CALLED TO BE THE LIGHT FOR THE GENTILES
Text: Isaiah 49:1 – 7
This is the second of four servant songs about the Messiah. This servant song resembles a mission that has both pros and cons. Every mission has an objective with agents for accomplishing the goal of that mission. It is also true that every mission will have its obstacles. We do not mind obstacles too much if we know that we have a strong chance of winning. Who likes to lose?
When I was in seminary, I wrote a thesis paper about the theme “what happens to you brings out what’s in you”. It is easy to pick up a pencil that has fallen from the desk to the floor. It is altogether something else to try to help someone weather one of life’s storms when we are not certain what the outcome will be. When you read get to the fourth verse, you begin to see a hint of pessimism.
What is the mission of the Servant in this Second Servant Song? It is obvious that the mission is salvation of people that are lost. There will be times where it seems like the oppressors win over the oppressed. But, that is not always true. How many times have you heard people say “If God called you to it, then God will see you through it”? We have to be reminded that God is not a God of confusion (I Corinthians 14:33). How can an eagle grow and develop without challenges that will tests its character? Can struggles build character?
This mission seems to have three movements… Mission Hopeful, Mission Failure, Mission Magnify.
MISSION HOPEFUL
Who is the object of this mission? 1) The answer: The first verse gives us the answer. 2) Specific in the answer?: But, does it get specific in that answer? A) Captives: Is the Lord talking about the release of captives? B) Remnants: Is the Lord talking about reaching out to a remnant of his people in foreign lands (see Isaiah 11:11)? C) The chosen: Or his chosen people who have rejected Him? (Isaiah 41:1 according to Albert Barnes). D) All straying and lost sheep: Or does it mean that no one is beyond God’s grasp for salvation? E) All of the above?: Or is it all of the above? I happen to believe that it is all of the above. Remember the words of John 3:16!
Have you ever known anyone who seemed like they were groomed for a purpose? At one time there were two young men who might have thought that their love for literature was far more ambitious than fruitful. Although they did not run a family business, their work left its mark on history. They (Jakob and Wilhem) were both scholars and started to write down some tales that had been kept alive by oral tradition because they did not exist in print. Those who told those stories might have been considered by some as odd. Jakob and Wilhelm recorded many of these eighty-six stories in five years. They felt that they were unable to draw any historical significance from these stories and shelved them until a friend insisted that they be published. The first edition came out around Christmas of 1812. At one time, their collection was second in sales to the sale of the Bible. In their volume, they had stories like Hansel and Greta, Cinderella, Snow White and Tom Thumb, to name a few. They authors of that volume are known as the Brothers Grimm. (Paul Harvey, Jr. . Paul Harvey’s The Rest Of The Story. New York: Bantam Books, 1997, pp. 67 – 9). For Six seasons, they have made a TV show called Grimm that is inspired by their writings. It is more than evident Jakob and Wilhem Grimm must have been groomed for their work in literature.
Have you ever felt like you were groomed for a purpose? 1) The servant of this song: The servant of this song must have felt that he was groomed for a purpose in life. A) Called from the womb: This scripture mentions how the servant was called from his mother’s womb. B) Gift for eloquence in speech: Gifted for the way he would speak and hidden until it was his time to come forth to be used by God for God’s glory. C) The sword: God made his mouth like a sharp sword. This sword associated with speech imagery for God’s judgment shows up again in the New Testament in both Hebrews and Revelation. D) echoes: His story is a lot like Jeremiah’s story about being groomed in the womb for God’s purposes. 2) Your servitude: Psalm 139 hints about how it is possible that God called us in our mother’s womb as well:
Psalm 139:15-18: My bones were not hidden from You when I was made in secret and skillfully formed in the lowest parts of the earth. (16) Your eyes saw my embryo; and in Your book all my members were written, the days they were formed, and not one was among them. (17) How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! (18) If I should count them, they are more than the sand; when I awake, I am still with You. (MKJV).
According to Ephesians 4:1: “He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love” (MKJV).
Consider also Ephesians 2:10: “God has made us what we are, and in our union with Christ Jesus he has created us for a life of good deeds, which he has already prepared for us to do” (GNB).
MISSION FAULURE
Do you ever feel discouraged? We have all felt discouragement from one time or another. Did the obstacles feel more like roadblocks than they did stepping stones? Zig Ziglar once wrote, “A life freed from all obstacles and difficulties would reduce all possibilities and powers to zero.” Roy B. Zuck. ed. The Speaker’s Quote Book . Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 1997, p. 387). Did you ever quit on a goal too soon? Struggles build character! Nobody ever said that the journey would be easy. The journey in accomplishing a goal has always proven to be worth it when you saw the finish line!
What happens when we do not see the finish line? What if we are a player in the first quarter of the game that others will finish in the last quarter? Don’t we always want to know that what we did mattered? It seems that the fourth verse gives a picture of someone who wanted to see the finish line. What about any of the discoveries that you made by accident? Were those discoveries an accident or part of God’s plan? “If Columbus had turned back, no one would have blamed him. No one would have remembered him either.” (Roy B. Zuck. ed. The Speaker’s Quote Book . Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 1997, p. 287). Nothing ventured, nothing gained! Like Columbus, sometimes we find things by accident.
What if our role is to make a contribution to something far bigger than us? 1) Apollo 13: What would have happened to Apollo 13 if the ground crew had just decided that there was nothing that they could do for the astronauts of the Apollo 13 when they ran into a really bad problem? What if everyone on that team had thrown up their hands in defeat instead of the contribution that they all made to the problem? Their contribution saved the lives of the astronauts. What if God is counting on us to make a contribution where the souls of others are at stake?
2) Thomas Edison and the light bulb: Thomas Edison failed a thousand times before finding a filament that would work in inventing a successful light bulb. In his own words, Edison said “Many of life’s failures are people who did not recognize how close they were to success when they gave up”. (Zig Ziglar. Better Than Good. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2006, p. 83). Recipients are always blessed by the work and passion of others that enabled them to experience the fruits of something that did not exist before! We never use our strength for nothing when God brought us to test and strengthen us for our own benefit as well as those that come after us!
MISSION MAGNIFY`
God appoints us to be a light for the nations! What does that mean? It cannot mean that God challenged us so that we could work on our own self-preservation. Matthew_5:14 reminds us that "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden” (ESV). If lights were made to shine and they are, do we use them properly? Were boats and ships built to be parked at piers all the time? No! Were cars built to sit parked in garages or driveways all of the time? No! Were we built as disciples to sit on the bench? NO! You see the point. You cannot magnify God’s light by default!
Don’t we have a story to tell to the nations? Don’t we have a story to tell to others?
Rom 10:12-16 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. (13) For "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." (14) How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? (15) And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!" (16) But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?" (ESV).
Is idleness an option for those of us who have been called to be a light to the lost? 1) The danger of idleness: Ecclesiastes 10 :18 tells us “Through laziness the roof sags; through idle hands the roof leaks” (CEB). It seems that Satan wants to use our hardships to depend completely on our own strength to get through to the other side of them. 2) Finite strength versus infinite and divine strength: As we know, our own strength will fail us! For God’s strength is mad perfect though our weakness: "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (2 Corinthians 12:29 ESV).
Can others identify the Christ shining in us? 1) Our High Priest: Hebrews 2:18 tells us “Because he [Jesus] himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted” (ESV). 2) Witnesses to the light: Much like John the Baptizer, we can testify about Jesus as the light of the world that is not recognized by those of the world because they prefer the darkness of the world (John 1:6, 7; 3: 19 -21). 3) Our Testimony matters: Again, Jesus reminds us in Matthew 5:14 reminds us that "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden” (ESV). 4) Is our witness contagious?: In the New Testament we know that Jesus mentions both light and salt as a measure for our witnessing for Him. One day some young people were discussing what it meant to be the salt of the earth. One suggestion was that salt improves flavor. A second suggestion was that salt preserves from decay. A third suggestion was that salt creates thirst which prompted the question: “Have I ever made anyone thirsty for the Lord Jesus Christ?” (Paul Lee Tan. Encyclopedia Of 7700 Illustrations. Hong Kong: Nordica International, LTD. 1996, p. 735). How do we answer that question? Shouldn’t our witness make everyone want light for the way they perceive the world through new eyes and vision given by God? Does our witness inspire others the way salt brings change in taste, purity and creates thirst? In The name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
