Growing for God’s Glory
Isaiah 61:1-3
Sermon by Rick Crandall
(2007 Series - Giving to Grow)
McClendon Baptist Church - Sept. 16, 2007
*Today is the first big day in our Giving to Grow Campaign for our new Children’s Building. In Isaiah 61:3, we see that the ultimate purpose for growing as a church is to give glory to God -- The ultimate purpose for us growing as believers is to give glory to God. As Jesus told His disciples on the night before He died on the cross: “By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples (John 15:8).” We must be growing for God’s glory! How can we do it?
1. First, by listening to the Lord’s proclamation.
*We must listen to His Good News about salvation in Jesus Christ. As He says in vs. 1, “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor.”
*How do we know that these words are about Jesus? We know because in Luke 4, Jesus went to the synagogue in His hometown of Nazareth, and read these same words from Isaiah. Then Jesus sat down to show His authority and said, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” (Luke 4:21)
*Jesus Christ has a message of Good News for you today, “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor.” But notice that the Lord is not just talking about people who are financially poor. Surely the Lord loves poor people, but here He’s talking about someone who is spiritually poor -- and knows it. This is the same idea Jesus had in mind in Matt 5:3, when He said: “Blessed (or happy) are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Jesus is talking about people who have realized that they have no righteousness on their own -- But they are happy, because they have trusted in the Lord.
*As William Barclay wrote:
“Blessed is the man who has realized his own utter helplessness, and who has put his whole trust in God. . . He will become completely attached to God, for he will know that God alone can bring him help, and hope, and strength. The man who is poor in spirit is the man who has realized that things mean nothing, and that God means everything.” (1)
*Albert Barnes said:
“To be poor in spirit is to have a humble opinion of ourselves; to be sensible that we are sinners, and have no righteousness of our own; to be willing to be saved only by the rich grace and mercy of God . . . “ (2)
*Timothy Smith said:
-Please grasp this principle: You are nothing without God!
*Think of it. You cannot boast to God about your goodness.
-You don’t impress officials at NASA with a paper airplane.
-You don’t boast about your crayon sketches in the presence of Picasso.
-You don’t claim equality with Einstein because you can write H2O.
-And you can’t impress God by your success. (3)
*But God has Good News for you today! He loves you in spite of your ungodly, selfish, sinful ways. Jesus Christ died on the cross to take the punishment for your sins, and rose again to give eternal, abundant life to all who will turn to Him in faith. As Paul said in Rom 5:6&8, “For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. (And) God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
*You will never grow into the person God wants you to be until you receive the life that Jesus died to give you. He is longing to give you that life today. And good news! He will! -- if you will receive Christ as your Savior and Lord. Jesus is calling out to you today to give up on yourself and put your hope in Him.
2. Listen to His proclamation. And let the Lord give you His liberation.
*Part of the Good News in vs. 1 is “to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound.” Here God is not primarily talking about prisons made with concrete and steel, though many Christians around the world are locked up in prisons like that today. They are suffering in places like China and Iran. And one day they will be free. But here God is mainly talking about the prisoners who are trapped by their own sin, trapped under a sentence of eternal death, trapped in the prison of their mind, with no way of escape except through Jesus Christ.
*“Supposing there is a God, would He accept a woman like me?” That’s the question evangelist Luis Palau confronted the strange day when Maria Benitez-Perez visited him. Maria had made an appointment under false pretenses, claiming that she wanted to interview for a job, but as soon as she entered his office, Maria made her intent clear. She was the secretary to the Communist Party in Ecuador. She denounced everything having to do with God or with Jesus Christ. Her bitterness overwhelmed him, but Luis listened respectfully and replied gently to everything Maria said.
*Soon, Maria was telling him her life story. It was a tale of pain and suffering and sin. Maria had done the worst things a person can do. And she ended her story with that one question, “Supposing there is a God, would He accept a woman like me?”
*Luis did not hesitate. He turned to Hebrews 10:17, where God said, “Their sins and lawless deeds I will remember no more." Maria tried to explain once again all the sins she had recently committed. Luis countered with Hebrews 10:17, “Their sins and lawless deeds I will remember no more.”
*Seventeen times Maria tried to explain why she was unworthy to receive forgiveness. Seventeen times Luis repeated the words from Heb 10:17, “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.” Finally, Maria Benitez-Perez bowed her head and prayed to receive Christ. (4)
-She found the freedom that God wants to give you today.
3. Let the Lord give you His liberation. And His consolation.
*Things may be going great for you right now and I hope they are -- But we live in a hurting world. Someday that hurt is going to visit you. But God has a great desire to comfort you. We know this because God tells us over and over in theses verses. In vs. 1, the Lord says, “He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted.” In vs. 2, “He has sent Me to comfort all who mourn.” In vs. 3, “He has sent Me to console those who mourn in Zion, to give the oil of joy for mourning, and to give the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.”
*How many times does God have to tell you? Let Him give you His consolation.
*Wayne Van Horn was one of my best teachers at seminary. He once told us the story of a man who moved into his neighborhood. His name was Gary. Gary was a big, tough, mean man, a muscle man, a weightlifter -- former bodyguard for Edwin Edwards. Gary was also an alcoholic.
*Dr. Van Horn felt that the Lord was leading him to talk to Gary, but he thought that it would be a terrible hassle, so he put it off for a long time. -- But finally, he couldn’t put it off any more. When Gary came to his front door, Dr. Van Horn said, “I’ve come to talk to you about the Lord.”
-Gary said, “I don’t think I want to talk about that.”
-Dr. Van Horn then said, “I didn’t want to come -- But Lord sent me. So let’s talk.”
*It turned out that Gary had been in Vietnam. One day he was out on patrol. He thought there was a Vietcong soldier in front of him -- But he shot before he could clearly see. And it turned out to be a mother with her baby. Gary killed both of them with one shot. And he had never been able to forgive himself.
*But that night he got down on knees and received the gift of forgiveness from God. Gary received Jesus Christ as His personal Lord and Savior. And when he did, he was also able to forgive himself. Over and over again, through tears of joy, Gary kept saying, “I can breathe again. -- I can breathe again. -- I can breathe again.”
-God lifted the weight Gary could never lift himself, and gave him consolation.
4. Let the Lord give you His consolation. And His transformation.
*We see the life-changing power of God in vs. 3, as He gives them beauty for ashes. Liz Clark recently described this as a total makeover from the inside out. And there is a great play on words in the original Hebrew. “Beauty” and “ashes” are basically formed from the same 3 letters. If you reverse the first 2 letters in “ashes” it is completely transformed into “beauty.”
-God is saying, “I can do this. I can give you all the changes you need in your life. I can turn your life completely around.”
5. You can grow for God’s glory by letting the Lord give you His transformation, and by looking out for the next generation.
*In vs. 3, the Lord shows us His great goal for future generations: “That they may be called trees of righteousness (or strong oak trees of righteousness), the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.” God has a heart for the next generation! So in Matt 19:14, Jesus said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” God has a heart for the next generation! And He wants us to have a heart like His.
*When it comes to looking out for the next generation, our past inspires it. Most of you know that our church was born with a unique passion for ministering to children. In the 1920’s, Mrs. Elzada Rogers had a little boy who loved the Lord. Many times he tried to get his mother to go to First Baptist with him. One Sunday, he said, “Momma, please go to church with me.”
*Mrs. Rogers told him, “I will -- next Sunday.” But before the next Sunday came, her little boy was hit by a truck and killed. That’s what moved Mrs. Rodgers to start a Sunday School for the children who lived on Downing Pines Road. When the class began, they didn’t have a building at all. They met under some trees about a half mile up the road. The children sat on boards laid across syrup buckets.
*And just like He did on the Cross, God turned a tragic loss into a wonderful blessing for many people. Now over 75 years later, we have a wonderful church of people who genuinely love the Lord and each other. And “Connecting People with the Love of Jesus” is much more than a motto. It is the growing heartbeat of our church -- especially for children.
*When it comes to looking out for the next generation, our past inspires it. And our future requires it. Please hear this: A church that is not focused on the next generation is a dying church. And sadly, they are dying all around us.
*Over the next 15 years, I predict that dozens of Baptist churches in northeast Louisiana will be closing their doors -- Unless there is a miraculous turn-around from God. I think this because the youngest people in those churches are my age or older. If you look around your church and all you see is gray hair -- You are part of a dying church.
*Just last week I heard about a church not 5 miles from here that has been reduced to meeting in the choir room. And one of the main reasons why is because they stopped focusing on the future generation.
*When it comes to looking out for the next generation, our past inspires it. And our future requires it. As Psalm 78:4-7 says, “We will not hide (these things) from their children, Telling to the generation to come the praises of the Lord, And His strength and His wonderful works that He has done. For He established a testimony in Jacob, And appointed a law in Israel, Which He commanded our fathers, That they should make them known to their children; That the generation to come might know them, The children who would be born, That they may arise and declare them to their children, that they may set their hope in God, And not forget the works of God, But keep His commandments.”
*Here’s a good picture of how we want to lead little children:
(“Little Girl and Psalm 23” video clip) (5)
*God help us to see things like that happen in thousands of lives! But that’s not the final goal. We want to see these children grow up to be faithful followers of Jesus Christ. “That they may set their hope in God, And not forget the works of God, But keep His commandments.”
*To help us do all of this, a dedicated team of our leaders has been meeting for almost 3 years to dream and plan for a new building to minister to more children than ever before. I can see God’s fingerprints all over this project, as He has led us along every step of the way.
*One of the key turning points for me was that musical our Children’s Choirs did in the spring of 2004 -- “Acorns to Oaks.” Of course, it was based on this passage of Scripture in Isaiah 61. And some of those same children sang that song for you this morning. On that day I began praying that God would give us a thousand, and then ten thousand acorns to oaks, “That they may be called trees of righteousness (or strong oak trees of righteousness), the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.”
*You see, it’s not mainly about a building at all. It’s about children who can grow up to give glory to God. We gave out acorns as a prayer reminder on the day of that musical in 2004. I kept mine for over a year, until somehow I lost it. But I do have this acorn. It’s the acorn that Ethan gave me in the Fellowship Hall in 2003. But what I really want you to see is that Ethan is the acorn -- Or one of them anyway -- Growing up to be a mighty oak for the Lord.
*And his dad Wayne can represent our oak tree today, a dad who faithfully leads our children week after week. He even got up here on the platform last week and did that silly song with the children’s choir. He was probably embarrassed to death -- But willing to be embarrassed to help our children learn the ways of the Lord.
*What are we willing to do? You and I now have the privilege and the challenge of helping turn our dream into a reality. “Giving to Grow” is the 3-month spiritual journey we will take to get there.
1-Will you buy in, if you haven’t already, to the work that God is doing and the plan He has in store for our church?
2-Will you embrace this vision with a whole heart and share your passion for the vision with those God brings across your path at our church?
3-Will you genuinely seek God and begin asking Him to speak to your heart and prepare you to respond obediently as to wherever He may lead you in this process?
*We must be growing for God’s glory! Let’s pray.
1. Barclay’s Daily Bible Study Series (NT) by William Barclay, Revised Edition (C) Copyright 1975 William Barclay. The Westminster Press, Philadelphia, PA - THE SUPREME BLESSEDNESS - Matt.5:3
2. Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible - Matthew 5:3
3. Adapted from SermonCentral sermon “The Wealth of Poverty” by Timothy Smith - Matt 5:1-3
4. Luis Palau, Answers to Life’s Most Perplexing Problems (Sisters, OR: Multnomah Books, 1998), pp. 29-31. (Found in christianglobe.com sermon “Ready for a Change” by King Duncan - Matt 9:9-13)
5. “Little Girl and Psalm 23” video clip from bluefishtv.com
