I Kissed Condemnation Goodbye

Good morning! Welcome to the Vineyard. If this is your first time, my name is Kevin and I’m the pastor here. Our vision at the Vineyard is simple - we want to embody Jesus to our neighbors. This happens by growing in three ways, through what we call our pillars.

First, is Presence. We want everyone to experience the presence of God. This is what transforms us to love him and others. God’s presence is where we become fully alive. We want you to know the Father.

Then, Formation. God doesn’t just love us; he is forming us to be his people who can carry his life and love to those around us. Formation is where we learn to embody the Jesus way of life. We want you to imitate the Son.

Finally, Mission. Being on mission is how we join God in the work he is doing to bring his reconciliation, justice, and mercy to earth. This is how he is bringing healing and renewal to the world. We want you to partner with the Spirit.

Presence. Formation. Mission. Be thinking about your next step. Where is God calling you to go deeper with him?

Pray...

Intro

Have you ever felt like you really let God down? That when you image God’s face, he’s frowning at you or shaking his head in displeasure? Have you ever felt condemned because you just don’t feel like you can ever live up to God’s standards?

Many of us were brought up under a crushing kind of religious fundamentalism, where God’s displeasure towards our sin was magnified at the expense of his mercy and grace. As a result, even through in our hearts we want to please the Lord, there is always this nagging suspicion that we simply don’t - and can’t - measure up.

I feel like this is something like what those are feeling who are passage is directed this morning. Isaiah 42 was written to Jewish exiles living in Babylon. They are exiles because in one way or another they failed in what God called them to do. At Mt. Sinai, after God delivered them from slavery in Egypt, they voluntarily entered into a covenant with God to be his special people, and this carried a calling to reflect him to the rest of the world. But sin kept them from fulfilling this calling. They couldn’t reflect God’s light to one another, much less the world. And to not be too harsh, I don’t think we would have done any better.

Because they didn’t fulfill their side of their covenant with God they find themselves exiled from their homes and living in a pagan land. And I have to image that as they now live under the yoke of a new oppressor that they have a crushing sense of shame and failure hanging over their head. It is precisely at this low point that God comes to comfort his people. To reassure them than he has not abandoned them. He does this by giving them a promise that he would raise up someone to come and do what they could not do themselves. Through this coming one their exile would be over and their shame removed. He’s saying to them, and now to us, that it’s time to kiss condemnation goodbye. The good news this morning is that Christ has come to do for you what you could never do for yourself.

The Servant

How will God reverse Israel’s fortunes? How will he remove their guilt and condemnation? He answers this question by point to one the Isaiah simply calls the Servant.

Read Isaiah 42:1-9

His identity

“Here is my Servant” This has the imagery of God pointing to someone. Isaiah doesn’t know who, but he knows the kind of person this Servant will be. He is someone who will be fully devoted to fulfilling God’s plan for humanity in a way Israel never could. Three times it is said that this servant will deliver justice to the nations. This isn’t just that he will correct wrongs, but that he will establish a kind of order where all of God’s good intentions for people will finally be realized. This justice is about human thriving.

The real wonder of this Servant, however, lies in the manner in which he will accomplish this. He will not be a military conqueror. The source of his strength will be the Spirit of God. The instrument of his rule will be the word of God. His manner will be gentle rather than overbearing, and there is a hint in verse 4 that this will involve personal suffering. This is the Servant who will fully please the Lord and cause him to delight.

His mission

Isaiah then focuses on the mission of this Servant. He is going to embody all that Israel was supposed to be and do. The servant is not just an ideal they should aspire to but a real person who is God’s answer to their weakness and failure. He will be both a covenant and a light to the world. As a covenant he will fulfill God’s creation purposes for human thriving. As a light he will perfectly point people to their creator. He will do this by opening blind eyes, freeing captives, and releasing those bound in darkness. This servant will undo all the degrading and condemning effects that sin has had on the human race and restore people to their true freedom and dignity as daughters and sons of God.

His hope

The passage ends with hope that God will write a new story. That the old story of darkness and shame and feeling of failure and condemnation will be put away, and a new story and new future are coming to pass. God is pointing them to the one who will be, on their behalf, what they could never be on their own.

Israel was supposed to be God’s Servant who would bring justice and light to the Gentiles. Because of sin they failed in this calling (as we would have too). How will the world see the light, and how will those who have tried and failed - who feel condemned - be restored?

Read Matthew 3:13-17

Here in startling detail is God’s long-awaited Servant. As Jesus comes up from the water, God identifies what was hidden to Isaiah - the Beloved Son in whom God is well pleased. Here is how God is rewriting our stories of shame and condemnation.

In his baptism, Jesus identifies with two things. First, he identifies with the Servant of Isaiah. Jesus is the embodiment of all Israel was to be and do. In fact, he does for Israel what they couldn’t. If you examine Jesus life in the Gospels you will see that he repeats Israel’s story, from their calling to their trials. But where they failed he succeeds. As the perfect servant he brings justice, light, sight and liberation, not just to Israel, but to us. To “fulfill all righteousness” means nothing less than the realization of God’s vision for humanity. Jesus is the new Israel.

But Jesus is also a new humanity. It is sometimes confusing as to why Jesus is baptized. John’s baptism was one of repentance for sin. Jesus we know had no sin, so why did he need to be baptized. Here is the second identification he makes. He identifies with us in our sin. In our shame. In our condemnation. In our own sense of failure and having let God down. At the cross Jesus takes all our sin and failure into himself - and releases us from it.

What this means for us - and for the world - is that we can kiss condemnation goodbye. The devil would have you living in this crushing guilt forever. But in his baptism, Jesus identifies with us and rewrite our story of failure and shame. In our baptism, we identify with his perfect life and atoning death. As we come up from the water of our baptism we hear God’s words echoed over us - here is my child, by beloved, in whom I am well pleased.

In Christ, God has fully removed your condemnation. Whatever failures you’ve had, they are buried under the water of baptism. And this One who has done all of this for you will now do it in you through the power of his Spirit. Jesus is rewriting your story.

If you never have, I want to invite you today to receive this forgiveness that comes through Jesus. Give him your sin and failure, give him your shame and guilt, ask him to forgive you and make you his child. (Next steps slide).

I don’t know if you are someone who carries a nagging sense of condemnation, but Jesus is telling you today to kiss it goodbye. If you are his child, he does not condemn you. He looks on you with love and delight. As the apostle Paul wrote, Romans 8:1 “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” As you walk into the new year, walk in your identity as a forgiven and beloved child of God. Christ does for you what you could never do for yourself.