Isaiah 49: 1-6

(Sermon by Vicar Kelly Huet 01/20/08)

INTRODUCTION:

This week I took the opportunity at recess to ask a few of the children in our day school what they wanted to be when they grew up.  Many said, “I don’t know,” and rushed to recess.  Others stated they wanted to be an artist.  With all the kids I asked though, I don’t recall one of them saying, “When I grow up I want to be a servant.”  No matter what society one grows up in, one of the last occupations a kid dreams of is that of servant.  No one wants to be the servant, to do the will of another until they free you.

Perhaps that is why the theme for today’s message seems a bit of a paradox, "The Willing Servant Of the Lord".  Willing, and servant really don’t go too well side by side unless you are speaking of the Messiah.  The words we are looking at this morning reveal to us the truth that Isaiah is describing -

Jesus Is The Willing Servant Of The Lord

Isaiah 49 offers us a unique view of the pre-incarnate Christ.  This is the Christ that existed from before time and the creator of the world.  Today, we are offered a view of the Savior that the Gospels, nor in the Epistles reveal as boldly.  We are given an inside glimpse at the musing, or thoughts of the Savior.  By inspiration, Isaiah wrote these words for us, to show us how the willing Servant of the Lord displays the splendor of God.

I mentioned a moment ago that I asked some of the children of our day school what they wanted to be when they grew up, and do you remember how none wanted to be a servant?  Well, Jesus says, “Before I was born the Lord called me; from my birth he has made mention of my name.”  Who of you can say that when you were born you knew your “calling” in life?  According to the New York Times, the average person changes occupations three times in course of their life.  How many times have you changed your occupation already in your life?  Yet, Jesus (from before he was born) knew that he would be the Lord’s Servant.  His life would be one of glorifying his Father in heaven in all that he did.

A servant, most frequently brings glory or splendor to his master when he accomplishes the work the master assigns him to do.  The master equips the servant for the task and then sends them out to do the work.  The same is true with the Servant of the Lord.  The Father gave Jesus, a “mouth like a sharpened sword…he made me into a polished arrow.”  So the Father made Jesus into a war machine?  No, think about the work Jesus came to do.  He came to preach, teach, testify and glorify the Lord; his was not going to be a battle with swords but of words.  The message Jesus was teaching is the message we hear today, the message that we are lost sinners, but he is the Savior, the one God sent to buy us back from our sinfulness!  Jesus came to show the splendor of God in that he is “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world,” as John the Baptist puts it.

The Willing Servant revealed the Father’s true splendor when he went to the cross.  From before his birth, he knew that he would have to suffer the pains of this life, free from sin, only to be executed in the most gruesome way, for something he didn’t do.  He displayed the Father’s Splendor when he went willingly, “as a lamb to the slaughter,” to accomplish the work his master sent him to do.  On that Friday afternoon around three o’clock, Jesus hung on the cross as a beacon shining forth with the brilliance of God’s Glory!  No there wasn’t a supernatural glow about him, or spotlights from heaven.  Yet, it was there that he took upon himself our guilt and incurred the full fury and wrath of God that his death would pay for our sins.  The glory and splendor of God is that he sent his own Son to pay the price we owe, and Jesus willingly paid that horrible price for us.

How amazing it is to see this discourse between the Father and Son about Christ’s work.  The Father says, “You are my servant, the one who will suffer and die to purchase my children from the trouble they have gotten into.  And Jesus’ response is, “Yes I am your servant, and I will gladly glorify you through suffering and death to purchase your children.”

This is awesome news for you and me!  Jesus says, “For you, Kelly Huet, I died.  For you, (fill in your name), I died.  I have paid the price for you.  You are now my Father’s children, my brothers and sisters.”  The cost that was paid for our adoption was great, but Jesus willingly and lovingly as the Servant of the Lord accomplished his Father’s will.

With that said though, the next statement doesn’t quite seem to support such a fact.  For Jesus (in the next line) voices some frustrations with the work that he would have to do he says, “I have labored to no purpose; I have spent my strength in vain and for nothing.”

Can these be the words of the Savior?... The willing Servant?  We know they are because it is only the Messiah, the Son of God, who these passages could be talking about, but these words seem contradictory to the, willing Servant of the Lord theme.  To understand this we must keep in the forefront of our thinking that Jesus suffered in every way as we do.  He felt frustration, righteous anger, agony, pain, heart ache.  Hebrews 4 tells us that he suffered in every way just as we suffer.  Reading these words offer us the insight that even Jesus at times was frustrated with the rejection of his work, only his frustration wasn’t sinning.

Think about it...  He came as the willing Servant, laid down his life in the most painful way and people reject him.  Look at his years of ministry, during his first year he had a small gathering, by his second year his fame was out and he had a large following.  Then, during his third year, things became more difficult and many fell away.  How discouraging!

We do see the willing Servant of the Lord here express his frustration, but we must remember that his frustration, agony, and weariness were all without sin.  We cannot ignore the words following his frustration.  “Yet what is due me is in the LORD’s hand, and my reward is with my God.”  The Servant of the Lord isn’t seeking earthly fame, or reward but merely voices frustration at the fact people reject his work, so he draws his comfort from the fact that his reward is in heaven.

We sometimes lose sight of where our true reward is found.  Our earthly heart seeks the praise and physical success of the world and when trials, adversities, and set backs are all we are greeted with we become impatient with God.  At times like these we are about as far from being imitators of the Willing Servant of the Lord as one can get.  It is also at times when life isn’t the grandest that to us it seems God’s glory isn’t shinning very brightly.

Thankfully God’s glory isn’t judged by outward success!  Thankfully God’s glory shines in what it does for you, and for me.  God’s glory is that he picks us up, wraps us in the robe of righteousness, the robe of perfection that his willing servant earned for us.  He washes us and gives us a new life, a new life that was purchased by the willing servant of the Lord who glorified the Father, and serves as a light to the Gentiles.

A few moments ago we talked about the conversation that is taking place in this lesson between the Father and his Son, the Willing Servant.  The conversation continues as the Father says his Servant, “Ya know your work of Saving the Jews is too small a task.  I want you to bring salvation to all people.”  Think about what that would have meant for the Willing Servant of the Lord.  This means he not only needed to bear the guilt and punishment for all the Jewish people of all time but also the sins of every non-Jewish person of all time!

I think at this point I might say, “Um… don’t you think this is a little too much work for me?”  But that isn’t the response of the Willing Servant.  Jesus responds that he is honored to bring all believers in!  Honored, to take all the sins we talked about before and pay for them with his own blood.  This is what it meant for the Willing Servant to be a Light to the Gentiles.

If you were told by your boss that he had a block of 200 tickets to the Super Bowl, and he needed you to go find people to use the tickets do you think you would have issues being excited about inviting people?  Of course not!  But what if your boss said I have these tickets but you have to pay the $1,000 minimum for each person you invite, do you think you would be as excited, or invite quite as many people?

Yet this is what the Father says, I have a feast a wedding banquet ready.  Go and fill my table, but for each person you bring in you are going to have to pay for.  And Jesus says, “I am honored” to serve my Lord as a Light to the Gentiles no matter what the cost.  This is the glory and splendor of the Lord displayed in all its brilliance and we as his children reflect his glory.

We reflect the Glory and Splendor of the Lord when we live our lives as willing servants of the Lord.  We are his children and he equips us with the Holy Spirit to shine brightly as his lights.

Amen.

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