20141130 the 1st Sunday in Advent B Web Site
Title: Behaving Badly… but Jesus is Coming
Text: Isaiah 64:1-9
Thesis: Realizing our alienation from God because of our sinfulness reminds us of our need for God’s mercy and grace… in Jesus.
Introduction
Americans have a reputation for being terrible tourists…
Some dead giveaways that someone is an American as told by non-Americans: (Not all are bad.)
1. Very confident in the way they present themselves. Walk into a room full of different nationalities and the American will be the first to introduce himself or herself.
2. Wearing sneakers with everything.
3. Big smiles and firm handshakes.
4. Using big adjectives generously like “Wow” or “Fantastic” or “Awesome” or “Great.”
5. Prepared for anything… fanny pack, backpack, bottled water, camera. They seem to view any perfectly modern and civilized city like it is an uncharted jungle.
6. They are constantly clapping.
7. When you hear an American accent you immediately serve them next to keep them from shouting “Bartender! Bartender! Bartender.”
8. They call you ‘honey” or “sweetie” or “darling.”
9. They will hold up an entire crowd of pedestrians so they can pose for photos.
10. You can generally hear them before you see them.
A commonly stereotype of an American tourist is having the serenity of an exotic setting interrupted by a clearly “over-the limit” American making an idiot of himself. Though I am not a worldly traveler my suspicion is that Americans seem to behave badly when away from home.
The people in our text today were behaving badly, not because they were away from home but because they were away from God.
I. The Absence of God, Isaiah 63:17
Lord, why have you allowed us to turn from your path? Why have you given us stubborn hearts so we no longer fear you? Isaiah 63:17 (15-19)
Israel seemed to believe that God was the initiator of both good and evil. They seemed to believe that God was either present or absent on a whim.
The insinuation is that God had been goofing off… not paying attention to duty:
• God, you have allowed us to turn from your path, 63:17
• God, you have given us hardened hearts so that we no longer fear you, 63:17
• God, you were here for such a short time, 63:18
• God, your absence has resulted in the destruction of the Temple, 63:18
• God, your treat us as if we had never been your people, 63:19
It is true… there are consequences to sin which include the hardening of the heart which means we sin more and more. And the more we sin the more our blatant sinfulness creates a barrier between us and God. God cannot and does not bless ongoing sinfulness. Consequently the ongoing displeasure of God allows for the ever increasing consequences of our actions.
Cycle of Sin and Restoration. Historically, the Israelites would enjoy God’s blessing. Then Israel would fall into sin. Then they would experience the consequences of their sin and cry out to God for deliverance. God would forgive them and restore them. In our text today things had gotten bad enough that they were crying out to God for relief.
And when things get bad enough, as in the case of Israel, we turn back to God, i.e., we get back on the right path spoken of in 63:17.
I’ve had several occasions to be out at DIA and have watched the gradual development of the hotel project… recently when I took Bonnie out to DIA the building had pretty much taken shape outwardly. I confess, I was shocked.
First of all, I liked seeing the pointy mountain peaked roof of the airport which is now totally hidden behind the gigantic hotel.
Second, when I approach the airport I imagine the hotel as an outsized Mayflower landing at a tepee village at Plymouth Rock.
Now to the point… when the project was originally budgeted at $500 million. After the first audit the project was increased to $509 million. Bu 2012 the budget for the project increased to $544 million. The budget now is at $599 million and expected to reach well over $700 million.
That’s the way sin works. It starts out as relatively manageable but left unchecked it escalates out of and beyond control.
Infidelity happens when lust spirals out of control. Addictions happen when behaviors spiral out of control. Lies happen when deceit spirals out of control. Greed happens when wants spiral out of control. Racism happens when prejudice spirals out of control. Hatred happens when dislike spirals out of control. Pride happens when ego spirals out of control.
Then from the bottom of the barrel a broken person looks up and asks, “Lord, why have you allowed me to turn from your path? Please come and help me.”
For the sake of clarity let’s take a moment to make sure that we understand that God neither pushes anyone off the path nor ties anyone to the path. God neither makes us sin not keeps us from sinning.
The bible says, do not say, “God is tempting me.” God is never tempted to do wrong, and he never tempts anyone else. Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away. These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death. James 1:13-15
This morning we find ourselves on the front-end of the Season of Advent and are reminded that it is time to prepare our hearts for the coming of Christ and the preparation begins with an inward look to assess the state of our spiritual lives and ask, “Have I strayed off the path?” “Have I been behaving badly?” “Does God feel faraway or nearby? “Do I need to make the move to get back on the path with God?”
When the Israelite people felt the absence of God they then expressed a longing for God.
II. Our Longing for God, Isaiah 64:1-5
Oh, that you would burst from the heavens and come down! Isaiah 64:1-5
This is a plea for a dramatic appearance of God. This is an Advent plea for God to come down and make an appearance. They wanted God to show up and make things right once again.
Two months after God had delivered the Israelites from their bondage in Egypt they had arrived at Mt. Sinai where God had a conversation with Moses. God told Moses to tell the people that if they would obey his commands they would be his special people… a treasure among all the peoples of the earth. So when Moses shared this message with the people they all agreed, “We will do everything the Lord has commanded.”
Then when Moses climbed Mt. Sinai and told God that the people had agree to do everything he commanded God promised to come down the next day in a thick cloud and speak to all the people.
On that day thunder roared and lightning flashed and a dense cloud came down and all the people stood at the foot of the mountain as the smoke billowed and the mountain shook violently. So Moses climbed to the top again and God told him to go back down and set a barrier at the base of the mountain so the people would come no closer… anyone who crossed the barrier to see the Lord would die. (It was the occasion when God gave Moses the 10 Commandments.)
This is the event to which Isaiah was referring in verse 1 in this text. The people wanted God to show up again like that… so they could once again know they were God’s special people among all the peoples of the world.
Shock and Awe is a military doctrine based on the use of overwhelming power to dominate and demoralize and enemy on the battlefield. The use of shock and awe is intended to paralyze and render the enemy unwilling to resist. Hiroshima and Nagasaki are the most powerful examples of the use of shock and awe.
On March 21, 2013 coalition forces began a shock and awe offensive against Baghdad and by April 5 ground forces had taken Baghdad. On April 14th the U.S. declared victory.
Shock and awe determines dominance. In our text Isaiah wrote, “When you came down long ago you did awesome deeds… for since the world began, no ear has heard and no eye has seen a God like you who works for those who wait for you.” Isaiah 64:3-4
It was the series of plagues culminating in the death of every firstborn in Egypt that compelled the Pharaoh to let the Israelite people go… shock and awe is a powerful way to paralyze and enemy.
But that was then and then is now… we may not be longing for freedom from literal slavery and oppression but most of us have longings.
There are many things we can fix. If you need a hip replacement you go to the hospital and get your hip replaced. If your car battery bites the dust you go to the auto parts store and a tech will replace your old battery with a nice new battery. If your kiddo fires a snowball through your living room window you have it fixed. You can fix or replace lots of things but you can’t just go out and fix things like Ferguson, Missouri. You can’t fix ISS. You can’t fix racism. You can’t just fix Washington. You can’t just fix injustice. You can’t fix your son or daughter or husband or wife or mother-in-law or father-in-law. You can’t just fix your broken heart. You can’t just fix the mess you’ve left in the wake of bad choices. You can’t just fix the messes we find ourselves in and when we hit the wall of reality we long for a God who will break into our lives with a little earth shaking, mountain moving, shock and awe and make things right. Sometimes but not always, the mess we are in is the consequences of sinful choices and we find that we have not lived in obedience to God’s will and ways.
It seems they were aware that there was a reason there was no shock and awe because they had not in fact done everything the Lord had commanded. They had lived in disobedience to God.
The consequence of their living in obedience to God was alienation.
III. Our Alienation from God, Isaiah 64:5b-7
You [God] have been very angry with us for we are not godly. We are constant sinners; how can people like us be saved? Isaiah 64:5b
A common metaphor in the Old Testament was for God to describe Israel’s turning from God to sin is “infidelity.” The book of Hosea is entirely based on the Hosea’s marriage to Gomer, a prostitute. Hosea, like God would love his wife but inevitably his wife would commit adultery. It was a metaphor for how God loves us but we continually turn away to sin and commit spiritual adultery.
In any case the alienation is never that God moves away from us but that we move away from God when we sin… we alienate ourselves, so to speak.
If we were to illustrate alienation we might place God on one end of a line and Alienation on the other extreme. God – Alienation. As we move away from our relationship with God we move toward the other end of the spectrum which is alienation.
I don’t know much about it but I have heard the term “alienation of affection” to describe the reason for a broken marriage. Something or someone comes between married spouses which results in the break-up of the marriage. In that case the plaintiff may sue for divorce and for reparations for causing the break-up. The plaintiff may sue the defendant who may be a party to an extra-marital affair. The plaintiff may sue the pastor or the counselor who advised a person to leave a spouse. The plaintiff may sue an employer who makes unreasonable demands on a spouses time so that the marriage is endangered.
In our text today sin is the culprit responsible for alienation of affection with God:
• We are all infected with sin, 64:6
• Our righteous deeds are like filthy rags, 64:6
• Our sins sweep us away like the wind, 64:6
• No one calls your name, 64:7
• No one pleads with you for mercy, 64:7
I read an interesting article this week. A little over a year ago the Barna Group, a Christian research firm, conducted a study they called “Temptations and America’s Favorite Sins.” They concluded that while many are indeed living out the plotlines of reality television shows… most are not. It is as if we are too tired and distracted to get caught in those traps.
They concluded that the top three sins seducing Americans are: 60% are tempted to worry too much or procrastinate. 55% are tempted to overeat. 41% are tempted by laziness. 11% said drug abuse was a temptation. And 9 % cited sexual inappropriateness as their primary temptation.
Todd Hunter, the author of “Our Favorite Sins,” commenting on the survey was surprised saying, tongue in cheek, “You would think it would be sex, drugs and rock and roll.”
Whatever the sins of the people in our text or whatever the nature of our sins we all may find ourselves feeling more faraway from God than nearby.
So we like the people find ourselves in the Season of Advent sensing the need to move toward God…
IV. The Love of God, Isaiah 64:8-9
And yet Lord, you are out Father… please don’t be angry with us. Don’t remember our sins forever. Look at us, we pray, and see that we are all your people. Isaiah 64:8-9
One commentator put it, “Lord, treat us not as foreigners [tourists behaving badly]. Give us grace that only family gets.”
This isn’t a perfect analogy but Anne Graham Lotz, daughter of Billy and Ruth Graham wrote in her book “Heaven: My Father’s House, accepting Christ and being a Child of God creates a special relationship with God.
For example a person may drive a great distance to my dad’s home there is North Carolina. They may knock on the gate and say, “Billy, let us in. We’ve read your books and watched you on TV; we’ve written to you; and we want to come to your house.”
And my father says, “I don’t know you. You’re not a member of my family and you’ve not made arrangements to come or stay here.”
But when I drive up that same driveway and knock on the gate, I say, “Daddy, it’s me, Anne… the gate is thrown open, and I go inside, because I’m the father’s child.”
Conclusion
The thing about a terrible tourist or even a rebellious child is that a terrible tourist and a rebellious child can come home… to the arms of God who will not treat them as their sins deserve, who will not treat them as arrogant, indulgent and unaccountable out-of-towners we so often act like.
God treats us as sons and daughters. He gives us grace because we are his people.
God does not punish us for all our sins or deal harshly with us as we deserve… the Lord is like a father to his children, tender and compassionate to those who reverence him. Psalm 103:10-13
God’s answer…
God’s answer to our desire for a little shock and awe is the birth of Jesus in a little barn… newborn baby in a manger. Star lit night. Angels singing. Shepherds worshipping. Love and mercy and grace come down. Immanuel, God with us. Jesus dying for us.
