Sermon Tone Analysis

*Messages of Hope in Isaiah, Part II (Inscription 54)*

*/Trust God’s Correction/*

*Hebrews 12:7-11; Isaiah 49:14-16*

*/June 19, 2011/*

 

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*Prep: *

·         157

 

 

*Happy fathers day!*

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·         I love that our Fathers Day is well attended.

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Intro~/Communication card:

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Prayer

 

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*Scripture reading: Heb 12:7-11*

 

 

 

Getting a spanking from God

 

We are continuing our *series* on finding *hope* in *Isaiah*.

What does that reading have to do with that?

Q   Have you ever felt like *God* was giving you a good sound *spanking*?

Q   Have you ever felt like you have done something to *tick* *God* *off*, and you don’t even know what?

In February, we had gotten our *tax* *return* and I was excited to pay down some debt – I wasn’t even going to spend it!

Then our *transmission* goes out and wipes all of that out and then some.

I remember briefly thinking, “Do you hate me?”

 

Suffering is *harder* for *Christians* than *atheists* because we believe in a sovereign loving God.

 

·         *Hebrews* said, “*endure* *hardship* as *discipline*,” which means it isn’t always discipline, but it can always be used that way.

Accepting God’s love

 

The reason I am preaching this sermon today on *Father’s* *day*, is that I want you to see God’s *father* *heart* of *love*, not just in spite of his *correction*, but *through* it.

It is vital we understand this as we *read* through the *prophets* and even more so as we go *through* *life*, or else we will see God as a *cruel* and *vindictive* God who won’t give us our *binky* *back*.

·         Unless you see God as a *loving* God, you will always *doubt* his *correction* and his plan.

Your life will be a *yo*-*yo* – when things are *going* *well*, you will believe that God loves you, but when they go *poorly* you will doubt it.

Back in Isaiah

 

As Isaiah opens (c 740.

BC), *Judah* was in its golden days, *prosperous*, *free*, but *godless*, *idolatrous* and *unjust*.

They worship *foreign* gods, *cruel* *gods* who demanded infant sacrifices and worship that corrupted the soul and drove them away from the True, Life-giving God.

 

·         God was trying to *save* *them* from cruel gods.

So *Isaiah* is sent to *warn* God’s people that trouble was on the horizon.

(1-39)

 

It’s basically *God* *counting* to *3*.

Because he is loving and doesn’t want to punish, he does delay (2, 2 ½, 2 ¾), and they kind of obey, but then disobey.

·         But 200 years later God finally does get to *three* and *punishes* his people through *exile*

 

His punishment was *harsh* – he used the Babylonians to remove his people from their land and exile them to Babylon.

The temple was destroyed and they were without hope, filled with great anguish:

 

*Psalm 137:1-9 * By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion.  2 There on the poplars we hung our harps,  3 for there our captors asked us for songs, our tormentors demanded songs of joy; they said, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!” ... 8 O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction, happy is he who repays you for what you have done to us--  9 he who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks.

The hardest part of parenting

 

After all this, Judah asked, “How can a *loving* *father* inflict such *pain* on his children?

Is he really loving?”

And we ask the same question.

Q   It’s *Father’s* *Day*, so let me ask the dad2: What is the *worst* part of being a parent?

It’s not the changing *poopy* *diapers*, as unpleasant as that is (story of Sarah’s).

·         It’s *disciplining* your kids.

That’s not just the punishing, but the whole *grueling* process of *correcting* them, raising them to be *obedient* children of God and *healthy*, *functioning* *adults*.

*Worse* even than discipling our children, and that would be the *regret* of *failing* to do so, to raise them to be selfish, undisciplined, lazy adults.

*Proverbs 19:18 *  18 Discipline your son, for in that there is hope; do not be a willing party to his death.

As a child I read Asope’s Fables, and one stuck out to me more than any other, about a young boy named Ramu.

/One day Ramu stole a book from a classmate.

Instead of punishing him, his mother praised him, saying, “That was very clever”.

Later he stole a cloak, and again she praised him.

On and on it went and he grew into a man, stealing things of greater value.

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/Finally, Ramu was caught and sentenced to death.

As he was being lead to his death, his mother followed him, wailing and beating her breast.

He asked to speak to his mother one last time, privately, in her ear.

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/He was allowed to, and leaned towards her, but instead of whispering, Ramu bit her ear clean off.

The crowd was shocked, but he shouted, “It is because of my mother that I am going to be hanged.

She did not punish me when I first stole, but rewarded me and encouraged me to do it again and again.”

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·         Pleasant story, isn’t it?

No wonder it *seared* itself in my memory!

A truly loving father

 

Q   If all this is true of us as *parents*, how much more true is it of our *Heavenly* *Father*?

Remember the words of Jesus:

 

*Matthew 7:9-11 * 9 “Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?  10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?

11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

If then we, though we are evil, know how to lovingly discipline our children for their good, how much more does God discipline us out of his love?

Post-spanking hug

 

The *second* *part* of *Isaiah* prophetically speaks *forward* to the nation in the midst of their punishment.

·         If punishing my children is the worst part of parenting, *holding* them *afterwards* is the *silver* *lining*.

This part of Isaiah is filled with both *warnings* and *encouragements*.

God is saying to his people, “I love you, this is for your good,” but they *don’t* *believe* it.

Isaiah 49 begins with great *promises* of *restoration*...

 

NIV *Isaiah 49:14-16* 14 But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me.” 15 “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne?

Though she may forget, I will not forget you! 16 See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me.

If you are a parent, remember that moment when you *first* *held* your child, before they turned into the *little* *monsters* they can be, quite and precious.

Remember that tenderness and connection.

·         If you don’t have kids, think of your new *niece* or *nephew*.

Now imagine dropping the baby in the dirt, and *never* *thinking* of her again.

God says that is more likely to happen than he would forget about your or stop loving you.

·         You have never been out of his mind; he’s even *tattooed* your *name* on his hands.

DOUBTING God’s love

 

We all *struggle* with this at some time, typically when things are going poorly.

Here is what the Bible calls us to do: *Think* about the *cross*.

·         God came down and *struggles* with *us*, that is the *proof* he loves us.

*Romans 5:8 * 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

But for some of you, this is not a passing doubt, but ongoing fear that God does not love you.

This requires *ongoing* *heart* *surgery*, not “pick me up.”

 

 

not like your dad

 

This can be so hard for many of you because you have such *lousy* *examples*.

Finding hope in God’s correction requires that we know his character.

There is all the *difference* in the world between a *loving* *father* spanking his child after he ran out into the *street* and a *drunken* *man* *smacking* his kids around.

But some of you think God is *bi*-*polar*, loving one moment and abusive the next.

The same God who died on a tree for you is the same one who corrects you.

He is *not* *like* your earthly father.

Maybe your father was *cruel* and *unpredictable*.

Unknown triggers sent him into a rage, and when you read of God’s wrath in the Bible it is your childhood all over again.

Or maybe your *mother’s* *discipline* revolved around how she *looked* to others.

I knew a family that never disciplined their children at home, but out in public she was yanking them around trying to get them to behave; I could see the confusion in their eyes.

·         God is none of those things; he disciplines out of love.

è If this is an ongoing struggle for you, I want to encourage you to talk to *Josh* *Krause*.