Sermon Tone Analysis

Does it anyone else find it hard to stay positive these days?

To keep a hope alive on the inside so that you can live well on the outside and handle whatever comes your way?

For some of you, if not all, the celebration of Christmas brought a measure of joy and peace as you listened to and reflected on the story of Jesus’ birth.

We have been given this beautiful gift of hope in Christ Jesus.

Hope that no matter how difficult our circumstances, Jesus is with us and will lead us through.

Hope that no matter how badly we mess up, Jesus is able to forgive us and redeem us.

Hope that one day, all suffering and heartache will end and there will be real, lasting justice.

And it is easy to forget this.

Maybe forget is not the right word.

It is easy to be detached from this truth.

We may have the knowledge that hope is found in Christ, but we have difficulty connecting this knowledge to our daily reality.

We need constant reminding.

I know for me, the start of the New Year brought a level of heaviness as I contemplated all that now calls for my full attention.

There is the whole matter of completing the necessary steps related to discerning whether or not we disaffiliate from the United Methodist Church - and my role in making sure that the members of the Church are properly informed and educated.

This is a denomination through which I was baptized and later confirmed.

It was a Methodist pastor who married Krista and I.

It was the United Methodist Church that I returned to in my late twenties when God was leading me to reengage my faith.

The people of the UM loved me into God’s presence, provided me with ways to serve the Lord, eventually affirmed my call into ministry, and entrusted me to lead as a pastor.

So nothing about this process is easy or without heartache.

There are other matters in the church that weigh on me.

Challenges that distract us from our mission and weaken our witness.

There are the concerns I have for the times we are living in.

The economic crisis that we are all living through.

With rising inflation, mass layoffs, and a bunch of other indicators going in the downward direction - how low will we go?

As a parent of a Marine, with the instability in the world, especially in regards to Russia and China - there is the constant concern that war is on the horizon.

I observe all the broken families in our community and our nation.

All the children being raised without a strong foundation.

This is just me - I’m sure if each of you have your own issues that are weighing you down.

Health issues.

Work issues.

Family problems.

Concern over our government and lack of good leadership anywhere.

My purpose this morning is not to lead us down into hopelessness.

On the contrary, I want you to know, not just in your head, but also in your heart - to truly know that God is in control and in Him, we have an inexhaustible source of hope.

There was a time, recorded for us in the Scriptures, when the faithful remnant of Israel lived each day with worry and concern about their circumstances, the future of their nation, and the despair that comes when the immediate future does not look promising.

Isaiah was a prophet and his book was written somewhere between 739 and 681 BC.

Isaiah was God's spokesperson and his message was for the people of Israel (specifically the southern kingdom of Judah) at a time when the nation was immersed in sin.

He called them out on their sin, urging them to repent.

and foretold destruction that would fall upon them if they did not return to God.

One commentator I came across summed up Isaiah this way:

Do you know people who claim to be believers in Christ who are two-faced, who are hypocrites?

That is perhaps the best summary of how Isaiah viewed the nation of Israel.

Israel had an appearance of righteousness, but it was a facade.

In the Book of Isaiah, the Prophet Isaiah challenges Israel to obey God with all of their heart, not just on the outside.

Isaiah’s desire was that those who heard and read his words would be convicted to turn from wickedness and turn to God for forgiveness and healing.

The people did not heed Isaiah’s warning and in chapter 39, he foretells the coming Babylonian exile.

From Chapter 40 onward, Isaiah speaks from the viewpoint of Babylonian exile.

Our reading this morning from Isaiah comes out of this section of the book.

The people are in exile.

Grief surrounds them.

The outlook is bleak.

From where will they draw their hope?

Will God deliver them?

Is he able to deliver them?

Isaiah’s message to the remnant - the people who still trust in God, is clear.

Yes God is able and willing to deliver his people.

One of the most beautiful promises is found in Isaiah 40:28-31

When we reach chapter 42, we are introduced to the first of four poems focused on one who is called the Servant of Yahweh.

Now initially, the servant is identified as the nation of Israel personified.

We find this in Isaiah 41:8

God’s intention for Israel was to for them to be a light to the nations and to lead all nations to God.

They failed to do since they repeatedly turned to idols.

As we continue along in Isaiah’s prophecies regarding the servant of Yahweh - the picture begins to form of a Messianic figure - one specific person, a Davidic king, who would come and fulfill what Israel as a nation was unable to do.

As you hear this description given to Isaiah from the Lord God of his servant - I want to put our finger here on chapter 42 and then jump over to Matthew 3:16-17

At Jesus’ baptism, God affirms that He is indeed the promised Messiah that Isaiah spoke of centuries earlier.

Now flip back to Isaiah.

God would indeed deliver Israel out of captivity.

Isaiah would go on to prophesy that one named Cyrus would lead them out of captivity and rebuild Jerusalem (this is found in the 45th chapter) and 150 years later, King Cyrus of Persia would do just that.

But delivering Israel out of Babylon was not the full extent of God’s plan for deliverance.

Have you ever been a bad situation that seemed inescapable - but by the grace of God, he delivered you out of it?

God does hear our prayers and often times will bring us out of situations that are bad for us - yet his desire for us goes beyond rescuing us from particular circumstances - he desires to completely deliver us from that which easily imprisons our whole life - our sin.

That is what we find in Isaiah.

God is going to deliver Israel out of Babylon, but more importantly, the Servant of Yahweh will bring spiritual deliverance for all people, Jew and Gentile alike, freeing them from the power of sin and reconciling them with the Lord.

We may at times feel faint and discouraged, but know that Jesus never is.

He is accomplishing exactly what he has set out to do.

We may not always see it from our vantage point - but Jesus is bringing all things under his power and authority.

Listen to Lord God speaking of the Messiah:

Now flip again over to Jesus’ baptism by John in Matthew 3:13-15

In Isaiah, God tells his servant that he has called him into righteousness.

Righteousness is a quality of being where we do what is right and just because that is who we are.

It is a divine attribute - when we live righteously, we are living in accordance to how God himself exist.

John didn’t want to baptize Jesus because John was baptizing people to symbolize their repentance of sin and their commitment to draw near to God.

Jesus was without sin, so why would he need to be baptized.

Matt 3:15

Jesus, as Messiah, was called into righteousness.

All who chose to follow him would need to walk in his footsteps.

He was full-filling prophecy, identifying himself as the Messiah.

His baptism shows us the way to God.

It is not that he sinned, rather for us to become righteous, we must follow him and enter into the baptismal waters to be cleansed by God.

And having been washed of our sins, God says “I will take you by the hand and keep you.”

So here is the takeaway.

We are living in a difficult time.

I know it can be wearisome.

When Isaiah spoke to the remnant of Israel and told them of a future pardon and deliverance, it didn’t mean that generation would see it.

It just meant that it was coming.

The good news for us is that the Messiah has come.

Jesus has already paid the price of our sin.

He already sits at the right hand of the Father is the position of ultimate power and authority.

For all who repent and call upon his name, who follow him into the baptismal waters, the gift of the Holy Spirit has already been given to us.

The Spirit will guide us through all our trials and tribulations - never leaving us.