Advent Worship Isaiah,2000! November 29, 2000
By David Layman
Isaiah 1:1-4
Isaiah 2:1-5
For these 4 Advent services, Pastor Barb and I will do 4 "first person"
presentations. I'm doing 2, and Barb is doing 2. Seems fair, doesn't
it? She does the 2 women, and I do the 2 men. The only problem with
this is, the women have the best parts in Advent! I don't want to sound
like Tommy Smothers, but I have to do the prophet Isaiah, and the
Innkeeper. Every kid who's been in a Christmas pageant knows that the
Innkeeper is one of the villains in the story, the cold hearted, "Show
me your cash, sorry, you don't have a reservation, we are filled up"
guy. At first glance, Isaiah seems like a good role. After all, some
think Isaiah was the greatest prophet of the Hebrew scriptures! But
have you read much of the prophet Isaiah, other than a few select
passages where Isaiah is saying "Comfort, comfort ye my people" and "For
unto us a child is born"? Other than these high lights, there is a lot
of judgment pronounced in Isaiah. Isaiah spends a lot of time telling
Judah that she has sinned greatly in God's eyes, and there will be hell
to pay. Tradition has it that in gratitude for Isaiah's prophetic
efforts, Isaiah's opponents sawed him in half during the reign of King
Manasseh. That may well be where the belief that there were two
Isaiah's got started! So, to summarize, for these 4 Wednesday nights in
Advent, I get to portray Isaiah, not the guy who coaches the Indiana
Pacers, but the prophet who got sawed in half, and the innkeeper. And
Pastor Barb gets to portray Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist,
and Mary, the mother of Jesus!
My name is Isaiah, and I'd like to tell you, Im tired of things as they
are! It's 701 BC, and the Assyrians have already laid waste to most of
our country. Only the grace of God has kept the whole nation from going
down the tubes. The leaders of Israel are self centered, and think they
can find a political solution to our problems. They think that if they
create alliances with other powers, we can fend off Assyria and any
other super power that challenges us. Many of the religious leaders
think that if people just offer the right sacrifices, and observe the
proper religious 'hocus pocus', God will be satisfied. Wrong! The
children of Israel have messed up BIG TIME. The road to salvation will
only come through a purifying fire! You hear people saying "So and so
is a dumb ox!" Or "as stubborn as a mule!" I'm telling you, my ox is a
lot smarter than the children of Israel, for my ox knows me from my
neighbor! And when my donkey is hungry, he knows where my manger is!
But the children of Israel don't know the God of Israel at all! They're
hungry, but they can't find their way to the truth God provides for
them. Now that's bad!
People wonder what to do when they see God's judgment all about them.
Stop doing evil! Learn to do good. Seek justice; defend orphans,
protect widows. Quit living like your heathen neighbors. Follow the 10
commandments! HUMBLY come before God; don't just participate in the
outward rituals. Come on, folks! Do you really think the God of Israel
can be placated by going thru some religious rituals, by offering a lamb
with a broken leg as a sacrifice? Draw near to God with penitent
hearts. You know what will happen if you do these things? Even if your
sins are as red as crimson, they will become white like snow. Don't you
know God doesn't want you to suffer judgment? He wants to love and
forgive you. We were called to be God's people. It's time we began to
live like God's children, and stop living like spoiled brats!
The plans God has for us, and for Jerusalem! I know, I know, our
country is a shambles now. That's our own fault. But God has a plan.
One day, God WILL be exalted. One day, peoples will come from all over
the world to Jerusalem. It will be lifted up to become higher than Mt.
Baldy, Mt. McKinley, higher than Pike's Peak! All the peoples of the
world will come to learn wisdom, and God's instruction. We won't
discover peace and prosperity through politics, by practicing relaxation
techniques and transcendental meditation, even by listening to Rush
Limbaugh. We find peace by learning from God. When we do, nations
will heat up their swords, and bend them into plowshares. Spears will
be turned into pruning hooks. Instead of killing one another, we'll
turn our energies to enjoying the abundance God has created for us.
There won't be military academies any more. Nobody's going to study war
any more! Children will even be nice to their brothers and sisters!
The lion will lie down with the lamb, and the lamb won't spend a
restless evening!
Look, I know I've been going around the land ranting and raving. Some
people think of me as George Patton without a pistol, Bob Knight with
all the chairs bolted down! Of course, I'm not profane like those
guys. But the stupid, sinful things I see people doing, really burn me
up! God is not a doting grandfather, always bestowing gifts upon his
grandchildren, but never expecting anything in return. God expects
something from us!
I see more than just a God who is righteously angry when we mess up. I
see more than God as judge. In this time of darkness and
discouragement, I also see God shining a great light. One day, God is
going to bring a great light into our world. It may seem like the
darkest night when this light begins to shine! But a child is going to
be born...FOR US!
A son given...TO US! He will be named "WONDERFUL COUNSELOR, MIGHTY GOD,
EVERLASTING FATHER, PRINCE OF PEACE!"
And this One who is to come will be like an unexpected shoot out of the
apparently dead tree stump of Jesse, the father of King David. The
Spirit of the Lord is going to rest on this one who is coming, in a
mighty way! He will judge the poor with righteousness (and we know the
poor hardly ever get a righteous judgment, because they're too poor to
hire a good attorney!) This One who is to come won't come swinging a
terrible sword, or dropping bombs. His weapon will be the truth coming
forth from his mouth. That truth will be enough to melt away the
wicked. And this One who is to come will bring about true peace. Even
the wolves won't be killing lambs. A calf and a lion will lie down
together. I'm telling you, the One that is to come will be unlike
anyone the world has ever known!
To summarize my message:
Suffering and hardship are caused by sin. We ALL need to repent and
turn to God. Don't place your hopes in weapons of war, in prosperity,
in going through the motions of worshiping God. Get to know God
personally. Hunger to learn God's instruction, and follow it. And keep
hope alive, for God is going to come into this woeful world of ours, in
an unexpected way. And the world, from that point on, will know the way
to God!
--