Grace Like the World Depends On It
Notes
Transcript
Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Sam Giere Illustration
I remember the speeches that were made by our seminary professors as we neared graduation and prepared to enter into the world as pastors and deacons across the country and the world. One professor in particular, Dr. Sam Giere, our professor who taught homiletics, or preaching, if you will, had words that have stuck in my mind.
Sam stood before the class with; bald shining head, a flaming red beard, a suit coat with an dress shirt… no tie though… as well as blue jeans and boots.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” he said, “I have three tidbits of wisdom that I wish to offer you as we prepare to send you out in the world. The first is that you can go anywhere you please as long as you dress like a country music star.” Everyone got a good chuckle out of that one.
“The second tidbit of wisdom is well…” He paused for a moment before continuing, “I don’t really remember what the second piece of advice was,” he said, “so it probably wasn’t that important anyway.” Again, the class chuckled.
“The third and final wisdom gem that I leave with you is this,” he said. His expression and tone of voice, both normally marked with a jovial snark changed to one of great seriousness, “When you preach, preach as though the future of the world depends on it.” “Because it does.”
I am reminded of Sam’s words as I hear Isaiah. Isaiah, just like last week, is still addressing the people of Israel who find themselves in exile in Babylon. Their identity as a people… as God’s people is still in grave danger. Leaders of the church proclaim a stronger adherence to the law than ever before—we must maintain our identity! We must follow God! We must be faithful so that -we- can survive this time of temptation!
And that’s when we hear these words from Isaiah… words that bring a different kind of message; one that perhaps takes the people by surprise. Let me go through a few of the highlights with it:
1 Listen to me, O coastlands, pay attention, you peoples from far away!
So first, again, Isaiah is telling the people to wake up and pay attention.
The Lord called me before I was born, while I was in my mother's womb he named me. 2 He made my mouth like a sharp sword, in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me a polished arrow, in his quiver he hid me away. 3 And he said to me, "You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified."
Now, there’s something special in the imagery here that we as modern day readers can rather easily miss. Yes, Isaiah is speaking of a special servant again… this is part of the drive Isaiah has been on for a few chapters actually. But the imagery seems to point to a particular historical figure for the people of Israel.
It can be argued here that Isaiah is talking about Moses. About the one who was given such great authority to speak (hence, the mouth made like a sharp sword) but was unable to use it (it was hidden in the shadow of God’s hand).
Moses, who had also been an Israelite in a time of captivity… was one that those trapped in Babylon could certainly relate to. They were looking for a hero just like that… one that could get them out of the tight spot that they were in… one that could come in and save the church and get everything back to the way it once was. You can imagine the ears perking up with hope for the future… hope for the church… hope for their way of life.
(Verse four) 4 But I said, "I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity; yet surely my cause is with the Lord, and my reward with my God."
We hear the voice of the one who might be Moses here… looking back at his opportunity to lead the people out of Egypt… in what promised to be this glorious restoration of the people of Israel and turned into a time wandering in the wilderness… struggling and bickering with one another and with God. And he says he labored in vain… “I have spent my strength for nothing.”
His words remind me of leaders in the church today that I have heard. The now retired youth pastor that looks back and wonders if all of those lock-ins in years past were really worth it… because now there is no longer a youth group.
Or the missionary pastor who went door to door knocking and talking until he wore out the soles of his shoes working to build up a brand-new congregation only to see the church closing its doors 15 years later.
There can be temptations for us to wonder if all of that effort for all of those years were all for naught.
5And now the Lord says, who formed me in the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him, and that Israel might be gathered to him,
Again, Moses is being reminded of the identity that he carried… the mission that he had felt so called to. And to the people of Israel who hear these words… those people sitting in captivity in Babylon, despite knowing how the story of Moses had turned out in the end that despite the fear of ending with complete failure that something new and unexpected came forth… they must have wondered if they had dropped the torch that Moses and generations following had passed on to them.
for I am honored in the sight of the Lord, and my God has become my strength—
Now listen carefully to this next part… this is where the Isaiah reading starts turning heads.
6 [the Lord] says, "It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the survivors of Israel;
“It is too light a thing that we should restore Israel?” Can you imagine the people of Israel in the time of the Babylonian Captivity hearing these words? “It is too light a thing?” The people’s entire focus was wrapped up around the idea of restoring Israel to its former glory. They were passing out Make Israel Great Again robes and suddenly… it’s not enough? What more could they be called to than to make the people who had been chosen by God great once again?
Or to imagine again the story of Moses… of story of the great Exodus from Egypt with the powerful stories of the plagues against a Pharaoh whose heart was hardened. To see this amazing liberation story of a people enslaved and then hear in Isaiah that even this… even this story on which so much of Israel identity had been formed was still ‘too light a thing.’
It is jaw dropping.
So what, praytell, what could possibly be more important than the restoration of Israel? What could possibly be more important than making God’s people great again amongst the nations so that others might stand in awe of the one they call God?
Isaiah writes in verse 6: “I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth."
Suddenly the ball drops and reveals the new thing that God is doing. As much as the people were focused on themselves… focused on their own identity being preserved… focused on the idea that in order to be God-pleasing that they needed be strong and powerful once more.
Instead, they get the message that they have been given as a light to the nations. God loves them… yes, extraordinarily so. But God also loves their neighbors and their neighbors’ neighbors.
Isaiah tells the people of Israel ensnared in Babylon’s trap that this is an opportunity not to live for themselves and prove their worth to God… but to help the light of God shine even to those who hold them captive. It is an opportunity that Israel might live their enemies up close and personal even as they have already been defeated by their enemies.
The story of the people of Israel from the time of Moses to what seemed like the end of days at the hands of Babylon was not an end to the church and their identity… it was a transformation. The people of Israel, trapped in Babylon, scared and uncertain of the future as they were, were not abandoned by God to a forgotten fate as the people who used to be chosen… no. Instead, in their weakness, God used them as beacons of light to those who they never would have seen if they had remained strong and able to defeat the invaders.
For the church here in the US today… for our own congregation… we are learning to be more flexible as we are shaped and nudged by the work of the Holy Spirit into directions we have never gone before in living memory. Congregations are meeting in houses, in pubs, in libraries, in restaurants… and they are going out into the world in a new way because we can no longer focus inward.
And we are reminded, just like the captives in Babylon, that the work of God is not about a single group of people, a single congregation, or even a single nation… but that God’s work is for the whole of creation.
As Sam Giere told our graduating class to preach like the future of the world depends on it… because it does… so too do we hear Isaiah calling the church to live like we are part of God’s light in the world TO the world… because we are.
And what does that mean? Does that mean showing how righteous and pious we are? No.
In Paul’s letter to the Corinthians that we heard today Paul writes this as part of his introduction:
“I give thanks to my God always for you because of…”
And before I go further… I want us to wonder together what Paul might have written as words of encouragement to the congregation of Corinth. Without getting into the particularities about the congregation, let’s make some general guesses:
Maybe Paul was going to finish the sentence, “I give thanks to my
God always for you because of:
*your continued support of the mission work that I do.
*your strong love of God and the way you proclaim Christ.
*your sense of mission and the way you love your neighbors.
All good things… but that’s not what Paul says. That’s not what makes that congregation into God’s light in the world.
Paul writes, “I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus.”
And there it is. Grace. As it turns out, the very thing that we cling to with such fervency in our own sins and failings… that grace of God…it is that grace that makes us God’s light in the world.
The proclamation that we make is not how good and faithful we are… but how good and faithful God is as seen through the grace that God surrounds us with.
That grace is like a luminescent paint covering us from head to toe… from skin to soul… covering not only our brokenness but also proclaiming Christ’s love to the world through the forgiveness of our sins.
Saving the church… whether it’s our congregation or the entire denomination… it’s too light a thing.
Receiving God’s grace and being bearers of that grace to the world… That is the “I have a dream” of Martin Luther King Jr. that makes equality for ALL a possibility. God’s grace in and through us is what changes the world. That’s the meat and potatoes.
Let us pray…