Order, Words, & Voices
06.18.23, Psalm 37:1-8, Differentiating Good
Order
Pre Worship Music
Opening Song Billy/Linda
Hallelujah He Reigns
Give Thanks
Call to Worship Response/Lord’s Prayer Rick
Reading Isaiah 5:18-20 Renee
Songs Billy/Linda
Faithful One
Show Me Your Ways
Message Differentiating Good Rick
Music Show Your Ways Billy/Linda
Community/Peace Rick
Benediction/Closing Peace Rick
Post Worship Music
Slides Note: There is a blank title slide between each Section – except for message/sermon slides.
Music (slides) – Billy/Linda
Hallelujah He Reigns
Verse
Show me Your ways
That I may walk with You
Show me Your ways
I put my hope in You
Chorus
The cry of my heart
Is to love You more
To live with the touch
Of Your hand
Stronger each day
Show me Your ways
Give Thanks
Chorus
Give thanks with a grateful heart
Give thanks to the Holy One
Give thanks because He’s given
Jesus Christ His Son
Verse
And now let the weak say I am strong
Let the poor say I am rich
Because of what the Lord has done for us
Call to Worship (Slides) – Rick
Leader: To establish a vineyard on a fertile hillside, the ground had to be dug, the stones had to be cleared away, excellent vines had to be planted.
Response: When harvest came only rotten grapes were found.
Leader: God compared the vineyard to himself to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and Judah. The vineyard was good, yet it grew only rotten grapes.
Response: God warned that the vineyard would be torn down and destroyed.
Leader: The vineyard would be ruined, it would not be pruned or hoed, thorns and thistles would grow up.
Response: There would be no rain to water the vines.
Leader: God created and it was good. God expected justice and righteousness.
Response: But there was only bloodshed and cries of distress.
Leader: The prophet Isaiah cried out, “I am doomed! I’m a man of sin, and I live among a people of sin.”
Response: God asked “Who should I send?” Isaiah said, “Send me.”
Lord’s Prayer (Slides) ‘Join me in the prayer of Jesus’ – Rick
Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name.
Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, On Earth as it is in Heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our trespasses, while we forgive those who trespass against us. And, lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.
Reading (Slides) – Renee
Doom to those who drag guilt along with cords of fraud, and haul sin as if with cart ropes, while saying, “God should hurry and work faster so we can see; let the plan of Israel’s holy one come quickly, so we can understand it.”
Doom to those who call evil good and good evil, who present darkness as light and light as darkness, who make bitterness sweet and sweetness bitter.
(Isaiah 5:18-20, CEB)
Music (Slides) Billy/Linda
Faithful One
Verse
Faithful One so unchanging
Ageless One You’re my Rock of peace
Lord of all I depend on You
I call out to You again and again
I call out to You again and again
Chorus
You are my Rock in times of trouble
You lift me up when I fall down
All through the storm
Your love is the anchor
My hope is in You alone
Ending
My hope is in You, My hope is in You
Our hope is in You alone
Show Me Your Ways
Verse
Show me Your ways
That I may walk with You
Show me Your ways
I put my hope in You
Chorus
The cry of my heart
Is to love You more
To live with the touch
Of Your hand
Stronger each day
Show me Your ways
Message – Differentiating Good (Slides)
Introduction – 2 stories of the need to break free
We were at my mothers house recently and my sister Anita was there with her with her son Brian and her dog Lyle who had a leash on him as he would walk around the house (Lyle not Brian). Years ago the dog trainer told us to do this to keep the dogs calm and to keep them from jumping off of high places – dachshunds and can hurt their back very easy from jumping down from even short heights. So Lyle is walking around the house dragging this leash and and every time he would be on a wood floor or a tile floor you could hear him from anywhere in the house where he was. He would walk along sometimes around corners or up against furniture and the leash would get stuck so Lyle would stand there, very patiently, waiting for someone to rescue him. But there were other times that he would just stop for no reason and he would look up at us with an expression on his face that said “Really? This is what my life has come to?! “You could tell just wanted to be free, he just needed a break.
When all five of the kids were in elementary school, I was volunteering one day when the principal contacted me and asking for help in finding Ezra. I knew Ezra, he was a little kindergarten guy, I knew his parents, and I knew his family, they lived just around the corner from us. I enjoyed watching the antics of Ezra. Ezra had disappeared and couldn’t be found in the school so the principal was asking me to assist as the search was moving the surrounding neighborhood, my neighborhood. If I remember correctly, this was not Ezra’s first escape. I can’t remember but I have a feeling this was not the first time. Since I knew where he lived I headed in the direction of his house. The principal went down a different street looking around and checking in to see if she could find him while I walked towards his house. As I approached the house I could see through the front windows and quickly recognized that Ezra was sitting relaxed in the reclining chair with the television remote control in his hand. I called the principal and remained in the street until the principal arrived. She was able to coax him outside and convinced him to return to school with her. I walked at a distance from behind but close enough so I could hear, I couldn’t wait to hear Ezra’s conversation with the principal. She was very comforting and affirming to Ezra and very nicely expressed to him that she had to be an extremely worried about him. Walking behind him I could see his slumped shoulders and could hear his sigh as in his disillusion kicked in over his total dissolution of his current life situation. And then she asked him “Ezra, why did you did you run away from school? “I really strained to hear, this was what I was looking forward to as he said, “You know I just needed to go home and watch cartoons, I needed a break.” He needed to get away and he knew exactly how to do that! It was really quite amazing.
As I’ve gotten some distance from the story I’ve wondered if Ezra actually was thinking “Why doesn’t everyone do this when we get tired of being at the school?“ Sometimes we have a leash on us, sometimes we’re confined in a building, sometimes we just recognize it is time for a break.
Isaiah Background
Reading for this week is in the book of Isaiah, a prophet called my God however in our passage for today, if the chronology of the book is correct, Isaiah was not yet a prophet of God. At this point in the story, it is around 800 to700 years before the birth of Christ, and 100-125 years before the Babylonian invasion. The people have once again turned away from God. Isaiah knows these people he’s one of these people. He probably came from a fairly affluent if not at least a very comfortable family. He has sufficient money to live on, holds an important place socially, and is probably privileged and possibly entitled.
As we arrive at chapter 5, up to his point it has largely been God talking to Isaiah, not through him to others. That will soon change as God will initiate the call to Isaiah to be a prophet and Isaiah will accept. This makes the things God says in chapter 5 all the more intriguing. God has been describing the people to Isaiah, particularly the fact that this is a messed up bunch of people who will not listen to God. This will be the people that, in chapter 6, Isaiah will be sent to speak to for God. At this point, however, that we must recognize the reality of the mission to come, a mission that Isaiah is unaware of, and a mission that God is being totally honest about.
Dooms/Woes
[Slide] As God nears the end of prepping Isaiah for the reality of the calling Isaiah is about to receive, God names six ‘Dooms’ or ‘Woes” that describe the affluent, entitled, and privileged contemporaries of Isaiah. These are six ‘dooms’ or ‘woes’, a warning to the entitled, wealthy, and powerful, of how their actions will ultimately lead to their own demise.
- [Slide] Doom to those who are taking all the property but not leaving space for the regular, marginalized and poverty stricken persons.
- [Slide] Doom to those who have so much wealth that they do nothing all day but consume wine, meaning that the grapes, raisins, honey and barley crops are decimated before the regular, marginalized and poverty stricken persons are given an opportunity to share in these items for their most basic needs.
- [Slide] Doom to those who don’t merely reside in sin, but have attached themselves to the foundational ingrained stuckness that results in sin.
- [Slide] Doom to those who have not only rejected truth but who blatantly have accepted lies and deceit as the alternative, a new false truth.
- [Slide] Doom to those who have made themselves their own god.
- [Slide] Doom to those who judge and condemn the true righteousness of the regular, marginalized and poverty stricken persons.
Then, just to help understand the impact of this information on Isaiah, we look ahead to chapter 6 where Isaiah finds himself standing in the presence of God. It is in this moment that the statement of ‘Doom’ is voiced, not by God, but by Isaiah, and it is not about the other people, it is about Isaiah as we gets a full view of himself, taking in the first 6 ‘Dooms’ and recognizes that he shares in their arrogance and entitlement.
In this moment of self reflection, Isaiah screams out, “My doom is sealed, for I am a foul-mouthed sinner, a member of a sinful, foul-mouthed race; and I have looked upon the King, the Lord of heaven’s armies.” (Isaiah 6:5)
God’s response to Isaiah’s acceptance of the fact that he too had turned from God is to accept Isaiah’s repentance and to cleanse Isaiah of his sin. Then, Isaiah is quick to accept God’s call to proclaim God’s unwanted message of ‘repent, turn back to God.’
But none of this happened until God opened Isaiah’s eyes to the truth of the people he was being sent to as well as the truth about Isaiah himself.
Today’s Doom Focus
Today, we are going to focus on 1 of those ‘Dooms’.
[Slide] Doom to those who don’t merely reside in sin, but have attached themselves to the foundational ingrained stuckness that results in sin.
The verse reads…
[Slide] ‘Doom to those who drag guilt along with cords of fraud, deceit, and falsehood, and they haul sin around as if the ropes made from the cord can withstand such a heavy load, all while they are arrogantly saying, “God should hurry up, he should work faster! God needs to tell us the plan for his promised fulfillment, so we can know and understand it.”’
God’s message is directed at an affluent and entitled people who consider themselves righteous and holy. Their mindset is that “God needs to tell us the plan so that we can understand.” The arrogance reveals their unholy state, God is a servant at their beck and call. “God needs to hurry up and tell us what we want to know.” However, they are not strangers to the truth from God. They have probably already heard that the Northern Kingdom, Israel, to whom a imminent defeat by the Assyrians is within, at best, a couple of decades – they have also already had the opportunity to understand that this was because they had not turned back to God.
The truth is that they have been unable to receive the truth because they have been distracted, not just by their own entitled arrogance, but also by their baggage. They are distracted by their sin, but oddly, it is not really the confrontation is not really about their sinful actions. Instead, their distraction is caused by the manner in which they carrying around their sins, mostly to hide them. God’s focus is on the metaphoric cords and ropes with which they pull the metaphoric wagon that carries the guilt of their sinful actions.
Cords and ropes which are defined as fraud, deceit, and falsehood.
Cords and ropes. Cord is lengths of fibers twisted together to create its shape, while rope is usually thick cords twisted or braided together to create its shape. In simple terms, rope is usually made up of multiple cords. Cord is the base element of rope.
The cords are significant, not only because they are what make up the ropes, but more so because every fiber of the cord is a damming element of their deafness and their blindness. Each fiber, a string like substance, intertwines with the other like minded fibers, to make a cord. Every cord then is braided together with other cords to make a rope. The rope then is used to haul the guilt and sins around constantly with the person, as it becomes heavier it also become more difficult to disguise. The entitled hide their heavy load with a false righteousness, a deceitful arrogance, and a fraudulent faith, all which share nothing in common with the character of God or his love for the creation and those created.
Let’s understand the point God was making.
[Slide] I went to look for a picture like this. The problem was that in this picture, the person was not dragging the cart, and the person was not using rope to pull the cart.
[Slide] As I continued to look for the perfect illustrative picture, I ended up with this pic. This pic was totally wrong. The person did not look desperate or downtrodden, he looks happy…and the cart was full of gift wrapped sins which didn’t seem to fit God’s intention.
[Slide] I attempted some other pics but always ended up back at happy guy lugging gift wrapped sins around. The guy in the picture looks happy and carefree and so does his basket of sins, neatly wrapped and presenting as good and exciting. Which is exactly the look and reality of the people that God was speaking about – the people that Isaiah would soon be addressing.
But the odd thing about God’s point is that he is not speaking about these imperfect people who strive to look perfect, nor is he speaking to their sin – God is speaking to the Cords and Rope which attaches them to the sin but also which is how they drag their sin around.
Cords, the fibers that hold us to the sin, the things that get us stuck. Stronger the cords and rope get, the more stuck we are.
Illustration of cords and Rope
Misogyny
Racism
Hostility/Anger
Politics
Pride
Insecurity
Ancestry
Family/Friends
Hope – British influential preacher of the late 1800s, Charles Spurgeon, said, “God’s woes are better than the devil’s welcomes. When we get a woe in this book of blessings it is sent as a warning, that we may escape from woe.”
Hope in Isaiah’s recognition and cleansing of his sin and complacency
(Lady on plane, depressed/oppressed) – Fruits of life with/without ropes/cords
Jesus words point to the opposite of pulling/hiding our sin while nurturing our ties that bind us to those sins. Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who are struggling hard and carrying heavy loads, and I will give you rest. Put on my yoke, and learn from me. I’m gentle and humble. And you will find rest for yourselves. My yoke is easy to bear, and my burden is light.”
(Matthew 11:28-30)
Music (Slides) Bill/Linda
Show Me Your Way
Verse
Show me Your ways
That I may walk with You
Show me Your ways
I put my hope in You
Chorus
The cry of my heart
Is to love You more
To live with the touch
Of Your hand
Stronger each day
Show me Your ways
Community (Slides) Rick
- Next Sunday, June 25, Rick, ‘Real Good’, Micah 6:6-8
- Summer Bible Study – James, Wednesday Nights @ 6:30pm for 4 weeks. August 9-30.
- Armageddon Summer Book Discussion Dinner coming mid-late July, order and read your copy of the book soon. Amazon link on home page of gfnorman.com.
Benediction (Slides) Rick
As we leave this place we walk in a world that is not perfect but nonetheless a world that God has proclaimed is good. We continue because the breath of God still inflates our lungs and because God’s life sustaining gift continues to course through our veins.
Regardless of our gender, or any other label we wear, we are all called to serve as pastors in the midst of God’s creation just as Mary was called to pastor the men who would soon be the apostles with the good news of the resurrection.
So, we too are called to be pastors to our world and in our world with the same message of hope told through our lives, and then, when called upon, through our words.
May we continually choose to grow in our own understanding of that proven hope which carries us in peace, giving us the mercy, compassion, and grace, to live confidently in God who loves us and calls us to life which, in turn, allows love to pour out for all of creation.
Closing Peace Rick
Leader: May the Peace and Hope of the Lord go with you.
Response: And also with you.
Leader: Go in the Peace and Hope of the Lord.
Order, Words, & Voices 