The Narrow Gate

Welcome to the continuation of my blog, post-seminary. Ministry and evangelism have brought me back home to Chattanooga. I welcome your company on my journey.

The original blog, Down In Mississippi, shared stories from 2008 and 2009 of the hope and determination of people in the face of disaster wrought by the hurricanes Rita and Katrina in 2005, of work done primarily by volunteers from churches across America and with financial support of many aid agencies and private donations and the Church. My Mississippi posts really ended with the post of August 16, 2009. Much work, especially for the neediest, remained undone after the denominational church pulled out. Such is the nature of institutions. The world still needs your hands for a hand up. I commend to you my seven stories, Down in Mississippi I -VII, at the bottom of this page and the blog posts. They describe an experience of grace.



Tuesday, November 29, 2016

Day 1450 - Let’s Put Some Light on It

A summary of a sermon given at First Presbyterian Church, Spring City, TN, November 27, 2016

Old Testament Reading: Isaiah 2:1-5
New Testament Reading: Matthew 24:36-44

In these passages in Isaiah and Matthew we see how every divinely inspired writer expresses their message in the context of their own reality. Both speak of “end times” but one is upbeat the other almost morose.
Matthew’s reality is the personal reality of the disciples who have known and been called by Jesus and soon will see him die, and see the subsequent evidence of his resurrection. Matthew’s focus is on future return of the future holds for those who understand this reality of the consummation of the reign of kings.
Isaiah speaks from the impending chaos brought by Assyria and Babylon. He gives us his sense that God is at work building something new and he is using Assyria and Babylon as tools to purify Judah and Israel, and the rest of the world for the future wonders of grace he will pour out on all the people who hear and come to learn. Isaiah oversees the end of the era of the last king.
Because of their different perspectives, one looking forward to the grand unification in the post-regal era and speaking principally to the corporate, or national bodies, the other looking beyond the cross speaking primarily to the personal world of the disciples. That perspective paints irony on the passages making the Old Testament passage one principally of hope beyond human judgment where we expected only judgment, Mathew on the other hand has a judgmental character that cannot be ignored.

Isaiah 2:1-5 concludes, “…come, let us walk in the light of the Lord!” If there is a message in the first 39 chapters of Isaiah, it is “the Lord will take care of those who come to learn in Zion.” That image from Isaiah immediately brought a sermon title to mind, “Let’s put some light on it…”  
If we had clear eyes and guiding light, what wonders of the future would we behold? Would we rather learn what path to follow to ensure we get to the wonders, or just stay uninformed until it all happens and hope you are on the right road?
I think Isaiah strongly resembles Paul, speaking not of the kind of light I’ll call reason that causes you to be troubled by what you see when you look around, but of the kind of light we discussed two weeks ago, the kind I call wisdom. With wisdom when you look around you might see what is really going on. We are still grappling with Isaiah and Matthew’s issues today, reason or wisdom. Reason puts you in the mind to judge. Judging makes you lose sight of God because you are trying to usurp God.  Wisdom in the mind lets God do the judging while you enjoy the grace he brings.

(Just for illumination here is a little history. Isaiah speaks to Jerusalem and Judah in the time of conquest by Assyria and Babylon. You probably know that the 12 tribes of Hebrews were a single nation only for three kings. After Solomon they split into the ten tribes of North, called Israel, and the two tribes of the South Judah and Benjamin that formed the nation of Judah whose royal city was Jerusalem.
Assyria was at its peak in the time of Isaiah, stretching from the Island of Cyprus in the Mediterranean Sea all the way to modern day Iran. Israel wanted to conquer Judah but Assyria was fighting the Egyptian empire and that warfare put Israel in a pincher with all sorts of intrigue since Assyria had eyes on both Israel and Judah. Eventually Israel fell to Assyria. Though weakened by its war with Egypt and other local powers Assyria was knocking on Judah’s door.
At the same time Babylon was rising in the South a and had eyes on both Judah and the Assyrian Empire. Things could not be grimmer for Judah as Isaiah told Judah God was purifying the people of Israel and Judah using Assyria and Babylon. They were his tools in this national, or collective tragedy. In the midst of this chaotic time of war Isaiah proclaimed a positive future where Jerusalem (also called Zion) becomes the beacon to all peoples.)
Note the use of the plural form of “people.  The usage means Isaiah is not just talking about Judah and Israel but people of all nations.
(More history: Matthew writes in the time 500 years after the Babylonian captivity. He also writes after Jesus faced his own crucifixion. Even in the faith of resurrection, in chaos it was a time to wonder when will the Son return? Luke tells us Jesus assured people that faith will justify everyone who asks, but lamented will the Son of Man find faith on earth when he returns? Even though he has offered words of assurance that he has brought the Kingdom of Heaven to earth and begun the overthrow of the old world, people doubt.)

Now, we haven’t read the judgment in the first chapter of Isaiah. I am going to leave it to you, and encourage you, to read it on your own if you promise to use it as a history lesson and not as a tool to judge. In this opening chapter the Lord indicts Israel and especially Judah for reducing the entire state of worship in Jerusalem to a complete abomination, a sacrilege. They have twisted and turned the worship the Lord instructed and expects inside out and dirtied the Temple. .
Isaiah 1:1-31 is some of the harshest language of condemnation you will read in the entire Bible. It is truly a “take no prisoners” text. The Lord even asks, “why do you dare even enter the ground of my Temple? He orders, “Trample my courts no more!”  (Temple is Jerusalem, Zion, Holy of Holies, God’s house.) It is fair to say, God is “mad as a hornet.” It reads a little like the Matthew 3:1-12 lectionary passage.
Yet, Isaiah in his next breath, in the first 5 verses of Chapter 2, gives the message of hope in the most ideal future we can envision. “In days to come the mountain of the LORD’s house shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; all the nations shall stream to it.” There will be permanent peace between nations.
The very fact that Isaiah says Israel, Judah and all the nations shall stream to it is a radical message that will be repeated by Isaiah again, and again. This New Jerusalem is a place for all nations. Through Isaiah, God is rewriting his covenant to expand it beyond the Hebrews. Perhaps he is describing a new Jerusalem beyond the city of Jerusalem.
This new Jerusalem comes with a price and a finality to it. When you read these next few lines, you must put aside any ideas that come to mind about using this passage or my words to batter people about judgment. Verse 4 clearly states any judgment and arbitration is by the Lord.
Isaiah says Many” people will come. Does her mean this technically literally? Is he suggesting that not everyone will respond to the call?
What we read, however, is a positive message for the people who come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” The message is that the Lord knows what this city shall be and who its inhabitants shall be and how they will live. He is intent appears to be that he will populate this new kingdom with people who will learn and follow his ways.
When I say, “Let’s put some light on it,” I’m thinking about the situation this way. If I walk into a dark room, I only have to flip the light switch “on” to find my way around, it is pretty easy. Moses both say it is easy to find the Law, it will be written in your heart. In our Christian language, Jesus puts it this way, “It is easy to find faith, you do not have to get it by yourself, it comes to you by the Holy Spirit.  When you look and find it written in your heart, you know you’ve got it.” The whole point of grace is God works the light switch, not us.
Isaiah though talks of the promise of a future king, saying, “For out of Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” The message is if you have ears, listen, if you have eyes, see. If you come, hear and see, you will learn what you need to know when the time comes to walk with the Lord.  Many, not all people will hear the call to come and learn.
Isaiah ends his message on hope. When this occurs there shall finally be peace for those who hear and understand. He tells us that all we have to is have faith and let the Lord put some light on the subject. Verse 5, “5O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord!”
Last week I talked about what I call the sordid history of kings in Judah and Israel. The history of those kings is the history of people who chose to reject the rule of God (1 Samuel 8). Isaiah speaks in the unfolding time when the Lord ended the reign of their kings and promising a new thing of wonder coming from Zion/Jerusalem, the house of David.  All peoples shall have the truly Divine King who will judge and arbitrate for everyone with justice.
Is it too outrageous to have faith that this will happen? - That grace will come in – that people will not just be “taught the ways” but the Lord will shine such an illuminating light that their eyes will will be opened to wisdom so they understand what is really going on, the fulfillment of the Kingdom of Heaven.
For me, it is an uplifting promise on this first Sunday of Advent, a message that points beyond the birth of Jesus and beyond the cross to the time when we see the God of the living.
I often find that the lyrics of music capture messages so well because music is poetry and poetry strives to capture the emotional content of reality. Prose like text books can reduce reality to boring facts and equations.
I have a favorite group on musicians called, The Blind Boys of Alabama. They sing primarily gospel music with a very personal touch. The poetic justice of a group of blind musicians singing about the Light of God is striking.
One song they sing so dramatically captures Isaiah’s message of hope in the future for the peoples of the world embodied in the grace of Jesus Christ. It captures the essence of faith that this new message requires. It puts some light on the sad reality that some may understand and learn but some may turn away from the light. It relieves a burden that we can rely on the Lord decide that issue, but it also reminds us that we, our life, may be that light for others.
Listen to the lyrics of “People Get Ready originally sung by the Impressions and written by Curtis Mayfield, but on the Blind Boys of Alabama’s album, Higher Ground:”
People get ready, there's a train a-coming.
You don't need no baggage, you just get on board.
All you need is faith, to hear the diesels humming.
Don't need no ticket, you just thank the Lord.
People get ready, for the train to Jordan
Picking up passengers, from coast to coast.
Faith is the key, open the doors and board them.
There's room for all, among the loved the most.
There ain't no room, for the hopeless sinner.
Who would hurt all mankind just, to save his own.
Have pity on those, whose chances are thinner
'Cause there's no hiding place, from the Kingdom's throne.
So people get ready, for the train a-comin'
You don't need no baggage, you just get on board
All you need is faith, you hear the diesels humming
Don't need no ticket, you just thank, you just thank the Lord.
I believe, I believe, Yes Lord, I believe.

These words of assurance have as much comfort to us today as the words Isaiah proclaimed 2,500 years ago did to Israel, Judah and the world.
Friends don’t do anything less than ask that the Holy Spirit to illumine us, that it puts some light on understanding the ways of the Lord so we can walk in them and give us peace, now and forever.  Amen.

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