Rejoice – You Are On The Right Path

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A sermon by Adam Barcott

December 15, 2019

Father, we thank you. We give you thanks for every good and perfect gift. We recognize you are the God of all creation. You’re the God of mercy. And in your mercy you redeem and you save and you love and you do it all and reveal it all in your son Jesus Christ. And so we thank you that it’s by the power of the Holy spirit, you have opened up our eyes to this reality. And in these moments and in this day we rest in the reality of Jesus Christ, death and resurrection. We thank you for it. And we pray, Lord, that you would continue to work in us and through us, that you would become our joy. So fill us Holy spirit as we gather around your word and respond to the call to worship. And we ask this in Jesus name. Amen.

So on page D, before we sing and praise God for everything, we engage the prayer of confession and absolution.

I have been using the prayer of confession every day, just telling you what I do. Because it’s a nice, it’s a nice thing to follow. It helps kind of set up the time you’re going to talk to God or the reality of the situation, which is, everything I have, I need you Lord. But then the reality is he gives and offers his forgiveness to you. So there’s a moment in confession of receiving his forgiveness and not just assuming that you got it, but hearing it. So let’s stand together as we search our hearts and minds and come into the presence of God, we recognize that we are in need of his forgiveness. And let’s pray together this prayer saying…

Most merciful God, we confess that we are nature sinful and unclean. We have sinned against you in thought word and deed by what we have done and by what we have left undone, we have not loved you with our whole heart. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We justly deserve your present and eternal punishment for the sake of your son Jesus Christ. Have mercy on us. Forgive us, renew us, and lead us so that we may delight in your will. And walk in your ways to the glory of your Holy name. Amen.

And all mighty God in his mercy has given his son to die for you and for his sake, forgives you all your sins. And as a called and ordained servant of Christ and by his authority, I therefore forgive you all your sins in the name of the father and the son and of the Holy spirit. Amen.

Careful here. We forgot to light our advent candles as we are in the season of waiting for the promised Messiah and savior. And as we were talking last week, the idea that the promise has been given to God’s people and it takes 450 years before Christ comes. And so we entered the season of waiting and we wait in his peace, we wait in his joy. And, that’s what we’re waiting in today, the joy of God, that for his joy, he provided a way for us and ultimately our joy. So today’s readings, um, I, I didn’t, uh, ask anyone to read. And so in that case, I feel like we should give Matt Fitzpatrick a dose of his own medicine. Matt, you will, you will read. I know. How about you read, Isaiah 35. This will be the primary text that we’ll be speaking about today. Isaiah 35:1-10.

Isaiah 35:1-10The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad; the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus; 2 it shall blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God. 3 Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. 4 Say to those who have an anxious heart, “Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.” 5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; 6 then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. For waters break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; 7 the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water; in the haunt of jackals, where they lie down, the grass shall become reeds and rushes. 8 And a highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Way of Holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it. It shall belong to those who walk on the way; even if they are fools, they shall not go astray.[a] 9 No lion shall be there, nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it; they shall not be found there, but the redeemed shall walk there. 10 And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

It’s the reading of God’s word. Thanks be to God. And now we’ll read from the gospel of Matthew 11:2-6.

Matthew 11:2-62 Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples 3 and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” 4 And Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: 5 the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers[a] are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. 6 And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”

It’s the reading of God’s word. Thanks be to God. So we’re gathered around his word and in the season of waiting while you’re waiting, it’s important to know if you’re on the right path as you’re traveling. It’s always important to know, am I going in the right direction? And that is what we’re considering today. And the gospel to you is when the people of God don’t know where to go or they feel like there’s no way out. God always provides a highway. God himself provides a path for you to walk on. And it’s verse eight if we’re going to work through Isaiah 35 and in verse eight is kind of the anchoring verse that I want to impress on your minds today. It says a highway shall be there and it shall be called the way of holiness. The unclean shall not pass over it. It shall belong to those who walk on the way. We’re talking about highways today, the path, and you all live in Orlando. You know how important a good highway is.

Doesn’t I-4 just bring you joy?

It’s one of, I believe now I-4 is the most dangerous road in America. I only know that because I rode my motorcycle on it and experienced it. And then someone told me that I was crazy because it’s the number one most dangerous road in America. That wasn’t smart. So well, Lord, thanks for going ahead of me. But the reason we have highways is to get us from one place to another and it’s to bypass all the little things to get somewhere. And so Isaiah is saying the people of God, he’s saying to the people of God that are with him in Israel and to us, this is what makes it prophecy. There’s an immediate audience. And then there’s the rest of us thousands of years later, and he’s saying there’s a high way God has created a highway for you to a place and there’s a right way. So when you’re driving, you know there’s a right way to get somewhere. It’s not whatever way you feel like going, you’ll get there sooner or later. You know, and if you’ve been married or you’ve had a girlfriend or boyfriend and you’re trying to get somewhere and you go the wrong way, that person in the passenger seat will say to you, that’s wrong. You missed the turn. And that’s not the time to say, well, I mean that’s your truth. Trust me, it doesn’t work that way. There is a right way to get there. There’s only one way. There’s a right path. And Isaiah saying here is a right path, but let’s look at it because the right path for some reason is scary.

See the first verses in chapter 35 it says, the wilderness and the dry land shall be glad the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the Crocus. It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy and singing. Now whenever you read Isaiah, your mind kind of goes into a weird place of… Am I done reading it yet? Cause you’re just trying to read Isaiah to say that you’ve read it because it’s hard to understand. Am I right? Can I get an amen? So that’s why I’m here. It’s true. We can be honest and the Lord knows. But it’s very important because Isaiah is saying God turns deserts into gardens. He says this desert is going to become a garden. And the reason this is important is because chapter 34. Isaiah and before all these chapters, before Isaiah is saying to the people of God, you have walked away from God, you have worshiped idols and now God is leading you and you’re going to be taken over by Assyria.

And so there’s a point where the people of God, here Isaiah, and they don’t really want to believe him and they kind are dismissing him and they’re like, I think we’re good. We can mix the ways of the world and God’s ways and be just fine Isaiah. Well now Assyria is coming down and they’re serious and there’s a time to choose a path because there’s always two paths. And in Isaiah 34 there’s a path that leads to a beautiful garden. And that garden is known as Egypt because they have the Nile, and it’s beautiful. And Israel have always in their mind said, when things are tough and there’s no way out, we can always go to Egypt. Egypt will protect us even if we become slaves in Egypt, let’s go to Egypt. And Isaiah now shows up and says that’s being destroyed and judged. Egypt is no longer a safe place for you, even though it looks like a garden. It’s a desert. Here’s the new highway. It’s going into the desert. I will make a desert place something that is dead into something beautiful. This is why, look at this. Verse three

Strengthen the weak hands and make from the feeble knees. Say to those who have an anxious heart, be strong. Fear not behold, your God will come with vengeance with the recompense of God. He will come and save you. Isaiah has to say that, because the other highway is into death.

That’s why they’re scared. That’s why we’re scared. So when we’re presented with a choice, there’s God’s word and then there’s the path that our culture takes. There’s doing the right thing and obeying God’s word, which always seems like certain death, loss of money and opportunity and even silliness. Like why do we have to be like that as Christians? Because God says, and it feels like death versus the way of man back to Egypt. And that’s why it’s scary. And so Isaiah says, don’t be scared that when you are in a situation of life and death, trusting God or trusting in man or the flesh, God says, trust me, I can turn a desert and death into life. That’s what this is all about.

I did it with Egypt before and I’ll do it again. I did it with the people of Israel. Remember they were slaves. There’s no way out. How are we going to get out of this? God does a bunch of miracles and then they’re going, why are you leading us to the desert? Because it’s in the desert. God shows his people. I make dead things alive.

I can feed millions of people in the desert for 40 years. I can provide shade during the day and fire at night and I can keep their shoes from running out. I can take care of you better in the desert. A place of death than any kingdom can take care of you in a fertile Valley. But it requires God saving us because that’s scary to believe. And you know that you’ve made decisions to trust the Lord that have been scary. And has he left you? Have you ever regretted trusting God and doing something his way?

I haven’t. He provides a highway [inaudible] but here’s what’s even better is that God’s highway is better than I-4. God’s highway into Assyria, into the desert is better than any other kingdom.

And you’re on it.

Did you know you’re on the right path today? You are all on the right path. That’s a big question. When you’re trying to live life and you just want to know, are we moving in the right direction with job, with relationship, with how we’re handling our parents, how we’re handling our kids, how we’re handling? Are we on the right path? And I’m telling you those who look to God, even though you’re walking into death, you are on the right path. But I want to say something about this path. It doesn’t take away our doubt and it doesn’t take away our suffering. So the passage that was read from Matthew was John the baptizer. John, the Elijah who came to prepare the way for Christ. John’s out there telling Pharisees to repent if anyone’s trust the Lord and is following God into the desert. It’s John. Well, John gets arrested and John is suffering and even John has doubt and he sends his disciples and he’s, they go to Jesus and they say, Oh, John wants to know, are you really the one or should we wait for another one?

And he’s asking that because the highway that God has made is sometimes through suffering and it’s not done the way we like. Are you really the one Jesus and what does Jesus answer? His answer sounds very similar to what’s in Isaiah. Isaiah says, then the eyes of the blind shall be opened. The ears of the deaf unstopped then shall the lame man leap like a deer and the tongue of the Newt sing for joy for waters break forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert and burning sands shall become a pool and thirsty ground Springs of water in the haunt of jackals where they lie down, the grass shall become reeds and rushes. I’m reading this to you because your mind usually fades away after the blind talk, but I want you to get the image of a desert. Jackals, death becoming a lush, fertile Valley. See, it’s healing the blind, restoring, hearing and turning desert into a habitable garden of beauty. This is what Christ says. He says, I’m the guy, I’m the savior. I am the highway, the truth and the life that where I go, I turn death. I turned cactus in this beautiful Crocus and all these colors and all this smells and fragrances of beauty and you can farm. This is Christ answer to John, look at what I’m doing. I’m healing the blind.

I’m bringing life where there was death. That’s what I’m doing. And so I wonder what John’s disciples went back and told John. John, I dunno if you will like this answer or not, but Jesus just quoted some stuff from Isaiah saying he’s the one. Now we like to imagine John goes, Oh, that’s good news. So he is the one. But John also could have said, so I’m still going to be in jail.

Go back and find out if he’s going to get me out of jail. I mean, that’s how I would be. That is so theological and prophetic. Wow, that’s amazing, but is he going to get me out of jail? This doesn’t make sense. Strengthen your knees. Be strong and courageous. The Lord will rescue you, but we’re in this desert, but it’s a highway. It’s a road that’s taking you to be with your God. It’s not always an easy road, but I know you’re on it because on this road there’s this great line in the second part of a, it’s actually my favorite part of this passage. Chapter 35 verse eight says, the highway shall be there shall be called a way of holiness. So you start to feel like, Oh no, I dunno if I can travel on the way of holiness. The unclean shall not pass over it. Oh no, this is a limited access highway. I don’t know if I’m clean enough, but then there’s hope. It shall belong to those who walk on the way. Okay? That’s kind of hopeful, but even if they are fools, they shall not go astray. I’m in.

Even if they’re fools, they can’t go astray on this highway. This is how you know you’re on the highway. All the things; Christ has come. He’s healed the blind. He’s opened up your eyes to the reality that there is a God and that he’s revealed himself to you and Jesus. He’s given you hearing. He’s preached the gospel. Good news to the poor. What’s good news to the poor? You’re going to get a great inheritance. That’s good news. You’ve wasted all your money and resources, but I’ll return it to you a hundred fold. Well, that’s good news. That’s the gospel to the poor. I’m poor, so I love that message. This is the road we’re on and on this road. Even if you’re a fool, you can’t go astray. We know we’re on this road because we’re receiving the forgiveness of God. See, the call isn’t for us to be Holy, to be so Holy that we earn it or it’s not the call to us.

It’s like, Oh, I got to clean myself. I got to do all this. See Jesus is the way he is, the high way that’s been provided by God. There is no way out for us, but Jesus provides a way out. So he’s the priest with the pure heart. He’s the prophet with the real word of God. He’s the King that cares for his people and so we just get behind him and we are on this path. We’re cleansed by our baptism, and even when you mess it up, you receive forgiveness and we’re still moving in the direction with the redeemed we are on this highway, and it’s a nice highway along the way. There’s some beautiful landscapes. You start to see things. It’s a great journey. There’s also dark valleys on this highway. It’s still just the highway, which leads me to an interesting cultural thought. Have you noticed how the world talks about the journey?

Maybe I just watched too much reality dating shows, but it’s just really been a great journey. The journey has changed my life. Is that, is that a cultural thing or am I just, I need a nod from somebody. Thank you. Because otherwise this will make no sense. Everybody talks about the journey. The journey is more important than the destination. And we almost believe that like, yeah, that’s true, except we run it through the child test. Here’s my child test. We take an eight year old to Disney world. At the end of the day, there is never in the history of the world, been an eight year old who said to their parents, thanks for Disney today. It was okay, but really I just…the journey to Disney with you was amazing. I-4, for the parking debacle, mom yelling at you, what a journey. The journey was better than thanks for that journey.

Never. I rest my case, your honor, because no one uses a highway for the highway. You use it to get somewhere and Christ is our highway. He’s given us a destination and the destination is more important than the journey. The destination is what it’s all about for the people of God. 100% so do not become too enamored with the journey. And I know we live in this world and there’s times of joy and sadness. But remember we have a destination. This highway is taking us somewhere and it’s taking us to everything we’ve ever dreamed of. Isaiah says it this way… And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing is the presence of God.

Everlasting joy shall be upon their heads. They shall obtain gladness and joy and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. Our destination is a new creation where God is with us, where anxiety and sorrow and what does it sighing? That’s a big one for me. My wife knows something’s wrong when I’m like, she’s like, so are we ready to go to the mall? And I go, sigh …yes, sorrow and sighing or you sigh about the sadness, the very real sadness in our lives. We mourn. We’re on a highway to a destination where Christ has destroyed death, destroyed all deserts where we are protected and blessed and he’s promising that to the people who are actually going into exile. They’re going to be taken over by Assyria and he’s saying, you will be ransomed and returned to the temple of God. And he did it. And he’s saying that there’ll be one who comes to save us.

Who will heal the blind and set us free and be even a better highway. And he did it. Jesus Christ came, and today we celebrate and we rejoice because Christ hasn’t left us. He comes to us in the Lord’s supper. He comes to us every time we gather, he is coming. He’s here now and then we look forward to his appearance. His second appearance, he will appear to us in the flesh. That’s our destination. That’s what we’re looking forward to. God has made away, and it’s scary because all we see is struggle and sadness and death, but we also see the beauty Christ brings from it. We see where he heals us. We see where he answers our prayer requests. We see where he gives us his word, and he encourages us. So this is the path that you and I are on and I want you to know today, you all who look to Jesus, that’s the path. You’re on the right path.

So all the things you don’t know, it’s okay. You can be a fool on the path. Lord, I don’t know. Forgive me, you’re on the right path. We’re all going one way. It’s a nice highway. Jesus says, I’m the way, the truth and the life. So today I just want to rejoice. There’s a day coming where we’re just gonna rejoice like for real, all the way rejoice, we’re going to rejoice. So let’s rejoice in Christ first coming and he’s coming to us today and the promises he’s made to us to lead us to the new creation.

Thank you Lord that we are on the right path. Thank you father, that you call my anxiety. You strengthen our hands that you promise to save us. Thank you Jesus for coming and thank you for promising to appear again, complete our joy. We ask in Jesus’ name.

Amen.

I wanted to read together Pslam 146. So if you could all turn to page three Oh two or on your phones to Psalm one 46. Sometimes I struggle knowing how to praise the Lord. How do you praise God? I know how to thank him,

but when I’m praying I want to go praise you, God. And I don’t always know how to do that, but that’s why we have the Psalms as they lead us in the praise of God that we were created to say thank you. And that as we do that, as we praise God, we become more and more aligned with who we were created to be. We become more aligned with our identity and our security and our meaning and purpose.

so let’s stand and read together in one voice. Psalm 146 put not your trust in princes. Let’s read together. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Oh my soul. I will praise the Lord as long as I live. I will sing praises to my God while I have my being put. Not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation. When his breath departs, he returns to the earth on that very day his plans perish. Blessed is he whose help is God of Jacob whose hope is in the Lord, his God who made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them, who keeps faith forever, who executes justice for the oppressed, who gives food to the hungry? The Lord sets the prisoners free. The Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down. The Lord loves the righteous. The Lord watches over the sojourners. He upholds the widow and the fatherless. But the way of the wicked he brings to ruin the Lord will reign forever. Your God O Zion to all generations. Praise the Lord.

You may be seated.

Want to remind you that, we have our prayer board. And so as we, prepare to give an offering this is also a chance to write down prayer requests. But this is our God. We praise the Lord who hears our requests and he has mercy on his children. When he hears they’re in distress, that he is gracious and merciful and slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. This is our God. So we praise him. We offer our prayer requests to him. We give thanks to him. We do that in worship. And we do that also in, giving ourselves giving our tithes and offerings. We’re able to say thanks, Lord, for everything we have is a gift.

Lord bless, uh, what we offer to you. We recognize it’s, it’s in Thanksgiving to what you’ve given to us and bless it to your word and your proclamation of your gospel going out in Orlando and, all of our houses and neighborhoods, uh, bless it, way beyond what we could do on our own in Jesus name. Amen.

And, in thanks to God for all that he’s given to us. And as we prepare for his meal, I just remember the disciples asking Jesus, how do we pray? And so Jesus gives his disciples and gives us a template for prayer. And the reason he does that is because there’s an intimacy that we have with God now in Jesus Christ that we are welcome to go before him. We’re invited to go before him. And we’re welcome and invited to eat with him and be be family with him. And so if, you know it, say it with me, or if I believe it’s in the front of our books, the Lord’s prayer, as we, prepare to eat with him,

he taught his disciples to pray, saying our father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.

And so Jesus Christ, the promised one in the flesh, he celebrates the Passover. He says, God has continued to act on behalf of his people.

Only now the, the sacrifice is going to be eternal and it takes human, all, human, and all God to be able to save all humans, spirit and flesh. So Jesus says, the night that he’s betrayed, he takes the bread and he breaks it and he says, this is my body, which is broken for you. Take and eat of it. In the same way he pours the wine and he says, this is my blood, which is shed for you, for the forgiveness of sins as often as you eat and drink of this. Praise God.

So we thank God and we thank Jesus Christ for offering this to us. And in the name of the father, son and Holy spirit, it’s by faith. We approach these elements for what they are, bread and wine. But by faith we know that God’s word creates in us something new. We’re not just people. We’re not just sinners anymore. We’re saints. And that’s accomplished by God’s word. And this bread and wine and grape juice is God’s body somehow by his word, father nourish us, strengthen us, continue to put the story in us of who we really are. We’re your children and we’re on a highway to heaven. Thank you for your death and resurrection. Thank you for your Ascension. Thank you that you’re coming back to judge the living and the dead. We love you and we praise you in Jesus name. Amen.

I always want to say the joke. You may be seated so I could do my second sermon, but I know that’s not funny cause it might be true. All right. Receive God’s blessing. You guys have been great today. Great audience. Receive God’s blessing. It’s very real to you today. May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord his face shine upon you and give you grace. Be gracious to you. May he look upon you with favor and give you peace now and forever. Amen. Have a great week. Merry Christmas.