On Assignment

Sermon: On Assignment

Isaiah 55:10-11; John 1:1-14

The Prophet speaks Poetically of the Law of Nature under divine assignment.

The Song writer speaks also of the Order of Nature following heavenly assignment.

As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,

So is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

is at work.

Walter Brueggemann speaks about the Faithfulness of God as reliable regularity in creation

reliable regularity

As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease

(Genesis 8:22).

Know that with the unfolding of the New Year there is a reliable regularity to be found in the Divine law over the natural order.

One more thing, this reliable regularity is performative

The Rain and the Snow perform, you can count on it.

The earth may be cleared, plowed, cultivated with fertilizer.

The earth may be seeded.

But the earth needs the reliable regularity of rain and snow to water the earth—to perform the needs for life.

VERSE 2 God of Your promise You don’t speak in vain No syllable empty or void For once You have spoken All nature and science Follow the sound of Your voice

That word from God’s mouth is performative; it does what it says.

It is not idle chatter (empty).

It is purposeful in the world.

But look at verse 11, and here too are the two dynamic elements that express the nature of God—Reliable Regularity and Performance.

Both are found in the Word of God over and human history.

As verse 10 points to that reliable regularity in creation, so verse 11 points to a very different reliability, one that is as sure as that of creation. In verse 11 it is the word of God’s mouth that is reliable.

Hebrew 4:12 says, “The Word of God is Living and Active(Quick and Powerful)”

Jesus said, “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.”

John 6:63

God’s Word has the Power to Perform.

God’s Word has the Agency for Activation.

These two dynamics:

God’s Word has Reliable Regularity and is Performative.

The Divine Assignment

BRIDGE If the stars were made to worship so will I If the mountains bow in reverence so will I If the oceans roar Your greatness so will I For if everything exists to lift You high so will I If the wind goes where You send it so will I If the rocks cry out in silence so will I If the sum of all our praises still falls shy Then we’ll sing again a hundred billion times

Jesus was born on assignment.

From the beginning of creation Jesus as the Word of God was on an assignment—enlightenment of humanity.

Mary said, “Let it be to me according to your word”. She was now on assignment.

VERSE 3 God of salvation You chased down my heart Through all of my failure and pride On a hill You created The light of the world Abandoned in darkness to die

Jesus’ birth and life represented the reliability of God—prophecy fulfilled and the perpetual reliable regularity is enforce with every seeker, every sinner, every believer, everyone who takes hold of the divine assignment for their lives.

John 1:12

In the context of the Creator’s faithfulness, the assignment of salvation is cast. The Logos tends to the harvesting of Human produce from the seeds of divine purpose and power.

He completed the work of Justification on the Cross—“the finished work of the Cross” bridged the gap between God and humanity.

o The Holy Spirit continues the assignment for our Sanctification

CHORUS 3 And as You speak A hundred billion failures disappear Where You lost Your life so I could find it here If You left the grave behind You so will I I can see Your heart in everything You’ve done Every part designed in a work of art called love If You gladly chose surrender so will I I can see Your heart Eight billion different ways Every precious one A child You died to save If You gave Your life to love them so will I

There are two elements required for an assignment:

The surrender of our will to the will of God. One must humble themselves and dedicate themselves The recognition of ourselves as a son or a daughter of God in service for others. The best sign of this is evidenced by the reality of God’s Spirit given to us to accomplish our assignment.

TAG Like You would again a hundred billion times But what measure could amount to Your desire You’re the One who never leaves the one behind

Bishop Desmond Tutu was a man on assignment.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu's daughter has joined those paying tribute to the late anti-apartheid hero, recalling the day he saved a young man from being burned alive as her "proudest moment".

Nontombi Naomi Tutu said she was shown video of a funeral on the outskirts of Johannesburg in July 1985, where mourners were beating and kicking a defenceless man as he lay on the ground, curled up in a foetal position.

He had been accused of being an apartheid collaborator at a time when South Africa was in a state of emergency and banned liberation parties, like the African National Congress, were trying to overthrow white minority rule.

The man was doused with petrol and moments away from being "necklaced" - the term used to describe having a tyre placed around your neck, doused with flammable liquid and then set alight - when Mr Tutu and other clergy stepped in to push back the mob.

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"To see that and to see him going in - there were so many things that were striking about it," Nontombi said outside the family residence in Cape Town.

"One was that he had the courage to go into the crowd and say: 'No, this is not how we do it.'

"But the other is that those young people listened, right, that there was a dignity in our struggle that these young people, they could have said: 'Who are you to tell us about these people who are selling us out.'

"But there was still that respect for who did it and the other clergy that, you know… Here are clergy people who are asking us to step back from this action.''

She added: "That is my proudest moment, that whenever I think what made me proud of Daddy, that is the thing that I always go to."

In his book, God Has a Dream: A Vision of Hope for Our Time, Tutu wrote:

"When we see others as the enemy, we risk becoming what we hate. When we oppress others, we end up oppressing ourselves. All of our humanity is dependent upon recognising the humanity in others."

In the same book, he wrote: "It is through weakness and vulnerability that most of us learn empathy and compassion and discover our soul."

The Divine Assignment entrust to us sets us free form the disappointing let-down of materialism, pursuit of earthly pleasures, human fame and false illusions of success.

· As those on assignment the purpose and power of God’s Word is at work in our lives.

· As those on assignment, our resource of human energy and drive is backup by refreshing fuel of heavenly waters, which like the rain in the summer and snow in the winter, refresh us in the changing seasons of our lives.

· As those on assignment, we become eyewitnesses to the new things that God is birthing in a world tilting toward lockdown and isolation.

· As those on assignment, we savor the wellbeing of those kept by an immunity fortified against all evil.

· As those on assignment, we can face a hellish world with courgage.