Who and How - Isaiah 50:4-11

Introduction

Many of you will remember the blizzard we experienced in 1993. A foot and a half of snow fell in Calhoun County. All I wanted to do was to play in the snow in the snow, but I had a problem. It was impossible! I was six years old, and I was short for my age. The snow was too deep for me to even take a step. So, my dad came out, and he made a path for me. Wherever he walked, it carved out the snow so that I could walk in those same steps. So, in one sense, dad enabled me to walk where it was impossible to once walk. In another sense, dad showed me where I could walk and not get stuck.

This helps us to understand the mission of Jesus. This is a main point of the Servant Songs that we’ve been looking at. On one hand, Jesus shows us who we’re supposed to be. He shows us how we’re supposed to carry ourselves, the devotion we’re to have in our relationship with God, and the way we’re to love other people. On the other hand, Jesus makes us possible for us to actually follow after him. He’s going to enable it. That is, on the one hand, He’s going to blaze a trail through the snow so that we can see where to go, and, on the other hand, He’s going to do all the work necessary to carve out the path so that we can actually follow in his footsteps.

God’s Word

That’s especially clear in the third Servant Song. You’ll notice that beginning in verse 10 that the Servant is talking about himself, and he begins talking to God’s people. He says: Isaiah 50:10 “Who among you fears the Lord and obeys the voice of his servant? Let him who walks in darkness and has no light trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God.” In other words, He’s turning to them and asking, will you follow me? Will you follow me through the path I’ve carved for you through the snow? Will you fear and obey the Lord? That’s who you’re supposed to be. And, will you walk through the darkness and trust him to see you through. That’s the how you’ll be able to do it. And so, we can see God’s Servant in verses 4-9 so that we can see The Who and How of Being God’s Servant: (Headline)

Servants “live” by the “word.”

There may be no single indicator more clear of our values than the dreams that we have for our children. We want for our children what we always wanted for ourselves, even — especially — if that want has gone unrealized. A child gets an ‘A’ on a math test, and we imagine them an engineer at NASA with a lucrative contract and a cushy job. They argue us into the ground and drive us crazy, and we think, “It’s okay. They’ll just be a lawyer suing the MAN for the little guy. After all, a lot of presidents were lawyers, too.”

What’s interesting is to read how different the aspirations are for God’s Son than they are for ours. His aspiration is to be a Servant. I wonder how many of us have a dream of servanthood for our kids. Yet, this is the aspiration that Jesus puts before us and calls us to — a servant who hangs on every word and every beckoning call of his Master. That’s how Jesus is described, and that’s where following Jesus will lead us.

He is “skilled” in the word.

Isaiah 50:4 “The Lord God has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with a word him who is weary. Morning by morning he awakens; he awakens my ear to hear as those who are taught.”

In, Jesus’ day, the men of the greatest intellect and ability were reserved for the study and teaching of the Scrolls. And, Jesus stood out among them. That’s what’s expected of this Servant whom the Lord has given “the tongue of those who are taught.” I think of the picture from Luke 2 when Jesus is 12 years old and his parents can’t find him anywhere. He was sitting in the Temple as a prepubescent boy, asking questions of the great teachers, and amazing them with his insight.

But, what stands out about Jesus’ teaching was to whom it was aimed and the effect it had. Notice that the teaching of this servant will “sustain with a word him who is weary.” Most of the teachers then — and now too — just stacked up law and tradition and lessons like bricks upon a person’s back. Their teachings and their standards and their traditions made you weary and tired trying to obey them. They were “how to do’s” and “what to do do’s.” But, Jesus’ teachings don’t make you weary. They sustain the weary. They don’t stack up like bricks on your back. They remove the burden of the Law. They don’t suck life out of you. They breathe life into you.

Now, we ought to ask for a second, why was his teaching so different? Certainly, the “Lord has given (him) the tongue of those who are taught.” But, the Scribes and Pharisees were learned, taught men too. The great difference is found in the last part of verse 4: “Morning by morning He awakens; he awakens my ear to hear as those who are taught.” The difference is the relationship that Jesus had with the word in comparison with the other leaders. Jesus is not just sustaining others with the word; He himself is being sustained by the word.

He is “sustained” by the word.

Isaiah 50:4 “The Lord God has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with a word him who is weary. Morning by morning he awakens; he awakens my ear to hear as those who are taught.”

The best servants don’t just know what their master has said. They actually love what He has said. They hang on every word because they want to hear it. That’s the picture of this Servant. Jesus is teaching all of the weary people around him to be sustained in the same way He is — “morning by morning” with his Father. His ministry, his teaching, his insight all flowed out of his fellowship with God.

These are the kinds of Servants that we need. Jesus gives us the vision. He shows us the path. We need more able teachers of God’s word. We need more people who know what God has said and how to explain it to people. But, we don’t need the types of teachers that heap the bricks of the law upon the back of the weary. We need teachers who fellowship with God themselves, “morning by morning,” who love God and what He’s said that can speak a word of hope to their weary wives. We need teachers in the homes than can breathe life into their children with the word of God. We need elders and teachers that unburden the weary people of the church with a message of grace and life. People who are sustained by the word can sustain others with the word. Are you this kind of servant? Do you meet with God so that everyone who meets with you can see him?

Servants “answer” when they’re “called.”

(Try to show an example video - “It’s hot on the bottom.”) On Tiktok (short videos for short attention spans), you come across these video trends of different people trying to do their own spin on the same caption. I got locked in on one talking about “gentle parenting.” So, you’ll have a mom who has resolved to be patient and calm with her kids. She’ll say, “Honey, would you please hand me that towel?” **No answer.** “Sweetheart, I’m sorry to bother you. Could you please grab that towel?” **Continues to stare at screen.** “Either hand me that stinking towel, or I’m going to make you swallow it.” **Scared, she hands over the towel.** “Thank you, Sweetie.”

It’s hard to maintain your composure with hard-headed children, isn’t it? You see, we’re the kids that don’t listen. That’s the narrative of Scripture. Our hands are burned, and our lives are ruined because we won’t listen to what God has said. That’s the context for this Servant Song.

In 50:2, God says of Israel: “When I called, there was no answer.” No one is listening. And, there’s going to be consequences, but God doesn’t lose his composure with his people. That’s what many of you expect. Instead, God sends them his Servant who will show them that listening, responding, serving is a better way. So, there’s a contrast in how we serve as hard-hearted children, and how God’s Son serves.

He “obeys” immediately.

Isaiah 50:5 “The Lord God has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious; I turned not backward.”

Very often, when a person is struggling with a great sin in their life or even a great frustration in their life, they will reach out to for your advice or counsel. And, in a large percentage of times, you could ask that person what the problem is and what they should do about it. Once they tell you, you can say back, “That seems very wise. You should do that.” But, they don’t. Our great deficit is not intellectual know-how. Our great deficit is obedience.

But, Jesus did not just know how to teach and what to say. Jesus did not just know what we should do. He actually did it. He was “not rebellious.” His heart “turned not backward.” He was committed to going exactly where the Lord would have him to go and to do exactly what the Lord would have him to do — even though it was a hard and agonizing obedience. His commitment was not to more analysis. It was not to more information. It was not to more contemplation. His commitment was to obey his master wherever He would send him as soon as He would say it — even unto a cross.

And, the cross is what’s in view here, isn’t it? That’s when his back is struck. That when the beard is ripped from his cheeks. That’s when the spit of men was mixed with his own blood. That’s when onlookers might say He is a “disgrace.” You see, it’s the cross that teaches us the extent and costs of Christian servanthood. Because Jesus was not compelled by men with swords to the cross. Jesus was not compelled by soldiers. Jesus was compelled to the hard obedience of the cross by his love for his Father. That’s why He “gave (his) back and (his) his cheeks.” He was obeying and in obedience...

He “endures” willingly.

Isaiah 50:6 “I gave my back to those who strike, and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard; I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting.”

A servant’s willingness is a measure of their attitude toward their master. We all recognize the difference between compulsory obedience and willing obedience. One is a mark of survival. The other is a mark of love and devotion. When the Servant “gave” his back and “gave” his cheeks it was because He loved his Father’s glory more than He loved the skin on his back or his honor before men. His allegiance was not to his standard of living or to his lifestyle or to his preferred life; his allegiance was to the Lord — because He loved Him.

Where is the deficit in your obedience? Where is that you know God is calling you that you’re refusing to go? Oh, that God would open our ears! Oh, that we’d give our backs to him! Oh, that we’d forsake our honor before men for our love before God!

Servants “depend” upon their “Lord.”

A few years ago, I was meeting with someone who was visiting our church but had adopted some very aberrant views of the Bible. She had graduated from the Bethel School of Ministry, and she had graduated as a universalist. She believed that all of us were born with a divine essence and that we are not fundamentally sinner. Christians — according to her — most fully realize the implications of their divine essence now but everyone will someday realize in eternity. I explained that this seems to make the cross cruel and unnecessary, as Jesus’ death was not needed in this scenario for salvation. To my surprise, she exclaimed, “Exactly right!” So, I asked her why he was crucified, and she said, “To show us an example of who we’re supposed to be.” But, as I told her, if that is the purpose of Christ, it is an oppressive one, not a liberating one. Who could measure up to Christ’s example?

You see, the primary reason that the Servant came was not to just show you who you were supposed to be but to actually make it possible. Jesus isn’t a measuring stick by which you see how close to heaven YOU can get. Jesus is gate through whom you enter that provides the means to walk down the narrow path. He shows you the path in the snow, and He carves it out so you can actually walk it.

Twice — once in verse 7 and once in verse 9 — the Servant says that “the Lord God helps me.” That’s how the Servant is able to be the Servant He’s called to be, and because of Jesus, this is the same “help” that’s offered to us. Notice the implications of the “the Lord’s help.”

He lives without “fear.”

Isaiah 50:7-8 “But the Lord God helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame. He who vindicates me is near. Who will contend with me? Let us stand up together. Who is my adversary? Let him come near to me.”

Notice the way that the Servant frames up his fearlessness with the help of God. “I have not been disgraced.” “I know that I will not be put to shame.” That’s interesting, isn’t it? The great fear being combatted here is not a fear of death. It’s a fear of “shame.” It’s a fear of everyone else measuring his life and determining that he was a loser and a failure. That’s our greatest fear, isn’t it? Our greatest fear is that our kids and our families and our churches and our coworkers and our churches will determine that we are without honor. That we are losers and failures.

And, this great fear comes into conflict with the cross-shaped life we’ve been called toward. To live for a God our friends can’t see appears as craziness. To hold to an ethic that was formed thousands of years ago seems out-of-touch. To die while you live so that you can live once you die seems like the surest way to a wasted life.

But, we have a Savior that says he has a “face like a flint.” He has an iron jaw. He motions for all on comers who would attack him to come on and bring it. He’s fearless. (What great news that we have a fearless Savior!) Bring on the demons. Bring on the Spiritual warfare. He’s not afraid of the devil. Satan isn’t picking on Jesus. Jesus doesn’t flinch. He says to bring on the cross. And, He’s not just telling what we’re supposed to do, but how we’re to do it.

How? We recognize that we have God’s help. We recognize what the Servant recognizes that with God on his side....

He lives without “loss.”

Isaiah 50:9 “Behold, the Lord God helps me; who will declare me guilty? Behold, all of them will wear out like a garment; the moth will eat them up. ”

It’s the echoes of Romans 8. “Who brings a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies! If God is for me, who can stand against me? You see, the judgements of men will have the same fate as the men who give them — they’ll be eaten by worms. Moths will lay waste to them all. But, the judgement of God will stand forever. You may lose honor before men, but you’ve only lost something that was going to waste away anyway.

On the cross, it only looks like Jesus has lost. Hard obedience to God often looks this way. But, when Sunday comes and the stone is rolled away, what once appeared as a loss becomes the vehicle of glory and victory. There are no final losses with God.

Here’s what the Servant reminds us of: Life with God looks impossible. It looks like you lose and lose and lose. It looks impossible to raise your kids the way that God says. It looks impossible to be content the way God says. It looks impossible to be as generous and as patient and kind as God says. But, here’s the paradox: Life with God looks impossible, but life without God is impossible. You can go exactly where you choose and you can do exactly what you choose and you can have exactly what you want, and all your left with is moth holes and worm food. It amounts to nothing but a gaping hole in our soul.

But, what the Servant promises us and what Jesus proves to us is that He came to help us live this impossible life. He carved the path and showed us the steps. And then, He sent the Spirit to help us every step. So, live fearlessly in obedience to God because with him, you can’t lose.