A People of a Common Need #4
Text: Isaiah 40:1-11
"A community of people called by God through the love of His Son; Jesus Christ." This is
who we are in God's eyes; it is always who we must remind ourselves of who we really are! We
are more about being chosen by God into this family than anything else!
As we have seen we are a family because we all have some basic needs:
- the need to belong! We are members of each other. It's important to me that you belong so
I can belong.
- The need for grace! We'll all be on the same plane when we remember that we're only here
because of a Father who is so, so good.
- The need to be safe! As we all need grace its okay to come here and be exposed as human
and still feel like we belong. The message we will send to each other as we go through this is
the message our older brother sent to us: 'Don't be afraid'! (See Luke 5:10)
This leads us to a fourth need that all of us share in this community that allows us to be
the family of God:
the need to heal!
Before we get into this lesson let's read a couple of passages:
2 Corinthians 1:3-7, Isaiah 40:1-11, Luke 15:18-24!
One of the things that makes coming together as we do so special is the fact that when we
meet together we are not meeting to engage in war but to find our place of refuge from war. The
more we recognize that our battles are not the battles that wage inside the confines of the
house of the Father but are the ones where each one of us finds ourselves daily in the grind of
everyday living we will soon see that this is a place where our brothers and sisters come in
fresh from the battle against sin, doubt, trial, persecution, emotional distress and we are
here to collectively soothe the weary pilgrim and sing together we soon shall overcome!
In the text of Isaiah that was read just a moment ago a wonderful promise is given to the
people of God! Now, Isaiah through the course of his writings is telling about a horrible price
the people are going to have to pay for abandoning their God and shunning His pleas for them to
return! But, to a people who would be deep in despair a call was going to ring out! We of
course know that this is related to John the Baptist's ministry. (vs.3-5) We also note that
John was not the person of hope but the sign of the hope to come! (See John 1:19-29) But what
kind of a message was this to be for the people under sin's bondage?
Notice vs.1,2- comfort, yes, comfort My people! Says your God.
Then vs.11- He will carry them in His bosom, and gently lead those who are with young.
My friends, as the church is the body of Christ in this world filled with hurting people,
we understand that in this place is supposed to be the continuing ministry of comfort and
healing! Hebrews 12:11-13
Soon, the body of Christ that meets together does not meet just simply to go through a
routine together, but meets to meet each other and offer what it can to help along the healing
process we all need from time to time! As we do we begin to find strength not in our strengths
but as the apostle Paul said, it is when we are weak that we do indeed become strong!
(2 Corinthians 12:9,10)
It is amazing that if we keep a proper focus of who we are, the more we are empowered to
show the world who God is and who they are! Now, what do we mean by this?
- Why we are in the community is not because I have done anything to earn my standing but
because God has invited me.
- As I enter I am keenly aware that I am insufficient and in great need of God's amazing
grace & mercy.
- Even though I am part of the community of the redeemed, I struggle with many things:
doubts, physical & emotional trials, temptation to sin, sin itself etc.
These three things among others, now will show the world who our God really is! It will show
the One whom we gather to honour clearly! Why?
They won't seem Him as a God for only the holy-rollers. They won't seem Him as President of
some exclusive club. They will see Him as the Father whose eyes light up at His children's
return! They will see Him as the Father who throws a party because His son or daughter despite
all the shame they may have caused has returned! They will see Him as the One, who despite all
the wounds we have from our time away from Him, will bandage and heal us.
Now, when we can show the world that picture of ourselves and God it will understand something
about who they are!
William Kennedy wrote a book that was made into a movie starring Jack Nicholson & Meryl
Streep called Ironweed. If you've never heard of it try to find it and rent it one evening. It
may be difficult to watch all of it. But, during the movie the two come upon an old woman
lying in the snow. She appears to be drunk, as they are. They stand there and debate what to
do about her.
"Is she drunk or a bum?" he asks.
"Just a bum," comes the reply. "Been one all her life."
"And before that?"
"She was a whore in Alaska."
"She hasn't been a whore all her life. Before that?"
"I dunno. Just a little kid, I guess."
"Well, a little kid's something. It's not a bum and it's not a whore. It's something.
Let's take her in."
Mercy saw what the realists could not. This person was a little kid and more than that she
was someone's daughter!1
For people who have been welcomed into this community as what I have said earlier, there
is in the opening chapter of our Book an important reminder about who we live among!
Genesis 1:26,27
What we are reminded of is that everywhere we look:
men and women before everything else about them is this, they were made in the image of God!
They are someone's son or daughter or at least meant to be that way! When we keep focused about
why we are the people of God-not our righteousness, holiness or Bible-knowledge. Not our
good-deeds, religious-deeds or deeds of great service. We are the people of God because God in
His rich mercy saved us. The world will see that they can be where we are no matter who it is.
They are made in the image of God!
Who are the world?
They are people that are lost, dying, in sin but made in the Creator's image. They are people
in need of what we have, the healing comfort of God! Because of this we see the world for what
the world could be, not for what they are!
How will the world see this about themselves?
How will the world find the comfort of God when they feel they are beyond comfort?
By looking at our rejected leader! Isa.53:2-5, Psalms 22:6-8
As one man wrote "People had nothing good to say about him. They presumed the worst. His very
background put him under the curse of their contempt. But he had been just 'a little kid'
once. More than that, he was the Son of the Father in heaven--regardless of whether others
knew or honored that fact about him."2
One thing everyone needs to be reminded of:
failure is an event not a person! We may feel guilt for the things we've done wrong, but we
don't need to feel ashamed for who we are! Guilt when we come to the Father will be forgiven
and an announcement will be made:
this my daughter, or son has come home!
Where does the community fit in?
Listen to some of these messages:
Romans 8:14-17- if a child of God then an heir of God!
1 Peter 3:8,9,4:7-9- love covers a multitude of sins.
John 13:1,14:18,16:33
What we show the world God to be and then the world for what they are- we need to practice
in this community. We need to be able to come together and share our need for grace, expose our
common humanity and praise God let the healing waters flow from person to person. In the
family of God hurting people get helped. We don't see each other for what they have failed to
do, we see each other for who we have become and like that college professor said a few years
ago we see them for what they would be if they could be!
My mom's oldest sister died of a car crash when she was in her early 20's. Suffice it to
say my sister and I never knew our aunt. To this day as you can imagine every now and then my
mom & my grandma begin to talk about her & tears come and healing needs to occur. Now, my aunt
was a single mom and after she died my cousin was adopted by my grand-parents and he became my
uncle. She had him when she was in her late teens. My mom was away at Great Lakes when the
accident happened. She was in grade 11 so must have been around 16 years old. My grand-ma or
grand-pa called her to tell her the horrible news that her older sister had been tragically
killed and taken too soon. My mom went outside and began to cry on a bench.
A big-time preacher in Ontario at the time walked by her as she was crying and asked her what
was a matter with her.
"My sister just died" my mom said.
"Is that the one with the kid?" he said and walked off.
It goes without saying my mom only stayed one year at this Christian school with which this
Christian minister pleaded with parents to send their children to enjoy a Christian environment.
Here was a 16 year old girl in need of God's tender touch and she was met by one of His
men with the back of a hand.
My friends, we have to do better than that!
We are the family of God, belonging here because God said we could. Here because God has
cleansed us and made us pure. Here because we can be less than sure, less than perfect and
still belong. Here because when the moment comes that we are sore, cold or hurting, our
brothers and sisters will act like our Father and treat us with tenderness. I love the family
of God, I love the fact that I have a Father who is oh, so good. I love the fact that I have
brothers and sisters who deeply care.
"Who are these that gather themselves together on Sunday?....Sometimes they come together
simply to thank God….Sometimes they come together to find forgiveness…Sometimes they come to
find challenge and encouragement…Sometimes they come to simply worship and adore…Sometimes they
come to hear the Story of God's search for us. If it weren't for that Story, the size, the
mystery, and the holiness would keep us from coming at all. It's there we learn that we're
'the visited planet' and that the holy Lord would not let us roll in our sin and misery but
came to rescue us and fill the universe with joy and richness. Driving the wrong kind of
darkness from every corner of this vast universe, he makes our planet a home rather than a
whirling Alcatraz. And so we file into our usual seats, nod in the usual directions, smiling
and sometimes fussing to get the kids settled. Then together with the saints, we become a
Community of witness for the living Lord. All that we do, we do together as a body of people.
Together we sing as the people of God! As a congregation of his people, we pray even when one
person shapes the prayer for us. As an assembly of his people, we place ourselves under the
judgment, consolation, enlightenment, rebuke, and assurance of the Word of God as it comes to us
through a member of our Community. In previous days, we spent some of the money God blessed us
with to pay honorable debts and make honorable provision for our families--all to God's pleasure
. Now as one body, we give money to feed the poor, carry the Message, and assist the assembly
to carry out its purposes. Some days we're blessed to see a trusting and repentant person
baptized into union with Christ, and we see the gospel enacted before our gathered eyes. And as
his covenanted Community and because it pleases him, we set apart bread and wine in a covenant
renewal. It is here that we meet the living Christ, who communes with us by his Holy Spirit who
dwells among us. And while the sanctified bread and wine remains bread and wine, it is no
longer merely bread and wine. When we spread the Table, this sovereign Lord of ours graciously
makes himself present. The bread and wine become more than symbols of his body and blood; they
become signs of his holy presence. And our holy communion becomes holy Communion, so we can
whisper as we eat the bread, 'He's here!' And in our eating, we become 'proclaimers' of his
death, life, and his glorious return….That's community. That's why we 'go to church.' We're
needy, dissatisfied, oppressed, overwhelmed with life, lonely, sinful, floating, and longing
for better. In that condition, we went out to Christ and do continue to go out to him to make
him our Leader."3
Do you want to belong to the community of God's people? Acts 2:38f.
1. Rubel Shelly, The Names of Jesus (West Monroe: LA, Howard Publishing Co., Inc., 1999) p.114
2. ibid., p.114,115
3. Jim McGuiggan, Where the Spirit of the Lord is…(West Monroe: LA, Howard Publishing Co., Inc.,
1999) p.177-181
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