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Cabinet By Laws 2008

 

Pastor Dean's Weekly Sermon Synopsis

 

 

November 23, 2008

          
              SERMON               Seeds of Hope                       Isaiah 55:1-13

     
Fall is the season of the realized future. Harvest is the consequence of spring planting. Those who work with the earth are all too familiar with the inexorable harvest law, “what you sow you will reap.” In the first 39 chapters of Isaiah the great prophet of Israel speaks in severe tones. He recounts the ways in which the people of Israel resisted the will and love of God through their unbelief and sin. Specifically he targets the sin of pride and idolatry. His words are tempered and shaped by his encounter with God when he was in the temple after King Uzziah died. Isaiah is clear that the decisions of the people have yielded devastating consequences, none the least of which is the fall of Jerusalem and the capture and forced exile of Judah’s brightest and best people by Babylonia in 587 BC. Following these powerful messages Isaiah speaks to the people about God’s gift of forgiveness and God’s plan to restore the land to the people. This is a message of hope but it is received with measured enthusiasm. Strangely, and maybe not so strangely, the people who were demeaned and disoriented when they were captured became acclimated to life in Babylon. Over time what was considered to be unthinkable took place. The people of Judah became comfortable and complacent in a land and in a culture that was the antithesis of Jerusalem. Although there was no temple they found ways to worship God. As a minority they maintained their traditions through rituals and story telling. Over time their participation in worship shifted from lively engagement to obligatory performance. Old Testament scholar S. C. Thexton says, They had been in Babylon for many years - some for their whole life. They had grown roots, acquired property, and commercial interests, were prosperous and secure. The prophet does not plead or argue, but throws into the quiet pool of their complacency a disturbing pebble as he asks, Does all this really satisfy you? It is this question that serves as a preamble to God’s invitation for the people to join God at the table and eat those foods that will sustain, nurture and nourish their souls. The first few verses of Isaiah 55 are provocative and counter intuitive. Underlying Isaiah’s questions is his awareness that the people of the exile reflect a deep yearning for God. However, this yearning is masked by creaturely comforts. The clouds of complacency surround the people in an envelop of apparent contentment. It is into this environment that Isaiah challenges the people to seek first God. He follows these words with a primer on God’s plan and pattern for spiritual growth, nurture, and development. He sets up an analogy between the botanical world and the spiritual world. Seeds sown naturally bring forth the expected results. When the seeds of hope, which are the words of God, are sown they to will produce the expected spiritual results. These seeds yield a harvest of blessing, forgiveness off sin, redemption from failure, and a new and everlasting intimacy with God. These words spoken by Isaiah hundreds of years ago are not merely words of encouragement to the Babylonian exiles. These words of God resonate with the first 18 verses of John’s gospel in which Jesus is identified as the Word of God. These words pertain to us today. They create ripples in the pool of soul. They stir up our yearning for meaning, truth and love. They yield a harvest of joy and peace.


What is the harvest of God’s words in your life?

How are the seeds of God’s word sown in the life of the individual/church?


 

          
 

      

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