From Inferiority To Fulfillment
Sermon
PREVIEWS OF COMING ATTRACTIONS
Sermons for Advent, Christmas and Epiphany
A counselor was listening carefully to a teenager. She was speaking about her troubles. She felt out of sorts with everyone and everything. She was depressed. Everything was going wrong. Her recent marriage was on the rocks. There was trouble with the baby who had been born recently. Her job was not working out. After listening to her litany of troubles for a long time, the counselor asked her, "Do you believe that God loves everyone?" "Yes," she said, "I'm a Christian. I believe that God loves everyone." "Do you believe that God loves you?" the counselor asked. After a long pause, she said, "No! I don't believe that God loves me." "Why?" asked the counselor. "Because I am not worthy of God's love," the young woman replied. "That is the heart of your problem," the wise counselor replied. "You don't believe in yourself because you feel unworthy, and you feel unworthy because you feel unloved. The place to start," said the counselor, "is for you to believe that God loves you. Grow into it and go for it with all your heart." "I will," the young woman replied. "I'll try to believe that I am loved. You being a good friend who listens to me will help."
Forsaken
In one respect the young woman is like the Jews in captivity in the sixth century B.C. The prophet Isaiah (the scholars usually call him Second Isaiah) brings the corrective to the discouraged, downheartened people of God in these words:
"Yahweh takes delight in you (Isaiah 62:4, JB)."
The Revised Standard Version puts it this way: "You shall be called My Delight." Today's English Version says that Israel's new name is, "God is Pleased with Her." The Living Bible says, "Your new name will be 'The Land of God's Delight' and 'The bride,' for the Lord delights in you and will claim you as his own." In Hebrew the word is Hephzi-bah, which is the ultimate affirmation. Literally this Hebrew word means "My delight is in her."
The affirmation is of great consequence, especially because the Jews in exile in Babylonia had felt utterly forsaken by Yahweh. For 70 years in Babylonian captivity the Jews had felt forsaken. Now, at this point in history, Yahweh's prophet brings stirring words of affirmation:
...no longer will you be called 'Forsaken,' nor your land 'Abandoned, 'but you shall be called 'My Delight,' and your land 'The wedded'; for Yahweh takes delight in you...
- Isaiah 62:4, JB
The feelings of forsakenness had resulted from the sins of the people. They had committed idolatry and had repeatedly broken God's laws about idolatry, adultery, stealing and sabbath breaking. They had been caught in the chaos of materialism and selfishness. They had neglected justice and concern for the needy. Their sins had come crashing in on them as the Babylonians conquered them in 587 B.C. In exile, they felt far from God and far from home. They felt like so many ugly wallflowers about whom no one speaks with kindness. The prophet of Yahweh comes offering a proposal of marriage: "You are my Delight, my Bride," says the Lord.
Most of us at one time or another have felt forsaken. Some people have felt that way most of their lives. Forsakenness is the feeling of being abandoned, deserted, rootless, filled with despair, suffering without hope.
In his book, A Place for You, Dr. Paul Tournier tells of a young student who had many difficulties. Anxiety never left him. Anxiety sometimes took the form of panic and flight. "Basically," he said, "I'm always looking for a place - for somewhere to be."
The boy had felt rejection by his parents. Vainly he struggled to reconcile to his parents, but the effort proved hopeless. Anger and antagonism were felt by the boy to such an extent that he felt he had no home. The parents' divorce complicated matters considerably because, like many children of divorced parents, he felt he was responsible for their problem. Unconscious forces kept him in a state of inaction. Painful memories were not resolved. He might be renamed, "Forsaken."
The boy's parents put up a pretense of middle-class respectability. That complicated the problem. The parents seemed to the boy to be demanding and totally lacking in understanding of his point of view. That complicated the problem further. He felt rootless. When his best friend, also a troubled youth, committed suicide, the boy said that life was meaningless. He experienced an incapacity for real attachment. He said he wanted love, but he rejected it whenever it was offered, for fear that he would be dumped. He felt deserted. He felt immobilized. He couldn't go on because he had not felt the affirmation of anyone. He had to grow into the feeling of approval before he could go into the world as a productive citizen. Dr. Tournier tried to convey God's affirmation by finding many ways to show the boy his delight in his being. The counselor tried to give the boy "a place to be."
While most of us do not experience this pain of separation to the extent of this troubled teenager, we intuitively identify with his feeling of a lack of a home and his lack of love. Therefore, like Israel of old and like the boy, we too need to hear the words, "Yahweh takes delight in you (Isaiah 62:4)."
My Delight
There is nothing more important for young people today than the affirmation that they are genuinely loved. Most of the unsocial behavior and many of the crimes of youth come from this feeling of forsakenness. Drugs and alcohol abuse originate for many because of this feeling of forsakenness and rootlessness. How important it is that youth today discover the God who takes delight in them.
The story of Jesus at the wedding feast at Cana is about this God of affirmation, although this may not be clear at first reading.
On the third day there was a marriage at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there; Jesus also was invited to the marriage, with his disciples. When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, "They have no wine. "And Jesus said to her, "0 woman, what have you to do with me? My hour has not yet come. "His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you. "Now six stone jars were standing there, for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to them, "Fill the jars with water. "And they filled them up to the brim. He said to them, "Now draw some out, and take it to the steward of the feast. "So they took it.
When the steward of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward of the feast called the bridegroom and said to him, "Every man serves the good wine first; and when men have drunk freely, then the poor wine; but you have kept the good wine until now." This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory; and his disciples believed in him. - John 2:1-11 RSV
The point of this first miracle of Jesus in Cana is that Jesus takes water and makes wine out of it. Water is ordinary. Wine is extra ordinary. This first sign of Jesus' ministry is that wherever he goes, he takes ordinary people and makes them extraordinary, extraordinary. Jesus brings this ultimate affirmation to people by "taking delight in us."
In his book, Extraordinary Living for Ordinary Men, Sam Shoemaker, one of the co-founders of Alcoholics Anonymous, makes the point that the wedding at Cana means that Jesus came to give us new life and that everywhere we let him in, Jesus continues to do extraordinary things with ordinary people like us. You alone will get nowhere, but you and Jesus Christ together make an unconquerable partnership for extraordinary living. It all depends on whether or not we believe this Word: "Yahweh delights in you."
Before you ever turn to God, "Yahweh delights in you." Before you ever repent of your sins, "Yahweh delights in you." Before you believe in God, God believes in you, "Yahweh delights in you." While you are yet a sinner, Christ died for you. His cross is the extra, the plus that proves once and for all, "Yahweh delights in you."
Each Sunday as we worship, we hear these blessed words, "Yahweh delights in you," in one form or another. The 3,200-year-old benediction is used every Sunday at the end of the service:
The Lord bless you and keep you
The Lord make his face shine upon you
and be gracious to you
The Lord look upon you with favor and give you peace.
That's our weekly reminder that God is smiling at us. Think of it: Yahweh, who created the heavens and the earth, before whom all nations and rulers will one day bow, smiles at you. "Yahweh delights in you!"
Forsaken
In one respect the young woman is like the Jews in captivity in the sixth century B.C. The prophet Isaiah (the scholars usually call him Second Isaiah) brings the corrective to the discouraged, downheartened people of God in these words:
"Yahweh takes delight in you (Isaiah 62:4, JB)."
The Revised Standard Version puts it this way: "You shall be called My Delight." Today's English Version says that Israel's new name is, "God is Pleased with Her." The Living Bible says, "Your new name will be 'The Land of God's Delight' and 'The bride,' for the Lord delights in you and will claim you as his own." In Hebrew the word is Hephzi-bah, which is the ultimate affirmation. Literally this Hebrew word means "My delight is in her."
The affirmation is of great consequence, especially because the Jews in exile in Babylonia had felt utterly forsaken by Yahweh. For 70 years in Babylonian captivity the Jews had felt forsaken. Now, at this point in history, Yahweh's prophet brings stirring words of affirmation:
...no longer will you be called 'Forsaken,' nor your land 'Abandoned, 'but you shall be called 'My Delight,' and your land 'The wedded'; for Yahweh takes delight in you...
- Isaiah 62:4, JB
The feelings of forsakenness had resulted from the sins of the people. They had committed idolatry and had repeatedly broken God's laws about idolatry, adultery, stealing and sabbath breaking. They had been caught in the chaos of materialism and selfishness. They had neglected justice and concern for the needy. Their sins had come crashing in on them as the Babylonians conquered them in 587 B.C. In exile, they felt far from God and far from home. They felt like so many ugly wallflowers about whom no one speaks with kindness. The prophet of Yahweh comes offering a proposal of marriage: "You are my Delight, my Bride," says the Lord.
Most of us at one time or another have felt forsaken. Some people have felt that way most of their lives. Forsakenness is the feeling of being abandoned, deserted, rootless, filled with despair, suffering without hope.
In his book, A Place for You, Dr. Paul Tournier tells of a young student who had many difficulties. Anxiety never left him. Anxiety sometimes took the form of panic and flight. "Basically," he said, "I'm always looking for a place - for somewhere to be."
The boy had felt rejection by his parents. Vainly he struggled to reconcile to his parents, but the effort proved hopeless. Anger and antagonism were felt by the boy to such an extent that he felt he had no home. The parents' divorce complicated matters considerably because, like many children of divorced parents, he felt he was responsible for their problem. Unconscious forces kept him in a state of inaction. Painful memories were not resolved. He might be renamed, "Forsaken."
The boy's parents put up a pretense of middle-class respectability. That complicated the problem. The parents seemed to the boy to be demanding and totally lacking in understanding of his point of view. That complicated the problem further. He felt rootless. When his best friend, also a troubled youth, committed suicide, the boy said that life was meaningless. He experienced an incapacity for real attachment. He said he wanted love, but he rejected it whenever it was offered, for fear that he would be dumped. He felt deserted. He felt immobilized. He couldn't go on because he had not felt the affirmation of anyone. He had to grow into the feeling of approval before he could go into the world as a productive citizen. Dr. Tournier tried to convey God's affirmation by finding many ways to show the boy his delight in his being. The counselor tried to give the boy "a place to be."
While most of us do not experience this pain of separation to the extent of this troubled teenager, we intuitively identify with his feeling of a lack of a home and his lack of love. Therefore, like Israel of old and like the boy, we too need to hear the words, "Yahweh takes delight in you (Isaiah 62:4)."
My Delight
There is nothing more important for young people today than the affirmation that they are genuinely loved. Most of the unsocial behavior and many of the crimes of youth come from this feeling of forsakenness. Drugs and alcohol abuse originate for many because of this feeling of forsakenness and rootlessness. How important it is that youth today discover the God who takes delight in them.
The story of Jesus at the wedding feast at Cana is about this God of affirmation, although this may not be clear at first reading.
On the third day there was a marriage at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there; Jesus also was invited to the marriage, with his disciples. When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, "They have no wine. "And Jesus said to her, "0 woman, what have you to do with me? My hour has not yet come. "His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you. "Now six stone jars were standing there, for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to them, "Fill the jars with water. "And they filled them up to the brim. He said to them, "Now draw some out, and take it to the steward of the feast. "So they took it.
When the steward of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward of the feast called the bridegroom and said to him, "Every man serves the good wine first; and when men have drunk freely, then the poor wine; but you have kept the good wine until now." This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory; and his disciples believed in him. - John 2:1-11 RSV
The point of this first miracle of Jesus in Cana is that Jesus takes water and makes wine out of it. Water is ordinary. Wine is extra ordinary. This first sign of Jesus' ministry is that wherever he goes, he takes ordinary people and makes them extraordinary, extraordinary. Jesus brings this ultimate affirmation to people by "taking delight in us."
In his book, Extraordinary Living for Ordinary Men, Sam Shoemaker, one of the co-founders of Alcoholics Anonymous, makes the point that the wedding at Cana means that Jesus came to give us new life and that everywhere we let him in, Jesus continues to do extraordinary things with ordinary people like us. You alone will get nowhere, but you and Jesus Christ together make an unconquerable partnership for extraordinary living. It all depends on whether or not we believe this Word: "Yahweh delights in you."
Before you ever turn to God, "Yahweh delights in you." Before you ever repent of your sins, "Yahweh delights in you." Before you believe in God, God believes in you, "Yahweh delights in you." While you are yet a sinner, Christ died for you. His cross is the extra, the plus that proves once and for all, "Yahweh delights in you."
Each Sunday as we worship, we hear these blessed words, "Yahweh delights in you," in one form or another. The 3,200-year-old benediction is used every Sunday at the end of the service:
The Lord bless you and keep you
The Lord make his face shine upon you
and be gracious to you
The Lord look upon you with favor and give you peace.
That's our weekly reminder that God is smiling at us. Think of it: Yahweh, who created the heavens and the earth, before whom all nations and rulers will one day bow, smiles at you. "Yahweh delights in you!"
