Those of you who have heard my sermons have heard this exhortation quite often: "Go and proclaim the Good News by both word and deed." The Gospel needs to be proclaimed so that other might hear and believe. But, in proclaiming it with our lips our actions need to fit what we preach. Our lifestyles are reflections of what we say. Others hear not only what we say, but what we do.
Prophets often took this "doing what you speak" to the extreme. According to God's word to Isaiah, the prophecy against Egypt and Cush was to be lived or acted out by Isaiah. He was to strip himself of the sackcloth and sandals that he wore as the prophecy that "the king of Assyria will lead away stripped and barefoot the Egyptian captives and Cushite exiles, young and old, with buttocks bared—to Egypt’s shame." (Isa 20:4 NIV)
I'm thinking that none of us quite measure up to being the dedicated and faithful servant of God as Isaiah was; none of us will probably be asked to strip as a sign that our enemies will be overthrown and shamed. I'm not sure how Isaiah managed it. But, I'm quite sure we'd be arrested long before three years was up and locked away someplace for some time to come.
While we may not be as zealous as some of the prophets called by God, that does not negate the fact that we have been called by God and are to share the good news of the kingdom of God through Jesus Christ to people near and far. We do this with word and deed. We do this by sharing the story with those who would hear and by living our new life in Christ for all to see.
And, we are zealous about it. Maybe, not as zealous as Isaiah; but we zealously share this good news because it is Good News, indeed!
God's Peace - Pr. J
Showing posts with label Cush. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cush. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Monday, May 20, 2013
Isaiah 18 - Woe or Blessing
"Woe to the land of whirring wings along the rivers of Cush, which sends envoys by sea in papyrus boats over the water. Go, swift messengers, to a people tall and smooth-skinned, to a people feared far and wide, an aggressive nation of strange speech, whose land is divided by rivers." (Isa 18:1 NIV)
Woes sometimes have the effect of bringing us around to the Worship of God.
Over the years, I've noticed that some Christians, when confronted with trouble in their lives, tend to stay away from public worship of God. I'm thinking this might be because they are embarrassed that they have not been able to control their lives in a manner that is Christ-like. They don't want others to know that they have slipped up, they have sinned. There's a little problem with this and that is that they think that they have been saved by their good works. They think that they are or were good because they had been able to keep up the appearance of morality by their own inner strength. The glory was not God's, but theirs. Consequently, because they thought their good character was attributed to themselves, so was their fall, and they are embarrassed by their fall. They failed or so they think. Hopefully, they will come to understand that the LORD can use these failures to open our eyes so that we see the way to return to Him.
Others, when their sins begin to cause them stressful living, decide that it is God's fault that their lives are spiraling downhill. They cannot acknowledge that maybe they have chosen to follow another path that the LORD would not have them follow through the wilderness. Again, the LORD can use these times of woe so that we will seek the light and turn from the path of darkness that we have been following.
Either way, both of these are symptoms of an underlying issue - a control issue. It is really hard to relinquish our whole lives into the hands of Almighty God. But, when we do, something marvelous happens, by the power of the Spirit of Christ, we will become more Christ-like. We will desire to Worship the LORD. It needs to be understood that worship of God is not a good work credited to you. It is a natural outpouring of the love that we have for the one who first loved us.
Whoever, these tall, smooth skinned people who live between the rivers are that God sends this warning of woe to, many of them end up worshipping the LORD Almighty.
"At that time gifts will be brought to the Lord Almighty from a people tall and smooth-skinned, from a people feared far and wide, an aggressive nation of strange speech, whose land is divided by rivers—the gifts will be brought to Mount Zion, the place of the Name of the Lord Almighty." (Isa 18:7)
Woes can be turned to blessings. Let us rejoice for God for the gifts that God has given us. Let us give all glory to God "for in him we live and move and have our being." (Act 17:28)
God's Peace - Pr. J
Woes sometimes have the effect of bringing us around to the Worship of God.
Over the years, I've noticed that some Christians, when confronted with trouble in their lives, tend to stay away from public worship of God. I'm thinking this might be because they are embarrassed that they have not been able to control their lives in a manner that is Christ-like. They don't want others to know that they have slipped up, they have sinned. There's a little problem with this and that is that they think that they have been saved by their good works. They think that they are or were good because they had been able to keep up the appearance of morality by their own inner strength. The glory was not God's, but theirs. Consequently, because they thought their good character was attributed to themselves, so was their fall, and they are embarrassed by their fall. They failed or so they think. Hopefully, they will come to understand that the LORD can use these failures to open our eyes so that we see the way to return to Him.
Others, when their sins begin to cause them stressful living, decide that it is God's fault that their lives are spiraling downhill. They cannot acknowledge that maybe they have chosen to follow another path that the LORD would not have them follow through the wilderness. Again, the LORD can use these times of woe so that we will seek the light and turn from the path of darkness that we have been following.
Either way, both of these are symptoms of an underlying issue - a control issue. It is really hard to relinquish our whole lives into the hands of Almighty God. But, when we do, something marvelous happens, by the power of the Spirit of Christ, we will become more Christ-like. We will desire to Worship the LORD. It needs to be understood that worship of God is not a good work credited to you. It is a natural outpouring of the love that we have for the one who first loved us.
Whoever, these tall, smooth skinned people who live between the rivers are that God sends this warning of woe to, many of them end up worshipping the LORD Almighty.
"At that time gifts will be brought to the Lord Almighty from a people tall and smooth-skinned, from a people feared far and wide, an aggressive nation of strange speech, whose land is divided by rivers—the gifts will be brought to Mount Zion, the place of the Name of the Lord Almighty." (Isa 18:7)
Woes can be turned to blessings. Let us rejoice for God for the gifts that God has given us. Let us give all glory to God "for in him we live and move and have our being." (Act 17:28)
God's Peace - Pr. J
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