Download the Bethlehem Baptist Church Mobile App
Available for iOS and Android
October 19/20, 2013
Jason Meyer | Isaiah 55:10-12
“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven
and do not return there but water the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
“For you shall go out in joy
and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and the hills before you
shall break forth into singing,
and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands."—Isaiah 55:10–12
Introduction
I am so grateful to God for global focus. My heart is soaring as I think about the legacy of our goers and senders. I am grateful to God, and I call you to be grateful but also to be on your guard against two dangers: empty pride and empty tradition.
Empty Pride
One danger is that we will look down on other churches and be puffed up with empty pride and conceit so that we make much of ourselves. We are stewards of a great global focus tradition, but we are not the makers or the masters of it. We labor in it but do not take credit for it. Neither the one who plants or waters is anything—the Lord who causes the growth is everything (1 Corinthians 2:7). Be thankful, not prideful.
Empty Tradition
An even bigger danger may be that global focus will slide into the slow death called empty tradition. Some of you may have heard the story I heard growing up about the family that cut off part of the holiday ham. They always cut the end off. The husband asked why they did it. The wife replied, "Because that is what Mother did." Her mother was there for the holidays so they asked her. She replied, “Because that is what Mother always did.” So they all decided to call the Grandma in order to solve the three-generation mystery. She said, “We had to cut off the end of the ham because it was too big to fit in my roaster.”
That is what I call an “empty tradition.” Do you see the danger? Why do we do global focus? God forbid that we say, “We just do it because we always have. We assume there are good reasons, but we don’t really know.”
We have made great strides in our mission to obey the Great Commission. There was a great wave of missions renewal in the 1980’s, but I do not want to us to ride a dying wave. We are asking for a new mighty rushing wind to blow through this place and create a new wave and a new generation of goers. Therefore, at the end of this sermon, I am going to ask you a simple question: If you are feeling the pull of King Jesus for the nations, will you make a commitment to pray? Pursue prayerfully whether the Lord of the harvest is asking you to leave the Twin Cities to go and spread a passion for his supremacy and work for the joy of all peoples.
What Jesus said 2,000 years ago is still true: the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. We must look and pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send workers into his harvest field (Matthew 9:37–38). Notice that this assumes that there will be work to do because there will be a harvest. Why would we dare to think that a harvest will be not just possible, but plentiful? Answer: no empty word. The harvest will be plentiful because the word is powerful. We see this reason and more in Isaiah 55. No empty harvest and no empty tradition because of four things: (1) the power of the word, (2) the purpose of the word, (3) the Person of the word, and (4) the sharp point of the word. So we begin with the portion of the text that was read at the beginning, verses 10–11.
For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven
and do not return there but water the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
God’s word always works and never fails. How few there are who believe this in our day. Ours is an age of pragmatism. We are always looking for the latest thing that works. People move away from the word in favor of what church growth “experts” say is working. The day we leave the word is the day we should just close up shop. We can change our name to Ichabod Baptist Church. Ichabod means the glory has departed. The glory of God will depart from this place as soon as we depart from the word of God.
We are not going to move away from the word. Why would we? It always works and never fails. The word of God has the power of God to produce the purpose of God. Verse 11: "it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it."
So here is the question: what is this purpose? Verse 12 does not say explicitly. Where do we go to look? If you said the rest of the passage, then you would be right. Let’s dig deeper into this goldmine called Isaiah 55. The purpose of the word has already been defined in terms of what it produces. Here we look at the beginning and the end of Isaiah 55.
The purpose of the word is to produce salvation. Look at verse 1:
Come, everyone who thirsts,
come to the waters;
and he who has no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price.
A harvest is not just possible but plentiful because salvation breaks down all the barriers. The first thing that stands out here is the one thing humanity brings to the table: you don’t bring anything but a lack of something. Salvation is for the starving—for the famished. Salvation is not a potluck for spiritual iron chefs. Salvation stresses what God made, not what you made. We bring nothing to the table. We do not say to God, “Look at what I made—look at what I brought.” Salvation sees what God has made—what God has done! Anyone needy, starving, famished, hollow, and utterly empty? The gospel is good news. Salvation is for the starving, and God has provided a feast of grace! Come, bring your spiritual emptiness—feast on his fullness.
Second, not only do we not bring anything, we cannot buy anything with our earnings. Salvation is free. You bring no food to the feast, and you cannot buy what God brought. It is free. The food and drink are rich, but not the people.
and he who has no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price.
Third, the feast of salvation can’t run dry because it is coming to God. God is the gospel. We do not use God to get free food. God is the feast. We feast on his fullness. We go to him in order to get him. He alone satisfies. Taste and see that the Lord is good! Look at verses 2–3:
Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,
and delight yourselves in rich food.
Incline your ear, and come to me;
hear, that your soul may live;
Fourth, the harvest is plentiful because it is not just for all the peoples but for all the planet. The whole creation joins into this celebration of salvation. Go to the end of Isaiah 55. Look at verse 12:
For you shall go out in joy
and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and the hills before you
shall break forth into singing,
and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
Isn’t this picture exactly what we have seen in Romans 8 in recent days? The whole creation is groaning with eager longing. It will be set free from its bondage to corruption and will enjoy the freedom of the glory of the children of God. What will happen when it is set free from corruption? What will replace the groaning? Singing! Clapping! Celebrating! I can’t wait to see the creation go from groaning to glorying!
Fifth, the harvest will be plentiful because the curse will be removed. He comes to make his blessings flow far as the curse is found. Why is creation clapping? What is it celebrating? Creation will celebrate the removal of the curse. Look at the first part of verse 13:
Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress;
instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle;
The removal of thorns signifies the removal of the original curse in Genesis 3.
Cursed is the ground because of you;
in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;
and you shall eat the plants of the field.
By the sweat of your face
you shall eat bread.—Genesis 3:18–19
The thorns are gone—the curse is gone. At the feast, no one will labor for this food by the sweat of their face, but by the work of God’s grace. Individuals can have the curse removed, and then the cosmos can have the curse removed.
Sixth, salvation is for the fame of his name. Look at the second half of verse 13:
and it shall make a name for the LORD,
an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.
Global focus groans for this very thing: "Make a name for yourself Lord!" You will go out not to make a name for Bethlehem. No. You will go to make a name for Jesus!
Questions and Answers
At this point you should just be popping with questions begging to be answered. There are three big questions that stand out. First, for starters, how can the feast be free, but still require payment?
“Come, everyone who thirsts,
come to the waters;
and he who has no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price
Second, what is the way to this feast? Do we know the way—anyone have the directions?
Third, exactly how does this curse get removed? All of these questions and more receive their answer in our third point: the person of the word—the King. The King is the key to unlock all of these questions.
And I will make with you an everlasting covenant,
my steadfast, sure love for David.
Behold, I made him a witness to the peoples,
a leader and commander for the peoples.
Jesus is the glorified servant in the servant songs of Isaiah. He is the promised King in the everlasting covenant made with David in 2 Samuel 7. This King will rule the nations. He will command the peoples.
These verses cannot be understood at all apart from the death and the resurrection of Jesus. We know this first of all because this verse is quoted in the New Testament in Acts 13:34 in connection to the resurrection.
And as for the fact that he raised him from the dead, no more to return to corruption, he has spoken in this way, ”I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David.”
The promise to David was that there would always be a king from his line on the throne. Jesus fulfills that in the resurrection. The same King is always on the throne because he conquers death. He lives forevermore. No succession plan for this sovereign. He is the King Eternal.
Our three questions can be answered as well. Salvation does not hinge on what we brought because it is bought by blood. Spiritual beggars can buy expensive, rich food for free because the King paid the price. In this regard, the chapter divisions in the Bible sometimes obscure these connections. Isaiah 55 is what happens as a result of what happened in Isaiah 53. The servant is crushed by God as a substitutionary sacrifice for our sins. By his wounds we are healed. He cancelled a debt that he did not owe by paying the price we could not pay.
The feast cannot be understood apart from Jesus because the New Testament says he is the feast:
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.—John 6:35
On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.—John 7:37
The entire Bible ends on the note of inviting us to this feast.
The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.—Revelation 22:17
King Jesus also removes the curse by wearing it on his crown. There will be no more thorns because this King wore a crown of thorns. Galatians 3:13 says that he removed the curse from us by becoming a curse for us. Galatians 3:14 says that this curse-removing work brings the blessing of Abraham to the nations.
This King and commander for the peoples commands them to come.
Behold, you shall call a nation that you do not know,
and a nation that did not know you shall run to you,
because of the LORD your God, and of the Holy One of Israel,
for he has glorified you.
They come because they are drawn like a magnet to his glory. He shall call nations, and they shall run to him because God has glorified Jesus. How will the world come to this king? How do people come? They come to the King by laying down their rebellion through repentance. That is the sharp point of the word in this text.
How does one come to this King? Notice again that the invitation comes back into view in verse 6: "Seek the LORD while he may be found, call upon him while he is near." But the implication is he can be found now, and he is near now, but it will not always be. There is a day coming when it will be too late—he will no longer be found and no longer be near.
Verse six, obeying the invitation to come, is another way of saying “faith.” But coming to the Lord and his feast by faith will also involve repentance—they have to leave where they currently are and acknowledge that it is the wrong place. They are going the wrong way—they are thinking the wrong thoughts. That is what we see in verse 7. The “wicked must forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts” (verse 7).
Isaiah gives two reasons for why they should come and seek the Lord.
First, they should come and seek the LORD because of how abundant his compassion and mercy are. The harvest will be plentiful, because pardon is bountiful. Look at verse 7:
Let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
Second, they should come and seek the LORD because of how high his wisdom is above ours. Look at verses 8–9. Notice how the words “way” and “thoughts” from verse 7 are then repeated in verses 8–9.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
We should not imagine that we know the way. We cannot trust our own sense of direction. Salvation must be revealed. Paul made the same point in his sermon in Athens.
Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.—Acts 17:29–31
The only thing empty in this whole equation is rebellion. People come to repentance through realizing their plot against the King is empty. Listen to Psalm 2:
Why do the nations rage
and the peoples plot in vain?
The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers take counsel together,
against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying,
“Let us burst their bonds apart
and cast away their cords from us.”
He who sits in the heavens laughs;
the Lord holds them in derision.
Then he will speak to them in his wrath,
and terrify them in his fury, saying,
“As for me, I have set my King
on Zion, my holy hill.”
I will tell of the decree:
The LORD said to me, “You are my Son;
today I have begotten you.
Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,
and the ends of the earth your possession.
You shall break them with a rod of iron
and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”
Now therefore, O kings, be wise;
be warned, O rulers of the earth.
Serve the LORD with fear,
and rejoice with trembling.
Kiss the Son,
lest he be angry, and you perish in the way,
for his wrath is quickly kindled.
Blessed are all who take refuge in him.—Psalm 2
The rebellious come to kiss the scepter of the King Eternal. It all comes down to receiving or rejecting the Son. 1 John 5:11–12 say it with utter simplicity and profundity:
And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.—I John 5:11–12
Illustration
Even my illustration will be taken from the word of God. The word of God’s conquest of the nations means that the book of Acts compares closely with the Old Testament book of Joshua. Joshua is a conquest narrative in which the 12 tribes of Israel conquer the Gentile nations with a physical sword. The book of Acts has the 12 disciples as a new Israel conquering the nations with the sword of the Spirit: the word of God. When the gospel spreads and the nations come to Christ, it is telling to see the way that Luke summarizes what has happened.
And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.—Acts 6:7
But the word of God increased and multiplied.—Acts 12:24
This continued for two years, so that all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greek. . . . So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily.—Acts 19:10, 20
People multiply when the word is planted and multiplies.
The book of Jonah features the same two convictions of Isaiah 55: God is merciful, and God’s word is powerful, so God will receive the repentance of the Ninevites. But it worked the other way. That is why Jonah did not want to go to Ninevah. He tried (unsuccessfully) to run from God’s call because he did not want Ninevah to repent. At the end of the book, he is pouting over it all. He says in effect, "I knew this would happen. You are so merciful, and your word is so powerful that I knew they would repent and you would receive it." Jonah wanted to run from his call for those reasons; they are why we want to run to our calling today.
Application
The powerful word sometimes looks weak. It sometimes looks like the word is empty because its work is hidden. Do not confuse “No Empty Word” with “No Hidden Word."
Jesus told us that the word works in hidden ways. We should trust our convictions even more than our eyes.
And he said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.—Mark 4:26–29
You don’t even have to know how it works for it to work. The harvest will come—even if it is hidden now.
This next text shows us why God’s sovereignty is so important in this discussion. Jesus pronounced a prophetic woe on the places where his mighty works were done and yet the people did not repent. He names places in Israel that he declares to be worse than places that were notoriously bad in the Old Testament. Jesus declares that the day of judgment will be worse for these places than even infamous Sodom (Matthew 11:20–24).
Then Jesus does something that shocks our socks off. He rejoices that things have been hidden from some and revealed to others.
At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. [That is why you can come to him!] Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.—Matthew 11:25–30
The same thing happens in Acts 13 with regard to the word of God.
And Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken first to you. Since you thrust it aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles. For so the Lord has commanded us, saying,
“ ‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles,
that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’ ”
And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed. And the word of the Lord was spreading throughout the whole region.—Acts 13:46–49
The sovereignty of God never does an end run around the sufficiency of the word and the sufficiency of the Spirit. Watch how they work together in 1 Thessalonians 1:4–5:
For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not only in word [no empty word], but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction.
And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.—1 Thessalonians 1:4–5; 2:13
Conclusion
I love the legacy of missions at Bethlehem. One of my favorite parts of the Ola and Minnie Hanson story is the hiddenness factor. They moved from Minneapolis to the Kachin of Myanmar. They spent 30 plus years translating the Scriptures. They saw a few conversions. They came home and died. What God’s word was working among the Kachin was hidden from Bethlehem’s sight until 1995. We are seeing something today that Ola and Minnie Hanson never dreamed of: one day one of the Kachin will come and preach in Bethlehem’s pulpit. We are benefiting from the conviction that there is no empty word. They died before seeing the fruit. But we have seen the fruit so that we can be more confirmed in our belief that there is no empty word—even though there is a hidden work.
Here is the question in closing—who will be the next Kachin story? We will not have another story like that without another sending story! Who will be sent?
I do not know what the Lord would be pleased to do with this word today. Here is what I know. I know that there are 11,000 distinct people groups in the world, and 6,000 of them are still classified as unreached by the gospel. Unreached means that less than 2% of the people are evangelical Christians. Yes, I know that there are people that do not know Jesus here in the Twin Cities, and I am thrilled that many of you have felt a renewed calling to reach them. But I also know that you are not as needed here because there are a multitude of opportunities for lost people here to hear the gospel because there are many churches and many Christians. For 6,000 people groups representing 2 billion people, I know that they have no chance to hear about Jesus because there is virtually no Christian witness. There are no churches. How will they hear? Who will bring them the word?
In the light of such a need, our priorities are pointed. We prioritize the unreached and the unengaged. Our goal is not the salvation of a lot of people, but the salvation of all peoples. We prioritize this way because this is what God promised. The harvest will be all peoples. If there is a place that is unreached, we go there and plant the word there because the harvest will come there.
I am challenging you to pray if you should stay. When the needs outside of Minneapolis are so pronounced, we better be clear in our calling to stay. It does not mean that we are second-class Christians if we stay. In fact, if the majority of people stand up at the end of the service to go, we will be in big trouble because we will not have enough rope holders here at home to send them all and hold the rope for them all. Right now I feel called to stay and Pastor Bethlehem Baptist Church. The Lord could change that anytime he wants. Have you considered that? What if the Lord calls you to change that?
We will not look down on you if you stay, and we will not idolize you if you go. We will thank God for both. Some of you are already global partners back on home assignment. Will you stand? We have over 100 missionary units on the field. If you are here we want to honor you and not idolize you.
Some of you are already in the nurture program. We have about 85. Will you stand if you are here? I am calling both global partners and global partners in training to re-commit to your calling because of these renewed convictions. Global partners already on the field: can you believe afresh in no empty word? You may not be seeing the fruit you would like to see, but we fix our eyes on the things that are unseen for they are eternal. The things that are seen are transient. Will you believe again?
We love our global partners. They are some of the dearest people on the planet to me. I pray for them daily. What I am praying for now and have been praying for all week is a new generation of goers. O, Lord, for a new generation of goers. We can have a new generation of goers if the conviction of “no empty word” lands on us with new power. I don’t want to be a church that rides a 1980’s wave of mission renewal. I do not want to be like surfers riding a dying wave. Lord, give us new waves to ride! A new work and a new calling for some! I am praying that he will create again a generation that believes afresh in no empty word. Can you give your life to something that can’t fail even if some of the results will remain hidden?
Some from among this new generation of goers will leave Minneapolis, but you will not leave your jobs behind—you will bring them with you. You can bring your education, your skills, your training and utilize them in a different place. The only difference will be you will do your job where there is no Christian witness! Many are sensing a move to Business as Mission. You can go places where people with a church-planting visa could never go.
High school and college students, I call you right now to consider whether or not the Lord has given you a passion for a certain profession that you are pursuing or will pursue education for. Consider what job will open the most doors for you where there are the fewest gospel doors open. Is the Lord pointing you—not away from education, but pointing you through education to some other place besides America?
So here is the question: If you are feeling the pull of King Jesus for the nations, will you make a commitment to pray? Pursue prayerfully whether Jesus is asking you to leave the Twin Cities to go and spread a passion for the supremacy of God and work for the joy of all peoples.
Our global outreach team has identified five focus areas to help guide your going. We use the acronym MuSTBC. We are targeting work in these five areas:
Muslims, Students, Theological Education, Bible Translation, and Community Development.
If the answer is “yes,” then please understand what a “yes” answer means. A “yes” means that you feel a tug towards this call, and you are making a commitment to pursue that tug as far as Jesus leads. There may be a gap between the tugging and the going. But you are testifying to your need to discern Jesus’ call further.
If the answer is “yes,” then you will come to the front, and you will be given a card to fill out. We ask that your family would come with you if you have a spouse or children. It does not even mean that it is something you have already talked about together. If you come forward together as a family, you are definitely committing to having a deeper conversation!
Everyone that comes forward and fills out a card is then invited to one of three different mission gatherings where you can receive further prayer, and we can hear more about what God has laid on your heart. You can check the bulletin insert for where those gatherings meet according to campus.
Why do we want you to come forward? So that people can have a visible picture of what and whom we are praying for. One other thing I know: a call from King Jesus should excite us because it will not be an empty call. There is no empty word because King Jesus has all authority in heaven and earth, and he is with us to the end of the age. His power and presence will bring his purposes to pass.
He has spread a feast. We are feasting on his fullness. His sovereignty causes us to cry with thankful tongues, "Lord why was I a guest?" We long for others to come to the feast. We are humbled because we know some will make a wretched choice and rather starve than come. But we do not lose heart because we know that some will come because the same love that spread the feast will sweetly draw us in. They will not refuse to taste. They will not perish in their sins. Senders, who will say with this song, “Send thy victorious word abroad and bring the strangers, home.”
Closing Song: "How Sweet and Aweful Is the Place"