Deo Gloria
Sermon for January 10, 2021
Pastor Martin Bentz
Text: Isaiah 49:1-6
Theme: Listen to God’s Servant, Jesus!
- He is called by God.
- He does God’s will.
- He brings salvation to all people.
What would grab your attention? What would make you stop whatever you’re doing, turn up the radio or the TV and listen? Would it be a sale at your favorite store—50% off on everything? Would it be news that they had found a cure for the coronavirus? Would it be news about another terrorist attack, a bomb going off at the Mall of America, for example?
This morning in the verses of our text God urges us to stop whatever we’re doing and listen, not only because the message is so important, but also because of who it is that is speaking. No, it’s not Lester Holt or Bret Baier or some other national news figure. It’s not even the President of the United States. It’s Jesus. Jesus himself is speaking in these verses. So let’s give him our undivided attention. Listen to God’s Servant, Jesus! He is called by God. He does God’s will. And he brings salvation to all people.
“Listen to me, you islands; hear this, you distant nations”(v. 1). If you’re familiar with the geography of Palestine, you know there are no islands there. The land of Israel is not an island nation like Cuba or Indonesia. So right from the start we should note that the message of these verses is not directed just to the people of Israel. It’s directed to all people, even those who live on islands out in the Mediterranean Sea or in the Atlantic Ocean or those who live in far away countries. All people are invited and urged to listen because the speaker has an important message to share.
Whom are they supposed to listen to? The speaker doesn’t identify himself by name; but there is only one person who fits the description in these verses. He says that he was called by God even before he was born. He is referred to as God’s servant, the one in whom God will display his splendor. He is told that his mission not only will be to restore the tribes of Jacob, but also to serve as a light for the Gentiles, to bring God’s salvation to the ends of the earth. That can be only one person. That can only be Jesus Christ, our Savior. He is the faithful servant of the LORD, the one who brought glory to God in all he did. He is the true Israel, everything God’s people should have been but often weren’t. Yes, Jesus is the one speaking in these verses. In fact, we not only hear him speaking, but we hear God the Father speaking too. Doesn’t that pique your curiosity? Doesn’t that make you want to sit up and listen? It isn’t every day that we get to listen in on a conversation between Jesus and the Father. From their conversation we learn some important truths about our Savior Jesus, about that baby who was born in Bethlehem. We learn, first of all, that he was called by God.
“Before I was born the LORD called me; from my birth he has made mention of my name”(v. 1). If you and I didn’t know better, we would think that Jesus was called and commissioned at the time of his baptism, when the Spirit of God descended on him and when the voice of God came from heaven, saying: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased”(Mark 1:11). In fact, there are some religions that actually teach that, that Jesus was only a man, a mere human being. And at the time of his baptism the Spirit of God came upon him and empowered him and helped him to become our Savior. This verse reminds us that Jesus’ call and his mission did not begin at the time of his baptism. They go all the way back to the time of his birth and even before his birth. Already in eternity God had devised a plan for our salvation, to save our souls from sin and death. His plan was to send a Savior, someone who would take our place and suffer and die for our sins and by doing so, bring us back into a right relationship with him. And already in eternity God called his Son to be that Savior. And at just the right time God put his plan into action. He sent his Son into this world of ours, born as a baby in Bethlehem, a baby who was named Jesus, “Savior.”
When you were little, did you ever wonder what you would be when you grew up? Did you think about being a doctor some day, or maybe a teacher, or maybe a police officer, or maybe a farmer? Jesus never wondered. He knew from the moment he was born, and even before he was born. He knew when he was a 12-year-old boy at the temple. He knew when he was a young man, working in his father’s carpenter shop in Nazareth. There was never a moment in Jesus’ life when he wasn’t sure what he was going to be: our Savior. He was called by God.
A second thing we learn about Jesus in these verses is that he does God’s will. Look again at what is said in v. 3. This time we also hear God the Father speaking. “He said to me, ‘You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will display my splendor.’” A better translation of the second part of that verse would be “…in whom I will be glorified.” A servant is supposed to do his master’s will. He’s not supposed to do whatever he wants or whatever he feels like doing. He’s supposed to do the work or the task his master gives him to do. And that’s what Jesus did. Throughout his life Jesus always did his Father’s will. If it was honoring and obeying his parents, Jesus did it, perfectly, wholeheartedly. If it was loving God with all your heart and all your soul, Jesus did it, perfectly, wholeheartedly. If it was not lying or cheating or misusing God’s name, then Jesus didn’t, not even once. If it was loving your neighbor as yourself, then Jesus did it, every day, in every way. You and I haven’t always done such a good job of obeying our Father’s will. In fact, we have often brought shame and dishonor to God by the things we have said and done; but not Jesus. Jesus brought glory to the Father by obeying his will perfectly.
Jesus also brought glory to the Father by completing the work of our salvation. That’s what the Father sent him to do: to save us from our sins. And that’s what Jesus did, even though it was extremely difficult, even though it cost him his life. Jesus willingly laid down his life on the cross so that our sins might be paid for once and for all, so that we might not be separated from God, but might be brought back into a right relationship with him. As God’s servant Jesus completed the work his Father had given him. Remember the words Jesus spoke in John, ch. 17? Speaking to the Father he said, “I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do”(v. 4).
And Jesus did that work even when it seemed like it was all in vain. Take another look at v. 4. Here Jesus is speaking again and notice what he says, “But I said, ‘I have labored to no purpose; I have spent my strength in vain and for nothing. Yet what is due me is in the LORD’s hand, and my reward is with my God.’” When the people came and wanted to make him their king because he could provide food for their stomachs, do you suppose those thoughts crossed Jesus’ mind? “I have labored to no purpose; I have spent my strength in vain.” When he was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane in great anguish of soul and Peter, James and John fell asleep instead of praying as he asked them to, do you suppose those thoughts crossed Jesus’ mind? “I have labored to no purpose; I have spent my strength in vain.” When the people were given a choice between Barabbas and him and they chose the criminal and demanded that he be crucified, do you suppose those thoughts crossed Jesus’ mind? “I have labored to no purpose; I have spent my strength in vain.” There were times when it seemed like Jesus had wasted his time and his efforts, when his ministry seemed to be a failure, when all his work and all of his teaching and all of his miracles had all been done for nothing. But Jesus didn’t let that stop him. Jesus didn’t throw up his hands and say, “Forget it. I’m done. I’m not going to do it anymore.” No, Jesus put his trust in God, that God would reward his work even when he couldn’t see the results. Jesus carried out his mission to the bitter end, till it was finished. Jesus was the perfect servant of God, the one who did his will and brought him glory.
The third thing we learn about Jesus from these verses is that he brings salvation to all people. We turn our attention to the last two verses, where we hear Jesus quoting what the Father told him:
And now the LORD says—he who formed me in the womb to be his servant to bring Jacob back to him and gather Israel to himself, for I am honored in the eyes of the LORD and my God has been my strength—he says: “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.”
Jesus was sent to be the Savior of the Jewish people. As the Father said, he was to “restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel [he had] kept.” And Jesus spent the majority of his ministry doing precisely that, proclaiming the message of salvation to the Jewish people. And yet Jesus was never intended to be the Savior only of the Jews. His mission was far broader in scope. It included the Gentiles too. It included all people. “I will also make you a light for the Gentiles,” the Father said, “that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.”
This is the good news that we celebrate during the Christmas season and the Epiphany season. This is the good news that is brought out by the visit of the shepherds and the visit of the Wise Men. That baby who was born in Bethlehem is not just the Savior of the Jews. He didn’t come here into this world to bring salvation only to those in the land of Palestine or those in the Middle East. He came to bring salvation to all people, Jews and Gentiles, Greeks and Romans, Swedes and Germans and Hispanics and Latinos and Japanese and Chinese, and to the ends of the earth. No one is excluded. No one is left out. Jesus came to bring salvation to all.
But that doesn’t mean all people will be saved. The sad truth is that many people don’t believe in Jesus. Some don’t think they need a Savior. They think they are good enough for God just the way they are. Others choose to believe in some other god, a god like Allah or a god like Buddha. They look to them as the one who will help them, the one who will save them. Still others think that it doesn’t really matter what you believe. You can believe in Jesus. You can believe in Allah. You can believe in Buddha. It doesn’t matter. There are many different paths to life, many different roads to heaven. But nothing could be farther from the truth. Yes, it is true that God so loved the world that he sent his own Son to be our Savior, to be the Savior of all people; but it is also true that Jesus is the only Savior God has sent. “Salvation is found in no one else,” the Bible says, “for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved”(Acts 4:12).
How important it is that we listen to Jesus! How important it is that we take time out from our busy schedules, to stop what we’re doing and listen to Jesus! The reporters on TV can tell us about the problems in our world, but only Jesus can tell us about the real problem, the one in our hearts. The reporters on TV can tell us about the latest treatment or latest cure for heart disease or cancer; but only Jesus can tell us about the cure for sin. The reporters on TV can tell us about the latest tragic death; but only Jesus can save us from death and give us life that will never end. How important it is that we listen to Jesus!
Jesus is God’s servant, that very special servant who was called by God, who does God’s will, and who brings salvation to all people. So be sure to listen. Listen to God’s servant, Jesus! Amen.