Sermon Isaiah 42:1-9 Christian Leadership

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

Sermon Isaiah 42:1-9 Christian Leadership

First Presbyterian Church of Ocean City

January 15, 2017

Today is the second Sunday in the season of Epiphany. An epiphany is an appearance of a deity. Whenever God appears to men and women we have an epiphany. And thus the appearance of God as a man named Jesus was an epiphany. We celebrate this epiphany of God on earth every year on January 6, at the end of the Christmas season. Epiphany will last until Ash Wednesday begins the season of Lent. During this season of Epiphany we usually look at the work and teachings of Jesus Christ.

Over the next few week we will all be experiencing changes in leadership. On the national level, Donald Trump will be inaugurated as the 45^th President of the United States. With him will come new leaders for all departments and agencies of government. In two weeks this church will select new elders, deacons and trustees to lead us for the next year. And I expect your pastor nominating committee to have a candidate as your new pastor very shortly. So today Christian leadership is on our minds.

As Christians our role model as a leader is Jesus Christ. We can be good leaders just by imitating him. But where did Jesus learn about leadership? I think he learned leadership by studying the Book of the Prophet Isaiah. When Jesus was ordained for ministry in his baptism, God quoted Isaiah,  “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:17) And when Jesus preached his first sermon he also quoted Isaiah and said, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” (Luke 4:21) So Jesus modeled his ministry on the writings of Isaiah. He learned how to lead others from Isaiah. And so let’s turn, as Jesus did, to Isaiah to learn for ourselves how to be leaders. 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. (Calvin)

“Today, to begin, I need to tell you a story about Billy and Bobby. Billy was twelve years old and Billy was very smart. He was in all the honor’s classes and was one of the top students in his class. He was also a good musician. He played in the orchestra, sang in the choir, and played in a rock band. Billy was also an incredible athlete. He was a superstar soccer player, baseball player, basketball player, a track star and every other kind of athlete. Billy was also president of his class at high school and also president of the Luther League at church. No matter what Billy did, he was always elected president.

Now, Billy had a younger brother by the name of Bobbie, and something happened along the way to Bobbie. Bobbie was a handicapped person; he was disabled physically and somewhat intellectually. He couldn’t sing a note. He never was on an athletic team. He was never elected to anything. In school, he was in all the other classes; that is, he was always in the special ed classes for slower learners. Bobbie’s heart was full of love, but he just couldn’t do what his older brother could do. But that did not mean that Bobbie’s heart was not full of love. Bobbie was really a loving kid, but was not gifted in the way that his older brother, Billie was.

Well, one day their mother made breakfast and there were three wonderful cinnamon rolls. These were wonderful, gewy, chewy, yumscious, dripping with brown sugared syrup, freshly baked cinnamon rolls and they had just come out of the oven and they were still warm and fresh. Within seconds, each boy had devoured a cinnamon roll, when the telephone rang and the mother momentarily was distracted by the telephone call. Meanwhile, back at the breakfast table where there was one cinnamon roll left, Billy was taking charge. Billy, who was stronger, faster, smarter, more musical, more athletic, said to Bobbie, “This is my roll, brother. You are younger and I am the older and wiser and the rights belong to me. This is my cinnamon roll,” and he inhaled it. Without a thought, Bobbie starts to cry and shout and whale, and about that time, the mother gets off the telephone and rushes back to the kitchen but the telephone rings again and the mother rushes back to the phone again. The next day, it is the same song but the second verse. Three cinnamon rolls that were freshly baked, dripping with syrup. Billie is there, the older, the wiser, the smarter, the more gifted. Bobbie is also there, the younger, the weaker, the less gifted. Each swallows one roll. Bobbie again reaches for the extra cinnamon roll, and is about to inhale it, when the mother says, “Wait a minute. I am going to cut the cinnamon roll in two halves and give each one of you a half.”  …

When the mother did that, she made a judgment. The word, mishpat, means judgment. It means God’s wisdom, God’s rule, God’s law, God’s judgment…that there would be fairness  and equity within a family.

Likewise with God, God has judgments and God’s judgments always protect the Bobbies of life from the Billies of life. You have to protect the Bobbies of life from the Billies of life.

Now, that does not mean that Billie was mean. No, Billie was not mean. Billie was not cruel. Billy did not hate Bobby. No, Billie was a strong, smart, intelligent human being, who like all human beings, was selfish. And Billie was going to take more than his fair share. Billie was going to use his resources of a stronger body, a stronger mind, a stronger personality in order to take more than his fair share.

But God has designed the world in such a way that the Bobbies of the world need to be protected from the Billies of the world.“ (http://www.sermonsfromseattle.com/series_a_baptism_of_jesus.htm)

Let’s now turn to Isaiah’s instructions on biblical leadership. We turn to the 42^nd chapter of Isaiah and meet the person who will be instructing us on leadership today. Let me introduce our teacher.

Isaiah 42:5 This is what God the Lord says—the Creator of the heavens, who stretches them out, who spreads out the earth with all that springs from it, who gives breath to its people, and life to those who walk on it:

So, our teacher this morning on the subject of leadership is our creator God. This God created the entire world. And this God created us and breathed life into us. This is our creator. And so we should listen to him when he speaks. And here is what he said:

Isaiah 42:6 “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,

The covenant God is speaking about is the one he made with Abraham. In that covenant God promised to bless Abraham and his descendants richly. And he has. God has given us a world of abundance. There is plenty of food and water. We have clothes to wear and houses to live in. We have families and friends and places to work and leisure time. Our blessings are abundant.

Our responsibility, according to this covenant is to be blessing to others. This is necessary because the abundant blessings of God are unevenly distributed. God’s justice requires that we work to distribute God’s blessing to those who don’t receive it. We to do this by bringing the blind to spiritual light, and freeing those bound to evil by proclaiming the good news that God has come into the world as Jesus Christ.

Remembering that we have been blessed by our creator so that we have blessings to share with those in need, let’s now turn to Isaiah’s teaching on leadership.

Isaiah 42:1 “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.

Christian leaders are chosen by God for this important work. And those leaders are to please God by bringing justice to the nations. We have heard this word “justice” before. “Justice is an English translation of the Hebrew word “mishpat” Whenever systems of power, whether they be government, business, academia or church, cause people to not receive the blessings God is providing them we have injustice. Christian leaders must work to change this. We are to work for justice. Justice requires that unjust systems that prevent people from receiving the blessings God intends for them must be brought down. The Christian leader must work to ensure that all people receive the blessings they are entitled to receive. Therefore the Christian leader must work for the poor and vulnerable in our society and around the world.

Let’s now go back to Isaiah to look at some of the characteristic of a Christian leader.

Isaiah 42:2 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 teaching the islands will put their hope.”

The Christian leader will not be loud and boisterous. You will probably not hear him on the cable news channels. Not will a Christian leader be tweeting controversial statements. Rather the Christian leader will be seen serving the vulnerable, a bruised reed or a smoldering wick. The Christian leader will be with those who are about to give up all hope, those who have not received the abundant blessings promised by God. And the Christian leader, empowered by the Holy Spirit, will persevere ignoring setbacks and pushing forward until all of God’s blessings are distributed to the people who need them. The Christian leader will be known because the vulnerable people he works with are filled with hope.

Sadly many leaders do not heed God’s instructions. They snuff out smoldering wicks and throw the bruised reed on the trash pile. They will ignore the poor and vulnerable. They will not work to end injustice that traps people enslaving them to poverty. These are not Christian leaders and must be avoided.

Let’s return to Isaiah as see exactly what a Christian leader will do.

Isaiah 42:7 to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.

The Christian leader will be empowered by the Holy Spirit to heal the sick and deliver the oppressed from evil. The Christian leader must therefore be a person of prayer. Christian leaders are to pray for sick asking Jesus to heal. The Christian leader will also pray for those oppressed that they will be delivered from evil. Through our prayers our expectation is for a total renewal and restoration of the world God created.

But Christian leadersmust always remember that the work of transformation is not something the leader does, but is something that God does. Let’s listen as God articulates this:

Isaiah 42:8 “I am the Lord; that is my name! I will not yield my glory to another or my praise to idols.
⁹ See, the former things have taken place, and new things I declare; before they spring into being I announce them to you.”

So God has told us to pray and work for justice. He will use us and our work to bring about transformation and renewal. This is extremely good news for the vulnerable who live on the margins of our society.

Isaiah’s prophecy of a servant leader was fulfilled by Jesus. Jesus’ ministry was all about renewal and restoration of God’s creation. He was chosen by God and empowered by the Holy Spirit. He helped the poor and marginalized in his society by reforming unjust systems. He healed the sick and cast out evil spirits. And he left behind a church to continue his work.

And so today the work of a Christian leader is to follow Jesus and do what he did in his ministry. We are to seek renewal and restoration of God’s creation. We have been chosen by God and empowered by the Holy Spirit. We are to work for justice for the marginalized in our society. We are to pray for healing of the sick and deliverance of those suffering from evil. We are to serve others because we have been blessed by God and God wants us to be a blessing for others. Let’s pray.

Lord in heaven, we ask that you raise up for us leaders who are concerned about justice. Bring us a pastor with compassion for the needs of the people in our community. Give us elders, deacon and trustees, who see that our work for the poor is God’s mission for us in Ocean City. Bless the Trump administration with a desire to uphold your justice. This we pray in the name of our King, the Lord Jesus. Amen.