Sermon
for Trinity 4, July 5, 2020
Grace and peace to you from our
Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Isaiah 58:6-12 6 On the
contrary, isn’t this the kind of fast that I would
choose: to loosen the chains of wickedness, to tear apart the ropes of a yoke,
to release the oppressed so they go free, and to tear every yoke to
pieces? 7 Isn’t a
true fast that you share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless and
afflicted into a house? Yes, when
you see a naked person, you are to cover him, and do not hide yourself from
your own flesh and blood. 8 Then your light will break forth like dawn, and your
healing will spring up quickly. Your
righteousness will go out ahead of you, and the Glory of the Lord will follow
you. 9 Then you
will call, and the Lord will answer. You
will cry out, and he will say, “Here I am!”
If you remove the bar of the yoke from among you, and if you stop
finger-pointing and speaking wickedly, 10 if you offer
your life for the hungry, and if you satisfy the desires of the afflicted, then
your light will shine in the darkness, and your darkest gloom will shine like
the noonday sun. 11 Then
the Lord will lead you continually. He
will satisfy your desire in arid places, and he will strengthen your
bones. Then you will be like a watered
garden, like a spring of water, whose waters will not fail. 12 Then your ancient
ruins will be rebuilt, and you will restore the foundations from past
generations. Then you will be called the
repairer of broken walls, the restorer of streets to live on. (EHV)
Dear fellow
redeemed of the Lord,
I want to take thirty seconds, this morning, for each of
us to consider the question, “How big is God compared to me?”
I know
that sounds like a strange request, but with our sermon text, we step into the
middle of a reply the Lord is making to the complaining people of Israel. Israel had some huge spiritual problems and
they didn’t recognize their faults. This
text is part of the Lord’s answer to their complaints and judgment of Him. Likewise, God’s reply teaches us to Live in the righteousness of the Restorer.
Israel’s
biggest problem was, of course, idolatry.
Yet, they thought they were worshipping the true God. The trouble was they thought they were worthy
to strike bargains with the Lord. That’s
why I asked you to consider how big you are compared to God. When we recognize that God created this world
and everything in it, that He still provides everything needed for body and life,
for both the faithful and the wicked people, and that as our Creator He has the
right to judge and the right to rule, we start to look pretty insignificant in
comparison. In his psalm, David
marveled, “Whenever I look up at your heavens, the works of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place—what is man that you
remember him, the son of man that you pay attention to him!” (Psalm 8:3-4)
Sadly, since
the fall into sin, many people mistakenly presume that we can make a deal with
God. We assume that if we worship
properly, make some sacrifice, obey the law, pray loudly enough, often enough,
or fervently enough, then God simply has to bend to our will. Whenever anyone falls into this temptation,
they are succumbing to the devil’s urging to worship the idol of quid pro
quo. It is imagining that if we do something
that we think God would like, then He should obey our whims.
This
idolatry is a popular temptation in our world, today, although it takes a
variety of forms. The modern preacher of
the so-called prosperity gospel is a sorcerer for this idol. Yet, there are many other ways we can be
caught in this temptation. Like Israel,
when sorrows come our way, we can be tempted to question God’s hearing, or His heart. In our hearts, we might sometimes wonder
whether God cares enough to stop the troubles of this world, or whether it
really pays for us to listen to His word and obey His laws. It can even be a temptation to imagine that
God owes us more than the wicked simply because we believe in His Son. That is the temptation the good son in Jesus’
parable of the prodigal son stumbled into when he was angry that the father
welcomed back the wayward brother.
The truth
is, dear friends, we don’t earn rewards from the Lord. We never could. Rather, we owe God our allegiance, honor,
obedience, and trust regardless of whatever He chooses to give us. Understanding that, we consider these words
in Isaiah: “isn’t this the kind of fast that I would choose: to loosen the
chains of wickedness, to tear apart the ropes of a yoke, to release the
oppressed so they go free, and to tear every yoke to pieces? Isn’t a true fast that you share your bread
with the hungry and bring the homeless and afflicted into a house?”
The point
God is making is that pious ceremonies won’t cover our sins. What God desires is that we truly do love Him
with all our hearts, souls, and minds, and our neighbor as God has loved us. This text speaks of what is truly the
reversal of sin in the world. That is
what God desires for His people. However,
this too remains true, because of sin that afflicts us all, we could never
measure up to the implication God makes here.
Israel failed at this—badly—but so do we. Even when we live our faith we fail. But one of us did not fail.
As I read
through this section of Isaiah, it is like reading a description of what Jesus
came into this world to do. This is a
prophecy of the spiritual work of the Messiah.
If we want to be judged before God based on our own works, we will stand
there naked and ashamed. However, God’s
only begotten Son took on human flesh and didn’t hide from the challenge.
By faith
in Christ Jesus, the next passage refers to us.
“Then your light will break forth like dawn, and your healing will
spring up quickly. Your righteousness will
go out ahead of you, and the Glory of the Lord will follow you. Then you will call, and the Lord will
answer. You will cry out, and he will
say, ‘Here I am!’” Martin Luther
prayed, “Lord Jesus, You are my righteousness, I am your sin. You took on you what was mine; yet set on me
what was yours. You became what you were
not, that I might become what I was not.”
Jesus took our sin so that through faith in Him His holiness now covers
us. Therefore, we Live
in the righteousness of the Restorer.
It is the
brightness of Christ’s holiness that breaks over us and empowers sanctified
living in us. God’s glory comes because
He provides not only our daily bread but also the answer to our sin and
wickedness. Jesus took all the sins of
the world, and the banishment from His Father’s presence our sins deserved, so
that we could be united with God again in harmony and peace. It is then through believers that God serves
the world. He hears and answers our
prayers. In fact, this world is allowed
to continue for the benefit of God’s people, and so that more can be added to
God’s flock.
Isaiah
wrote, “If you remove the bar of the yoke from among you, and if you stop
finger-pointing and speaking wickedly, if you offer your life for the hungry,
and if you satisfy the desires of the afflicted, then your light will shine in
the darkness, and your darkest gloom will shine like the noonday sun.” This is God’s command for His people, but who
among men could answer the call? Only
Jesus. Therefore, our Savior promises
us, “I am the Light of the World. Whoever
follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
(John 8:12)
Of
course, believing in Jesus and coming to worship Him doesn’t excuse us of our
responsibilities to our neighbor. We
dare not assume that because we go to church, we can live any way our sinful
hearts may desire. If we truly are
children of God by faith, then we should live like that. Isaiah wrote, “Then the Lord will lead you
continually. He will satisfy your desire
in arid places, and he will strengthen your bones. Then you will be like a watered garden, like
a spring of water, whose waters will not fail.
Then your ancient ruins will be rebuilt, and you will restore the
foundations from past generations. Then
you will be called the repairer of broken walls, the restorer of streets to
live on.”
It is
Christ living in us that empowers our service.
Jesus told His disciples, “I am the Vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him is the
one who bears much fruit, because without me you can do nothing.” (John
15:5) All of this is living the second
command, to love our neighbors as ourselves.
As we love as Christ loved us, we will forgive sins as God forgave
us. As God remembers our needs, so we
pay attention to the needs of those around us.
Can we fix everything on our own?
No, you know that we cannot.
However, we can use what blessings God gives us to share His love with
others. We can especially share the Good
News of all Jesus did to set us free from slavery to sin and death.
Today, slavery
is much in the news, again, because sin still troubles our world. Many assume that because there is still
prejudice, people are still enslaved by the system. Yet, the system isn’t really the
problem. Lack of trust in Christ Jesus
as Lord and Savior and a lack of love for others are the issues. Natural man loves only himself. Though a sinner worthy only of death, natural
man blames others, even God, for every trouble he faces. Natural man doesn’t concern himself with the
needs of those around him. Faithful
Christians, on the other hand, have long reached out with love to the less
fortunate, to the downtrodden and weak.
Still, the credit for anything good we might do belongs solely to the
One who loved us first. St. John wrote, “We
love because he first loved us.” (1 John 4:19)
Though we
know it is only by God living in us that we do anything good, remember how
Jesus described Judgment Day for His followers: “Then the King will say to
those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the
kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food to
eat. I was thirsty and you gave me
something to drink. I was a stranger and
you welcomed me. I was lacking clothes
and you clothed me. I was sick and you
took care of me. I was in prison and you
visited me.’” (Matthew 25:34-36)
This is
the worship that God desires from His people, that we honor Him by loving our
neighbors, no matter who they are or what they might need. This is also why the apostle, James, wrote, “What
good is it, my brothers, if someone says that he has faith but has no
works? Such “faith” cannot save him, can
it? If a brother or sister needs clothes
and lacks daily food and one of you tells them, “Go in peace, keep warm, and
eat well,” but does not give them what their body needs, what good is it? So also, such “faith,” if it is alone and has
no works, is dead. But someone will say,
‘You have faith, and I have works.’ Show
me your faith without works, and I will show you my faith by my works.”
(James 2:14-18)
Dear
Christian friends, this is what Jesus did for you. He loved you when you were unworthy. He picked you up when you were filthy and
naked in sin. The Lord washed you clean
by the water and blood that flowed from His side on the cross. Then He dressed you for eternity in His
righteousness.
Regularly,
through Word and Sacrament, Christ feeds you with the living bread of the Good
News of all He has done to rescue you from captivity to evil and to give you
life everlasting. By His life, death,
and resurrection from the grave, Jesus has restored you to the everlasting city
of heaven. He has restored the walls
that defend you from the devil’s accusations and attacks. He repaired our brokenness and restored our
holiness. This is God’s promise to you. Believing it, Live in the righteousness of
the Restorer. Amen.
The peace
of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ
Jesus unto life everlasting. Amen.
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