Sermon Tone Analysis

©January 16th, 2022 by Rev. Rick Goettsche SERIES: Isaiah

As much as we like to think of ourselves as logical people, the fact is we all tend to do mental gymnastics to avoid truths we find uncomfortable.

We are very good at deflecting, changing the subject, and rationalizing the things we do, lest we be forced to admit we are wrong and need to change course.

Sometimes it is easier to broach difficult issues through a story to which people can easily relate.

Often, we are able to see issues more clearly when we don’t think they are about us.

That’s the approach Isaiah takes in our text this morning.

He begins by telling a story (in the form of a song) that everyone would be able to relate to.

By using this approach, he is able to communicate his point more effectively.

Then, having made his point, he moves on to the practical specifics of what the people need to do differently.

Isaiah’s condemnations in these verses are jarring to us because he speaks quite forcefully to the people of Israel about their sin.

I suspect equally jarring will be the realization that not much has changed in the last few millennia.

The same attitudes and behaviors that plagued the nation of Israel in Isaiah’s day continue to exist in our culture and churches today.

As such, we ought to pay close attention to Isaiah’s warnings, because they remain as relevant to us today as they were to the people of Israel over 2500 years ago.

Isaiah’s Song

Isaiah begins this section with a song about a vineyard.

This region was an ideal climate for growing grapes, and vineyards were a familiar sight.

Everyone knew what was involved in making a vineyard work, so this was a fitting image for Isaiah to use.

1 Now I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a rich and fertile hill. 2 He plowed the land, cleared its stones, and planted it with the best vines.

In the middle he built a watchtower and carved a winepress in the nearby rocks.

Then he waited for a harvest of sweet grapes, but the grapes that grew were bitter.

3 Now, you people of Jerusalem and Judah, you judge between me and my vineyard.

4 What more could I have done for my vineyard that I have not already done?

When I expected sweet grapes, why did my vineyard give me bitter grapes?

(Isaiah 5:1-4, NLT)

Isaiah’s song tells the story of a man who had done all the work to make his vineyard successful.

This would have been familiar to his audience, but it’s somewhat less familiar to us.

Here’s how one commentator described what would have to happen to prepare a plot of land for a vineyard.

The land must first be cleared of other plants and then of the rocks that the Judean hillsides produce in abundance (v.

2).

This is the work of an entire year.

Then the finest vines that one can afford must be purchased and carefully set out.

During that second year the cleared rocks must be built into fences and watchtowers in order to keep out marauders, both four-footed and two-footed.

Finally, in the third year, the fruit of all the previous labor is ready.[1]

Preparing the land for a vineyard was hard work that took several years.

If Isaiah were speaking to our community, he might talk about how to prepare a field for planting corn or soybeans.

He might speak of clearing the land, getting soil samples, installing drain tiles, selecting the appropriate herbicides and fertilizers, picking the right hybrid, and then actually planting.

The point of going through all of this was to drive home a specific point—the owner of the land had done everything right.

He hadn’t cut corners.

He made sure the land was perfect.

But when the harvest came, instead of having a harvest of sweet grapes, He had bitter (or rancid) grapes.

They were inedible.

They were fit only for the trash.

Isaiah asks the question on behalf of the vineyard owner, “What more could I have done?”

The implication is clear—the vineyard owner had done everything correctly.

There must have been something wrong with the plants or the grapes themselves.

This is exactly the point Isaiah was trying to drive home.

He explains in verses 5 and 6 that because of this, the vineyard owner would destroy the vineyard and allow it to be overrun by weeds and wild animals, because no matter how much work He did, the vineyard would never produce good fruit.

To this point, Isaiah’s listeners surely agreed with the vineyard owner.

They understood and empathized with His outrage, with His utter frustration with His vineyard.

And that’s when Isaiah offers the big reveal.

7 The nation of Israel is the vineyard of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.

The people of Judah are his pleasant garden.

He expected a crop of justice, but instead he found oppression.

He expected to find righteousness, but instead he heard cries of violence.

(Isaiah 5:7, NLT)

Isaiah explains that the vineyard he is talking about in the song is actually the nation of Israel.

God had prepared His people, Israel.

He had prepared their land for them.

He had delivered them from their enemies.

God had given the Israelites everything they needed to thrive…and yet they didn’t.

Instead, they perverted justice and oppressed the people within their land.

Isaiah’s question is simple: who is to blame?

Clearly it is not the Lord.

That really leaves only one answer—the people were the ones who had failed.

Isaiah wanted the people to see the truth of this allegory and take it to heart.

He hoped that by looking at their situation from a different perspective they might see their culpability and change course.

As we look at the message of Isaiah, it is easy for us to sit in judgment over the people of Israel.

We look at all the opportunities God had given them, the abundant resources they had at their disposal, and God’s track record of faithfulness, and we wonder how they could possibly have turned away from Him.

But is their situation that much different than ours today?

We live in a land where our religious freedom is guaranteed.

We have great abundance.

We have the resources to do a great many things.

We have Christian seminaries and universities.

We have Christian hospitals and orphanages.

We have a wide variety of media at our disposal, TV, radio, and the internet, with an abundance of Christian programming.

We have easy access to the scriptures.

Anyone who wants to have a Bible can have one.

Even if they couldn’t afford one, we have such abundant resources that we often give people Bibles at no cost.

And yet, our churches are languishing.

The behavior of people inside the church looks no different than those outside of it.

We may profess a moral standard that is higher than others, but in practice we are not much different.

Our churches are shrinking rather than growing.

Everyone has Bibles, but few are reading them.

And even fewer are trying to live according to them.

There are far more parallels between the church in 21st century America and Israel in Isaiah’s day than I would like to admit.

As such, we should take Isaiah’s words to heart.

We should look at the condemnations he issues to the nation of Israel and recognize that those condemnations likely apply to us as well.

If we turn a deaf ear to Isaiah’s warnings, we should expect God’s blessings to be rescinded, just as they were from Israel.

There is a great deal at stake.

Reasons for Condemnation

Isaiah lists several issues that cut to the heart of the problem in Israel.

As you look in your Bible, each time you see the words “What sorrow” (if you’re using the NLT) or “Woe” (in some other translations), Isaiah is introducing another area the people have turned away from God.

I think these woes fall into three categories.

First, Isaiah condemns greed.

In verses 8-10, we see his charge,

8 What sorrow for you who buy up house after house and field after field,until everyone is evicted and you live alone in the land.

9 But I have heard the Lord of Heaven’s Armies swear a solemn oath: “Many houses will stand deserted; even beautiful mansions will be empty.

10 Ten acres of vineyard will not produce even six gallons of wine.

Ten baskets of seed will yield only one basket of grain.”

(Isaiah 5:8-10, NLT)

When God had given the Israelites the promised land, He had reminded them that the land was His, and they were merely stewards of it.