Text: Isaiah 51<\/p>\n
The children among us can probably relate to the fact that when a parent says, \u201cListen,\u201d they rarely mean just \u201chear the words I\u2019m about to say.\u201d In my house, words of instruction or correction are usually followed by, \u201cdo you understand?\u201d which is parent code for \u201cI\u2019ve explained this ten times already and you still haven\u2019t listened\u2014are you going to SHOW me this time that you get it, or am I going to have to SHOW you how you\u2019re gonna\u2019 get it?!\u201d<\/p>\n
When parents know that we have something important to say but are likely to be ignored, we start out with a warning, with just the right edge in our voice\u2014just enough, we think, to raise the hair on the back of the neck, enough to convey a healthy sense of impending disaster if what is about to be said is not heard, understood, and put immediately into practice. And we say, \u201cYou\u2019d better listen\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
But of course they often don\u2019t, and our bluff is called. We have to resort to sterner means to get their attention, and then we speak our words of correction and end up back at \u201cdo you understand?\u201d<\/p>\n
Of course none of this is a problem for the children with us this morning\u2014is it kids? I said, is it kids?<\/em>Are you listening?<\/p>\n Some children (present company excepted), have perfected the art of not listening so well that they can listen to anything you say and give every indication that they\u2019ve heard you, and yet with great skill and obvious flare, they ignore everything you\u2019ve just said.<\/p>\n If you press the issue, they can repeat all that you said\u2014even in the same tone of voice. But they continue to do what you told them not to\u2026or fail to do what you told them to do. The technical term, of course, is \u2018practiced indifference\u2019.<\/p>\n Closely related is \u2018cultivated tolerance\u2019 with which words of warning or instruction are met with some form of partial obedience\u2014often grudging and only enough to appease the raving lunatic who will obviously suffer an aneurism if they don\u2019t do something. But the next time the situation arises, even when they know exactly what you\u2019re going to say\u2014even when they know what they\u2019ll end up doing. It takes the raving lunatic again to move them to a minimal compliance laced with a carefully cultivated expression of scorn and displeasure.<\/p>\n Then there is what I consider to be the most insidious form of not listening there is, \ttechnically known as \u2018passive disobedience\u2019 (AKA \u2018the Ghandi complex\u2019, and popularly known as \u2018the blank stare\u2019). No matter what is said at any volume, no matter how many blood vessels rupture, no matter how many times your head spins around, everything you say (or scream) is quietly absorbed by the completely un-reactive, entirely unaffected, unflinching, unwavering, unresponsive, un-anything stare of the little angel who has no intention of doing anything at all.<\/p>\n While it may seem from these and many other listening disorders that our children never listen (I call them disorders, others might consider them artful avoidances), we know that they do sometimes. We even begin to experience what we hope for from the beginning as their indifference turns to attentiveness and effort. Their tolerance, or even outright defiance, becomes understanding and an eagerness to do what is right, and the blank stares soften into warm smiles.<\/p>\n Our words change too, as we have less to correct and more to encourage. We can instruct less and share more. \u201cListen\u201d can and does become less a warning and more a prelude to wisdom or comfort, and \u201cdo you understand\u201d ceases to be a code for \u201cyou better hear and obey\u201d as it becomes an honest invitation to question further, share more, and admit to new levels of insight and appreciation.<\/p>\n From the very first time we sternly begin with \u201cListen, you\u2019d better\u2026,\u201d we yearn for the day when we can softly say \u201cListen, I\u2019m happy that you have\u2026 .\u201d Even to the one we have punished many times, to the one who has tried every form of artful avoidance known to humankind, and to the one who has tried our patience and tested the resolve of our love, we yearn speak words of comfort and restoration. We yearn to share our wisdom and have it heard, appreciated, and practiced. All those years of correction and instruction, all of the difficult times of ranting and raving, cajoling and punishing, of trying to get our children to listen, are justified in those moments when they finally do listen.<\/p>\n The difference has nothing to do with their hearing, for they\u2019ve heard what we\u2019ve said all along. The difference, is that they have changed the way they listen. They have changed themselves. And their relationship with us has changed. Slowly their hearing becomes doing, and they begin to listen not to the words you say over and over again but to the character you\u2019ve formed in them, the one you\u2019ve molded through careful correction and instruction\u2014through all those times of \u201cYou\u2019d better listen,\u201d and \u201cDo you understand?\u201d They begin to show that they have and are listening by the way they behave\u2014by the way they respond to new situations and by the way they apply the wisdom and the patterns of behavior you\u2019ve worked so hard to instill in them.<\/p>\n Where they were once passive, tolerating, and disobedient, they become active listeners, able to think and behave obediently and with good judgment. They are able to receive words of wisdom with thoughtfulness and understanding.<\/p>\n The way God deals with his people, and the ways his people respond, with artful avoidance or active and obedient listening is much the same. In Isaiah we have what amounts to a showcase of this whole pattern of listening (or not).<\/p>\n The book of Isaiah spans a period of nearly 250 years, from the time the northern kingdom, Israel, fell to the Assyrians and the southern kingdom, Judah, lived between rival superpowers through the time when Judah was taken by Babylon and many exiled to that distant land, to the time when the Persians took Babylon and allowed Israel and Judah to return home.<\/p>\n It opens at a time when the worlds greatest parent\u2014God almighty\u2014by whose word heaven and earth, even we ourselves came to be. The God of Israel and of all nations by whose word Abraham was called, and Moses was sent. The God whose word delivered his people and gave them a land, kings, and riches and who, with the patience that only God could have, had parented his children through prophet after prophet with many a \u201cListen,\u201d a \u201cHear what I, the Lord, have to say.\u201d God who, with the love of the parent of parents, punished and restored, corrected and forgave. Isaiah opens with THE parent\u2026who reached the end of his rope.<\/p>\n And so God sends Isaiah of Amoz, the prophet for whom the book was named and perhaps the most important prophet in Israel\u2019s history. Isaiah appears on the scene just as one recalcitrant child has been severely punished and put under the yolk of the aggressive Assyrian empire and the other cowers in fear before the world\u2019s superpowers. And the first words from Isaiah, from God\u2019s mouthpiece, the lips that were purified with fire in his famous vision in the temple, are these:<\/p>\n Hear, O heavens, and listen, O earth; The ox knows its owner, Almighty God speaks the frustration of a long-suffering parent and cries to whomever will listen, \u201cI\u2019ve screamed and yelled until I\u2019m blue in the face and they still don\u2019t understand!\u201d Then with the passion of the ages, God the Father turns to his children and meets their practiced indifference, their cultivated tolerance, and their passive disobedience with some of the harshest judgment in scripture. \u201cHear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom! Listen to the teaching of your God, you people of Gomorrah!\u201d he rages, comparing them to the worst sinners in their collective memory.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?\u201d says the Lord;<\/p>\n I have had enough\u2026 Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; \u201cI\u2019ve told you a thousand times what I desire of you, and still you won\u2019t obey. I\u2019ve had it this time\u2014get it straight, or else!\u201d<\/p>\n We know he wasn\u2019t kidding, for the Chaldeans came from Babylon a little over a hundred years later, and the temple was destroyed. The princes of Judah were taken into captivity, and for several generations, Israel and Judah were no more.<\/p>\n But even in the midst of his anger, God loved his people. He saw through the unfortunate and difficult punishment he was about to deliver to a time when they would be restored. He looked forward to a time when they would listen and understand, and make his wisdom their own. \u201cTherefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you;\u201d he says in chapter 30,<\/p>\n \u2026therefore he will rise up to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him. Truly, O people in Zion, inhabitants of Jerusalem, you shall weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when he hears it, he will answer you. Though the Lord may give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself any more, but your eyes will see your Teacher. And when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left, your ears shall hear a word behind you saying, This is the way; walk in it. Then you will defile your silver-covered idols and your gold-plated images. You will scatter them like filthy rags; you will say no to them, \u201cAway with you!\u201d (Is. 30.18\u201322)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Our reading from Isaiah, this morning, comes directly from that moment when, in the heat of punishment, the people are crying and the Lord hears and prepares for their restoration. Isaiah of Babylon, sometimes known as second or deutero-<\/em>Isaiah, was most likely a prophet in the tradition of the original Isaiah of Amoz who took his name, as was common practice. Beginning with chapter 40, Isaiah of Babylon spoke the word of the Lord to people who were in the midst of their punishment, their exile, only a short time before Babylon would fall and the conquering Persian king, Cyrus, would allow the scattered people to return to their homeland.<\/p>\n Isaiah\u2019s words at this time were of hope and confidence spoken to a very demoralized people. In fact, the very famous servant songs that look forward to the messiah were part of the promise of God through this prophet.<\/p>\n Where Isaiah of Amoz was burdened with judgment against people going the wrong way, who were failing to listen to God, Isaiah of Babylon was blessed with encouragement for a people who hungered for any word God would speak to them. Nearly 200 years before Isaiah of Babylon could speak the \u201cListen\u201d of comfort and wisdom, Isaiah of Amoz spoke the \u201cListen\u201d of warning that was not heard by the ears of indifference, by people who thought they knew better and who continued to go their own way and do their own thing.<\/p>\n Only a century later, Jeremiah would speak the same word of the Lord in desperation to stubborn people who thought they were on the right track\u2014people who would yet again ignore the raving lunatic who threatened punishment with blank stares and hardened hearts. We know that their indifference to the warnings, their minimal compliance, and their blank stares when they were corrected was their doom\u2014and Jerusalem fell.<\/p>\n The \u201cListen\u201d of warning that Isaiah of Amoz spoke and Jeremiah cried went unheeded, and the Lord exercised judgment. The people of Judah, like the Northern Kingdom before them, went into what was essentially an extended and very difficult grounding.<\/p>\n Finally, they were ready to listen, to hear God\u2019s words of wisdom and comfort. Their indifference had changed to desire. Their tolerance became a hunger for righteousness. Their blank stares softened to longing expressions, seeking God\u2019s word and deliverance.<\/p>\n Listen to what God says to them through Isaiah in chapter 51. \u201cListen to me, you that pursue righteousness, you that seek the Lord\u201d (51.1). What a change! They seek the Lord, they are ready to listen!<\/p>\n Look to the rock from which you were hewn, Remember where you came from and what I did for you. And know what I will do for you even now.<\/em><\/p>\n For the Lord will comfort Zion; What a picture of restoration!<\/em><\/p>\n Listen to me, my people, My<\/strong> people again! Under my care and protection! And now I will share my wisdom that you are ready to hear and understand.<\/em><\/p>\n I will bring near my deliverance swiftly, Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look at the earth beneath; I will deliver you for my purpose\u2014and remember who it is who saves you now, for everything else is temporary compared to my salvation. \u201cListen to me, you who know righteousness, you people who have my teaching in your hearts\u201d (51.7). Again, what a change\u2014they get it, and he is is ready to encourage them<\/p>\n Do not fear the reproach of others, And then a reminder of just who it is that is speaking to them and how he will deliver them,<\/em><\/p>\n Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord! And then words of comfort and restoration,<\/em><\/p>\n I, I am he who comforts you; And then a call to action to all who are still reeling from the punishment, still wounded,<\/em><\/p>\n Rouse yourself, rouse yourself! These two things have befallen you\u2014 Therefore hear this, you who are wounded, See, I have taken from your hand the cup of staggering; I will restore you!<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cGreat story, pastor,\u201d some of you might be thinking. We know what God did for Israel and the lessons they had to learn. We even know what he went on to do when he sent Jesus and opened the way to everlasting salvation that went far beyond restoring Jerusalem.<\/p>\n If we identify with God\u2019s people in this case, perhaps we think of ourselves most like those to whom God was speaking words of comfort. We may consider ourselves those pursuing righteousness. In fact, the exile is over, Christ has come, and we enjoy the salvation and fellowship of God in ways they could only hope for.<\/p>\n But perhaps there are some of us here this morning who are willing to look a little deeper at the truth of our situation and the appropriateness of both the message of Isaiah of Amoz and Isaiah of Babylon for us even now.<\/p>\n The truth starts with the recognition that we are children of God, his people. Isaiah\u2019s message is addressed to the people of God who aren\u2019t listening, not to outsiders who don\u2019t yet know that they should listen. In other words, rather than reason to pat ourselves on the back or puff up our chests because we\u2019re not nearly as dense as those Israelites, we should ask ourselves how much we are like them and in need of Isaiah\u2019s warning.<\/p>\n We are most in danger of needing to hear the warning of \u201clisten\u201d when we are too comfortable with who we are. What we think we hear of God\u2019s word, even in comfort, is never stagnant or settling. God\u2019s word always carries the \u201cdo you understand?\u201d that expects response and transformation. And all too many of us are not really listening.<\/p>\n We come week after week, sit in our seats, hear the word of God, and walk away unaffected and unchanged\u2014except perhaps more disgruntled with the pastor than when we came. We might even read our bibles and pray through the week\u2014always asking for guidance and help, always seeking peace and comfort, and not once hearing when God says, \u201cyes, but first YOU must listen.\u201d<\/p>\n We are exposed to the truth of Almighty God that should shake us to our very foundation. We can even repeat the words in a pious tone of voice, perhaps even quoting chapter and verse, but we fail to understand and apply. Or we take and use only what we like, and fail to be confronted and changed by the word that surprises us, offends us, and puts us off-kilter.<\/p>\n Or maybe we understand more than we let on, and we have an idea what God is trying to tell us, but we do only enough to get by. We fail open ourselves fully to the demand and the grace of the Holy Spirit, because it\u2019s too hard. Listening well involves too much risk\u2014it means too much change. We might have to give something up, change our job and do with less money, admit we\u2019re wrong, or worship a little differently.<\/p>\n There are those of us with the blank stares\u2014the defiance that won\u2019t even acknowledge that God is speaking. We are unflinching, unfeeling, unteachable, unbending, and desperately in need of being UNDONE.<\/p>\n Which kind of child are you? Which am I? It\u2019s a question we must all ask ourselves and one that only we can ask of ourselves.<\/p>\n And then there is the church\u2014which kind of child are we? Have we as a people gone astray? Are we failing to listen as we should? Are we open to the risk of hearing and understanding the word of God? Are we failing to listen to our past and our prophets? Are we stubbornly worshiping, fellowshipping, evangelizing, and doing church the way we think we should while remaining unchanged, unaffected, and unteachable?<\/p>\n Are we heading into exile as we watch a nation wander away on our watch? Are we so easily absorbed into the ways and values of culture, as we willingly submit to the oppression of wealth and progress, of individualism and prosperity? Do we wonder why justice no longer prevails, why only a few serve while the rest take, why personal security means more than sacrifice and servanthood\u2014even in the church?<\/p>\n These are big questions all, personal and corporate. They are the questions that Isaiah SHOULD raise for us. They are the questions that should drive us to our knees and make us hungry for God\u2019s mercy, for his deliverance, for his word.<\/p>\n Are we listening?<\/p>\n Even now, the Lord desires to speak the words he did through Isaiah of Babylon to the people in exile. He longs for his \u2018listen\u2019 of warning to become the \u2018listen\u2019 of comfort and wisdom.<\/p>\n What must we do, then?<\/p>\n Listen\u2026<\/p>\n Listen to the word of warning, recognize the truth of who we are before the Lord, of our great need, for mercy and for abandonment to his will\u2014his salvation.<\/p>\n Listen\u2026<\/p>\n Listen not to what we think we need to hear, not to what we desire to hear, but to what God is really saying to us. Seek to be challenged and changed. Become teachable and open to any possibility. Hunger for God to speak. Work to understand, and be eager to do what he says.<\/p>\n And rouse ourselves\u2026<\/p>\n Be active listeners, dependent upon God for who we are and what we do. Don\u2019t be slaves to achievement or progress. Don\u2019t be slaves to worldly values, wealth, or security. Don\u2019t be enamored with our models of success or driven by our own expectations. Be willing to face powers and superpowers as God\u2019s people, trusting in his power, his will, and his reward.<\/p>\n The Lord will take us to this place\u2014by persuasion or by punishment. If we listen not to his word of warning, he will take us to the brink of desperation.<\/p>\n Be persuaded, learn to listen even now. Look to your past, he said through Isaiah, to the truth of who you are and who your ancestors were and the way I blessed them. Open yourself to my wisdom, my teaching, he said, \u201cgive heed to me, my nation; for a teaching will go out from me, and MY justice for a light to the peoples\u201d (Isaiah 51.4).<\/p>\n Recognize the fullness of who God is and the futility of who we are, for the \u201cheavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment, and those who live on it will die like gnats,\u201d but HIS salvation will be forever (51.6).<\/p>\n To participate in HIS salvation, to be restored and used as his people, we must<\/p>\n –\tLive a life of confession and humility<\/p>\n –\tHunger for his word and the food of his table in worship and fellowship<\/p>\n –\tExpect to be changed and transformed by his Spirit in worship and each and every day<\/p>\n –\tActively listen\u2014be prepared to live HIS justice, HIS wisdom, and the hope of HIS salvation in the midst of a world full of oppression and pressure, of competition and selfishness, of self promotion, of suffering, of violence, and of injustice.<\/p>\n Listen, understand, and do\u2014it\u2019s the only way.<\/em><\/p>\n This was a difficult sermon to prepare. Much was laid on my heart\u2014much that is difficult to express. Much was made clear by the Spirit that would take us many more hours to explore as we try to plumb the breadth and depth of the word of the Lord and to do it justice. I can only hope that we will all listen, with open ears and contrite hearts. I can only pray that we will all hear what the Lord is saying, through his struggling minister, through songs and prayers, through our feast at his table, and through the Holy Spirit who even now is speaking to each and every one of us.<\/p>\n I invite you now to quiet your hearts and minds to hear and understand. You can do this where you stand, or you can join me on your knees. Either way, without ceremony, let us reflect quietly on what the Lord, our God, has said and is saying to us.<\/p>\n Holy Father, we are your people who call upon you as children through the name and blood of Jesus Christ. We are desperate for your word. We are hungry for your salvation. We are ready to be taught, challenged, and changed by your wisdom in the power of your Spirit.<\/p>\n Humble us before your grace and glory. Use us as your justice and mercy in and for the world. Teach us to listen, in listening to understand, and in understanding to act, on your word, by your will, and in your grace. Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Text: Isaiah 51 The children among us can probably relate to the fact that when a parent says, \u201cListen,\u201d they rarely mean just \u201chear the words I\u2019m about to say.\u201d In my house, words of instruction or correction are usually followed by, \u201cdo you understand?\u201d which is parent code for \u201cI\u2019ve explained this ten times […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[19,9,1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\nfor the Lord has spoken:
\nI reared children and brought them up,
\nbut they have rebelled against me.<\/p>\n
\nand the donkey its master\u2019s crib;
\nbut Israel does not know,
\nmy people do not understand. (Isaiah 1.2\u20133, NRSV)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\nI cannot endure solemn assemblies with iniquity.
\nYour new moons and your appointed festivals my soul hates;
\nthey have become a burden to me,
\nI am weary of bearing them.
\nWhen you stretch out your hands,
\nI will hide my eyes from you;
\neven though you make many prayers,
\nI will not listen; your hands are full of blood.<\/p>\n
\nremove the evil of your doings from before my eyes;
\ncease to do evil\u2026 . (Is. 1.10\u201311, 13\u201316)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\nand to thew quarry from which you were dug.
\nlook to Abraham your father and to Sarah who bore you;
\nfor he was but one when I called him,
\nbut I blessed him and made him many. (1-2)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\nhe will comfort all her waste places,
\nand will make her wilderness like Eden,
\nher desert like the garden of the Lord;
\njoy and gladness will be found in her,
\nthanksgiving and the voice of song. (3)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\nand give heed to me, my nation;
\nfor a teaching will go out from me,
\nand my justice for a light to the peoples. (4)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\nmy salvation has gone out and my arms will rule the peoples;
\nthe coastlands wait for me, and for my arm they hope.<\/p>\n
\nfor the heavens will vanish like smoke,
\nthe earth will wear out like a garment,
\nand those who live on it will die like gnats;
\nbut my salvation will be forever, and my deliverance will never be ended. (5-6)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\nand do not be dismayed when they revile you.
\nFor the moth will eat them up like a garment,
\nand the worm will eat them like wool;
\nbut my deliverance will be forever,
\nand my salvation to all generations. (7-8)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\nAwake as in the days of old, the generations of long ago!
\nWas it not you who cut Rahab in pieces, who pierced the dragon?
\nWas it not you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep;
\nwho made the depths of the sea a way for the redeemed to cross over?
\nSo the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with singing;
\neverlasting joy shall be upon their heads;
\nthey shall obtain joy and gladness,
\nand sorrow and sighing shall flee away. (9-11)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\nwhy then are you afraid of a mere mortal who must die,
\na human being who fades like grass?
\nyou have forgotten the Lord your Maker,
\nwho stretched out the heavens
\nand laid the foundations of the earth.
\nYou fear continually all day long
\nbecause of the fury of the oppressor,
\nwho is bent on destruction.
\nBut where is the fury of the oppressor?
\nThe oppressed shall speedily be released;
\nthey shall not die and go down to the Pit,
\nnor shall they lack bread.
\nFor I am the Lord your God,
\nwho stirs up the sea so that its waves roar\u2014
\nthe Lord of hosts is his name.
\nI have put my words in your mouth,
\nand hidden you in the shadow of my hand,
\nstretching out the heavens and laying the foundations of the earth, and saying to Zion, \u201cYou are my people.\u201d (12-16)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\nStand up, O Jerusalem,
\nyou who have drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of his wrath,
\nWho have drunk to the dregs the bowl of staggering.
\nThere is no one to guide her among all the children she has borne;
\nthere is no one to take her by the hand among the children she has brought up.<\/p>\n
\nwho will grieve with you?\u2014
\ndevastation and destruction, famine and sword\u2014
\nwho will comfort you?
\nYour children have fainted,
\nthey lie at the head of every street like an antelope in a net;
\nthey are full of the wrath of the Lord,
\nthe rebuke of your God.<\/p>\n
\nwho are drunk, but not with wine:
\nThus says your Sovereign, the Lord,
\nyour God who pleads the cause of his people:<\/p>\n
\nyou shall drink no more from the bowl of my wrath.
\nAnd I will put it into the hand of your tormentors,
\nwho have said to you, \u201cBow down, that we may walk on you;\u201d
\nand you have made your back like the ground
\nand like the street for them to walk on. (17-23)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n