‘Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!’ People became proud. ‘Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and shrewd in their own sight!’ And the powerful overwhelmed to powerless. ‘Woe to those who acquit the guilty for a bribe, and deprive the innocent of his right!’ Attitudes of the heart led to actions that bore evil fruit which, in turn, led to consequences.

The last section of Isaiah’s sermon is about the consequences. It’s about Jesus’ response to this evil. ‘Therefore the anger of the LORD was kindled against his people, and he stretched out his hand against them and struck them, and the mountains quaked…’ Jesus was angry, so very angry. So He punished His Church – violently. Notice what He does to punish His enemies. He calls for the armies of the nations to come to His vineyard so that they might destroy it. Do you have any idea what that must have been like? Imagine being confronted by some great horde of terrifying warriors bent on killing and raping and crushing. Listen again to Isaiah. ‘…and their corpses were as refuse in the midst of the streets.’ Bodies were everywhere. People were screaming. Some only moaning as they slowing died. Men. Women. Children. Jesus was angry. And it was not an anger that quickly passed. He was mad, and He stayed mad. ‘For all this his anger has not turned away, and his hand is stretched out still.’ Jesus had expectations of His Church. They failed to meet them. Instead of good grapes, they produced worthless wild grapes. So, He acted. ‘And now I will tell you what I will do to My vineyard. I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured; I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down. I will make it a waste.’

And what was the reason for this failure? Remember, He did everything anyone could have imagined so that they would thrive and be able to meet His expectations. But they were blinded by the idols that their hearts embraced. And they would not obey because of their unbelief. And so they bore the consequences.

Now, let’s consider what this text has to say to us. There’s an awful lot here, but I will limit myself to this one part of its message. Jesus still has expectations of His Church. He has expectations of us, Faith Reformed Church. He has done all that anyone could imagine so that we might thrive. And He is ready to do even more. And because of that He expects some things of us. Here’s one: that we, as a church together, would shine with the light of the Gospel out there in a very dark world. That’s why He said, ‘You are the light of the world.’ This is something that we are to do as a church and not just as individuals. But we aren’t doing it. Jesus has a mission for us, some specific way that we are to shine together as a church. We’re not doing it. We are pursuing no mission together as a church out there in the world. No mission. And here’s one key reason why we aren’t.

When we receive new members we recite a pledge that includes this: ‘I will be devoted to them in love.’ That’s actually a Bible verse. Jesus calls us to devotion in love within His Church. He has provided a standard so that we can be clear what that verse is saying, what it means to be devoted in love, what He expects. Listen to what Jesus said. ‘A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.’ We are to be devoted in love to each other in the same ways that Jesus is devoted in love to each of us. That’s His standard. According to Jesus, it is as we love one another in this way that we reveal the Gospel to the world, that we shine. They will see that we are His disciples when they see us love each other like He loves. So, before we can pursue whatever mission Jesus has for us as a church, we need to live as a church, according to Jesus’ idea of a church. We are to be devoted to each other just as Jesus is devoted to us. That’s the foundation for Christian mission in the world. That’s the foundation for what Jesus expects of us.

Let’s do a little exercise. Make a mental list. On that list include the names of all the people who are your close friends. I’m talking about people you are devoted to and who are devoted to you because of your mutual love. They know you, the real you, to some significant extent, and you know the real them. Real devotion in love shows as intimacy. Leave out anyone who is family. Do you have your list? First, I’m going to guess that some of you have a blank list. And that is sad. But others of you have names on that list. I’m going to guess that for most of you in this group the people on your list are not in this room. They aren’t members of this church. ‘I will be devoted to them in love.’

I need to be very clear here. I am not saying that you are an unfriendly bunch. That is simply not true. Some church buildings are empty ten minutes after the last ‘Amen’. But not here. Some of you linger here for a long time each Sunday just to enjoy the others. You enjoy get-togethers and birthday parties and more. You are friendly and sincerely so. And that’s good. I do not want to slight that in the least. But what I am saying is that being friendly is not enough. Jesus calls for more than friendliness. He calls for devotion in love. Our love for each other is to picture His love for us. That is what the world needs to see. As disciples we are to imitate our Teacher. We are to imitate His love. We are not doing that. So, we are not meeting His expectations of us as His church.

Let’s take the next step. Why aren’t we His kind of church? It’s not His fault. Remember what He said. ‘What more was there to do for my vineyard, that I have not done in it?’ What is the reason for our failure? It’s the hidden idols of our hearts. Isaiah pointed to the idols of his day, the idols of money and pleasure. Are these our idols? I don’t know. But, for the time being, we don’t need to identify the idols as long as we all agree that they exist, that there are idols in our hearts, that here are things that you consider more important, have a higher priority in your life, than the hard work of being a church, of being devoted to one another in love. And behind these idols you will find unbelief. And that’s why we aren’t Jesus’ kind of church.

How important is this? Well, Jesus has expectations. And we have seen that when they are not met, He acts, first to discipline and then to punish. So, to one church, He said, ‘But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.’ What was that church’s failure? It wasn’t some point of orthodoxy. Jesus commended them for being very orthodox. But they didn’t love as they once did. They were not imitating their Teacher. Jesus has expectations. He won’t call armies down on us if we persist in our ways. Actually, it will be worse than that.

I want to be clear. So, let me summarize the burden of this sermon. Jesus has expectations of us as His church. He has called His churches to a mission to change the world, with each church given a particular slice of that mission. We are pursuing no slice of that mission as a church. Faith Reformed is essentially a preaching/teaching center that meets on Sundays. That is worthless grapes. But we cannot pursue a mission as a church unless we first live like a church. That means getting involved in the messy business of working at loving, deeply loving, the other people in this room. Imitating Jesus. That will take time and effort and saying ‘No’ to some things that are quite good but get in the way of living as a faithful church.

So, it comes down to this. Are you interested in doing what is necessary to be a church according to what Jesus means by that? He has provided all that you need in order to do that. He is ready to bless. But are you willing? If you are, it will show in your actions. Mere words don’t count here. What will you do to be devoted in love to the other people in this room so that we, together, as a church, can pursue the mission that Jesus has for us? Attitudes of the heart will need to be changed. And the only way that you can know that your heart is changing is by looking at what you do. What will you do?

I have one last thought. Why am I saying these things? Am I mad at you? Frustrated? No, I am not. I know that I have said some strong things this morning. Some of you might be stung. But a couple of verses explain my motivation for saying what I have. Paul wrote to Timothy, ‘…preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.’ Reprove. Rebuke. Exhort. That’s what I’ve done this morning. A second verse explains why. ‘Faithful are the wounds of a friend…’ I have said these things, I have wounded you, because of love. I love you all, and I want you to flourish. But even more than my love for you is my love for Jesus. I love Jesus more than I could ever explain. And that only makes sense. He has been so good to me, a sinner. And so, because I love Him, I am convinced that He deserves better than what we are giving Him.

And so, I end where I usually do, with a call for repentance and faith. There is grace for sinners not just to be forgiven but to be changed. There is grace so that we can become like Jesus, so that we can love like Jesus. It won’t be easy, but He will lead us. What will you do?