See, Hear, Understand

Android vs iPhone

This is it folks. This is the sermon. This is the message that will go down in history as the time I finally address the Android vs iPhone debate. To make sure I had my facts right, I went to Best Buy’s website and did a side by side comparison of a Google Pixel 8, a Samsung Galaxy S23, and an iPhone 15 - the most recent model of each phone in its standard configuration.

Android had bigger screens, more RAM, better rear-facing cameras, better average battery life, and a more affordable price point.

The iPhone has an iconic logo on the back . . . I guess.

I could also address how much more flexibility there is with Android phones, how you can adjust what phone you get to more directly reflect how you use it, how often Apple advertises ‘new’ features that Android had released years prior, and the fact that they didn’t need the threat of legal action to standardize charging cables or enable users to fix their phones.

Now, I know that many of you are iPhone users how many of you heard all of the words that just came out of my mouth? Alright, good, now how many of you are going to get an Android the next time you need a new phone? Now, in the interest of fairness, the same could be said for me. You could give me a hundred reasons to get an iPhone (I don’t know where you’d get 100 reasons, but hypothetically) and my next phone would still not have the forbidden fruit on the back. You see! This is what Isaiah is talking about, keep on hearing but do not understand.

Limitation

Well, it’s kinda what Isaiah is talking about. It one illustration of how limited our ability to genuinely understand and perceive things are. Our relationship with reality seems to be subject to our own desire to keep up a certain image or our own pride or any number of other sins. Another way to illustrate this is up here on the screens. Can anybody tell me what this picture is of? No, of course you can’t. You don’t have the perspective, you don’t have the full image - you can see but you simply do not have the ability to perceive what this is.

And this was how God described the people. He warned the people would keep hearing without understanding, that they would keep seeing without perceiving. This is our reality when we’re left to our own devices. We cannot understand anything about God, we cannot understand His plan, we cannot understand what is right and what is wrong. On our own, we cannot turn and be healed. On our own, we are men and women of unclean lips and we dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. And if we go before God, the Father Almighty, as we are we would be lost.

Declaration

But when Isaiah was in this position in the temple, surrounded by the holiness of God, an angel flew down to him. He took a burning coal from the altar and touched it to Isaiah’s mouth and Isaiah was declared clean.

In the same way, God declares you and I to be clean. God declares that we are righteous. It is not that we were suddenly able to put the pieces together, it’s not that we figured out the clues and came to our senses, it’s not that we deserved it - because we didn’t. It’s just like with this picture - you can stare at it all night long and you aren’t going to suddenly figure it out. But if I show you what it is a picture of, then you see. In the same way, the Holy Spirit shows us the way and by faith we see the truth of who God is, we understand the depth of His love for us, and we perceive what Jesus has accomplished on the cross. Isaiah is declared clean when the coal touches his lips, and we are declared clean when the Holy Spirit worked faith in our hearts, we are declared clean each and every time the absolution is spoken - your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for - all because of the baby, lying in a manger all those years ago.

Set Goals

And God has so much more for us than that. His gifts are incredible and there is always something more to understand, something more to perceive, something more to brighten our hearts. And I would like to challenge you this Christmas, as we remember and celebrate Jesus coming to earth for us, to set goals for growing closer to Him. I want you to set four goals and I want you to email them to me or to your elder so that someone can be a source of accountability for you.

Set a goal for how many Sundays each month you will be here in worship - make the shift from once or twice a month to three or four times a month.

Set a goal for how many days a week you will be in devotion - how many days you will be intentionally reading God’s Word.

Set a goal for how often you will pray.

Set a goal for how much you will give - make the shift from 1% to 2% or from 5% to 10%

Set goals to establish these habits that will help you to hear and understand, to see and perceive, and to fully appreciate everything that Jesus has done for you and everything He has called you to be.

Merry and Bright

And when we do things like those, when we strive to grow in how much we understand and perceive about God, we start to carry Christmas with us a little more. Because the joy that comes from our faith, the joy that comes from our forgiveness is no longer something we just celebrate once a year. It starts to be something that is always on our minds, something that is always putting a smile on our faces, something that is always putting hope in our hearts. Christmas gives us a chance to celebrate God coming down to be with us, but you and I know that it wasn’t just for a day. Christ lived His life with people, and the Holy Spirit lives with us every day. And when we begin to hear and understand and see and perceive everything that God has done for us every single day, all of our days can be merry and bright and we can, in some sense at least, celebrate Christmas every day. Amen.