It is You! (Isaiah 3-4)

Let us pray: Lord our God, our Father in heaven, be with us as we are gathered here. Through your Spirit let our hearts grow in understanding of how we can serve you rightly and live as you want us to live. Help us hold fast to all that is good. Free us more and more from everything that hinders us, from all that is evil. Show you loving-kindness to us and to our loved ones, wherever they may be. Hear every human heart that sighs to you, pleading that what is of heaven may overcome what is of earth. Amen. Well, I'm going to do what I rarely do, and I'm not going to pull any punches today. Why? Because we're only 3 chapters into Isaiah this week, and he doesn't pull any punches. And if I finish this sermon without having offended someone here today, I failed to be true to the biblical text.. We're all feeling it...increasingly so. We can't stop it or prevent it somehow. The tensions have been ever rising, especially it seems on my street where there's a turf war of campaign signs between my neighbors. In 11 days and....15 or so hours, we should know generally in what direction-which vision-this country will be headed in for the next four years. Many of you have known for some time who you will vote for, others are painfully undecided. Some will claim that this is the most important election of our lifetime. Perhaps. Perhaps not. Some of us believe things have truly gotten better, and others of us think it's the worst we've ever seen. There are Republicans in this room. There are Democrats as well. There are those who wouldn't dare label themselves by either term. There are those who are fed up and don't have plans to vote at all. There are many many strong opinions here today. But one thing I can say with some confidence that everyone here today shares is this: we are all afraid. We all recognize problems and issues in this country, and in the world. We all have someone to blame or point fingers to. We are all afraid. Here in the opening chapters of Isaiah, the prophet is in the midst of a similar situation. And if you remember, Isaiah describes the condition of Israel and of Judah and then prophesies their exile to Assyria and Babylon. Earlier this week, in chapter 2, Isaiah prophesied concerning the nations of the world and their attraction to God's people. The Lord God reigns and the peoples of the earth notice that there is something different about his people. In chapter 4, Isaiah prophesies about God's glory and visitation to his people. And in between, the Lord God speaks bluntly about the mess that his chosen people have become. His confrontation and judgment are real, but it stands within a larger context of grace. He will save his people. He will bless the whole world. He is moving us toward the Day of the Lord, when he will reveal himself fully. But there is great loss before there is gain. The Lord GOD of hosts is taking away from Jerusalem and from Judah support and supply, all support of bread, and all support of water; the mighty man and the soldier, the judge and the prophet. Judah fears a siege, a siege from Assyria that could kill people-the supply of food and water gone. But the Lord's judgment is what they should fear more. For he takes away all support and supply. And I will make boys their princes, and infants shall rule over them. Who will God's people lift up as leaders? Childish, infantile people. And in their desperation, the people will look around for someone, for anyone, to provide guidance and courage. You have a cloak, you lead us! As if the qualification for leadership is having clothing. But no one will be willing or able. I will not be a healer...You shall not make me the leader. Leaders must tend to those in need, those wounded, but no one will be willing to care for those who cannot care for themselves. The warning for every generation is this: One way God judges his people is by depriving them of worthy leaders. And the people will oppress one another, every one his fellow and every one his neighbor. There will be oppression, widespread oppression, from one person to his very neighbor. The Lord will remove all stability. There will be social upheaval as leadership collapses. And why has Jerusalem stumbled? Why has Judah fallen? Because their speech and their deeds are against the LORD, defying his glorious presence, or literally, "defying the eyes of his glory." Oppressing your neighbor places you against the Lord. For the look on their faces bears witness against them; they proclaim their sin like Sodom; they do not hide it. Woe to them! For they have brought evil on themselves...for what [their] hands have dealt out shall be done to [them]. There is no more fear of the Lord, no understanding of his presence, and so sin is not even hidden. The people show it on their faces, praising their evil deeds. My people! O my people! says the Lord. Your guides mislead you and they have swallowed up the course of your paths. [PAUSE] In 1919, during the midst of the Great War, World War I, the poet W.B. Yeats wrote this about the ambitious militarism and lack of mercy that had unleashed the bloodiest century of history: "Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere The ceremony of innocence is drowned." There has been blood-soaked chaos in every age, including the one we are live in now. Whether it's the murder of an infant in the womb before they take their first breath, or the murder of a black man in the street who is grasping for air, before taking his final breath. The ceremony of innocence is drowned. Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world. Loss after loss after loss. We are afraid. And yet we have no fear. The Lord God of hosts declares, "It is you!-not the atheists nor the Muslims, not the socialists nor the capitalists, not Antifa nor the Proud Boys, not the liberals nor the conservatives, not them out there that we pray about in large national gatherings-it is you!, my people, who have devoured my vineyard, the spoil of the poor is in your houses. What do you mean by crushing my people, by grinding the face of the poor?" We are afraid, and yet we do not fear. We defy the eyes of his glory. Isaiah describes the people of God resisting God's relevance to the whole of life-"the eyes of his glory." To be forgiven, yes. To be protected, yes. But beyond that, they didn't want God to be too real. They wanted a compartmentalized God, not an omnipresent God, and this is what did them in. The pagan cultures were not the problem. Why blame external forces when the people of God bring evil on themselves? God is still present, still at work. But we either delight in his glorious presence or we defy his glorious presence. His blazing heat is a welcomed purifying flame or a fiery judgment to the evil-either way, it is mercy. Everything else hinges on this. Lord, have mercy. And yet, here, Isaiah the seer looks even more deeply into the social disintegration, and he sees God there. God's work is both terrible and beautiful. He leads us into loss in order to enrich us with lasting gain. And in chapter 4, the Lord God cuts down his people, a mighty tree, and he chops them down into a stump. And yet out of his broken, shattered, wretched stump of a people-the stump of Israel, the stump of Jesse and David-comes a sole beautiful and glorious branch, our messiah Jesus! He will be our only beauty and pride. He will be our only security and refuge. He will be our hope. After all that loss, notice that the Lord doesn't say that he will give something back. Instead, he promises to "create" something new-a branch from the stump. And this branch he gives us will die on a different tree, with more loss than we could ever understand. And that is our gain-better than we expect or deserve. God certainly knows how to enrich us through loss. Sometimes he takes away more than we can fathom, but only to give us more of himself forever. 11 days...15-ish hours. The anxiety and tension and chaos will only rise. And we are afraid. So let us fear the Lord. Let us come to his table with trembling. Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving. Let us sit in the beauty of his holiness. And, in the end, let us send it all, all of the swirling chaotic issues going on in our world and all of wonderful ways that God is renewing his creation, let us send it all to the cross of Christ. So stand with me friends, many of you know the Kenyan liturgy, so let's declare this together: All of our problems We send to the cross of Christ. All of our fears and difficulties We send to the cross of Christ. All of the devil's works We send to the cross of Christ. All of our hopes and dreams and expectations We set on the risen Christ. Amen. 1