The 2nd Sunday of Epiphany

SERMON - Let Us with God Honor Jesus!

INI

Text: Isaiah 49:1-6 (ESV)

Listen to me, O coastlands, and give attention, you peoples from afar. The LORD called me from the womb, from the body of my mother he named my name. He made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me a polished arrow; in his quiver he hid me away. And he said to me, “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified.” But I said, “I have labored in vain; I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity; yet surely my right is with the LORD, and my recompense with my God.” And now the LORD says, he who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him; and that Israel might be gathered to him—for I am honored in the eyes of the LORD, and my God has become my strength—he says: “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

In Christ Jesus, the Light of the world, dear fellow redeemed:

Metropolitan Lima is home to some ten million people! Last Saturday evening as Dimas, his wife Blanca, and I were returning from visits in far southern Lima, we were traveling by bus along the Pacific coastline on the Pan-American highway. As we turned inland and entered the valley in which Lima is situated, my eyes were met with a veritable sea of lights. It was a breathtaking sight. Dominating the western horizon on a mountain overlooking the ocean was a huge illuminated cross. It seemed to me that no matter where you were in that city at night, if you would only look up you could not help but be reminded of Jesus Christ! It struck me at that moment that this symbolized the purpose of my trip—to honor Jesus Christ. I had come to hold before the eyes of everyone I could these simple truths that we have been saved by God’s grace alone through faith in Jesus Christ, and that in Jesus Christ we have a sure hope and certain confidence regarding our future both here in this life and in the life to come!

In our text today Isaiah records the words of the promised Christ, revealed some seven hundred years before Jesus’ birth, but nonetheless pointing out that the LORD, His heavenly Father, would honor Him in view of what He would accomplish in His ministry and in view of what His gospel message would proclaim to all people. Today I would encourage you to do the same: LET US WITH GOD HONOR JESUS! Yes, let us honor Him Whose ministry accomplished everything, and Whose message is intended for everyone!

I.

Jesus’ ministry accomplished everything necessary for our complete salvation and, therefore, it is only proper that WE TOGETHER WITH GOD HONOR HIM! Our text, once again, is a statement of the promised Christ. He says concerning His own ministry: “Listen to me, O coastlands, and give attention, you peoples from afar. The LORD called me from the womb, from the body of my mother he named my name. He made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me a polished arrow; in his quiver he hid me away. And he said to me, ‘You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified.’ But I said, ‘I have labored in vain; I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity; yet surely my right is with the LORD, and my recompense with my God.’”

When Jesus says in our text that “the LORD called me from the womb, from the body of my mother he named my name,” He is referring to the miracle of His incarnation—the miracle of Christmas. When the angel Gabriel appeared to Joseph, who did not understand how Mary could have become pregnant, he told Joseph: “Do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins” (Mt. 1:20-21). Jesus’ conception was like no other! He had no human father, but rather was conceived through the power of the Holy Spirit, so that He would be without sin—a true man, but also the very Son of God! This occurred in order to save us! The apostle Paul explained this when he wrote: “When the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons” (Gal. 4:4-5). The entrance of Jesus into His ministry here on this earth is not something irrelevant to us, but is of the utmost importance for us. It affects each of us both now in time and certainly throughout all eternity!

When Jesus says in our text: “He made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me a polished arrow; in his quiver he hid me away,” He is referring directly, but symbolically to His prophetic ministry. Jesus was sent to reveal to mankind God’s truth! Moses, speaking on behalf of God, had told Old Testament Israel, “I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him. And it shall be that whoever will not hear My words, which He speaks in My name, I will require it of him” (Dt. 18:18-19). In John’s Gospel Jesus is identified as God’s “Word” (cf. Jn. 1:1-3) and in his 1^st Epistle Jesus is identified as “the Word of life” (cf. 1 Jn. 1:1). Jesus announced to His followers: “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (Jn. 8:31b-32).

That being understood Jesus declares that His Father has set His “mouth” to be like a “sharp sword.” A sword is used both to defend and to contend. Jesus told Peter to “put your sword in its place” (cf. Mt. 26:52), but He certainly used His word as a weapon both to defend and contend for the truth. His purpose was to bring His Father’s word to a world that desperately needed it, in spite of the fact that many would reject it. Consequently, on the night before His death He declared as a summary of His ministry, “I have given them Your word” (Jn. 17:4-8). It is not surprising, therefore, that New Testament writers likewise use the analogy of God’s Word as a sword. The writer to the Hebrews, for instance, says: “The word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Heb. 4:12).

The phrases that “he made me a polished arrow; in his quiver he hid me away,” are poetic turns of speech which say that Jesus did not come on His own account and did not stand independently of His heavenly Father, but He was an instrument in the hand of His God, who chose Him and equipped Him to accomplish His eternal plan of salvation. As such in our text Jesus says: “He said to me, ‘You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified.’”

Through sin man dishonors God and detracts from His glory. Jesus, identified as “My Servant,” glorified God through His work of service and enables man once again to praise Him rightly! John recorded these words of Jesus spoken shortly before His passion: “Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify Your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, saying, “I have both glorified it and will glorify it again” (Jn. 12:27-28). God chose in eternity to save mankind through Jesus. Paul writes in an amazing hymn of praise: “He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved” (Eph. 1:4-6).

Yet there was a time in Jesus’ ministry when He seemed almost to despair. In our text He says, “I have labored in vain; I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity; yet surely my right is with the LORD, and my recompense with my God.” On the Tuesday of Holy Week Jesus stood overlooking Jerusalem and the temple. He had preached the word of God flawlessly and with authority. He had performed miracles to confirm the truth of what He had spoken, yet the vast majority of the people refused to believe. They complained about His “hard sayings” (cf. John 6:60, 66), turned away from Him, and ultimately joined the raging crowds demanding His crucifixion. And yet, even on the cross, Jesus was able to acknowledge that the ministry God had given Him was completed, for before His death He cried out, “It is finished!” (Jn. 19:30). That illuminated cross standing on a mountain beside the ocean overlooking Lima proclaims the same! LET US WITH GOD HONOR JESUS, whose ministry accomplished everything!

II.

There is nothing left for us to do except to honor Him whose message is intended for everyone! Our text continues with Jesus recording His Father’s response to His completed ministry: “And now the LORD says, he who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him; and that Israel might be gathered to him—for I am honored in the eyes of the LORD, and my God has become my strength—he says: ‘It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.’”

Jesus repeats certain thoughts, but He does so to reemphasize and expand our understanding of the purpose of His coming. The LORD formed Jesus in the womb of the virgin Mary to be “His Servant,” but for a specific purpose and with a sure end. He was to “to bring back Jacob to Him” and to be certain that “Israel be gathered to Him.” He came to deliver His chosen people, but in view of the sacrifice He would make and the eternal intentions of the Father, the LORD proclaimed that Jesus would be a light also to the Gentiles and that His salvation would reach to the ends of the earth!

Later in his book of prophecy Isaiah would herald the announcement: “Arise, shine for your light has come! And the glory of the LORD is risen upon you. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and deep darkness the people; but the LORD will arise over you, and His glory will be seen upon you. The Gentiles shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising” (Is. 60:1-3). Jesus proclaimed Himself to be the “Light of the world,” and He promised: “He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life” (Jn. 8:12).

As that Light in the midst of the darkness of sin, Jesus holds the only hope of salvation for mankind. That is why His great commission is indeed great! “Make disciples of all nations!” (Mt. 28:19) “Preach the gospel to every creature! (Mk. 16:15) “Repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations! (Lk. 24:47) “You shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth!” (Acts 1:8) This was God’s intention from eternity, and this is now to be our vocation until we enter eternity!

The defining moment of my recent trip to Lima came at the end of a three hour Bible study with a young woman who is a lawyer and professor of law at a university in Lima. After considering multiple passages regarding Jesus’ completed work of salvation and the confidence and joy that we can have through His name, she responded: “This is what has been missing from my life!” My dear friends, LET US WITH GOD HONOR JESUS, whose ministry accomplished everything necessary for our eternal salvation, and whose message is intended for everyone! How can we do that? How can we honor Jesus? We can do so listening to Him and speaking of Him. We can do so by dedicating our lives to His service and striving to bring our every word and action into conformity with His will. Yes, LET US WITH GOD HONOR JESUS! Amen.

—Pastor Paul D. Nolting
To God alone be the glory!