Text: Isaiah 49:1-13, Title: Too Small a Thing, Date/Place: NRBC, 12/2/07, AM
A. Opening illustration: Judges 7:2--And the LORD said to Gideon, "The people who are with you are too many for Me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel claim glory for itself against Me, saying, ’My own hand has saved me.’ Read some of Lottie’s letters that challenge Southern Baptists to do big things,
B. Background to passage: The book of Isaiah is like a mini-bible. The first 39 chapters of Isaiah are basically judgment against Israel and against others nations, just like the first 39 books of the bible. Chapters 40-66 deal with God’s redemption, just like the last 27 books of our bible (the NT). In Isaiah, chapters 40-48 deal with the bringing back of the people into the land of promise after the captivity (remember that the captivity has not even happened yet.) Chapters 49-55 deal with the bringing back of the people spiritually to God. For even though God would bring them back to the land, their sin would still lie as a barrier. Chapter 49 deals with the Servant of God who would be called forth from the womb to deal with the sin that still remains. But dealing with the sin of the nation of Israel, God says, is too small a thing…
C. Main thought: God not only wants His glory to be revealed and praised in the middle eastern world where He was about to send His people into and deliver them out of captivity, but He wants His name and fame to be magnified by every tribe, tongue, people, and nation on the face of the earth!
A. God’s heart is for all peoples (v. 1, 6, 12)
1. Christ, the Servant of the Lord, is the speaker here. And he calls attention to the islands (some translations) or the coastlands, and all the nations from far away. First he calls attention to the Mediterranean world, then to all nations everywhere. Christ assumes authority over the world to command them to listen to what he has to say. God tells him in v. 6 that it is too small a thing for Him to bring back only Israel to God, but He is to bring salvation to the ends of the earth. And down in v. 12 he says that they will come from all directions to Christ. God’s heart has always been for all peoples. There has been constant outreach and witness to those among other nations. But the NT launches the good news of salvation through Christ.
2. Gen 12:3, Ex 19:6, Ps 67:1-2, 117:1,
3. Illustration: read some excerpts from Lottie’s letters about her love for the Chinese people. 5924 people groups identified of the last frontier with over 1.6 billion people who are unreached with little or no access to the gospel, 80 million people have been added to the world population, 40 million of which have no access to the gospel message, statistically another 30 million will hear and not believe, the Pioneers mission group has adopted 28 unreached people groups to reach currently,
4. If God’s heart is for the nations, shouldn’t ours be? The choir sang that “our heart, our desire is to see the nations worship,” but the questions that we must ask is do we really mean that. Do you ever think about people in Kazakhstan? Do you ever pray for the unreached people group called the Bhutan. Bhutan’s leader, 51-year-old King Wangchuk, drives a Toyota and loves American basketball, “Bhutanese follow Tibetan Buddhism for fear of what would happen if they do not.” Oh, I know, we pray the prayer calendar, but does that really reflect our desire? If not, we must ask God to do a spiritual heart surgery. We must examine the things in our lives that cause us not to be concerned about the nations of the earth. Maybe we don’t really love God. Maybe we are overly self-centered. Maybe we are so used to comfort and ease and the American lifestyle that missionary endeavors are out of the question. Maybe living in America has crippled our missions heart. Bottom line is that we just don’t care. Pray that God will help us care like the Moravians who sold themselves into slavery to win people in the new world and had 50% of their population going into International missions. What if 50% of New River was actively going on international mission trips? The goal of a church in VA was to send all of its young people overseas before they graduate HS.
B. All peoples live in darkness (v. 6, 9-10, 13)
1. Our text says much about the condition of every man, especially those that were beyond the current reach of the people of Israel. It says that all men/women walk in darkness, therefore Christ would be their light. Light reveals the glory of Christ to a people that is blind to it. The text also states that those lost people are in prison to their sin, they are spiritually hungry and thirsty with no real food or water, that they have no protection nor leadership from the shepherd of their souls, that their pathway is full of obstacles, and that they lack comfort in their affliction. This is the condition of all lost people, those in other countries and those in Tifton, GA. And until someone takes them the gospel of Jesus Christ and they are born again, they will live this existence now, and eternally miss out on all the glories of Christ.
2. Isa 9:2, 2 Cor 4:4-6, Eph 2:1-3,
3. Illustration: On June 18, 1999 Gary and Gloria Sloan, Southern Baptist missionaries, who had been on the field of Mexico only six months, Due to a strong undertow, Carla began to be pulled out to sea. Gary Sloan and the other two missionaries rushed to save eleven-year-old Carla, but were overcome and drowned, as did she. A large group of people gathered to watch this unfolding tragedy. And before long, four bodies lay in the sand. But what happened next is truly amazing. Gloria stood over the bodies of her dead loved ones and gave witness to the saving power of Christ. She told the people, "The pain I felt because of the loss of my husband and daughter was not as much pain as I felt for the true lostness of those standing around me" Gloria’s husband and daughter were buried in Mexico. After their funerals, she went home to Texas to heal. And believe it or not, after almost six months, Gloria packed up her remaining three children and went back to Mexico to finish the work that she and her husband had begun. Quote p. 133 in Missiology about lostness,
4. All of you who are here today, and have never been born again, you are walking in spiritual darkness. It doesn’t mean that you are evil, or that you don’t believe in God, just that you have never had a permanently life-transforming experience of selling your life out for Christ, and Him coming into your life as your Lord and Master. But today, God would have you to receive Christ, and be baptized next week with Donald. This is the experience as well for all those 4 billion plus people who do not know Christ. And it will be until we take them the gospel, and they receive it. I knew a woman who lived as a military kid for a while overseas, and she was angry at the missionaries that worked at changing the African culture, and said that we should leave them alone. But what we are offering is light to darkness, freedom from prison, living water and bread from heaven to satisfy every spiritual desire and need, protection and leadership from the greatest Savior in the world, and comfort and provision God’s way!
C. The end of missions is worship (v. 7, 13)
1. The end for which God created all things is His own glory. Because when God is glorified, every creature benefits from it. Worship is the culmination of all God-glorifying events. And therefore the goal of missions is to produce God-honoring individuals that live a constant life of obedience and praise. The joy that comes with knowing Christ is the fullness of expression in missions—to see the nations worship.
2. 1 Cor 10:31, Ps 22:27, 66:4, 86:9
3. Illustration: “Missions exists because worship does not.” –Piper, tell about the church planting movements in Southern Asia, one of my constant prayers for NRBC is that missionaries should be called.
4. Therefore we must plant churches! And the churches that we plant must plant other churches. We must begin church planting movements. We must continue to increase the LMCO each year. We must continue to send out missionaries. All this to the end that God is most worshipped by the most people.
A. Closing illustration: missionary baptizes first new believers in the Sereer-Safen people group
B. THE MEANS OF MISSIONS IS YOU! Only have about 1 missionary to about 2.6 million people
C. Closing illustration: Read the letter that started it all, p. 223 in Send the Light FULFILL HER JOY!
D. If Lottie was here today, she would say that it is too small of a thing to only be concerned about New River Baptist Church; too small a thing to only give a dollar or two when we tithe 10%; too small a thing to only have a week of prayer for international missions; too small a thing to live in America and never leave the country to bless others; to small a thing to view the gospel as a private matter; too small a thing to have the Light of the world within us, and not share that light with the nations; too small a thing to have the world’s greatest Treasure, and not let the world share with us in our joy
Additional Notes
• Is Christ Exalted, Magnified, Honored, and Glorified?
