Sylvania Wesleyan Church 1
Sunday Morning 1/18

      • Psalm 40:1–5NIV2011

  • Good morning. I am glad that we can be here together.
    Have you ever gotten up in the morning and had a mission to accomplish. I mean think about it. This day you wake up and you are determined that by the end of the day a certain task will be done, or you have a plan to get something that you have wanted for a long time. You are on a mission to achieve your goals.
    I Can’t help but think of the show or movies Mission impossible.
    This is your mission if you choose to accept it.
    Of course the mission is the most over the top dramatic task that should be impossible but somehow they make it possible.
    Imagine if you woke up each day and started your mission and you went down the hall way singing the mission impossible theme as you went about cleaning the house.
    Paying your bills
    Going to work.
    That makes life a little more dramatic doesn’t it.
    Let’s keep this idea of the mission in mind as we engage this mornings text.
    See Jesus was born and he had a pretty big mission. Not only did he get born into this mission but it was given to him before hand. He knew what was happening. Let’s look at the words of Isaiah in helping us understand what Jesus was born to do and the burden it could be.
    Isaiah 49:1–7 NIV
    1 Listen to me, you islands; hear this, you distant nations: Before I was born the Lord called me; from my mother’s womb he has spoken my name. 2 He made my mouth like a sharpened sword, in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me into a polished arrow and concealed me in his quiver. 3 He said to me, “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will display my splendor.” 4 But I said, “I have labored in vain; I have spent my strength for nothing at all. Yet what is due me is in the Lord’s hand, and my reward is with my God.” 5 And now the Lord says— he who formed me in the womb to be his servant to bring Jacob back to him and gather Israel to himself, for I am honored in the eyes of the Lord and my God has been my strength— 6 he says: “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.” 7 This is what the Lord says— the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel— to him who was despised and abhorred by the nation, to the servant of rulers: “Kings will see you and stand up, princes will see and bow down, because of the Lord, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”

    The Song of the Servant

    This mornings passage is one of four main passages written in Isaiah about the Servant. These passages are.
    Isaiah 42:1-9
    Isaiah 49:1-12
    Isaiah 50:4-11
    Isaiah 52:13-53:12
    Each sharing different elements and views on the servant of the Lord. Now when Isaiah was writing this is written about an individual in Isaiah’s time. He may have been referencing someone specific that he does not name. That forces to ask the question why doesn’t he name the servant.
    How much easier would it have been if Isaiah just said, “Hey, you know Jimmy down the street? Yeah, he is the servant I am talking about”.
    Instead, there is a vague quality about the passage that leaves us room for interpretation. This might have been part of Isaiah’s plan to help keep this persons identity a little bit secret.
    Or it is a choice to point Israel to a future promise of the servant who will deliver them.
    As with much of scripture there is an element of us looking both at the time it was written and what God may have been speaking through Isaiah into the larger story.
    For Christians, we read these passages and we can’t escape the parallels to Jesus and who he is.
    Like last week when we read Isaiah 42 we can’t help but make the connections in this passage as well. We then read this passage from the lens of the New Testament and our knowledge of Jesus.
    Isaiah 49:1 NIV
    1 Listen to me, you islands; hear this, you distant nations: Before I was born the Lord called me; from my mother’s womb he has spoken my name.
    Looking at this verse we see that this is a powerful one that points us to Jesus and who he is.

    Jesus’ Calling

    Think about this. The stories of callings in the Bible almost all of them happen after people are born. Some happen at a young age but most are later in life. Scripture really only gives us four examples of individuals who had God’s calling on their life before they were born. Even these individuals it could be argued that God knew the path they could take and that he planned for their purpose.
    Jesus was different because he would have been aware of his calling and knowledgeable of what it entailed.
    Jesus was there from the beginning. He knew what it would take to restore humanity. He was still willing. He came into human form and was called to his ministry even before he was born.
    Why than such a long wait?
    Why did God choose when he did to send Jesus?

    Why did Jesus come when he did?

    Have you ever thought about this.
    Why did God wait till this specific time to send Jesus to the world?
    Listen I am about to give you a big disclaimer before we talk about this.
    There are no scriptures or other indications of exactly why this time was chosen. We can’t know the mind of God on this and we can only speculate and do our best to trust that God has a bigger plan and insight into what we need then we could possibly imagine.
    There could have been Political reasons for the time that Jesus choose. The majority of the world was controlled by the Roman empire. This led to construction and infrastructure that had never really existed before this. Roads, trade, and military conquest brought tensions and movement like never before.
    This could be the moment that God choose to shift the people of Israel to see that they were no longer defined as a physical nation but as a people because of the Jewish people being spread all over the Roman empire.
    This created an opportunity for word to spread about the Gospel in a way that might not have been possible before.
    Spiritually, it had been 400 years of silence. No great prophet or teacher that spoke the word of God into the world. There was a tension and building of looking for the Messiah that the people of Israel were experiencing.
    We could talk about how there was more unification of Language in the world then ever before because of the Roman empire. There are so many different things that we can look at and evaluate but what we know is that this is the time that God choose.
    This passage in many ways shows us that God’s time is his time and his plans are his plans when it says.
    Isaiah 49:2 NIV
    2 He made my mouth like a sharpened sword, in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me into a polished arrow and concealed me in his quiver.
    Jesus Message is one that is as sharp as a sword. It was direct it was powerful it creates division and separation at times. He did say after all
    Matthew 10:34–39 NIV
    34 “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to turn “ ‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law— 36 a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’ 37 “Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.
    Not only did Jesus message come sharp like a sword. but it came at the right time.
    Isaiah 49:2 NIV
    2 He made my mouth like a sharpened sword, in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me into a polished arrow and concealed me in his quiver.
    Think about the last half of this passage for a moment. The Polished arrow. You prepare this arrow you hone its edge you make sure the shaft of the arrow is clean and ready. It is fletched perfectly so it will fly straight and true and find its mark when its time to release the arrow.
    What do you do with the arrow. You place it in a quiver holding it and hiding its perfection until just the right time.
    We can ask why then? Why did Jesus come when he did? All we can be confident in is that Jesus came at the right time to impact the world and to pierce deeply.

    The Mission

    How many times have you ever started on your mission for the day and everything just goes crazy and it doesn’t work out like you planned?
    It happens sometimes right. You get up and you think alright I am going to get these specific things done and then the Car breaks down, a kid gets sick, or any number of other things that keep us from our goals in the day.
    It can be really defeating when we experience this. It hard and it makes us at times feel like we have failed.
    Have you ever wondered if Jesus experienced this. Did he have moments where he watched people walk away from him despite him sharing the good news.
    The Rich man going away defeated. The 5000 who all ate but there is little indication how many continued to follow. There had to be moments it was like is this really working out?
    This is not a surprise because Isaiah shares with us even the servant would go through this.
    Isaiah 49:4 NIV
    4 But I said, “I have labored in vain; I have spent my strength for nothing at all. Yet what is due me is in the Lord’s hand, and my reward is with my God.”
    Jesus easily could have gone through moments where it felt like his labor was in vain. His humanity would suggest it as much. It is a reminder that the Servant while chosen and called before his birth and he roll as the instrument of God’s Justice for the world also went through our emotions and struggles as humans.
    What then does all this mean for us today when we read about these verses that point us to Christ?
    We are reminded that...

    His Mission was

    God sent his servant to change the world. Jesus came to this world to speak and to bring people closer to a right relationship with God. He came not only for the people of Israel but for all people.
    Isaiah 49:6 NIV
    6 he says: “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”
    His salvation and mission was not limited just to restoring Israel but to be a light for all people. His mission had the impact that was incredibly profound. It is in him that we can find hope and joy and peace.

    His Mission was

    It is in the promise and in the passages of scripture that point us toward his coming that remind us that God’s plans are bigger than anything than we can imagine.
    Jesus the Servant’s ministry was powerful. IT came for all to connect to all and to be open for all. We connect to him in our humanity and in his divinity. We see the hope and bring Glory to God in it. IT is the very foundation of how we are to build our lives. Centered on Him.
    Let’s Pray

      • Isaiah 49:1–7NIV2011

      • Isaiah 49:1NIV2011

      • Isaiah 49:2NIV2011

      • Matthew 10:34–39NIV2011

      • Isaiah 49:2NIV2011

      • Isaiah 49:4NIV2011

      • Isaiah 49:6NIV2011

Sylvania Wesleyan Church 1
1 member • 1 follower