We Will Be Raised!

I Corinthians 15
Introduction
E. Cobham Brewer wrote in his Dictionary of Phrase and Fable that “The Egyptians in their banquets exhibited a skeleton to the guests, to remind them of the brevity of human life saying as they did so, ‘Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die.’”
By what values do we live our lives? Do we live by the value that life is short so we might as well enjoy it as much as we can? Or, do we recognize that we are headed for eternity with Christ and therefore we live each day in preparation for that resurrection day by serving Christ? The decision between the options hinges on our understanding of the resurrection. Do we actually believe that we will be raised to live eternally?
This is the question which is raised in I Corinthians 15 and, over the next two weeks, I would like to look at this chapter with you in order to help us understand the resurrection, its meaning, what our hope is and how we should live in light of the resurrection. Today we will examine I Corinthians 15:1-34.
Although they had heard the message of resurrection preached in the gospel they had received, some in the Corinthian church had come to deny it. Why did they deny the resurrection? Most likely it was because there were some false teachers who were beginning to influence the church. They taught that with the arrival of the Holy Spirit, they had already received all that God had for them. They felt that they had already begun to live an angelic existence. They also thought of the body as unnecessary and unwanted and that it would finally be destroyed. As a result, they did not accept the idea of a bodily resurrection. Instead of belief in a bodily resurrection, they had spiritualized what would happen at the end. This faulty understanding of the resurrection resulted in a faulty understanding of God, wrong ideas about their salvation, and immorality in their way of living. It was critical for their survival as believers that Paul should correct their misunderstanding.
So as we look at this chapter and the arguments that Paul uses, we will ask the question, "Do we believe in the resurrection?" For some, the delay of the return of Jesus has caused doubt that Jesus is coming back. For some, a scientific understanding of life has caused them to doubt that such a thing could happen. Those who follow a health and wealth gospel have sometimes focused so much on the now, that they, like the Corinthians, have spiritualized what will happen at the end and so have also effectively denied the resurrection. Sometimes we live so much in the present that our lives are defined by that present and our lives manifest a practical denial of the resurrection, even though we may say that we believe in it.
Thus we need to hear an affirmation of the resurrection in order to encourage our faith, strengthen our faithfulness, help us to order our life after God’s way and give us hope in the face of life’s challenges.
I. The Gospel 15:1-11
Paul begins in the first 11 verses by reminding them of the gospel message. In this section, he is not setting out to prove the resurrection, but is rather seeking to establish common ground. He is inviting the Corinthians to affirm, “This is what we mutually agree is the foundation of what we believe and live.”
A. The Gospel Which Was Received
In verse 3, Paul refers to, “…what I received.” This is important because as he establishes the gospel message as their foundational starting point, he must indicate the source of that gospel. It was not a message which he had invented himself. He was a messenger who was passing on a message which had its origin in God himself. Jesus was the first messenger who brought that word from God to people. Jesus passed that message on to the disciples who passed it on the others.
We are recipients of a gospel which has a long historical precedence. It is not a new word and it is not the invention of our imagination. It is the message of God, handed down through the apostles and teachers through the ages, founded on the truth of God as revealed in the Word of God. This is the foundation on which we stand.
B. The Gospel Which Was Preached
The other day I was repairing my table saw. I had taken the motor off, which meant taking all the electrical connections off. When I put it back together, it didn’t run. After puzzling about it for a little while, I realized that I had not plugged one of the wires in the right way. The false teachers had tried to remove one element of the gospel message and that just doesn’t work. In verse 3 Paul speaks of that which was “of first importance.” The things he mentions are all essential elements without which the gospel does not work.
1. Christ Died For Sins
The first essential doctrine is that Jesus died. This essential message is according to the Scriptures. Remembering that at this time the Scriptures included only the Old Testament, we know that the message of the death of Christ was declared in such Old Testament passages as Isaiah 53. Jesus Himself announced that this was the purpose for which He came and Paul has declared in I Corinthians 1:22 the essential message which he preaches that “…we preach Christ crucified.” Jesus came to die for the sins of the world. Because we cannot pay for our own sins, and because eternal death is the consequence of being a sinner, the death of Jesus was the one and only plan God presented by which He offered to all who would believe the forgiveness of sins. Thus, if we call ourselves Christian, we must embrace it.
2. Christ Was Buried
He goes on to indicate a second essential message of the gospel. He says, “…he was buried.” It may seem unusual to see this as an essential of the gospel, but Paul includes it here because the false teachers were denying a bodily resurrection. They were teaching the idea that the body would go to decay and was not important. They taught that it was the spirit which would live on, not the body. Therefore, in order to refute such false teaching, Paul reminds them of the basic gospel understanding that Jesus was laid into the tomb after he had died and was there for three days. Because his body was actually buried this shows that Jesus actually died.
3. Christ Was Raised
The third essential message of the gospel, which they had embraced, was that Jesus “…was raised on the third day…” Since he has established the gospel fundamental that Jesus died and was buried, the message of the resurrection demonstrates the tremendous victory of Jesus over sin and over death. What happened to Jesus was not a spiritual renewal after death, but an actual bodily resurrection from the dead. This also was a message which came from Scripture. Psalm 16:10, 11 is one of the Old Testament passages which speak of resurrection. It says, “…because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay. You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand."
Paul establishes the truth of the resurrection of Christ by pointing to all the people who actually saw Jesus alive. He begins with Peter and the twelve and then speaks of 500 who all saw Jesus alive. He speaks of his own experience. On the Damascus road, in an unusual event, he also saw that Jesus was alive. By pointing to these witnesses, he reminds them that the death and resurrection of Jesus is not a fable or a tall tale, it is not the fabrication of someone's imagination; it is the truth of God witnessed by many people.
C. The Gospel Which Was Accepted
As he continues to establish common ground he concludes this section by reminding them that this was the message which had been preached to them and this was the message which they had embraced. This is the common ground on which they all stand since they call themselves Christians.
I can imagine that if he had been in their presence he would have gathered them together and looked around the circle and looked in each eye and looked for an agreement as he asked, “Is this the foundation on which we stand? Is this the gospel which we have believed?” And each person would have had to agree that this was their foundation.
II. If There Is No Resurrection 15:12-19
In mathematics we often use something we call an equation. An equation has an equal sign in the middle and whatever is on one side of the equal sign must have the same value as that on the other side of the equal sign. In 15:12, 13, Paul gives us an equation about the resurrection. If Christ rose, then we will rise; if we will not rise, then Christ was not raised either. In other words, Christ’s resurrection implies our resurrection and if Christ was not raised, neither will we experience resurrection.
Paul goes on, in I Corinthians 15:12-19, to assume, for argument sake, that Christ did not rise. What are the implications? The consequences to the Christian faith are disastrous.
A. Preaching Is Empty
We notice first of all, in verse 14, “…if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless…” Then in verse 15, he goes on to explain that if Christ has not been raised, we are actually liars. Having established the foundation of the essential matters of the gospel message, he has already declared that the resurrection of Christ is an important part of that teaching. Paul has taught Christ’s resurrection and has given the good news that Christ was raised from the dead. If there is no resurrection, then Christ was not raised either and everything he has preached, in fact, everything he has staked his life on is a lie. Well, we know what we do with liars, we dismiss them. We don’t listen to them. Politicians often try to catch their opponents in a lie because they know that if they do, they will lose all credibility. If Paul has declared that there is a resurrection, when there isn’t, then he has no credibility and is not to be believed.
B. Faith Is Empty
But it is even worse than that! If there is no resurrection and therefore, if Christ has not been raised, then the faith of those who are in the church in Corinth is actually empty. They have placed their faith in the promise that Christ rose from the dead. They have placed their hope in the promise that the resurrection guarantees God’s acceptance of the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. If Christ did not rise from the dead, then He did not win the victory over sin. Then God did not vindicate Christ’s sacrifice for the atonement of all people who believe. Then the very faith professed by the believers is empty of content and built on a foundation that will not hold it.
A few weeks ago I watched Marketplace and they were talking about houses that had an inadequate foundation. They discovered that the builder had cut corners and the house was standing on a base that would not support it. Already they were having trouble with shifting and leaking. Major and expensive repairs were required to bring it up to an acceptable standard. If the foundation of Christianity, that Christ was raised from the dead, is removed, the whole structure of the Christian faith is set on emptiness and will not stand.
We have received a gospel which is founded on Christ’s resurrection. Because of it we believe our sins are forgiven, because of it we come to church weekly, because of it we order our life, because of it we serve God, because of it we have hope. If Christ has not been raised, all of this is nothing. We are still in our sin and we might as well go home.
C. Death is the End
To deny the resurrection of Christ is to affirm that death is the end. In verses 18, 19, Paul says, “Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.” The promise of the gospel message which is our foundation is the promise of eternal life. But if Christ has not been raised then there is no resurrection and, that hope is gone. Then every time we stand at the grave of a loved one we are looking at the absolute end of that person and we have no word of comfort to offer beyond our reflection on memories past.
Gordon Fee says, “To deny the objective reality of Christ’s resurrection is to have a faith considerably different from Paul’s. One wonders whether such faith is still the Christian faith.”
III. Christ Has Been Raised 15:20-28
But - and that word should be in large print in all our Bibles for it refutes the folly of denying the resurrection and restores our hope once again – “BUT, Christ has been raised from the dead!” This is cause for celebration. Our hope is firm, built on the sure and certain foundation that Christ is alive.
Furthermore, because Jesus has been raised from the dead, it is absolutely inevitable that we will also experience a bodily resurrection.
A. Firstfruits
One of the great pleasures of spring time and gardening is the joy of gathering fresh fruit and vegetables out of the garden. Some of the first things we get out of the garden may be rhubarb or perhaps radishes. They are particularly enjoyable not because they taste so great in themselves, but because they are the first of many things, they are the promise of what is yet to come – peas, beans, tomatoes, corn and all the other great garden vegetables.
In I Corinthians 15:20, Paul describes Christ’s resurrection as a firstfruits. Returning to the hope of the basic gospel, Paul declares the hope by which every Christian lives. Christ died and rose and therefore we will also rise again.
Paul returns to familiar theological concepts as he reminds us that just as death entered the world through one man, so life also has entered the world through one man - the one man Jesus Christ who rose from the dead and will also raise us. Adam is the one through whom sin and death entered the world. Jesus has defeated both sin and death which guarantees that we also will experience resurrection.
B. Death Defeated
It is absolutely essential that we also will be raised, for the character, promises and plan of God himself are at stake. As long as death is in the world, not everything is subject to God. Since death was the ultimate punishment for sin, it must be put out of the way if the victory of God is to be complete. Not until we are raised from the dead will God's victory be complete. Gordon Fee says, “Christ’s resurrection demands our resurrection; otherwise death is never defeated and God cannot be ‘all in all.’”
In I Corinthians 15:23, Paul reminds us of the order. Christ was raised from the dead and then, in God’s time, we also will be raised. In verse 26, he affirms the hope of the resurrection when he says, “The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” So we have this hope that death will die. It is at our resurrection that we will experience the fulfillment of this hope.
In these verses, Paul has established the essential doctrine that the message of the gospel is that Christ died and was raised from the dead. Since Christ was raised, we have confidence that we also will be raised. There is a resurrection from the dead for all who believe in Jesus.
IV. The Moral Obligations of Our Resurrection 15:29-34
Although I Corinthians 15:29 is notoriously difficult it has a place in the argument. There are at least 40 different interpretations for this verse and so I will not get involved in that debate except to say that I doubt if there is any way for us to know what he was talking about in this verse. Its place in the argument is, however, clear. Even though it does not speak to us because we don’t understand it, it does communicate that the hope of the resurrection has implications for life. If we are to be raised to eternal life, we cannot live in the same way as if there was no resurrection.
In the verses which follow, there are a number of implications which are understood by us and which help us to know how to live if we believe that we will be raised by God.
A. Sacrificial Living
Paul points first of all to his own experience. He points to just a few of the things which have happened to him because of his resurrection hope. He has experienced persecution and danger. If this life is all there is, such a life makes no sense whatsoever. If, however, we are anticipating an eternity with God in heaven forever, then suddenly risking our lives for the sake of the gospel, being willing to sacrifice our pleasure and our comfort in order to help people get to know Christ and standing firmly on the message of the gospel all make a lot of sense.
B. Focused Living
If there is no resurrection, then, the perspective which I started out with, that we should “eat, drink and be merry because tomorrow we die,” makes a lot of sense, but if Christ has promised us a resurrection to eternal life, then living only for this life is too small. Then offering to live sacrificially suddenly begins to make sense. Then investing our lives in the lives of others, investing our lives in making Jesus known suddenly becomes not only a possible path, but the preferred path. If there is no resurrection, why spend money on sending missionaries to Africa? If there is no resurrection, why encourage Trevor and Rebekah to minister in a closed access country? If there is no resurrection, why go to Woodlands for 50 years to share Jesus? If there is no resurrection, why give up holiday time to go help in an orphanage in Nicaragua? If there is no resurrection, why encourage our young people to go to Bible School. But if there is a resurrection, then these things become not only good, but the best possible way to go.
C. Obedient Living
In the end of this section, Paul warns them not to listen to the voice of the false teachers who deny the resurrection. In that warning, he challenges them to “stop sinning.” He probably means that they should stop sinning by following the bad advice of those who deny the resurrection, but the advice is good even beyond that. If there is no resurrection, it doesn’t really matter how you live, but if our hope is in the resurrection, then a life of obedience and holiness and love suddenly makes a lot of sense.
Conclusion
Resurrection Is Our Hope!
In an article by John Stackhouse in the Free Press a number of years ago, he called for those who deny the resurrection and other fundamentals of Christianity to have the integrity to admit that they are no longer Christian. The gospel is a gospel of resurrection. If we have accepted Christ, we have accepted the truth of the resurrection. Do we fully accept and believe that? Do we trust it in our hearts? Do we believe it in practice? Is it the hope which allows us to face the terror of death? Is the anticipation of the resurrection that which helps us set our life priorities and define our lifestyle?
We live in the hope of the resurrection! Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise! Don’t be influenced in any way, but to live in that hope!
The reality of the resurrection and the complete victory it signifies ought to be cause for unbridled joy and celebration, radical discipleship and sacrificial service among believers!

Prayer for God’s Mission

Introduction
I suspect that many of you are supporting Trevor and Rebekah in prayer. It was interesting when we told them that we would pray for them, they also indicated a commitment to pray for us. It was unique to experience a two way prayer relationship with them.
When you read the letters of the New Testament, you often read that the apostle Paul prayed for the churches which he had been involved with. In fact often we hear him engaging in deeply concerned prayer for them. But the prayer relationship did not only go one way. We also read many places in which Paul requests prayer for himself and the mission he is involved with. For example, in I Thessalonians 5:25 he asks, “Brothers, pray for us.”
Today has been designated as a day of prayer for missions. In order to focus our attention on that, I would like to look at those passages in the Bible in which we are invited to pray for God’s mission. From these passages we can learn some important lessons about how to pray for missionaries.
Prayer for missionaries is very important. Jonathan Goforth was a Canadian missionary who worked in China in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. He said, "All movements of the Spirit in China, within our experience, may be traced to prayer."
John Piper says that before we talk about prayer we need to talk about war. The point he goes on to make is that we need to recognize that we will not be moved to prayer until we realize the seriousness of the situation we are in. We have an amazing message of love and hope for the whole world, but we have an enemy who is working against that good news. We are living in a world which is generally opposed to the gospel. We know that there are masses of people who are lost. Whether here at home or as missionaries on the field, there are many challenges which are beyond our human ability to deal with. This is all serious stuff and when we recognize that, we know that we must pray. I trust that we are people who are deeply concerned about the kingdom of God and not just about making a nice comfortable life for ourselves here on earth. I trust that we understand the stakes in the business of being followers of Jesus. I trust that we are people who are motivated to pray.
If we are motivated to pray for the mission of God, then the question is, “How do you pray for God’s mission?” Let us look at some of the passages about such prayer in the New Testament.
Pray For More Workers
One of the first prayers which the Bible mentions for God’s mission is the prayer for workers. In Matthew 9:38 we read the appeal of Jesus: “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”
In Acts 13, it tells us that the church in Antioch was fasting and worshipping God and while they were, God called Paul and Barnabas to go out to accomplish His mission in Asia and Macedonia. Prayer initiated and accompanied this calling of missionaries.
Since the work is urgent and since it is accomplished by people, we need to pray that God will send those whom He has called into the work.
On the World Team website, there is a list of mission related things to pray for and one of those things is to pray for willing servants: “Pray for more co-laborers willing to go and make disciples.”
So as we pray, let us not forget this request.
But our focus this morning is primarily on prayer for the missionaries themselves. We have a number of missionaries from our congregation, how do we pray for them well?
Pray For Protection
Whenever people travel we often pray for their protection. When we are in the midst of seeding or harvest, we have often requested prayer for the protection of the farmers. In life there are dangers which face all of us. Missionaries face all of the dangers which we face and also some which are unique to them.
Although all of us face the attacks of the enemy, I suspect that missionaries face these attacks even more. A few weeks ago Dave and Judy asked us to pray about attacks which they were experiencing from the enemy. On top of that we also know that because they are bringing the gospel into territory where people are sometimes hostile to it, they will face opposition from enemies of the gospel. One of the greatest dangers faced by missionaries is disunity in the team. Satan tries to break up the work by sowing dissent among those who are supposed to be working together. Because they travel more than the rest of us, they are more at risk from travel related dangers. Because they are working in foreign countries, they often face dangers from the governments of those countries. On top of that there are dangers with discouragement, doubt and fear.
On more than one occasion, Paul requested prayer for protection.
In Romans 15:30 he speaks about his upcoming trip to Jerusalem. This was the trip on which he delivered the gift to the Jerusalem church from the Gentile churches, which we spoke about last Sunday. He was aware that since he used to be strongly connected to the Jewish leadership in Jerusalem but had become a follower of Christ, he was in danger from those who were unbelievers. He asked the Roman church, “…join me in my struggle by praying to God for me. Pray that I may be rescued from the unbelievers in Judea…”
In II Corinthians 1:8-11 we have another instance of Paul’s request that they support him in prayers of protection. In verses 8 & 10 we read, “We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life…On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us as you help us by your prayers.” In this passage we see what Hughes speaks of, that “In prayer, human impotence casts itself at the feet of divine omnipotence.” Paul and those with him were in great danger. They needed God’s help and a significant part of receiving that help was the prayers of the church.
II Thessalonians 3:1-3 is another such passage. There we read, “Finally, brothers, pray for us …that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men, for not everyone has faith.” How often mention is made that there is opposition! This should not surprise us since Jesus Himself warned that the gospel would be opposed. That urgency makes it most necessary that we pray for protection for missionaries in all of these different dangers.
Pray For Power
Of course we realize that prayer is needed for the work that the missionaries do. The texts which speak of prayer mention some specific ways in which we can pray for the work.
Open Doors
In the same World Team web site which requested prayer, we also read, “It is God who opens new doors for the Gospel. Pray for favor from governments and authorities for missionaries needing visas and for churches seeking places to meet together. Pray that the Gospel would prosper, even in the face of persecution.”
Paul has a similar request for open doors for the gospel in Colossians 4:2, 3 where we read, “Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains.” The question here is, “what kind of an open door is Paul talking about?” He was in prison at this time and so perhaps he is asking them to pray that the door of the prison would open. Or, perhaps, since he was in prison he is praying that the opportunities in the prison would be an open door. We know that there were times when he had effective ministry while in prison. Or, perhaps he is just seeking God to know where they should next concentrate their efforts of gospel ministry. Probably it doesn’t really matter. God is the one who opens the doors for the work and we need to ask Him to open doors for individual missionaries and also for missionary movements.
Boldness
If we are honest, we know that many of us are afraid to share Christ. We don’t want to be pushy, we are afraid of what kind of response we will get or perhaps we are shy. Of course missionaries are special people. They don’t have these kinds of fears. They are always bold and willing to speak about Jesus in any situation. Certainly the apostle Paul had no such fears… or did he? If he didn’t why then did he ask the church to pray that he would have boldness to speak the word of God?
In Ephesians 6:19, 20 Paul asks the church, “Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.”
I think it is important to know that missionaries struggle with many of the same things we do and so also sometimes struggle with fears and sometimes are also intimidated. We need to pray that they will be bold in their willingness and ability to do God’s work.
Clarity
The Bible says in I Corinthians 1:22, “we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles…” We know that the gospel is not always easy to understand and we know that anyone who engages in proclaiming it will struggle to make things clear. Therefore it is important to pray that when missionaries communicate the gospel it will be communicated with clarity. Paul invites such prayer in Colossians 4:2-4 where he says, “pray for us…Pray that I may proclaim (the mystery of Christ) clearly, as I should.”
That clarity of gospel proclamation needs to happen in several ways. The gospel is communicated by our lifestyle. If there is a confusing signal from the way in which we live, the gospel will not be communicated clearly. We need to pray that the lifestyle of missionaries will be a clear communication of the love of Christ. This is particularly so in light of the fact that missionaries are involved in cross cultural communication. Last year when we were in Israel, we were in a church. The person who was talking to us in this church told us that we should not put our hands in our pockets and we should not cross our legs. We thought that was rather funny, but we found out later that in the Middle Eastern culture, these were signs of rudeness. Missionaries deal with differences of cultural understanding all the time and we need to pray that they will communicate the gospel clearly as they should through sensitivity to culture. Of course, it is also necessary to pray that when they open their mouths, the words that come out will be clear. The added challenge for missionaries is that often that communication is in a language in which they are not all that fluent.
I hope we are beginning to see that the work of prayer is an important part of what God is doing through mission.
That the Gospel Will Be Honored
Probably the prayer we most often do pray for missionaries is that they will have success in their endeavors. II Thessalonians 3:1 has an interesting phrase in this regard. Paul asks, “Finally, brothers, pray for us that the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honored, just as it was with you.” The phrase “spread rapidly” actually means “run” in Greek. New King James Version catches the sense nicely when it says, “…pray for us, that the word of the Lord may run swiftly…” The Message is interesting when it says, “Pray that the Master’s Word will simply take off and race through the country to a groundswell of response.”
I know that missionaries love to see response to their work because it is their desire to see the kingdom of God spread and to see God honored. We can have a part in that as we pray for the success of their endeavors. We have heard of the work which Dennis and Amanda are doing and sometimes it seems like very slow going. When we hear such reports of slow progress, it should motivate us to pray the prayer which Paul models for us here.
Pray For Personal Needs
On several occasions Paul requests prayer for what seem to be more personal issues. In Romans 15:32 he writes, “…Pray… that by God’s will I may come to you with joy and together with you be refreshed.” Hebrews 13:19 has a similar request, “I particularly urge you to pray so that I may be restored to you soon.”
Every missionary has any number of personal concerns. They have left family behind. Sometimes they may have parents or siblings who are going through illness, and they can’t be there. Children are a concern. Where will they be educated? How will they fit into the home culture once they return? On top of that, we should be fully aware that any concerns which we have in our home or family or among our circle of friends, missionaries also have. I have sometimes made it a practice that whatever personal concern I am praying about for myself, I also pray for the missionaries about the same type of concern.
Conclusion
Brian Thiessen, who is a pastor in Ontario, in a message he preached called “The Missionary’s Greatest Need” told the following story: The incident is told of a young couple, when bidding farewell to their home country church as they were about to leave for an African field, known as "The White Man's Grave," the husband said, "My wife and I have a strange dread in going. We feel much as if we were going down into a pit. We are willing to take the risk and go if you, our home circle, will promise to hold the ropes." One and all promised. Less than two years passed when the wife and the little one God had given them succumbed to the dreaded fever. Soon the husband realized his days, too, were numbered. Not waiting to send word home of his coming, he started back at once and arrived at the hour of the Wednesday prayer meeting. He slipped in unnoticed, taking a back seat. At the close of the meeting he went forward. Awe came over the people, for death was written on his face. He said, "I am your missionary. My wife and child are buried in Africa and I have come home to die. This evening I listened anxiously, as you prayed for some mention of your missionary to see if you were keeping your promise, but in vain! You prayed for everything connected with yourselves and your home church, but forgot your missionary. I see now why I am a failure as a missionary. It is because you have failed to hold the ropes."
May we be faithful in praying for our missionaries! In the outline in the bulletin I have included an acronym which may help us to remember to pray for our missionaries in all the different ways we have spoken of today.
BLESS -- an acronym to guide your prayer for a missionary.
B -- Body
Pray for physical health and nutrition.
L - Labor.
Pray for their work.
E - Emotions.
Pray for emotional health and well-being of the missionary.
S - Social.
Pray for their social relations, their families and extended families. Pray that God will keep marriages together.
S - Spiritual.
Pray for their spiritual condition.
contributed by CMA missionary Lisa Miriam Rohrick

The Grace of Giving

II Corinthians 8, 9

Introduction
One of the things that I often do at the beginning of a new year is to plan some of my giving for the year. Since I usually get a raise, I decide how much I will increase my giving and I think about how much I will give to the church and which organizations besides the church I will try to support.
The Bible has a lot to say about money and about giving. In the Old Testament we read about the different kinds of tithes and offerings the people were to bring to the temple and also how they were to support the poor. In fact, Richard Halverson notes that, “Jesus Christ said more about money than about any other single thing because, when it comes to a man's real nature, money is of first importance. Money is an exact index to a man's true character. All through Scripture there is an intimate correlation between the development of a man's character and how he handles his money.”
There is a story about giving in II Corinthians 8, 9 and this same story is referred to in a number of other passages. This morning, I would like to tell you this story and after that, I would like to invite you to take note of some lessons on giving which are found in these two chapters.
After the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit had come on the believers and the church began to grow, we read in Acts 2 about how the believers had everything in common and how they sold their possessions so that they could help those who were in need. I have often thought that the church quickly and with great insight recognized the implications of the gospel and began to share with each other. Some have suggested that the church in Jerusalem became poor because they shared with each other. The reality may well be quite different. It is more likely that soon after these people became believers, they became poor. Many may have been poor to start with, but others who had a living, would have had great opposition from their friends and family. It is quite likely that many of them lost their jobs, were ostracized by their families and lost family inheritances. Hughes says, they became “victims of social and economic ostracism, ecclesiastical excommunication, and national disinheritance.” Their faith in Christ quickly cost them a lot. In response, the believers who still had means began to share with those who did not. They had a great love for one another and realized that, being brothers and sisters, they needed to care for one another. This poverty continued and we see further evidence of the need to address it in Acts 6 when seven men were chosen to care for the widows. Hughes says, “The first distinct step in the organization of the primitive church was occasioned…by the pressure of poverty.” Later, after the Jerusalem council, we discover in Galatians 2:10 that Peter encouraged Paul to remember the poor, likely meaning the poor people in Jerusalem.
Paul says in Galatians 2:10 that he was eager to remember the poor and so we find that he began to encourage people to take up a collection for the poor in Jerusalem. In I Corinthians 16:1-4 he had encouraged the Corinthian believers to “…set aside a sum of money” and “send … your gift to Jerusalem.” Some time later Paul wrote this second letter to Corinth, he reminded the people of the willingness they had had to take up this collection. In fact, it seems that the willingness of the Corinthians had prompted the churches in Macedonia to also participate in this collection. Now, a year later it seems that the Corinthians had fallen behind in preparing the offering and the purpose of these chapters is to stir up their enthusiasm once again. He tells them that Titus was going to come to encourage them and help them prepare the offering. He also indicates that he will come with some other men in order to collect the offering. It is interesting that Paul had a great concern that everything be above board, and so some of these churches were also encouraged to send representatives with Paul and Titus to Jerusalem in order to make sure that everything was done with integrity.
In Acts 24:17 we read a report that tells us that he had brought the money to Jerusalem. He fulfilled this obligation.
It is in the context of encouraging the Corinthians to fulfill the promise they had made to collect this offering that he says a number of important things about how we think about giving.
I. What does God want?
How do you figure out how much to give? Some say we should give 10% and so they carefully calculate it down to the penny. Some point to the rich young ruler who was told to give everything and they try to figure out how to live that way. What is it that God wants?
A. Us
The first thing that God wants is us. When Paul commends the Macedonians for their participation in collecting this gift for Jerusalem, he says in II Corinthians 8:5, “…they gave themselves first to the Lord…” This acknowledges a value that what God wants first of all and most of all is our heart. He wants us to live in a trust relationship with him which can be described as our love responding to His love for us.
When we give ourselves to God first of all some things change. We are no longer under pressure to give in order to appease God. Instead, our giving is done in response to God. When we give because we have first given ourselves to God, we no longer give because of duty or obligation.
I believe that this is such an important first principle that I would be so bold as to say that if God doesn’t have our heart, we shouldn’t bother making a donation at all. God doesn’t want our money or need our money He wants our heart. Giving must be a consequence of giving ourselves first to the Lord.
B. Generosity
Nowhere in the Bible can we find a mathematical formula for deciding how much we should give. That is a problem because it keeps us off balance. It means that we can never say, “I have fulfilled my obligation and now I don’t have to give any more.” The principle that seems to be found in many places, and also in this passage is that God wants us to be generous. This is not surprising because the first problem with all sin is that we are self centered. Generosity is the precise opposite of self centeredness and that is why God wants it of us.
Please take note of what Paul says in II Corinthians 8:1-5. In this passage, he is commending what the people of the church in Macedonia have done. The most significant phrase is in verse 2, “Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity.” This tells us that generosity is what God wants of us and helps us understand what generosity looks like. Generosity is gracious and open towards the other. That is the only way that people who are poor themselves and experiencing severe trial are able to be glad to give, as the Macedonians were. What we would consider normal and acceptable is to meet our own needs, put something aside for the future and then give. The example of the generosity of the Macedonians teaches us that God wants us to hold loosely to what we have when we see another person in need. How can we learn to do that?
In II Corinthians 9:5, 6, we have another phrase which also teaches us that God wants generosity. Twice in these verses, Paul uses the phrase “generous gift.” The offering they were to prepare was to be viewed in this light – not as an obligation, not as a fulfillment of duty, not as something Paul was pressuring them to do, but as a generous gift.
Hughes says, “The source of giving is not the purse, but the heart.” So as we plan our giving, as we meet needs in the course of the year, this attitude is what God wants – an attitude of being prepared to make a “generous gift.”
II. What Kind of Generosity?
As we read more in this passage, we discover more of what generosity looks like.
A. Voluntary
I appreciate the way in which Mel made his year end appeal for funds. I don’t remember everything he said, but I think it went something like, “We need $x to meet our budget, have a good year.” He simply communicated the need and left it up to us to respond. By doing that he exemplified one of the principles of what generosity means and that is that it must be voluntary.
In II Corinthians 8:3, 4 it says that, “Entirely on their own, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service…” In other words, their giving was voluntary.
This principle of generosity appears once again in II Corinthians 9:7 which says, “Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion…”
To give reluctantly is to give because we feel we have to. Hughes says, “There must be a real freedom in Christian giving.” To give under compulsion is to give because someone makes us give or coerces us to give. Generosity has neither of these motivations. It is entirely voluntary. There is a tremendous freedom in knowing that no one can guilt or coerce or shame us into giving. God wants us to give generously and to do so voluntarily. Our attitude in giving should be, “I don’t have to, I want to.”
B. According to What We Have
As we read the commendation of the Macedonian church in II Corinthians 8:1-4 it feels a little uncomfortable. It says there that they gave “…beyond their ability.” Generosity allows us to do that if we decide to and the Macedonians decided to. But generosity does not require that we give “beyond our ability.” Instead, several times the text encourages giving according to what we have.
In II Corinthians 8:11, 12 this idea is communicated three times. First of all Paul encourages them to give, “according to your means.” Then he encourages them that the “gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does not have.” It is true that if we give beyond our means, then we will become the ones who need help, and Paul does not want to set up such a situation. The intention is, as he goes on to say, “not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed…”
So another way of understanding generosity is that God wants us to give according to what we have.
C. Towards Equality
As Paul explains the principle of giving voluntarily according to what we have, he encourages them in II Corinthians 8:13-15 towards equality. He says, “…that there might be equality... and later in the same section, “Then there will be equality…”
To support this idea he reminds them of an Old Testament story. When the people of Israel were in the wilderness, God provided manna for them. They were not permitted to hoard the manna. If they gathered more than they needed for one day, it became foul. The result was that there was equality. Each person had exactly what they needed for every day.
I must admit that this principle of equality is one that challenges our thinking. We live in a consumer society and have the means to purchase almost anything we want. If we think of the Christians in the world, we know that there is not equality, many are poor. What does that mean for our lifestyle? How can we be generous in a way that moves others towards equality? The answer is not easy. If it weren’t for our consumerism, Ten Thousand Villages would never be able to function. It would be good if we had more conversations about how we can be generous towards equality. For the present, my favorite answer is to support MCC because I know that they are doing what they can to help the poor.
III. What Motivates Generosity?
So God desires that we have a voluntary generosity by which we give according to what we have with the goal of moving others towards equality. How is such generosity motivated?
A. Love
As Paul encourages the Corinthians, he is comparing their response to that of the Macedonians. In II Corinthians 8:8, he is speaking of this comparison and says that he is trying to discern the “…sincerity of your love…” He is not trying to produce guilt in the Corinthian church or a negative comparison which will make them want to do better. He is trying to find out if they have the love in their hearts which will move them to complete what they had earlier promised they would do. This shows us that one of the primary motivating factors in generosity is love for God.
Paul has already said something similar in I Corinthians 13:3 where we read the description of what love is. There it says, “If I give all I possess to the poor…but have not love, I gain nothing.” It is possible for us to give for lots of reasons, but both II Corinthians 8:8 and I Corinthians 13:3 tell us that one of the prime motivating factors must be love.
If we have love for God and for others according to the great commandment which is found in Matthew 22:37-39, then giving will come easily.
B. Joy
Another thing which figures prominently in the motivation for giving, according to these chapters, is joy. In II Corinthians 8:2 Paul indicates that the Macedonians gave, “…out of their overflowing joy…” The motivation of the Macedonians – who were experiencing trial and extreme poverty, nevertheless was the great joy they had.
In II Corinthians 9:7 we read that “God loves a cheerful giver…” In a message on this passage, Mac Burberry writes that “Your giving is not the result of cold calculation, but of warmhearted jubilation!”
C. Jesus
Where does our love and joy come from? It comes from a clear recognition of what God has done for us in Jesus.
In II Corinthians 8:9, Paul points to Jesus’ example. He says, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.” Hughes says, “…redeemed at incalculable cost, I am no longer my own; all that was mine is now His…” The same reminder is found in the very last verse of these chapters when we are reminded of the “indescribable gift” which comes from God.
If we have grasped the generosity of Christ on our behalf, our own acts of generosity come easily.
D. God’s Grace
I don’t know about you, but I am much more generous at the beginning of the month than I am at the end of the month. When there is a lot in my wallet, it isn’t that hard to part with some, but when the wallet gets a little thin, it is much more difficult to open it.
We worry about whether or not we will have enough, but when we read the Bible, we really don’t need to have such concerns. II Corinthians 9:8-11 is one passage of many in the Bible which seems to suggest that we don’t have to worry about tomorrow. If our trust is in God, then we will be supplied with everything we need. We read that “God is able to make all grace abound to you…” and “He…will also supply and increase your store of seed…” and “You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion…” I believe, especially given the promises in Matthew 6 that God does provide for us so that we don’t have to worry about what we give because God will provide for our needs.
However, I wonder if that is really the intent of this section of the passage. There are some things which are said in this passage which suggest a different direction. For example, take a look at II Corinthians 9:8. There we read, “God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that…you will abound in every good work.” Please also note verse 10, “…he who supplies seed to the sower…will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness.” It doesn’t say that he will simply enlarge your harvest, but “will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness.”
Although I believe that God supplies our need and therefore we can be generous and know that God will provide, I think that this is also telling us that what God will supply is the ability to be generous. What will move us to be generous in the way that God wants us to be generous is God Himself. He will help us to trust Him, He will help us see how great His love towards us is and He will change our hearts from self centeredness to generosity and that is the “harvest of righteousness” which He will create in us.
I know that I have not always been generous, but one of my prayers has been that God will change my heart and teach me to be generous. This section encourages me that that is exactly what God promises he will do in us. When he does, we will be motivated to generosity by His grace.
IV. The Results of Generosity
If we learn to be generous in this way, what will be the result?
A. Needs Supplied
First and simply, those who have needs will find their needs met. Sometimes God’s answer to human need is one person giving another person what they need. So as we are generous that will happen. That is what it says in II Corinthians 9:12, “This service that you perform is…supplying the needs of God’s people…”
B. Thanks to God
Furthermore, God will be praised. Just think about the situation of the Gentile converts of Paul sending a gift to the mother church in Jerusalem. We know that some of the Christians in Jerusalem had a hard time accepting that the gospel could go to Gentiles. James, the leader of the church in Jerusalem wrote in his book, in James 1:27, “…Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress…” In chapter 2 of the same book he went on to speak about the importance of caring for the poor. As the Jerusalem church received this offering, they would know that God had changed the hearts of these Gentiles through the power of Jesus. As a result, they would be moved to give thanks to God for what He had done.
The second result we read about is found in II Corinthians 9:11, 12, 13 where it says that the gift “…will result in thanksgiving to God.” And the service is “…overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God.” And as a result of their obedience, “men will praise God…”
Generosity will result in praise and thanks to God.
C. Growing Fellowship in Christ
We also read about another result in II Corinthians 9:14 which says, “…their heart will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you.” As I mentioned a moment ago, there was a barrier between the Jewish and Gentile churches. Paul expects that because of this gift, that wall will be broken down. He expects that there will now be a closer relationship between these churches and that also will bring praise to God.
Conclusion
As we look at this passage in this way, I believe that we have a great encouragement in regards to giving. God does not want us to give out of guilt, obligation or mathematical duty; rather we are encouraged to generosity. We are encouraged that such generosity is a response to the love we have received. This is hard in the sense that there is no quick and easy formula which we can apply at the beginning of the year and forget the rest of the year. Rather, we are challenged to constantly grow in knowing that we are loved and in responding to every situation with generosity. God’s plan for our giving is to change our hearts so that they will be filled with grace out of which generosity will flow. The great thing is that God desires to change our hearts in this way. When he does, we will naturally and joyfully give generously.
May God fill our hearts with the spirit of generosity as we plan our giving, but also as we walk through the year.

I Make All Things New

Isaiah 42:1-10

Introduction
New things are good when old things get old. I just recently got a new computer in the office because the old one was getting old. In other words, it was beginning to give me problems that were effecting production. The new one is great.
For Christmas I got some new socks, which was a good thing because some of my old socks were getting a little old, by which I mean that they didn’t stay up any more and some of them they had holes in them. It is great to wear a new pair of socks.
Some of us have made New Year’s resolutions because we recognize that some of the ways we live are getting a little old. So perhaps we have decided to use our time more wisely. It will be great to get more done.
What is getting old in your life? Perhaps it is a particular sin, perhaps an illness, the consequences of past sins, a broken relationship or something else? Listen to Isaiah 42:9, “See the former things have taken place, and new things I declare; before they spring into being I announce them to you.”
God is in the business of making things new. Can we trust Him in this as we begin a new year? Let us examine Isaiah 42:1-10 to find out. We will begin at verse 9 and work our way backwards.
New Things 42:9
In Isaiah 42:9, God makes a promise. Much of Isaiah describes what has gotten old in Israel. The people have rejected God and have followed other gods and made idols for themselves. Isaiah has warned the people that because of their rejection, God will allow foreign armies to overtake them and they will be scattered. But that does not mean that God has forgotten about this people. In this part of Isaiah, we have many promises which assure that God has not forgotten his people and that He will renew them again and restore them to a people who follow the Lord and so experience His blessings. That is the context of this promise.
This is a prophecy of what God intends to do. The text says, “…before they spring into being I announce them to you.” God is speaking here about what He intends to do, but doing new things is not something that God has not done before. It is in the nature of God to do new things. This is an important thought. God is not one who lets things be as they are if they are not as they should be. God is one who renews.
If we look back in Israel’s history we know that this is true. In the book of Job, after all the tragedy which Job experienced, God renewed his soul by giving him more children and by restoring his wealth. That is what God does. When the sins of people were getting so old that God had to destroy them, He did a new thing by bringing Noah through the flood and renewing the earth once again. After Israel had been in Egypt for 400 years, God did a new thing and brought them out by the hand of Moses. So when we read this promise, it tells us something about what God is like. He is one who does “new things” and if this is the promise of God and consistent with the nature of God, then we can also expect that God will do new things in our life where they have become old.
The promise sounds intriguing, but lots of questions remain: What has been promised? Can we count on God? What can we hope for?
Why? 42:8
We have seen that it is in the nature of God to do “new things,” but why does God make the promise to renew? The answer to that question is found in Isaiah 42:8 where He says, “I am the Lord; that is my name! I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols.”
According to this verse God makes things new for two reasons. The first is that God has promised and He will not break His promise because His name is the guarantee of His word. In Exodus 3 God introduced Himself to Moses at the burning bush and told him to lead God’s people out of Egypt. Moses was stunned at this idea and wanted to have confirmation of what God was promising. The way in which God confirmed His word was by saying, in Exodus 3:14,15, “This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation.” There is a lot in this verse. The name “Lord” seems to come from the phrase “I AM” which means that God just is. It refers to the eternal existence of God. God bases his confirmation of the promise on His eternal being. The reference to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob confirms the promise on the basis that after over 400 years the promises God made to these men still stands. God is a covenant making God who has always existed and who keeps covenant and on that basis he confirmed his promise to Israel when he spoke to Moses at the burning bush. God hasn’t changed in the intervening years and now when Israel is once again in a terrible place of rebellion God has not changed and will bring new things because He is the eternal God who has made and will keep all the promises He has made. E.J. Young says, “It is God who is speaking, and He will not deny Himself by refusing to do what He has promised.”
God also confirms the promise to bring new things because it is to His glory to do so. How do you feel when someone is able to repair something that you thought was not repairable? When God delivered Israel out of Egypt that was an amazing thing because it is humanly impossible. Only God could do such an amazing thing. When God raised Jesus from the dead, that was an amazing thing because only God could do such a thing. God is glorified when we see what He does and God desires His glory for when God is glorified, then all know how amazing He is and who He really is. When God is glorified, then truth is spoken in the universe.
So we also have hope for new things because God has promised to bring them and because when they come God is glorified.
What New Things? 42:7
So what new things does God promise? To answer that question, we need to go back one more verse to Isaiah 42:7 where we read, “to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.” There are three specific pictures here.
First of all it speaks of the eyes of the blind opened. The Bible uses this imagery in a number of places. When Jesus was here, we read a story in John 9 in which Jesus opened the eyes of a man born blind, but in that same chapter he goes on to have a conversation with the Pharisees and the crowd about spiritual blindness. He teaches that there are some who cannot see the truth and others whose eyes had been opened. So we know that God can open the eyes of those who are physically blind and also the eyes of those who are spiritually blind as well as those who are blind about their sin. One such blind person was the apostle Paul who was blind to the truth about who Jesus was. In Acts 26:18, after describing his own experience of seeing the light literally and metaphorically, Paul acknowledged what God told him, “I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.”
The next two pictures speak about freeing captives and releasing prisoners. Psalm 107:10 speaks about those who “sat in darkness and the deepest gloom, prisoners suffering in iron chains.” The Psalm goes on to talk about these as being in bondage because of their sins, but it also speaks about how God “brought them out of darkness and the deepest gloom and broke away their chains.” The new thing God is able to do is to redeem those who are in prison and those who sit in darkness.
What new things does God do? He opens blind eyes and frees those in bondage and I think we need to understand these promises in the broadest sense. For Israel, their blindness was the inability to see that God was their provider and savior. They were in bondage to wicked ways and about to be imprisoned in war with other nations and God promised to do a new thing. But when we realize that these pictures appear in other places in the Bible and are used both literally and metaphorically, we know that this is more than just about Israel’s story. The blind are those in any kind of darkness and prisoners are those in any kind of bondage. God promises light and freedom.
If your darkness is depression, if the prison you are in is because of sins you have committed, if the bondage you experience is because of the consequences of your sins or the sins of others, if your darkness is grief or loss, God is able to do a new thing in your life. In fact, God promises to do new things. Hanson says, “The in-breaking of the new that breaks the bonds of exile and heals the brokenness of both human community and nature is a central theme in…Isaiah.”
Trouble makes us feel hopeless about the future, but the promise that God makes things new, restores our hope. I have seen God do such things many times. I have seen Him take the things that have been broken on earth as a result of sin, both the sin of the individual and the sin which permeates our world and make something new. I know people who have wandered away from God, whose lives have been broken badly and I have seen how God restored them. I have seen people who have been broken by the hardship of illness become a blessing to others who have a similar illness. I have seen people broken by addictions find release and freedom. God opens blind eyes and bring people out of bondage. And even if some darkness and some bondage remain, God will make all things new when Jesus returns. The promise to renew shows up again in the verse from which I took the title for this message, in Revelation 21:5 God promises, “I am making everything new!”
Yet where do we see this new thing? Will it really come? Now I see only my darkness. Now I feel only the bondage which entraps me. Can I really count on what God will do? How does God do it?
Really? 42:5,6
There are two promises which we find in Isaiah 42:5, 6, which assure us that God is able to make all things new and which tell us how He does it.
Because Of God
In Isaiah 42:5 we read, “This is what God the Lord says – he who created the heavens and…who gives breath to its people…” Earlier we received assurance that God’s promises are certain because He is a covenant keeping God and because of His glory. Now assurance comes that God keeps His promises and makes things new because He is the one who has created all things in the first place. He has already made everything that we see and He has already given life to all things. Every bird and animal, every plant and ocean creature, every human being lives because God has made them. If God has made all these things and sustains them by the word of His power, why would we doubt that He can make all things new?
Through His Servant
It is important that we understand that the focus of this entire passage is on one whom Isaiah calls “my servant.” Isaiah 42:1 mentions “my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him…” Then he speaks further of this servant in Isaiah 42:6 when he says, “I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles.”
The new thing which God promises to do will come through His Servant. Who is that servant? As we read these passages through the eyes of a follower of Christ, it is pretty clear that this is a reference to Jesus Christ. The wonderful thing about reading these promises in the Old Testament is that we already have a much better idea of what God is talking about. When this was written, it contained a lot of mystery, but now that mystery has been made known to us and the new thing which God does, we know, is done through Jesus.
There is a connection between the promises made in Isaiah 42:7 and those made in Isaiah 61:1-3, which says, “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, 2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, 3 and provide for those who grieve in Zion— to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.”
The Isaiah 61 passage has a similar tone and direction as the Isaiah 42 passage and is speaking of the same Servant. Luke quotes Isaiah 61 in Luke 4:18-21, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.””
The servant is Jesus and this is an important focus. It reminds us that whatever new thing God brings He brings through Jesus. Therefore, we need to look to God’s Servant for new things. If we are blind, we need to ask Jesus to give us light. If we are in bondage, we need to look to Jesus to free us. Although there are many good helps in this world, light comes from the light of the world and freedom from the one who came to set us free.
How? 42:1-4
Why do we fear to trust Jesus to bring the new thing into our life? As we read the first four verses of this text, we see the wonderful way in which He works to make all things new.
In justice
Lately we have heard again that there is conflict in the Middle East. Hamas is firing rockets into Israeli territory. In response Israel has begun air strikes into Gaza and is threatening a ground offensive. The conflict is old and difficult to sort out. When we were there last year and heard the stories from both sides of the conflict, we were baffled as to how a just peace could come about. But this is not baffling to Jesus. He knows this conflict and every other conflict, even the one between you and your neighbor and knows how to bring about a just peace. The new thing that Jesus is doing and will do is to bring justice. Can we trust Him for this?
In gentleness
The pictures provided in verses 2,3 are wonderful pictures of grace and gentleness. It says that “he will not shout or cry out.” That is a description which fits well with exactly what happened when Jesus was arrested. He did not defend himself. He accepted the cross as the way in which to win. It was His strategy. That certainly is a new thing and speaks of sacrifice instead of bullying.
This verse also says that, a “bruised reed He will not break.” What comes to my mind is a plant which has been partly broken. It is bruised on the stalk and about to fall over. If we would find such a plant in a flower arrangement, we would yank it out and throw it away, but that is not how Jesus works. He is gentle with those who are broken. He continues to woo them and comfort them and guide them.
It also says that “a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.” We know what a smoldering wick is like. It is almost out, having just a little heat, but is mostly smoke which stinks. To us it looks like something that should be snuffed out, but the grace of Jesus, the new thing that God is doing through His Messiah is that where there is a slight glimmer of hope, a smoldering wick, which has not gone out, He does not snuff it out, but continues to extend grace and offer His peace and forgiveness.
We are sometimes so impatient with people. We wonder if they will ever turn their lives around or if they will ever behave the way they should. We get tired of waiting and we give up hope. But Jesus does not. This is a new thing that He is gentle and gracious and does not give up on people. What a blessing for each of us. It calls us to also treat others in the same way.
In faithfulness
The third way of the servant is that he acts with faithfulness, as we read in verse 3. Even though we see so much more than the people of Isaiah’s day saw, we still often wonder when things will begin to happen and we lose hope that God is really at work. The promise of His faithfulness assures us that He will accomplish His purpose and He will bring about the new thing He has promised.
Verse four continues the theme of faithfulness. When it says, “he will not falter or be discouraged,” we are encouraged that God continues to do what He has promised. In all that God has promised, there is a process. The first part of the process was the coming of Jesus to die and rise again. Jesus did not falter or become discouraged. The lowest we saw Jesus was when He was in the garden of Gethsemane. There he cried out, “If it is possible let this cup pass from me,” but we also hear Him say, “Not my will, but yours.” He did not falter; He went through the most awful experience to accomplish this part of the work of God’s new thing. The next part of the process was when God sent His Spirit to accompany His church. That is where we need to look now for the new thing. What is the Spirit of God doing today? The last part of the process is the second coming of Christ. If Christ did not falter through the most difficult stage of the new thing God is doing, then we can be assured that He will not falter in the current or future stages. We can be confident in the faithfulness of Jesus to bring about all the new things which God will bring about, both now and in the future.
For all
The great blessing with which the method of the servant concludes is in vs. 4, “In his law the islands of the earth will put their hope.” This refers to the universal extent of what God is doing. This theme of the gospel for all people is also found in verse 1 where it says, “He will bring justice to the nations” and also in verse 6 where it says that He will be “a light for the Gentiles.”
Written as this was to Jews whose focus was their own nation, this is good news to the entire world. God’s intention has not been to save only the Jewish people, but to redeem all those in the world who will come to Him. God’s new thing is for all.
Conclusion
It is a good thing to know that God is in the renewal business. What does such a hope mean for us as we enter a new year?
First of all, it means that we can have an expectation of God at work. If God has promised new things and has already begun to bring them about, then we can hope in Him to continue to do new things, even in our lives. Wherever things are getting old, we can expect that God will bring something new. With this promise, we have every reason not to lose hope, but to live with a constant expectation of what God will do.
Secondly, we need to look to Jesus. Whatever new thing God does, He has promised to do through Jesus. If we are looking for forgiveness, for a new way of living, for strength to overcome, for justice, for encouragement, it is found in Jesus. Instead of looking to all the other ways of finding hope, we are encouraged to look to Jesus.
If we live in expectation and if we look to Jesus, then we can also watch as we wait to see what God will do. How is God already at work? How will He bring a new thing into our blindness and brokenness? Let us watch and see what He will do! The brokenness with which we may live now is never the end of the story, especially in light of His promises and the presence of Jesus.
Because of this new thing, we are invited in Isaiah 42:10 to “Sing to the Lord a new song.” May the hope we have been given move us to enter the New Year with a song of praise on our lips.