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Sermon for Sunday
Posted by Derrick
on
13:42
This is the text of my sermon for tomorrow. I imagine I will make some changes on the day, I usually do but I am fairly sure that it is as complete as I can make it.
Moreover, God’s refuge cannot be taken by the forces arrayed outside it. They are like a storm driving against a wall and like the heat of the desert BUT, God silences the uproar and he reduces the heat with a single cloud. The song of the ruthless is stilled. That’s God’s refuge. A place where the poor and needy can find solace and rest. A place where no matter how much the world wails and shouts, their actions are meaningless.
Where is it? Where will this refuge be? That question is answered by verses 6-8. Three small verses but absolutely jam-packed with a powerful message.
Among the lovely images of this chapter, one of the loveliest is where God promises his people a feast! He promises that it will have aged wine, the finest of meats and the finest of wines!
Isn’t verse 8 a beautiful verse? This verse often appears in Jewish cemeteries and gives a lot of hope to this who have lost loved ones. You see, this world isn’t how it was meant to be. God didn’t make a world this wrong. He never created a world where death had any role to play. His world wasn’t supposed to have any poor and lonely. He doesn’t want us to be suffering. When we do suffer, he wants to be there wiping our eyes and holding the hands of our loved ones.
What a message this is. God is a mighty refuge, he will protect everyone. He offers protection and succour to everyone on his mountain. He will wipe all tears and destroy death and remove all disgrace.
Still others, as the passage in Isaiah, tells us will do more than just reject or ignore the message from God. They will actively oppose it. There are those people in this world who are actively opposed to Christianity. There are people who ridicule the Lord. There are people who discriminate against Christians. There are people who persecute Christians and there are those who kill Christians for their faith. Christians are the most persecuted group on the planet. Sometimes it seems hopeless. Isaiah says that’s not the case.
There is a rather distasteful image to show what will happen to those who continue to oppose God. It is a deliberate contrast to the peaceful and beautiful images used to describe what God will do to those who take refuge in him.
Remember how I mentioned right at the start how the started with a decision to worship and praise God? That seems understated now to me. I know why he wanted to worship and praise God because he knew what God was offering. He knew that God would be his protector and that God loved him enough to stoop down and wipe the tears from the eyes of those who suffer. It’s a decision that I am glad I also made this morning.
There’s a second decision in that opening verse. It tells us of a decision made by God a long time ago. What decision? How long ago?
Last week, as we were preparing for the envisioning Sunday, I popped out to grab a bottle of water. I don’t know if you remember but the weather was grey and miserable and rain was on and off. As I was heading just past M and Co I heard a loud voice proclaiming into a camera “I don’t care what you’re doing, or how much time you have, you have to save up some money and come to Scotland. It’s the best place I have ever seen! Come now!”
I was a little taken aback, wondering where he had come from to make a grey and wet Sunday in Fort William into the best place he had ever been but then I remembered. I remembered my reaction when I moved up here. I remembered the scenery as we drove through Glencoe. I grew up around mountains and here I was in a place that knocked spots off where I had grown up.
Mountains are a very important part of the Bible. They are often the places where God came to meet people. The Celtic Christians used to believe that mountains were quite often one of their thin places, places where God was closer to us. I’m not sure about that but I would like to talk about a mountain that is very important in the Bible. Please turn to the book of Isaiah and chapter 25.
This chapter starts with a decision, one taken by Isaiah to praise God and to worship God, he says in verse 1 “I will exalt and praise your name”.
Worshipping God and praising him should be conscious decisions. When we come to church we need to take a decision to worship God. Worship just because the song is playing isn’t right. It is something that we should want to do. Praising God is the thing that brings us closer to him and we need to make conscious decisions to do it.
We should want to do it because of who God is. God is so awesome and amazing that we should be ready to worship him and thank him for all he has done every day. But, most people don’t. I try to but many times I fail. I fail because I am easily distracted and I fail because of who I am.
Often, people think they don’t need God or they try to do their own thing. This isn’t a new thing. It is as old as time itself. You see, ever since Adam and Eve disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden, we humans have been trying our best to go our own way. God has always been there for us but we have ignored him, marginalised him, got angry at him and tried to outdo him.
We should want to do it because of who God is. God is so awesome and amazing that we should be ready to worship him and thank him for all he has done every day. But, most people don’t. I try to but many times I fail. I fail because I am easily distracted and I fail because of who I am.
Often, people think they don’t need God or they try to do their own thing. This isn’t a new thing. It is as old as time itself. You see, ever since Adam and Eve disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden, we humans have been trying our best to go our own way. God has always been there for us but we have ignored him, marginalised him, got angry at him and tried to outdo him.
Back in Genesis 11 the people of the earth tried to make a tower to reach up to God! He brought it low.
We have ended up with a world where we are scattered and separated into different nations and peoples. We have built a world where the poor and the needy are trampled into nothing by the rich and greedy. We live in an awful world. There is hunger, there is greed, there is war and there is hatred.
But!
We have ended up with a world where we are scattered and separated into different nations and peoples. We have built a world where the poor and the needy are trampled into nothing by the rich and greedy. We live in an awful world. There is hunger, there is greed, there is war and there is hatred.
But!
This passage is a rallying call for those who don’t want such a world. It is a passage that tells of all God has done, is doing and will do for those we have ignored.
Look at verse 3-5 again with me. God’s stronghold, the one so much better than anything we can build, is a refuge for the poor. It is a refuge for the needy. It is a shelter from the storm and shade from the heat. It is everything that our own efforts lack.
Moreover, God’s refuge cannot be taken by the forces arrayed outside it. They are like a storm driving against a wall and like the heat of the desert BUT, God silences the uproar and he reduces the heat with a single cloud. The song of the ruthless is stilled. That’s God’s refuge. A place where the poor and needy can find solace and rest. A place where no matter how much the world wails and shouts, their actions are meaningless.
Where is it? Where will this refuge be? That question is answered by verses 6-8. Three small verses but absolutely jam-packed with a powerful message.
Isaiah tells us that God will build his refuge on a mountain!
It is a well known mountain. It is the mountain where Abraham went to sacrifice Isaac and where God provided a sacrifice instead. It is the mountain where Jerusalem was built. It is the Holy Mountain, Mount Zion. It is the mountain which Abraham called in Genesis 22:14
14 So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”
In these three verses we see that the word “all” is used 5 times. Isaiah talks about food for “all peoples”, destroying the shroud that enfolds “all peoples”, the sheet that covers “all nations”. He talks about wiping the tears from “all faces” and removing disgrace from “all the earth”.
Even though the refuge of God will be a home for the poor and the needy, it is not a limited offer. This offer is for everyone. It is for all! Everyone who wants to can come and eat at this feast. Young, old, rich, poor, Jew, Gentile, white, black fat or thin. It doesn’t matter, all are welcome. God is not a God just for the poor and lowly Jews, he is a God for every single person. His refuge is open to anyone who needs it and to anyone who looks for it.
14 So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”
In these three verses we see that the word “all” is used 5 times. Isaiah talks about food for “all peoples”, destroying the shroud that enfolds “all peoples”, the sheet that covers “all nations”. He talks about wiping the tears from “all faces” and removing disgrace from “all the earth”.
Even though the refuge of God will be a home for the poor and the needy, it is not a limited offer. This offer is for everyone. It is for all! Everyone who wants to can come and eat at this feast. Young, old, rich, poor, Jew, Gentile, white, black fat or thin. It doesn’t matter, all are welcome. God is not a God just for the poor and lowly Jews, he is a God for every single person. His refuge is open to anyone who needs it and to anyone who looks for it.
But, it’s only available on this one mountain!
It is often said and often taught, that all religions lead to God. Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Sikhism, Jainism and all the other religions are all paths leading up to the top of the same mountain. This simply isn’t true.
It is often said and often taught, that all religions lead to God. Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Sikhism, Jainism and all the other religions are all paths leading up to the top of the same mountain. This simply isn’t true.
The Bible makes it clear that Jesus is the only way to God. John 14:6 says
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
The mountain of God, the mountain of refuge has a crucified and risen Christ at the top of it.
Among the lovely images of this chapter, one of the loveliest is where God promises his people a feast! He promises that it will have aged wine, the finest of meats and the finest of wines!
The Bible is full of feasts that God provides for his people. It is a well-known image of the fullness of his love and his provision. I would like to take you to perhaps the most well known. Come with me to Psalm 23. Look at verse 5. God prepares a table for him in the presence of the author’s enemies.
The feast that Isaiah writes about is just that, a feast and not a snack. What’s more, it is a feast that we do not have to pay for in any way. In Isaiah chapter 55 he also talks about a feast when he tells people to come and get food. You don’t need anything, it’s all free and it’s all good says the prophet.
There is another parallel with Isaiah in Psalm 23. In the Psalm, the writer tells of the table being laid out in the valley of the shadow of death. Death is also found in the middle of this feast in Isaiah as well but in a very different way. In verse 7 Isaiah says that “on this mountain, he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all people, the sheet that covers all nations”.
The feast that Isaiah writes about is just that, a feast and not a snack. What’s more, it is a feast that we do not have to pay for in any way. In Isaiah chapter 55 he also talks about a feast when he tells people to come and get food. You don’t need anything, it’s all free and it’s all good says the prophet.
There is another parallel with Isaiah in Psalm 23. In the Psalm, the writer tells of the table being laid out in the valley of the shadow of death. Death is also found in the middle of this feast in Isaiah as well but in a very different way. In verse 7 Isaiah says that “on this mountain, he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all people, the sheet that covers all nations”.
What is this shroud? It is death. When Christ died and came back it was death itself that was defeated.
I have a small confession to make: I love cheesy films. I love adventure films and one I really like is National Treasure and its sequel National Treasure 2! In the second one, the adventure rests on a simple clue. The clue is “the debt that all men pay” and the answer is death! This unlocks a code which leads to a treasure. It’s very good. But it is fiction, especially for us as Christians.
As St Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:26 The last enemy to be defeated is death and in verse 55 of that chapter that death has lost its sting! We need to remember all that was left in the tomb when Jesus came back to life was his shroud!
When Jesus rose from the dead on the very first Easter Sunday he left one thing behind in the tomb; he left his shroud! We need to do the same. God has defeated death, we are no longer subject to it. We can walk out into our new life secure in the knowledge that death doesn’t have the same power over us as it used to do. The shroud has been lifted and we can walk in the new life like Jesus did. One day, we will.
I have a small confession to make: I love cheesy films. I love adventure films and one I really like is National Treasure and its sequel National Treasure 2! In the second one, the adventure rests on a simple clue. The clue is “the debt that all men pay” and the answer is death! This unlocks a code which leads to a treasure. It’s very good. But it is fiction, especially for us as Christians.
As St Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:26 The last enemy to be defeated is death and in verse 55 of that chapter that death has lost its sting! We need to remember all that was left in the tomb when Jesus came back to life was his shroud!
When Jesus rose from the dead on the very first Easter Sunday he left one thing behind in the tomb; he left his shroud! We need to do the same. God has defeated death, we are no longer subject to it. We can walk out into our new life secure in the knowledge that death doesn’t have the same power over us as it used to do. The shroud has been lifted and we can walk in the new life like Jesus did. One day, we will.
Isn’t verse 8 a beautiful verse? This verse often appears in Jewish cemeteries and gives a lot of hope to this who have lost loved ones. You see, this world isn’t how it was meant to be. God didn’t make a world this wrong. He never created a world where death had any role to play. His world wasn’t supposed to have any poor and lonely. He doesn’t want us to be suffering. When we do suffer, he wants to be there wiping our eyes and holding the hands of our loved ones.
Another film that has had a big impact on me in recent years is the film, Selma. It tells the story of Martin Luther King Junior and his work on the Selma to Montgomery March in 1965. In the film (and in reality), a young black man called Jimmy Lee Jackson was shot and killed. Dr King told his grandfather that “There are no words to soothe you Mr. Lee but I can tell you one thing for certain, God was the first to cry”.
This is a truth. God cries with us and God mourns with us and God waits to wipe the tears from every eye. He is a refuge for those in need.
These are not mere promises. This is not pie in the sky when we die. This is a fact. Something will be proven. At the end of these three verses (and what three verses they are), Isaiah uses 4 words that add a great weight to it. “The Lord has Spoken”. What Isaiah has just been talking about is fact. It is true. It is something that we can rely on.
What a message this is. God is a mighty refuge, he will protect everyone. He offers protection and succour to everyone on his mountain. He will wipe all tears and destroy death and remove all disgrace.
Unfortunately, there are plenty of people who will not like to hear this message. This is a message that many people don’t like and many will actively fight against.
In Luke chapter 14 Jesus tells the parable of the great feast that had been prepared. The invited guests were called but they all made excuses. They all had something better to do. Instead, the man sends his servants out to call the poor and lowly from the streets of the city and the countryside.
Now, to be fair, some people have never heard about the message and it is our job as Christians to share the truth of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection as far and as wide as possible. Jesus himself gave us this command in his final message before ascending back to heaven. Go into all nations making disciples. We are the message carriers. We are the only gospels some people will come across in their life and we need to be sharing this message
Others will have heard the message and they will reject it. They will think it isn’t for them or that it is silly or that they can do things on their own. We need to show them that it is for them, that the refuge God offers is sufficient, is amazing and is free.
Still others, as the passage in Isaiah, tells us will do more than just reject or ignore the message from God. They will actively oppose it. There are those people in this world who are actively opposed to Christianity. There are people who ridicule the Lord. There are people who discriminate against Christians. There are people who persecute Christians and there are those who kill Christians for their faith. Christians are the most persecuted group on the planet. Sometimes it seems hopeless. Isaiah says that’s not the case.
There is a rather distasteful image to show what will happen to those who continue to oppose God. It is a deliberate contrast to the peaceful and beautiful images used to describe what God will do to those who take refuge in him.
Moab will be trampled down as straw is in the manure. God will bring down those who oppose him. He will make them swim through dung and they won’t be able to rely on the cleverness of their hands. At the end of it all, God will prevail. The highest of walls will crumble, the smartest of men will fall and there will stand the stronghold of the Lord.
There is so much in this chapter to be amazed by. It is a wonderful passage of scripture and it has a lot to offer both the Christian and the non-believer.
There is so much in this chapter to be amazed by. It is a wonderful passage of scripture and it has a lot to offer both the Christian and the non-believer.
Remember how I mentioned right at the start how the started with a decision to worship and praise God? That seems understated now to me. I know why he wanted to worship and praise God because he knew what God was offering. He knew that God would be his protector and that God loved him enough to stoop down and wipe the tears from the eyes of those who suffer. It’s a decision that I am glad I also made this morning.
There’s a second decision in that opening verse. It tells us of a decision made by God a long time ago. What decision? How long ago?
I remember listening to someone speaking once about how he was on holiday with his wife and two young boys. They had got to the hotel and they were all heading out to the pool. The dad was carrying all the bags and inflatables when one of the boys fell in the pool. For a split second, the dad stood there trying to decide what to do. He had a son in danger and he took the tiniest second to think what to do.
God knew that his beloved children would fall into a pool where they could drown. He didn’t take time to think what to do. He didn’t weigh up his options. He had a plan ready. He knew what we were likely to do and he let us have our free will. When we were drowning, he put plan A into action. Jesus came to earth and sacrificed his life for us. Jesus’ death wasn’t plan B. It wasn’t a contingency. It was always the plan. God knew we would mess up. He knew I would mess up. He knew you would mess up. God loved us when he made us, he loved us when we went our own way and trusted in our own strongholds and he loved us on the cross. As Paul says, in Romans 5:8
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Christ’s death was always the plan and it was that death on the cross that enabled the destruction of the shroud that Isaiah speaks of. All those years after the Lord spoke through the prophet, Jesus ascended the holy mountain, the Mountain of the Lord and went, like a sheep to the slaughter just so that you and I could be let into the feast of the Lord. It was when God decided to come down to earth that the gateway into God’s refuge was flung open as the stone was rolled away and Jesus walked into the new day.
When Jesus comes back, and he is coming back, the new heaven and the new earth will have at its centre the new Jerusalem. It will rest on the holy mountain and in it will rest “the hand of the Lord” and he will rest in the knowledge that He did what was right and what was needed and he did it because he loves us.
God knew that his beloved children would fall into a pool where they could drown. He didn’t take time to think what to do. He didn’t weigh up his options. He had a plan ready. He knew what we were likely to do and he let us have our free will. When we were drowning, he put plan A into action. Jesus came to earth and sacrificed his life for us. Jesus’ death wasn’t plan B. It wasn’t a contingency. It was always the plan. God knew we would mess up. He knew I would mess up. He knew you would mess up. God loved us when he made us, he loved us when we went our own way and trusted in our own strongholds and he loved us on the cross. As Paul says, in Romans 5:8
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Christ’s death was always the plan and it was that death on the cross that enabled the destruction of the shroud that Isaiah speaks of. All those years after the Lord spoke through the prophet, Jesus ascended the holy mountain, the Mountain of the Lord and went, like a sheep to the slaughter just so that you and I could be let into the feast of the Lord. It was when God decided to come down to earth that the gateway into God’s refuge was flung open as the stone was rolled away and Jesus walked into the new day.
When Jesus comes back, and he is coming back, the new heaven and the new earth will have at its centre the new Jerusalem. It will rest on the holy mountain and in it will rest “the hand of the Lord” and he will rest in the knowledge that He did what was right and what was needed and he did it because he loves us.
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