How far has the apple fallen?

Psalm 72:1-7 / Isaiah 11:1-10

Intro & Background

Isaiah ministered to a declining Israel ~ 8th Century BC under threat of the Assyrians. Judgment was upon them, but not yet fully come.

Isaiah 1:1-5 “2 Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the Lord has spoken: “Children have I reared and brought up, but they have rebelled against me... Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly! They have forsaken the Lord, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they are utterly estranged. 5 Why will you still be struck down? Why will you continue to rebel? The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.”

Isaiah 11

Isaiah 11:1-2 “1 There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. 2 And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.”

Bear (righteous) Fruit (godly deeds and attitudes)

Society - politicians speak wickedness hidden behind righteous sounding speech

Churches - most are in a defensive stance, circling the wagons, and have become more tribal and divided

My Heart -

Spirit rests upon Him

Society - of course the Spirit doesn’t rest

Churches - sadly there is more volume than Spirit in the pulpits, and more silence and distraction than Spirit in the pews

My Heart -

Wisdom and understanding

Society - There is pandering. There is gaslighting. There are hollow aphorisms, but little to no sign of wisdom or understanding from the leaders or the factions in our land

Churches - Too often this view also applies to the churches of our day. We are a people with more access to Scripture than ever before, yet we as the people of the churches are by and large biblically illiterate. Apart from knowledge of scripture, there can be no true wisdom or understanding

My Heart -

Knowledge and fear of the Lord

Society - Simply put, there IS none in our government or society

Churches - There is much evidence of the fear of offense, of dying out, of being marginalized, of contradicting tradition, of questions and change, but less and less evidence of the knowledge and fear of The Lord

My Heart -

Isaiah 11:3-4 “3 And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear, 4 but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.”

Will not judge by sight / judge with righteousness

2 Corinthians 5:7 “for we walk by faith, not by sight.” (Hab2:4)

Society - Of course an unbelieving society does not walk by a Biblical or Christian faith

Churches - How often are churches truly seeking to bring the whole counsel of God to a topic or circumstance to judge rightly, vs using a handful of popular texts to justify the position we want?

My Heart -

Slays the wicked with his speech

Society - The society more and more wants to slay the righteous, not the wicked

Churches -

Churches (church people) seek the to use the power of the sword of government to enforce their version of orthodoxy; a charge never given to the NT Church. OT Israel was the only Theocracy God ever intended in this life

Churchs (church people) have by and large given up on participating in the public marketplace of ideas (the echo chambers of social media doesn’t count.

Acts 17:16-17 “Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols. 17 So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there.”

My Heart -

Isaiah 11:5 “5 Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins.”

Righteousness

Society - Greed, Prejudice, Arrogance, Idolatry of fame, wealth, and self reign supreme

Churches - Too often mistake being right with the influential persons or families, or even local community with being right with God

My Heart

Faithfulness

Society - Mostly faithful to self, to political party,

Churches - Again, who is our master? We can neither serve mammon and God, nor tradition and God at the same time. To whom are we or will be be faithful?

My Heart

Isaiah 11:6-9 “6 The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them. 7 The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. 8 The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den. 9 They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.”

No more predator / prey

Society - This is antithetical to our societal norm; it’s eat or be eaten! Get yours before someone else does!

Churches - We have taken scriptural language of spiritual warfare, but forgotten that Paul wrote we wrestle NOT against people, flesh and blood. We’d rather point to other groups and get the amens about how wrong THEY are, and spend very little time in prayer FOR people caught in the traps of sin and error.

My Heart

Enemies and rivals reconciled

Society - need I say anything?

Churches - Blessed are the peacekeepers were the words of Jesus. Lauded are the grudge holders tends to be a common position in the churches. When there is reconciliation, it tends to be superficial, to serve another motive.

My Heart

Safety for all; even the weak, marginalized, and incapable

Society - We are as a people establishing so-called safe spaces where no one is to be challenged or offended, and yet trues safety and liberty (both themes of Biblical orthodoxy) are being trampled along with the truly vulnerable. There is little in the ways of help or protection for the mentally troubled, for the abused, for the children and unborn

Churches - Too often we just reflect the society, even if to a lesser degree. We seek to protect our own, not so much others. This is NOT the shalom we are called to seek

My Heart

No one seeks or causes violence

Society - again, I think little needs saying here

Churches - false churches like the Westboro Baptists get the headlines for literal violence and hatred. Others are more guilty of antagonizing and inciting speech, especially on social media, but also of neglecting to call down our own when they

My Heart

The Good News in the face of the darkness

Isaiah 11:10 “10 In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.”

signal - ensign / banner

That day = more than the earthly ministry of Christ, but of His second coming, of His FULL

It is precisely BECAUSE of our fallenness in our land, as churches, and we ourselves that Christ not only came to initiate His Kingdom on Earth, but that He is coming back to rectify ALL the injustices; to right all the wrongs; to bring a reckoning to violence perpetrated against the people of God and BY the people of God.

It would be so easy to sink into a depression and a disillusionment of the church, maybe of ourselves if we look at the failures all around us… but when we look to Christ ALL else fades.

When we see Christ for who HE is, we see rescue, salvation, release from our own brokeness, a real answer to the problems in our lives.

Church Family, we need not be discouraged. The apple has fallen far from the tree, but we look to Messiah Jesus, and find forgiveness, help, strength, direction, even peace and comfort in the middle of suffering. Regardless our failures, HE is faithful, forgiving, and undefeated! Let us today and going forward look with great expectation to the Coming of Christ!