This week we have been looking at the reality that, at
the end of the day, Christmas in our culture is about the presents. Christmas
in our culture is driven by the presents we receive from others and Christmas
in our culture is driven by the presents that we give to others. And everything
around us reinforces that reality.
But why do we as a culture spend so much time and energy
on presents and have such a short memory when it comes to the presents we
receive from others? Could it be that the presents that we received really did
not have the lasting impact that we thought that they would have? Could it be
that the presents that we thought would fulfill a desire and need in our lives
ended up being unable to fill that need? Could it be that Christmas can become
about the wrong kind of presents.
We talked about the reality that Christmas is the most
stressful and depressing season of the year for many people due to a lack of
presence. Maybe it is the lack of the presence of a close family member or
friend who has passed away. Or maybe it is the lack of the presence of a significant
relationship in our life. Or maybe it is the lack of the presence of meaning
and purpose in life.
We then looked at the reality that Christmas began not so
that we could experience presents; Christmas began so that all of humanity
would have the opportunity to experience God’s presence. Christmas is all about
God revealing His presence in the most radical way imaginable, so that all of
humanity could know that God was real and that God was present and active in
the world.
You see, all of humanity has some recognition and need of
God’s presence. Intuitively, we all sense a sense of a presence that we desire
to experience in our life. We sense the need for this presence in our lives and
we search for a way to connect with this presence. And we feel the frustration
that comes from what seems to be the fleeting and elusive presence of God.
Yesterday, we spent our time together looking at a
section of a letter that is recorded in our Bibles called the book of Isaiah,
where the Jewish people had recognized that God’s presence was not longer
present. And the Jewish people responded to the fact that God’s presence was no
longer present by questioning God’s nature and character. The Jewish people
were questioning whether or not God was able to deliver and rescue them from
the difficulties and challenges that they were beginning to experience. The
Jewish people were questioning whether or not God was even paying attention to
their situation. The Jewish people were questioning and beginning to think that
God had changed; that God was the problem.
We saw Isaiah respond to the Jewish people questioning
the nature and character of God by basically saying “God has not changed and
God has not moved. God is the same God that was present and active throughout
the history of the Jewish people. God is still able to rescue and deliver”. You
see, God was still paying attention to the Jewish people.
And today, God is still the same. God is still fully
aware and fully capable of engaging and acting. The problem was not and is not
with God. Now you may be here this morning and your initial reaction to what I
just said is this: “Well, if that is the case, then what is the problem”?
Isaiah reveals the problem in the very next verse, Isaiah 59:2:
But your
iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, And your sins have
hidden His face from you so
that He does not hear.
Isaiah simply and clearly replied that God is not the one
with the problem; no, Jewish people you are the ones with the problem. And the
problem is your selfishness and rebellion. You see, after King Solomon had
built the temple and finished his reign as king, the Jewish people and culture
began to slide further and further away from God. Instead of living in
relationship with God, the Jewish people selfishly rebelled against God. Over
time, the Jewish people increasingly were involved in actions and attitudes of
omission and commission that flowed from selfishness and rebellion against God
and that hurt God and others. And that is what Isaiah and the letters that make
up the Bible refer to as iniquity and sin.
And as a result of the selfishness and rebellion of the
Jewish people, the Jewish people were guilty of having a problem with God. A
problem that Isaiah states resulted in separation between the Jewish people and
God. God’s presence was not longer present because selfishness and rebellion
had created a division and void. Notice Isaiah’s words: “your sins have hidden His
face from you so that He does not hear”.
In other words, Isaiah is saying “don’t blame God;
because God is not the one who moved. You Jewish people have moved. God is not
playing hide and seek; you are playing hide and seek. God is not paying
attention to you and God’s presence is no longer present because you are too
busy running from God and running to selfishness and rebellion”.
And in the same way today, the reason why God’s presence
is not present is not because God has changed or moved. The reason why God’s
presence is not present is because we have moved; we have rejected the
relationship with God that we were created for and instead chosen to run from
God and run to selfishness and rebellion.
Now a potential objection that might be raised here is
“how am I running from God and running to selfishness and rebellion? How is it
my fault that God’s presence is not present in my life?” Isaiah, anticipating
this objection from the Jewish people of his day, provided the answer to these
questions in Isaiah 59:3-8:
For your
hands are defiled with blood And your fingers with iniquity; Your lips have
spoken falsehood, Your tongue mutters wickedness. No one sues righteously and
no one pleads honestly. They trust in confusion and speak lies; They conceive
mischief and bring forth iniquity. They hatch adders' eggs and weave the
spider's web; He who eats of their eggs dies, And from that which is crushed a snake breaks forth. Their webs will
not become clothing, Nor will they cover themselves with their works; Their
works are works of iniquity, And an act of violence is in their hands. Their
feet run to evil, And they hasten to shed innocent blood; Their thoughts are
thoughts of iniquity, Devastation and destruction are in their highways. They
do not know the way of peace, And there is no justice in their tracks; They
have made their paths crooked, Whoever treads on them does not know peace.
In these verses, see Isaiah reveal to the Jewish people
that the reason that they were to blame for the fact that God’s presence was
not present was because the actions of their hands, the attitudes of their
heads, and the desires of their hearts were consumed by their selfishness and
rebellion. And the product of the Jewish people’s selfishness and rebellion was
trouble, wickedness and sorrow.
Isaiah then paints a word picture of an adder and of a
spider web to drive this point home. Now an adder is an extremely poisonous
snake that inhabits the region that the Jewish people resided. And regardless
of the age or stage of life, any encounter with an adder usually resulted in
death. Here Isaiah is revealing for us
the reality that just like an adder, the selfishness and rebellion of the
Jewish people gave birth, or produced, the death or separation of the Jewish
people from the presence of God.
Isaiah then paints a word picture of a coat made of
spider web. Now, putting on a coat made from spider web may initially provide a
snug fit that would never lose its clinginess. The problem, however, is that such
a coat would never lose its clinginess. In other words, once you have clothed
yourself in a spider web coat, it is difficult to take off that coat. And in
the same way, if you try to clothe yourself in selfishness and rebellion, it is
difficult to be freed from its grasp.
And that is exactly what the Jewish people had done. The
Jewish people had embraced and were now ensnared in a life and a lifestyle of
selfishness and rebellion that hurt God and others and separated them from
God’s presence being present in their lives.
Friday, we will see the prophet remind the Jewish people
of the impact of their selfishness and rebellion and discover a timeless truth
when it comes to God’s presence…
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