Uprising Isaiah 28:23-29 Trinity CRC, October 28, 2012 AM Rev. Richard J. delange Series: Sowing & Reaping Dear Friends of Jesus, Someone characterized the Christian journey like this: first we pray, "Lord, give me!" As we mature we pray, "Lord, help me!" And finally our prayers are characterized by the statement, "Lord, make me or use me!" The church would be a different bunch if all God's people would eagerly desire nothing from our Lord but that he have his way with us and make us into what he wants us to be. Our lives would be transformed. And the world would definitely be affected by us as well. There would be an uprising in the world people climbing higher in their walk with God and in their desire to serve others. If you ve ever spoken to someone who prayed a prayer Lord, use me you may know that it can be a little scary to pray, "Okay, Lord, make me into whatever you want." That s giving over complete control of your life to God. That s the kind of prayer Jesus offered when he cried, Father, not my will but yours be done. When we pray for God to draw us closer to himself, are we prepared to let him do that? And when we tell him that we want to serve him better or sing from the bottom of our hearts, Take my life and let it be consecrated all to Thee, will we question the methods he uses to answer that prayer? When we pray for God to receive more glory in and through our lives, are we prepared to let him do his work in us in the way that he sees fit, the way the soil submits to the farmer? Isaiah teaches us what a holy uprising looks like. He helps us see what is happening when God is busy raising us to new levels of faith and faithfulness. Isaiah shows us another example of sowing and reaping, the theme we ve considered all this month. Today we learn a few lessons on uprising. The Goal of Uprising The first lesson he brings to our attention is that the Farmer our Lord God has a goal in mind, a goal of causing us to rise up in our spiritual development. God wants us to grow up! Isaiah shows us in the closing verses of chapter 28 that God is not content to simply leave us in the condition we are in. A farmer does not simply plow his field over and over and over again but moves on to plant the seed, harvest the crop and then process it. Similarly, God wants to raise us from one spiritual level to the next. And that means he's also going to have to do what is necessary to get us there. God s goal is to make us more fruitful and productive people, who more and more come to know the blessing of living fully for God, whether he s plowing, seeding or reaping. 1
In the Christian classic Hinds' Feet on High Places (Hannah Hurnard) the main character is an insecure, somewhat deformed young woman called Much Afraid. Through various trials and spiritual battles Much Afraid learns to trust the Good Shepherd more and more. As he leads her from one level of faith to the next, she learns to shed her fears in favour of trusting him. She learns that whenever she is afraid, she can call on the Shepherd. And she learns that if she wants to dance on the mountain tops like the hinds or deer, she must be willing to trust the Shepherd as she travels through some rugged terrain on her way to the mountain peaks where he lives. We learn from Much Afraid how our Lord Jesus faithfully works on each of us to remove the negative and sinful attitudes and effects that cripple us. He wants to free us from that so we can more fully enjoy life as he intended it to be. However, as we yield our hearts to God, we must be prepared to travel the pathway where the Lord Jesus strips us of our fear, our pride, and everything else that stands between us and a fuller relationship with God. We must yield ourselves to him in order that we might grow in godliness. Isaiah shows us that God s uprising in us is like a farmer who farms according to certain rules. The farmer knows when to plow and when to sow. He knows what needs to be sown where and how to adapt his threshing techniques to the different crops so as not to destroy the grain. God's actions toward his children, likewise, will be carefully measured and well-timed to accomplish his intended goal. In the last words of the passage we read, Isaiah reminds us, Is 28:29 All this also comes from the LORD Almighty, wonderful in counsel and magnificent in wisdom. Dear friends, the Lord Almighty is up to good in our lives. He s making us rise up and grow. The Insight for Uprising Isaiah moves from calling us to trust the Farmer who has a specific goal in mind for the crop, to encouraging us to acknowledge the Farmer s insight. Isaiah asks, Is 28:24 When a farmer plows for planting, does he plow continually? Does he keep on breaking up and harrowing the soil? And the obvious answer is "of course not!" Working the soil is not the end goal? Farmers don't plow and harrow their land forever. That doesn't produce anything. In Isaiah s day, plowing and harrowing was hard work. It was dirty work. If it was hot and dry, you ended up walking behind your oxen and plow in the dust all day. This was not something a person would do for sheer enjoyment. It was done to prepare the soil for seeding. Similarly, we are to understand, then, that our Lord Jesus does not plow up our lives for no reason. In the case of Isaiah 28, the Lord was angry with his 2
people, particularly her leaders for trying to make a deal with the devil, you might say. They were not leading the people to rest in the Lord but to take care of themselves by any means possible. So the Lord in his wise counsel sets out to raise his people up to a higher level. And that s not always an easy process. Hebrews 12, for example, reminds us Heb 12:11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. The point is that when we feel our lives being torn up by the plow of God, then we shouldn't become worried. We should instead yield ourselves to him for he does not do anything to us without a good reason. He is the farmer and we are the soil. He is preparing the ground to plant new seeds! He is up to something good. He has the insight necessary to raise us up to new spiritual heights to produce a greater harvest. So even if we might be somewhat leery because the plowing hurts, we should have an element of excitement as well, for God's aim is to sow some new seeds that will eventually bear good fruit. One day he will quit plowing and will start planting. And we will grow from his work in us. In addition, Isaiah teaches us about the farmer s insight when he says that the farmer knows with God s help how to plant each seed according to its own character. Is 28:25 When he has leveled the surface, does he not sow caraway and scatter cummin? Does he not plant wheat in its place, barley in its plot, and spelt in its field? Is 28:26 His God instructs him and teaches him the right way. This is like a garden you or I might plant. Some plants grow better in rows and others do better clustered together in a designated plot. Some plants do better in the centre of the garden, while others, like the spelt Isaiah talks about, serve best as border plants, encircling the whole garden. The point is that God knows what kind of seed needs to be planted in the soil of your life. God does not treat us all the same as if one size fits all. No, we all are at a different point in our spiritual pilgrimage and we each need the right mix of his seeds in the field of our lives. And God knows just what that mix is. So we can trust him. We must yield our hearts to him. Let him plow, let him plant and then let him harvest and process the crop. He knows what's best to raise us up. Let him do it. Pray for him to do his uprising work. And yield your heart to his work in you. He has perfect insight for uprising. He knows what the finished product is that he s aiming for. 3
The Product of the Uprising From plowing and planting, Isaiah turns our attention to the processing of the crop. He shows us that each crop requires a different method of threshing so that the Farmer gets the finished product he is after. A few weeks ago, I took a ride in combine. Combines process crops in seconds. In Isaiah s time, with wheat and barley, an animal might be tied to a post and then walked around on the pile of cut grain. Sometimes oxen would pull a cart over the grain. These methods separated the kernels from the husks. But smaller grain would easily be crushed and lost with that sort of threshing. So instead, a stick or flail was used to hit them in order that the kernels would not be ruined or lost. In other words, the crop would yield the most if it was processed or threshed properly. And God also knows what kind of threshing we each need to become the people he has in mind. We see from Isaiah that even the processing ends. Is 28:28 Grain must be ground to make bread; so one does not go on threshing it forever. The purpose of grinding is to make bread and feed the body. God processes or threshes, you might say, until we become the people he intends until we are doing what he created us to do, until we live with him and follow his lead more closely. That's God s word of comfort to his people. The way to godliness is through the grain mill. A heart that is yielded to God belongs to a Christian who will undoubtedly be plowed up, harrowed, seeded and then threshed. The process is not easy, but the result is usefulness and freedom in the kingdom of God. We become the godly person God intends. At one point in the story of Hinds' Feet on High Places, Much Afraid observes some women grinding their bread corn, much like Isaiah explains it to God's people. As Much Afraid watched the women pounding the bread corn with their heavy stones she noticed how long the process took before fine powder was finished and ready for use. Then she heard the Shepherd saying, "I bring my people into Egypt that they, too, may be threshed and ground into the finest powder and may become bread corn for the use of others. But remember, though bread corn is bruised, no one threshes it forever; only until it is ready for its highest use. Then that paragraph ends with those words of Isaiah 28:29: Isa 28:29 All this comes from the Lord Almighty, wonderful in counsel and marvelous in wisdom. So often we are afraid of being threshed by the Lord. Sometimes we even wrongly think it is a result of having done something wrong. We are being punished. But we must always remember that Christ has died for our sins. Jesus, the wonderful counselor, took upon himself the punishment that should have been ours. That s why we celebrate the Lord s Supper. We need to remember and 4
believe this! Yes, in our sinful selves we deserve punishment. But because of Jesus, God only acts toward us in love. Having said that, we may not always fully appreciate what God is up to in our lives at any given time, particularly when it seems hard. But we can be assured that God s heart for his children is filled with love. And that love is ours because of Jesus alone. God loves you, my friends. He loves you and wants to raise you up to new heights. That s what he does as the sower and reaper of our lives. He wants you to grow into a closer walk with him, a fuller life of joy, a stronger faith. And for that to happen, we need to yield our lives to him. So will we continue praying, Lord give me or even Lord help me? Or are we ready to pray, Lord, use me as you see fit? Lord make me!? 5
Morning Worship Sunday, October 28, 2012 10AM NOTE: * indicate please stand if you are able We Come Together to Meet Our God Welcome and Announcements * We Greet One Another * Song: Holy, Holy Holy #249 1,3,4 Children ages 3 Grade 4 leave for Wee Worship They will return during the song after the sermon * Call to Worship * God s Greeting * Confession of Faith: The Apostles Creed * Songs: How Lovely is Your Dwelling #243 Here I Am to Worship We Hear How God Wants Us to Live God s Will: 10 Commandments as a teacher of sin Assurance of God s Pardon Confession: Remember Not, O God #254 We Bring our Prayers and Offerings Congregational Prayer Offerings: Christian Reformed Home Missions Together We Hear God s Message Prayer for the Word Scripture Reading: Isaiah 28:16-29 Sermon: Uprising * Song: Take My Life and Let It Be #288:1,2,5,6 Wee Worship Children and Teachers return We Celebrate the Lord s SUPPER * Institution & Meaning Prayer Invitation Recognition of Lynnea & Madilyn Hofstede Eating the Bread & Drinking the Cup Prayer * Response: Lift Up Your Hearts #309 * The Thanksgiving We Are Sent to Serve God Together * God s Blessing * Closing Song: Father, I Adore You #284 6