Enlarge the Place of Your Tent! (Isaiah 54:1-5)

Mission Festival Sunday 

November 11, 2012

Dear friends in Christ.

If you’ve ever been camping, then you know that tents come in all shapes and sizes.  Some are so small that all they are able to hold is one person in a sleeping bag, while others are so large that they are designed with as many as four separate rooms in them.  Sometimes you might see a couple camping in a simple dome tent, while other times, you might see a family of eight ingeniously join a pair of smaller tents to make one large tent.  But no matter what kind of tent a person uses, one simple rule always applies:  the more people you have, the bigger your tent will need to be.  The same rule also applies in God’s Kingdom, for as more and more people come into it the larger it will need to be.  In fact, as we study the lesson before us this morning, this is the lesson that the Lord will be teaching us as we hear him calling on us to enlarge the place of our tents.

Just listen to what the Lord is telling us in our lesson today:  “Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes. 3 For you will spread out to the right and to the left; your descendants will dispossess nations and settle in their desolate cities. 4 “Do not be afraid; you will not suffer shame. Do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated. You will forget the shame of your youth and remember no more the reproach of your widowhood. 5 For your Maker is your husband— the LORD Almighty is his name— the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; he is called the God of all the earth." (Isaiah 54:2–5, NIV84)

Enlarge the place of your tent!  Believe it or not, this is the very thing that the LORD is calling on us to do today!  He is calling on us to enlarge the place of our tent, because, as he tells us, we will spread out on all sides.  However, for us living out here in the Valley of the Jolly Green Giant, this may seem like an almost silly idea!  After all, it is very clear that the exact opposite is true.  We are not spreading out on every side!  Rather, our congregation has been shrinking for the last decade.  As we look around us, we can’t help but notice how few people there are sitting in our pews, and how many churches there are in town.  As we talk to each other it is easy to come to the conclusion that those who want to be part of a congregation already are, and those who don’t want anything to do with church regularly keep themselves away. But, even though this may be the case, the Lord is still telling us, “Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes. 3 For you will spread out to the right and to the left; " (Isaiah 54:2–3, NIV84)

Now, when Isaiah first spoke these words in Judea, the Israelites were having a pretty tough time.  For even though the Lord had established his temple in Jerusalem, the majority of the people had turned away from the Lord—leaving only a small group of believers.  On top of that, it wouldn’t be long before the Babylonians came to destroy Jerusalem and take the rest of the people off into captivity.  It wouldn’t be long until the Babylonians came and destroyed the temple which Solomon himself had built, bringing a stop to the daily sacrifice for over 70 years.  But even in the midst of this coming trouble, the Lord speaks to his believers and tells them to enlarge the place of their tent, because they would indeed spread out as more and more believers were added to their numbers. 

But even though the Lord never promised that this influx would come right away, he promised that over time they would.  He promised that over time they would grow and he illustrated his promise with the picture of someone enlarging his tent.  For in those days, often times wives would live in their own tents, apart from their husband.  In this tent, children would also live, be cared for, and be schooled.  So, when a wife was expecting another child, that tent would need to be increased in size so that there would be plenty of room for the family as well as the new child.  This was how that small group of believers would grow. It wouldn’t necessarily be quickly, but it would be slow and steady until they reached such a great number that no one would be able to count them.

The same is true for you and me today.  Even though we are but a small group of believers, the Lord is calling on us to enlarge the place of our tent, because we will indeed spread out on all sides.  Now, that doesn’t mean that we need to hold an emergency council meeting to decide how best to remodel our church and make it larger, but it does mean that we need to prepare ourselves for the influx of believers who will be brought into God’s Kingdom, by going out and looking for them! 

Sadly, this is the very thing that we, as a congregation have not been doing for a long, long time.  For nearly as many years as I’ve been here we have turned away from evangelism opportunities because we simply didn’t have the money to fund them.  If we’ve done any evangelism at all, we have only been looking for the right type of people.  We have been looking only for those who are well off so that they can help us pay our bills.  We’ve been looking for the people who have it together and are not carrying too much baggage, and if we are completely honest with ourselves, we have to admit, that in many ways we are only looking for white people.  Let’s face it!  Though we long to be a growing congregation, the truth is the idea of bringing the gospel to the growing Hispanic and Latino community in Le Sure terrifies us.  It terrifies us because suddenly we are crossing cultures, and for most of us crossing cultural boundaries is completely outside our comfort zone. 

Yet, this is what mission work is all about!  It is about going to those who do not know the gospel and sharing it with them.  it is about taking the good news of Jesus Christ to each and every nation of people that we find living right here in our own community.  It’s about talking to your friends, your neighbors and your relatives and simply inviting them to come to church with you to hear the Word of God.  It’s about us as a congregation building a warm and friendly community where people feel welcome to come in and grow in the Word of God together.  It is about us putting the Lord first, trusting his promise that as we seek to do this, as we seek to enlarge the place of our tent, we will not suffer shame as we share his Word with those who do not yet know him.  As he promises in our lesson today, “Do not be afraid; you will not suffer shame. Do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated. You will forget the shame of your youth and remember no more the reproach of your widowhood. 5 For your Maker is your husband— the LORD Almighty is his name— the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; he is called the God of all the earth." (Isaiah 54:4–5, NIV84)

What incredible comfort the Lord is giving us today!  Even though we are a small group of believers, he is assuring us that we will not suffer shame as we work to enlarge the place of our tent.  Now, I don’t know about you, but to me these are some very comforting words, because these words assure us that even though taking the gospel to another culture can be terrifying, the Lord will be with us.  We will suffer no shame in sharing his Word, because we are doing his Work.  The Lord is assuring us that even as we work to enlarge the place of this tent, if we should find that the faces of the people around changing we will be blessed as his kingdom continues to grow.  He is assuring us that even if we have to rethink the way we work as a congregation, or even rethink the way that we support this congregation, as we seek to spread his Word, and enlarge the place of his tent, he will bless us, just as he blessed his people Israel.

For when Isaiah first spoke these words to that small group of believers, and they realized that it was now their mission to enlarge the place of their tent, they might have been a little afraid.  After all, they were only a small group of believers, and now they were being asked to prepare for more.  Perhaps they were simply afraid that if their small group grew large once again, they would suffer the shame of watching another majority of believers turn away from the Lord.  This is why the Lord spoke to them through the Prophet Isaiah and said: “Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes. 3 For you will spread out to the right and to the left; your descendants will dispossess nations and settle in their desolate cities. 4 “Do not be afraid; you will not suffer shame. Do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated. You will forget the shame of your youth and remember no more the reproach of your widowhood. 5 For your Maker is your husband— the LORD Almighty is his name— the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; he is called the God of all the earth." (Isaiah 54:2–5, NIV84)

This is what the Lord is saying to you and me today as well!  He is telling us not to be afraid because we will not suffer shame as we work to enlarge the Lord’s Church.  We will not suffer shame as we go about doing the work for the Lord’s kingdom.  Even though we may be a small group of believers, even though we may feel that there is not much that we are able to do in the Lord’s kingdom, there are quite a few things that we can do to enlarge his Church.  We can give to the Lord out of the bounty with which he has blessed us.  We can give to the Lord so that the work of his kingdom might continue.  We can give our gifts and offerings to the Lord and support the spreading of the Gospel both here at home and all over the world.  We can give offerings to support the work going on at Minnesota Valley Lutheran and Martin Luther College in New Ulm.  We can give our gifts and offerings to the Synod to support the training of Pastors, Teachers, and Staff Ministers so that other churches and schools might have workers to serve.  We can give our gifts and offerings to help support the work of our Childcare so that we might continue to nurture little bodies and souls in the Word of God.

But money is not the only thing we can give to the Lord, for we can also give to him of our time.  We can give our time to the Lord by praying that he would bless us with many more men and women who desire to become pastors and teachers.  You can give your time to the Lord by sitting down each day and praying for the members of your mission board who send missionaries out to foreign lands, by praying for your missionaries, and their families, who are spreading the Gospel in places you cannot go.  You can give your time to the Lord by simply taking fifteen minutes out of your busy day and reading from his Word.  You can give of your time by dusting off your catechisms and reviewing the truths which you learned so many years ago.  For by doing this, you will not only be building up your own faith, but you will be preparing yourself for the time when the Lord does give you first hand experience at sharing the Gospel with someone who doesn’t know Jesus.  These are but a few of the ways we as a small group of believers can work to enlarge the place of our tent.  Only don’t stop working, for there is no shame in doing the work of the Lord Church, however, shame does come when we fail to do it.  Shame does come when we sit idly by waiting for the Lord to do the work we refuse to do. 

So now, as you live your lives in service to the Lord, continue working to enlarge the place of your tent, because you know there is no shame in doing the Lord’s work, and you will indeed spread out on all sides.  Though we may not see much or any of the growth the Lord has promised in our small congregations, we can be assured that by our efforts, we will be working to enlarge the kingdom of heaven.  Amen.

Pastor David M. Shilling

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church--Le Sueur, MN

Produce fruits of faith for the Lord (Isaiah 5:1-7)

October 14, 2012

Dear friends in Christ.

A couple of weeks ago, as I was driving up to the cities, I saw a sign for Minnesota Harvesters, and my mind was immediately filled with memories.  It was when I was in grade school, 7th or 8th grade that our class took a trip up to Minnesota Harvesters.  We had the opportunity to ride horses and walk through the apple orchard.  I still remember it because when we took that trip we were in one of the last years of the drought of the 1980’s.  It hadn’t rained much if at all that summer, yet, when we arrived I was amazed to see rows and rows of trees with branches bowing low due to the weight of their fruit. It seemed that no matter which direction I would look, all I could see was tree after tree producing an excellent crop of ripe red apples.  All I could see was trees doing exactly what they were grown to do—producing fruit for the orchards owners.

Well, in many ways, this orchard is a picture of the very thing that the Lord wants to find when he looks at the lives of his faithful children here on earth!  For when the Lord looks at our lives he hopes to see tree after tree, or to use the illustration from our lesson today, vine after vine producing fruits of faith our of love for the Lord our God.  In fact, as we study the lesson before us this is the very thing that the Lord our God will be calling on us to do!  As we hear the Lord speaking to us through the prophet Isaiah, we will hear him calling on us to produce fruits of faith for the Lord!  He will be calling on each and every one of us to produce fruits.  Let’s take a look at what the Lord tells us in our lesson today: “I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard: My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside. 2 He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest vines. He built a watchtower in it and cut out a winepress as well. Then he looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only bad fruit. 3 “Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. 4 What more could have been done for my vineyard than I have done for it? When I looked for good grapes, why did it yield only bad? 5 Now I will tell you what I am going to do to my vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it will be destroyed; I will break down its wall, and it will be trampled. 6 I will make it a wasteland, neither pruned nor cultivated, and briers and thorns will grow there. I will command the clouds not to rain on it.” 7 The vineyard of the LORD Almighty is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are the garden of his delight. And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard cries of distress." (Isaiah 5:1–7, NIV84)

Fruits of faith are the very thing that the Lord wanted his people to produce.  He wanted to see their faith showing itself in love and action as they lived in the vineyard that the Lord himself had prepared for them.  The problem, however, was that Israel was not producing the fruits of faith for which the Lord was looking!  Though the Lord himself had prepared Israel as his vineyard and planted them as the garden of his delight, they did not produce the fruit that the Lord expected.  But when we think of Israel’s history, this truth becomes extremely sad, because it was the Lord who gave his people every possible advantage.  As we just reviewed in Bible Study, it was the Lord who freed the people of Israel from their slavery in Egypt, leading them safely through The Red Sea to Mt. Sinai in Arabia.  It was the Lord who blessed them, even as he led them through the wilderness for forty years, so that their clothes and their shoes did not wear out, nor did their feet even swell during that time.  It was the Lord who fought for his people sending the hornet ahead of them and driving out the inhabitants of the land for them.  It was the Lord who gave them cities that they had not built and fields that they had not planted.  It was the Lord who built up the watchtower of the priesthood and the temple worship which was designed to draw the people ever closer to himself.  He even surrounded them with the hedge of the Law to keep them safe from the ungodly ways of the nations around them.

However, even though the Lord did all this and more for his people, they did not produce the fruits of faith for which he was looking, because in so many cases they were led away from the Lord by the allure of false gods.  For in the same way that the jewelry counter will stop most women, and even some men in their tracks, drawing them in for a closer look the charm of false gods drew the Israelites in.  In the same way that most women will lose their husbands to the mesmerizing glow of the TV during football season, so also the Lord lost so many of the Israelites to their fascination with idols.  Though they had been planted like grapevines in the rich dark earth of God’s Word and regularly received the abundant waters of God’s grace, the Israelites willfully sent their roots out into the gumbo of idolatry and the dry streams of false religion.  Because of this, even though Israel continued to live in the Lord’s vineyard, they were no longer producing fruits of faith for the Lord.  Rather, as Isaiah tells us, “they yielded only bad fruit.” (Isaiah 5:2, NIV84).

While it is true that Isaiah delivered this message to the Israelites nearly three thousand years ago, these words still apply to us today.  Though this section of Scripture clearly speaks of Israel as the Lord’s vineyard, we know that through faith in Jesus, we are living in the Lord’s vineyards even today.  We know that the Lord is looking to us to produce fruits of faith for him.  We know that he is regularly checking our branches to see what kinds of fruit we are producing. But the question is, “What kind of fruit are we producing?”  From this vantage point it’s hard to say, because only the Lord truly knows what kinds of fruit we are producing.

However, there is something we can say: we have been given just as many advantages as the Israelites.  For we are living in a land where we have the freedom to worship the Lord in whatever way we see fit.  We are living in a land where we have the freedom to speak to anyone and everyone about our Savior whenever we want to.  We are living in a time when God’s Word has been recorded for us in the pages of Scripture.  On top of that, we are living in an area where most of us could walk to church if we so desired, but even if you don’t live that close to church, there are very few of us who have to drive more than ten miles to get here.  Yet, the question is, are we taking advantage of those benefits?  Or are we becoming lax in our own spiritual lives and following the Israelites pattern of producing less and less fruit for the Lord?  Are we making sure that our roots are growing in the rich soil of God’s Word?  Or, are we beginning to send them over into the gumbo of idolatry and the dry deserts of false religion.  It kind of makes me wonder what the Lord would say if he spoke to us right now.  Would he praise us and encourage us?  Or would he say to us, “Now you dwellers in Le Sueur and people of this tri-county area, judge between me and my vineyard. What more could have been done for my vineyard than I have done for it? When I looked for good grapes, why did it yield only bad?” (See Isaiah 5:3-4). 

What would the Lord say to us today?  Would he encourage us in our fruit producing?  Or would he say that we were beginning to follow the road the Israelites followed.  Sadly, for the Israelites, as they traveled the road of their lives they were producing fewer and fewer fruits for the Lord until the Lord had it in mind, finally, to destroy his vineyard.  Which is exactly what the Lord reveals when he says, “Now I will tell you what I am going to do to my vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it will be destroyed; I will break down its wall, and it will be trampled. 6 I will make it a wasteland, neither pruned nor cultivated, and briers and thorns will grow there. I will command the clouds not to rain on it.”" (Isaiah 5:5–6, NIV84) 

Because the Israelites had turned away from their God and went off to follow idols, the Lord planned to destroy his vineyard, and that’s exactly what he did less than 150 years later.  He sent the Babylonians who came and destroyed Jerusalem and Judea.  They came and killed anyone who resisted.  They came and led whoever was left off into captivity.  This was the punishment the Lord had decided for Israel because they were no longer producing fruits of faith for him.  This was the punishment that they received because they continued to walk down the road of destruction even after countless warnings from the Lord.  But the scariest part about this is that this could well be the punishment, which the Lord has in store for us for the exact same reason.

For the truth is, even though you and I are part of the Lord’s vineyard, the majority of our country is not.  Though we are part of the Lord’s kingdom through faith, the majority of our world is producing nothing but bloodshed and cries of distress.  And if we should fail in our production of fruits for the Lord, the only thing left would be our own destruction.  But even though our nation and the rest of the world have begun traveling this path, you and I are still able to turn from the road of destruction.  We are able to turn from that road by turning to the Lord in repentance.  We can turn to the Lord knowing that the blood of our Savior has covered those times when we have neglected his Word.  We can turn to the Lord knowing that our Savior’s blood covers those times when we have failed to worship him.  In fact, we can turn to the Lord knowing that every sin we’ve ever committed has been removed by Jesus’ blood.  There is no sin too large and no sin to small, for Jesus blood covers all.

This is the message that shows our God’s great love for us, and this is the message that moves us to respond with our love.  For when we are reminded of how Jesus’ love for us led him to the cross to pay for our sins, our hearts are moved to give him thanks.  When we are reminded of how Jesus died for us even while we were still his enemies, we are moved to serve him with our lives.  In fact, this is the message that moves us to call our roots back from the gumbo and dry streams and drive them deep into the black earth of God’s Word.  This is the message that moves us to dust off at least one of our Bibles and begin reading again on a regular basis.  This is the message, which moves us to make time to read those short Meditation devotions after mealtime or at bedtime.  This is the message, the message of Christ’s love for us that moves us to meet together at the Lord’s house each week.  For here, in the Lord’s house, we have the opportunity to hear the Lord speaking to us in the liturgy, in the lessons, and even in the sermon; and here in the Lord’s house, we have the opportunity to speak to him through our prayers and our hymns.  These are fruits of faith, which are pleasing to the Lord.  These are the fruits of faith produced out of love for our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

What a blessing to know that it is the Lord who moves us and enables us to produce fruits of faith for him.  Let us live in our love for him so that our lives may ever produce fruit for him.  May the Lord bless our lives so that our lives are filled with fruit in the same way those trees at Minnesota Harvesters were filled. That our lives may be lives of joy and serves to the Lord, ever producing fruit for him.

Amen.

Pastor David M. Shilling

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church--Le Sueur, MN

Praise Your Savior for His Appearing (Job 19:23-27; Isaiah 42:1-7; Matthew 3:13-17)

January 16, 2011

Dear friends in Christ.

So how have you enjoyed this first week of Exploring God’s Islands of Adventure? Have you jumped right in and read or listened to the Word of God as you planned? Did you face any time thieves this week and find that you hadn’t accomplished all the reading you planned on? Or are you still undecided as to which plan you are going to follow? Well, if you are still undecided as to which plan to follow, I hope I’ve made it easier by including in the bulletin the chronological schedule that I’m using for our weekly Bible Study and worship. If you’ve faced time thieves this week, you’re not alone, the same thing happened to me on Tuesday! Suddenly it was Wednesday and I realized I had not read my Bible the day before. If you’ve accomplished your reading exactly as you planed this week, then good for you! In fact, my congratulations to all of you who read or listened to even the slightest little bit this week, and my encouragement to those of you who haven’t yet begun! I say this because the truth is whenever you make a decision to change and grow in any way; you suddenly have a struggle on your hands—especially when you make the decision to read the word and grow in your faith.

Yet, as I said last week, I so badly want each and every one of you to be reading or listening to the Bible this year, because when you do, you will grow in your faith and your knowledge of Jesus Christ as your Savior. As you grow in your faith and your knowledge we will grow together as an even more closely knit family of believers. In fact, just think about how your faith would grow if you were in the word for an entire week. Just think about how your life would change for the better, how your faith would grow, and how you would walk with confidence in your salvation if you were in the word of God for an entire month. Just think about how your live would change for the better, how your faith would grow and be as strong as steel, how you would walk with absolute confidence in the knowledge of your salvation through faith in Jesus, and how you would be constantly, passionately ready to share the comfort of God’s Word with those who were hurting, and share your faith with those who do not yet know the Lord Jesus as their Savior if you just spent the next year reading or listening to God’s Word for yourselves.

This is the growth that I long for, for you. As I said last week, I’ve spent the last six months reading this schedule so that I could stay ahead of you and share with you the beautiful truths I’ve found. Yet, while I keep reading to stay ahead of you, I’m also starting over at the beginning so that I can read with you and share with you the beautiful truths and amazing connections that I’ve discovered, while at the same time learning from you through the insights you will be placing on the navigation board in this next year. In fact, today, I want to share with you an amazing connection that I discovered. It is a connection between some of the words that Job speaks in chapter 19, which is part of the scheduled reading for today, and two of the lessons that I’ve already read as part of our worship today. It is a connection that will lead us to Praise the Lord our Savior as we celebrate his appearing at his baptism today.

I invite you to open your Bibles to Job 19:23-27. As you are turning to Job 19, let me give you a little background. Though we’re not exactly certain when Job lived, our best guess is that he lived around the time of the Patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob). This is why we read only the first 11 chapters of Genesis and then jumped right into Job. Now, the book of Job is an interesting book. In fact, it has been said that without the first two chapters none of the book would make sense, and yet, as we read through it, we see a believer dealing with some of the most horrendous hardships, frustration, sickness, and accusations that friends could bring against him. As we read through the book of Job, we see Job proclaiming the same frustration and anger that we all have directed at God or others when we’ve faced difficulties, hospital stays, life threatening illnesses, financial ruin or any other hardship. Though there are times that Job blames God for all his troubles and God confronts him at the end of the book, Job never lost his faith and the Lord always counted Job as his child. Even in the midst of his pain and anguish the Lord allowed Job to praise the Lord his Savior because Job knew that one day his Savior would appear. Take a look at Job 19:23: “Oh, that my words were recorded, that they were written on a scroll, 24 that they were inscribed with an iron tool on lead, or engraved in rock forever! 25 I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. 26 And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; 27 I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me! (Job 19:23–27, NIV84)

In the midst of struggle and hardship, pain and anguish, Job utters such beautiful words of praise for the Lord his Savior whom he knows will one day appear. He utters words of praise that Christians have sung since they were written in hymn form by Samuel Medley in 1775. He utters words of praise that I have used as the closing of my grave side service since the day I heard the pastor under whom I served as a bishop speak them as the close of his grave side service. Thus, we these words, Job reminds us and assures us that no matter what we face in this life, no matter what struggles or hardships we might have, even if we should lose our health or our ability to work, even if gas should make it to $4.00 a gallon as is being predicted; no matter what might come our way, we can still give praise and thanks to the Lord Jesus, our Savior, as we celebrate his appearing today. We can praise our Lord and Savior because we know that when he appeared here on earth, he came as the Lord’s servant, just as Isaiah told us in our first lesson today.

Turn with me now, if you would, to Isaiah 42 and we’ll see how verses 1-7 connect with what we just heard from Job. Now, as you are turning to Isaiah 42, let me give you the setting. At least 2000 years have passed since the days of Job. Israel has been living in the Promised Land for roughly 700 years and there were roughly 700 years remaining before the Savior would be born. Now, as Isaiah speaks the words in chapter 42, the complete destruction of the Northern Kingdom of Israel is close at hand. Yet, even in the midst of pending destruction on the Northern Kingdom and rampant unbelief that Isaiah faced in the Southern Kingdom, the Lord gave Isaiah a beautiful message for those who still believed. The Lord gave Isaiah a message that would lead believers to praise the Lord their Savior for the promise of his appearing. Take a look at what Isaiah writes in chapter 42 beginning with verse 1: “Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him and he will bring justice to the nations. 2 He will not shout or cry out, or raise his voice in the streets. 3 A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. In faithfulness he will bring forth justice; 4 he will not falter or be discouraged till he establishes justice on earth. In his law the islands will put their hope.” 5 This is what God the LORD says— he who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and all that comes out of it, who gives breath to its people, and life to those who walk on it: 6 “I, the LORD, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, 7 to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness. (Isaiah 42:1–7, NIV84)

As Isaiah speaks these words, he gives us, and the faithful Israelites of his day every reason to praise the Lord Jesus at his appearing, because from these words we learn exactly what our Savior will do and has done for us. As Isaiah said in verse 3-4: “A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. In faithfulness he will bring forth justice; 4 he will not falter or be discouraged till he establishes justice on earth. In his law the islands will put their hope.” (Isaiah 42:3-4, NIV84) In other words, when the Savior appears, if someone is dealing with the bruises of doubt in their faith, or if someone is so weak that the flame of their faith is but a smoldering wick, Jesus will build them up and strengthen that faith through his comforting word. As he preaches he will proclaim the truth of salvation to his people and through that message he will establish his justice and his forgiveness. In fact, it will be in that message of salvation that the Islands—the gentiles like you and me—will put our hope.

Well, just as Isaiah prophesied, Jesus appeared and did all these things and even more. Jesus appeared to proclaim the message of salvation to us. Jesus appeared to be our Savior and free us from the curse of our sins. Jesus appeared to give his life in our place so that we might live eternally with him in his heavenly kingdom. Jesus appeared just as was promised throughout the ages and that is why we have gathered to give praise to the Lord our Savior as we celebrate his appearing today. We have gathered to give praise to our Savior because he appeared just as Job hoped and just as Isaiah prophesied. He appeared as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, just as Matthew records for us in our gospel lesson for today.

Turn with me, if you would, to our final lesson for today. Turn to Matthew 3:13-17, and we’ll take a look at how our lesson from Job and Isaiah connect to our Savior’s appearing at his baptism today. Now, as you are turning to Matthew 3 the stage has already been set for Jesus appearing at the beginning of his earthly ministry. In fact, if you take a look at the first three chapters of Matthew you can see just how he set the stage for us. He told us about the genealogy of Christ, showing that he was a descendant of David as the Lord promised. He told us about Jesus birth in Bethlehem and the visit of the Magi. He told us how Jesus escaped to Egypt and then returned to Nazareth in fulfillment of the Lord’s promise that he would call his Son out of Egypt, and now at the beginning of Chapter 3, Matthew tells us about John and how John was preparing the way for the Savior, proclaiming the Word of God and baptizing people in the Jordan River. Now, on one day while John was baptizing, Jesus appeared there at the river, coming to be baptized. Take a look at Matthew 3:13: 13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. 14 But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” 15 Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented. 16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:13–17, NIV84)

As hoped for by Job, as prophesied by Isaiah, Jesus appeared to his people Israel when the time was right. He appeared at the Jordan river and was baptized by John to mark him, anoint him, if you will, as one of us. Thus, his baptism was the beginning of his earthly ministry and the time when Jesus actively began his work of living a perfect life in our place even as he preached God’s Word. It was on that day that the Father gave approval to his Son so that all present would know that this Jesus who had suddenly appeared among them was the Lord and Savior for whom they had waited. He was the one whom John had spoken about, whom Isaiah prophesied, and for whom Job had hoped.

This is our Lord and Savior whom we praise today! We praise him that he appeared for us just as he promised. We praise him because he freed us from our sins by his death and resurrection. We praise him because we know that through faith in him eternal life is ours. We praise him because we know that one day he will return again. Just as Job said, “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. 26 And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; 27 I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me! (Job 19:25–27, NIV84)

What an amazing reason for us to praise the Lord our Savior as we celebrate his appearing today! What an amazing connection between the words of Job, Isaiah, and Matthew! What an amazing thing that we have discovered them simply because we are exploring God’s Islands of Adventure together! May the Lord bless you in the coming week as you continue your reading of his Word for the strengthening of your faith and our growth together as a family of believers.


Amen.

Pastor David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church --Le Sueur, MN