Sermon - Isaiah 40:21–31 Renewed Strength

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

Sermon - Isaiah 40:21–31 Renewed Strength

First Presbyterian Church of Ocean City MD

February 8, 2015

Last week we talked about God's plan to raise up prophets to guide his people. As Moses was retiring he assured his people that God would continue to raise prophets to speak his word to them. And today God raises up pastors to call people to discipleship and point them toward Jesus Christ. Today we will turn to a very troubled place and time when the children of God's people were abandoning the faith. A prophet is needed. We will get to this, but first let's pray.

Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy Heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen. (John Calvin)

I am a child of the 50s who grew up in the 60s. That makes me a Baby Boomer. Like most people in my generation I went to church every Sunday with my family. But like many of us, when I went to college I stopped going to church. Saturday night frat parties became more important than Sunday morning worship. I stopped going to church, except on Christmas and Easter. I had effectively abandoned the faith of my parents.

In the middle of the sixth century before Christ the children of the people of God were abandoning the faith of their parents. A generation before their parents had been carried into exile by the Babylonian army. When they arrived in Babylon they tried to keep their cultural and religious practices. The continued to dress and eat as they had in Jerusalem in accordance with the law of Moses. And they continued to study God's word with trained teachers called rabbis. They would gather after sunset on the Sabbath to hear and study the ancient scrolls containing the law and the prophets.

But a generation later their children had no interest in any of this. They wanted to dress, act, eat, and worship the way the Babylonians did. After all wasn't the Babylonian god Marduk the god of the victors? Yahweh, the Lord God of Israel was the god of the losers. Why worship a loser God?

With the children rapidly losing faith, God raised up a prophet to speak to them. This prophet had studied the work of the prophet Isaiah from centuries before. And from this knowledge he spoke to the people in exile. His work in contained in the Book of Isaiah chapters 40-55. God raised this person as a prophet with these words.

Isaiah 40:1 Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. 2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.

This new prophet accepted his call and began to proclaim to the children of God's people that God had returned to be their God. But the children would hear none of this. As far as they were concerned God had abandoned them and did not deserve their worship. So the prophet had to proclaim a message that would persuade them to return to the Lord God of Israel. Here is part of what he said to the children of the exiles in Babylon.

Isaiah 40: 18 With whom, then, will you compare God? To what image will you liken him? 19 As for an idol, a metalworker casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold and fashions silver chains for it. 20 A person too poor to present such an offering selects wood that will not rot; they look for a skilled worker to set up an idol that will not topple.

The prophet told them that that Marduk, the god of the Babylonians, was no god at all. He was just a piece of metal or wood that a skilled worker had turn into an idol. It had no power to do anything. It might have some artistic value. But it was worthless as a god. Why would anyone worship something as worthless as Marduk? By contrast though, there was another God they could worship if only they could remember what their parents had taught them. So here is what he said.

21 Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood since the earth was founded?

22 He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers.
He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in. 23 He brings princes to naught and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing. 24 No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown, no sooner do they take root in the ground, than he blows on them and they wither, and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff.

So unlike Marduk, the God of Israel is the king of everything. His throne is in heaven. And one day all the rulers on earth and all the people will put away their idols of wood and metal and will worship the God of the universe. Those who fail to worship this all-powerful God will be swept away. The power of the kings of earth is nothing compared to the great power of our God. So why would the people of this God worship a powerless hunk of wood and metal?

But they didn't listen. And their told the prophet that the god Marduk was more powerful than the God of their parents. After all Marduk had kept Yahweh's people captive for a generation. What more proof do you need? The prophet spoke to them about this comparison between the god of the Babylonians and the God of Israel. And he said this.

25 “To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One. 26 Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls forth each of them by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.

The prophet told them to look around. Everything they saw was proof of God's existence. Look at the stars in the sky. Look at waves crashing on the beach. Look at a baby at her mother's breast. Who made all these things? Who sustains them so they continue from day to day? There must be a maker, a creator. And who is this creator? It is none other than God Almighty.

But the people were not convinced. Yes the God of Israel created the world we live in. They could accept that. But the creator God had vanished. He left a generation before when he allowed Jerusalem to fall. He was no longer around. Why should we worry about a God who doesn't pay any attention to us? We can do whatever we want. God doesn't care.  So the prophet once again had to address the people. And this is what he told them.

27 Why do you complain, Jacob? Why do you say, Israel, “My way is hidden from the Lord; my cause is disregarded by my God”? 28 Do you not know? Have you not heard?The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. 29 He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. 30 Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; 31 but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

With this the prophet had made a import twist. Not only is our God the creator of the universe, but he is also concern with each one of us. If you are tired, if you are sick, if you are getting old, if you are lonely, if you are unemployed, if you are addicted to alcohol, if you are depressed, angry or sad then God is concerned about you. This is the most remarkable thing about our faith. The God who created the universe is concerned about our well-being.

America today is facing many of the same problem faced by the exiles in Babylon twenty-six centuries ago. Our young people are turning away from faith. Poll after poll indicates that young people are selecting “none” as their religious affiliation. They are worshiping wealth and the good life. Their idols are things made from metal and wood like I-phones and expensive houses. And they worship these things with their busyness. You can see the evidence all around. Sunday mornings used to be reserved for church – not so anymore. Churches sit empty as people spend Sunday mornings in coffee shops and soccer practice.

Today America needs prophets who have studied Isaiah. The prophet need to go to coffee shops and soccer practices and tell people that they are worshiping worthless things. Look around and see the grandeur of God's creation. Shouldn't you be in worship of the God who made all of this on Sunday mornings? How can a cup of coffee or a soccer game compare with the worship of the creator God?

And people need to be told that God cares for them. The God we worship is with us and loves us. We know this because this God was revealed to us in Jesus Christ. So this is the message we need to take into the world this day. The creator God who made everything in the world, loves each of us individually and calls us into worship on Sunday.

For ten years I didn't go to church. My teenage faith never blossomed into adult faith. While in college and grad school I pursued the American dream. I wanted an education and to start a business. I hoped to become wealthy. But then something happened to change this and bring me back to God. My mother died unexpectedly at the age of 58 from a heart attack. I was filled with grief and needed to get back to my faith in God. So the Sunday after she died I went back to the church I had attended as a youth. I've been in church every Sunday ever since. I needed to be reminded that my God is the creator of the universe. But more importantly, I needed to know that God loved and cared for me. I found this in church.

This is why what we do is so important. First, we give children Christian education that will provide them the foundation of faith for a lifetime. Then we provide a place and time where people can be reminded of the creator God and told that this God is with them though whatever problems they are experience. By doing these things we nurture people who need to remember their faith.

Surely you remember that our God is the creator of the universe. Surely you know that this God cares about you and is with you in your suffering. Believe in this God and receive all his blessings. Let's pray.

Father in heaven, creator God, we thank you for making the universe we live in. We are astonished that you, the creator, care about each of us and our lives and families. We have received many blessings from you. And we pledge to worship you alone all our lives. In your son's name we pray. Amen.