Isaiah 40:1-11

Intro

Good Morning y’all,

It’s a good day here at the FBC Gray.

We have our Christmas cantata tonight, which I hope y’all will come back for tonight.

And just before we get in to it, I want to say thank you for letting me preach in here on Sunday morning.

I appreciate how you have loved my family and I. And I love how you as a church love student ministry.

We could not do what we do over there with out your support. So thank you.

But let’s get in to it.

So

If you know me very well, you will know that I am not a huge country music fan, at least what ever the new stuff is. It’s just not my jam for the most part.

But I do like some of it, and appreciate the art style.

Country music has always done a really good job of capturing the American spirit. Always been uniquely position to act as a mirror to what middle class working folks are experiencing. I think now a days, that has not been the case, it’s more about creating a pop song using country music buzz words.

But, in 1999, the great american poets Brooks and Dunn wrote a song

and when I say this song title, don’t tune me out.

Cause they really captured how we are all feeling to some degree.

But Brooks and Dunn in their seminal work Beer Thirty, —— they really captured how we are all feeling.

and let me first qualify, that I’m not advocating for their method of coping, but if you listen to that song, it taps in to something that all of feel.

It’s the inner thoughts of a regular working man who can’t wait to stop working.

but there is a line in there that I think truly captures how all of us feel.

It goes, “I put in my forty, I’m going home. Lord my get up, has got up and gone.”

And I love that line, because, its us, we are a people who are constantly tired, constantly working, we are more stressed than we ever have been. almost Everyone I know deals with anxiety on some level.

We are over worked, over stimulated, needing something to bring us back down.

Need some sort of outlet for our stress and all around tiredness.

If i were to take a poll right now who in the last week or two, I’m tired. Who has gotten to friday and just been like I’m tired.

Who has woken up on Monday and been like, I’m tired.

All of us, and we are all looking for a way to not be tired, we are looking for fulfillment.

we are all seeking rest, we just don’t know how to get it. And we are all trying different methods.

CS Lewis says this in Mere Christianity,

“all that we call human history—— is the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy.”

We are a weary people, but we are the ones who know the ultimate truth. That hope has come.

Especially in this season of Advent, we get to celebrate the coming of a child who would save us all.

That is where we are going to be this morning.

Looking at the words of Isaiah. Looking at this passage of comfort.

So If you have a bible, open up to Isaiah 40:1-11. If not there is one in the pew right there, if you don’t have a bible at home take that bible with you, we want you to have the word in front of you.

Kids, your words are comfort, word, and proclaim

So Isaiah 40:1-11, let read this together but before we do that, Lets pray for our time in the word.

Pray

Okay, read this with me, Isaiah 40:1-11

Isaiah 40:1–11 ESV

1 Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. 2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins. 3 A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4 Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. 5 And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” 6 A voice says, “Cry!” And I said, “What shall I cry?” All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. 7 The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows on it; surely the people are grass. 8 The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. 9 Go on up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news; lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, “Behold your God!” 10 Behold, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. 11 He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.

Context

SO what are we looking here?

The book of Isaiah is big book, with a good bit of prophecy in it, but also some history of the Hebrew people.

So what I want you to see is this comes right after a passage of a conversation and prophecy of Isaiah.

Isaiah was friend and prophet of King Hezekiah.

so in the previous chapter, chapter 39, right before this. Isaiah tells about these envoys from the king of Babylon, the most powerful empire in the world at the time.

King of Babylon sent envoys to the King of Juda and King Hezekiah invites them in a shows them around. Scripture says this,

Isaiah 39:2 ESV

2 And Hezekiah welcomed them gladly. And he showed them his treasure house, the silver, the gold, the spices, the precious oil, his whole armory, all that was found in his storehouses. There was nothing in his house or in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them.

so, Isaiah comes up to to King Hezekiah and asks, “hey what’d those men want?”

and the King says, oh they just wanted to see what all we had, so I showed them everything i could possibly think of and told them how strong we are and showed them what sort of militray tech we have and all the good things we have. Why?

And I feel like Isaiah is just looking and King Hezekiah just slack-jawed, like, “bro what’d you do that for? That was dumb.”

Cause why do you think they were there? They wanted to see what they had, so they could come and take it.

It’s like if the IRS shows up at your door, they’re not there for a friendly visit. They’re there to see what you got.

So Isaiah dumbfounded says this to his King, Is 39:5-7

Isaiah 39:5–7 ESV

5 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the Lord of hosts: 6 Behold, the days are coming, when all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up till this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the Lord. 7 And some of your own sons, who will come from you, whom you will father, shall be taken away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.”

so what is Isaiah saying, he prophesying the Babylonian captivity that is coming, not too long after this, Babylon is going to show up not with envoys, but with armies.

They are going to conquer, and destroy, and take with them all of the good and people of Juda back to to Babylon.

and this is where we find our text this morning, it is a prophecy of comfort for the weary people of Israel. Who are captive to Babylon, who have found no rest, who’s lives are lived in the fast paced place of Babylon. Where money and power are the true gods. Where the king does not fear the lord. Where rest is seldom had.

Here we see Isaiah giving a word of hope for the people. That there is coming a time when the Lord will give them rest.

Comfort for the people - the lord does the heavy lifting for us

Look how it starts.

Comfort, comfort for my people.

Comfort is repeated to show the assurance that, comfort is coming.

This is he end of the captivity, the warfare is over, the punishment is over.

They are tired and broken, and need to lord.

They next few verses are this imagery of the Lord making the way easy to come back to him.

Look at what it say, in the wilderness,

prepare,

the desert shall be like a highway, the earth made level. mountains brought down, valleys brought up.

Look at this. What has every other culture, religion, belief system said?

It is up to you to get to God, it is up to you to work your way to heaven. It is your job to do for the deity.

But look at this who is doing the heavy lifting? God is, literally moving heaven and earth for his people to be with him.

Saying I am the one who goes before and makes the way.

And what’s wild, after being there, after seeing the desert, after walking in the mountains, after experiencing the environment of Israel, it is a rugged place.

There were a couple spots where if we had misstepped too much, we were going to fall off a cliff. if we were not careful, we would die.

In our lives, the Lord is the one who walks before us and makes a way. Without him, we will die.

The lord does the heavy lifting when it comes to our relationship.

Because He is the only one who can do that.

and listen church, this is comfort for us as well.

Look at us,

we are a tired and broken people, we can’t make it up the mountain, we can’t make it out of the valley on our own.

This is a word of comfort to his people.

The war is over, captivity is over, time to come back home.

The word, the logos is for ever. God’s word literally create. - James 1:11

And Isaiah is telling them, come back, do not forget who it is who brought you back.

Don’t forget who is faithful, don’t forget who is going to remain? This passage gives us a famous verse, Is 40:8

Isaiah 40:8 ESV

8 The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.

Everything in this life will fade, except for the ultimate, except for He who can create at a word. The Word of God will stand.

That word there for stand, in the hebrew is “to stay fixed, to endure.”

The word will endure because the Lord is faithful.

So I don’t know if you saw as you came in this morning, we got new signs for the church, out from the “Get Connected” sign is gone, the light up sign/lighting rod is gone.

Now what we have is a super clean, timeless looking sign. Simple, tells you what is here.

Its a good change.

Now, i know last time I preached in here, I made some veiled allusions to some upcoming church change.

That change has since come and is in the beginning stages of implementation.

I also know that the change was not unanimous, and that’s okay.

Change can be uneasy,

it’s a whole lot easier to not change than to change.

It’s like going to the gym, just a lot easier to stay at home.

But one of the little details about the sign that I like, is at the bottom of the sign, it says, est. 1905.

1905 was a while ago.

Think about that for a second, 1905, pre-ww1, there was a church here, worshiping the Lord.

During WW1, there was a church here worshiping the Lord.

During the Great Depression, there was a church here, worshipping the Lord.

During WW2, there as a church here worshiping the Lord.

During the Cold War, there was a church here worshiping the Lord.

During Rise of the Internet, there was a church here worshiping the Lord,

During the Economic Boom of the 90’s there was a church here worshiping the Lord,

During 9/11, there was a church here worshiping the Lord.

During the Wars in the Middle East there was a church here worshipping the Lord.

During Covid, there was a church here worshipping the Lord.

During what ever else is coming down the track.

There has been and is going to be a church here worshipping the Lord.

And heres why, all of those people who were here in 1905, they’re dead. I checked on realm, they’re dead.

But you know who was here, The Lord.

The Lord is the one who is the constant. That 1905 is a testament to the Lord’s faithfulness. IF he has ben faithful through all of that, He won’t stop being faithful now.

The Lord has been faithful, is faithful, and will continue to be faithful to a church here worshipping the Lord.

“The Grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of out God will stand for ever. “

John 1:14 (ESV)

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us,

Christ is the one who sustains us, Christ is the one who endures.

Proclaim the good news advent

So I love how Isaiah ends this passage, this is the whole thing.

He gives us a picture of a shepherd gathering and carrying his Lambs.

I love this image.

right now we are in this season of Advent, and during this season, we look to the coming of a child.

He comes as the lowest of lowly people, a child, born in a manger, born in what is possibly a cave.

The first people told are shepherds, tending the flock.

But heres the thing, we only get to celebrate advent because the boy born, would grow up to be the one who died for us all.

He would become the shepherd who picks us up and carries us home. And that we get to proclaim as the good news.

P2Christ - Follow me not rules to be kept, but a savior to become like

So here is what I want us to see, because this is the picture of this passage this morning.

God is moving heaven and earth, God is faithfully bringing his people home.

Faithfully carrying the flock.

and for us, we are live in a time where all of this has come true, not just in a historical since, the people of Israel returned from captivity.

The Lord brought them back, an destroyed the babylonians. Just as Isaiah prophesied.

But in an even more true, more ultimate reality, this passage has come true in the person and work of Jesus.

In Christ we have the word become flesh, defeating death, and now ruling and reigning on the throne.

In Christ we have our savior and lord on the throne.

This is what he asks of us. Follow me.

So what does it mean to follow Jesus?

Tim graciously read this passage earlier, but I want to read it again but from a different translation. this is from the message, and I love how it really hits us in the world we currently live in, in the times we live in.

Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.

Who in here is worn out? I asked earlier, whose tired? for some of us, we are getting burned out on religion.

Jesus says, come to me, follow me.

A lot of the time, — most of the time — when it comes to our walk with the lord, we love to dilute and distill everything Jesus taught in to a list of rules to do, boxes to check, things to do and not do.

I am guilty of this, all of us, are probably also guilty of this.

It’s a natural way for us to think. at the end of the day, western culture has made us all problem solvers and pragmatists. It’s just the time and place we live in.

Not your fault. It is wired in to our culture.

Look what Jesus says, “come to me all who are weary and I will give you rest.”

Not come to me and i’ll show you how to have the perfect quiet time.

Or come to me and ill give you seven things to live your best life now.

Come to me and I will give you rest.

Who is doing the action there?

Jesus.

We are just showing up. Come to me and I will give you myself.

So what is our responsibility when we show up then?

It’s to follow Him. It’s to go where he goes, do what he does, and be about what He is about.

I’ve loved this sermon series that Randy has done about how to read the bible.

Because it reminds that scripture is not an academic pursuit. That our time in the word is our time with Jesus.

That when we read scripture, read it not as facts and history, it is those things, but read it as an example to be emulated, read it as a story that gives us life more than a to do list.

This christian life is not a list of rules to kept, but a savior to become like.

Think about it, how did you become like anything? But surrounding yourself in things that make you like it.

one of the cools things about being Dad is watching Price learn to talk has been a cool thing, she talks like crazy, she is probably pretty advanced in her social language skills, and we think it is because it’s who she’s around, it’s these students really. When she’s here, she’s with them, learning from them, kinda becoming like them. And I love it. She’s developing to be like who she is around.

and it’s true for all of us, if you want to know what you’re going to be like in 5 years, look who you are surrounded by, that’s who you will become.

In 5 years you will be who you are right now except for the books you read and the people you are around.

It’s who we are, that is why the christian life is set up the way it is.

So take that and run with it, here is how we become like Jesus, do what he does, when you read scripture, read it as an example to followed.

What did Jesus practice? Prayer, Sabbath, Scripture, Witness.

Practice these things, become like Him.

The culture that we live in makes it hard for us to do these things.

Scripture says that we are supposed to live differently from this world. And in the last 100 years we have boiled that down to cheese Christian t-shirts.

But if you want to be counterculture in this world.

Go to work tomorrow and change how you structure your week, so that when Saturday or Sunday comes, you can Sabbath. Don’t have your phone, leave the TV off, football is over til after Christmas anyways. Slow down. Rest, enjoy Christ, and enjoy your family. Rest.

You want to be counter cultural, tell the world that once a week you are going to slow down. and not buy in to the business of the world.

Tell the hustle culture we live in that you are going to rest.

See if your coworkers don’t ask you how that is? try it.

Then, when we follow Jesus, show others how to also follow Jesus.

This passage here, in Isaiah, is a passage of comfort for the people of God.

Not comfort in a worldly way, but comfort in an ultimate way, comfort that gives you life. Comfort that lasts in the uncomfortable.

Because here is the other reality of following Jesus.

It is going to be uncomfortable at times, the world we live in, is rejecting Jesus daily.

But we are called to be a beacon of hope, a beacon of light in this dark world.

This passage gives us the image of a shepherd carrying the flock home.

Church we are looking towards that day, we are looking for when Christ comes and brings us in to the kingdom.

That is comfort for us, but it is not comfort for those who are not in the flock.

It is not comfort for those who are not one of the sheep.

He will not carry you home, but you will be like the grass and the flower that fade at his word, that are raked up and thrown in the fire.

So right now, what I want to do is invite you in to the kingdom, invite you in to the family.

If you have never come to know Christ as Lord. If Christ is not Lord, I want to invite you in the kingdom.

Invite you in to find eternal comfort, to fine rest that gives you life. Find a steadfastness of contentment in this life that can be found in no other but the King of Kings and Lord of Lords that we get to call father.

I’m going to pray here in second and I want you to answer the question, do I know Christ? Not did I grow up in church, but do I know Christ, as savior and Lord, not one or the other, but both.

I’m gonna pray, and we are gonna sing, and if you’ve answered that question, come talk to me.

Come see Christ as Lord come see Christ as king.

Pray with me.