Sunday
11/27/16 Freeville/Homer Avenue UMC’s
Sermon Title: “Isaiah’s Prophecy”
(“The Messiah is coming” Series – Part 1 of 5)
Old Testament
Scripture: Isaiah 2:1-5
New Testament
Scripture: Romans 13:11-14
Gospel Lesson:
Matthew 24:36-44
Welcome again my friends, my brothers and sisters, on this
the First Sunday in this the season of Advent. This season of hope, of wonder,
of joy, of love, and of anticipation. This season of Advent is our season of
preparation for the birth of Jesus Christ, the savior of the world. The Season
of Christmas itself will begin at midnight on Christmas Eve, and we will then
have as the song says, “Twelve Days of Christmas,” as the season of Christmas
is twelve-days.
In some Christian Churches, it is the tradition to sing no
Christmas hymns in worship until the twelve-days of Christmas actually begin. To
this I say, “bah-humbug,” as every Sunday of Advent we will sing more and more Christmas
hymns.
This Sunday, is also a special giving Sunday in the life of
the United Methodist Church. This special giving Sunday is “United Methodist
Student Sunday”. Your special gifts on this Sunday, go to fund United Methodist
students who will become pastors or a variety of other professions. Your gifts
towards this special giving Sunday will allow some of our best and brightest to
get a college education, to then do amazing things in the name of Jesus Christ.
If you would like to give to this special giving Sunday during our offering
this morning, please make yours checks out to UNYUMC, and indicate your funds
as being for United Methodist Student Sunday on your check memo lines or envelopes.
We will then make sure that these funds get to conference, and then to the
students that need them.
As I said, we are now in a season of waiting for the coming
of the savior of the world, Jesus Christ. The hope that I have for us all, is
that we can find the peace of Jesus Christ during this busy and sometimes very
stressful season. I also hope in this season and always that we can strive to
love, to live, and to reach out more, to be more like Jesus.
So have you found the hope of Jesus Christ yet in this season
of Advent? You see my sisters and brothers, Jesus Christ, “the Messiah is
coming”. Are we ready for his arrival? Are we ready with joy, hope, wonder, and
anticipation for the one who will change our lives forever?
As I preached last Sunday, many of the prophets and many of
the people in the times of the Old Testament lived through circumstances that
were sometimes very difficult. The Jewish people had a cycle where they would
go from peace and prosperity, to war, slavery, and exile. From great joy and
hope, to misery and despair. This cycle of ups and downs can be seen as we read
through the Psalms in the Old Testament. In some ways, aren’t our own lives
like this? Sometimes were up, and sometimes were down.
Last week, I preached mainly from the Old Testament
scripture from prophet Jeremiah. In this message, I spoke about how Jeremiah
predicted that a leader would come, a decedent of the great King David. This
leader would be great, would be righteous, and would save his people. This
leader would change us and the world forever.
For us Christians, we believe that this leader, this messiah,
this prince of peace has already come to us in the name of Jesus Christ. Yet we
still live in world that desperately needs hope, joy, love, and a savior.
Every week in this church and many other churches we read a
few different scriptures in our worship services. We often read a scripture
from the Old Testament, a scripture from the New Testament, and then a reading
from one of the four gospels, which also from the New Testament. While we tend
to read only three scriptures every Sunday, our lectionary scriptures, that our
church and many churches follow, give us four scriptures every Sunday.
We only read three of them, as to not overwhelm us with trying
to understand too much scripture in one worship service. These scriptures are
picked long in advance by the church, and are picked out in such a way that the
Old Testament scriptures, the chosen Psalm, the New Testament scriptures, and the
gospel reading will all connect together. Today the prophecy of the prophet
Isaiah will connect to the New Testament scriptures.
Next Sunday, our Finger Lakes District Superintendent will
not be preaching from the lectionary however, as he has chosen two scriptures
that will correlate or come together.
This morning, the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 2 predicts the
coming of the Messiah, the Savior, Jesus Christ. So let us on this First Sunday
in Advent see what the great prophet Isaiah predicted about the coming of the
Messiah.
Our reading from Isaiah 2 begins with: “The word that
Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. In days to come the
mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established as the highest of the
mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; all nations shall stream to it”
(Isa. 2:1-2, NRSV). My sisters and brothers, Isaiah is alluding to messiah
coming.
Isaiah then says, “Many peoples shall come and say, “Come,
let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, the house of the God of Jacob; and he
may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths” (Isa. 2:3a, NRSV). God
will restore Israel.
The next part of this scripture really gets to the heart of
what Isaiah is telling us this morning. Isaiah says, “For out of Zion shall go
forth instruction, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. He shall judge
between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat
their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall
not lift up sword again nation, neither shall they learn to war any more” (Isa.
2:3b-4, NRSV). Isaiah’s prophecy this morning is that the Prince of Peace, the messiah,
the savior, a decedent of the great King David, is coming.
Isaiah then ends this scripture by saying, “O house of
Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord!” (Isa. 2:5, NRSV). Jesus
tells us in the gospels that he is the light of the world.
In the reading from Psalm 122 that we did not read for this
morning, it discusses reaching the gates of Jerusalem and standing in the house
of the Lord. How fitting, as this day we are discussing the coming of the Lord
of life, Jesus Christ. The one who will reconcile us all to God’s abundant
grace.
After we have read Isaiah’ prophecy of the coming of the Messiah
in the Old Testament, we then can look at the Apostle Paul’s letter to the
Romans in the New Testament. In this letter to the Romans, Jesus of course has
already come, has already lived, and has already died and rose again.
In this scripture, the Apostle Paul discusses not the hope
of the coming messiah, but instead Paul says what should do now that Jesus
Christ has come. The Apostle Paul says, “Let us then lay aside the works of
darkness and put on the armor of light; let us live honorably as in the day,
not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in
quarreling and jealousy. Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no
provisions for the flesh, to gratify its desires” (Rom. 13:13-14, NRSV).
In this scripture from the Apostle Paul’s letter to the
Romans, Christ is not predicted to come, he has already come. The Apostle Paul
then tells us to believe and live like the Messiah, like Jesus Christ.
As it turns out in our gospel of Matthew reading for this
morning, we have a scripture on the second coming of Jesus Christ. So in Isaiah
and in Psalm 122 we hear ideas, prophecies about the coming of the messiah. We
hear about the hope that is to come in Jesus Christ.
The Apostle Paul then tell us a little bit about how to
live, follow, and serve our now arrived messiah, Jesus Christ. At this point,
Jesus Christ has already been born, has already lived, has already died, has
already been raised, and has promised to return one day in glory.
In the reading from this morning from the gospel of
Matthew, we hear as I said, of Jesus’s then triumphant return to earth.
Quite a lot in one set of Sunday morning scriptures! We go
from the prediction of the messiah, to living like the messiah that came, to
the last line of the gospel of Matthew reading for this morning that says, “Therefore
you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at unexpected hour” (Mt.
24:44, NRSV). What this very means is that Jesus Christ will return one day unexpectedly,
and without warning.
As you can see in an extreme way this morning, the
scriptures we are given to read every week correlate, and connect. This morning,
we begin with Isaiah’s prophecy of the coming messiah, and then this leads the
Apostle Paul telling us how to better live for Christ. We then hear in the
gospel of Matthew about Christ’s triumphant return.
Yet all of these realities about Jesus Christ, who he is,
what he would be, and what he still is, began long before he ever walked the earth.
In this season of hope, joy, love, and anticipation, the prophet Isaiah this
morning is pointing us to very reason we have this season of Advent. The
prophet Isaiah is pointing us to the fact that “The Messiah is coming”.
Friends, brothers and sisters, in this season of Advent, are
we drawing closer to Christ? Are excited that he is coming? Are seeking daily
to love others more? “The Messiah is coming,” to show us a new way to love, heal,
and forgive, to reconcile himself to all of creation. Do we have joy, love,
hope, and anticipation about this?
It is my hope that in this season of Holy Advent that we
rediscover the love, the hope, and the joy of Jesus Christ, and that we then
share this with the world. In Jesus name. Amen.
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