1 00:00:00,560 --> 00:00:05,680 A reading from the prophet Isaiah and it shall be said, 2 00:00:06,240 --> 00:00:12,160 build up, build up, prepare the way, remove every obstruction 3 00:00:12,160 --> 00:00:16,280 from my people's way. For thus says the one who is 4 00:00:16,280 --> 00:00:22,600 high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is holy, I 5 00:00:22,600 --> 00:00:24,600 dwell in the high and holy place. 6 00:00:25,240 --> 00:00:30,960 And also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to 7 00:00:30,960 --> 00:00:35,480 revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the 8 00:00:35,480 --> 00:00:39,200 contrite. For I will not condemn forever, 9 00:00:40,040 --> 00:00:43,920 nor will I always be angry. For the spirit would grow faint 10 00:00:43,920 --> 00:00:49,200 before me, and the breath of life that I made because of the 11 00:00:49,200 --> 00:00:55,360 iniquity of the unjust gain. I was angry, I struck him, I hid 12 00:00:55,360 --> 00:00:59,280 my face and was angry, but he went on backsliding in the way 13 00:00:59,280 --> 00:01:04,120 of his own heart. I have seen his ways, but I will 14 00:01:04,120 --> 00:01:07,640 heal him. I will lead him and restore 15 00:01:07,640 --> 00:01:11,920 comfort to him and his mourners, creating the fruit of the lips. 16 00:01:12,880 --> 00:01:15,480 Peace. Peace to the far and to the 17 00:01:15,480 --> 00:01:18,880 near, says the Lord, and I will heal him. 18 00:01:19,960 --> 00:01:23,680 But the wicked are like the tossing sea, for it cannot be 19 00:01:23,680 --> 00:01:27,200 quiet, and its waters toss up mire and dirt. 20 00:01:27,920 --> 00:01:32,360 There is no peace, says my God, for the wicked, the word of the 21 00:01:32,360 --> 00:01:36,400 Lord. Let's pray together, Lord, We 22 00:01:36,480 --> 00:01:40,440 need the wind of the Holy Spirit to blow into our hearts and our 23 00:01:40,440 --> 00:01:43,400 fellowship this morning. We pray that as Your word is 24 00:01:43,400 --> 00:01:47,240 opened that we would be given the grace to come to you, Lord, 25 00:01:47,240 --> 00:01:51,160 not in the night, but in the day, ready to repent, ready to 26 00:01:51,160 --> 00:01:55,680 shine with the glory that you impart in the place of what we 27 00:01:55,680 --> 00:01:58,920 give to you Lord, our sins, our doubts, and all of the needs 28 00:01:58,920 --> 00:02:01,560 that we have. We pray that the Spirit of Jesus 29 00:02:01,560 --> 00:02:04,600 would be alive and well as we listen to the prophet Isaiah. 30 00:02:04,600 --> 00:02:06,480 We pray this in Jesus name, Amen. 31 00:02:07,120 --> 00:02:09,840 Oh, please be seated and you can turn your bulletins or your 32 00:02:09,840 --> 00:02:19,960 Bibles to Isaiah 57 looking at Isaiah 57, verses 14 through 21. 33 00:02:20,200 --> 00:02:23,840 This is the second message in our series that we're in called 34 00:02:23,840 --> 00:02:27,280 Shine, which is looking at our spiritual beacon call. 35 00:02:27,520 --> 00:02:31,360 We're right in the middle of our Arise journey which began in 36 00:02:31,360 --> 00:02:35,840 November of 2024, which is a 2 year initiative helping us 37 00:02:35,840 --> 00:02:39,760 prepare for a long term spiritual beacon calling. 38 00:02:39,760 --> 00:02:43,320 We're not just here temporarily. We believe God's calling us to 39 00:02:43,320 --> 00:02:46,040 put down roots here in Chicago and to shine with His glory and 40 00:02:46,040 --> 00:02:48,600 His love for generations to come. 41 00:02:48,840 --> 00:02:52,240 And so to prepare for that, we have embarked on this two year 42 00:02:52,400 --> 00:02:56,760 journey and it is in part a financial and stewardship 43 00:02:56,760 --> 00:02:58,160 journey. But it doesn't end there. 44 00:02:58,160 --> 00:03:00,880 That's a starting place. It's not an ending place. 45 00:03:00,880 --> 00:03:04,440 The ending place is our whole life, our spiritual lives, our 46 00:03:04,440 --> 00:03:07,320 relational lives, the way in which we minister. 47 00:03:07,320 --> 00:03:11,520 And so this is something that we're asking, we're not actually 48 00:03:11,520 --> 00:03:15,880 not seeking primarily a certain number that would be artificial 49 00:03:15,880 --> 00:03:18,800 and superficial. We're actually seeking 100% 50 00:03:18,800 --> 00:03:24,360 engagement of hearts and lives in not only in this initiative, 51 00:03:24,360 --> 00:03:28,240 but just in following Jesus. So money has this way though of 52 00:03:28,240 --> 00:03:29,600 getting to the heart, doesn't it? 53 00:03:30,200 --> 00:03:33,600 Where Jesus says where money is, so will a heartbeat also. 54 00:03:33,880 --> 00:03:36,840 That's why money is involved. And we are asking for a 55 00:03:36,840 --> 00:03:39,000 commitment. If you call Emmanuel your home 56 00:03:39,000 --> 00:03:43,680 church on March 22nd and a few weeks from now, we're going to 57 00:03:43,680 --> 00:03:45,880 have a commitment Sunday and we're going to be inviting 58 00:03:45,880 --> 00:03:50,800 anyone who feels ready and if you can in freedom make a 10 59 00:03:50,800 --> 00:03:53,320 month commitment to Emmanuel Anglican financially and 60 00:03:53,320 --> 00:03:56,120 spiritually, we want to invite you and give you an opportunity 61 00:03:56,120 --> 00:03:59,760 to do that. And along the way, you're going 62 00:03:59,760 --> 00:04:03,040 to be able to hear some stories of those who have already made a 63 00:04:03,040 --> 00:04:06,400 commitment, one of whom are really cool, someone from our 64 00:04:06,400 --> 00:04:10,040 congregation with a very cool story to tell later on today. 65 00:04:11,600 --> 00:04:15,000 But let's look at Our Calling, what we're here for. 66 00:04:15,160 --> 00:04:17,160 We're looking at shining with repentance. 67 00:04:18,320 --> 00:04:20,839 Today's message is a word of hope. 68 00:04:21,160 --> 00:04:25,800 It begins with a word of hope for people who are far from God. 69 00:04:25,800 --> 00:04:28,040 Do you feel spiritually dislocated today? 70 00:04:28,560 --> 00:04:32,840 You feel any kind of boy, post traumatic faith, any kind of 71 00:04:32,840 --> 00:04:35,240 longing for God, but you can't connect with him. 72 00:04:35,240 --> 00:04:40,920 Are you discouraged? Hear verse 14 from Isaiah and it 73 00:04:40,920 --> 00:04:45,600 shall be said, build up, build up, prepare the way, remove 74 00:04:45,600 --> 00:04:48,280 every obstruction from my people's way. 75 00:04:49,760 --> 00:04:55,600 Isaiah is hearing a promise from God, which is this picture of a 76 00:04:55,600 --> 00:04:59,920 road being built that would lead us into the presence of God. 77 00:04:59,920 --> 00:05:02,920 Imagine if there was a road, a highway built up, it would lead 78 00:05:02,920 --> 00:05:04,480 you right into the presence of God. 79 00:05:04,920 --> 00:05:09,160 And you know, as Americans, we might hear this and go, yes, Rd. 80 00:05:09,160 --> 00:05:10,920 building. We know how to do that. 81 00:05:12,840 --> 00:05:16,720 We can remove every obstruction, we can solve for X and we could 82 00:05:16,720 --> 00:05:19,000 become a spiritual success together. 83 00:05:19,440 --> 00:05:22,880 Let's join a new group. Let's do a service project, 84 00:05:23,920 --> 00:05:26,760 let's do, let's take on some more spiritual disciplines. 85 00:05:26,760 --> 00:05:32,120 Let's get close to God together, remove every obstruction, and 86 00:05:32,400 --> 00:05:34,160 let's just look like God together. 87 00:05:35,520 --> 00:05:38,400 There's something good in that. We've got high hopes for our 88 00:05:38,400 --> 00:05:41,240 lives, for our families, for our church. 89 00:05:41,240 --> 00:05:44,520 So yes, let's prepare the way and get the work done. 90 00:05:45,000 --> 00:05:47,520 Let's build that road. Let's build that life. 91 00:05:49,640 --> 00:05:51,560 So let's just pause for a moment and say this. 92 00:05:51,560 --> 00:05:54,200 Sometimes Rd. building can backfire. 93 00:05:55,520 --> 00:05:59,400 And especially when we're we're paving quickly over something or 94 00:05:59,400 --> 00:06:02,760 someone important. You know, back in the day, the 95 00:06:02,760 --> 00:06:07,840 the Eisenhower Expressway, the 290, you know, it had this way 96 00:06:07,840 --> 00:06:12,680 of devastating Little Italy and it actually contributed toward 97 00:06:12,880 --> 00:06:17,160 the famous and tragic racial segregation of our city. 98 00:06:18,760 --> 00:06:23,880 The Dan Ryan Expressway gouged a hole right through the heart of 99 00:06:23,880 --> 00:06:26,280 Bronzeville. The community still feels it to 100 00:06:26,280 --> 00:06:30,240 this day. The wrong kind of Rd. building 101 00:06:30,240 --> 00:06:34,760 can ruin us. The wrong kind of Rd. building 102 00:06:34,760 --> 00:06:38,960 can ruin the world. So let's just ask this question. 103 00:06:38,960 --> 00:06:43,040 What if the road and the highway mentioned in verse 14 is not 104 00:06:43,040 --> 00:06:49,120 meant to go up, but to go down? What if it leads somewhere that 105 00:06:49,120 --> 00:06:54,600 you and I would rather not go? Somewhere low, somewhere humble? 106 00:06:56,120 --> 00:06:58,400 And what if those obstructions in the way are not just some 107 00:06:58,400 --> 00:07:02,360 external problem to solve, but internal pride and performance? 108 00:07:04,440 --> 00:07:08,280 What follows verse 14 is one of the most hope filled 109 00:07:08,400 --> 00:07:10,680 descriptions of God ever written. 110 00:07:10,960 --> 00:07:15,480 It tells us two different places where God lives and how we might 111 00:07:15,480 --> 00:07:20,360 be with Him. Verse 15 says this, for thus 112 00:07:20,360 --> 00:07:23,960 says the one who is high and lifted up, who inhabits 113 00:07:23,960 --> 00:07:28,400 eternity, whose name is holy, I dwell in the high and holy 114 00:07:28,400 --> 00:07:32,880 place. God's dwelling is in a high and 115 00:07:32,880 --> 00:07:37,160 holy place. His very name, verse 15 says is 116 00:07:37,560 --> 00:07:42,880 holy, which means set apart, pure, perfect by definition, not 117 00:07:42,920 --> 00:07:47,720 part of the creation which He made, which He exists above. 118 00:07:48,200 --> 00:07:50,880 Creation can't hustle to Him creation. 119 00:07:51,120 --> 00:07:54,880 Human beings can't build a road to this high and holy place. 120 00:07:54,880 --> 00:08:01,080 It's too high, it's too holy. His holy and eternal dwelling 121 00:08:01,080 --> 00:08:04,280 exists far above all human striving. 122 00:08:06,320 --> 00:08:10,480 In fact, when we try to get to this high and holy place, when 123 00:08:10,480 --> 00:08:14,200 we try to build a road to an upwardly mobile above average 124 00:08:14,320 --> 00:08:19,320 life with God, we end up in some above average space where He 125 00:08:19,320 --> 00:08:24,280 doesn't dwell at all because He's up in the high and holy 126 00:08:24,280 --> 00:08:26,200 place in His holy temple in heaven. 127 00:08:27,520 --> 00:08:31,360 And he also dwells at what one pastor called rock bottom. 128 00:08:31,440 --> 00:08:34,640 Those are the two places where God makes his home and one we 129 00:08:34,640 --> 00:08:38,039 can't build a road to. And one that's where he's 130 00:08:38,039 --> 00:08:40,480 calling us. second-half of verse 15. 131 00:08:40,480 --> 00:08:45,680 I dwell also with him or with her who is of a contrite and 132 00:08:45,680 --> 00:08:50,440 lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to 133 00:08:50,440 --> 00:08:53,000 revive the heart of the contrite. 134 00:08:53,640 --> 00:08:57,760 Now that's where the highway that verse 14 alludes to, that's 135 00:08:57,760 --> 00:09:01,720 where it goes friends, goes down to this contrite place, to this 136 00:09:01,720 --> 00:09:05,040 lowly place. We can meet God there. 137 00:09:05,760 --> 00:09:09,640 Isn't that amazing? He's made his home there, not 138 00:09:09,640 --> 00:09:11,520 just a summer home like a permanent home. 139 00:09:11,520 --> 00:09:12,880 He is there. He was there. 140 00:09:12,920 --> 00:09:18,960 He, he became man and he, he said I'm that God man said I am 141 00:09:18,960 --> 00:09:23,680 gentle and lowly in heart, and he came to offer rest for our 142 00:09:23,680 --> 00:09:27,360 souls. The Hebrew word for contrite 143 00:09:27,360 --> 00:09:32,320 here you can translate it as like crushed or pulverized. 144 00:09:33,760 --> 00:09:37,480 And it describes someone who's at the pit of human existence. 145 00:09:37,760 --> 00:09:40,280 They're exhausted, they're demoralized, they're brought 146 00:09:40,280 --> 00:09:43,040 low, they're humiliated, they're dejected. 147 00:09:44,120 --> 00:09:49,560 They have nothing, but they have everything because the God of 148 00:09:49,560 --> 00:09:56,120 the high and holy place is with them and he's not paving a 149 00:09:56,120 --> 00:10:00,640 highway over their sorrows. He's not spiritually bypassing 150 00:10:00,800 --> 00:10:03,680 their pain. He's not rushing them through 151 00:10:03,680 --> 00:10:05,880 some performance improvement plan. 152 00:10:07,120 --> 00:10:10,760 He's with them reviving their spirits. 153 00:10:10,760 --> 00:10:14,520 You hear that inside out language, the unrushed human 154 00:10:14,520 --> 00:10:19,840 language of came to revive their hearts and revive their souls. 155 00:10:20,160 --> 00:10:23,120 It's like he's breathing life into them, his breath into them 156 00:10:23,400 --> 00:10:28,080 until they can breathe too. What's got us down this morning? 157 00:10:30,280 --> 00:10:32,840 What's discouraging us? What's weighing, what's weighing 158 00:10:32,840 --> 00:10:37,040 you down? What problems do we have that we 159 00:10:37,040 --> 00:10:40,400 kind of wish we didn't have? If we could solve the problems, 160 00:10:40,400 --> 00:10:44,400 we'd solve the problems. What have we failed at that we 161 00:10:44,400 --> 00:10:48,040 were hoping we would succeed at? What dreams got crushed? 162 00:10:49,000 --> 00:10:51,160 What part of us got pulverized in that? 163 00:10:53,000 --> 00:10:55,800 What have we lost that was very, very precious to us? 164 00:10:58,000 --> 00:11:03,760 And what if? What if going down was our true 165 00:11:03,760 --> 00:11:07,040 highway to the presence of God? What if all those bad things 166 00:11:07,040 --> 00:11:09,720 that happened were just obstacles getting removed to get 167 00:11:09,720 --> 00:11:12,120 here? The one place we didn't want to 168 00:11:12,120 --> 00:11:14,480 go, The one place we can meet with God. 169 00:11:18,320 --> 00:11:22,680 Chuck Colson was one of the most powerful men in America a few 170 00:11:22,680 --> 00:11:26,400 decades ago. He worked his way into the inner 171 00:11:26,400 --> 00:11:29,800 circle of the administration of President Richard Nixon, 172 00:11:30,320 --> 00:11:31,720 becoming part of his inner circle. 173 00:11:31,720 --> 00:11:35,840 And he helped President Nixon advance illegal and sometimes 174 00:11:35,840 --> 00:11:41,360 violent paths that that Nixon went along with. 175 00:11:41,800 --> 00:11:45,240 And there was a scandal broke open by some reporters known as 176 00:11:45,240 --> 00:11:50,040 Watergate, Watergate in an exposed Coulson and ultimately 177 00:11:50,040 --> 00:11:52,600 landed him in prison. So he went from one of the 178 00:11:52,600 --> 00:11:56,360 highest and loftiest places that you could get to in one of the 179 00:11:56,360 --> 00:12:01,360 most powerful nations in the world, in all civilization to a 180 00:12:01,360 --> 00:12:05,480 place of being crushed, pulverized, made low. 181 00:12:05,920 --> 00:12:09,600 And as he fell from grace kind of mid fall, he went and saw a 182 00:12:09,600 --> 00:12:14,520 friend, an old colleague who was also an extraordinarily powerful 183 00:12:14,520 --> 00:12:16,960 man at that time, who had become a Christian. 184 00:12:16,960 --> 00:12:20,880 And here's what Coulson said about that fateful meeting. 185 00:12:21,320 --> 00:12:26,160 He says this that night he read to me from Mere Christianity by 186 00:12:26,160 --> 00:12:30,160 CS Lewis about the great sin that is pride. 187 00:12:31,040 --> 00:12:33,920 A proud man is always walking through life, looking down on 188 00:12:33,920 --> 00:12:37,000 other people and other things, said Louis. 189 00:12:37,280 --> 00:12:39,720 As a result, he cannot see something above himself 190 00:12:39,720 --> 00:12:42,000 immeasurably greater. That is God. 191 00:12:43,040 --> 00:12:45,160 Tom that night. Tom's the name of his friend. 192 00:12:45,480 --> 00:12:48,520 Tom that night told me about encountering Christ on my own 193 00:12:48,520 --> 00:12:50,960 life. He didn't realize it, but I was 194 00:12:50,960 --> 00:12:53,800 in the depths of deep despair over Watergate, watching the 195 00:12:53,800 --> 00:12:57,520 president I had helped for four years flounder in office. 196 00:12:57,800 --> 00:13:00,320 I'd also heard that I might become a target of the 197 00:13:00,320 --> 00:13:03,720 investigation as well. In short, my world was 198 00:13:03,720 --> 00:13:06,600 collapsing. But when I got in the car that 199 00:13:06,600 --> 00:13:10,080 night, I couldn't drive it out of the driveway. 200 00:13:11,600 --> 00:13:14,880 Ex Marine, captain, White House, tough guy. 201 00:13:15,440 --> 00:13:18,360 I was crying too hard, calling out to God. 202 00:13:18,360 --> 00:13:23,040 I didn't know what to say. I just knew I needed Jesus and 203 00:13:23,040 --> 00:13:27,880 he came into my life. Now. 204 00:13:28,040 --> 00:13:31,360 Coulson's story echoes this quote, this beautiful quote from 205 00:13:31,360 --> 00:13:35,320 a medieval theologian named Anselm who also found himself at 206 00:13:35,320 --> 00:13:37,320 rock bottom. And he said this to himself. 207 00:13:37,320 --> 00:13:41,840 Come now, little man, flee for a moment from your agitated 208 00:13:41,840 --> 00:13:44,360 thoughts. Pull aside now. 209 00:13:44,520 --> 00:13:47,400 Put aside now your burdensome cares and worrisome toils. 210 00:13:47,640 --> 00:13:53,400 Abandoned yourself for a while to God and rest in him a little 211 00:13:53,400 --> 00:13:56,440 while. This is the thing about rock 212 00:13:56,440 --> 00:13:58,680 bottom that we don't always think. 213 00:13:59,080 --> 00:14:03,480 We don't always know. It's a relief to get there. 214 00:14:03,960 --> 00:14:06,480 Once we're there, it's a pretty restful place. 215 00:14:07,520 --> 00:14:09,520 We can actually rest in God's greatness. 216 00:14:09,520 --> 00:14:11,480 He's up there high and lifted up and we're like, wow, I don't 217 00:14:11,480 --> 00:14:14,000 have to be up there. I can be down here. 218 00:14:14,720 --> 00:14:18,360 I could rest in his settled, beautiful holiness that's 219 00:14:18,360 --> 00:14:25,640 reviving me back to life. When we can experience God's 220 00:14:25,640 --> 00:14:28,320 greatness as kind of pure gentleness. 221 00:14:28,840 --> 00:14:31,360 You ever known the pure gentleness of God, which is also 222 00:14:31,360 --> 00:14:36,800 His greatness and it revives us revive some deep place in us 223 00:14:36,800 --> 00:14:41,680 that got wounded along the way. Verse 16 the Lord says about 224 00:14:41,680 --> 00:14:45,520 himself, for I will not contend forever, nor will I always be 225 00:14:45,520 --> 00:14:48,920 angry, for the spirit would grow faint before me. 226 00:14:48,920 --> 00:14:52,000 This the spirit of human beings, of of women and men, of 227 00:14:52,000 --> 00:14:56,480 children, and the breath of life that I made you. 228 00:14:56,480 --> 00:15:00,760 Can you see from verse 16 and from Isaiah 57 that the Lord God 229 00:15:00,760 --> 00:15:03,760 doesn't want us to grow faint. He doesn't want to destroy us 230 00:15:03,760 --> 00:15:05,920 with his anger. He doesn't want to destroy us 231 00:15:05,920 --> 00:15:07,880 with His Holiness. He wants to renew us with His 232 00:15:07,880 --> 00:15:11,600 Holiness. He looks gently upon our frail 233 00:15:11,600 --> 00:15:15,080 nature. He he doesn't want us to die or 234 00:15:15,080 --> 00:15:17,960 grow faint. But like Chuck Coulson, we're 235 00:15:17,960 --> 00:15:20,760 paving roads to success for ourselves. 236 00:15:20,840 --> 00:15:24,400 We're building highways to get us out of rock bottom. 237 00:15:25,880 --> 00:15:29,760 Some of us build highways that gouge out the goodness of other 238 00:15:29,760 --> 00:15:33,640 people. Some of us are tempted to do 239 00:15:33,640 --> 00:15:37,400 some Rd. building that that ruins and precisely because of 240 00:15:37,400 --> 00:15:42,120 his gentle love for us, God cannot stay silent when we start 241 00:15:42,120 --> 00:15:46,920 those Rd. building projects. Verse 17 because of the iniquity 242 00:15:46,920 --> 00:15:49,840 of his note this phrase, unjust gain. 243 00:15:50,200 --> 00:15:55,160 I was angry because of the iniquity of his unjust gain, I 244 00:15:55,160 --> 00:15:57,840 was angry. I struck him, I struck her. 245 00:15:58,080 --> 00:16:02,120 I hid my face and was angry. But he went on backsliding. 246 00:16:02,120 --> 00:16:05,640 She went on backsliding in the way of their own heart. 247 00:16:07,400 --> 00:16:10,320 Friends, why is God angry? Why does he get angry? 248 00:16:11,480 --> 00:16:15,400 He's not angry at people's gain some there's a myth out there. 249 00:16:15,400 --> 00:16:18,240 God get, you know, God's against people flourishing. 250 00:16:19,000 --> 00:16:22,560 God wants us to flourish. He wants us to to bear fruit in 251 00:16:22,560 --> 00:16:28,000 the world and to fulfill our call, but not at the expense of 252 00:16:28,000 --> 00:16:32,840 justice, not at the expense of someone else's dignity. 253 00:16:33,040 --> 00:16:35,720 God wasn't angry at Chuck Coulson for going into public 254 00:16:35,720 --> 00:16:37,920 service. He was angry at Chuck Coulson 255 00:16:37,920 --> 00:16:42,880 for seeking power by planning violence and lying about it. 256 00:16:45,880 --> 00:16:50,880 Have we paved a road to success, a road to pleasure, a road to 257 00:16:50,880 --> 00:16:53,560 fulfilment on someone else's dignity? 258 00:16:55,000 --> 00:16:57,560 See, for us it's more subtle than with Chuck Coulson, isn't 259 00:16:57,560 --> 00:17:01,120 it? Have we ever sent signals to 260 00:17:01,120 --> 00:17:04,280 someone that we're maybe interested, but we know we're 261 00:17:04,280 --> 00:17:09,839 not, we just like the attention? Have we ever taken credit for 262 00:17:09,839 --> 00:17:13,760 other people's hard work, but never giving the credit, never 263 00:17:13,760 --> 00:17:15,960 passing it on because we want the promotion? 264 00:17:16,240 --> 00:17:21,560 We need the promotion. What about building a nice, nice 265 00:17:21,560 --> 00:17:26,079 nest egg for ourself, but passing up opportunity after 266 00:17:26,079 --> 00:17:29,040 opportunity to be generous to the people in our life that have 267 00:17:29,040 --> 00:17:31,360 real need and are really hurting financially? 268 00:17:33,520 --> 00:17:37,960 Making everyone at the party laugh, but at someone else's 269 00:17:37,960 --> 00:17:39,360 expense. They're not in the room to 270 00:17:39,360 --> 00:17:43,960 defend themselves. Martin Luther King Junior called 271 00:17:43,960 --> 00:17:48,040 this the darkness of destructive selfishness. 272 00:17:48,880 --> 00:17:51,520 The darkness of destructive selfishness. 273 00:17:51,520 --> 00:17:57,800 Isaiah calls it unjust gain, and the Lord feels anger about it, 274 00:17:58,560 --> 00:18:00,840 no matter how subtle or not subtle it is. 275 00:18:02,680 --> 00:18:07,920 This isn't who He created us to be, so he he strikes us. 276 00:18:07,920 --> 00:18:11,240 This is the language in Isaiah's prophecy. 277 00:18:11,360 --> 00:18:15,040 That is to say, he lets us feel the pain of our choices. 278 00:18:16,360 --> 00:18:20,680 Sometimes He even hides his face, which is his consoling 279 00:18:20,680 --> 00:18:22,600 presence. That is a sense of God's 280 00:18:22,600 --> 00:18:24,720 absence. And this is not punishing 281 00:18:24,720 --> 00:18:26,920 absence. It's it's meant to wake us up 282 00:18:28,560 --> 00:18:32,240 because God cares too much. So he intervenes and he he 283 00:18:32,240 --> 00:18:38,600 actually demolishes our Rd. building ruinous projects and 284 00:18:38,600 --> 00:18:41,120 this might getting caught totally red handed like it did 285 00:18:41,120 --> 00:18:44,520 for Chuck Colson or having a stricken conscience or friends 286 00:18:44,520 --> 00:18:48,720 who care in us to confront us or getting fired or getting dumped. 287 00:18:48,840 --> 00:18:54,720 God is beckoning us all of these ways to come back to rock bottom 288 00:18:54,840 --> 00:18:58,680 because that's where he can dwell with us and make us whole. 289 00:18:58,680 --> 00:19:02,080 He wants to heal us. He says in verse 18, I have seen 290 00:19:02,080 --> 00:19:05,960 his ways, but I will heal him. I have seen her ways, but I will 291 00:19:05,960 --> 00:19:09,000 heal her. What a countercultural message 292 00:19:09,000 --> 00:19:10,760 that is. We're used to hearing. 293 00:19:10,760 --> 00:19:13,520 I have seen their way, so I'm going to punish them. 294 00:19:13,720 --> 00:19:16,560 I've seen their way, so I'm going to pay them back. 295 00:19:16,720 --> 00:19:19,200 I've seen her way, so I will judge her. 296 00:19:19,200 --> 00:19:22,080 I have seen his way, so I will exploit him. 297 00:19:25,240 --> 00:19:28,800 But in his fatherly love the Lord says I have seen her ways, 298 00:19:28,800 --> 00:19:32,200 but I will heal her. I have seen His way, so I will 299 00:19:32,200 --> 00:19:36,440 heal him. Weeping may come through the 300 00:19:36,440 --> 00:19:38,600 night, but joy comes in the morning. 301 00:19:39,600 --> 00:19:41,480 That's God's ark, that's his intention. 302 00:19:41,480 --> 00:19:45,160 Resurrection comes after death. Where do we need God to heal us 303 00:19:45,280 --> 00:19:48,960 this morning? What part of our lives are are 304 00:19:48,960 --> 00:19:51,920 infected or out of joints are wounded? 305 00:19:54,200 --> 00:19:56,360 God has some healing in mind for rock bottom. 306 00:19:56,360 --> 00:19:59,760 And in verse 18, the Lord promises I will lead him or her 307 00:19:59,760 --> 00:20:03,640 and restore comfort to them. That is His mourners. 308 00:20:05,080 --> 00:20:08,160 God's looking for mourners, those who will grieve, those who 309 00:20:08,160 --> 00:20:11,240 will lift up their pain to him and says, I will bring comfort 310 00:20:11,240 --> 00:20:15,080 where there's grieving and pain. And then in verse 19, he says 311 00:20:15,200 --> 00:20:18,120 peace, peace to the far and to the near. 312 00:20:18,120 --> 00:20:22,320 And this word peace is, is Shalom, which is this amazing 313 00:20:22,320 --> 00:20:24,240 complex Hebrew word for wholeness. 314 00:20:24,240 --> 00:20:27,480 I will make whole. I'm going to heal and make whole 315 00:20:27,480 --> 00:20:29,560 where there's been breaking and tearing. 316 00:20:31,320 --> 00:20:34,840 The Lord God is putting our lives back together at rock 317 00:20:34,840 --> 00:20:39,040 bottom from the inside out. It's just crazy that you're 318 00:20:39,040 --> 00:20:43,080 like, no one wants to go there. You, you look down at the like 319 00:20:43,080 --> 00:20:45,520 ravine, you know, like there's no way I'm going down there. 320 00:20:45,880 --> 00:20:49,560 I I'll do everything I can to stay up here, but I'm not going 321 00:20:49,560 --> 00:20:51,600 down there. Looks too steep. 322 00:20:51,600 --> 00:20:56,560 It looks too scary. It looks terrible from a 323 00:20:56,560 --> 00:20:57,920 distance. Everybody's crying. 324 00:20:57,920 --> 00:21:00,520 But once you're there, it's a place of healing. 325 00:21:00,680 --> 00:21:03,320 It's a place of consolation. It's a place of being made 326 00:21:03,320 --> 00:21:06,960 whole. Chuck Coulson breaks the law of 327 00:21:06,960 --> 00:21:11,440 God and man in pursuit of power, and his worst nightmare comes 328 00:21:11,440 --> 00:21:13,360 true. He finds himself locked up in 329 00:21:13,360 --> 00:21:17,080 prison, humiliated publicly serving time behind bars. 330 00:21:18,000 --> 00:21:19,480 What happens for him at rock bottom? 331 00:21:19,480 --> 00:21:24,080 God heals his pride. He forgives his sin, and he 332 00:21:24,120 --> 00:21:27,440 redirects his leadership, gifting to serve inmates all 333 00:21:27,440 --> 00:21:30,160 over the country and to an extent, the world for the rest 334 00:21:30,160 --> 00:21:33,040 of his life. He's totally fulfilled in a way 335 00:21:33,040 --> 00:21:38,840 he never was when he had power. A woman harbors resentment 336 00:21:38,840 --> 00:21:42,760 against her mother-in-law for decades because of her meddling 337 00:21:42,760 --> 00:21:47,080 and her cruelty. And one day this woman realizes 338 00:21:47,080 --> 00:21:52,640 that what began has hurt has become pure hatred, and that 339 00:21:52,640 --> 00:21:58,080 this hatred is slowly destroying her body and soul to the help of 340 00:21:58,080 --> 00:22:00,160 a loving small group and the Holy Spirit. 341 00:22:00,480 --> 00:22:02,680 She grieves the pain of all those years. 342 00:22:02,680 --> 00:22:07,400 She just releases all that pain. She learns how to forgive her 343 00:22:07,400 --> 00:22:10,400 mother-in-law. She releases the hatred. 344 00:22:11,280 --> 00:22:14,200 And even though that road of forgiveness is long, she can 345 00:22:14,200 --> 00:22:19,080 finally sleep at night. A young man is secretly addicted 346 00:22:19,080 --> 00:22:22,080 to pornography. It's consuming more and more of 347 00:22:22,080 --> 00:22:24,960 his time, and it's eroding his willpower. 348 00:22:25,240 --> 00:22:27,120 It's filling his soul with shame. 349 00:22:29,240 --> 00:22:32,120 After one relapse, he cries out to God for help. 350 00:22:33,360 --> 00:22:36,400 And then there's this idea that just kind of pops into his head. 351 00:22:36,760 --> 00:22:42,920 Search for a recovery group. He does that, and the next day 352 00:22:42,920 --> 00:22:47,760 he summons every ounce of courage he has to walk into a 353 00:22:47,760 --> 00:22:51,960 room full of strangers who welcomed him as a brother. 354 00:22:52,960 --> 00:22:56,040 And he walks out the first day of his freedom lighter than he's 355 00:22:56,040 --> 00:22:59,680 felt in years. A woman in the middle of her 356 00:22:59,680 --> 00:23:04,520 career is burning out. She's given everything she has 357 00:23:04,520 --> 00:23:07,600 to her clients and her craft, but somewhere along the way, she 358 00:23:07,600 --> 00:23:11,280 forgot how to rest. She thought she couldn't afford 359 00:23:11,440 --> 00:23:15,000 to rest, but. And her body over time begins to 360 00:23:15,000 --> 00:23:18,600 fail her. Taking a true Sabbath for her 361 00:23:18,720 --> 00:23:22,160 was an act of repentance at rock bottom, and at first it felt 362 00:23:22,160 --> 00:23:25,720 like a threat to her system. But week by week she begins to 363 00:23:25,720 --> 00:23:31,320 overflow with grace and love, which was the first reason she 364 00:23:31,320 --> 00:23:33,040 got into this in the first place. 365 00:23:35,080 --> 00:23:39,160 It takes real humility to go down to rock bottom, to let 366 00:23:39,160 --> 00:23:42,680 ourselves see how crushed we really are and to let the High 367 00:23:42,680 --> 00:23:47,680 and Holy One just be with us and to love us back into life and to 368 00:23:47,680 --> 00:23:51,640 be to be put back together in a Shalom like way. 369 00:23:53,880 --> 00:23:58,160 There it is. That's the road back to rock 370 00:23:58,160 --> 00:24:03,880 bottom, the cross of Christ. It's the way of the suffering 371 00:24:03,880 --> 00:24:06,680 servant who was crushed for our iniquities. 372 00:24:07,560 --> 00:24:11,520 He came down from his high and holy place, that high throne 373 00:24:11,520 --> 00:24:16,880 where God dwells. He took the immense weight of 374 00:24:16,880 --> 00:24:20,360 the wrath that we deserve, and He bore upon Himself the unjust 375 00:24:20,360 --> 00:24:24,520 gain of billions of people. And He did that so He could give 376 00:24:24,520 --> 00:24:29,640 us the light and easy yoke that He brought from heaven to rock 377 00:24:29,640 --> 00:24:31,840 bottom, where we could be healed. 378 00:24:33,120 --> 00:24:38,720 Being at the foot of the cross is a very peaceful, shaded place 379 00:24:41,320 --> 00:24:45,720 where God's greatness becomes gentleness, where His Holiness 380 00:24:45,720 --> 00:24:52,480 becomes forgiveness, and we are brought into a community of love 381 00:24:52,480 --> 00:24:54,160 and grace that shines with repentance. 382 00:24:54,160 --> 00:24:59,120 Some of us friends want to go there, but we're not quite 383 00:24:59,680 --> 00:25:03,800 ready. Some of us are hearing this and 384 00:25:03,800 --> 00:25:07,160 we want, we want, part of us wants to go to the cross. 385 00:25:07,360 --> 00:25:09,040 Part of us wants this repentance. 386 00:25:09,280 --> 00:25:10,920 Part of us wants to go to rock bottom. 387 00:25:10,920 --> 00:25:13,920 But part of us really just can't get there yet. 388 00:25:15,040 --> 00:25:18,040 And we're wrestling and we're, and we're, we're in an in 389 00:25:18,040 --> 00:25:21,920 between place. The thought of seeing our 390 00:25:21,920 --> 00:25:24,600 faults, the thought of taking responsibility for them, the 391 00:25:24,600 --> 00:25:27,920 thought of being LED down a road of humility where we cannot be 392 00:25:27,920 --> 00:25:31,200 in control or the feeling of in control is just too hard. 393 00:25:31,480 --> 00:25:34,800 And we're resisting. And for, for, for some of us, 394 00:25:34,800 --> 00:25:37,640 there's like some spiritual turbulence this Lent. 395 00:25:39,280 --> 00:25:43,920 Now Isaiah ends this passage with a bit of a picture of what 396 00:25:43,920 --> 00:25:46,160 turbulence looks like kind of an image. 397 00:25:46,800 --> 00:25:49,120 This is 1 of this was not a road image, but it's more of an 398 00:25:49,120 --> 00:25:51,040 aquatic image. Verse 20 and 21. 399 00:25:51,440 --> 00:25:54,520 But the wicked are like the tossing sea for an it cannot be 400 00:25:54,520 --> 00:25:57,880 quiet and it's waters toss up mire and dirt. 401 00:25:58,320 --> 00:26:00,760 There is no peace. There's that word again. 402 00:26:00,920 --> 00:26:03,440 There's no Shalom says my God for the wicked. 403 00:26:05,120 --> 00:26:10,240 So in Isaiah's prophecies, this word wicked is interesting 404 00:26:10,240 --> 00:26:16,720 because he often uses it of respectable, upright, otherwise 405 00:26:16,720 --> 00:26:19,840 religious people who look really good on the outside. 406 00:26:20,600 --> 00:26:22,760 They're often very moral, very pious. 407 00:26:23,640 --> 00:26:29,760 What makes them wicked is that they resist the grace that only 408 00:26:29,760 --> 00:26:32,560 God can give. They resist the rest that he 409 00:26:32,560 --> 00:26:34,680 offers. They resist the call to be 410 00:26:34,680 --> 00:26:37,600 forgiven. And what they've decided is I'm 411 00:26:37,600 --> 00:26:41,240 going to be my own savior. I'm going to work up the 412 00:26:41,240 --> 00:26:44,680 forgiveness I need, the healing I need, the life I need. 413 00:26:45,040 --> 00:26:47,360 I don't need God. I've got this foreign nation 414 00:26:47,360 --> 00:26:48,680 over here. I'll make an alliance with them. 415 00:26:48,680 --> 00:26:51,560 I've got this idol that I can control over here. 416 00:26:51,560 --> 00:26:54,120 I'm just going to go ahead and like adopt some of the Yahweh 417 00:26:54,120 --> 00:26:56,640 practices. But basically, I don't actually 418 00:26:56,640 --> 00:26:59,880 need the Lord God anymore. That really is Isaiah's 419 00:26:59,880 --> 00:27:01,640 definition of what it means to be wicked. 420 00:27:04,120 --> 00:27:09,240 And I've been there, definitely tried to make peace for myself 421 00:27:09,480 --> 00:27:11,400 apart from God. Maybe you've been there too. 422 00:27:12,960 --> 00:27:16,920 Wicked's kind of a bracing word. Sometimes we need a bracing word 423 00:27:16,920 --> 00:27:20,520 or a bracing experience to realize I am resisting God right 424 00:27:20,520 --> 00:27:24,520 now. So our lives become like a 425 00:27:24,520 --> 00:27:30,240 tossing sea, always churning ourselves into being awesome and 426 00:27:30,240 --> 00:27:33,000 forgiven and whole. But instead of that wholeness, 427 00:27:33,240 --> 00:27:35,960 just producing muck and mire and making a mess of it. 428 00:27:37,920 --> 00:27:41,400 And The thing is that sometimes when we're as storm tossed like 429 00:27:41,400 --> 00:27:45,720 this sea, if you imagine like Lake MI just churning, like it's 430 00:27:45,720 --> 00:27:47,880 like we can't stop. We're just we're feeling all 431 00:27:47,880 --> 00:27:51,200 these feelings. Our mind is spinning, our soul 432 00:27:51,200 --> 00:27:55,520 is shaken up and like we can't calm ourselves down. 433 00:27:55,720 --> 00:27:59,320 And there's this great story in the Gospels, Mark chapter 4 434 00:27:59,440 --> 00:28:01,320 where the disciples are like that. 435 00:28:01,320 --> 00:28:05,240 They're in a boat on the sea. The sea is churning and the 436 00:28:05,240 --> 00:28:08,760 disciples are churning and they're freaking out and they 437 00:28:08,760 --> 00:28:10,680 wake up Jesus, like, don't you care? 438 00:28:11,840 --> 00:28:15,040 And Jesus says, oh, you have little faith. 439 00:28:15,560 --> 00:28:19,640 He stands up, he puts his hand up and he says to the sea, peace 440 00:28:19,640 --> 00:28:24,040 be still. And the disciples got to see the 441 00:28:24,040 --> 00:28:28,440 power of God, the greatness of God become gentleness where 442 00:28:28,440 --> 00:28:30,800 there's only anxiety and churning and strife. 443 00:28:31,760 --> 00:28:33,200 It's something calmed down in them too. 444 00:28:34,120 --> 00:28:35,960 And the other thing about those men on the boat is that they 445 00:28:35,960 --> 00:28:38,760 were freaking out, but they went to their deaths bravely and 446 00:28:38,760 --> 00:28:41,280 boldly, and their hearts were stilled. 447 00:28:41,440 --> 00:28:44,280 They went to rock bottom, trusting God with everything 448 00:28:45,800 --> 00:28:47,920 because Jesus had brought them a peace they couldn't bring 449 00:28:47,920 --> 00:28:54,600 themselves. And this is what Jesus offers to 450 00:28:54,600 --> 00:28:56,440 you and me this morning, this Lent. 451 00:28:56,680 --> 00:29:00,760 Peace be still peace. Know that he is God. 452 00:29:03,480 --> 00:29:07,040 Peace. Follow him away from the 453 00:29:07,040 --> 00:29:10,920 upwardly mobile highway of a self-directed life. 454 00:29:11,360 --> 00:29:14,360 Stop the churning, walk the road to rock bottom. 455 00:29:14,360 --> 00:29:17,720 Be calm, be restored, be made whole through Jesus. 456 00:29:19,480 --> 00:29:22,280 Now what does this vision of repentance have to do with our 457 00:29:22,280 --> 00:29:25,280 church's mission to be a spiritual beacon Church in 458 00:29:25,280 --> 00:29:27,120 Chicago that makes the gospel known? 459 00:29:28,840 --> 00:29:33,600 Everything, everything. The best way, friends, to 460 00:29:33,600 --> 00:29:37,400 display the actual gospel of Jesus to our friends and 461 00:29:37,400 --> 00:29:39,360 neighbors isn't to have it all together. 462 00:29:40,840 --> 00:29:45,840 It's to have been put back together and to be brought into 463 00:29:45,840 --> 00:29:49,920 a community of people who have been brought together in a 464 00:29:49,960 --> 00:29:55,000 forgiving, humble, approachable foundation of rock bottom. 465 00:29:56,240 --> 00:29:58,880 We aren't here to lift high, the name of our church. 466 00:29:59,680 --> 00:30:01,640 That's not our goal. That's not why we're here. 467 00:30:01,800 --> 00:30:05,080 We're here to lift high the Son of God who's loved our church 468 00:30:05,080 --> 00:30:09,520 into life and wants to love our city in the same way. 469 00:30:10,720 --> 00:30:14,360 And I love what the Reformed theologian Martin Luther said. 470 00:30:15,760 --> 00:30:19,560 He he said this may a merciful God preserve me from a Christian 471 00:30:19,560 --> 00:30:21,800 Church in which everyone is a St. 472 00:30:25,120 --> 00:30:29,200 I want to be and remain in the little flock of the faint 473 00:30:29,200 --> 00:30:34,040 hearted, the feeble and the ailing, who feel and recognize 474 00:30:34,040 --> 00:30:37,880 the wretchedness of their sins, who sigh and cry to God 475 00:30:37,880 --> 00:30:40,680 incessantly for comfort and help, who believe in the 476 00:30:40,680 --> 00:30:46,520 forgiveness of sins and friends. I too want to remain in the 477 00:30:46,520 --> 00:30:52,400 little flock of the feeble hearted, shining with 478 00:30:52,400 --> 00:30:55,720 repentance. Friends are is going to keep us 479 00:30:55,720 --> 00:31:00,760 in a good spot. Not glaring, not glaring from on 480 00:31:00,760 --> 00:31:04,000 high, but shining from the valley of rock bottom. 481 00:31:04,840 --> 00:31:07,760 Shining with a light that isn't from us, it's from the high and 482 00:31:07,760 --> 00:31:13,800 holy place given to us by Jesus. What if we were friends for for 483 00:31:13,800 --> 00:31:19,280 years to come? To shine with Shalom, to shine 484 00:31:19,280 --> 00:31:25,760 with kindness, to shine with the beauty and glory of Jesus that 485 00:31:25,760 --> 00:31:29,400 put us back together in the merciful shade of the cross. 486 00:31:29,960 --> 00:31:36,560 Friends, I want to remain there with you and at the foot of the 487 00:31:36,560 --> 00:31:39,640 cross, at rock bottom. May we make space for many, many 488 00:31:39,640 --> 00:31:43,440 others to join us right here in the little flock of the faint 489 00:31:43,440 --> 00:31:47,040 hearted at rock bottom where God's greatness becomes 490 00:31:47,040 --> 00:31:50,240 gentleness. In the name of the Father, Son 491 00:31:50,240 --> 00:31:51,320 and Holy Spirit, Amen.