God Kept His Promise (Part 2)
In Part 1, we examined Isaiah 42:1-4 as the first of a series of prophecies predicting the atoning life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Let’s take another look at this scripture passage:
God’s Servant Will Set Everything Right
1-4 “Take a good look at my servant.
I’m backing him to the hilt.
He’s the one I chose,
and I couldn’t be more pleased with him.
I’ve bathed him with my Spirit, my life.
He’ll set everything right among the nations.
He won’t call attention to what he does
with loud speeches or gaudy parades.
He won’t brush aside the bruised and the hurt
and he won’t disregard the small and insignificant,
but he’ll steadily and firmly set things right.
He won’t tire out and quit. He won’t be stopped
until he’s finished his work—to set things right on earth.
Far-flung ocean islands
wait expectantly for his teaching.”
Isaiah 42:1-4 [MSG]
Jesus: Our Example
Jesus is described by the Prophet Isaiah as the Servant of the Lord. Jesus lived a life of service — He gave his time and energy during His earthly ministry to healing the sick… raising the dead… giving sight to the blind… feeding those who were hungry. Those things (and other things) Jesus did (in part) to give us an example of how we are to live.
The acronym W.W.J.D. (What Would Jesus Do?) is a popular adornment on bumper stickers, jewelry, tee shirts, and etcetera. But how committed are we to do what Jesus did? For that matter, how willing are we to go above and beyond what Jesus did?
What?
Are you implying that we can do greater things than Jesus did?
No, I am not implying it. Jesus said it!
I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, if anyone steadfastly believes in Me, he will himself be able to do the things that I do; and he will do even greater things than these, because I go to the Father.
John 14:12 [AMP]
We can do those great works because, as Jesus said in John 14:12, He ascended to sit at the Father’s right hand. In His position at the right hand of the Father, He is pleading as He intercedes for us (see Romans 8:34 AMP).
Who is there to condemn [us]? Will Christ Jesus (the Messiah), Who died, or rather Who was raised from the dead, Who is at the right hand of God actually pleading as He intercedes for us?
Romans 8:34 [AMP]
Should not we, as servants of the Lord, also intercede for people around us?
How about we take that a step farther?
Don’t just intercede for the mother in church with rebellious children… or for the pastor who is undergoing spiritual warfare. Pray also for your enemies. You might say, “Easier said than done…” but the truth is it will go easier for you to obey the Holy Spirit and do it God’s way than to allow your anger and envy and the spirit that engenders strife (a/k/a satan, the devil) to point you in a direction that ends in disaster.
Let’s examine the words spoken by the Lord Jesus…
43-47 “You’re familiar with the old written law, ‘Love your friend,’ and its unwritten companion, ‘Hate your enemy.’ I’m challenging that. I’m telling you to love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer, for then you are working out of your true selves, your God-created selves. This is what God does. He gives his best—the sun to warm and the rain to nourish—to everyone, regardless: the good and bad, the nice and nasty. If all you do is love the lovable, do you expect a bonus? Anybody can do that. If you simply say hello to those who greet you, do you expect a medal? Any run-of-the-mill sinner does that.
48“In a word, what I’m saying is, Grow up. You’re kingdom subjects. Now live like it. Live out your God-created identity. Live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you.”
Matthew 5:43-48 [MSG]
Why do I have to be nice and pray for those who hate me?
Because they are not our enemy.
- They are poor deceived souls who probably haven’t a clue about the spiritual warfare they are involved in.
- They need Jesus in their life.
- They need to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
- They need to be brought into a right relationship with the Father.
And that will not happen with you cussing them out and slapping them upside their head.
As a disciple of Christ, your responsibility is to take the gospel to them (see Matthew 28:19). Let the love of the Lord be like the oil on a duck’s feathers that allows water to run off without permeating or saturating them. Let the insults and wicked behavior of others roll off your Teflon armor of Love.
Always remember that it is satan and his demonic host influencing those individuals to be mean, nasty, and spiteful towards you. You need to fight not with gossip. Not with back-stabbing. Not by waiting for them out in the parking lot and going Jean-Claude Van Damm on them. Rather, you need to fight with spiritual weapons.
You need to walk in Love, as your Father in heaven is Love (see 1 John 4:8).
Let’s meditate on what the Apostle Paul says about the weapons of our warfare:
3For though we walk (live) in the flesh, we are not carrying on our warfare according to the flesh and using mere human weapons.
4For the weapons of our warfare are not physical [weapons of flesh and blood], but they are mighty before God for the overthrow and destruction of strongholds,
5[Inasmuch as we] refute arguments and theories and reasonings and every proud and lofty thing that sets itself up against the [true] knowledge of God; and we lead every thought and purpose away captive into the obedience of Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One)
2 Corinthians 10:3-5 [AMP]
Don’t use your energies fighting people when they are not your enemy. The devil that influences them is your true enemy.
Judge Mental?
I remember hearing Joyce Meyer saying that many people are judgmental (judge mental) because they look at people’s behavior without taking into consideration their heart. Do you see a drunken bum, or someone who is trying to use alcohol to ease the pain in their life. Then why not pray for them and minister the good news (gospel) that Jesus can permanently eradicate that pain?
Do you see a woman and call her a heifer, a floozy, or some other word not safe for a Christian web site… because of her clothing, her lifestyle, or her behavior? Why not look with God’s eyes and see a little girl who was hurt or abused… who reached out for love only to be taken advantage of… who made many wrong choices that lead her down the path she is on? If you are an older woman, you are commanded (see Titus 2:3-4) to train those young women on how to live their lives.
Why are we not all committed to being servants of the Lord? Why can’t we look at people with God’s eyes?
Eyes that can see through the darkness
of a cold and a bitter heartEyes that break away the hardness
that confines all the tender partsEyes of total recognition
and persistent in the visionGod’s Eyes
Eyes that do not cast aspersions
even when they may be deservedEyes that don’t follow diversions
Eyes of boldness and Eyes of nerveEyes that telegraph forgiveness
Eyes persistent in the visionGod’s Eyes
Well, let me see the way that He sees
feel every pulse of His beating heartLet me share His great compassion
Oh, i don’t want to miss the marki want God’s Eyes
Eyes that see the inward spirit
Eyes that always recogniseWhat is true and what is phony
what is truth, and what are liesEyes of total recognition
and persistent in the visionGod’s Eyes
Well, let me see the way that He sees
(feel) every pulse of His beating heartLet me share His great compassion
Oh, i don’t want to miss the marki want God’s Eyes
God’s Eyes
Jesus: The Perfect Servant
Let’s look again at the description of God’s servant:
BEHOLD MY Servant, Whom I uphold, My elect in Whom My soul delights! I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice and right and reveal truth to the nations.
Isaiah 42:1 [AMP]
Verse one (along with Isaiah 9:7, 11:2, and 61:1) connect this prophetic passage with Jesus Christ as the fulfilment of God’s promise of a Messiah. And as we follow as Christians
One of the problems that Isaiah had to deal with was rampant idol worship among the children of God. Granted, we 21st Century Westerners typically don’t bow down to statues or golden calves. However, many people do bow down to greed… selfishness… lust… and… well, you get the idea.
The people of Israel were worshipping pagan gods. Today people are caught up in humanism. Why need a God, these people ask, when we have science? Whatever false god one might bow down to… eventually the truth becomes evident: these false gods are not real. They can’t hear… they can’t answer prayer. They can’t do anything… only the Creator of heaven and earth can. And He loves you.
So, the Lord is using Isaiah to direct the attention of Israel away from the false idols and towards the One and Only True God. And that is what Jesus came to do. He told Philip that to see Him is to see the Father.
7If you had known Me [had learned to recognize Me], you would also have known My Father. From now on, you know Him and have seen Him.
8Philip said to Him, Lord, show us the Father [cause us to see the Father--that is all we ask]; then we shall be satisfied.
9Jesus replied, Have I been with all of you for so long a time, and do you not recognize and know Me yet, Philip? Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father. How can you say then, Show us the Father?
John 14: 7-9 [AMP]
When people see us, they should see Jesus. Often, however, they do not.
I remember one Saturday, as a teenager, going with my mother’s church took a trip to a dinner theatre. People disregarded the instructions of the hostess and broke the seating arrangements. Some ordered cocktails… followed by raucous laughter at off-color jokes. When tables were called to line up for meals, these church folks practically knocked the other patrons over to get first dibs at the buffet line. An exasperated waitress looked at me cringing with embarassment and asked, “This is a church group?”
Granted, that is an extreme example. But how often does behavior appear that may not be so flagrant as that last example — yet is the opposite of Christlikeness? For example, when you ask yourself what would Jesus do… would Jesus do any of the following?
- Lay on the horn and/or flash His headlights at somebody who merges into His lane? (1 Corinthians 13:4)
- Flip the finger at that person while passing them? (Proverbs 15:1)
- Think lustful thoughts about the hot blonde in the sports car? (Matthew 5:28)
- Ignore someone who needs a ride to church because it would be out of His way? (Judges 8:25)
- Rush to beat the old lady to the close parking spot, making her walk a dozen yards? (Matthew 5:41)
Of course not! That is not what Jesus would do. So why then do we do those things?
Why do we gossip about people when we know it only grieves the Spirit of the Lord (Ephesians 4:30)? Why do we talk negatively about the pastor if he does something we may not like (1 Chronicles 16:22)? Why do we get judge mental (judgmental)?
Granted… a brother or sister in Christ may be doing the wrong thing. However, that does not make them worthy of your spite. Pray for them that whatever is causing the behavior be exorcised from their life. Watch and pray… for your attitude could cause you to fall into great temptation (see Matthew 26:41). Having a negative attitude about others is not the act of one who walks in Love. And the servant of the Lord must walk in the Spirit of his Lord. And since God is love (see 1 John 4:8) then we are children of love and must walk in love. What is love?
The Way of Love
1 If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. 2If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing. 3-7If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.
Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swelled head,
Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always “me first,”
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.
8-10Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled.
11When I was an infant at my mother’s breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good.
12We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!
13But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.
1 Corinthians 13 [MSG]
The Spirit-Filled Servant
The servant of the Lord has the Spirit of the Lord upon him. If you are Spirit filled, you will bring forth justice and right and truth by bringing Jesus with you (John 14:6).
Lon Solomon said that it is impossible to live the Christian life unless the Spirit of God is walking out that life through you. So we must yield to the Spirit (for He has the right of way). Submit yourself to the Lord… as a good servant of the Lord… and let His love overwhelm every part of your personality… until you are a servant whom God the Father firmly upholds… until you are a servant who delights yourself in Him from the depths of your heart and soul… who is filled to overflowing with the Holy Spirit.
Do that, and you will bring out justice to the nations… starting right where you are. Christ will reign in you, as you do His will in this earth.
More in the next installment…
Want to go Deeper?
Our sermon The Art of Fighting Without Fighting is available for free on-line listening. Click here and enjoy!
Our long-form audio teaching The Body of Christ is available for on-line listening… free of charge. For immediate access, click here and enjoy!
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