February 28 Sermon: Higher Than Your Ways
Consider these questions as you listen to this message from Isaiah 55:1-9 and Luke 13:1-9:
1: In both the Old Testament lesson from Isaiah and the New Testament lesson from Luke, the theme of repentance is emphasized. How do these passages call people to repentance, and what is the significance of repentance in the context of the Lenten season?
2. The passage in Isaiah 55 uses imagery of physical thirst and hunger to convey the deeper spiritual need for God's grace and forgiveness. How does this imagery help us understand the desperation of our spiritual condition and our dependence on God's mercy?
3. The sermon mentions that we can easily forget the gospel message and slip into self-reliance and legalism. How does the gospel message of God's grace and forgiveness remind us of our need for Christ, and how can we keep the rhythm of repentance, faith in Christ, and love for our neighbor in our daily lives?
Transcript:
Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near. This is the cry of the prophet Isaiah in our Old Testament lesson this morning and it is the message we see in our gospel lesson from Luke this morning also. A common theme throughout this season of Lent is to Return to the Lord your God for he is gracious and merciful. Slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. This idea of repentance is important as we journey towards the cross of Good Friday and the empty tomb of Easter.
As is always the case it is always really important to understand the context of the passage that we are looking at. As we look at Isaiah 55 this morning there is some important background information that we need to understand as we dig into our text for today. In Isaiah we have a prophet who is proclaiming the word of the Lord to a people who are in exile. This is a common theme throughout the prophetic books in the Old Testament. The people have failed to keep the law of God and so the Lord sends a messenger to call them to return to the Lord. Isaiah proclaims many messages but perhaps the most famous message that he proclaims is found a mere two chapters prior to our lesson for this morning. We hear the glorious words of one who would be pierced for our transgressions and how the Lord has laid on him the iniquities of us all. Then in chapter 54 we see that because all is forgiven there is an invitation to experience that forgiveness. Essentially everything has been done. The tables are set. All is now ready. Now as we get to chapter 55 of Isaiah we see the invitation. As we come to the text it tells us that those who are thirsty should come to the waters. Even if you have no money, you are to come and you are to buy and eat.
This message from God comes to a people who are in exile. They have been removed from their homeland and because of it they are poor and in great need. The message to come and buy food for many of the people really exists on two plains. They need God to provide for them physically but the text here is pointing to their much deeper need. They are spiritually thirsty. They are spiritually hungry. That is their real problem but it draws upon their physical needs in order to help us understand just how desperate our spiritual need is. In an age of abundance, we don't really relate very well with these metaphors do we? When we are thirsty we walk to a drinking fountain or go and pay $2 for a bottle of water. When we are hungry we go to our refrigerator or journey to the nearest restaurant and get us something to eat. On top of it all we get to be picky. We have a ridiculous number of options available to us. Think about how many varieties and sizes of bottled water are available to us. Water. We need to try and understand what it means to be really thirsty and really hungry. It means that you are desperate for drink not because your throat is a little dry and you need to "wet your whistle" but instead you need water because without it you might perish. It means that you are not going to go to the cupboard and get a snack because your stomach is growling a little but instead you need food because you are weak and in danger of collapsing because you don't have anything to provide energy to your body.
This is the imagery this passage is drawing upon. It is important that we understand this because our spiritual condition is not as good as we think it is. The Bible is deliberate to point out to us our inability to help ourselves. When it says that we are spiritually thirsty it means we need more than to wet our whistle. We are in desperate need of God to come and wash over us. On our own everything is not alright between us and God. The law of God exposes us. When we put ourselves up against the light of it we see that we have not kept it as we ought. It goes even deeper though. As we look at our passage here in Isaiah 55 we see in verse 7 that the prophet calls for the wicked to forsake his way but it also says that the evil man should forsake his thoughts. Our sin problem is not merely skin deep. It is not only the visible sins that put us in a place where we stand condemned. Our thoughts also condemn us. Jesus confirms this for us in the sermon on the mount. It is there that Jesus lets us know that while we may feel good that we have outwardly kept the commands to not commit adultery or murder if we dig into the thoughts and desires of our hearts we are guilty of violating those commands of God. The prophet Isaiah calls the people to repent of their actions and thoughts. In the Bible the idea of repentance means to turn away from sin but it primarily is about a change of mind. We acknowledge our sinfulness and agree with God that we are guilty of violating his commands. Isaiah calls for this repentance because the people need to return to God and he implores them to do it now. He says "Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near". This implies that there will be a time when he is not near. A time when it may be too late.
Jesus echoes this message of repenting while you can in our New Testament lesson for this morning. Chapter 13 of Luke begins with a group of people informing Jesus about an atrocity that Pilate had committed. Pilate had killed some Galileans who were offering sacrifices. We don't have any other records of this event but based upon the fact that sacrifices occurred in the temple it is safe to assume that Pilate had these Galileans killed in the temple. It would seem like the reason this event was being told to Jesus is because they had a question. Essentially the people were asking what sins were these people punished for. Jesus asks them if they were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered in this manner. Jesus quickly answers his own question. He says no but then he says something a bit harsh for our modern sensibilities. He says unless you repent you too will all perish. He then brings up another tragedy. Eighteen people died when a tower fell on them. They did not die because they were more wretched sinners than anyone else. Tragedies happen but Jesus again tells the people that they must repent or they too will perish.
This is not the Jesus that is generally perceived in our culture. In our time we have softened the hard edges of Jesus teachings and made them all about love. Jesus is portrayed to us as a peacemaker who never challenged anyone other than to tell them to love and be tolerant. When we look at our New Testament that is not the complete picture of Jesus that is put before us. It is certainly true that Jesus did teach us to love but he also calls us to repent. Jesus told us to love our neighbors as ourselves but he also made it abundantly clear just how sinful we are. We live in a time where evil is called good and good is considered to be evil. We live in a time where we are encouraged to do whatever makes us feel good. We are to forget the standards that a holy God would have us follow and instead go with what we want and desire. We are naturally inclined to think that because nothing bad is happening to us what we are doing can't be that bad and of course, I'm not as bad as those people. You know, the really bad people of the world. At least I'm not like them.
Unfortunately for us that isn't how Jesus views the world. Every last one of us is in the same boat. We need to repent or all of us will perish. As much as we like to categorize sin and justify our own behavior it doesn't work. The fall of our first parents, Adam and Eve, brought the curse upon humanity and every human being since has been born into sin. Our rebellion against God and his law is deeply embedded in us. Notice that Jesus does not affirm the people present that day and tell them they are alright with God. Instead he calls them to repentance……..and repentance is hard. It is hard to change our minds. It is easy to become comfortable but Jesus does not let that happen. In our lesson for today Jesus wakes us up. A time is coming when each and every one of us will have to give an account. Not a one of us will be exempt. We will not escape it.
But…..God's mercy is great. As we see in the parable at the end of our lesson there is a reprieve. The fig tree should be cut down because it isn't bearing fruit but the one who keeps the vineyard is patient and offers time for the fig tree to bear fruit. Judgment is coming but that time is not now. There is time to repent and turn to the Lord. The law of God convicts us of our sin but it drives us to our God who is rich in mercy and love.
We see this so deeply as we turn back to our Old Testament lesson. Those who are thirsty come to the waters. We are in desperate need of God's waters and he tells us to come to the waters and drink. Those who are without money are to come and buy and eat. We are poor and destitute and God is calling us to the table of his mercy and grace and we can feast for free because he is a God of mercy and grace who gives abundantly to his people. In our desperate state of affairs God does not leave us to ourselves. Instead he comes to us in his mercy and grace. We are not left to our own devices. God has come near to us in the person and work of Christ. In his perfect life, death, resurrection, and ascension we receive the gift of repentance and the forgiveness of sins. Our repentance is a gift from God. Through the Holy Spirit we hear the law of God and we are convicted that we have not kept God's law. We acknowledge that we have sinned and by the grace of God we receive repentance. Through his mercy we turn to God and instead of trusting in ourselves we trust that what Christ has done for us is enough to save even a wretch like me.
This is really counterintuitive though. It goes contrary to the way we are naturally wired. We think that we need to set things right on our own. We need to do it. We need to earn it. We can never do that on our own though. We are sinners and can never make ourselves right before a holy God. The gospel comes to us and tells us that Christ has paid it all. That doesn't make sense to us but as we read at the end of our lesson in Isaiah the thoughts of God are not our thoughts. His ways are not our ways. God comes to us with the gospel and brings us to life. He makes us new creations who are no longer thirsty and have been fed at his table. Unfortunately though we are prone to quickly forget this good news. We will quickly go back to thinking that we need to earn the favor of God. That is why we need to hear the good news of the gospel on a regular basis to remind us that God's ways are not our ways and that he saves us in the most unlikely way. He saved us one Friday afternoon outside the city gates. Bruised, battered, and crucified. Rejected, naked, and forsaken. As we journey to Good Friday and Easter we are reminded that Jesus, the God man, who came from heaven to earth bore the wrath of God so that we might be saved and he rose again that we might have the sure promise of eternal life and the resurrection of our bodies. We need to hear this news as often as possible otherwise we will forget it. We need to hear this good news because without it when we hear God's law we might despair because of our inability to keep it on our own. We need to hear this good news because it is the means by which God has come to us to save us.
As Good Friday and Easter get closer I want to encourage you to spend some time reflecting on this. As I mentioned last week there is a rhythm….a flow….to the Christian life. I want to expand on that idea a little bit this morning. The rhythm I am speaking of is that we are reminded of God's law, understanding that we cannot keep it on our own we are driven to Christ's saving work on our behalf, and because of what God has done for us in Christ we respond by loving our neighbor. It is the rhythm of our lives as Christians and it is also how we structure our worship service. If you are anything like me though, this rhythm can get out of whack. I imagine it a bit like a middle school marching band. I can remember when I was in seventh grade we would go out for parade marching practice and at times we would get off. We would do a little jump step to get back in step. On more than one occasion one of us would get completely out of step and no amount of hopping or skipping would get us back in step. We had lost the rhythm completely and we would fall all over ourselves trying to get back in step. For me that really illustrates the struggles we can have in the Christian life. We can be going along good and then we can get out of step. We know God has saved us by his grace but yet we ask questions. Things like: what if God didn't really mean this grace business? What if in order to be really be a Christian I have to look perfect and act like everything is great all the time? What if I just haven't done enough to please God? In other words, we get out of step and we try really hard to get back in step but we just trip all over ourselves trying to do it. We need to hear the gospel. It reminds us of just how great God’s mercy is and how deep his love for us is. It is the driving force behind who we are in Christ. When we hear it God uses the proclamation of this good news to create and build up faith in our hearts. Our text for this morning says to seek the Lord while he is near and God comes near to us in the proclamation of this good news. In the gospel God is near to us. Hear the gospel, believe, and know that he has come close to you.. Seek the Lord while he is near. And let that peace that passes all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, Amen.
