GOD GIVES RIGHTEOUSNESS (Outline)
August 22, 2010 -
Pentecost 13 -
ISAIAH 56:1,6-8
INTRO: Human beings have a certain need to belong. In our day and age we have all sorts of groups and organizations, clubs and societies that one can join to fulfill that sense of belonging. But even all these social units do not always satisfy the deep-seated need to belong. We find greater satisfaction in belonging to that which provides a more meaningful, lasting relationship. We find great joy as a valued member in our families. Even greater than our family ties is our connection to the Lord God Almighty. "Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone" (EPHESIANS 2:19,20). Today we gather around that very word of God to be built up as members of God’s household with Christ Jesus as our Cornerstone.
GOD GIVES US RIGHTEOUSNESS.
I. To enjoy. II. To share.
I. GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS IS OURS TO ENJOY
A. Verse 1a. The words that follow are the very words of God. They are not Isaiah’s thoughts or words.
B. Verse 1c. The Lord will rescue Israel. The Lord’s salvation and righteousness are close at hand.
1. Verse 3. This message is a dramatic direction change. Foreigners will be saved.
2. Untouchable unbelievers will come to serve, love, worship and obey the Lord God of Israel.
3. How strange these words sounded in the ears of God’s chosen nation, Israel.
C. Verse 7a. By his grace and mercy the Lord God would bring these outsiders into his kingdom. Joy!
1. Verse 7b. The offerings and the sacrifices of those once outside would be acceptable.
2. The ears of the Israelites really questioned what they heard. How could outsiders believe!?!
D. That is truly the mystery, miracle question today. How do or can anyone come to faith? Believers are believers simply, only by the free gift of God’s grace. God’s undeserved love changes stony hearts into hearts of flesh – faith. All are born as enemies of God. On our own we are completely lost and totally condemned creatures. Praise God for his boundless love and unending grace! The Lord God Almighty sought us when we sought him not. The very same all powerful God who created all things at his command has now made his light shine in our hearts in order to give us the knowledge of the glory of God through his Son, Christ Jesus, our Savior. "Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy" (1 PETER 2:10). Joy!
E. We are not struck by a thunderbolt so that we might believe. The Lord uses his means of grace to bring all nations into his kingdom. God’s means of grace (= way of salvation) is God’s word and sacraments. It is by the very living and active word of God that we are saved. Faith comes by hearing the message and that message is the word of Christ. With practice and by growing in the knowledge of salvation the word of God becomes our joy and delight. This is another great miracle of God on the behalf of mankind. Satan wants us to avoid God’s word. The world denies the power of God’s word. Our own sinful flesh fails to feed on the word as often as we should. This takes work and practice. "When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart's delight, for I bear your name, O LORD God Almighty" (JEREMIAH 15:16). Yes, we are CHRISTians. Christ is part of our name and our joy in life.
F. Believers we belong to Christ! This brings us great joy in our wicked world of sin and evil. God gives us his righteousness. We who are sinful have our sins forgiven. We who think, speak, and live unrighteous lives are freely given righteousness. "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin" (1 JOHN 1:7). God’s free forgiveness is our reason to continue to walk in God’s light. We have many reasons to rejoice.
GOD FREELY GIVES US HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS to enjoy here on earth and eternally in heaven.
II. GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS IS OURS TO SHARE
A. Verse 7. The untouchable unbelievers would be acceptable worshippers in God’s kingdom.
1. Isaiah speaks of the “house of prayer”. He means the temple or synagogue.
2. The Jews looked at the temple as a house of sacrifice. It was a house of worship or prayer.
3. Amazing that the temple once reserved only for Israel would now be for “all nations”!
B. Verse 8. NOTE: once again the Sovereign Lord declares. It is not Isaiah’s words or thoughts.
1. The Sovereign Lord is the one who gathers. God will still gather more into his family.
2. Jesus told the disciples (John 10:16) that other sheep would hear his voice and follow.
C. Verse 1b. The believers not only had changed hearts but also changed lives to “maintain justice”.
D. It is no different with or for us today. God changes our lives forever. God gives us his righteousness that we would have forgiveness and eternal life. We have already seen how that fact brings us great joy in our joyless society. Being believers for most of our lives if not all of our lives sometimes diminishes the joy and excitement that is ours in knowing that heaven is our home. We become so used to the blessings of God in our lives that we might overlook that his mercies are new every day. How do keep the flame of faith burning brightly? This happens when we stay close to our God. "Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked" (PSALM 84:10). People notice that we attend church. In this way we show faithful joy.
E. We are saved by faith through grace. By faith God gives us the knowledge of what is right and what is wrong. This makes the believer quite different from the rest of the world. There is a blurring of the lines today between what is good and what is evil, between what is right and what is wrong. Not so for us as believers in the one true God. "You are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be alert and self-controlled" (1 THESS. 5:5,6). We no longer are in the dark. God made his light shine in our hearts. At times we long to be like the rich or famous. In the end they do not have anything that we really ought to want or truly need. Their reward is in this lifetime. Our inheritance is perfect and eternal in heaven. As we live lives that reflect the light of the glory of God we are sharing the joy of our salvation with others.
F. Too often we think of worship only as what we do at church. We limit our worship thinking to the singing of hymns, prayer, sermon, and blessing during the time we spend with other believers on Sunday at our designated time to praise God. In reality the life of a Christian is a life of worship. Our entire life is the time we have to serve, love, and worship our Lord God Almighty. Our entire Christian living is our life of thanksgiving for everything that our gracious God has done for us. "Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship" (ROMANS 12:1). Others see our joy. Others then may even ask to share.
CONC: GOD GIVES US HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS! We do not deserve God’s righteousness. We cannot buy or earn the forgiveness of sins. It is only by the grace of God that we are saved. It is only by the grace of God that we are made members of the family of God. We were once those foreigners, those untouchable unbelievers, outside of God’s kingdom. GOD GIVES RIGHTEOUSNESS. By grace we find joy in God’s righteousness that moves us to share God’s righteousness. "Gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ--the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith" (PHILIPPIANS 3:9). Pastor Timm O. Meyer
PENT. 13 rdgs:
JEREMIAH 23:23-29;
HEBREWS 12:1-13;
LUKE 12:49-53;
(PSALM 139)
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