For this month of August, we are focusing on our appointed Old Testament readings from two of the major prophets, the Prophet Isaiah and the Prophet Jeremiah. I say “major prophets,” not because they are more important than the other prophets that we find in the Old Testament but because of the length of the books about them.
This week, our focus is back on the Prophet Isaiah. Last Sunday, I offered some historical context about Isaiah to help us understand why God had called him to be a prophet.
Isaiah lived during a time when Israel was a divided nation, which consisted of Israel in the north and Judah in the southern region of Israel. During Isaiah’s time, the Assyrian empire took over the northern kingdom in 722 BCE.
Over 100 years later in 586 BCE, the Babylonian Empire would take over Judah in the southern region and send the people into exile for the next several decades. It’s because of this very turbulent time in Israel’s history that God called upon people like Isaiah and Jeremiah to serve as prophets and give them messages to help God’s people face these difficult times.
Last Sunday, the message from heaven that Isaiah delivered to the people was to do good by helping others, especially those who were the most vulnerable. Isaiah was calling out God’s people who were faithfully worshipping God but they were not matching their words with their actions. Isaiah specifically told them that they needed to learn to do good.
One of the things that we emphasize here at Athens First United Methodist Church is to not only love God through worship, but to also live out our faith through service. It’s not meant to be either/or but both/and. This is why our discipleship strategy is for each person to have a Loving Faith, a Learning Faith, and a Living Faith.
If we have a loving faith where we are faithful in worshipping every Sunday, but then fall short in living out our faith during the week by doing good and blessing others, then we are not really being the people God has called us to be. All three of those parts of our faith are equally important; having a Loving Faith, a Learning Faith, and a Living Faith.
Today’s message from heaven from the Prophet Isaiah is that it might take a while but we’ll get through whatever challenge we may be facing. And sometimes those challenges can feel overwhelming.
As I was preparing for the sermon, one of the articles that I read about this scripture reading from Isaiah, chapter five said, and I quote, “This scripture is a chilling text to preach.” And it’s because it is offering a message we might not want to hear at first. This message from heaven is why prophets were known to not have many friends. They didn’t only say it like it was, they used very descriptive images to drive their point home.
In this scripture, Isaiah is using the metaphor of a vineyard for the people of Israel. What a wonderful metaphor, right? Listen to how chapter five begins, “Let me sing for my beloved and love-song concerning his vineyard.”
Now, in my mind, I can picture a vineyard with all of these beautiful grape vines. The grapes are ripe and they are ready to be harvested. This is the image in verse 1. We’re also told in verse 1 that this vineyard is located on a very fertile hill and that the person who is overseeing this vineyard has done all of the hard work to help it be a fruit bearing vineyard.
Isaiah wants the people of God to see themselves as this wonderful vineyard that has been planted and carefully maintained to bear much fruit. But listen to the end of verse 2 where the caretaker of the vineyard was expecting there to be a large yield of grapes but instead it only had wild grapes that could not be used in the harvesting.
And the next verses of our scripture reading become really chilling when Isaiah says how the caretaker of that vineyard who after all of that hard work decides to shut down the entire vineyard and not even try to maintain it anymore. This vineyard owner did everything possible for that vineyard to be successful, and was now just going to shut down the entire operation.
Here is what the vineyard caretaker ends up deciding to do according to Isaiah: “I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured; I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down. I will make it a waste; it shall not be pruned or hoed, and it shall be overgrown with briers and thorns. I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.”
And then we have the last verse of our Isaiah reading where Isaiah spells all of this out for us. He concludes by saying, “For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the people of Judah are his pleasant planting; he expected justice, but saw bloodshed; righteousness but heard a cry!”
Notice that Isaiah mentions that the vineyard is referring to both the house of Israel and the people of Judah who as we heard earlier would eventually be sent into exile by both the Assyrians in 722 BCE and the Babylonians in 586 BCE.
This is a tough message from heaven that Isaiah is delivering because he is saying that because of the ongoing failure of God’s people to be who God had called them to be, that there would be no choice but to cut them off from the land that God had given them.
Can you see why not many preachers would choose to preach on today’s appointed reading from Isaiah especially with the way it ends? Is God really saying to God’s people, “Hey, I’ve done everything I can to help you, and because you still refuse to bear good fruit, I’m just going to stop trying and let you go into exile. You’re going to lose your homes and you’ll be sent away.”
So spoiler alert. Isaiah will have other messages from heaven to help Israel and Judah when they are in exile and then when they return from exile. But that’s for another time. Today is about the harsh reality that we sometimes face in life.
In one of my previous churches, we discovered that the church treasurer had embezzled a significant amount of money over a ten year period. I had only been at the church for a few months before this came to light.
Once we discovered this, we had to notify the police, get a full audit of the finances of the church, report it to the insurance company, and then go through the legal process. It was one of the most painful experiences in all of my years of pastoral ministry.
After the embezzlement had been made public, I got a call from Penny while I was still at the church. She said that my picture had just been on the Columbus 5 o’clock news along with a picture of our church in the background. It was one of the top stories in Central Ohio that day.
Later that week, I remember shopping in Target. And as I was standing at the end of one of the aisles in the store, I could overhear a couple of people on the other side of the aisle talking about my church. They weren’t from my congregation because I could hear them asking how any church could allow something like that to happen. My heart sank as I overheard their conversation.
Due to the nature of the embezzlement, we also had to let go of several staff members which led to an even greater amount of stress on our church. It was a very discouraging time in those first six months as pastor of that congregation. This church which had been a very strong and active church was now limping along because of this challenging time.
I called another pastor in our conference who had something similar happen at his church while he was pastor. I asked him for his advice in what I should be doing to help keep the church together during that difficult time.
And he said, “I know that you’ll do your best through this, but brace yourself because you’re probably going to lose half of your average worship attendance over this.” I remember thinking to myself at the time that we probably wouldn’t lose as many people as he said we would lose based on what happened at his church. But he ended up being pretty close. The last words that he shared with me over that phone conversation were, “I know I’m not telling what you want to hear, but trust me. You’ll get through this. You’ll get through this.” He was giving me a message that helped me to brace for the difficulties that awaited me.
It felt a lot like the message from heaven that Isaiah was sharing with the people of Israel. You are meant to be a very fruitful and growing vineyard, but this is going to be a long season before you will be able to produce ripe grapes again and not wild ones. We had to go through a period of briers and thorns.
Even though I didn’t want to hear the hard reality of what our church would be facing, it did help me to know that it would take a lot of time, a lot of church informational meetings, a lot of prayer, a lot of encouragement, and a lot of healing before we would be able to regain our strength as a church.
Another pastor friend of mine said these wise words to me which also reminds me of our Isaiah scripture reading this morning. He said, “You know, Robert. Sometimes our churches need to be pruned back in order for growth to take place. Think of this as a season of pruning.”
Well, to make a long story short, that season of pruning finally ended after a long period of time, like about three years. We became a stronger church through that crisis. Over that time, our worship attendance increased to where it was prior to that crisis. Our financial giving returned to former levels. And we found new ways of serving our community. It’s hard to keep a good church down. We got our vineyard back.
Sometimes the message from heaven is that you’ll get through this even though things may look pretty bleak right now. Maybe you or someone you know is facing a very difficult time right now where no relief appears to be in sight. You’re stuck in a moment and you can’t get out of it.
I was talking to someone a couple of months ago about a job they lost because the company went under. She said that at the time, it seemed like the end of the world. But then with a big smile on her face, she told me how she is now at a job that she likes even more so it all worked out for the best.
When you’re all tangled up in briars and thorns, it can be really difficult to see a brighter future ahead, just like the Israelites who were facing exile and a very bleak time in their history. But if grapes could grow there before, than there’s a good chance that they can grow again.
Isaiah’s message from heaven for us today is that no matter what challenge or crisis we may be facing, we can get through this especially with the encouragement, prayers and support of each other.
This season of pruning might feel like it will never end. But remember, you’ll get through this. You’ll get through this. The vineyard will once again yield a harvest of grapes.
Messages from Heaven: You’ll Get Through This!
Sermon Discussion Questions
Isaiah 5:1-7
August 14, 2022
We are in the 2nd of a 4-week sermon series on the theme, “Messages from Heaven.” This series is based on our appointed Old Testament readings from Isaiah and Jeremiah. The primary purpose of prophets in the Old Testament was to relay messages from God to the people of Israel. To understanding the prophets in the Old Testament (there are 16 of them!), it’s important to know when God called them to serve as prophets. Isaiah and Jeremiah lived when Israel was a divided nation (the northern kingdom of Israel & the southern kingdom of Judah.) Both of these kingdoms would end up in exile (Israel in 722 BCE and Judah in 586 BCE.) Because of this very volatile time in Israel’s history, God called upon Isaiah and Jeremiah to speak timely messages from God to the people to help them remain faithful and not lose hope. For the 2nd week of our series, Isaiah’s message from heaven to the people of Israel was, “You’ll get through this!”
Share something good that you recently did for someone. Share something good that someone did for you recently.
This week’s message from heaven is also from the Prophet Isaiah. Isaiah compares Israel to a beautiful vineyard that was once very fruitful, but because they had forgotten the Lord, they were now being threatened by the Assyrian Empire who were seeking to take over their land. They had lost their fruitfulness and using the vineyard metaphor, their land was now overrun with thorns and briars. It was in this challenging time of Israel’s history, that God gave Isaiah this message from heaven to share with the people: “Even though you are facing a very challenging time, you’ll get through this!”
Share a time when you were facing a difficult time in your life and your received encouragement that you would get through this.
Pastor Robert shared a time in his life when a pastor friend reminded him that he would get through a difficult time that was facing a church he was serving. Someone had embezzled money from the church and it led to a lot of people leaving the church because of it. This pastor friend reminded him that he would get through this. It took three years, but eventually that church was able to bounce back from that very difficult time. Another pastor friend reminded him that sometimes the church needs pruning in order for it to become even more fruitful.
Share a time when you experienced a pruning situation in your life that helped you to become a stronger person.
Isaiah’s message to Israel in our Isaiah, chapter 5 reading is a difficult one because Isaiah is sharing the hard truth of what they are facing. The image of a fruitless vineyard wasn’t just to show them that their situation was dire. It was also to help them see that with some pruning, they will be able to be God’s fruitful people again.
Share a time when like Isaiah, you encouraged someone who was facing a difficult situation. Why do you think it’s important that we remind each other that no matter what challenge or adversity we may be facing, with God’s help, we can get through this and become even more fruitful?
Pray this prayer from this past Sunday’s worship service:
O God, thank you for the prophets who offer us messages from heaven. Today, you are reminding us that you have created us in your image. You have planted us to flourish and grow. We confess that instead of turning to you for our true identity, we allow other people to determine who we are and who we should be. Prune us and remove the thorns and briars that keep us from flourishing and bearing fruit in your name. We want to be the people you have created us to be! Amen and Amen!
No comments:
Post a Comment