First Reading: Isaiah 49:1-7
1Listen to me, O coastlands, and give attention, you peoples from afar. The Lord called me from the womb, from the body of my mother he named my name. 2He made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me a polished arrow; in his quiver he hid me away. 3And he said to me, “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified.” 4But I said, “I have labored in vain; I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity; yet surely my right is with the Lord, and my recompense with my God.” 5And now the Lord says, he who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him; and that Israel might be gathered to him — for I am honored in the eyes of the Lord, and my God has become my strength — 6he says: “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.” 7Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One, to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation, the servant of rulers: “Kings shall see and arise; princes, and they shall prostrate themselves; because of the Lord, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”
Psalm 40:1-11
1I waited patiently upon the Lord; he stooped to me and heard my cry. 2He lifted me out of the desolate pit, out of the mire and clay; he set my feet upon a high cliff and made my footing sure. 3He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God; many shall see, and stand in awe, and put their trust in the Lord. 4Happy are they who trust in the Lord! they do not resort to evil spirits or turn to false gods. 5Great things are they that you have done, O Lord my God! How great your wonders and your plans for us! there is none who can be compared with you. 6Oh, that I could make them known and tell them! but they are more than I can count. 7In sacrifice and offering you take no pleasure; you have given me ears to hear you; 8Burnt-offering and sin-offering you have not required, and so I said, “Behold, I come. 9In the roll of the book it is written concerning me: ‘I love to do your will, O my God; your law is deep in my heart.’” 10I proclaimed righteousness in the great congregation; behold, I did not restrain my lips; and that, O Lord, you know.11Your righteousness have I not hidden in my heart; I have spoken of your faithfulness and your deliverance; I have not concealed your love and faithfulness from the great congregation.
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 1:1-9
1Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes, 2To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours: 3Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 4I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, 5that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge — 6even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you — 7so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 8who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Gospel: John 1:29-42a
29The next day {John} saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’ 31I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.” 32And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. 33I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.” 35The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, 36and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” 37The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. 38Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, “What are you seeking?” And they said to him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?” 39He said to them, “Come and you will see.” So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. 40One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. 41He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means Christ). 42aHe brought him to Jesus.
Named, Claimed, Commissioned
Up the street on the Wesleyan church’s sign, someone put the following message, “If God is your co-pilot, change seats!” This is, of course, in response to the bumper sticker that used to be popular, “God is my co-pilot.” It’s a great thought-provoking sign: who is the controlling factor in our lives? In light of our First Reading for this morning, I’ll leave you with that thought.
A few years ago, friend of mine shared with me his experiences when his daughter reached driving age. My friend, and to protect the innocent we’ll call him Harold, shared that when his oldest daughter, we’ll call her Kelly, was approaching her sixteenth birthday, his wife decided that he needed to be the one to teach her how to drive. He said that after a brief orientation session in the family driveway, Kelly took the wheel and proceeded to drive — very cautiously — to an empty parking lot a few blocks away. Harold said he couldn’t help himself. He braced his feet firmly on the floorboard, placed both hands rigidly placed against the dashboard, and with perspiration dripping from his brow, he began a rapid-fire critique of Kelly’s driving.
“Use the brake! Put your foot on the brake right now! Okay, ease out onto the street. First put it in drive! Slow down! Watch out for that bicycle! Put your turn signal on. No, that’s the wipers. Watch your speed,” and so on. All this, he said, occurred within the first block. After Kelly finally pulled into the parking lot to practice parallel parking, Harold admits he lost control. “You just don’t listen! Can’t you do anything right? I can’t believe you did that.” On and on this went until Kelly, his firstborn and cherished daughter, burst into tears. “I’ll never be able to please you, Daddy,” she cried as she got out of the car, slammed the door, and started to walk back home.
Suddenly, Harold recalled an inscription on the plaque that his high school metal shop class had made for his office: “I’m just a backseat driver in the tunnel of love.” Harold said he was so ashamed. During the first few weeks of that class, he had been far too quick to criticize and far too slow to praise. He would look over the shoulders of each student and find fault with each project. “Just like I did with Kelly,” he thought.
After a few days of Harold’s “backseat driving,” the students rebelled and, as a group, walked out, “just like Kelly did,” Harold reminded himself. “I thought that I had learned my lesson.” Harold then rushed down the street to beg forgiveness and make a promise to enroll her in a driver training course the very next day.
I wonder how many here today will admit that they can easily identify with Harold. What, at first, appears to be a simple task, that would help someone we care about, decidedly ends up as a total failure. Throughout all four of our readings, the same themes occur: God calls, God empowers, we proclaim. In today’s Old Testament text, Isaiah presents the address of a servant called by God even before his birth. “The Lord called me before I was born, while I was in my mother’s womb, he named me” (Isaiah 49:1). Then God gave Isaiah a specific task to accomplish: to bring the exiles back home and to gather again God’s people who had been driven to faraway lands by conquering armies (Isaiah 49:5). Isaiah also shares that God had given him the focus of a polished arrow and had hidden him away in the Lord’s quiver until it was time to act. In God’s power and with God’s authority, the words of the servant would penetrate resistance like a sharp sword (Isaiah 49:2).
Think about these first few verses, Isaiah had been named, claimed, and commissioned by God for a specific task. As God’s child, claimed in baptism, all of us can say the same thing, we too have been named, claimed, and commissioned to share God’s message not only with our fellow believers, but also with the world. Look at our gospel reading for a moment. John the Baptist in verse 31 says, “for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that [the Lamb of God] might be revealed. John was called from the womb and named for one overarching purpose, to reveal Jesus as the Messiah. His call is our call. And like John and Isaiah, we know that accomplishing this commission won’t always be easy, or even enjoyable.
Harold said he expected that it would be easy to teach his sixteen-year-old daughter how to drive. But like so many of us, he was quickly confronted with reality. Both Isaiah and John the Baptist faced disappointments. John began to doubt and even sent disciples to question Jesus before he was beheaded, “are you the One, or are we to look for another?” (Matt. 11:3). Even Isaiah had his complaints: “I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity” (Isaiah 49:4). At times, it can be tough being a faithful disciple. And if we rely on our own efforts and perceptions, it’s downright impossible to be a loyal servant of God.
Our Old Testament text emerges from a time when everything seemed to be going wrong for God’s people. The Northern Tribes of Israel had been conquered by Assyria a more than a century and a half earlier. The people of the Israel had been scattered to distant nations. Judah, in the south, had been overrun by Babylon. The walls of Jerusalem were nothing but rubble. The temple of the Lord was in ruins. Leaders of the Hebrew nations had been taken captive with little hope for return.
Having been in captivity for several years now, the hopes and dreams of the people had disappeared. No wonder the servant’s initial efforts seemed like an exercise in futility: just like John, just like Isaiah and almost all the prophets and just like you and me. The lament of God’s servant may have become ours. “I have labored in vain. I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity” (Isaiah 49:4). But it’s important for us to see a turning point in our text.
The next two words in verse 4 are very decisive for the complaining servant and for God’s discouraged people. They’re important because they announce that God is about to transform our perception of reality from failure and futility, to promise and possibility. With these two words, God gets our attention. God is about to reverse our self-definition from weak, depressed, and exhausted, to named, claimed, and commissioned. For the servant and for God’s people, it’s not all about us. And this is very important, it’s all about God.
These two transforming words are, “Yet, surely.” In the middle of the servant’s exhausted complaining, he declares, “Yet, surely my cause is with the Lord, and my reward is with my God” (Isaiah 49:4). Yet, surely, in his discouragement, Harold had a vision of God’s renewal as he remembered the plaque given by his students. Yet, surely, in the midst of our own failures and depleted energy, God gives you and I visions of renewal. Focus for a moment on the cross, the font, and the altar. Hear the scriptures opened. See God’s gathered people around you. Yet, surely, right here, among us, God, in our baptism, has named, claimed, and commissioned us. Yet, surely, right here, God is revealing His reality for all the splashed and nourished sinner servants of God. Yet, surely, with the prophets, we remember, we recall both God’s claim of us and God’s commission to us. I read a short article another pastor shared with me the other day.
Kathy dropped by her pastor’s study one Thursday morning on her way to her last university class before graduation. The pastor noticed that Kathy’s left arm was wrapped in a towel. In her right hand, Kathy held a straight razor. The towel dropped from her left arm revealing a long, open, bloody gash. Holding up the razor, with tears in her eyes, Kathy pleaded, “Convince me not to finish this.” With a gulp and a silent prayer, the pastor said, “I don’t know if I can, but let’s take a memory walk first.”
Together they strolled through the church building, pausing to share stories of nursery school, confirmation classes, and youth group activities. Kathy recalled how her struggle with depression kept coming back, taunting her with thoughts of how empty and meaningless her life had become. Even though she was on the dean’s list, she felt stupid. Even though she had received a superior rating for her student teaching, she believed that she would be a disaster as an elementary school teacher. Even though her parents had chosen to adopt her while she was still in her birth mother’s womb, Kathy could only see that she somehow couldn’t live up to their expectations. Just like God’s servant in our text, Kathy believed: “I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity” (Isaiah 49:4). “Come on, Kathy,” urged her pastor, “we have one more stop on our memory walk. Let’s go into the sanctuary.”
Together they stopped at the baptismal font. “Here’s where your mother and father promised to introduce you to an enormous family who would always support you. Here’s where God cleansed, named, and chose you as His child, forever a part of His family.” Kathy remained silent still clutching the towel around her arm. Yet she allowed the pastor to lead her down the center aisle toward the altar. “Look at the cross, Kathy. It was on the cross where Jesus suffered and died so that you might have life. Here’s the altar where Jesus gives you His own body and blood to nourish and strengthen you.” Kathy at this point dropped to her knees and began sobbing uncontrollably.
After a few moments, just when her pastor was planning to call 9-1-1, Kathy stood up. Placing the straight razor on the altar, Kathy announced, “I remember. Let’s go get some help.” And they did. “Yet, surely,” remembered the servant, “my cause is with the Lord” (Isaiah 49:4). Yet surely, remembered Kathy, child of God, there’s still work to be done; a life to live, and a baptismal commission to fulfill.
At first, the task of God’s servant was limited to reminding and restoring the scattered children of Israel … no simple job, but the servant knew that he was honored and strengthened by God to carry it out. “I am honored in the sight of the Lord and my God has become my strength” (Isaiah 49:5). At first, the task of God’s servant, Kathy, was to begin to heal and to graduate. At first, the task of God’s servant, Harold, was to provide driving lessons for his daughter. Each of these servants of God experienced failure and discouragement. What about us? What failures confront us? What dreams seem futile? Yet, surely, just as the Lord refreshed the memory of God’s servants with reminders of His forever love, God reminds us, as well.
In our psalm reading for today, the psalmist reminds us in verse 10, “In the roll of the book it is written concerning me. I love to do your will, O my God; your law is deep in my heart. I proclaim righteousness in the great congregation: behold I have not restrained my lips…I have spoken of your faithfulness and your deliverance; I have not concealed your love and faithfulness from the great congregation” (vss. 9-11). Not only did all God’s servants receive the necessary strength to complete their calls, in Isaiah’s case, God expanded it. God said: “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the survivors of Israel; I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth” (Is. 49:6).
Kathy went on to graduate with honors from college and she became Third Grade Teacher of the Year in her elementary school. Today she is the principal of that school and serves as a youth advisor in her congregation. Not only did Harold, renew a relationship with his daughter, he now volunteers as part of a ministry team working with youthful gang members. Recently, some of these young people presented Harold with a cross, made from melted down pistols, knives, and chains. These servants of God couldn’t remain faithful to doing any of these things by their own efforts. They could only carry out their tasks in God’s word to them, “… because of the Lord, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you” (Isaiah 49:7).
We are all, with Harold, backseat drivers, God is our pilot, or He should be! All God’s faithful servants will experience frustration, disappointments, feelings of futility, and failure. Yet, surely, God desires to be the front seat driver, encouraging us to remember that, in baptism, God has named, claimed, and chosen us forever. He is the One who strengthens us for the task we’re called to accomplish. Yet, surely, in Christ, God has commissioned us for mission. Our call is to remember that it’s not about us, it’s all about God. Now is the time for all God’s servants to remember our baptismal call and get moving!
Amen.