Did you hear about the Christmas tree that was worth over 11 million dollars? Five years ago the luxury Emirates Palace hotel in Abu Dhabi was trying to make the Guinness Book of World Records with the most expensive Christmas tree. So they decorated a 43-foot tree with 131 different pieces of gold and precious stones worth 11 million dollars! That’s enough money, by the way, to buy a 60-year stay in a deluxe hotel at Disneyland. And a 43-foot tree would poke through the ceiling of our church for another 7 feet.
So how does your Christmas tree compare? Although you may not have the world’s most spectacular Christmas tree, our sermon text today says that you yourself are a sight to behold. Listen to these verses from our text. “For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the Sovereign LORD will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations… They [believers] will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor” (Isaiah 61:11, 3b Yes, I switched the verse order around).
As we continue our Advent sermon series entitled: “Waiting with the Old Testament Church,” we’ll see today why we have every reason to wait with joy for the coming of our Savior. We can wait with joy because God himself has decked us out in garments of salvation that are worth more than anything money can buy!
Once again our sermon text is from the book of Isaiah. In previous sermons I said how Isaiah lived at a time when foreign invaders were making life difficult for the Israelites. But the truth is, the Israelites themselves had also made life difficult. Listen to this description. “…your hands are stained with blood…Your lips have spoken falsely, and your tongue mutters wicked things…7 [Your] feet rush into sin; they are swift to shed innocent blood. They pursue evil schemes; acts of violence mark their ways… 11 We all growl like bears; we moan mournfully like doves. We look for justice, but find none… 15 Truth is nowhere to be found, and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey” (Isaiah 59:3, 7, 11, 15).
“We all growl like bears…” I love that line. It brings out the emotions we have been feeling this last month with all the terrorist shootings going on. As we watch the news coverage we’re speechless and don’t know what to say. We can only growl and moan and wonder where justice is. But as we’ve learned in previous sermons, it’s not just the terrorists that are the problem in this world, so are we! Just because we come to church doesn’t mean that we are not deserving of God’s anger. In Isaiah’s day there were many who continued to bring sacrifices to the temple, and yet God said to them: “The multitude of your sacrifices—what are they to me? …13 Stop bringing meaningless offerings! …16Take your evil deeds out of my sight; stop doing wrong. 17 Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow” (Isaiah 1:12-13, 16-17).
Would God say something similar to us this morning? “Stop throwing into the offering plate money that is leftover from your nights out. Trust me enough to give me the top of your paycheck. And stop singing hymns with voices you use to cut each other down during the week. I can’t stand the dissonance. It hurts my holy ears!” I’m sure Isaiah would say the same thing today as he did 2700 years ago: “The LORD looked and was displeased that there was no justice. 16 He saw that there was no one, he was appalled that there was no one to intervene…” (Isaiah 59:15-16). It was clear that the people of Isaiah’s day were only concerned about themselves, just as we often are. And God was sick and tired of it.
So what’s the solution? Try harder to be nicer to others? That’s what every other religion teaches, but not the Bible. Listen to how the previous verse from Isaiah continues: “The LORD looked and was displeased that there was no justice. 16 He saw that there was no one, he was appalled that there was no one to intervene; so his own arm achieved salvation for him…17 He put on righteousness as his breastplate, and the helmet of salvation on his head…20 ‘The Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who repent of their sins.’ declares the LORD…” (Isaiah 59:15-17, 20).
Because there is no way we can save ourselves, God, in his mercy, took matters into his own hands. He sent a redeemer who was the Messiah the Jews were patiently waiting for. That Messiah came when Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Then 30 years after that, Jesus started his work and one of the first things that he did was preach in his hometown synagogue to make clear his mission. He used the text from Isaiah that we have before us and read: “The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, 2 to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, 3and provide for those who grieve in Zion—to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor” (Isaiah 61:1-3).
As Isaiah foretold, Jesus came to proclaim good news, to bind up those brokenhearted over their sins, and to proclaim freedom and the year of the Lord’s favor (Luke 4). Take a closer look at that last phrase. When Jesus said that he had come to proclaim “the year of the Lord’s favor,” he wanted the Israelites to think of the Year of Jubilee. Once every 50 years, the Israelites were to forgive one another’s debts at the beginning of a year that was called the Jubilee. Unfortunately there is no evidence that the Israelites ever followed through with God’s plan and forgave one another’s debts. But can you imagine the excitement if they would have done that? Just think of how you would feel if your bank and credit card company, and everyone else you owe money to said that this Christmas they were all going to cancel your debts. Wow! That would make this one Christmas to remember wouldn’t it?
The purpose of the Jubilee Year was to point ahead to the joyous news the Messiah would bring. He himself would pay everyone’s debt they owed God for their sins so that they wouldn’t have to fear death or the eternal punishment of hell. Isaiah was so excited about that news that he went on to rave: “I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels” (Isaiah 61:10).
When Isaiah compared himself to a bride and groom all decked out for their wedding in the best clothes and most expensive jewels, and when I read how he compared believers to oaks of righteousness who have been planted by God as a display for his glory, I couldn’t help but think of that 11-million dollar Christmas tree in Abu Dhabi. Although we don’t look like that on the outside, it’s how God sees us for the sake of Jesus!
But we’re so much better than that 11-million dollar Christmas tree. Where is that tree today? I don’t know. The jewels were removed and no doubt sold. The tree was thrown out, or if it was artificial, it was boxed up and shoved in a storage closet somewhere. But that’s not what God has in mind for us. We’re to be on display all the time! Like a glittering Christmas tree we are to let our light shine and point the way to heaven, just as a Christmas tree does with its shape.
Wouldn’t it be great if we could somehow regularly remember that God has declared us to be such “oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor”? Well I have an idea for that. It’s something I’ve run by the church council already. Here’s what I’m thinking. Let’s put a tree sculpture on the big blank wall along our river mosaic in the hallway. This tree would serve two purposes. It would first remind us of how both the books of Ezekiel and Revelation speak about the Tree of Life lining the River of Life that flows from the altar and from the Lamb’s throne. We could also put this passage on the wall: “On each side of the river stood the tree of life…the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations” (Revelation 22:2). That verse would remind us why we come to worship. We come to hear the life-giving Words of our Savior and to find healing and comfort as we wait for his return. Then on the other side of this tree sculpture, the side closest to the sanctuary doors, we could stencil this verse from our text: “They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor” (Isaiah 61:3b). That would remind us that after hearing God’s Word and being reassured of his forgiveness we have now been put on display for all the world to see. The council still needs to prioritize the projects we would like to do in and around the church yet. But if we bring this to your attention again, you’ll know the reason for it.
An 11-million dollar Christmas tree. I’m sure those who got to see it in person thought it was pretty cool. But what if in its place they had seen an old rugged cross. Would they have wondered why such an upscale hotel would feature such an ugly looking thing? We know of course how God turned an old rugged cross, a tree of death for some, into a tree of life for all. And that’s why we can wait with joy for Jesus’ return. For he is our Savior—the one who has married himself to us and decked us out in the finest garments of salvation which guarantee that we are ready for heaven. Don’t keep that joy to yourself. Share it with friends and family this Christmas. Amen.
SERMON NOTES
What similarity is there between Isaiah’s time and our own that causes us both to “growl like bears” when we think of what’s going on in the world?
Many in Isaiah’s day continued to worship at the temple of the Lord. What, however, was wrong with their worship? How are we also often guilty of offering the same kind of worship?
What surprising solution to the problem of sin did God offer?
Isaiah said that a servant of the Lord would come to “bind up the brokenhearted, and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” How did Jesus do both of those things?
When Isaiah heard about what God was going to do for him, he broke out into a mini hymn of praise. He said that God had dressed him as if for a wedding, and had also planted him as an “oak of righteousness.” In a way, that sounds like a beautifully decorated Christmas tree! How are we Christians like Christmas trees?
What are some ways in which you can better display God’s glory this week as you thank him for his forgiveness and salvation?
