God's Servant

January 14, 2018
Pastor Clnt Ziemer

Audio from the sermon preached on Sunday, January 14, 2018, at Cable Community Church, Sherrard, IL.

Episode Notes

God's Servant

Isaiah 42:1-9


    The church seems a little different today, doesn't it?  Last week the church was decorated in color and lights, lots of green and a nativity scene.  This week it’s back to its usual decor.  It’s nice enough, but bare in contrast, not nearly so festive.  Some may say that It’s a bit of a let down.

It’s the kind of let down that comes over us when we wake up from our intoxications of Holiday joy and are met the realities of life, realities like the beggar at the intersection in the Wal-Mart parking lot. He starkly holds his sign – a living testimony to the emotional handicaps and troubles of life that have thrown some into the abyss of despair.  The world stands threatened again with the possibility of a nuclear standoff with North Korea, terrorism abounds, a crazed man shoots a concert crowd in Las Vegas while another shoots up a rural Texas church. Wars continue in Syria and Afghanistan seemingly without end. How close can all of this be to God’s original design for creation?  What families should have to endure such loss?  What country should have to live in such fear?   These are the bitter realities we live with today, realities that beckon to be changed.  They are realities that cry out to us for justice. 

We want these people dealt with in a timely fashion.  We want the terrorist dead.  We want the criminals behind bars. We want the troubled cared for and the abusive perpetrators kept far away from their victims.  We want those who have more money to take care of others who have less.  We want justice!

But - really - what is justice?  If I have described the common human understanding of what that term means, (and I think I have), our concept of what is “just” is really quite limited.  It’s limited in the method of administration.  Justice - this sort - is administered with a stern reprimand or punishment.  It’s also clear that humanly speaking we like to limit justice in its scope. Canadian singer and songwriter Bruce Cockburn got it write when he sang, “Everyone wants justice done on somebody else.”  When we speak of justice, we’re usually talking about what should happen with that other guy, over there.

God view of justice is much wider.   Our text today brings the comforting news that He too is concerned with the widespread injustice in our world today. 

We hear in the text that “justice will be brought (that is hailed and proclaimed)… until He succeeds in establishing justice on the earth.” God wants justice too!

Not only is He concerned, but - according to the Bible - God is DOING something about the injustices of this world.  He is sending His Servant.  Our text today from Isaiah 42 announces God's Servant.  Here we discover ...


His Qualifications  (v. 1),

His Characteristics  (vv. 2-4),   and

His Mission  (vv. 5-9)

  1. Body
    1. His Qualifications  (v. 1)
        1. This Servant is uniquely qualified for the task
      1. A Servant, upheld
        1. Verse 1a. Servant is not usually considered a flattering term.  In Christianity servant is high praise.
        2. Verse 1b. This servant, God’s servant, is highly honored or esteemed by the Lord God.
        3. God blesses this servant with every spiritual blessing because this is God’s own Son, Christ.
        4. The picture is first of a servant.  We know this is exactly how Jesus lived His life on earth: Philippians 2:7 tells us Jesus “made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant.”  In Matthew 20:28, in a very direct allusion to Isaiah 42, Jesus says: “just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”  The most famous example is Jesus washing the feet of His disciples in the upper room the night He was betrayed (John 13).
        5. I want you to think on that for a moment – Jesus, our Lord and Savior and King – came to serve.  He served God the Father first, of course, but He served His disciples also.  Why?  He tells us exactly why in John 13 – to be an example for us of how we need to treat one another.  We need to be servants also.  We need to look for ways to meet one another’s needs – not in flashy, noticeable, obvious ways that result in all kinds of public accolades – but like Jesus in ways that genuinely meet needs of the heart without fanfare and publicity.
      2. A Chosen-One, delightful
      3. One touched by God's Spirit
      4. Other nations choose their gods (idols) but God selects for Himself His Servant.His Characteristics  (vv. 2-4)
        1. He's nothing like what the people expected
      5. quiet -- not crying out like a warrior
      6. The way the servant was to accomplish His task is also surprising. Unlike the foreign conquerors of the day, God’s Servant wouldn’t come shouting His decrees in the streets, nor would He crush the oppressed or discourage the disheartened. He would not be a city street preacher or political rebel inciting the population, nor a royal messenger reading the king’s proclamations. The servant had been given royal power by the divine King. Yet He would exercise that power in such a way that He would not damage the hurting or the disenfranchised -not even a broken reed that appears useless or a wick so uncared for it could no longer produce clear light.
      7. Conquers use their power to squash and rebuild. This one will be radically different. He will be gentle or meek. Most people, especially conquers, would break a weak, useless reed, but He will not do so. Rather He will support it and straighten it out. He will not even blow out a untrimmed dying light. He will trim it and give it His oil. He will strengthen and encourage people.
      8. gentle -- towards the weak and frail
      9. persistent -- He preservers 
      10. God’s servant would succeed.  The word for faithfulness should be translated "he will bring to reality" with an undertone of "lasting, enduring," implied.  Justice would prevail!  He would report to the LORD, "Mission accomplished." 
      11. God’s answer to the oppression of the world is not more oppression.  His answer to arrogance is not more arrogance. Rather in quietness, humility, and simplicity by the Spirit of God, He will take the evil of the world and return grace.  That is power.
      12. Look at what the servant does when He comes.  When Jesus came he didn’t make sure that everyone got what they deserved. No, He took that judgment on himself.  He took upon himself, that which he didn’t deserve so that everything would be made right between us and God.  Yes, and that what is right might be done through us.  Justice established.  Wrong made right; God’s way.

C. His Mission  (vv. 5-9)

    1. He will speak the TRUTH of God
  1. To liberate
    1. a covenant
    2. a light
  2. Light, being able to see, and not imprisoned are all comforting and encouraging words. Today many still walk in the dark. Why? John in his Gospel said: “Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of the light”. Such is the wickedness that lives in us in our sinful nature. We live in an age of advanced technology. At times this technology stands in the way of recognizing and believing in God as God. Man tends to look at himself as being far more important than he really is. All too many feel that man is responsible for changing the climate of the entire planet. That sounds very, very self-centered. All too many trust in technology to get out of all kinds of trouble when it cannot. A GPS system will not dig anyone out of a snowdrift. "The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God" (2 CORINTHIANS 4:4). All too often “the god of this age” tries to blind us from seeing the glory of Christ in God. Our world would have us worry about the weather, health care, social security, or unemployment more than trusting in God. The darkness of this world still tries to deceive.
  3. To enlighten
    1. open "blind" eyes
    2. deliver the imprisoned
  4. We might fail to see the full importance of the depth of the meaning of Jesus’ words concerning light. In the time of Jesus light was a valuable commodity. No one lit lamps in the middle of the day. At night the small oil lamps only provided a flickering light. "When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life’" (JOHN 8:12). The servant, our Savior Jesus, brings his light to all nations to scatter the darkness.
  5. As servant, Jesus brought to this world the justice of God. Now this justice of God differs greatly from the justice of man. The justice of God reveals his infinite, divine mercy. "For men are not cast off by the Lord forever. Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love. For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to the children of men" (LAMENTATIONS 3:31-33). Note that the love of the Lord is unfailing. Our Lord God Almighty shows compassion. Still, in this world there is heartache, grief, affliction, troubles, sorrows, and sin. This is not the fault of God at all. All evil in this world is the fault of man. Adam and Eve sinned. They brought everything wicked into perfection.
  6. In spite of our wicked and sinful lives the Lord God Almighty shows his justice – forgiveness. We do not deserve God’s forgiveness. We cannot earn or buy the forgiveness of God. Yet, still, God forgives. This is the justice God provides sinners. "He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities"(PSALM 103:9,10). The servant, our Savior Jesus took upon himself all of our sins. Jesus took them to the cross and then to the grave. Our sins are forever forgotten by the life, death, and resurrection of the servant, our Savior.
  7. To show the impotence of idols
  8. To proclaim a "New Day"Conclusion 
  • God announces His way of salvation and deliverance not only for Israel but for the nations.  He will send His Servant, who will be empowered and guided by His Spirit.  He will establish justice on earth and bring salvation even to the Gentiles.  Only the One true and powerful God can announce something this remarkable and then do it.
  • John 12:41 states it clearly: Isaiah saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about Him – this after quoting two specific passages from Isaiah, one of which is in our text this morning.   Who but Jesus:
    1. brings justice to the nations (42:1)
    2. establishes justice on earth without faltering (42:4)
    3. is a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles (42:6)
    4. opens eyes that are blind/frees captives (42:7)
  • But who is the servant?
    1. As a Christian living today it is easy for me to see it as Jesus.  That Jesus has come to set me and you free.   Jesus came to open my and your eyes.   Jesus came to bring justice to me and you.   Jesus brings me and you hope.
    2. All that is true, of course we know that The Servant is Jesus. 
    3. But as Christians living today we also need to remember something Jesus said to each one of us.  From John 20:21, Jesus says to us as disciples, "as the Father has sent me I am sending you."
    4. Charles Colson died in 2012.  Before that, he was known around the world as the founder of Prison Fellowship Ministries.  Colson’s first book, Born Again, told the dramatic story of his conversion after being sentenced to prison for his role in the Watergate scandal during Richard Nixon’s administration.  As a brand-new Christian facing prison, Colson was ministered to by then-Senator Harold Hughes, a believer who had offered to serve Colson’s sentence if the judge would let Colson go.  The judge refused, but Colson was deeply impacted by the example of servant leadership he saw in Hughes.
    5. No matter how small or insignificant or unimportant we may sometimes feel, we CAN make a difference.  We can make a difference for good, for what is right, for what is true as we work with Christ who is able to bring justice through the smallest of actions, in the littlest of His people, in the most unnoticed of means.  With a cross and his sacrificial blood he would right our wrongs, he would forgive our sins.  With simple things like water and His Word He would pour out His Spirit.  He would bring us into a “right” relationship of faith with Him.  With bread and wine He would fill us with His strength, empower us with His love.  He would give us new resolve, and help us to be the “right” kind of people, the ones He wants us to be.  With acts of kindness, words of invitation; by our gracious intervention and our willingness to get involved; by taking a stand and sharing the truth and joy of Christ’s forgiving, eternal life-giving love; By all these things Christ’s mission of bringing forth justice carries on.  It carries on by Him working through us.

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