Yahweh's Family on Mission
Notes
Transcript
Handout
How is your family living on mission?
This sermon will explore three principles from Isaiah’s family for living on mission as a family.
See if you can pick them out as I read Isaiah 7:3 and Isaiah 8.
And the Lord said to Isaiah, “Go out to meet Ahaz, you and Shear-jashub your son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Washer’s Field.
Then the Lord said to me, “Take a large tablet and write on it in common characters, ‘Belonging to Maher-shalal-hash-baz.’ And I will get reliable witnesses, Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah, to attest for me.”
And I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. Then the Lord said to me, “Call his name Maher-shalal-hash-baz; for before the boy knows how to cry ‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria.”
The Lord spoke to me again: “Because this people has refused the waters of Shiloah that flow gently, and rejoice over Rezin and the son of Remaliah, therefore, behold, the Lord is bringing up against them the waters of the River, mighty and many, the king of Assyria and all his glory. And it will rise over all its channels and go over all its banks, and it will sweep on into Judah, it will overflow and pass on, reaching even to the neck, and its outspread wings will fill the breadth of your land, O Immanuel.”
Be broken, you peoples, and be shattered;
give ear, all you far countries;
strap on your armor and be shattered;
strap on your armor and be shattered.
Take counsel together, but it will come to nothing;
speak a word, but it will not stand,
for God is with us.
For the Lord spoke thus to me with his strong hand upon me, and warned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying: “Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. But the Lord of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. And he will become a sanctuary and a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many shall stumble on it. They shall fall and be broken; they shall be snared and taken.”
Bind up the testimony; seal the teaching among my disciples. I will wait for the Lord, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him. Behold, I and the children whom the Lord has given me are signs and portents in Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion. And when they say to you, “Inquire of the mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter,” should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living? To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn. They will pass through the land, greatly distressed and hungry. And when they are hungry, they will be enraged and will speak contemptuously against their king and their God, and turn their faces upward. And they will look to the earth, but behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish. And they will be thrust into thick darkness.
What is the first principle we observed in the text?
Isaiah is modeling living on mission by taking Shear-jashub with him to speak with Ahaz in Isaiah 7:3.
Do you think it made logical sense to take his son with him?
We all know that if productivity is the goal, it is easier to do it yourself.
Do you think it was safe to take his son to speak with the evil king Ahaz?
It was not! His life and Shear-jashub's life were in danger, yet they did not let fear of Ahaz dictate their actions. They regarded God as holy and obeyed him rather than caving to their fear of man or circumstances.
The principle, then, is to model living on mission by having your children join you in the mission.
What is the second principle we observed in the text?
Isaiah is modeling Yahweh of hosts as holy by having him dictate his actions, rather than the fear of man or circumstances in Isaiah 8:11-17.
Isaiah is modeling viewing God in proper perspective so that he can wait and hope in Yahweh.
I am sure that as soon as Isaiah’s kids could reason, they questioned their names - Shear-jashub and Maher-shalal-hash-baz. Isaiah would then explain how they, as a family, are obeying God. Thus, they are living examples to Israel and Judah - a reminder that God knows the future and will do what he has determined.
Are you modeling this for your family?
Are you taking the time to explain to your children how the decision you made is a result of having God in proper perspective?
Are you choosing to make decisions as a family that are living on mission?
What is the third principle we observed in the text?
Isaiah is modeling relying on the trustworthiness of God’s word by living it out with his family, so that they are signs and portents in Isaiah 8:18-20.
Paul reflects this idea in 2 Corinthians 3:2–3.
You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all. And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
A family on mission for Yahweh is a living letter to the world. That letter is clearest when we are living in a relationship with Jesus, according to his word. Then Jesus, the light of the world, shines in our darkness, and then shines through us to be a conduit of his light to the world, thus making us signs and portents to the lost.
Church, may we be families on mission for Yahweh.
Modeling ministry for our children by doing it together.
Modeling Yahweh of hosts as holy by having him dictate our actions rather than the fear of man or circumstances.
Modeling relying on the trustworthiness of God’s word, by living it out in our families, so that we are signs and portents.
Go live as a family on mission for Yahweh.
