January 23, 2005 Isaiah 49:1-6
Listen to me, you islands; hear this, you distant nations: Before I was born the LORD called me; from my birth he has made mention of my name. He made my mouth like a sharpened sword, in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me into a polished arrow and concealed me in his quiver. He said to me, "You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will display my splendor." But I said, "I have labored to no purpose; I have spent my strength in vain and for nothing. Yet what is due me is in the LORD’s hand, and my reward is with my God." And now the LORD says— he who formed me in the womb to be his servant to bring Jacob back to him and gather Israel to himself, for I am honored in the eyes of the LORD and my God has been my strength— he says: "It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth."
Dear fellow missionaries of Christ,
Thomas Edison seems to have been a born inventor. He was given the mind, work ethic, and patience to keep on experimenting with different items until they ultimately worked. When you are given a natural skill where it is obvious what your life’s ambition should be, it makes life much easier. You can set your goals and plan your life from early on without spending half of your time just trying to figure out what you want to do. Unfortunately, life isn’t always that easy. Most young adults don’t know what they want to do as they spend their first two years taking general ed in college. By the time they finally figure it out, they have to waste an extra year or two in classes they could have taken by that point. Even after we graduate, many of us live life as if we had no mission at all. We go to work or school and come home and watch TV. That’s no mission. That’s just survival. God didn’t create you, call you, die for you, and baptize you just to survive, and it’s a shame when we don’t have any more purpose in life than to just get by. Yet that’s how many live their lives - wandering around from one hobby and one job to the next acting like little lost puppies.
How about Jesus? Did he know His mission from birth - that He was supposed to live and die for the world? Or did this seemingly “come to him” after thirty years of his life - at his baptism? Was this role of Messiah something that was “natural” for Him, or was it a role that was completely out of His league? Today, Isaiah’s words are meant to show us - the people from the islands and distant nations - different aspects of Jesus’ mission on earth - to show us a progression and a more full aspect to Jesus’ mission on earth. Through these verses we’ll take a close look at -
"Jesus, a ’Man’ on a Mission!"
I. Prepared for his mission
Did you ever stop to wonder if Jesus naturally knew what He was born to do? What I mean is, that if Jesus was born in true humility - choosing NOT to use His powers on many occasions - did He choose to know WHAT His mission was even from birth? Or was His humility so great that He had to LEARN even this? I can’t imagine that He went through life searching that hard for His mission. His very name - Jesus - is a transliteration of the Hebrew word meaning “the Lord saves.” I would imagine that He retained His wisdom of who He was - true God who became man to live and die for us. Even IF - and this is a BIG if - Jesus in His humility had to learn His mission, I have no doubt that from early on His parents relayed to Him the words of the angels, Simeon, the Shepherds, and the Wise Men, as well as the very words of the Old Testament. As Mary and Joseph relayed to Jesus these stories from His childhood, He no doubt knew what He was to do on earth and why He was to do it. He knew His mission.
Regardless of when Jesus knew His mission in His humility, He did know His mission from ETERNITY. Isaiah tells us that - Before I was born the LORD called me; from my birth he has made mention of my name. In Peter’s first letter he writes that Jesus, “was chosen before the creation of the world.” (1 Pe 1:20) The mission of Jesus was something that was pre-ordained even before God ever created the world. His mission was what He was BORN to do. Yet in a different sense this would by no means be something NATURAL to God. Think about it - God being BORN - what a foreign thing it would be for God - Who is used to consuming and directing all time and space - to limit Himself to a little manger and a mother’s womb! This mission would be to most unnaturally natural thing for Jesus to do!
What specifically would Jesus be born to do? He made my mouth like a sharpened sword, in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me into a polished arrow and concealed me in his quiver." Having the mouth of a sword - being called a polished arrow - hidden in the quiver of God - these kinds of words reveal Jesus to be a sort of secret and powerful weapon of God - through His mouth. When Jesus’ spoke, it was a powerful thing - unlike anything anybody had ever heard. In Luke 4:22 the Gospel proclaims that, “All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips.” After Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount Matthew proclaims that, “When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.” (Mt 7:28) Think about some of the things Jesus said to people. He told a rich man he had to sell all he owned and give it to the poor, then come and follow Him. He told another crowd that if their tongue or their hands caused them to sin they should cut them off. He called the Pharisees a “brood of vipers.” He told the people listening that He was and is the great “I AM”. These are striking words! They either cut your heart or make you angry. There is no in between. Jesus knew that what He was born to do - bring some fire on the earth. People wanted Jesus dead because of His mission. Even before He was old enough to speak, the words of the Wise Men ABOUT Jesus made Herod so angry that it caused God to hide Jesus in Egypt for a time in the “shadow of His hand.”
This wasn’t all. Isaiah goes on, “He said to me, "You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will display my splendor.” This weapon of God would be born to be a servant - to be called Israel - in whom God would show His glory. There already was an Israel - known as the people of Israel - whom God had called to be His own special people. Yet by Isaiah’s time they had proven themselves to be a rebellious herd, a stiff necked people, who loved to ignore God, wrestle with Him and argue with Him, and do things their own way. So God said to Jesus, “I am going to make you my servant Israel. Instead of wrestling with Me, you will submit to Me - whatever I tell you to do. Since Israel hasn’t kept my laws, I am sending you to do as I say - as their substitute. As you do what I call you to do, it will bring glory to my Name.” As Jesus would read on in Isaiah, that role as servant would have God also telling Him to go to a cross and suffer and die with the sins of the world on His shoulders. It wasn’t an easy mission. It was the most difficult mission ever. But He knew what it was.
II. Struggling with his mission
There were times that Jesus struggled with this awesome mission of His. The most tell-tale time for us is obviously in the Garden of Gethsemane. As drops of blood and sweat came pouring down his forehead he prayed to God, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” (Lk 22:42) Jesus struggled at going to the cross - because He knew He would go through hell on that cross.
Yet this wasn’t the only time that Jesus struggled with His mission. This portion of Isaiah opens up a whole different concept to the difficulty Jesus had with His mission. In order to understand this concept, you have to remember what Jesus said to the Canaanite woman with the demon possessed daughter. When she came to have her daughter cured, Jesus told her, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.” (Matthew 15:24) Jesus’ primary mission as Prophet was to preach to the Israelites - to reach out to the Jews. When Jesus did this throughout His ministry, He more often than not received opposition. Even when Jesus proclaimed gracious words, they rejected Him because he was from Nazareth. In John 8 and 10, when Jesus at both times proclaimed to be God, it says that they picked up stones to stone Him. When Jesus reached out to the tax collectors and “sinful” Jews, the Pharisees and teachers of the Law complained about that and called him a “drunkard” and a “glutton.” (Matthew 11:19) They even accused Jesus of sinning and plotted to kill him just for healing a man on the Sabbath because that was “work.” (Matthew 12:13) When Jesus told his disciples that they needed to eat His flesh and drink His blood the Gospel of Matthew says, “From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.” Even after Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, all some of them wanted to do was to kill Lazarus! It seemed that no matter what He did, a majority of His own countrymen just continued to reject Him.
Isaiah, then, opens us up to how Jesus would naturally respond to such continued and ongoing rejection by His own countrymen. But I said, "I have labored to no purpose; I have spent my strength in vain and for nothing. Yet what is due me is in the LORD’s hand, and my reward is with my God." When Jesus saw the way His countrymen were responding, it made him ask the question - “what’s the purpose?” This kind of surprised me - to have Isaiah open up this side of Christ - that we never see displayed in the Gospels. The closest we come to it is as Jesus mourns over Jerusalem saying, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.” (Matthew 23:37) Jesus seems genuinely frustrated with these words. Yet it can’t be a question of unbelief. Instead, in His humility it was a question of honesty. It would only be natural for Jesus to wonder if this whole sacrifice He was making - by become a Jew - by living in this sinful world and dying this sinful death - what good was it doing - since a majority of His countrymen were only rejecting Him anyway.
This response was not only reflected in Christ. After Luther started attacking the Mass and other things, the nobles and monks that were on his side turned against him. Jeremiah complained in Lamentations 2:20, “Should priest and prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord I am the only one left. “ When Elijah ran from Jezebel he thought he was the only believer left. Paul also said after his labor in Asia that all of them turned away from him. (2 Tim. 1:15). All of these prophets and apostles went through times of wondering, “what’s all this sacrifice worth?” They were expecting results, but they weren’t getting any.
As long as we’re on the topic of results - here’s a question for you. How would God look at YOUR results? When we as Christians ignore the things we’ve been taught, when we continue to do things we KNOW we shouldn’t be doing - whether it be scanning the Internet for filthy photos, using our tongues for foul jokes, or not praying or giving what we know we should, Jesus must wonder the same thing. “What was my blood worth for you? Why did I die for these Lutherans, if all they are going to do is live like heathens?” When you get in trouble and you hear your parents ask you, “what are we going to do with you?”, regard it as Jesus saying to you, “what good has your baptism done you? Why have I given you God fearing parents? Why have I blessed you with the Word - if all you’re going to do is ignore it? ” When you hear your pastor encourage you and ask, “why don’t you have devotions? Why don’t you come to Bible class? Why don’t you come to worship? Why can’t you take more time with your Lord and your family”, when you hear those questions - regard it as Jesus looking at you and asking, “have I come for nothing? Have I given you this pastor just to ignore and complain about? Have I put you in this church just to treat as a bunch of strangers?” When your spouse has to beg you just to spend an evening out or pay a little attention to him or her, regard it as Jesus saying, “Why did I give you this family in the first place, if all you’re going to do is ignore it?” It is not supposed to be your role in life to frustrate your pastor, your spouse, or your parents - and give them the reward of complaints and ingratitude. You’ve got a higher mission in life than to ignore God. You’ve been called to serve God and put Him and your neighbor ahead of yourself. That’s your mission! When you don’t fulfill it, it’s frustrating to God and His servants.
III. Successful and glorified in his mission
Jesus wasn’t just discouraged because His people weren’t responding as MUCH as they should have. He was discouraged because the Israelites weren’t responding at ALL. Yet Jesus didn’t give up in His mission. With His own words, Jesus reminded Himself in humility, “Yet what is due me is in the LORD’s hand, and my reward is with my God.” He knew that in the end, all of the results were in His heavenly Father’s hands. Jesus knew He was on the right mission - it was what He was born and called to do. He was JESUS after all - that was His name - the Savior. So in the end, Jesus trusted that God would take care of the RESULTS of His mission. As Jesus carried on, He witnessed the Lord’s hand - His reward - continually, God the Father sent an angel to strengthen Jesus in the Garden. After He was put to death and hell, the Father raised Jesus from the dead. The mission was accomplished - just as God had planned - whether the Jews wanted it or not.
But this wasn’t all that would encourage Jesus. For God had another “reward” for Jesus’ faithful duties. The God of strength said to Jesus, "It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth." I think these words are simply amazing. When Moses was called to lead the Israelites out of Egypt and into the Promised Land - he was overwhelmed at the prospect. It was impossible! After one excuse after another he finally told God to send someone else. He was supposed to lead two million people across a desert after all. Fifteen hundred years later, God called a different Prophet to bring His people - the Israelites back together - to restore them from Babylon, Assyria, Egypt and the ends of the earth. Jesus was not called to restore them to a specific land - but to a specific faith - to a specific God. He wasn’t just to restore them to a land - but to restore their righteousness and their holiness. Jesus was called to do this by taking the sins of the Jews - all of their sins of rejection and their rebellion - and dying for it on a tree. Think about that in and of itself. Jesus was sent to die for millions of Jews and to bring them together through faith. That’s quite a deed in and of itself!
But the next part of the text is one of my favorites. God looked at the salvation of these millions of rebellious people that have lived throughout the centuries and what did He say about it? That’s NOT ENOUGH. IT’S TOO SMALL A THING! Too small a thing - that God would save millions of Jews! In the mind of a gracious God - that’s way too small. He wanted to do something even grander than that. He told Jesus, “I’ve called you and sent you to take on the sins of the WORLD - to gather all people together - no matter what race they are - under the same faith in Christ.” As Paul told the Colossians in 3:11, Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all. So when Jesus was given the complete scope of His salvation - that this wasn’t just a salvation for the Jews - but for the world - it would make Him realize the great scope and effectiveness of this sacrifice. He was dying for the sins of the world. He was going to be a light for the Gentiles - to bring salvation to the very ends of the earth. This would not be a worthless sacrifice. It made him rejoice in the faith of the centurion - take time to talk to the Samaritan woman - and heal the daughter of a Canaanite woman.
Think about what a comforting text this is for YOU then. Many of us have gone through life without fulfilling much of a mission at all. We leave the legacies of what? Working at a factory, a mill, or having some children and then dying? It doesn’t seem like we fulfill much of a mission at all. We don’t save anyone. We don’t go on any missionary trips. We don’t travel overseas or risk our lives. It feels like we’re worthless. But here’s the good news. Even if your boss thinks you’re worthless, even if your parents are constantly yelling at you, even if you just don’t feel like you have a purpose or mission in life - if you feel like a complete failure - and you may be in many way - according to this text - you still fulfill a purpose.
Usually, when you think of a mission - or a purpose in life - you think of what YOU have to do. So when I ask, “What is your purpose? What is your mission?”, you tend to think of your achievements. In a very ironic way, your mission is to complete Christ’s mission - by doing NOTHING but listening and believing and receiving. When you came to church this morning, you fulfilled Jesus’ mission. When you were baptized, Jesus was getting His blood’s worth. When you were given faith by a gift of the Holy Spirit, Jesus was rejoicing. When you - stinking and rotten sinner - came before God this morning and admitted your sin, and yet clung to the gracious words of forgiveness - you made Jesus mission complete. Why? Because when He grabs hold of your soul, He knows that He didn’t die for nothing. He died for YOU. As long as you confess that you are a sinner who believes in Jesus - you are fulfilling Jesus’ mission and making Jesus happy. When He hears you singing praise to Him, you are making Jesus say, “I didn’t die for nothing. You are a precious soul! Even if the my countrymen have rejected me, and even if the whole world were to reject Me, just knowing that YOU - a believer from a distant island - believe in me - makes that sacrifice worth it - because Me and my angels rejoice at the repentance and faith of just ONE sinner - and that’s you.” What a great comfort this is - what a great gift of God it is - to know that the mission of Jesus is completed in us. Amen.
