Isaiah 50:4-10 *
In the name of Christ Jesus, dear friends:
About a week ago I had a conversation with a pastor who told
me about the worst dining experience he ever had. He and his wife went out to dinner at a
restaurant in the
The evening started badly when their server passed by their table three times without even acknowledging them. When she finally did stop to take their order, the situation got worse. It seems that the server was more interested in watching the television in the bar area than waiting on her customers.
The couple hoped that a good meal would make up for the bad service, but they were disappointed. The drinks were warm. The food was cold. And when the manager offered to give them the meal for free and some coupons for a future visit, my pastor friend told him not to bother because they would never be coming back.
Maybe you can relate. Maybe you can remember a similar experience. Maybe you have your own horror story to tell about a time when you received terrible service. But do you have a story about a time when you had an overwhelmingly positive experience, a time when you had absolutely no complaints, a time when the service could not have been any better?
The prophet Isaiah does. In the text for today Isaiah tells us his good service story as he introduces us to the ideal servant. This servant isn’t looking to earn tips. His one and only mission is to save souls. This servant isn’t just pleasant and punctual and courteous. He is perfect. And with all clarity and simplicity he provides us with…
A SERVANT’S GUIDE FOR GOD-PLEASING
SERVICE
I. Uncompromising obedience
II. Unwavering
confidence
The book of Isaiah contains four different “servant songs.” The servant of the Lord is introduced in chapter 42, where God says: “Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him and he will bring justice to the nations” (1). A couple verses later he is described as one who will not break a bruised reed or snuff out a smoldering wick.
The mission of this servant is explained in chapter 49. The Lord declares: “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes
of Jacob and bring back those of
The fourth and final servant song is the most well known,
and it is quoted in the New Testament more than any other Old Testament
passage. Listen to the familiar words of
Isaiah 53: “He (that is, the servant)
was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the
punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are
healed. We all, like sheep, have gone
astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the
iniquity of us all” (5, 6).
All of this information gives us a good overview of the “servant” theme developed by Isaiah, but these references do more than that. Taken together they help us identify who this servant is. And they help us understand who is speaking in our text for today.
The servant doesn’t symbolize the nation of
Before we get into the text itself, we need to remember something. We need to remember that Jesus and Isaiah were not contemporaries. Isaiah didn’t write down everything he saw like a reporter on the scene. Isaiah died about seven hundred years before Jesus was even born. And that makes the amazing things he has to say about Jesus even more amazing.
Speaking prophetically through the pen of Isaiah, the
servant says: “The Sovereign LORD has
given me an instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary. He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my
ear to listen like one being taught” (4).
In order to obey God’s law, in order to comply with all of
God’s commands, the servant needed to know them. And so he became a student of God’s
Word. He studied it daily. He listened carefully. We are reminded of the boy Jesus with the
religious teachers in the temple, listening to them and asking them questions
(Luke
Theologically speaking Jesus’ obedience can be divided into two categories, his active obedience and passive obedience. Pastors love to preach about Jesus’ passive obedience, and that’s a good thing. It is important to remember everything Jesus endured for us, the pain and persecution, but we need to be careful. We need to be careful that we don’t forget about Jesus’ active obedience in the process.
Isaiah didn’t forget.
He continues: “The Sovereign LORD
has opened my ears, and I have not been
He obeyed his parents.
He honored his superiors. He
always stood up for what was right. He
never did anything wrong. He never even
thought about doing anything wrong. And
then he resolutely, willingly, intentionally made one last trip to
The servant puts it this way: “I offered my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard; I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting” (6). These words take us back to Holy Week, to the High Priest’s courtroom, to the Stone Pavement and the crown of thorns and the purple robe. We know the story. We have heard it many times before. But I have to admit that this verse made me look at it in a different way, and it made me appreciate my Savior even more.
When the Roman soldiers strapped Jesus to the whipping post,
he didn’t struggle to get away. When
Jesus’ enemies spit on him and struck him in the face, he didn’t turn
away. When the executioner pounded the
spikes into Jesus’ hands and feet, he didn’t even flinch. He knew that this was his Father’s will. He knew that this was his Father’s plan. And so Jesus gave up his life as his final
act of uncompromising obedience.
Why did he do it? Why
was Jesus so obedient? Why was he
willing to suffer and die? Perhaps an
e-mail I recently received can shed some light on the question. It goes like this: If you can start the day without caffeine, if you can resist
complaining and boring people with your troubles, if you can understand when
your loved ones are too busy to give you any time, if you can overlook it when
something goes wrong through no fault of yours and those you love take it out
on you, if you can take criticism and blame without resentment, if you can
ignore a friend's limited education and never correct him, if you can resist
treating a rich friend better than a poor friend, if you can face the world
without lies and deceit, if you can say honestly that deep in your heart you
have no prejudice, then, my friends, you
are almost as good as your dog.
Spiritually
speaking, we are like dogs. You could
even make the case that we aren’t as good as dogs. We are proud.
We are rude. We are not always
honest or forgiving. We are quick to point
out the faults of others and even quicker to make excuses for ourselves. And when we stop and take a good, hard look
at ourselves, when we view our lives in the mirror of God’s law, we don’t see
uncompromising obedience. We see
disobedience. We see sin. And there is no obedience school
that can make that sin go away.
That is why God
sent his Son into this sinful world.
That is why God’s Son perfectly obeyed his Father’s will. That is why Jesus was willing to suffer so
much. He did what we could never
do. He died in our place. He died to forgive our sins. “The
Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a
ransom for many” (Matthew
The servant
continues: “He who vindicates me is
near. Who then will bring charges
against me? Let us face each other! Who is my accuser? Let him confront me” (8)! The confidence of God’s servant almost
borders on defiance. He is prepared for
battle. He is ready and willing and able
to take on all challengers…just like Jesus was during his public ministry.
When his detractors
tried to challenge him, Jesus countered with a question: “Can any of you prove me guilty of sin” (John
If Jesus appears to
be a bit overconfident, if the servant’s tone sounds like one of defiance, it
is only because he is able to back it up.
He is able to back it up with a rock-solid reliance: “Because the Sovereign LORD helps me, I
will not be disgraced…It is the Sovereign LORD who helps me. Who is he that will condemn me? They will all wear out like a garment; the
moths will eat them up” (7a, 9).
The servant didn’t
care what other people thought of him.
The servant wasn’t concerned about what other people might do to
him. The enemies of God come and go, but
God is our refuge and strength. God is
an ever-present help in trouble (Psalm 46:1).
He helps us. He defends us. He loves us.
The servant knew that. Jesus knew
that. And he wants us to know and
believe that too.
He wants us to be
like a member of this congregation who died and went to heaven a few years
ago. I can remember quite a few things
about this woman, but what I remember most is her favorite Bible passage. In fact, she was able to weave this little verse
into every conversation we had. Romans
8:31: “If God is for us, who can be
against us?” At the end of her life
this woman didn’t have much, but she had everything. She had a Savior. She had saving faith. She possessed an unwavering confidence in
God’s eternal promises.
And in the final
words of our text Isaiah reminds us that we can have the same confidence
because we have the same promises: “Who
among you fears the LORD and obeys the word of his servant? Let him who walks in the dark, who has no
light, trust in the name of the LORD and rely on his God” (10).
Even if it feels
like your life is spinning out of control, God is still in control. Even if the future looks bleak, your eternal
future is brighter than ever. Even if
your best and closest friend deserts you, God will never leave your side. Trust in him.
Rely on him. Believe in him.
Chances are that
you will have a negative dining experience at some point in the future. Instead of getting upset, instead of making a
scene, instead of letting it spoil your evening, I want you to try something radically
different.
I want you to
remember this sermon. I want you to
remember Isaiah’s Suffering Servant and his perfect example of God-pleasing
service. And I want you to give thanks. Thank Jesus for his uncompromising obedience
and unwavering confidence. That should
help you keep things in perspective.
That will go a long way in improving your mood. And who knows? It might even make you smile. Amen.