1 00:00:00,320 --> 00:00:02,360 A reading from the prophet Isaiah. 2 00:00:04,000 --> 00:00:06,480 I will greatly rejoice in the Lord. 3 00:00:06,880 --> 00:00:11,000 My soul shall exult in my God. For He has clothed me with 4 00:00:11,000 --> 00:00:15,040 garments of salvation. He has covered me with the robe 5 00:00:15,040 --> 00:00:18,560 of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a 6 00:00:18,560 --> 00:00:23,040 priest with a beautiful head dress, and as a bride adorns 7 00:00:23,040 --> 00:00:27,560 herself with jewels. For as the earth brings forth 8 00:00:27,560 --> 00:00:31,720 its sprouts, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to 9 00:00:31,720 --> 00:00:37,000 sprout up, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise 10 00:00:37,320 --> 00:00:40,320 to sprout up before all the nations. 11 00:00:41,800 --> 00:00:47,480 For Zion's sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem's sake 12 00:00:47,480 --> 00:00:51,560 I will not be quiet until her righteousness goes forth as 13 00:00:51,560 --> 00:00:55,720 brightness, and her salvation as a burning torch. 14 00:00:56,600 --> 00:01:00,640 The nations shall see your righteousness, and all the kings 15 00:01:00,640 --> 00:01:04,519 your glory, and you shall be called by a new name that the 16 00:01:04,519 --> 00:01:08,320 mouth of the Lord will give. You shall be a crown of beauty 17 00:01:08,320 --> 00:01:12,520 in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of your 18 00:01:12,520 --> 00:01:16,160 God. You shall no more be termed 19 00:01:16,160 --> 00:01:22,320 forsaken, and your land shall no more be termed desolate, but you 20 00:01:22,320 --> 00:01:26,160 shall be called. My delight is in her, and your 21 00:01:26,160 --> 00:01:29,920 land married, for the Lord delights in you. 22 00:01:30,760 --> 00:01:35,040 And your land shall be married. For as a young man marries a 23 00:01:35,040 --> 00:01:38,760 young woman, so shall your sons marry you. 24 00:01:39,680 --> 00:01:44,240 And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your 25 00:01:44,240 --> 00:01:48,360 God rejoice over you, the word of the Lord. 26 00:01:49,520 --> 00:01:52,160 Let's pray together, Lord, this Christmas. 27 00:01:52,160 --> 00:01:56,000 We pray that your grace and truth would shine brightly, but 28 00:01:56,000 --> 00:01:59,320 also we pray that we would have the the hunger for it. 29 00:01:59,320 --> 00:02:02,840 We pray, Lord, that we would look to you for grace, look to 30 00:02:02,840 --> 00:02:05,320 you for truth, and we pray that it would shine through our 31 00:02:05,320 --> 00:02:08,639 lives, shine through our church as we fulfill our call, as we 32 00:02:08,639 --> 00:02:12,080 follow you in your incarnation. We pray this in Jesus name, 33 00:02:12,360 --> 00:02:16,720 Amen. Well, please be seated this 34 00:02:16,880 --> 00:02:18,800 Christmas tide. We're looking at some of the Old 35 00:02:18,800 --> 00:02:22,160 Testament readings that have been assigned for each Sunday, 36 00:02:22,160 --> 00:02:25,480 and this Sunday is Isaiah 61 and 62. 37 00:02:26,280 --> 00:02:29,760 You can find it in your bulletins on pages 7:00 and 38 00:02:29,760 --> 00:02:31,240 8:00. You can also turn there in your 39 00:02:31,240 --> 00:02:35,760 Bibles. It's Isaiah 61 verse 10 through 40 00:02:35,760 --> 00:02:42,520 62 verse 5 looking at how this these prophets revealed Jesus 41 00:02:42,520 --> 00:02:45,320 even in anticipation of his arrival. 42 00:02:46,520 --> 00:02:50,840 Well in January of 2019, the Chicago Bears were one field 43 00:02:50,840 --> 00:02:55,200 goal away from defeating the Philadelphia Eagles to advance 44 00:02:55,200 --> 00:03:00,720 in the play offs. The Bears trailed the Eagles by 45 00:03:00,720 --> 00:03:06,800 two points and all that Bears kicker Cody Parkey had to do was 46 00:03:06,800 --> 00:03:11,080 to was to make the 43 yard field goal. 47 00:03:11,080 --> 00:03:14,520 At the very last few moments of the game. 48 00:03:14,840 --> 00:03:19,120 He had already missed one and this was his shot at redemption. 49 00:03:20,240 --> 00:03:24,800 And as the the ball sailed into the air, horrifyingly, it veered 50 00:03:24,800 --> 00:03:30,280 to the left and hit the uprights and then fell down and hit the 51 00:03:30,280 --> 00:03:34,160 bottom of the uprights, Soon to be called a double doink. 52 00:03:38,240 --> 00:03:43,200 And the hometown crowd of Soldier Field responded with 53 00:03:43,200 --> 00:03:48,440 merciless horror and hatred. They casted shame and insults 54 00:03:48,440 --> 00:03:54,560 upon this poor man, Cody Parkey. At his lowest moment, probably 55 00:03:54,560 --> 00:03:58,560 of his life, he was. He was booed and humiliated 56 00:03:59,000 --> 00:04:02,160 because he let himself down. He let the team down. 57 00:04:02,200 --> 00:04:05,880 He let the city down and would forever be associated with the 58 00:04:05,880 --> 00:04:08,040 term double dink. It will probably be in his 59 00:04:08,040 --> 00:04:12,400 obituary and would be, in fact, a month later. 60 00:04:12,400 --> 00:04:17,680 The Bears would let him go. Cody Parky was we might call. 61 00:04:17,680 --> 00:04:21,440 This is a moment of disgrace. Have you ever been disgraced in 62 00:04:21,440 --> 00:04:24,280 your life? Probably not at that level, but 63 00:04:24,280 --> 00:04:26,480 have you? But have you ever let someone 64 00:04:26,480 --> 00:04:28,040 down? Have you ever let yourself down? 65 00:04:28,040 --> 00:04:30,280 Have you ever felt embarrassed or humiliated? 66 00:04:32,200 --> 00:04:37,920 Maybe at some point some of us were dishonored and put down by 67 00:04:37,920 --> 00:04:41,360 someone we cared about our very being and worth was sort of 68 00:04:41,520 --> 00:04:46,760 dragged through the mud. Or maybe we we failed just on a 69 00:04:46,760 --> 00:04:48,680 very painful level. Maybe we weren't, you know, 70 00:04:48,680 --> 00:04:52,040 necessarily disgrace, but we just let ourselves down. 71 00:04:52,040 --> 00:04:54,680 We had a standard we wanted to reach and other people were 72 00:04:54,680 --> 00:04:58,040 looking to us, but we didn't meet that standard and we let 73 00:04:58,040 --> 00:05:01,400 ourselves down and others down. We just feel like we failed our 74 00:05:01,400 --> 00:05:06,960 God and ourselves and our tribe. Or maybe it was a relational 75 00:05:06,960 --> 00:05:08,600 rejection. Maybe someone just said I don't 76 00:05:08,600 --> 00:05:11,880 want to be with you anymore. And that just hurts so much that 77 00:05:11,880 --> 00:05:14,840 we still feel the pain, even though it was a long time ago, 78 00:05:14,920 --> 00:05:18,800 still feels present. We still don't feel good enough. 79 00:05:19,080 --> 00:05:22,520 It may have been a long time ago, but whatever the disgrace 80 00:05:22,520 --> 00:05:25,200 might be, it might still be alive to us. 81 00:05:26,240 --> 00:05:29,640 Reliving the moment, hearing the insults, feeling the rejection. 82 00:05:30,360 --> 00:05:33,680 I just want you to imagine for a moment going back to January of 83 00:05:33,680 --> 00:05:37,040 2019. Imagine for a moment if Jesus 84 00:05:37,040 --> 00:05:41,920 Christ had appeared in person, the moment of the double doing 85 00:05:43,120 --> 00:05:46,760 and hoisted Cody Parkey on his shoulders and said, I want 86 00:05:46,760 --> 00:05:48,520 everyone to know I love this man. 87 00:05:48,520 --> 00:05:51,480 I honor this man, and the more that you Boo at him, the more I 88 00:05:51,480 --> 00:05:56,280 will cheer for him. Imagine if that happened in a 89 00:05:56,280 --> 00:06:00,200 greater way, a much greater way. This is what Jesus Christ did 90 00:06:00,200 --> 00:06:03,120 for his disgraced people when he came to this earth. 91 00:06:03,680 --> 00:06:06,880 He came right to the moment, right to the place, right to the 92 00:06:06,920 --> 00:06:11,800 arena of our disgrace. And in the promise of Christmas 93 00:06:11,800 --> 00:06:15,360 tide is this. God's delight overcomes all of 94 00:06:15,360 --> 00:06:19,960 our disgrace in Jesus Christ. God's delight overcomes all of 95 00:06:19,960 --> 00:06:23,240 our disgrace in the incarnation of Jesus Christ. 96 00:06:23,240 --> 00:06:28,480 And Isaiah helps us see why Christmas Tide is worth 12 days 97 00:06:28,480 --> 00:06:31,080 of feasting. Not just a moment of gift 98 00:06:31,080 --> 00:06:34,080 giving, but 12 days of really celebrating that Jesus Christ 99 00:06:34,080 --> 00:06:37,960 has come to be in our midst. His incarnation, His being born 100 00:06:37,960 --> 00:06:42,840 as a man was God arriving in person to ashamed people, to a 101 00:06:42,840 --> 00:06:46,680 rejected people, so that he could adorn them in glory and 102 00:06:46,680 --> 00:06:49,280 honor and give them a leadership role for the rest of their life 103 00:06:49,320 --> 00:06:51,360 in the very places of their disgrace. 104 00:06:53,040 --> 00:06:56,560 Let's observe two different gifts of honor from God to his 105 00:06:56,560 --> 00:06:59,600 people in the book of Isaiah. The first gift is this. 106 00:06:59,720 --> 00:07:02,400 God covers our failure with his victory. 107 00:07:03,360 --> 00:07:07,920 God covers our failures with His, with His victory, our 108 00:07:07,920 --> 00:07:11,040 defeats, our setbacks with His victory. 109 00:07:11,280 --> 00:07:19,480 Verse 10 of Isaiah 61 says this. I rejoice greatly in the Lord. 110 00:07:20,200 --> 00:07:25,240 I exult in my God, for He has clothed me with the garments of 111 00:07:25,240 --> 00:07:28,600 salvation and wrapped me in a robe of righteousness. 112 00:07:29,160 --> 00:07:33,120 As a groom wears A turban, as a bride adorns herself with 113 00:07:33,120 --> 00:07:36,920 jewels. We might hear God's disgraced 114 00:07:36,920 --> 00:07:42,200 people singing this as a song about how God has adorned them 115 00:07:42,200 --> 00:07:45,440 in the most glorified clothes in their culture. 116 00:07:46,680 --> 00:07:49,320 Up until that point. You know, God's people were 117 00:07:49,320 --> 00:07:54,880 covered symbolically in ashes and sackcloth, and these were a 118 00:07:54,880 --> 00:07:58,840 symbol of sort of defeat. If you lost, if you had lost 119 00:07:58,840 --> 00:08:02,080 something, if you had lost a battle, if you had failed God, 120 00:08:02,400 --> 00:08:06,160 you put yourself in ashes as a symbol of the fact that you are 121 00:08:06,160 --> 00:08:08,520 a defeated person. May not imagine how much that 122 00:08:08,520 --> 00:08:10,160 would just sink into your identity. 123 00:08:11,800 --> 00:08:15,920 And these ashes, they really did symbolize a national failure on 124 00:08:15,920 --> 00:08:19,160 the part of God's people, not just their military failure, 125 00:08:19,200 --> 00:08:21,720 that was true. Not just their civic failure, 126 00:08:21,720 --> 00:08:24,440 that was also true, but also their spiritual failures. 127 00:08:25,680 --> 00:08:30,360 You know, all they knew was disgrace and shame. 128 00:08:31,560 --> 00:08:34,240 They watched their sons get get murdered in battle. 129 00:08:35,480 --> 00:08:38,880 They watched their daughters be carried off unwillingly by 130 00:08:38,880 --> 00:08:44,800 foreigners, their sacred spaces desecrated sometimes by their 131 00:08:44,800 --> 00:08:47,120 own idolatry. Their fault? 132 00:08:49,200 --> 00:08:52,760 Some of their homes and shops were ransacked. 133 00:08:52,760 --> 00:08:54,640 I mean, can you just even imagine everything that you 134 00:08:54,640 --> 00:09:00,960 poured your life into, run over, bulldozed, set ablaze where the 135 00:09:00,960 --> 00:09:04,360 ash is 'cause you're a failure personally and nationally, your 136 00:09:04,360 --> 00:09:06,320 family's a failure, your tribe's a failure. 137 00:09:07,840 --> 00:09:12,080 And really the probably the worst part is that like they had 138 00:09:12,080 --> 00:09:13,880 the sense God's not with us anymore. 139 00:09:14,080 --> 00:09:16,800 The covenant is broken, it's our fault. 140 00:09:18,560 --> 00:09:22,120 The the treasure we once had, which was the presence of God 141 00:09:22,120 --> 00:09:27,880 himself, is gone. And So what do you wear for the 142 00:09:27,880 --> 00:09:30,200 day? If that's you, you open your 143 00:09:30,200 --> 00:09:33,240 wardrobe, there's sackcloth and there's ashes. 144 00:09:33,800 --> 00:09:38,560 That's what I'm wearing today. So they were very discouraged. 145 00:09:39,680 --> 00:09:43,080 I think, you know, failure has a way of sticking to us like 146 00:09:43,080 --> 00:09:46,200 ashes. You know, ashes are kind of hard 147 00:09:46,200 --> 00:09:48,520 to get, hard to get off your fingers. 148 00:09:48,520 --> 00:09:51,320 It's hard to get off your body. It's like mud, but it's dusty 149 00:09:51,320 --> 00:09:53,240 and it's oily and it's just terrible. 150 00:09:56,080 --> 00:10:00,720 And failure feels like ashes. It's hard to get. 151 00:10:00,720 --> 00:10:05,640 It's hard to get off of you. And we feel terrible about 152 00:10:05,640 --> 00:10:07,320 ourselves. It's very personal. 153 00:10:08,240 --> 00:10:11,280 And then sometimes when we feel terribly about ourselves, we act 154 00:10:11,280 --> 00:10:14,280 terribly. We act out of that identity. 155 00:10:14,600 --> 00:10:19,320 But Isaiah can see a day coming when Emmanuel, God with us, 156 00:10:19,320 --> 00:10:24,160 appears, when God's people will open their wardrobe and they 157 00:10:24,160 --> 00:10:28,320 will see 100%. I am excited about every single 158 00:10:28,320 --> 00:10:31,120 garment in this wardrobe. I could wear everything. 159 00:10:31,120 --> 00:10:33,520 It's a, it's a turban. You probably don't wear turbans. 160 00:10:33,520 --> 00:10:35,240 They wore turbans and they love turbans. 161 00:10:36,560 --> 00:10:42,120 Shimmering garments, beauty, a beautiful array of finely woven 162 00:10:42,240 --> 00:10:52,820 cloth. Amen, Isaiah. 163 00:10:52,820 --> 00:10:56,300 Isaiah calls these clothes garments of salvation. 164 00:10:58,120 --> 00:11:00,880 And one thing that's important to know is that these clothes 165 00:11:00,880 --> 00:11:05,960 represent something spiritually, and they represent beauty. 166 00:11:05,960 --> 00:11:09,640 But not just any beauty, God's moral beauty. 167 00:11:09,840 --> 00:11:11,640 You ever seen moral beauty in action? 168 00:11:11,640 --> 00:11:14,440 You ever seen someone act kindly to someone else? 169 00:11:14,440 --> 00:11:17,400 Have you ever seen a hidden act of generosity? 170 00:11:17,480 --> 00:11:22,560 Do you know that God's moral beauty is what he expects of his 171 00:11:22,560 --> 00:11:27,800 people? Ukrainians wear an embroidered 172 00:11:27,800 --> 00:11:35,920 shirt called Avish Ivanka. You know what Avish Ivanka is? 173 00:11:36,560 --> 00:11:41,480 It's a it's a shirt with beautiful embroidered stuff on 174 00:11:41,480 --> 00:11:44,920 it, different colors depending on the day. 175 00:11:44,920 --> 00:11:48,040 And this shirt has a special symbolism. 176 00:11:48,240 --> 00:11:56,520 They wear it on days of victory. They wear it on wedding days. 177 00:11:56,720 --> 00:12:01,920 You wear, you would wear a Vish Ivanka or a graduation, your 178 00:12:01,920 --> 00:12:05,760 kids graduation, your kid would wear a Vish Ivanka. 179 00:12:06,760 --> 00:12:09,520 There's also a National Ukrainian Victory Day and 180 00:12:09,520 --> 00:12:14,120 everyone wears A Vish Ivanka. They're clothing themselves. 181 00:12:14,120 --> 00:12:17,320 Some people actually wear this under their work clothes as a 182 00:12:17,320 --> 00:12:21,080 sign of like, I am Ukrainian and we are not going to be defeated. 183 00:12:21,080 --> 00:12:24,920 No matter who our enemy is, we are not going to give in. 184 00:12:25,600 --> 00:12:27,240 They wear the clothes of victory. 185 00:12:29,920 --> 00:12:34,440 The garments of salvation are the Vish, Ivanka, for God's 186 00:12:34,440 --> 00:12:37,560 people. They are a symbol of God 187 00:12:37,560 --> 00:12:41,880 rescuing us from our sin, rescuing us from death, rescuing 188 00:12:41,880 --> 00:12:46,280 us from disgrace, and clothing us in victory, which is now our 189 00:12:46,280 --> 00:12:48,480 victory. It's a victory we have and it's 190 00:12:48,480 --> 00:12:51,840 a victory to come and we wear it everyday, a garment of 191 00:12:51,840 --> 00:12:55,160 salvation. Jesus Christ, friends, is our 192 00:12:55,160 --> 00:12:58,440 garment of salvation. That's why He came to be born in 193 00:12:58,440 --> 00:13:02,800 our midst. When he was born, he came to a 194 00:13:02,800 --> 00:13:07,200 people covered in ashes of defeat. 195 00:13:07,680 --> 00:13:10,880 They were militarily defeated. They were spiritually defeated. 196 00:13:11,080 --> 00:13:13,200 They were probably psychologically defeated. 197 00:13:13,480 --> 00:13:16,880 And he came and he was born in their midst to say I will be 198 00:13:16,880 --> 00:13:20,120 your garment of salvation. You can wear my righteousness. 199 00:13:20,280 --> 00:13:22,880 You can wear my salvation for your victory. 200 00:13:23,800 --> 00:13:27,200 And he came to clothe us in that victory through his cross, where 201 00:13:27,200 --> 00:13:30,160 he defeated sin, where he defeated death, where he 202 00:13:30,160 --> 00:13:33,640 defeated hell, where he defeated our greatest enemies that only 203 00:13:33,640 --> 00:13:39,400 want to see us confined into defeat and smashed down and 204 00:13:39,400 --> 00:13:43,760 humiliated forever and ever. Jesus Christ says no, I'm going 205 00:13:43,760 --> 00:13:45,840 to bring you into a broad open place. 206 00:13:46,040 --> 00:13:50,840 Put on my garments of victory and follow me into my Kingdom of 207 00:13:50,840 --> 00:13:56,000 justice and peace. Friends, where do the ashes of 208 00:13:56,000 --> 00:14:02,200 failure still cling to us? Where have these ashes gotten 209 00:14:02,200 --> 00:14:08,080 under our skin, discouraged us into quitting? 210 00:14:08,840 --> 00:14:15,040 Have we, have we quit the fight? Have we quit the call because 211 00:14:15,040 --> 00:14:18,880 the ashes of defeat have gotten under our skin and cling too 212 00:14:18,880 --> 00:14:22,480 closely? This Christmas, friends, we can 213 00:14:22,480 --> 00:14:26,600 exalt in God and put on the Lord Jesus Christ, our garment of 214 00:14:26,600 --> 00:14:31,080 salvation, because he has won. A victory that we can still 215 00:14:31,080 --> 00:14:33,960 claim. A victory that we can still wear 216 00:14:34,240 --> 00:14:38,160 into a world that tends to just discourage us and heap shame on 217 00:14:38,160 --> 00:14:40,240 us and tell us, just give up now. 218 00:14:42,240 --> 00:14:46,240 But one question we might ask is this, what is that victory for? 219 00:14:46,600 --> 00:14:49,920 What are the garments for? You know, is this just to feel 220 00:14:49,920 --> 00:14:53,960 good when we look in the mirror? What difference is that supposed 221 00:14:53,960 --> 00:14:56,520 to make of our life and Our Calling and our church? 222 00:14:56,520 --> 00:14:59,480 Because friends, it's important to know God doesn't just want to 223 00:14:59,480 --> 00:15:01,960 cover us. He wants to cultivate something 224 00:15:02,000 --> 00:15:05,240 in us that he can offer to the world. 225 00:15:05,240 --> 00:15:09,640 And that's where we move to the second gift that God wants to 226 00:15:09,640 --> 00:15:12,520 give us. The second claim of Isaiah is 227 00:15:12,520 --> 00:15:16,040 that God displays His beauty in our humility. 228 00:15:16,720 --> 00:15:19,200 He doesn't just cover our failure with his victory. 229 00:15:19,200 --> 00:15:22,320 He wants to display His beauty through our humility. 230 00:15:22,880 --> 00:15:26,480 Isaiah is going to move to an agricultural image to help us 231 00:15:26,480 --> 00:15:29,480 grasp what God wants to do with every single one of us. 232 00:15:29,880 --> 00:15:36,240 In verse 11 of Isaiah 61 says this for as the earth produces 233 00:15:36,240 --> 00:15:39,880 its growth, and as a garden enables what is sown to spring 234 00:15:39,880 --> 00:15:43,880 up, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to 235 00:15:43,880 --> 00:15:46,200 spring up before all the nations. 236 00:15:48,800 --> 00:15:50,560 Do you see the paradox of verse 11? 237 00:15:52,200 --> 00:15:54,640 On the one hand, we're in a humble garden. 238 00:15:55,280 --> 00:15:59,720 It it's kind of earthy language. It's, it's growth that starts in 239 00:15:59,720 --> 00:16:04,160 the dirt. And that's where Israel was. 240 00:16:04,360 --> 00:16:06,360 They were in the dirt when they heard these words. 241 00:16:08,520 --> 00:16:11,840 They were the in the dirt of loss, the dirt of failure, the 242 00:16:11,840 --> 00:16:14,520 dirt of humiliation, the dirt of repentance. 243 00:16:16,360 --> 00:16:18,600 And that's where God does some of his best work. 244 00:16:19,400 --> 00:16:24,240 And from that earthly place, from that dirt place, a garden 245 00:16:24,240 --> 00:16:28,240 springs up, nourishing fruit, delicious produce grows by the 246 00:16:28,240 --> 00:16:29,680 hand of God. And that's the other side of the 247 00:16:29,680 --> 00:16:32,040 paradox, which is that this is for all the nations. 248 00:16:32,360 --> 00:16:36,320 Isn't that amazing? From from, from, from, from the 249 00:16:36,320 --> 00:16:39,880 earthy garden to to global influence. 250 00:16:40,320 --> 00:16:42,080 That's where God does some of his best work. 251 00:16:44,280 --> 00:16:48,760 One of these fruits that God produces and cultivates from the 252 00:16:48,760 --> 00:16:52,720 dirt of our lives is righteousness. 253 00:16:52,880 --> 00:16:54,720 Righteousness. The Hebrew word for 254 00:16:54,720 --> 00:16:59,280 righteousness is seteca, and it refers to God's moral beauty. 255 00:17:00,080 --> 00:17:03,160 You think about like, how would God provide for the poor? 256 00:17:03,160 --> 00:17:05,319 How would he treat the poor? Would he treat them with 257 00:17:05,319 --> 00:17:07,520 contempt? Would he, would he like, would 258 00:17:07,520 --> 00:17:09,720 they be invisible to him like they're invisible to many other 259 00:17:09,720 --> 00:17:12,319 people? No, he he wouldn't trample them. 260 00:17:13,440 --> 00:17:14,920 He would treat them with righteousness. 261 00:17:14,920 --> 00:17:18,720 With Cedeca, he would provide freely and generously for them. 262 00:17:19,960 --> 00:17:24,440 How would God treat an orphan who had no parents with Cedeca? 263 00:17:24,440 --> 00:17:27,400 He would adopt them as his own. He would say, you're mine. 264 00:17:27,520 --> 00:17:29,600 You belong to me. I'm going to cover you. 265 00:17:29,600 --> 00:17:33,520 I'm going to provide for you. How would God, how would the 266 00:17:33,520 --> 00:17:36,040 living God decide a dispute between two people? 267 00:17:36,040 --> 00:17:38,360 Let's say you were in a, in a, in an argument with someone. 268 00:17:38,520 --> 00:17:41,280 You came to the living God and he said, help us sort this out. 269 00:17:41,440 --> 00:17:44,240 How would God treat? How would God solve that problem 270 00:17:44,360 --> 00:17:47,160 with SETECA? He would solve it justly. 271 00:17:47,160 --> 00:17:49,800 He would be creative. He would be, he would not take 272 00:17:49,800 --> 00:17:52,600 bribes from somebody to solve the problem. 273 00:17:52,600 --> 00:17:55,560 He would actually treat it fairly with justice and mercy. 274 00:17:57,680 --> 00:18:01,040 Zedeca righteousness. This is God's true north for the 275 00:18:01,040 --> 00:18:06,520 human race. It's inside out goodness that is 276 00:18:06,520 --> 00:18:09,080 displayed no matter who's watching or who isn't watching. 277 00:18:09,520 --> 00:18:13,080 And it's friends. Don't we long for Zedeca and our 278 00:18:13,080 --> 00:18:16,320 leaders? Don't we long for it and hope 279 00:18:16,320 --> 00:18:21,120 for it in the next generation? Don't we hunger for this kind of 280 00:18:21,200 --> 00:18:24,680 righteousness, this sort of inside out goodness in society? 281 00:18:25,880 --> 00:18:32,040 This is God's moral beauty which he produces and displays from 282 00:18:32,040 --> 00:18:34,680 his people. This is what God is doing in us. 283 00:18:35,840 --> 00:18:41,840 You think about a farmer with prized tomatoes that she brings 284 00:18:41,840 --> 00:18:44,840 to the State Fair. She's she, she brings these 285 00:18:44,840 --> 00:18:46,920 tomatoes sort of like beaming with pride. 286 00:18:46,920 --> 00:18:51,600 Can't wait to show them off. Bright red heirloom tomatoes in 287 00:18:51,600 --> 00:18:54,920 her hands because for months, you know, she's been cultivating 288 00:18:54,920 --> 00:18:57,240 from the dirt. These tomatoes, she's been 289 00:18:57,240 --> 00:19:01,160 pruning, she's been watering, she's been, she's been tending 290 00:19:01,160 --> 00:19:04,040 very, very carefully. And these tomatoes are her pride 291 00:19:04,040 --> 00:19:06,040 and joy and they're for the good of the world. 292 00:19:06,040 --> 00:19:08,680 They're nourishing. They're delicious. 293 00:19:11,480 --> 00:19:15,720 But before they win first prize at the State Fair, they started 294 00:19:15,720 --> 00:19:17,440 in the dirt. They were cultivated in 295 00:19:17,440 --> 00:19:21,720 humility. Friends, Christmas started in 296 00:19:21,720 --> 00:19:25,360 the dirt. Christmas began in Mary, the 297 00:19:25,360 --> 00:19:27,600 mother of God's humble obedience. 298 00:19:28,040 --> 00:19:30,560 Christmas began in Joseph's humiliation. 299 00:19:30,640 --> 00:19:34,280 Christmas began in in the humility of Jesus's Manger. 300 00:19:35,280 --> 00:19:40,120 God was there causing the Sun of Righteousness to grow up, to 301 00:19:40,120 --> 00:19:43,440 spring up, and one day to be displayed before all of the 302 00:19:43,440 --> 00:19:46,680 nations on the cross, before all of the nations in His ascension, 303 00:19:46,800 --> 00:19:49,400 before all of the nations as He sent out His Spirit. 304 00:19:50,920 --> 00:19:54,560 What do you suppose, thinking about this as people of 305 00:19:54,560 --> 00:19:58,360 Christmas, as people of the incarnation, what do you think 306 00:19:58,360 --> 00:20:02,040 God wants to do with your places where you feel like you're in 307 00:20:02,040 --> 00:20:03,920 the dirt? You ever think about that? 308 00:20:06,080 --> 00:20:08,240 What do you think the Lord wants to do through your failure? 309 00:20:09,680 --> 00:20:11,880 What do you think the Lord wants to do through our moments of 310 00:20:11,880 --> 00:20:14,960 humiliation? What do you think the Lord might 311 00:20:14,960 --> 00:20:16,920 do with our sufferings and setbacks? 312 00:20:17,080 --> 00:20:20,800 As we look at Isaiah 61 verse 11, what do you think He wants 313 00:20:20,800 --> 00:20:24,080 to do? Friends, I think what the Lord 314 00:20:24,080 --> 00:20:27,600 is doing in our moments of dirt is He's cultivating something 315 00:20:27,600 --> 00:20:30,640 that isn't always visible at 1st, and that's the fruit of 316 00:20:30,640 --> 00:20:33,040 righteousness. It's growing, it's real. 317 00:20:33,040 --> 00:20:36,040 It's not always seen by people, but there's something 318 00:20:36,040 --> 00:20:38,440 substantial there. There's something nourishing 319 00:20:38,440 --> 00:20:40,280 there, there's something beautiful there, and it's 320 00:20:40,280 --> 00:20:42,680 growing all the while. And eventually it will be 321 00:20:42,680 --> 00:20:46,000 harvested and offered up for the life of the world. 322 00:20:47,920 --> 00:20:52,120 Love is being grown. Joy is being grown in our 323 00:20:52,120 --> 00:20:56,200 failures. Peace is being grown in the 324 00:20:56,200 --> 00:21:00,760 dirt. Faithfulness, friends, what 325 00:21:00,760 --> 00:21:04,440 faithfulness is being grown right now in our setbacks? 326 00:21:08,000 --> 00:21:10,480 The Lord wants to display these things, but first He's got to 327 00:21:10,480 --> 00:21:13,200 grow it. It's got to grow in the inside 328 00:21:13,200 --> 00:21:17,120 soil of our soul. Otherwise, it's just pretending. 329 00:21:17,440 --> 00:21:22,280 And that's not Seneca smoke and mirrors and acting God preening. 330 00:21:22,280 --> 00:21:24,320 Maybe that's what comes in our heads when we think of 331 00:21:24,320 --> 00:21:27,160 righteousness is like the people who kind of act righteous, but 332 00:21:27,160 --> 00:21:29,960 they really aren't. That's not what the world needs 333 00:21:29,960 --> 00:21:31,640 and that's not what God wants to display. 334 00:21:31,640 --> 00:21:35,520 He wants to display real humility, not pretend humility, 335 00:21:35,640 --> 00:21:38,560 real love, not pretend love, real generosity. 336 00:21:38,560 --> 00:21:40,960 And that's grown slowly and beautifully. 337 00:21:42,560 --> 00:21:45,800 You know, sometimes when we experience the moments of dirt, 338 00:21:45,800 --> 00:21:48,840 the moments of ashes, the moments of setbacks, here's 339 00:21:48,840 --> 00:21:52,400 sometimes what we think in our heads, God must be against me. 340 00:21:53,480 --> 00:21:56,280 You ever think that like you have a set back, you have a 341 00:21:56,280 --> 00:22:00,120 failure and you're like, well, maybe God's punishing me. 342 00:22:01,080 --> 00:22:03,120 Maybe he wants me to feel bad and just give up. 343 00:22:05,840 --> 00:22:08,720 And if we give into that thought, we would miss out on 344 00:22:08,720 --> 00:22:10,520 what Isaiah is trying to help us. 345 00:22:10,520 --> 00:22:18,640 See in verse one of I of 6262, verse one says this, I will not 346 00:22:18,640 --> 00:22:21,840 keep silent because of Zion. This is God's servant speaking 347 00:22:21,840 --> 00:22:23,280 here, the one who has the Spirit. 348 00:22:24,440 --> 00:22:27,400 I will not keep silent because of Zion, and I will not keep 349 00:22:27,400 --> 00:22:31,760 still because of Jerusalem until her righteousness shines like a 350 00:22:31,760 --> 00:22:35,120 bright light and her salvation like a flaming torch. 351 00:22:37,760 --> 00:22:41,200 Friends, the Lord Himself is working in our stories, our 352 00:22:41,200 --> 00:22:46,480 setbacks, our humiliations to make us a burning torch for the 353 00:22:46,480 --> 00:22:51,480 world, a bright light that displays the glory of God to the 354 00:22:51,480 --> 00:22:54,920 world, Zion and Jerusalem. Guess what? 355 00:22:55,000 --> 00:22:59,760 Didn't see themselves that way? The nations had humiliated them, 356 00:22:59,880 --> 00:23:03,640 the kings of the world had put Zion and Jerusalem in the dirt, 357 00:23:03,880 --> 00:23:06,800 and God's people were ready to quit their call. 358 00:23:08,040 --> 00:23:10,680 Yet Isaiah claims in verse 2, what? 359 00:23:11,200 --> 00:23:12,800 Who will see their righteousness? 360 00:23:13,120 --> 00:23:17,240 Who will see their glory? Those very nations and kings 361 00:23:17,240 --> 00:23:21,120 that put them in the dirt are going to see God's righteousness 362 00:23:21,240 --> 00:23:29,000 through their lives. The very ones who disgraced them 363 00:23:29,080 --> 00:23:32,200 would eventually follow them. Why? 364 00:23:32,200 --> 00:23:35,320 Because God was with them. Because God's moral beauty was 365 00:23:35,320 --> 00:23:38,720 cultivated in their humility until it became a burning torch 366 00:23:38,720 --> 00:23:40,720 in their hands that they carried wherever they went. 367 00:23:41,480 --> 00:23:44,000 They would be a beacon for the world. 368 00:23:45,720 --> 00:23:47,600 So here's a question for us, friends. 369 00:23:47,880 --> 00:23:52,880 What if? What if the Lord is calling us 370 00:23:53,000 --> 00:23:57,520 to humbly lead in the very areas of our disgrace? 371 00:24:00,480 --> 00:24:03,320 What if the Lord is tapping some of us on the shoulder this 372 00:24:03,320 --> 00:24:07,480 morning and saying this? I want you to go back to that 373 00:24:07,480 --> 00:24:11,200 relationship where you felt humiliated, and I want you to 374 00:24:11,200 --> 00:24:15,480 set a higher bar of love and truth with that person. 375 00:24:16,760 --> 00:24:18,320 That's the dignity that you have. 376 00:24:19,480 --> 00:24:21,720 What if he's tapping some of us on the shoulder to say, hey, 377 00:24:21,720 --> 00:24:25,880 look, I want you to go back to the hostel workplace where you 378 00:24:25,880 --> 00:24:28,720 were mocked. And I want you to show moral 379 00:24:28,720 --> 00:24:30,160 beauty to the people who mocked you. 380 00:24:33,160 --> 00:24:35,480 Some of us, he might be tapping on the shoulder and saying, hey, 381 00:24:35,680 --> 00:24:38,240 I want you to return to the place where you were covered in 382 00:24:38,240 --> 00:24:42,800 ashes. And I want you to wear my robe 383 00:24:42,800 --> 00:24:48,520 of victory right there and show them what true dignity looks 384 00:24:48,520 --> 00:24:50,280 like. I've already done it in my 385 00:24:50,280 --> 00:24:54,520 triumphal entry. And I want you to do the same 386 00:24:54,520 --> 00:24:59,040 thing. Now look, some of us might 387 00:24:59,040 --> 00:25:04,520 respond to that call a walk in, and the response is the same as 388 00:25:04,520 --> 00:25:07,680 it always was. It's might still be mocking. 389 00:25:07,680 --> 00:25:10,640 It might still be reacting. They might not see it. 390 00:25:10,720 --> 00:25:14,240 But guess what? We're not doing it for them, for 391 00:25:14,240 --> 00:25:16,400 their reactions. We're doing it for God's glory. 392 00:25:17,080 --> 00:25:19,520 God wants to display whatever He's cultivating. 393 00:25:19,520 --> 00:25:21,800 He wants to display for the life of the world. 394 00:25:21,800 --> 00:25:24,440 Maybe He wants you to display it to me, to display it. 395 00:25:26,160 --> 00:25:28,360 Don't forget about Mary. Remember her song? 396 00:25:28,360 --> 00:25:30,520 Remember that awesome song, the Magnificat? 397 00:25:31,520 --> 00:25:36,720 God has looked with favor on the humble, looked with favor on the 398 00:25:36,720 --> 00:25:40,080 humble condition of His servant. Surely, from now on, all 399 00:25:40,080 --> 00:25:42,000 generations will call me blessed. 400 00:25:42,200 --> 00:25:44,800 The Mighty One has done great things for me. 401 00:25:45,200 --> 00:25:48,400 He has toppled the mighty from their Thrones and exalted the 402 00:25:48,400 --> 00:25:53,080 lowly. Still true God covers our 403 00:25:53,320 --> 00:25:56,840 failure with His victory, and He displays His beauty through our 404 00:25:56,840 --> 00:26:00,840 humility. Now finally, friends, this is 405 00:26:00,840 --> 00:26:06,480 something that we can never forget, especially when we're 406 00:26:06,480 --> 00:26:10,400 disgraced or discouraged. The Lord gets the last word on 407 00:26:10,400 --> 00:26:15,080 our life and calling. The Lord gets the absolute last 408 00:26:15,080 --> 00:26:17,120 word over our life and over Our Calling. 409 00:26:17,320 --> 00:26:20,840 After all of the success and failure, after all the flattery 410 00:26:20,840 --> 00:26:23,680 and all the criticism, after all the highs and all the lows, 411 00:26:23,840 --> 00:26:28,480 after all the trauma and the drama, if we gives our give our 412 00:26:28,480 --> 00:26:32,760 lives to the Lord, our future to the Lord, guess what? 413 00:26:33,000 --> 00:26:37,040 He gets the absolute last word and His words are over. 414 00:26:37,040 --> 00:26:41,120 His children are always in words of encouragement, words of 415 00:26:41,120 --> 00:26:44,120 delight, words of grace and truth. 416 00:26:44,120 --> 00:26:48,800 He gets the last word over us as His children, the last word over 417 00:26:48,800 --> 00:26:51,600 Our Calling, the last word over our parenting, the last word 418 00:26:51,600 --> 00:26:57,720 over our families. Verse the second-half of verse 419 00:26:57,720 --> 00:27:02,520 2, Isaiah reminds us that you will be given a new name that 420 00:27:02,520 --> 00:27:06,360 the Lord's mouth will announce. You will be a glorious crown in 421 00:27:06,360 --> 00:27:10,920 the Lord's hand, a royal diadem in the palm of your God's hand. 422 00:27:12,200 --> 00:27:17,000 And you will no longer be called deserted, which was an insult 423 00:27:17,000 --> 00:27:19,720 against Israel. And your land will not be called 424 00:27:19,840 --> 00:27:23,800 desolate, which was another insult against Zion. 425 00:27:24,040 --> 00:27:28,600 Instead, you will be called. My delight is in her. 426 00:27:29,920 --> 00:27:32,800 That's from the mouth of God. And your land married. 427 00:27:33,200 --> 00:27:35,480 Why? Because the Lord delights in 428 00:27:35,480 --> 00:27:37,600 you, and your land will be married. 429 00:27:40,880 --> 00:27:46,280 Mistakes don't name us. Failures don't name us. 430 00:27:46,280 --> 00:27:49,400 Jesus Christ defines us and names us. 431 00:27:50,160 --> 00:27:54,880 In fact, our our gospel reading from the Gospel of John calls us 432 00:27:55,120 --> 00:27:59,320 children of God and God delights over his children. 433 00:27:59,720 --> 00:28:03,240 His name over his children is the final name that we are 434 00:28:03,240 --> 00:28:05,960 called and he's the one who writes our story. 435 00:28:06,200 --> 00:28:08,360 He's the one who writes our true obituary. 436 00:28:08,440 --> 00:28:11,120 He's the one who writes our story that continues beyond our 437 00:28:11,120 --> 00:28:14,840 death. Something interesting happened 438 00:28:14,840 --> 00:28:20,840 after Cody Parkey's double going field goal miss cameras, I think 439 00:28:20,840 --> 00:28:28,040 missed it some, some missed it, but actually right after the 440 00:28:28,040 --> 00:28:32,320 miss, he actually pointed to heaven as if to say thy will be 441 00:28:32,320 --> 00:28:36,840 done. He didn't throw his helmet, he 442 00:28:36,840 --> 00:28:38,400 didn't cuss, he didn't throw a fit. 443 00:28:39,160 --> 00:28:43,280 He didn't blame other people. He didn't storm off the field. 444 00:28:44,800 --> 00:28:48,880 He didn't go into self hatred, self pity, self blame. 445 00:28:48,880 --> 00:28:52,160 Do you know what he did? He actually gathered with some 446 00:28:52,160 --> 00:28:56,120 of his fellow players and some Philadelphia Eagles players in 447 00:28:56,120 --> 00:28:57,600 the middle of the field. You know what they did? 448 00:28:58,120 --> 00:28:59,640 They knelt down and they prayed together. 449 00:29:00,640 --> 00:29:04,040 They knelt down and they prayed even as the booze were being 450 00:29:04,760 --> 00:29:07,680 booed over him. Guess what? 451 00:29:07,680 --> 00:29:13,000 They didn't stick to him like ashes because the prayers from 452 00:29:13,000 --> 00:29:16,600 his heart, what was cultivated in that moment of humiliation 453 00:29:16,600 --> 00:29:19,880 was coming out and being displayed for all of Soldier 454 00:29:19,880 --> 00:29:22,320 Field. Some of them couldn't see it, 455 00:29:22,320 --> 00:29:25,880 but I bet there was a few whose hearts were moved in the middle 456 00:29:25,880 --> 00:29:27,800 of their booze. They're like, wait a second, do 457 00:29:27,800 --> 00:29:30,200 I want to be the person who boos or do I want to be the person 458 00:29:30,200 --> 00:29:35,240 who kneels and prays and shows grace and class and humility? 459 00:29:35,240 --> 00:29:39,320 Where does that set that righteousness, that victory come 460 00:29:39,320 --> 00:29:42,120 from? It comes from the incarnation of 461 00:29:42,120 --> 00:29:44,600 our Lord Jesus, who's right there in the dirt with us, 462 00:29:44,600 --> 00:29:48,720 praying right there in the dirt with us, interceding for us 463 00:29:48,960 --> 00:29:51,440 right there in the moment of humiliation, because He was 464 00:29:51,440 --> 00:29:53,760 there. He went there in the Garden of 465 00:29:53,760 --> 00:29:57,120 Gethsemane. He went there on the cross, and 466 00:29:57,120 --> 00:30:00,720 He's there with us in every moment of set back and failure 467 00:30:00,720 --> 00:30:02,720 and humiliation that we've ever, ever had. 468 00:30:03,720 --> 00:30:06,600 And He's ready, friends, to raise us up with Him in victory 469 00:30:07,160 --> 00:30:10,480 in in resurrection, to raise us up with him where he ascended to 470 00:30:10,480 --> 00:30:12,880 the Father's right hand, where he's currently praying for us. 471 00:30:12,880 --> 00:30:16,080 He won't keep silent, friends, until all of these fruits of 472 00:30:16,080 --> 00:30:19,760 righteousness are born and are grown and are displayed for all 473 00:30:19,760 --> 00:30:25,000 of the world. The Lord Jesus is ready to 474 00:30:25,160 --> 00:30:29,480 cultivate this beauty within us, to cover any defeat with 475 00:30:29,480 --> 00:30:33,720 victory, and to make us friends. That shining torch of praise to 476 00:30:33,720 --> 00:30:35,920 the glory of God in the coming of Jesus. 477 00:30:35,920 --> 00:30:40,920 Friends, God's delight, His delight, overcomes all of our 478 00:30:40,920 --> 00:30:44,560 disgrace. So let's join Mary and Joseph 479 00:30:44,840 --> 00:30:48,360 and the shepherds and the wise men and even Cody Parkey 480 00:30:48,360 --> 00:30:52,080 himself, and praise and honor the living God with the 481 00:30:52,080 --> 00:30:56,200 confidence, the glory, and the humility that He has given us in 482 00:30:56,200 --> 00:31:00,480 His Son, Jesus Christ. In the name of the Father and 483 00:31:00,480 --> 00:31:02,160 the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen.