Clayton Presbyterian Church
December 10, 2006
Forgetting the Birthday Boy
The party on June 3, 2006, was for Michael Emmanuel, Jr. It was his sixth birthday, and friends and family were celebrating at the local Chuck E. Cheese in Boca Raton, Florida.
The party itself went just fine. The problem came when it was over. All the children and adults climbed into three different vehicles and headed home. Everyone, that is, except Michael.
Apparently, the 6-year-old returned to the play area, and when the party-goers departed, he was left behind. Employees found Michael wandering around the restaurant at 10 p.m. and called the police.
Michael's mother had assumed that her son was staying with his grandmother, and didn't even realize he was missing until the next morning.i
This might serve as a metaphor for our American Christmas. We have a great party and we forget the guest of honor, expecting that he will go home with someone else. The reason for the season is none other than Jesus, who is the Messiah.
What is a Messiah?
What do we mean by Messiah? Have you ever thought about that? Where does the word come from? It means ‘annointed.’ It comes from the practice in the old testament of pouring oil over the head of someone, or something, to declare it chosen by God and dedicated to him. It especially centers on King David who was anointed by the prophet Samuel to signal that he was God’s chosen one to lead the people. He was the anointed king of Israel who was called to protect and care for his people, to rule in fairness and to establish justice for them.
Then as he is late in his life, God makes a promise to David that he will raise up one of his heirs, who will take his throne. God will establish his throne and his kingdom shall last forever. This is one of the biggest promises that God made to his people.
From the Beginning
In this series of sermons we are looking at the promises that God made to his people throughout their history and finally fulfilled in Jesus Christ, his only-begotten Son. In fact, you can’t really understand who Jesus was without understanding these promises. For instance, why do we call him Jesus “Christ”? It was not his last name. Christ is the Greek word for the word, Messiah. Every time we say the name Jesus Christ, we are really saying Jesus the Messiah, Jesus who was promised by God, Jesus the anointed one who will fulfill God’s promises and his will. This is why we are following the promises up through Christmas.
We began with the beginning of creation and our human rebellion against God and his ways. He promised to Adam and Eve that sin and evil would one day be defeated. God’s purposes for creation would not be thwarted. It was Jesus who defeated the power of sin and death.
We then looked at Abraham, who was the father of the nation of Israel. God promised to make his descendants numerous, to give them a land of their own, and to bless them so that the world might be blessed through them. God’s reason for doing this was that it would be through this people that God was going to restore the whole creation to its original purposes. The purpose, their calling, was to exist so that the world might be saved. It was Jesus who fulfilled the calling of Israel, and as a Jew was completely faithful to the Father. It is through him that God is saving the whole world.
Last week, we looked at Moses and saw how God promised that he would raise up one like him, who would act as an mediator between God and his people. Jesus as one who was both human and divine, represented humanity to God and he represents God to us.
And so today, we come to another famous figure, King David. Leading up to him, God had used Moses to bring his people out of Egypt. Then Joshua led the people as they entered and took possession of the land. Then, God raised up David to be the King and leader of his people. And he was an exceptional leader. He defeated Israel’s enemies. But, more than anything else, he was described as one who had a heart like God’s. He cared about the things that God cares about. That is something we all should aim for and pray for: to have the heart of God.
Downhill from Here
Unfortunately, David marked the high point of Israel’s kings. More of them led their people away from God to the worship of false idols. Too many of them were prideful and power-hungry. They did not seek justice and righteousness. They didn’t look to God for guidance and often depended on their own military strength or the military strength of the nations that were around. Finally, as they were worshipping and following the gods of the other nations, God gave them over to them, and first the Assyrians and then the Babylonians conquered them and carried tens of thousands of them in to exile.
During all of this time, they would remember the promises that God made to David. God was going to raise up a descendant of David. God would establish his kingdom. The people would no longer live in fear of the other nations or be at their mercy. They wouldn’t suffer under a huge tax load that would be used to pay for foreign armies that would conquer more people. And what is more, this kingdom would not end. The people longed for this coming king, this anointed one, this Messiah, this Christ. Over and over again God would assure them of this promise.
This is quite a long introduction for our Scripture reading this morning. But there is a reason for it. You are probably familiar with the words from our text, as they are read year after year around Christmas and they are sung in the Messiah, by Handel. But as you hear them this morning, think about what it would be to hear them as a Jew living under the oppression of a foreign nation. One more thing: the text begins with the metaphor of despicting the people of Israel as an old tree stump that is dead. And it is called the stump of Jesse, which was the name of David’s father. So, this is another instance of the promise of the descendent of David.
Scripture Reading: Isaiah 11:1-6
1 A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. 2 The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. 3 His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear; 4 but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. 5 Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist, and faithfulness the belt around his loins. 6 The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. (NRSV)
This coming Messiah will be a true king. He will have wisdom and understanding as he rules. He will not be puffed up because he knows and fears the Lord. He will judge the people fairly and will not be deceived by clever arguments. He will not be prejudiced but his judgments will set things right. He will not overlook or neglect the concerns of the poor. He will act on behalf of the innocent and punish the wicked. And his reign will be marked by peace. What could convey a sense of peace better than the image of a wolf living with a lamb, of a leopard laying together with a goat, or a calf and a lion playing together.
When will this king come to set things right on the earth? That was the burning question 2000 years ago.
Will He Be Our Lord?
God did send the king. He came as all kings do, as an infant. He was acclaimed king by divine messengers called angels. He was acclaimed king by the wise men, who came bearing gifts fitting for royalty. He was given all authority in heaven and earth. He did remarkable things that should signal the presence of a great man. But he wasn’t a king like they were expecting. He did not exercise his power politically or militarily. For, he was not after Israel’s political enemies, but their spiritual ones. And not just theirs alone, but the spiritual powers that oppress us all.
Jesus as the King of all kings and Lord of all lords represents a challenge to each one of us. He is not just after the evil and sin that is in the world, but the sin and evil that lives in each one of our hearts. You know that part of you that you like to pretend isn’t really there. Those thoughts that you have that you don’t let anyone know about. That anger, those desires, that addiction, those lies, that pride, that will not let you go. Jesus come to be lord over that too.
Michelle Akers
This is what soccer star Michelle Akers had to confront. By college, Michelle [Akers] had become an All-American soccer star, earning ESPN's woman athlete of the year in 1985—the same year the United States formed its first women's national team, with Michelle a starter.
In 1991 the U.S. team won the first-ever Women's World Cup and Michelle scored 10 goals in five games, including the championship's winner. She signed an endorsement deal and became the first woman soccer player to have a paid sponsor. She played professionally in Sweden. Michelle's drive and tenacity were beginning to pay off. She even tried out as the place kicker for the Dallas Cowboys: her longest attempt reached 52 yards.
But just as her star was rising, Michelle's health was declining. By 1993, the woman who used grit and determination to make life happen found her life unmanageable.
"Each day I felt like I had flown to Europe with no food or sleep, then flown right back and trained for hours," Michelle says.
She suffered from Chronic Fatigue and Immune Dysfunction Syndrome (CFIDS), a debilitating disease affecting more than a million adult Americans. "When it was really bad, I couldn't sit up in a chair. The racking migraines stranded me at home, unable even to get up to brush my teeth or eat."
For the first time, Michelle could no longer count on her old friends—strength and hard work. She had to find a new way to cope.
"I couldn't bear not to be the best in the world, not to be the one who could bounce back from any injury," she says. "It was the only me I knew." When her marriage of four years broke up in 1994, Michelle had reached the end of herself.
"I was so sick I couldn't take a five-minute walk without needing two days on the couch to recover. I was forced to spend a lot of time thinking about who I was. I didn't like what I saw."
Michelle had put her trust in Christ as a high-school student, but ignored God in college and after graduation. Now sick and alone, Michelle reluctantly accepted an invitation from a strength coach to attend his church, Northland Community Church in Longwood, Florida. Although she couldn't articulate it at the time, in retrospect Michelle says she knew she "needed to get things right with God."
"Looking back," she explains, "I think God was gently, patiently tapping me on the shoulder and calling my name for years. But I continuously brushed him off, saying, 'Hey, I know what I am doing. I can make these decisions. Leave me alone.' Then I think he finally said, 'Okay,' crossed his arms and looked at me sadly—because he knew I was going to make a lot of mistakes by ignoring him. He knew I would be hurting in the future.
"It took total devastation before I would acquiesce and say, 'Okay, God. You can have my life. Please, help me.'" ii
The Good Kind of Authority
What Akers did was to surrender her life to Jesus. She submitted to his authority. She was acknowledging that he was the king and ruler, not just of the world, but of her life.
In our culture, I think that we have something of a problem with authority. We always look on it as bad and oppressive. In our view the only thing that authority can ever do is to stifle the individual’s will. Yet, as one of my seminary professors pointed out, ‘the Latin root of "authority" and "authentic" means "that which allows growth and life." Our resentment of the authority of God in Christ is, therefore, foolish.’ iii
His point is that God’s authority, his authorship of our life and faith, is exercised for the very purpose of giving us a full and abundant life, so that we might grow into all that he intends for us to be. But, we must submit to his authority. We must acknowledge that he is the king and that we are the subjects.
Our lives will only be right, they will only be whole, when we live under his authority. We must say, “Okay, God. You can have my life.” And then if we will live by his word, we will walk on pathways of joy and peace. We will know contentment in our lives. I can tell you from my own life, there is nothing that you could give me that would make me give up Christ. No amount of money, success, or popularity can compare to the life that I have following Christ. If you don’t have it, you need to get it.
However, we can never lose sight of the big picture. Christ came not just to save us, but to save the world. The angels come announcing peace on earth and joy to the world. If we are going to be like David, and have a heart like God’s—to care about what he cares about, then we too need to have a concern for peace and justice in our world. We need to be concerned for those whose houses are not places of peace, but violence. We need to care about whether the decisions of our leaders are promoting justice and fairness. We need to not let the poor go unnoticed, because Jesus came to be Lord of all and the great king over all the earth. His kingdom was inaugurated 2000 years ago, but it will only be fully established when he comes again in power to set things right.
i"Mother Forgets Child at 6th Birthday Party," CBS4.com (6-5-06).
iiJudith A. Nelson, "Michelle's Higher Goal," Christian Reader (March/April 2000), pp.20-22.
iii Diogenes Allen in Quest: The Search for Meaning through Christ. Christianity Today, Vol. 40, no. 7.