A Word from God

December 10, 2017 Isaiah 40:1-11 Second Sunday of Advent A Word from God Year B Children’sTime Preparation: Read (or re-read) all or part of Psalm 85 Lesson: Can anyone tell me what a “blessing” is? . . . A blessing is something good given to us, usually from God. What blessings do you have in your life? . . . parents, homes, church, food, shelter, friends, etc. In Psalms 85, we read about some other blessings. “Love and faithfulness meet together; righteousness and peace kiss each other.” That sounds kind of silly, doesn’t it--righteousness and peace kiss each other”? This is the Psalmist’s way of saying that if we love God, our lives will turn out right and we can be calm trusting God. The night that Jesus was born, the angels sang, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on earth to those God favors” (New Living Translation). They were telling us that God gives us peace if we love Him. How do you show your love to God? (obeying parents, reading the Bible, praying, being here in church this morning) Remember that God showed His love for us by giving us a blessing of peace. Dynamic Preaching, Children's Sermons, by King Duncan Isaiah 40:1-11Common English Bible (CEB) Comfort for God’s people 40 Comfort, comfort my people! says your God. 2 Speak compassionately to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her compulsory service has ended, that her penalty has been paid, that she has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins! 3 A voice is crying out: “Clear the LORD’s way in the desert! Make a level highway in the wilderness for our God! 4 Every valley will be raised up, and every mountain and hill will be flattened. Uneven ground will become level, and rough terrain a valley plain. 5 The LORD’s glory will appear, and all humanity will see it together; the LORD’s mouth has commanded it.” 6 A voice was saying: “Call out!” And another[a] said, “What should I call out?” All flesh is grass; all its loyalty is like the flowers of the field. 7 The grass dries up and the flower withers when the LORD’s breath blows on it. Surely the people are grass. 8 The grass dries up; the flower withers, but our God’s word will exist forever. 9 Go up on a high mountain, messenger Zion! Raise your voice and shout, messenger Jerusalem! Raise it; don’t be afraid; say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!” 10 Here is the LORD God, coming with strength, with a triumphant arm, bringing his reward with him and his payment before him. 11 Like a shepherd, God will tend the flock; he will gather lambs in his arms and lift them onto his lap. He will gently guide the nursing ewes. Footnotes: a. Isaiah 40:6 MT; DSS (1QIsaa), LXX I Common English Bible (CEB) Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible In the middle of my sermon prep, I looked on my blog to see what I written 4 different sermons on Isaiah 40. I have been a solo pastor preaching every Sunday, since 2007. And as I looked back, each time this verse came up, I have preached on it. Before that time I was an Associate, pastor, so I will have to look even further to see how many time I preached on it, those sermons are not online, so I didn’t have easy access to them. But obviously, this is a very important message to me. I think that it is a very important message for advent. Besides it being the words to a song in Handel’s Messiah – it is one of the most well known verses in the bible and one of the most well quoted of all verses in the world – Comfort Ye, Comfort Ye my people. This is the first chapter in what is known as Second Isaiah. Chapters 40-55. The entire book of Isaiah is 66 chapters. But those chapters cover a timespan of over 600 years of history. So experts tend to believe that Isaiah was written by as many as three different people who were addressing three different difficult times in the history of Israel. They are amazed, that even though there are three distinct styles of writing in the book, they all seem to have one complete message and theme, that is why it is just called Isaiah. The message of Isaiah is one of love and forgiveness in the midst of sin, and hope in the midst of a dark time. Things have been rough, but it will get better. God Godself will come has heard the cries of the people and will send help, and that help will come in the form of a shepherd King – strong enough to bring justice, yet kind enough to bring mercy to all of the world. This scripture is so rich in its message, I could spend forever telling you about it. But if you read our scripture for today – you will see that it have four distinct messages, with four distinct voices. Interestingly enough, the voice bible tells you who is speaking in each part of the bible. But in these verses it does not use names – each section starts out by saying a Voice cries out. The first voice is God speaking in a court scene in heaven telling the angels to send a message of comfort to hurting people. The second voice is that of an angel who responds and says to send a message to the people to prepare the way for God coming, the third voice is a prophet who reminds that people that God is faithful, and the last voice is another prophet encouraging the people of Jerusalem to not be afraid to spread the message of the coming of God to Earth. This is the prophecy that Mark is telling the world that has been fulfilled. The One that Isaiah speaks of has really come to earth. The One who is both gentle and kind, but strong and mighty. His comfort is like the little girl who came home from a neighbor’s house where her playmate had died. "Why did you go?" questioned her father. "To comfort her mother," replied the little girl. "What could you do to comfort her?" the father continued. His daughter answered, "I climbed into her lap and cried with her." Into the Bethlehem crib God climbs to cry with us, to live with us, to suffer with us, to laugh with us, to die with us. This is the comfort that says much, much more than simply, "I care about you." This is the comfort that moves into our life and takes over, overwhelming us with His love and mercy. Jesus is coming to the world – as a little baby to transform the world. And there is so much for us to do to get ready. We are in the midst of getting ready for Christmas. But Advent tells us that there is even more for us to get ready for. We have to get ready physically, but more importantly we have to get ready spiritually. We have all heard the familiar words of Isaiah 40 - make a level highway for God. Fill in the valleys, tear down the mountains and hills, make the crooked places straight and the rough places plain so that the Lord can get through. This would have rung a familiar cord with the original audience of second Isaiah. He was writing to the Isrealites who would have been taken to Babylon as prisoners, and who longed to go home to Isreael, but they knew there was nothing to go home to. They would have watched every year as the Gods of Babylon were paraded through the streets. This parade was just as popular as the Macy’s thanksgiving parade. Every year Marduk the God of Babylon was paraded through the streets. He would start in the countryside and them come down a special highway in the capital city. He was always first in the parade throughout the land, and them the Gods of those people who were conquered would follow behind. It was mandated that the roads that he traveled on had to be perfect in order for him to pass through. Roads had to be widened, paved, straightened in order for the God’s to come through. Every time I drive down 102 – I cant help but to think – this is so not the road that Isaiah was talking about. The road is not supposed to accommodate the river, the river is supposed to accommodate the road. A straight, wide smooth road. But I digress. I am sure that every year that the Isrealites stood on the side and watched this parade they felt left out. They would not dare make an image of God to parade down the streets. And yet what would it be like, if that parade was for our God and not theirs. And here, God says – prepare the roads because I am coming – not as stone, but as a living breathing person. God is coming to town! Advent is one big construction project for us. We have some mountains to tear down, mountains of hatred, and oppression and exclusion. We have some valleys to fill in – Valleys of poverty, and sickness to. We have some crooked people who need to be straightened out. And some rough situations that need to be smoothed out – there is a lot of work that needs to be done on this world, in this church, in our lives. One of the first lines of the prophecy says a voice is crying out – prepare a way for the Lord. One of the last lines in the prophecy is do not be afraid to speak. Whenever the divine comes in contact with the people – the first thing said is always do not be afraid. Whenever God speaks, God says – do not be afraid. Just do what I tell you – it will all be okay. God knows that life is hard, God knows that we are looking for answers, God knows that people are struggling. This is why God sent his son to us – to make things better. Like a shepherd God will tend his flock. He is coming with strength. Only God can overcome all circumstances to bring love to the world. What then will be the word that we speak at Advent? It will be a word of hope. Mother Teresa related an encounter she had with an old man in Calcutta: "Who is this Christ of Mother Teresa's?" "He's our Guru, old man, our Lord and our God." "What God is this?" "He's a God of love, old man. He loves all of us -- me and you too!" "How could he love me, Mem Sahib? He doesn't even know me." "Oh, yes, he does! Didn't he reach out across the city for you? Didn't he send his Sisters to the slums of Motijhil to bring you here? Doesn't he love you then, old man?" After a pause the old man said: "Could I love him, do you think?" This advent we have a lot of work to do, this is a huge construction project and we need all hands on deck in order to prepare the King’s highway – to get the message out – that the Lord is coming right here to bring comfort to the people. Let us pray…… Additional Sermon Illustrations….. "Of course you could -- it's easy to love him -- we'll love him together, old man, but sleep now. We'll talk again in the morning. Sleep now old man."2 s like a story that Philip Yancey tells about the composer Beethoven, a man not known for social grace. Because of his deafness, Beethoven found conversation difficult and humiliating. When he heard of the death of a friend's son, Beethoven hurried to the house, overcome with grief. He had no words of comfort to offer. But he saw a piano in the room. For the next half hour he played the piano, pouring out his emotions in the most eloquent way he could. When he finished playing, he left. The friend later remarked that no one else's visit had meant so much." (2) Let me ask you a question. Which means the most in our lives presents as in gifts or presence as in someone being there for us? When we are children, we think it is the gifts that make Christmas. As we become adults, we come to see that having someone there who loves us and whom we can love is far more important. God comes to us and comforts us. People without a country. Fathers and mothers trying to hold their frustrated families together by telling and re-telling the ancient stories of the good old days in far-off Jerusalem, now lying in ruins, the smoke of her ashes still twisting to the sky. People trying to eke out the best existence possible under the thumb of their Babylonian overlords. Those are the people to whom these glorious and triumphant words of Isaiah were first shouted. If you were ever a prisoner of war, or if you were ever someone waiting for a war to be over and a loved one to come home, or if you were in the front lines when the news came, "the war is over," then you can appreciate these words more than the rest of us. One day, a letter came to his desk addressed in shaky handwriting to God. He thought he should open it to see what it was about. He opened it and read these words: Dear God, I am a 93-year-old widow, living on a very small pension. Yesterday someone stole my purse. It had $100 in it, which was all the money I had until my next pension check. Next Sunday is Christmas, and I had invited two of my friends over for dinner. Without that money, I have nothing to buy food with. I have no family to turn to, and you are my only hope. Can you please help me? Sincerely, Edna The postal worker was touched. He showed the letter to his fellow workers. Each of them dug into their wallets and came up with a few dollars. By the time he made the rounds, he had collected $96, which he put into an envelope and sent to the woman. The rest of the day, all of the workers felt a warm glow for the kind thing they had done. Christmas came and went. A few days later another letter came from the old lady addressed to God. All of the workers gathered around while the letter was opened. It read: “Dear God, How can I ever thank you enough for what you did for me? Because of your gift of love, I was able to fix a glorious dinner for my friends. We had a very nice day and I told my friends of your wonderful gift. By the way, there was $4 missing. I think it must have been those thieves at the Post Office. Sincerely, Edna.” (1) Well, the folks at the Post Office tried to help. Helping people is what life is all about, isn’t it? Which brings us to one of the most beautiful passages in the Scriptures. From Isaiah 40:1-11 we read these selected passages: Do you know who Rachel Naomi Remen is? She is Clinical Professor of Family and Community Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine. She is especially known for her work with cancer patients and is an outstanding writer. In her book, Kitchen Table Wisdom: Stories That Heal, she tells about an event that changed her life forever. She writes that in the beginning of December the year she turned thirteen, her father declared bankruptcy. It was a devastating thing to happen to their family just before Christmas. The result was that the family that year made homemade Christmas presents for one another instead of exchanging store-bought gifts. Rachel knit a colorful muffler for her Dad, and, using copper wire, she made a bracelet for her Mom. In spite of their financial situation, Remen says, the morning of Christmas was as lively as it had always been--the presents, though they were homemade, where just as festive as ever. Young Rachel ran her eyes over the gifts, and noticed that among them lay a small velvet box. Rachel knew that such a box was not likely to contain something homemade. She looked at it with suspicion. While she looked and wondered what could be inside, she heard her father say to her, “Open it . . . it’s your Christmas present.” Rachel unwrapped the present and found in the small box a pair of twenty four karat gold earrings. To say she was surprised is an understatement. For some 2 minutes, she ran her eyes from her present to her dad. “Come on . . . put them on . . . they’re yours,” said her father. She ran straight into the bathroom, closed the door, and put them on her ears. Cautiously she looked into the mirror. Then something sad happened. All Rachel could see was how absurd those expensive earrings looked on her homely face. With tears rushing down her cheeks, she headed straight to where she had left her father. “How could you do this?” she shrieked at her father. “Why are you making fun of me? Take them back. They look stupid. I’m too ugly to wear them. How could you waste all this money?” She flung the earrings to the floor and burst into tears. All this while, her dad said nothing. Then he came to her, cuddled her in his arms and whispered, “I know they don’t look right now. I bought them because someday they will suit you perfectly.” Rachel Naomi Remen writes, “I am truly grateful to have survived my adolescence. At some of its lowest moments, I would get out the box and look at the earrings. My father had spent a hundred dollars he did not have because he believed in the person I was becoming. It was something to hold on to.” (4) Young Rachel was comforted by those new earrings because they symbolized her father’s love for her. And, of course, that is the meaning of Christmas. “God so loved the world that He gave His only Son . . .” And that is why we exchange gifts with one another. Christ came to us not because we deserve it, nor because he approves of everything we are or have done. He came because of his Father’s great love for us. Take a few moment this Christmas to listen again to the opening lines of Handel’s Messiah. Listen as the tenor sets the mood: “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned.” Then continue to listen as he sings, “The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness; prepare ye the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” Then listen as moves into a brief aria: “Ev’ry valley shall be exalted, and ev’ry mountain and hill made low; the crooked straight and the rough places plain.” Then you will hear the entire choir break into that glorious refrain: “And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” What good news to all those who have ever needed to be forgiven. I believe, friends, it’s good news for you and me. Eleanor Roosevelt kept a crushing schedule of appointments with good organizations, human and civil rights organizations and all sorts of charities. You remember that she got a reputation in her latter years for being a "do-gooder". She spent all of her time giving support to organizations that she felt were doing good for human kind. Even when she was old and physically frail, she kept doing it. There is a story about her coming to a meeting that was on her schedule. She was worn out, completely exhausted. Her friend begged her to forego the engagement and go home for rest. But stubborn Eleanor would not respond. A man greeted her and opened the door of her car. She said to him, "You'll have to help me out. My head is heavy." She was so frail, and had been so busy, that her energy was gone and she was dizzy; she couldn't walk on her own. She got out and stood by him and said, "You'll have to steady me as I walk." He took her arms and they walked toward the crowd. As she approached the crowd, a little black girl with her arms filled with flowers came up to Mrs. Roosevelt. Mrs. Roosevelt took the flowers and said to her friend who had scolded her for over-work, "You see, I had to come, I was expected." If a human being like Eleanor Roosevelt is that faithful, how much more faithful is the Lord Jesus Christ. He will come, if you expect Him, and you will be aware of his coming if you prepare by being hopeful and joyful, and by living patiently. I remember some years ago taking one of my first walks in San Francisco with my then three-year-old twins. I looked at the map, and it didn't seem like such a big deal to go from one place to the other. After all, it looked flat on the map! But as my wife and I began the trek we quickly realized that this was going to be no easy stroll. Shouldering backpacks filled with three-year-old paraphernalia and dragging tired twins behind, we climbed high and hiked low. We were quickly exhausted. We stood on the corner, with children crying and the two of us questioning our sanity, wondering what we would do next when a taxicab pulled up right beside us. I leaned into the window as the driver stretched across the passenger seat. We met eye-to-eye, nose to nose. "Where are you going?" he said. We didn't have much money, and I stammered as much back to him. "I didn't ask you about money," he said. "You're my free fare of the day! Every day I give one free ride, and you folks look like you could use it." He couldn't have been more right. We climbed into the cab and the steep San Francisco hills melted away as we glided to our destination. "Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low ..." (Isaiah 40:4a). That day, those words somehow began to mean a little more. I learned that the steep hills we must climb and the low places we have to navigate can be made easier with the help of human hands. I don't know about you, but I would like to know exactly what's expected here. What does it mean to "prepare the way of the Lord?" All this talk about straight highways, lowered mountains, and raised up valleys. It's like we're supposed to be some major construction company for God. It may work for some, but my own self-image doesn't involve bulldozers and highway crews. I'm more the "let's sit down and talk over a cup of coffee" kind of guy.