Very often, on my day off, I enjoy going to the state forest near Loudonville and hiking through the woods. I put something to eat and drink in my pack and head out. I am energized by being alone where there are no phones or other means of communication — except the best communication one can experience. It is a great place to pray and think. Usually I take a good book with me and just read for a few hours in the forest. This week I was sitting under a tree enjoying a good book when I heard a woodpecker near me. I looked in the direction of the noise he was making, but couldn’t see him. The noise was loud enough that at first I thought is was a person cutting wood somewhere. But after awhile he flew into the large tree I was sitting against. It must have been a pileated woodpecker because he was sending shock waves through the tree. I sat back down and soon there was a shower of bark and wood chips coming down on me. I didn’t bother to move because I was actually enjoying the experience. Since the chips were landing on me I knew that he must be right above me, but when I leaned my head back to look up I still could not see him.
As I reflected on that experience I thought about how much it is like our experience with God. We see the results of his work, and even though we look up and do not see him, we know he is there. He showers down his blessings on us, and again we look up to find him, but he is hidden from our eyes. It does not take away from the fact that we know he is there. To ignore his existence and not believe that he is there would be like me thinking the tree was making those woodpecker noises all by itself and the chips were falling by accident.
Last week we read about the people Isaiah would prophesy to who were, “ever hearing, but never understanding; ever seeing, but never perceiving.” Their hearts were calloused, their ears dull, and their eyes were closed (Isaiah 6:9-10). Isaiah was a part of God’s divine mission in the world — to announce the glad tidings of a God who loved them and wanted to be in covenant with them, but the people did not want to hear; they did not want to understand. The situation is the same in the passage that we have read together today. They say to Isaiah and the other prophets: “See no more visions! Give us no more visions of what is right! Tell us pleasant things, prophesy illusions. Leave this way, get off this path, and stop confronting us with the Holy One of Israel!” (Isaiah 30:10-11). They were more interested in a lie than the truth — as along as the lie was one they want to hear. Even if the warning of the prophets would have saved their lives and made their lives better, they still did not want to hear about it. The chips were falling, but they did not want to believe there was a woodpecker above them.
The first point that Isaiah is making in this scripture is: A rebellious people want to believe a lie. Isaiah’s message to his nation was that their continued rebellion against God would be the ruin of the nation. Sin would not only destroy their personal lives, it would destroy their country. Sin brings judgment — always, inevitably. Isaiah was warning them about what was going to happen if they did not turn from their sin and turn back to God, but they did not want to hear it. It was negative talk. They did not want to hear about God’s judgment, they wanted to hear about God’s love and blessing. They wanted Isaiah to build up their self-esteem. They wanted him to discuss pleasantries and recite poems. They wanted a positive gospel. And even though Isaiah was telling them the truth, they preferred to believe a lie.
It is hard to understand why people would prefer destruction over hearing and believing the truth. But this was the case in the New Testament as well. In the sixth chapter of Luke we read about Jesus ministering to people and healing them while the religious leaders stood by trying to find something to criticize. When Jesus healed a man’s deformed hand on the Sabbath, instead of being glad for the man, they were furious at Jesus and began to talk among themselves about how they could kill him. At the trial of Jesus, Pilate asked the people why they wanted to crucify Jesus and what the nature of the crime was which he had committed. But they only shouted louder to crucify him. And then they said to Pilate: “Let his blood be on us and on our children!” (Matthew 27:23-26). Seventy years later their wish was granted as the Romans completely destroyed the city and the temple. Why would people prefer disaster to the truth? Because this is the essence of rebellion: I am going to do it my way even if it kills me. We would rather live a lie than face reality. After all, illusions make us feel comfortable and secure; truth makes us uneasy. The rebellious want to believe a lie and avoid the truth. Charles Shultz, in his Peanuts cartoon strip, has Charlie Brown and his friend standing outside looking at the stars. After awhile Charlie Brown says, “Let’s go inside and watch television, I’m beginning to feel insignificant.” When people reject THE Significance of the universe, they are uncomfortable and seek to create their own significance — even if it is a lie. Isaiah wrote: “This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says: ‘In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it” (Isaiah 30:15).
But even though the rebellious want to believe a lie, they also want to dodge the consequences. Here is Isaiah’s second point: A rebellious people want to escape responsibility. The people of Isaiah’s day did not want to follow God, but they also did not want there to be any consequences for their rebellious behavior. They wanted to rebel, but they did not want there to be any punishment. They wanted to believe a lie, and at the same time they wanted it to be true. They wanted to do all the wrong things and experience only good things. They wanted to be irresponsible and yet not have anything go wrong.
It reminds me of the world of movies and television. James Bond, Rambo, and all the other action heros can do all kinds of outrageous things and nothing happens to them. After a terrible fight, not only are they not hurt, but their hair is not mussed, nor are their clothes dirty. In one of the Arnold Schwarzenegger flicks, he is in the middle of an entire army that is firing on him, but he never gets a scratch, never runs out of ammunition, and people are falling all around him. Walker, the Texas Ranger, can fight thirty men and never even lose his hat.
Movie characters can have countless sexual liaisons and never get a sexually transmitted disease. They can use drugs and drink constantly and never be affected. We say to the television: “Give us no more visions of what is right! Tell us pleasant things, prophesy illusions.” And television gives us what we want. It is the surreal world where no one has to accept the consequences of their behavior. We want to have our sin and enjoy it too. No one has to be responsible. It is a lie, but we love it. There is only one problem: it has nothing to do with reality or truth.
Last week a Miami jury awarded a record $145 billion settlement from the tobacco companies to a group of smokers in Florida. Now, I understand that smokers have almost twice the risk of having coronary heart disease as nonsmokers, 14 times the risk of lung cancer and 10 times the risk for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. But this is a $145 billion dollar reward for people who willing walked into a store and bought a legal product which clearly said on its label: “Warning: The surgeon general has determined that cigarette smoking is dangerous to your health.” No one forced them to smoke. They did it of their own free will and willingly gave up good money, knowing that they were jeopardizing their health. They wanted to smoke and be healthy too. Where is the personal responsibility in all of that? They made an adult decision, and they ought to accept the responsibility for their actions like an adult. The rebellious resent it when the consequences of their irresponsible behavior come calling, and they even want to blame God for what has happened to them.
This was the case with the people of Israel and Judah. They rebelled against the Holy One of Israel. They refused to listen to the prophets and heed their warnings. They trampled God’s laws and had the gall to blame God when the enemy trampled their cities. They wanted to do as they pleased, but they did not want to accept responsibility for their actions.
The third point that Isaiah makes is that: A rebellious people want to avoid God. They said to Isaiah, “Leave this way, get off this path, and stop confronting us with the Holy One of Israel!” This is almost the motto of our own rebellious culture which says, “We don’t want to be confronted with the God of Creation; we want to believe the lie of evolution. We don’t want to be confronted with God’s laws; we want to take them down from our public walls. Don’t say we are wrong for killing our unborn children. Don’t expose our racism. Don’t tell us that God’s design for marriage of one man and one woman in a committed relationship is the only way that our sexuality can be expressed. Don’t force your morals on us. Leave this way, get off this path, and stop confronting us with a holy God.” But if we do not confront this culture, which is in a moral free fall, what will happen? When we no longer want to be confronted with God our values go. When our values go everything goes.
James Emery White, in his book You Can Experience a Purposeful Life, shares this insight from history: “In ancient China, the people desired security from the barbaric, invading hordes to the north. To get this protection, they built the Great Wall of China. It’s 30 feet high, 18 feet thick, and more than 1500 miles long! The Chinese goal was to build an absolutely impenetrable defense too high to climb over, too thick to break down, and too long to go around. But during the first hundred years of the wall’s existence China was successfully invaded three times. It wasn’t the wall’s fault. During all three invasions, the barbaric hordes never climbed over the wall, broke it down, or went around it; they simply bribed a gatekeeper and then marched right in through an open door.” When a nation tries to avoid God they leave an open door because they have nothing on which to base their values. When a nation loses its values it is not safe not matter how strong its defenses are. The Bible says, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people he chose for his inheritance. From heaven the Lord looks down and sees all mankind; from his dwelling place he watches all who live on earth — he who forms the hearts of all, who considers everything they do. No king is saved by the size of his army; no warrior escapes by his great strength. A horse is a vain hope for deliverance; despite all its great strength it cannot save. But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love” (Psalm 33:12-18).
So what are Christians to do in a culture that no longer values truth and is willing to believe a lie? What do we do in a culture where the people do not want to accept responsibility for their actions? What do we do in a culture which wants to avoid God? I recently read Lesslie Newbigin’s excellent book The Gospel in A Pluralist Society. In the book he gives this profound insight: “I am suggesting that the only answer, the only hermeneutic [interpretation] of the gospel, is a congregation of men and women who believe it and live by it. I am, of course, not denying the importance of the many activities by which we seek to challenge public life with the gospel — evangelistic campaigns, distribution of Bibles and Christian literature.... But I am saying that these are all secondary, and that they have power to accomplish their purpose only as they are rooted in and lead back to a believing community” In other words, when you can no longer tell people about God, you have to show them God in your life.
Let me respond to Newbigin’s statement by giving two brief suggestions. First of all, A righteous people must model the truth. If the people of God are going to convince others of the truth they have to live the truth. It is becoming more and more difficult to reason with people in the world. People in our culture are affected by emotion rather than logic. They believe what they see more than what they hear. Part of the solution is for the people of God to live such lives that we model the truth as well as speak the truth. Those who follow God must not be ashamed of being a part of the truth. We have to stop being embarrassed that we are Christians, because we have the answer for the world’s problems. We can’t get on our soap boxes and preach. We can’t react emotionally when someone doesn’t believe what we have to say. What we have to do is know the truth by being familiar with God’s Word. But we cannot just know the truth, we have to live the truth. We have to live lives of love and integrity. We have to show that God’s ways work, because they are working in our lives. Spouting off pious platitudes is not the answer because those this culture will reject them outright. But what the world cannot argue with is an authentic life. If we are ever going to reach the world it is going to be through lives which are faithful and convincing. So the message to us is: Get a life — get a righteous life. Don’t just talk about God, live a faithful life.
The second suggestion I would like to make is: A righteous people must model love. If the people of God are going to win others they have to live love. We can’t just talk about love, we have to be the embodiment of love. I love the passage in the book of James that says, “What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, ‘Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say, ‘You have faith; I have deeds.’ Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do” (James 2:14-18).
One of the things that happens when a culture loses its values is that it loses its ability to love. Love is turned to self-love. Love becomes lust. But when people are faced with sacrificial love in a culture of alienation, then people are won over. The book of Revelation says that in the end, “Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold” (Matthew 24:12). We need to be the people who are growing warm because we are growing in God. We need to speak the truth and live the truth. We need to talk about love and live love. We need to be the real people of God who are making a difference in the world.
Gordon MacDonald tells about an experience he had on a flight to one of his meetings. He sat almost in the back. As the passengers filled the plane, a woman with two small children came down the aisle and sat in front of him. Right behind them was another woman who took her place in the seat next to the aisle. One child took the middle seat and the other sat on the lap of the woman next to the aisle. He was hoping that the two women would keep the children quiet during the trip. But as the trip progressed the children cried a lot. Their ears hurt. MacDonald was impressed by how much care the women were giving to the children in spite of how difficult it was. The woman next to the window played with the two-year-old child in the middle and gave her a lot of attention. But towards the end of the flight the child got sick. Suddenly she was losing everything from every part of her body. The diaper was not on tight and a terrible stench began to fill the cabin. MacDonald could see that unspeakable stuff was on the floor, the seat and all over the women’s clothes as well. The woman by the window tried to comfort the child and clean her up. When the plane landed the flight attendant came with some towels and said, “Here ma’am, these are for your little girl.” The woman said, “This isn’t my little girl.” “Aren’t you traveling together?” asked the attendant. “No,” she said, “I’ve never met this woman and these children before.” All at once MacDonald realized that he had seen sacrificial love and selfless grace lived out in the life of someone who did not have to do what she did. He was moved because a lot of people would have been angry and upset in that situation, but she was a living expression of love. God has put us here to make a difference in the world, and sacrificial love is what makes the difference.
In spite of the fact that the world may be avoiding truth, responsibility and even God, I believe that when we live the truth and live out love, then the world will be drawn to God. They will not be won by our arguments, they will be won by our lives.
Rodney J. Buchanan
July 23, 2000
TELL US PLEASANT THINGS
Isaiah 30:8-15
“They say to the seers, ‘See no more visions!’ and to the prophets, ‘Give us no more visions of what is right! Tell us pleasant things, prophesy illusions’” (Isaiah 30:10).
A rebellious people:
1. Want to _________________________________________.
2. Want to _________________________________________ .
3. Want to _________________________________________ .
A righteous people:
1. __________________________________________________ .
2. __________________________________________________ .
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION (July 23, 2000)
1. Review the three things a rebellious people want to do. How are the people of Isaiah’s day similar to our own? Can you give an example?
2. Read Isaiah 6:9-10. This is one of the most frequently quoted O.T. passages in the New Testament: Matthew 13:14-15; Mark 4:10-12; Luke 8:10; John 12:39-41; Acts 28:26-27; Romans 11:8). How were the New Testament writers applying this? How is it possible to be constantly hearing, but never understanding; seeing, but never perceiving? How do you see this truth operating today?
3. Read 1 Timothy 4:1. Why do people sometimes prefer a lie? How is it that lies are so powerful?
4. In what ways, in today’s world, do people say, “Tell us pleasant things, prophesy illusions?”
5. Read Isaiah 30:15. Why do some people resist God’s will even when it would improve their lives?
6. How do people try to escape accepting responsibility for their actions?
7. How have we come to the point where the mention of God is almost pornographic in public, while pornography has become a god?
8. What can Christians do to make a difference in a world where truth is not thought to be transcendent and absolute, but a result of the collective will of society?
9. Give an illustration of how someone’s example has impacted your life.
