Choosing Your Light - Isaiah 50

©July 17th, 2022 by Rev. Rick Goettsche SERIES: Isaiah

Surely you have had the experience of going to an ice cream shop where they have dozens of different flavor combinations as well as different things you can mix into your ice cream. If you’re like me, this is a wonderful experience where you get the chance to order whatever it is you are feeling like that day. But for some people, having all those choices is overwhelming. If you’ve ever been with a child when they have their first experience with such a place, you’ve likely seen this in action. The sheer number of choices tends to overwhelm most children, and they don’t know what to choose. Sometimes they just choose the first one they see. Wise parents usually anticipate this and give the child just a couple options they know they’ll like. It tends to make life a bit easier for everyone!

In many ways, choosing the direction of our lives is much the same way. There is a seemingly endless number of voices that call out for our attention. Everyone seems to have a philosophy of life to convince us of, or worse, they have something to sell us. Often, we struggle to figure out what is worth our time and energy, and what is not.

In our passage this morning, Isaiah speaks prophetically about the Messiah. In it, he shows us that the Lord’s promised Servant navigated this difficult aspect of life perfectly. As we look at His example today, we should not only learn about who Jesus is, but we should also be reminded of how we should make the decisions of our life.

Israel’s Charge

This morning, we turn our attention to Isaiah chapter 50. The first part of Isaiah 50 records the Lord’s response to Israel during the Babylonian captivity. As you might expect, they felt as though God had abandoned them and turned His back on them. Listen to how God responds to that charge.

This is what the Lord says: “Was your mother sent away because I divorced her? Did I sell you as slaves to my creditors? No, you were sold because of your sins. And your mother, too, was taken because of your sins. 2 Why was no one there when I came? Why didn’t anyone answer when I called? Is it because I have no power to rescue? No, that is not the reason! For I can speak to the sea and make it dry up! I can turn rivers into deserts covered with dying fish. 3 I dress the skies in darkness, covering them with clothes of mourning.” (Isaiah 50:1-3, NLT)

The Lord asks some rhetorical questions to drive home His point that He had not abandoned them. He first asks if their mother was sent away because He divorced her. The clear answer is no. He uses the analogy of filing for divorce to drive home the point that He is not the reason for the distance between himself and Israel. In essence, the Lord was saying, I didn’t divorce you—you chose to leave me!

Similarly, He asks if He sold them as slaves because He was in debt. Again, the answer is a resounding, No! The Lord cannot be in debt to anyone, so that also can’t be the reason Israel feels distant from God. He makes it very clear that it is not He who abandoned Israel, but Israel who abandoned Him.

After addressing Israel’s charges against Him, the Lord asks some questions of them. Specifically He asks why no one answered Him when He called. Surely it is not because He had no power to rescue them. He points to His own power to dry up the sea, to turn rivers into deserts, and to turn blue skies to darkness. The Lord is reminding the people of Israel who He is. They have abandoned Him, and so this time of trial is intended to bring them back to Him, to remind them in whom they should place their trust.

As Dad mentioned last week, sometimes difficult times come into our lives to remind us that we have strayed. Rather than turning our backs on the Lord in those times, the wise course is to run to Him. We should examine our lives to see where we have strayed and what God might be trying to teach us. Difficult times often help us learn lessons we might otherwise never learn. If we turn away from the Lord in those times, we only hurt ourselves.

The Servant

After the Lord addresses Israel’s charges against Him, the tone of the passage shifts. Now, we see the Lord’s Servant speaking about Himself. As we read them, we can see how they are fulfilled in Jesus’ life on earth.

4 The Sovereign Lord has given me his words of wisdom, so that I know how to comfort the weary. Morning by morning he wakens me and opens my understanding to his will. 5 The Sovereign Lord has spoken to me, and I have listened. I have not rebelled or turned away. 6 I offered my back to those who beat me and my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard. I did not hide my face from mockery and spitting. 7 Because the Sovereign Lord helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore, I have set my face like a stone, determined to do his will. And I know that I will not be put to shame. 8 He who gives me justice is near. Who will dare to bring charges against me now? Where are my accusers? Let them appear! 9 See, the Sovereign Lord is on my side! Who will declare me guilty? All my enemies will be destroyed like old clothes that have been eaten by moths! (Isaiah 50:4-9, NLT)

These verses tell us a great deal about the Messiah, and with the benefit of hindsight, we see how they are fulfilled in the life of Jesus. In the first few verses, the Servant describes how the Lord has given Him words of wisdom and daily guides Him into His will. Throughout Jesus’ ministry, He spoke in a way that no one else did. Jesus’ words had an authority the teachers of His day didn’t have. He spoke with a power, insight, and clarity that caused His words to stand apart from everyone else. We can see that even today because people still quote Jesus, often without even realizing it. The reason Jesus’ words are timeless is because He was speaking the words of wisdom given to Him by the Lord.

But not only did Jesus speak on behalf of the Lord, verse 5 tells us that He listened to the Lord. Jesus did something no other human being did. He lived in absolute obedience to the Lord. Jesus was perfect in everything He did. Because He lived a perfect life, He was uniquely qualified to offer himself as our perfect sacrifice.

And that’s what He says in verse 6. He says He offered his back to those who beat Him and his cheeks to those who pulled out His beard. He says he did not hide from mockery and spitting. All these words were fulfilled literally at His crucifixion, but they are also symbolic of the disgrace Jesus experienced at the hands of evil men throughout His ministry. What is striking is that Jesus offered himself to these things. Jesus could have stopped the evil and disgrace at any time with a word, but He willingly allowed himself to be subjected to these things, because He knew what it would accomplish.

Jesus knew that evil would not prevail, but that God would vindicate Him. As such, He says he set his face like stone—in other words, He became hardened in His resolve to do the Lord’s will, no matter what the world did to Him, because He knew doing God’s will would ultimately turn out for good.

It is a testament to God’s sovereignty that the greatest injustice ever carried out (the execution of the only innocent man, Jesus, and the sinless One taking on our sin) was used to accomplish the greatest good. Through Jesus’ offering of himself, God effected the salvation of many, including you and me. If you ever find yourself doubting that God can bring good out of evil, you need look no further than the cross.

Though these verses are speaking specifically of Jesus, they also have a good reminder to us, which is that when we serve the Lord, we will be attacked by the world.

There is a group of people who preach that if you are doing the Lord’s will, then nothing bad should ever happen to you. If you do what God wants you to do, then you will be spared of sickness, you will be made wealthy, and life will be easy for you. But these verses show us how untrue that notion is. Jesus did exactly what God told Him to, yet the world attacked Him.

Jesus told His disciples the same thing would happen to them as well.

Do you remember what I told you? ‘A slave is not greater than the master.’ Since they persecuted me, naturally they will persecute you. And if they had listened to me, they would listen to you. (John 15:20, NLT)

This should serve as both an encouragement and an indictment to us. The encouragement is that when we face persecution, we should not be surprised or dismayed. In fact, we should be driven to the Lord that much more strongly. But the indictment comes from the fact that if we are not being persecuted, it may be because we are refusing to speak the truth.

Christians today often remain silent about our faith because we know the world will attack us for what we believe. The world says the Christian faith is bigoted and close-minded. This is not a new charge. People have been attacking the Lord ever since the sin entered the world. Sadly, we often choose to remain silent rather than endure persecution for speaking the truth.

Let me be clear, our goal is not to offend people. We should love the world around us, we should be kind and gentle. We shouldn’t be harsh. But we should also speak the truth in love. It isn’t loving to tell people that they are doing ok when they are destined for hell. It isn’t loving to tell people that it doesn’t matter what they believe, because it matters immensely! The sad truth is that even when our motives are pure, even when we are genuinely trying to do what is best for those around us, the world will attack us, just as they attacked Jesus. If we are not being persecuted, it may be a sign that we are not speaking the truth. We need to point people to Jesus, even if it means they will attack us for doing so.

But the good news is that, like Jesus, we can continue to serve the Lord faithfully even when the world attacks us for one very simple reason: we know that God will ultimately vindicate us! We know that if we are speaking the truth, those who oppose us will ultimately fail. That should drive us to be faithful in proclaiming His message, no matter what we face.

The Servant’s Challenge

At the end of chapter 50, the tone shifts once more, and now the Lord’s servant speaks to the people and calls them to decide who they will follow.

10 Who among you fears the Lord and obeys his servant? If you are walking in darkness, without a ray of light, trust in the Lord and rely on your God. 11 But watch out, you who live in your own light and warm yourselves by your own fires. This is the reward you will receive from me: You will soon fall down in great torment. (Isaiah 50:10-11, NLT)

Here, the Lord speaks bluntly to anyone who will listen. He reminds us that we are all walking in darkness. Ironically, many who are walking in darkness believe they are enlightened! Most of us believe that we are walking in the light and that others are walking in darkness. Jesus calls us to make a choice: either we can persist in walking in the delusion of our own enlightenment, or we can choose to follow the Lord.

Jesus says that if we choose to persist in living by our own “light”, then we will ultimately face destruction. The book of Proverbs says much the same thing,

There is a path before each person that seems right, but it ends in death. (Proverbs 16:25, NLT)

You may think you are immune from this tendency to look to your own light rather than the Lord’s, but let me give you some examples of the counterfeit lights we sometimes follow.

· We place greater emphasis on success in the world’s eyes than we do on the Lord. So we compromise in order to get ahead in the world.

· We become so embroiled in the political mess and political solutions to our world that we stop focusing on the Lord and start focusing on our agenda.

· We believe the lies that what is most important is our happiness, so we begin doing whatever makes us feel good in the moment instead of running after what we know is right.

· We listen to popular psychological slogans that tell us to look out for ourselves above all, rather than seeking to be obedient to the Lord, even when it’s hard.

You see, even as Christians, we sometimes follow our own light rather than the Lord. We must examine our lives to see what light we are following. If we follow the “lights” of our world, we will discover they lead to death.

Let’s be honest, this isn’t easy. We are being called to stand firm against a world that will do everything they can to silence us. We are called to speak the truth in love, even when that truth is unpopular. We are told to trust what God says more than we trust what people around us say, and more than our own logic. This is a difficult task, but the way to make it easier is to remember the big picture. We must remind ourselves that God’s way is always better and that He will ultimately be successful. This enables us to follow the Lord’s commands, rather than any other competing voices.

I firmly believe this is one of the biggest problems we are facing as a society right now. We struggle to look at the big picture and see the long-term effects of our actions, and instead we focus only on what is expedient. We see this in lots of areas.

· Parents are unwilling to stand do the hard work of training children in righteousness or setting boundaries for them. As such, we have children who believe they can do no wrong, are afraid of hard work, and have no idea how to set boundaries for themselves. It’s better to do what’s hard in the short-term because it’s better in the long-term.

· We struggle to make time for the Lord (for worship, personal bible study, prayer, etc.) because the world tells us all these other things are too important. We fear missing out on what everyone else is doing, so we sacrifice our relationship with God instead. We spend all our time running after the things everyone else says is important instead of focusing on what God says is important. As a result, we end up exhausted and distant from the Lord.

· We try to take shortcuts that give us success in the short-term but harm us in the long-term. It’s like cheating on your homework in school—you may pass the class, but you won’t be able to actually do the work. We do this in business, in our families, in relationships with others, and all sorts of other places. Instead of looking for what is most expedient, we must focus on what is best.

This is something our world desperately needs to hear. But we have no credibility if we are not taking our own advice! We must demonstrate to the world that the Lord’s way is best. We must show the world that we trust God more than we trust the voices around us. We must make the things of God a priority, which means allowing other things to go by the wayside.

If we do this, our world will call us crazy (or worse). But that’s ok, because they have always attacked those who speak truth on the Lord’s behalf. We know the Lord will ultimately be proven right, so we can keep going forward, even as others attack us.

Conclusion

Our world today is kind of like going into an ice cream shop. There are seemingly endless choices of which direction you can go. But unlike the ice cream shop, there is only one right answer for the direction of our lives. We must choose to stand with the Lord, because every other way leads to destruction. So how do we do that? I’ve got a few suggestions.

First, take an honest look at your priorities.Look at the things you do and ask yourself why you do them. Be honest in your assessment. Do you do them because you believe they are honoring to the Lord, or for some other reason? Do the things you do keep you from following Him or do they deepen your relationship with Him? Work to set priorities appropriately. Choose to focus on the things God says are most important first, and then fill in the other things…not the other way around. If you do this, you will inevitably find you don’t have room to do all the things the world tells you are important, but that’s ok. You will be following the Lord’s priorities instead.

Second, remind yourself of God’s track record.The world tells us how old-fashioned and antiquated God’s commands are. The world tells us that we are more enlightened now and have moved beyond such black and white ideas. But look at the world’s track record and then look at the Lord’s. God has consistently delivered on His promises. He has consistently done exactly what He said. The world consistently fails. So follow the Lord, rather than the world.

Third, find strength to stand firm in Him.It is difficult to stand firm in the face of persecution and when surrounded by voices that are telling us the opposite of what God says. The best way to counteract false teaching is to surround ourselves with the truth. Spend time studying and learning God’s Word. Make corporate worship a priority. Develop friendships with other believers who will help to keep you on track. Spend time praying for strength, for wisdom, and for guidance. If we do these things, we’ll be able to stand firm, because we won’t be standing in our own strength. Like Jesus, we will be able to keep moving forward, no matter what the world does to us.

Jesus was the perfect example of these traits in action. He followed the Lord completely, even though He was constantly attacked by the world. But Jesus reminds us that those who stand with the Lord will ultimately be victorious, while those who go in a different direction will be destroyed—so choose carefully which light you follow. The Lord’s way is not always easy, but it’s always better in the long run.

©July 17th, 2022 by Rev. Rick Goettsche SERIES: Isaiah