Sunday Sermon

 

The Joy of the Lord

Isaiah 61:3

He has sent me to comfort all those who are sad and to help the sorrowing people of Jerusalem. I will give them a crown to replace their ashes, and the oil of gladness to replace their sorrow, and clothes of praise to replace their spirit of sadness. Then they will be called Trees of Goodness, trees planted by the Lord to show his greatness.

A few days ago I was doing my daily Bible reading when a came across Matthew chapter thirteen verse fifty two which caused we to stop and think about how I see God. The verse talks about a teacher who understands the kingdom of God. The illustration speaks about a man who brings things out of his house both old and new. When I read that it struck me in a new way because of our raising of chickens and turkeys. We have a shed filled with equipment that we bring out and use over the course of a year. Some things are used only a few times a year but other things come and go out of the shed on a regular basis. On occasion we also add new things that will help us do a better job of taking care of our animals. The idea here is that we are to be building a storehouse of knowledge about who God is and how God works while also adding to that storehouse the new information we learn from spending time with God. There is this fascination with the new or the different because the old stuff just seems uninteresting. When it comes to taking care of animals you learn that the old stuff is tried and true and can be counted on. The only time you bring new things in is when a new problem has arisen that cannot be dealt with by the old things. All of this applies to my faith even more. I look forward to spending time in God’s word even though I have read those old words hundreds of times. Over and over those old words build in me a level of trust in God that only comes from those words being old and familiar. What is so cool is that every once and a while I will find a new thing as I spend time with God. Often it is God showing me something about the sin in my life that I had not understood yet but it can also be God teaching me more about who He is and how He works. Building a storehouse of information about God and what God teaches is a real blessing to our lives that we need to be working on. Knowing what God teaches will be a guide to us in ways that we don’t even grasp at any given moment. Having old knowledge is called wisdom and learning knew things are called education and both of these are a deep part of our faith in the living God. Holding on to the things God teaches brings hope to us and to the people around us but it takes work to build that material. We will have to lean into God and spend time with God both in reading His word, in prayer, in worship and in living out what we know. Our faith is all about learning and growing and developing in our faith and trust in God. Everyone who professes a faith in the living God should be building a shed with both old and well-used things for our lives and be adding new things that God wants us to know.

What makes our faith so great is the more time with spend with God the more we grow and develop both as people and in our faith. These two things are connected in ways that just keep astounding me. When I work harder at knowing God my faith in God gets deeper and more substantial but it also then causes me to be a better person. This is the power of God’s word and wisdom. God’s laws are not just ideas that we can take or leave as we like but they are fundamental concepts about how the universe works and so we need to take them seriously. When we do start to listen to God and to live as He teaches there is blessing that flows to us and to the people around us. Just the idea that our faith makes us be better people is a blessing that cannot be understated, let alone that trusting God links us to life and all the things that come with that. We are not saved by obeying what God teaches us but in being obedient we produce effects in our lives that have far reaching impacts. Faith in God teaches us to consider other people and to want to help other people that does not happen without building a faith in the living God. Trusting God means we are a blessing to other people and that is such a powerful help to our world. Our faith helps us be more honest and more loving. As followers of Jesus we have more courage and strength to live with hope and peace no matter what is going on around us. God longs for us to know what He teaches because He knows the consequences of living by those ideas. This is the God we worship and serve and it is such joy that we find that what God has to say has such powerful results in our lives and our culture.

There are a lot of passages in scripture that have real impact on our faith and we should know them well. Two of the most substantive passages are the Ten Commandments and the Beatitudes. In the words that are found there we learn the cardinal ideas that God wants us to know. The Ten Commandments is used by God to express the basic foundational moral law that exist in God’s creation. What arises from that law is not a burden that we must bear but the idea that when we live by those commands we will find blessing that we cannot know otherwise. Learning from the beatitudes is a little easier because we can see the blessings that flow from those words because blessing is part of the words used. But the blessing is not in the words themselves but in what the words direct us to. The beatitudes are a step by step working through the process of how faith works. Jesus wants us to know that there is blessing in being in a relationship with God. That is why the verse we are considering is so profound. God is telling the Israelite people that there is real blessing in following what God says. As the book of Isaiah comes to an end the destruction of Israel is starting to become real because of the sinfulness of the people. But God wants to encourage people and strengthen people as they see what is happening that God is still at work and in the middle of their sadness God calls them to trust in Him. If they will trust in God and live as God has called them to live they will find peace and joy even in subjugation. God’s blessing is not contingent on whether everything is perfect but it is about trusting God in whatever situation we are in. Look at what is said here. There is deep sadness and grieving but God offers to change that sadness into blessing not because things are going good but because God is at work even in terrible times. This is where building a storehouse of knowing how God works to help us. We will get through hard times not because we are strong by ourselves but we have this God who is with us and who teaches us and hands out blessing even when things are going terrible. Our God longs to help us and sustain us as we live our lives because our God knows how hard life is. Look at the words used here and think about how sad the people must have been and God is saying let Me give you joy in the middle of your pain. We do not trust in God because He blesses us but we find that when we trust in God there is this blessing that results. Learning what God teaches builds our faith in God and that faith then brings blessing.

Another piece of scripture that I have come across over the last few months which has had a real impression on me is found in First Peter chapter two verse twenty five. This verse speaks about those who have come to faith in the living God as sheep who wondered away but now have returned to the great shepherd. It is that second part of this verse that strikes me with deep affection. Peter writes that Jesus is the Shepherd and protector of our souls. Consider what that says, one of the things Jesus came to do is to protect our souls from the destruction and evil that sin brings. I think the verse we are considering has some of that same feeling. God is offering to take the sadness people are feeling and instead give hope and joy. What makes this such a powerful verse is that in the changing of our sadness we also become trees planted to show God’s greatness. We need to get this to be part of our thinking because it is a central part of our faith, when we draw close to God and let Him work in our lives there is blessing that overwhelms anything we can think or imagine. We have a God who wants to get involved in our lives because He knows it is the only hope we have, and the result is amazing. Doesn’t everyone want to become a tree of goodness? The image here is of a tree that provides shade and food to people who are desperate and in deep need. When we become those trees, we show the greatness of God to a world that is in real need of what only God can give. What is God doing in our lives right now that is building us into trees of goodness? Are there parts of our lives that need work or do we need to learn new lessons about being righteous or kind or generous. The result of building a trust in God is that we will become people that have an effect on our world not because we are trying to but because God creates in us a powerful result. Striving to be the trees of goodness God calls us to be will show the world who our God is and that is worth anything. Knowing God will reshape us and will call us to do be a different kind of people fills our lives with a sense of joy that is found no place else.

Knowing who God is and what God is all about is the way to develop the faith we need and from that we get the hope and joy that all humans long for. The best part of this verse is that God deals with the sadness people are facing by telling them what He wants to do for them. God longs to be involved in our lives not when it is easy but when we are struggling. When we learn what God teaches about how to live it is not to make our lives leisurely it is to prepare us and to equip us to live in a world that is hard. This verse tells us about a God we should want to get to know. All of the effects of this verse are because God is working not because of anything we do. Letting God work in our lives will take work but it will be worth the effort. God wants to teach us and empower us to be better then we are now and that is a wonderful part of our faith.