Have you ever visited a maze.
Every now and again as a family we seem to end up at one.
And over the years I have learnt three things from our visit to a maze.
One you don’t want to be in a hurry, being in a hurry will often make the place more frustrating and less enjoyable.
Secondly make sure everyone has been to the toilet before you go.
and thirdly be prepared to ask for help.
After about an hour in most of the mazes we have visited, it is almost guaranteed that I will begin to wonder whether I am going to get out of the place and secondly why did I pay someone so I can get lost.
Fortunately when we visted Tasmazia, apparently the largest maze complex in the world,
it was reassuring and also a little distrubing that even before started they said, look if you cant find the bears cottage, which was the end point of the maze, you are welcome to come back here for directions.
They had probably learnt over the years that if they didn’t offer this assistance people would still be wandering around the place, well into the night.
But imagine for a moment if you were stuck in a maze and you couldn’t get out.
Imagine if you couldn’t see that there was any way of escaping, getting out of the maze.
Many people seem to live life that way.
They feel life is one big maze and they are stuck in it.
Perhaps you have had moments just like that.
Perhaps you have experienced a situation which seemed to haunt you.
Where you felt you couldn’t see any hope for the future.
Where you were in a situation or place, where you felt locked in and you couldn’t see anything positive.
Well today’s text in Isaiah chapter 42 is spoken into a very similar situation.
At one time in the Jewish history the Jewish people, were split into two kingdoms.
One kingdom was called Judah and the other in the north, Israel.
Now although they were God’s people.
People who liked wearing the label that they were God’s people.
They weren’t living that way.
Israel had become experts at sin and rejecting God.
Judah had become skilled in perverting justice, oppressing the poor and looking for reasons why they didn’t have to help the poor, and rather than rely on God they relied on other things.
They relied on idols to secure their future and bring them happiness.
They would even seek help from heathen nations which God had told them not to do rather than trust God.
Now amongst these people though there was a group of people dedicated to God, often called the remnant.
And for them this period is considered one of the darkest times for the Jewish people.
Not because they weren’t prosperous but because God did not seem to be central in the lives of others.
If an outsider was to visit them it was not obvious they were followers of God.
In fact there was next to no difference between them and most of society.
They lived as almost as if God didn’t matter.
And so for the few who were focussed on God, they couldn’t see much hope.
But fortunately amongst them God had placed the prophet Isaiah.
As God’s prophet. Isaiah brought two main points to the people of Judah and Israel.
Consider them as two light posts from God.
The first message from God is one of judgement and warning.
And the second is one of comfort and hope.
From time to time in our Christian lives we tend to sway too much one way or the other.
It is important for us to keep coming back to the fact that God has both messages for people, judgement and warning, and comfort and hope.
When God’s light shines in our lives these two things will happen.
God’s light will reveal our flaws, and the likely consequences of our flaws.
Put it this way over the years I have learnt to put clothes in the washing machine with the light on.
Why?
Because if I don’t, I miss seeing the spots, especially the faint ones on shorts, shirts and other clothing. The spots that need some stain removal spray. But with the light on they are very visible.
And God’s word will often highlight the stains in our lives, the flaws that we have.
But remember God never stops there.
In fact one of the main reasons God shows us our flaws is so we can be open to receive his help.
God always offers us a future that things will be better.
And that we are not alone in our walk into the future.
God makes promises to help us where we have flaws.
He offers us guidance and help so we live more like him, reflecting his approach to life, as most clearly seen in Christ.
And with our flaws God also offers us forgiveness, so our flaws do not prevent us from having a relationship with him.
One of the things I encourage you to think about when you are reading scripture, when you are listening to a sermon or attending a bible study is:
How is God’s word judging me and how is it giving me comfort and a future.
How is God’s word judging me and how is it giving me comfort and a future.
When we listen for both of these we are closer to hearing God speak into our lives.
And in the reading from Isaiah God promises a great amount of hope for people living in a difficult and dark situation.
This passage is often referred to as the servant song.
And we see one of the characteristics of God being uncovered.
Through Isaiah God says this is how the Messiah will carry out my mission.
Listen again to what God says through Isaiah
“Here is my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen one in whom I delight;
I will put my Spirit on him
and he will bring justice to the nations.
2 He will not shout or cry out,
or raise his voice in the streets.
3 A bruised reed he will not break,
and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.
In faithfulness he will bring forth justice;
4 he will not falter or be discouraged
till he establishes justice on earth.
In his law the islands will put their hope.”
5 This is what God the LORD says—
he who created the heavens and stretched them out,
who spread out the earth and all that comes out of it,
who gives breath to its people,
and life to those who walk on it:
What picture do you get of the Messiah, of Jesus!!
A faithful servant
A focussed servant
Now listen to what he will do.
6 “I, the LORD, have called you in righteousness;
I will take hold of your hand.
I will keep you and will make you
to be a covenant for the people
and a light for the Gentiles,
7 to open eyes that are blind,
to free captives from prison
and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.
Here we see God caring for his servant and looking after his servant.
And we see that his servant will undertake God’s mission.
But who is the servant?
As a Christian living today it is easy for me to see it as Jesus.
That Jesus has come to set me and you free.
Jesus came to open my and your eyes.
Jesus came to bring justice to me and you.
Jesus brings me and you hope.
All that is true, all that is necessary.
But as Christians living today we also need to remember something Jesus said to each one of us.
From John 20:21, Jesus says to us as disciples,
as the Father has sent me I am sending you.
And now this is where it gets interesting.
When God speaks through Isaiah at times one prophecy can refer to multiple events that are linked.
In other words what is being said may occur more than once.
For instance the word Israel in Isaiah,
can mean the Jewish people living in the northern kingdom
or it can mean one person, the messiah, the one we know as Jesus.
As so with this in mind and as people saved by Jesus,
each one of us are called to be part of God’s mission.
This is not an option, it what God calls us to be.
Therefore this passage also applies to us.
We are not just as beneficiaries of the servant
We are not just people who have seen the light, we are also called to be God’s light in the place he has placed us.
We are not just people who have had their eyes opened or people who have been rescued from the dungeon of sin.
God also asks us to help open the eyes of others, and to help rescue others from the dungeon of sin.
As people God has called to be part of the church, that God has faith in,
each one of us are called to carry out some of His mission.
And you know what?
We don’t need everything in order to be able to part of God’s mission team.
Our congregation doesn’t have to everything right.
In fact as you look through the scriptures, and church history these two places are thoroughly splatted with people who didn’t have everything right, but God used to bring His light to people.
In fact God has placed each one of us in strategic places and amongst people who need his light.
Think about the situations and people you are interacting with.
What are the opportunities for you to reflect God’s light.
You may feel some of these situations are very difficult places, very dark places, places that are unlikely to be open to God but think about this, where do you put light, where it is dark??
And the light you reflect in these places will be effective.
This is because the energy,
the essentials of God’s mission is not generated from me or you.
It is generated from from God.
We see Jesus as the perfect example,
which we are to reflect.
Someone once said we are little like a broken mirror.
Totally useless, except when we have light we can reflect it in many different places.
This week, allow God’s light to shine brightly off you into the places you live, work, play and visit.
Let us pray
