SPEAKING LIFE TO A DYING WORLD
Pastor Talbert W. Swan, II, M.Div.
Text: Isaiah 6:1-8, Genesis 3:1-10, Proverbs 18:6-18, 21, Luke 19:40
SCRIPTURE
Genesis 3:1-10
1Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden;
3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.’”
4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not die;
5 for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate.
7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.
8 They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.
9 But the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?”
10 He said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.”
Isaiah 6:1-8
1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple.
2 Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew.
3 And one called to another and said:
“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory.”
4 The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke.
5 And I said: “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”
6 Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs.
7 The seraph touched my mouth with it and said: “Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.”
8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I; send me!”
Proverbs 18:6-7, 21
6. A fool’s lips bring him strife, and his mouth invites a beating. 7. A fool’s mouth is his undoing, and his lips are a snare to his soul. 21. The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.
INTRODUCTION
Most of us can recognize that ours is a crazy, confused and mixed up world. That point is not just clear to we, the regular folk in the world, but that it is also painstakingly clear to those who claim to be in charge of running the world—the Presidents, Prime Ministers, Kings, and world leaders of every title.
PRACTICING HATE INSTEAD OF LOVE
For we Christians, the irony is, we preach a gospel of love – love God, and love thy neighbor as thyself – yet we practice more hate than love. Leaders of most nations spend plenty of time talking about “world peace,” but our globe is torn apart because of wars and rumors of wars. We are called upon in most “Holy Doctrines” to be brotherly and sisterly to each other. But most of what we experience is intense and internal squabbling, bickering and fighting between governments and their people and the people of the world.
America is not an exception. Ours has become a world that is the very opposite of the gospel preached and given to us by Jesus. Far too many of us choose to hate our enemies and love only those who love us. We have become a people where only the strong survive, and the weak have to make it the best they can.
Even in the household of faith, most of us have become a people who have measured success not by what we can do to help others live better and decent lives, rather by what we can obtain, achieve and accomplish for ourselves and those who run in our circles.
WHO WILL STAND UP AND SPEAK FOR GOD?
As Saints of the most High God, when we look at the staggering society and world right at our front door; when we observe and witness the pain and trauma on the faces of so many who, for no acceptable reason, in the sight of God, have been abandoned and neglected; when we teach children whom we know will not escape the harshness and rawness of their community; when we see our young men and women waste their lives and eventually head off to prison cells never again to be the same; the question becomes: who will dare to stand up and speak up for God?
The major disappointment is that the government of the people and for the people has become the government just for a few of the people.
To further complicate matters the Church has retreated to a gospel of health, wealth, and self. Far too often, on the major issues of the world and even in our local communities the church, though noisy inside the sacred space that we call sanctuary, is conspicuously silent outside the doors of our churches where our voices need to be heard most.
Where is the church when young men are dying on our streets every week? Where is the church when politicians misappropriate resources, police officers abuse their authority and the gay lobby has all but strong armed the nation and put a muzzle on the mouth of God’s people……where is the voice of God’s people.
It has been the enemy’s strategy from the beginning of time to neutralize the power of God’s people by causing them to remain silent instead of speaking what thus saith the Lord. Let’s look at our text in Genesis 3.
GENESIS 3 TEXT
In my mind’s eye, I picture Eve walking along the banks of the river that ran through the Garden of Eden. It’s a sunny day and she enjoys the breeze blowing through her hair and the soft feel of fresh grass beneath her feet. The flowers are in full bloom and she can hear the birds calling to each other from the trees of the forest. It is the sort of day that we all dream about, a perfect day in paradise. Then, she spots the serpent. She doesn’t recoil in fear. Why should she? What was there to fear in paradise? The creature before her is stunningly beautiful. When he speaks, his voice is captivating.
The serpent was truly cunning in his approach. But temptation generally comes when we least expect it. After all, if temptation gave us a warning call, we’d be much better prepared. And the fact that the serpent shows up in paradise leads me to this suggestion: When everything is going well in your life, Watch Out! You are a prime candidate for satanic attack.
Our instincts tell us that temptation tends to come when we are down on our luck, and sometimes it happens that way. But we are just as likely to be tempted when our bills are paid, our job is going well, the boss likes us, our spouse loves us, our children are reasonably well behaved, the folks at church are glad to see us, and the doctor says we are in perfect health.
Be warned. When everything is going well, buckle up! You are likely to be attacked because when the good times roll, our guard is down and we are prime candidates for the “fiery darts” of the enemy.
TALKING TO A SNAKE
Now each time I visit and revisit this third chapter of the book of Genesis, I am constantly amazed at the things that are happening here, the most amazing of which is the silence of Adam as Eve is talking to a snake.
Let me suggest that you take a great risk when you start talking to a snake. Snakes don’t bring you good information; neither will they tell the truth about what you said. There is something dangerous about trying to communicate with a snake. Eve is talking to a snake and throughout the conversation Adam is silent. Now, I would think that Adam would intervene and say SOMETHING to the snake! I can think of a lot of things he could have said to the snake. I can imagine some things that I might have said, if I found the love of my life talking with a snake. But Adam was silent.
The only reason Eve got into trouble was because Adam remained silent during the entire conversation. Let me show you what’s happening here: God gave a command to Adam. He entrusted Adam with information that he was to disseminate to his wife. Adam represented God. He had the word of God. He had instructions from God. Eve got into a conversation with a snake that twisted God’s words. Eve said, if we eat of the tree of Life, we shall surely die. The snake twisted God’s words and tempted Eve to eat of the forbidden fruit, while Adam, who knew the snake was lying, said absolutely nothing.
Now, somebody will say, pastor, I don’t think Adam knew what was going on…..hold it, I know we usually envision this scenario with Eve being alone with the snake, but the Bible says in verse 6….Adam “was with her.”
Adam’s silence is a sinful silence that comes over you when you ought to say something and you don’t. It’s that silence that creeps in when you ought to speak up for God but won’t say anything…..Adam represents God, Adam represents the church….Eve represents the world trying to understand God and the snake represents himself……
My brothers and sisters, I fear the church was not only silent on that fateful day when a snake showed up in the garden, the church has remained silent through the centuries. When Africans were captured, taken from their homeland, packed in the hulls of ships, sold on auction blocks, beat, killed, misused and kept in chattel slavery, Adam was silent. When Jews were persecuted, deported and murdered by Nazis, Adam was silent. When Native Americans were slaughtered in acts of genocide so their land could be taken from them, Adam was silent, When our ancestors were lynched, called boy and girl when they were full grown, denied employment and equal access to resources, Adam was silent. And today, far too often, when our boys shoot and kill one another, our girls suffer from low self-esteem and give birth to children, whose fathers won’t stay around to take care of them, Adam is still far too silent!
There is sinful silence among us a when injustice is raging and we remain quiet. When people are aching, when people are hurting, when babies are crying and dying of hunger and not enough love, the church cannot afford to remain silent.
Our Genesis text informs us of the danger of the church remaining sinfully silent, but our Genesis text challenges us to stand up and speak up for God. Isaiah’s declaration, “here am I, send me” challenges us to stand up and speak for the Lord. Let me suggest three things that we need to consider if we are truly going to be the church that God is looking for in these challenging times:
1. WE MUST SPEAK FOR GOD’S CAUSES
The first is a salient thought to live with, (1) in our everyday living, God challenges us to dare to stand up and speak up for “His causes.”
In our places of employment – we ought to dare to speak up for the cause of God; on our recreational scenes – dare to stand up and speak up for God causes; in our families – God calls upon us to stand up, speak up; in the neighborhood, in our social and fraternal gatherings – even in our houses of worship, God challenges some of us to stand up and speak up for the causes of God, look at the trouble all around you – stand up; speak up.
Here in this text, such was the case with the scripture text and Isaiah. God had seen the wickedness of their society; God had become fed up with the hypocrisy of their religion; God was done with the silence and emptiness of their worship. Brothers and sisters, our praise and worship in here count doesn’t count for much unless we put it into practice out there on the streets where all of us live our everyday lives. Yes, God desires our praise; yes, God desires our worship; but it ought to be through our praise and worship that God challenges us to dare to stand up and speak up for God causes.
Isaiah finds himself in a season of worship. He does not consider himself much of a person. He is just a regular, ordinary human being, like the rest of everybody else, in the temple, worshipping God. In the text, he confesses that he is one who has been sucked into the present practices of his culture and the ways of his society, and the best that he could do is look the other way. Are we guilty like Isaiah, of being blessed by God, but the best we can do is look the other way? We come to pews and shout hallelujah, and then with homeless children in Springfield hospitals, all we can do is look the other way. We run up and down these aisles and get our praise on, but the streets are stained with the blood that flows from the bodies of our children and we look the other way. God is saying, “Stand up somebody!” Stand up against the guns, the violence in our community. Stand up against racial disparities and discriminatory practices…stand up against the assault on our women and the mistreatment of our senior…….Get up off your social media for a moment….turn off Housewives of Atlanta and preachers of LA and the other ridiculous reality shows you’re watching and deal with the true reality of failing schools, youth violence, poverty in the hood, corruption in God’s house, homosexual advocacy running rampant…….there is a reality happening in our community everyday and the church is too busy getting its praise on to pay attention to the world dying all around it. First, we need to speak up for God’s causes……..
2. OUR PAST AND PRESENT ARE TESTIMONIES FOR TOMORROW
But look in verse five, Isaiah confesses to God, “I’m lost…a man of unclean lips…I live among people of unclean lips…” Isaiah is clear that there is nothing to recommend him to accept the challenge to go stand up and speak up for God.
Herein lies the second point from this text, (2) With God, our past life and present day living are but transitional events and testimonies to the ever-changing will and purposes of God. Let me put it another way: our yesterdays and our todays are but historical testimonies for our tomorrows.
Let me break it down a little more: Whatever our lives were like yesterday, last week, last month, last year; whatever I am today; all become but testimonies tomorrow, about the goodness of God moving and working in my life.
When I thank God for my last year, for my days at Classical High School, that’s just a testimony. Look what He has done for me; He has brought me a mighty long way; He has put his hand on me; He has changed my whole life!
God has a way of taking insignificant lives and challenging them to dare to stand up and dare to speak up for him, “Whom shall I send, and who will go…” And you know what I’ve discovered? God does better with insignificant lives than those who bring a lot of “stuff” to the table.
Never think that you have no purpose…never think that you don’t have a part in God’s program…never think that you don’t have a role to play. Never think that God can’t use you. It bothers me when people come to church week after week and say: “I don’t have anything to do.”
As long as you live, you have something to offer. You’ve got to be a witness, and it’s got to come out of more than your mouth. God can use you. And if you are not fit, God can fix you up to be used!
Before he became St. Augustine, the young lad Augustine was a drunk and a womanizer. Andrew Knowles, in his book, Augustine and His World, writes, “Without a school to attend, brimming with adolescent energy, he became part of a group of lads who ran wild in the town, proud of their exploits at drinking, theft and sex.” God came to him; God challenged Augustine to stand up! Speak up! And before his life ended, The Bishop of Hippo, St. Augustine, born in North Africa, became one of the great fathers and giants of the Christian Church. God can fix you up and use you!
Charles Mason, founder of our church, was born just outside of slavery. Came up during intense racial hatred and bigotry.
In the scheme of things, although he converted to the Christian faith, there was no way this little black boy had any good thing to offer American society. It was his newfound faith in the God that made him restless until he spoke up about Holiness and was put out of the Baptist Church, made him speak up about the baptism of the Holy Ghost and was disfellowshipped by his peers, made him speak out against war, which cause him to be arrested and the FBI to being surveillance on him. But here we are, one hundred and seven years later, millions of COGIC folk, thousands of COGIC churches in over 60 countries. When God decides to use you, dare to speak up; stand up.
God wants to create some testimonies for tomorrow….that we couldn’t be bought, sold, compromised, detoured, lured away, turned back, deluded or delayed….that we did not flinch in the face of adversity, hesitate in the presence of trouble, negotiate at the table of the enemy, or meander in a maze of mediocrity….that we didn’t give up, shut up, let up, or slow up until we stood up, prayed up, paid up, spoken up for the cause of Christ…..We spoke LIFE to a dying world!
3. IF WE STAND UP AND SPEAK UP HE WILL GIVE US WHAT WE NEED
Let me make a final thought (3) if you dare stand up and speak up for God and the causes of God, If you dare speak God’s word, which are the words of life, into a dying world, God will equip you and provide for you everything you need. Success is not the aim or the goal in your life: faithfulness to the call of God as he challenges you to keep on living for him. Faith is the key that will unlock doors that will stand in your way.
In the scripture, Isaiah had a great vision. You can envision him in church. What a wonderful thing; he was in church, all of a sudden there was a great epiphany. It’s a wonderful thing when God shows up in church. Isaiah came to church, and then he saw he was the only one in church.
While Isaiah was in church, angels started running around, and he looked up and he saw the throne of God and he caught hold of his train and he had a conversation with God, and God said “I want you to go for me I want you to stand up for me, I want you to tell the world of me.” Isaiah said “I’m not worthy, I’m in a fraternity, I’m in a sorority, I’m a officer in my church and we just don’t do that.” God said “Don’t worry, I’ll fix you up, I’ll dress you up, just go!”
Like Isaiah, God will call you and you might say I can’t, but God says: You can suffer a little while, then you’ll have new life, new vigor, new vitality! Somebody ought to stand up and speak up! Too many people are hurting, crying suffering. Church, stand up, speak up choir, ushers, Deacons, Trustees, preachers, missionaries stand up, speak up!
Tell young people: don’t worry about being successful – just be FAITHFUL. If you are faithful to God, all things are possible. God will give you everything you need.
CONCLUSION
When we speak the word of God, we speak life to a dying world.
You’ve got a word in your mouth….speak it! The world needs to hear the words of life…
You need a word in your wilderness!
You need a message in your misery!
You need a text in your trials!
You need a verse in your valleys!
You need a Scripture in your struggles!
You need a command in your calamities!
You need a precept in your pain!
You need a revelation in your situation!
You need a declaration in your despair!
You need a statute in your storms!
You need an utterance in your wilderness!
You need a word to…
Direct you
Correct you…..
To lead you…..
To guide you……
And we’ve got a word for the world:
He’s help in the time of trouble……..
He’ll make your enemies your footstool…
He’ll hear your cry in the midnight hour….
When there’s no help to your left, no help to the right, when there’s no help in front and no help behind, you can look to the hills from whence comes your help.
We’ve got a Word….He’s a doctor in the sick room
He’s a lawyer in the courtroom…
He’s bread when you’re hungry….
He’s water when you’re thirsty….
We’ve got a word…….If you have an to hear….we’ve got a word…..If He did it before, He’ll do it again….we’ve got a word….Hold on, help is on the way!
Don’t give up….don’t throw in the towel, don’t give in, don’t lie down, keep your head up, keep on praising, keep on dancing, keep on praying, keep on hoping, keep on looking for your miracle, keep on believing, Help is on the way!
I Have a word for you……Fear not little flock, it’s the father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
I Have a word for you….yea though you walk through the valley of the shadow of death…God is with you.
WHEN WE SPEAK LIFE
When we speak life, we can take misery and make music out of it.
We can take irritation and transform it into inspiration…we can take anger and turn it into assurance…we can take bitterness and make it into a blessing…
we can turn problems into praises,..disabilities into deliverance…and fashion our pain into a prayer.
Sisters and brothers, the nation is waiting for somebody to say something. The classroom is waiting for somebody to say something. Youth violence is waiting for somebody to say something. Every community, every city, every town, every home, every boy, every girl, every family is waiting for somebody to say something.
THIS WORD IS…….
This Word is sharper than a two edge sword.
This book is milk for an infants.
It’s meat for men.
It’s Hope for the hopeless.
It’s a Friend to the friendless.
This Word conquered Death, Hell, and the Grave.
This Word conquered Diseases.
This Word conquered Demon Powers
