St. Luke Ev. Lutheran Church of Watertown-WELS

Sermon delivered by Pastor Anthony E. Schultz

Pentecost 7 July 15 + 18, 2004 Isaiah 66:10-14

Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad for her, all you who love her; rejoice greatly with her, all you who mourn over her. For you will nurse and be satisfied at her comforting breasts; you will drink in her overflowing abundance. For this is what the LORD says: “I will extend peace to her like a river, and the wealth of nations like a flooding stream; you will nurse and be carried on her arm and dandled on her knees. As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you; and you will be comforted over Jerusalem. When you see this your heart will rejoice and you will flourish like grass; the hand of the LORD will be made known to his servants, but his fury will be shown to his foes.

People of God—rescued from the flaming lake of fire in hell by the innocent blood of the very Lamb of God:

I heard the other day about a young man down in Illinois—who likes to steal cars. This young man started stealing cars when he was only nine years old. Today he is only twelve and he’s still stealing cars. He’s a shrimpy little guy—just 4 feet 1 inch tall—hardly tall enough to see over the steering wheel—without sitting on a phone book. He knows how to break into cars—how to hotwire them—and away he goes! Oh, at first it sounds pretty funny—this little person who can’t hardly reach the pedals and at the same time see over the dashboard. It sounds pretty funny—until you hear the other day he ran a stop sign—crashed into another car—and put two people in the hospital. This little person keeps stealing cars—because he is under the faulty impression that there’s nothing anybody can do to stop him. He’s under the faulty impression that he can boost a car and go for a joy ride—and there are no painful consequences. Oh, it might just be that law enforcement and social services and juvenile authorities don’t know what to do with people only twelve years old—guilty of grand theft auto and resisting arrest. Sometimes people a couple of times 12 years old think they can do as they please—too—and there’s nothing anybody can do about it. But that’s wrong, too. Our Heavenly Father sees all our sins. Our Savior Jesus was scourged and nailed to a tree—to pay for little people who do big people sins and to pay for big people who do little people sins. Today God’s Word instructs us and encourages us:

Our Father Blesses His Faithful People

1. With joy

2. With nourishment

3. With comfort

4. With growth

The part of God’s Word we are concentrating on today is—from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. The name Isaiah means “The Lord is salvation!” What a wonderful name for an under-shepherd for the LORD’s sheep—the Lord is salvation—the Lord is rescue—the Lord is the one who saves me from all my sins! Isaiah’s scroll begins with the words, “The vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah son of Amoz—with a “z” saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.” There are those who think Amoz was the brother of King Amaziah. That would make Isaiah the cousin of Uzziah the King. Imagine what would be like—if your cousin was the King! Isaiah had a wife—the Bible simply calls Mrs. Isaiah a prophetess—someone who would teach and share God’s Word. Isaiah and Mrs. Isaiah had two sons. One was named Shear-Jashub. That means “ a remnant will return”. Here was a name to remind God’s people of law and Gospel. God’s people would know a painful time of deportation and exile in Babylon. But the powerful Gospel message remained true. A remnant will return. The LORD would bring back a faithful remnant to Jerusalem. In Bethlehem the Savior would be born to save God’s people from their sins. Isaiah had a second son named Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz. That long and strange sounding name means “quick to plunder, swift to spoil”. Before little baby Maher-Shala-Hash Baz was 2 years old—before he was old enough to say Mommy and Daddy—the LORD would use the King of Assyria to accomplish God’s will—bringing down kingdoms and raising up thrones. The LORD—the Great I AM—the Holy One of Israel was the one who ruled the whole world—ruled every country—making even ancient history to all work together—for the eternal good of God’s saving plan.

The part of God’s Word we are concentrating on is from the very last chapter of the scroll of Isaiah. This last chapter—these last verses are words of sweet and precious Gospel. Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad for her, all you who love her; rejoice greatly with her, all you who mourn over her. Jerusalem is a wondrous place. Stand at the top of the Mount of Olives and you see the city that Jesus saw—her walls of creamy stone all around her. Here is a city over 3,000—3,000 years old. Here is the place where David and Solomon lived. Here is the place where Jesus himself walked when he was 12 years old—when he was a Carpenter turned traveling preacher and teacher. Here is the place that Jesus died—bled and suffered and died to buy back all people from their sins. Here is the city that is a picture of God’s people safe in heaven—the new Jerusalem—prepared as a bride—beautifully dressed for her husband. Be glad for her, all you who love her; rejoice greatly with her, all you who mourn over her! The Church is reason to rejoice! I am afraid—sometimes we look for joy in earthly “things and stuff”! I have a friend who always wanted a little red truck—really, really wanted his own little red truck. Finally the other day—his dream came true—he bought this brand new shiny red little truck. He parked it in his garage—and wiped every bug from his windshield—every bug from his bumper—ever little piece of gravel from the treads of his big truck tires. He loved that truck. He would tell people—you know—I just love my little truck. Just the other day he was driving his little red truck through an intersection when somebody ran a red light—and creamed his little truck like corn—creamed it! They mashed and mangled the whole side of it! My friend said—I wish I had said—I like my little red truck. He said—I am certain Jesus was reminding me—that you use things and stuff—that you love your Savior and love people! You don’t love things and stuff.

Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad for her! Rejoice with this our family of believers! Jesus would have his people be optimists—confident of the future—because the Lord is with us! It is sad to see sometimes how little joy there is in this world! I have said before—stand in line at the grocery store—and smile! Smile at the check out lady—and they will think you are trying to smuggle something out of the bakery on the bottom of your cart without paying for it. Smile at people sitting beside you at the traffic light—and they will think somebody wrote something funny in the dust on the side of their car or that you want to drag race! Come home from school or work and smile at your own family—and they will very likely be suspicious and ask you—“What are you smiling about? What are you so happy about?” Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad for her… means God’s people are thankful for all of God’s blessings! Thankful that last Sunday we were running out of communion wafers because so many people were coming to Lord’s Supper! I can still remember one Sunday when I was little—when they did run out of communion wafers. They broke the last ones in half—trying to make them stretch—and still they ran out. The pastor had to announce—I am sorry—we have no wafers left. I still remember smiling—thinking—we loved Jesus so much—that we had used up all the supplies we had—and still people were coming! We have stocked up. We have thousands of new communion wafers—thousands of individual cups! Be confident that God’s Word works! Be confident that the power of law and gospel will change hearts—change attitudes—change behavior—change lives! Be confident that the power of the Gospel is what will move God’s people to bring thankofferings—the way God’s people brought gifts to the tabernacle—to the temple—and to Jesus’ altar here. Be supremely confident that God’s Word works—to bring God’s people to God’s house—this summer time—to worship—to glorify our Savior. Be confident that the Gospel will fill our hearts with a concern for the literally billions of people in our world today—who don’t know that Jesus is their only Savior from sin! It is only Jesus’ forgiving love that will move God’s people—not to be concerned with our own creature comforts. Not to be obsessed with refrigerators with filtered water through the door and big screen TVs and cars with air conditioners that have vents that automatically go back and forth. But to be concerned all the time with people we will not meet until we are in heaven. To be concerned about North American outreach. To be concerned about Muslims in Indonesia. To be concerned about sharing God’s Word with people everywhere.

The LORD feeds his people. For you will nurse and be satisfied at her comforting breasts; you will drink in her overflowing abundance. For this is what the LORD says: “I will extend peace to her like a river, and the wealth of nations like a flooding stream; you will nurse and be carried on her arm and dandled on her knees.” We have nourishment in the Scriptures—in the fundamental message of law and gospel. We are convicted of our sins—then healed and made whole by the Gospel of peace and reconciliation. This is the sincere milk of the Gospel. God’s Word encourages us to grow and mature—to move from milk to meat. As little physical people we did that. We moved from mother’s milk to that really milky kind of oatmeal. We moved up to strained prunes with tapioca. We moved up to carrots and peas reduced to a paste. We at from a spoon coated with plastic. We moved up to chunky food—then big people food—spaghetti in little inch sized noodles that we ate with our fingers. We moved on to prime rib and baked potatoes with sour cream and strawberry sham torte! As we grow in faith—we will study the Scriptures. That’s as simple as reading our Bible. If we have time to watch the Brewers or the Cubs for 3 hours. If we have time to watch the Packers and the game that’s on after them—we have time to read God’s Word. We have time to nourish our soul and nourish our marriage and nourish our family. The same way a baby longs to be fed by their mother—we long to be nourished by the Gospel!

As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you; and you will be comforted over Jerusalem. As a mother comforts her child—the Hebrew word here is not really a child—like an infant or a toddler—but a man! If you have ever watched a ball game—how often doesn’t the athlete say, “Hi, mom!”? As precious as is the comfort of our mom—so much more precious is the comfort Jesus gives his people. We have the blessing of a fire place in our home. There are few things more warm and cozy than to wrap up on the couch—on a bitterly cold and stormy night—with a warm fire cracking and popping in the fire place—with a warm quilt—a comforter wrapped all around you—even over your head. More warm and precious and sweet is the comfort we have from sins forgiven for Jesus’ sake!

When you see this your heart will rejoice and you will flourish like grass. Imagine a lady who has a terrible disease. This disease began to make her bones deteriorate—to the point that they were literally crumbling—becoming these painfully sharp fragments. There was the terrible possibility that her spinal cord would be damaged—even severed. What could doctors do? They could insert steel rods—to reinforce her spine—to make it strong when the bones would not. Imagine this terrible disease making her so sick that she began to shrink—so that these steel rods pierced her small muscles and finally poked completely through her skin. How painful must suffering like that be? It is only because of Jesus’ powerful forgiving love—that sometimes—when a person’s body grows weaker and weaker—that Jesus makes their faith stronger and stronger. It is only by the power of Jesus’ forgiving love—that people who know the most horrible of physical suffering—have a faith that flourishes. An attitude that is an encouragement to everyone who is blessed to know them. To see in concrete terms once again—that Jesus blesses his faithful people—with kindnesses that we cannot even imagine. Jesus’ love never fails.. Amen!