The fruit of the gospel (Isaiah 5)

Cornerstone Mission Church, Sunday Sermon, June 6, 2010

In this passage, I want people to understand who God is, especially of his covenant faithfulness, his love towards his people and the consequence of rejecting his covenant faithfulness, his love. Rather than rejecting this God of love, God of covenant faithfulness, I want people to respond to him and embrace justice of loving others. Call people to respond to the gospel and bear the fruit of righteousness and justice, loving God and loving people.

Few weeks ago, I brought our family van to Busse Automotive in Mt. Prospect to get break repaired. The great thing about this place is that I usually can have a loaner car if the job requires few days of work. That day, Mark Busse the owner didn’t have a loaner car for me. So, I opted to wait for the repair. I headed down to Caribou coffee

Shop across the Metra station. There were signs over the town. “Vote for Lee,” “Vote for Lee Dewyze.” The guy worked in the local paint shop. He would show up to work in the mornings and would belt things out in the back of the shop with his guitar.[i] He sang his way up to in American Idol to win it with millions of people voting for him. It’s crazy. Something about Lee, something about his sinning raspy voice has moved people to become his fan.

That’s kind of what we see here in Isaiah 5. Imagine Isaiah belting out with his guitar. He is not singing for himself. He is not singing to win a completion. He is singing for the one he loves a song about his loved one’s vineyard hoping that the Israelites would hear his song and be changed. But, the reality was people plainly rejected his song. I am praying that instead of rejecting the truth, we would listen to the song of the vineyard for transformation.

The portrait of God’s love

The song is an allegory about God’s love for Judah and Judah’s non-response to God’s pursuit. God in the song is the owner of a vineyard who works hard at it to provide just the right condition for the vines to yield abundant crop of good grapes.

But, in this case, the vines which represent the people of Judah, they miserably fail to yield good grapes; instead they yield only bad fruit.

In verse 2, we hear that the vineyard belongs to Isaiah’s loved one and that the vineyard is located a fertile hillside. It is a fertile hillside, but with many stones to be cleared. Here, we see the owner of the vineyard going out to the field digging out and clearing the vineyard of stones. It’s backbreaking work to rid of stones from a field. I am sure such work would leave the hands of the laborer blistered and bruised. Not only is the ground fertile and now cleared of stones, the owner plants the vineyard with the choices vines. He personally handpicked them, chose them. And, in order to protect the vineyard with the newly planted vines from the animals, intruders, the owner builds a watchtower with the cleared stones from the vineyard and guards it to ensure its safety. To be ready for the time when he can extract grape juice to make wine, the owner cut a winepress out of lime stones. There was no fancy breaking hammer, hammer drill or rotary hammer; it was all done by hands with crude tools to cut out a winepress.

We see the image of the owner of the vineyard going out of his way with his selfless hard works to ensure the best possible condition for his handpicked, chosen vines to yield good crop of grapes. The owner gave his best that he could give and nothing was held back to take care of the vineyard. In verse 4, God asks, “what more could have been done for my vineyard that I have done for it?” Nothing, there was nothing more he could have done for his vineyard.

What else God could do than to having sent his own Son, to work, to suffer, and to die in our place for our sins on the rugged cross and to raise hip up from the dead? What more could he have done to demonstrate his love for us? Nothing!

Having poured out his own sweat, his labor, his life, the owner of the vineyard having nothing more to give now expects fruitful yield from his chosen vines. But, instead of getting plum grapes, all he got from the vines are bad yield of wild grapes. I read that wild grapes only produce small fruit with large seeds and are often sour."[ii] Wild grapes are not the product for which the owner had planned and labored. The wild grapes of inferior quality were worthless. They were bad.

We learn from verse 7 clearly what this allegory means. The LORD Almighty is the owner of the vineyard. The vineyard is the house of Israel and the vines are the people of Israel, the chosen people of God’s own delight.

And, the fruit that the LORD looked for was justice and righteousness, but what he got from his people was the bloodshed and the cries of their victims from their self-serving greed. I really like what Dennis Bratcher had to say about righteousness and justice.

Righteousness is what is owed to God because he is God… not a moral category of perfection, but living a life… that acknowledges that God is indeed God. It is a response of faithfulness that is willing to accept the responsibility of being God’s people. It is a relationship in which the people “love the Lord” totally and completely.

And, when righteousness reigns that is when people love the Lord, it is manifested in justice. Bratcher says this about justice.

Justice is… a way to talk about equality and fairness arising from a concern for others that is willing to place human need and relationship as the highest priority of life flowing from relationship with God. In the fullest sense, to “do justice” is the same thing as loving one’s neighbor as oneself.

God is after the response of righteousness and justice that is love of God and love of people from you and me. Righteousness, love of God, justice, love of people is truly the fruit of the gospel. Anything else is bad yield unfit for the gospel.

God’s response to bad fruit

Verse 5 and 6 describes God judgment against the vines that yield only bad. To protect the vineyard, often throne hedge or stone hedge were built around its parameter. Here, in response to vines that only yield bad fruit, he would remove the hedge thorns and wall of protection. And, the hedge that thwarts away the wild animals and the invaders now gone, the vines would be trampled and destroyed; God withholding the rain, withholding work of pruning, cultivating, the vineyard would be reduced to a wasteland.

When God lifted his protective force shield around Israel, it became vulnerable to the surrounding nations and would face devastating invasion from Assyria and exile. James Mead said that this judgment didn’t mean Israel lost its election status, but instead what they lost for many generations was the blessings of that election.[iii]

Read Isaiah 5:25-30, we see the devastating effect of God removing his hedge of protection over Israel. In his righteous anger, we see God lifting up a banner for the foreign nations, giving them permission to be the rod of his anger against unfruitful, unfaithful Israel. 5:27-30, we see how fierce these forces against Israel… mighty strength, readiness to attack with their destructive weapons, and the sound of battle cries, their roar that sends chills to bones, even the light will be darkened by the clouds. That’s quite depressing.

Colossians 1:16 speaks of Jesus as the image of the invisible God… all things were created… by him and for him. And, verse 17, “in him all things hold together.” This hedge of protection from God is too often unappreciated and unnoticed by us. It is chilling thought to imagine what could happen if God lifts up his hedge of protection over us. And, if God lifted up his hedge of protection over Israel because they didn’t love him and love people, should you and I be alert by the tragedy of history and turn to God?

We too face the same warning from Jesus. Jesus warned against unfruitfulness in Matthew 21:43, “the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom.”

How do we make sense of this chilling warning against unfruitfulness? God’s goal is not to just to plant choice vines. His goal is to grow vines that would produce the fruit of righteousness and justice, the fruit of loving God and loving people.

The nature of bad fruit

If we are not growing in righteousness of loving God and justice of loving people, we are bound to produce the bad fruit. Isaiah 5:8-24 identify the specifics of the bad fruit.

• Greed (5:8-10)

for bigger houses and more land… they violated God’s ownership of the land and the spirit of stewardship…  In verse 9-10 we see that the greed of possession would meet the consequence of dispossession and unfruitfulness. C. S. Lewis, in The Great Divorce…he likens hell to an enormous city with mansions set off at vast distances from one another, because nobody likes anybody else and they end up living alone.[iv]  “a ten acre vineyard will produce only a baht of wine, a homor of seed only an ephah of grain”… this is an image of ineffective and unproductiveness (5:10). 10 acre = 10 yoke (each yoke equals the area of land where a single pair of oxen can plow in a day); “bath” liquid measure = “ephah” a dry measure of grai = between 4.5-9 gallons.  “homer” a donkey load, the amount of grain a donkey can carry = 1/10 of an ephah.

• Self-indulgence (5:11-17)

… is the preoccupation with worldly stuffs, worshiping the object of God’s blessing instead of worshiping the Giver of all good gifts in life.  It shows “no regard for the deeds of the LORD and no respect for the work of his hands” (5:12)

• Cynicism (5:18-19)

… talks like this to God, “bring it on God… whatever judgment you have against me, go ahead and bring it on because I am just going to go on doing whatever I feel like doing.”  The cynicism about God emerges as it becomes clear there is a conflict between what I want and what God’s revealed will is. If there is no submission of my needs and myself to God at that moment, cynicism about him is the logical next step: “If God doesn’t like what I am doing, let’s see him stop it.”^[v] 

• Rationalization/justification… Moral perversion (5:20, 21)

Rationalization is calling sin not as sin, evil not as evil… conscience is seared.   It assumes their own personal moral authority over God’s moral authority.

It is like the way synsepalum dulcificum works. A slightly tart “Miracle fruit” West African berry can turn sour to sweet by altering taste buds about an hour after you eat it. So, you may see people eating up lime wedges as if they were candy. Straight lemon juice tastes like lemonade, goat cheese tastes like it is covered in powdered sugar, beer tastes like milkshake, rhubarb tastes like a sugar stick… physiology behind it… the fruit’s protein polyphenols binds to taste buds and altering the tongue’s sweet receptors to activate when they come in contact with sour foods.[vi]

Greed breeds self-indulgence. Self-indulgence dulls and clouds the spiritual faculty making it easy to rationalize sins.

• Social injustice (5:22-24)

Social injustice is born out of greed, self-indulgence, cynicism, and rationalization.  “The astounding truth of the covenant is that how we treat each other is perhaps the most significant indicator of our relationship to God… If we are to be in a relationship with him, we must agree to treat one another fairly and with fundamental respect, recognizing that a person’s life, possessions, reputation, and marriage are inviolable. This is so because God is a person and this is how he treats persons”^[vii]  There cannot be social justice until some persons decide that the meeting of their personal needs must be secondary to having the basic needs of others met. This will never happen until such persons come to the realization that God wishes to meet their needs and can do it better for them than they themselves can.^[viii]

So, what can you do to stop the growth of these sins? Simply trying really hard not to be greedy, self-indulgent, cynical, not try to rationalize, not to become unjust is not going to go too far. The best way to retard and rid of the growth of bad fruit is by producing the good fruit of loving God and loving people.

Righteousness and justice, loving God and loving people begins with responding to Jesus who calls us to remain in him. “Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.” The gospel points us to relationship with Jesus. It is in relationship with Jesus we see clearly to what extent God went to care for and to protect his vineyard. It is in relationship with Jesus we understand we are created to produce the fruit of righteousness and justice. And, it is only in relationship with Jesus that we are empowered to produce the good fruit.

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[i] http://blog.zap2it.com/frominsidethebox/2010/06/american-idol-lee-dewyze-sang-in-the-paint-shop-all-the-time.html

[ii] http://www.cresourcei.org/lectionary/YearC/Cproper15ot.html

[iii] http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=10/5/2008&tab=1

[iv] C. S. Lewis, The Great Divorce. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996. pp. 20-22.

^[v] Oswalt, J. (2003). The NIV Application Commentary: Isaiah (117). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.

[vi] http://www.freshplaza.com/news_detail.asp?id=81

^[vii] Oswalt, J. (2003). The NIV Application Commentary: Isaiah (117). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.

^[viii] Oswalt, J. (2003). The NIV Application Commentary: Isaiah (118). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.

Subtraction before gaining (Isaiah 3-4)

Cornerstone Mission Church, Sunday Sermon, May 30, 2010

Concerning the breakup of the engagement and the wedding of our brother and sister in our church, I would like to take little bit of time to help you make sense of it.

• You are not married until you walk down the aisle as husband and wife.
• Engagement period is for preparing for marriage, but it is also a buffer time when a couple can make their choice not to marry each other for various reasons.
• It is not my place to elaborate for the reasons for their breakup. But, I will say this much. Although it is hard to see right now if any good can come out of this breakup, I believe that God is in control and he is working in their lives. They’ve worked earnestly through many issues during the premarital counseling sessions. However, in honesty they realized that there were things about their personal convictions and values that couldn’t be reconciled for marriage. And, I want you church to know that it is okay for them to dissolve the engagement and wedding in the light of what they’ve discovered about themselves and about each other.
• To do what’s right for the right reasons takes great courage and dependence in the Spirit of God. And, it is never late to do what’s right even it meant calling off the wedding.
• I am sure you are wondering how you can care for our brother and sister.  Let me suggest some ways for you. 
  • You need to be convinced of the gospel that God is at work and he is in control even in the heart wrenching breakup of engagement and wedding. If you are not sure that God is at work in times like this, you will not be much help to them; you will actually become hindrance to what God wants to accomplish in their lives.
  • You need to know that at times God takes things away from us that we depend on for pleasure and self-sufficiency in order to point us to Jesus Christ as our sufficiency.
  • The best way to help them is to soak them with your prayer. They are both suffering from massive heartaches that God will need to heal.
  • Call them, email them, text them to let them know that you support them, that God is at work. Pray for them in person, on the phone.
  • Offer them your listening ears and understanding and that you are there for them if they want to process with you. Offer your shoulders for them to cry.
  • Don’t participate in gossiping or speculating. Don’t participate in blaming game. If you must know, ask them personally.
  • Remember… we are a gospel community. In all circumstances, we need to trust in the power of the gospel to birth something beautiful and life changing from ugly and messy situations.

Now, for the message, I said earlier that at times God takes things away from us that we depend on for self-sufficiency and pleasure in order to point us to Jesus Christ as our sufficiency and our joy. That is the nature of the gospel. Gospel of Christ turns us away from the world and turns us to Christ. Paul said it well when he said in Philippians 3:7, “But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.” The gospel requires subtraction before gaining, subtracting the idols of self-sufficiency and pleasure in order to gain the sufficiency and joy in Christ.

Jesus explains it this way in Matthew 16:26, “What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?” Eugene Peterson paraphrases it like this, “What kind of deal is it to get everything you want but lose yourself? What could you ever trade your soul for?” Who wouldn’t want to gain the whole world? But, if adding the whole world to your possession means losing your life, you understand that this is not a sound proposition. It is a bad deal. Really, who wants to gain the whole world but only to lose your soul, your life?

Subtraction of the idols of self-sufficiency and pleasure must take place before your soul can be sufficient in Christ alone. Something must go, something must be taken out, something and everything that blinds you from seeing God as your true support and supply for your existence they all have to go. Chapter 3 deals with that which must be taken out while chapter 4 envisions what God wants to give.

Subtraction: What must be taken away?

In chapter 3, we see God doing a demolition work. Here is how C. S. Lewis saw our problem in his book Mere Christianity. He wrote, “You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage; but he is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it himself.” Because God’s vision is to build a place, a dwelling for himself, C. S. Lewis wrote, God “starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense.” So, what is God after? What is God trying to demolish in order to realize his vision?

Unbelief (chapter 3:1-15)

What we see in 3:1-15 is God rooting out unbelief in him.

Isaiah 3:1 says God was taking away from Jerusalem and from Judah all supplies of food and all supplies of water. And, from Isaiah 3:2-15, we see God taking away both the legitimate and illegitimate leadership: hero, warrior, judge, prophet, elder, the captain of fifty, man of rank, counselor, craftsman (ESV skillful magician) and the legitimate leaders of soothsayer (diviner, fortune teller) and clever enchanter (the expert in charms).

All the supplies and support came from God. And, God established the leadership among them to remind them who is their true support and supplier. But, the leadership was corrupted. They were practically atheists who denied God of all-knowing, all-present, and all-powerful.

When God took away the corrupted leadership that people trusted in, we see people desperately trying to fill the leadership vacuum; They put up boys to be their officials; mere children to govern them (Isaiah 3:4). We know it didn’t work because we see in Isaiah 3:5 the nation engulfed in chaos of oppression and uprising. The country became so poor and devastated that if you simply owned a cloak, if you had a coat to wear, that is if you were little better off than the rest, then you could become a leader. But, the reality was that no one wanted to step up and lead because they have forgotten who God is and what God was after. God was after building his Kingdom, but the Israelites were trying to build their own little territory without God.

Isaiah 2:20 says, “Stop trusting in a man, who has but a breath in his nostrils. Of what account is he?” The Israelites trusted in leadership that was against God. Isaiah 3:8 says that their words and deeds were against the LORD, and they defied God’s presence. Another word, they talked and acted as though they didn’t believe God could see their wrongdoings, or, perhaps, believed that God would just be silent and unmoved by their wrongdoings. Their words and their actions showed unbelief in God who is all-knowing, all-present, and all-powerful God. Again, practically speaking, they were atheists. So, it makes sense what we read in Isaiah 3:14-15. Since the leaders and the elders behaved like atheists, they had no fear in plundering and crushing the poor, the helpless whom God looked after.

• How about us? Are we Christian atheists? We say we believe in God, but in practice do we reject God who is all-knowing, all-present, and all-powerful God? Can you think of the ways you may defy God’s glorious presence, talk and act as though God cannot or doesn’t care to see when you wrong or when you don’t do what’s right?

Vanity of self-obsession (Isaiah 3:16-26)

What happens to a nation when the leaders become practical atheists? When the leaders ignore all-knowing, all-present, all-powerful God, what happens to the people? It creates self-obsessed people who only have eyes for luxury and comfort.

When you take your eyes off of God who is all-knowing, all-present, all-powerful, God who has his mission for you to make him known in this world, you cannot help but look to yourself. That’s what we see in 3:16-26. When the male leadership of the nation squandered away their God given mandate to lead the nation to make God known in the world, their women became proud and self-obsessed. They became obsessed with everything that made them beautiful, ornaments, headbands, crescent, necklaces, earrings, bracelets, veils, scarves, ankle bracelets, sashes, perfumes, charms, rings, jewels, party clothes, gowns capes, purses, mirrors fine linen garments, head ornaments, and shawls, perfume, rope, elegant hair… The list goes on.

But, Isaiah 3:18 says, “In that day the LORD will snatch away their finery.” Isaiah 3:24 echoes, “instead of beauty, branding.” Instead of fragrance, stench, instead of well-dressed hair, baldness, instead of beauty, branding… NLT makes it clearer, “Shame will replace her beauty.”

• Think about your life. Are you obsessed with yourself? Do you spend most of your time trying to appear put-together, confident, competent, and beautiful? Do you realize that all your effort to appear put-together will amount to nothing? Do you realize that all your beautifying obsession will amount to shame?

What does God want to give you?

So, we see God is after getting rid of unbelief in him who is all-knowing, all-present and all-powerful, we see that God is after getting rid of vanity of self-obsession.  Now, what is that God want to give us in place of unbelief and vanity of self-obsession?

Isaiah 4:2 says that “In that day the Branch of the LORD will be beautiful an d glorious…”  The Branch of the LORD is a Messianic title that points to the rule of Christ. The true leadership and beauty are not derived from human leadership, nor from things we put on, nor from the persona we put out. True leadership and true beauty comes from our Lord Jesus Christ.

Isaiah 4:3 and 4… here, we see God envisioning us as those left in Zion, as the remnants and holy because Jesus washes away our filth from sins and our mistreatment of others. God wants to transform us from being plagued with unbelief and vanity to being covered by his grace, his kindness, his power of forgiveness.

Isaiah 4:5-6… here, we see God envisioning us under his proactive canopy in the desert, covered by his cloud of smoke by day and flaming fire by night, a shelter and shade from the heat of day, a refuge and hiding place from the storm and rain.  This is one of the most beautiful images of what God wants to give us.  These verses remind me of what apostle John wrote in John 1:14.  “The Word [the Son of God] became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” Jesus is the canopy, a shelter and shade, a refuge and hiding place. He is our full support and our full supply. He is our true leader, he is our true beauty. That’s what God wants to give us, his Son Jesus Christ to dwell in us. Isn’t that great?  The gospel seeks to change the idolaters like you and me who sees the universe with ourselves at the center of it^[1], to people who see the universe with Jesus at the center as our true leader and as our true beauty.

Consider what Oswalt wrote in his commentary.

We have sinned in our lust for comfort, pleasure, and security, and we are now experiencing those results. But it is not a cruel God who brings those things upon us, and it is not a rejecting God who abandons us to the fire. Rather, it is a loving God who sees no other way to bring us to the place where he can live in us.^[2]

He is talking about God’s pruning working of subtracting unbelief and vanity of self-obsession.  God takes away precisely because he loves us in order to give us the best that he can give us, his Son Jesus Christ.  That’s love. 

Do you know what must be subtracted in order to gain Christ as your true leader and your true beauty?

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^[1] Oswalt, J. (2003). The NIV Application Commentary: Isaiah (101). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.

^[2] Oswalt, J. (2003). The NIV Application Commentary: Isaiah (107). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.

Coming of Christ (Isaiah 52.7-12; John 1:1-14)

Cornerstone Mission Church - Christmas Message on 12/25/2008

My sister’s family treated us to few days up in Wisconsin Dells to one of the indoor water theme parks. We made it there on Monday evening. And, I took my kids and my sister kids to water raft rides. I don’t know if you’ve been to one of those indoor water rides, but it is quite amazing. You go up what must be endless stairs for few minutes and finally get to the top where you get to descend on a round shaped raft down through a tube; well it is all over in 10’s of seconds. The tube begins inside the building, winds down outside the building, and finally enters back into the building. And, the raft simply winds down inside and through the tube and dumps you on the lower pool.

I’ve never been on these things at night, not alone on one of the coldest winter days thus far. As soon as raft takes off in splash, it quickly descends down inside a tube and in a matter of a second or so you are in this complete pitch darkness that blinds you and disorients you. And because you are in this pitch darkness, you cannot anticipate turns. And, you end up feeling dizzy… Well, I tried to be tough and I am sure none of the kids knew how I felt. But, I tell you, all I wanted after few twists and turns in pitch darkness inside the tube was a glimmer of light. That’s all I needed to get myself together, just a flicker of light at the end of the tube.

The absolute worse was when I sat down with my back facing downward. Something about going downward with quick twists and turns in complete darkness made me feel dizzy and nauseated. In complete darkness, I just couldn’t get my sense of direction. Man, did I want that light or what? Just to think about it gives me headache and makes me all dizzy. Kids were just fine. Perhaps, this is a sign of my aging. Now, don’t go around thinking that I was afraid of the ride, because I wasn’t, all right? Uh hum! I just didn’t like how riding down in pitch darkness made me feel all disoriented, dizzy and even nauseated. What made it all better was when there was light; it helped me regain my sense of direction.

Today’s world feels like descending down inside a pitch dark tube in a raft with your back facing downward. No one ever imagined just a year ago, or even six months ago, we will be where we are today with economic downturn. Some think that we haven’t hit the bottom yet. Other words, expect more bad news ahead of us well into the year 2009, perhaps stock market hitting 6000 level, rising unemployment rate at all time high, credit woes, businesses suffering. Then, there are two wars that our nation has been fighting. Although scaling down the military deployment is a possibility in Iraq, situations in Afghanistan are getting worse; it demands more troops and fear of repeating Russia’s unsuccessful occupation in Afghanistan is real. And, if you didn’t know already the long time dictator president Lansana Conte of Guinea died last Monday prompting unrest and another military coup. It is potentially explosive situation. Our Sarah and others who planned to take off for a Vision Trip with Teachus Mission to Guinea cannot leave any more. The world we live in today feels like dizzy, disoriented and discouraging downward descent inside a pitch dark tube with unexpected twists and turns. And, it is now more than any other time in recent history when people are looking for the real source of hope, the glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel.

For the Israelites, they felt like they were in this pitch dark and dizzying and discouraging descent when they were deported from the Promised Land as captives into the exile. There in the foreign land, Isaiah 52:7 lets us know that they yearned for good news who would proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!” Down the pitch dark tube of descent under the rules of foreign kings of Babylon, what else could be constituted as good news, then to hear, “Your God reigns!” So, they yearned for the Lord to return (8), to comfort his people (9b), to redeem Jerusalem (9c); they yearned to see the salvation of… God (10). And, they heard good news, “you will not leave in haste or go in flight; for the LORD will go before you, the God of Israel will be you rear guard.” Thus, they saw the light at the end of the tunnel. No longer were they confounded and disheartened in the pitch dark tube of descent for the Lord returned. So, there was this great celebration of God’s coming, God breaking into their wasted places of Jerusalem.

This coming of the Lord, breaking into the world of the exiles foreshadowed the coming of God in Christ Jesus. John puts it this way in 1:9, “The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world,” the world wrapped up in the pitch dark tube of descent. It came about when the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us (John 1:14), the Word, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth, his name is Immanuel, “God with us,” Jesus Christ! As it was when the LORD went before the Israelites and was their rear guard, it is Jesus who lights the way for us. Jesus is the light that stops the pitch dark tube of descent.

When apostle Paul asks this question in Romans 8:35, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?” he doesn’t assume that we Christians would be shielded from the pitch dark tube of descent. But, what he says is although we may be considered as sheep to be slaughtered… we are more than conquerors through him who loved us, namely Jesus Christ (36-37). His conviction is this, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39).

So, this morning, be encouraged, be strengthened in Christ’s advent. He came because he loves you. God’s plan is not to take away every problem and pain you are facing today as so many of us falsely hope for. No, he has better plan than zapping away our problems and pains. His plan is to make us warriors, conquerors, overcomers in the love of Jesus Christ. That is what Advent of Christ means today!