Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

This morning is our first Sunday of Advent, which means we will take a break from our 1 & 2 Samuel series.

As the elders we decided to call this Advent series “What Child is This?”.

Because during the next 4 weeks we will be trying to look at what the Bible has to say about this child we will be celebrating on December 25th.

But for those of you who might not be familiar with the season of Advent, the church has historically reserved the 4 Sundays before Christmas to prepare our hearts for the coming of our savior.

Advent means “coming”, so when we talk about advent we are talking about a season of waiting and preparation.

This morning, I want to open up with a quote from Fleming Rutledge who says:

“In the church, this is the season of Advent.

It’s superficially understood as a time to get ready for Christmas, but in truth it’s the season for contemplating the judgment of God.

Advent is the season that, when properly understood, does not flinch from the darkness that stalks us all in this world.

Advent begins in the dark and moves toward the light—but the season should not move too quickly or too glibly, lest we fail to acknowledge the depth of the darkness.

As our Lord Jesus tells us, unless we see the light of God clearly, what we call light is actually darkness: “how great is that darkness!”

(Matt.

6:23).

Advent bids us take a fearless inventory of the darkness: the darkness without and the darkness within.”

― Fleming Rutledge, Advent: The Once and Future Coming of Jesus Christ

As you’ve noticed, the world is officially in the Christmas spirit.

Starbucks already has their red cups, Michael Buble, Mariah Carey, and Wham! have come out of their cave and are assaulting our ears everywhere we go.

There are lights and decorations everywhere we go.

So the world is already in Christmas mode.

The World is ready to celebrate Christmas, the problem is that a whole lot of people don’t know what we’re celebrating.

When we lived in Malaysia, a Muslim country, you would not believe how big the Christmas season is.

The malls are decked out with amazing trees, lights and everything Christmas.

Which was really shocking initially, until we realized that in our culture it’s equally as easy to celebrate a Christ-less Christmas.

If we are not careful during this season, we can be distracted by all the lights colors and smells of Christmas and be swept up by our culture and completely miss why Christmas was necessary in the first place.

So the season of Advent is a season of waiting and preparation for the coming of the Savior.

But the question is, do we actually need a savior?

Today we will look at a passage that helps us remember why it is that we need a savior.

It is only when we understand our need and inability to save ourselves, that we lift our eyes from ourselves and look for a Savior.

If I do my job correctly this morning, my hope is that we would walk away from here remembering that we indeed need a savior.

And that for those of us who already know Jesus, this truth makes a claim on the way we live our lives and interact with the world around us.

Context

For this morning, I decide to pick a passage most of us are not familiar with, but that has a message that we find throughout all of Scripture.

The message of hope for a broken world.

A message that reminds us, that all of history is marching towards the promise of a Savior.

But for passage to make any sense, I need to give you some context.

First, I want to give you the literary and historical context of the text.

If you’re not familiar with the Book of Isaiah, it is simultaneously one of the most wonderful yet complex books in the Bible.

But what is the context of Isaiah?

As you guys know, we’ve been studying the the books of 1 and 2 Samuel, last week, we left off on 2 Samuel 10, David is finally King and God has made a covenant with him.

He promised David that he would build him a house, a lineage.

And that one day out of his offspring there will be a son who will establish a throne forever.

God promised David that from his offspring would come a great King that would care for his people.

But then Solomon comes around, and though he was a prosperous man who did a lot of good, he would ultimately end up worshiping foreign gods.

After Solomon’s death, things continue to go downhill, and the land is split into a northern kingdom (Israel) and a southern Kingdom (Judah), and the cycle of sin and unfaithfulness would continue.

God, “like a loving father, sent prophet after prophet to calls his people back and warn them of impending judgment” (Confronting Jesus, Ch1).

By the time Isaiah comes around, the hammer is about to fall.

God is warning his people that the Assyrians are coming to invade them.

So Isaiah’s message can be summarized into 2 main points:

If Israel continues to be unfaithful to God, they will find only judgment and suffering at the hands of other nations.

But because God loves his people, there is always a promise of Hope.

God intends to fulfill his covenants with Israel despite their faithlessness.

In the chapters prior to this passage, Isaiah has warned the people of Israel that because of their unfaithfulness, God will allow the people of Assyria to invade them.

This will obviously be difficult, but it will bring about a purification.

You see, God in his mercy, will often allow his people to go through fire, not to hurt them, but in order to purify them.

That brings us to Chapter 16 which is part of a collection of prophecies about the nations that surround Israel.

In these poems, God denounces their pride and injustice and tells them of how they too will suffer because of their pride and enmity against God.

These chapters are warnings about the things to come.

They are grim and dark, but they all come laced with hope.

In them, God warns them of the danger of living life away from him, but also makes an invitation to surrender to him.

The problem is that the recipients of these prophecies, are blinded to their need of a savior.

Comfort and the things of this world have distracted them from their need for God.

And that my friends is a very dangerous place to be.

So this is the context of today’s text.

Let’s read…

1.

As rebels we are in desperate need of a Savior.

(v.1-2)

Isaiah 16:1-2 “Send the lamb to the ruler of the land, from Sela, by way of the desert, to the mount of the daughter of Zion.

Like fleeing birds, like a scattered nest, so are the daughters of Moab at the fords of the Arnon.”

So, this chapter in particular is speaking to the people of Moab, but who were the moabites?

And why is Isaiah asking them to send a lamb to the king of Zion?

Well, the people of Moab were the descendants of Lot, Abraham’s cousin.

The moabites had historically been an enemy of Israel, but as you may remember from a couple of weeks ago, when Rick taught from 2 Sam 8, David conquers the Moabites who then became servants of Israel and started paying tribute to the king of Israel.

This unfortunately would come to an end in 2 Kings 3, when King Ahab dies and the people of Moab rebel against his successor and refuse to pay him tribute.

This move on their part signifies a rejection, not only of the King of Judah but of the God of Judah.

By refusing to pay tribute to Judah, the Moabites effectively separated themselves from God himself.

These are the people Isaiah is warning in this text.

We unfortunately don’t have time to read chapter 15 together, but if you have time later today, take a look at chapter 15 and you will see that it’s a warning that paints a pretty dark picture of the judgment coming to Moab if they continue to oppose the Lord.

In chapter 15 Isaiah warns them that unless they turn to God, the moabites will find themselves as refugees, going all over with their few possessions under their arms looking for shelter.

Verses 3 and 4, as you will see shortly, also speak of the Moabites as refugees or sojourners.

This means that, left to themselves, once the Assyrians invade their land, they will find themselves in a very vulnerable position.

You see, whether they know it or not, the people of Moab are lost and in need of help.

I don’t know if you have ever talked to a refugee or an asylum seeker, but if you have, you know of the anxiety and uncertainty they live in.

Depending on the charity of others, they are often desperate and ready to do whatever they need in order to find a place of peace and safety.

This is the image the prophet gives us of the moabites.

An image of desperate vulnerability and danger.

So chapter 16 starts with a suggestion from the prophet.

He says to Moab: Send the lamb to the ruler of the land!

This is a reminder that they used to give tribute to the King of Israel.

So Isaiah tells them to do that again, for it is only the King of Israel who can deliver them and give them shelter.

He is pointing them to the King who can give them shelter, peace and safety.

In verse 2 Isaiah describes the people of Moab as fleeing birds, like a scattered nest.

Other translations translate this phrase as a bird force out of its nest.

What does a bird do when it is forced out of its nest?

It finds shelter wherever it can.

Church, this picture of Moab is not speaking only of Moab, but it is describing life in this broken world.

You see, this picture is describing how the Moabites will feel once all their wealth and worldly comforts are taken from them.

You see, hardship has a way of revealing where our hopes lay… Comfort though, has a way of blinding us from where our heart truly are.

Since the fall in the garden of Eden, the world is full of those who are like birds forced out of their nest, and so flutter about, finding shelter in things that are only supposed to be temporary.

Things that offer no ultimate safety.

Like Adam and Eve, we hide under fig leaves and hope they give us the protection only God himself can offer.