The Fifth Sunday of Easter

Jesse Jacobsen

Printed
Time-stamp: "Sat Apr 23 19:54:24 2005"

Isaiah 12:1--6

And in that day you will say: ``O LORD, I will praise You;
Though You were angry with me, Your anger is turned away, and You comfort me.
Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid;
`For YAH, the LORD, is my strength and song; He also has become my salvation.',''
Therefore with joy you will draw water
From the wells of salvation.

And in that day you will say: ``Praise the LORD, call upon His name;
Declare His deeds among the peoples,
Make mention that His name is exalted.
Sing to the LORD,
For He has done excellent things;
This is known in all the earth. Cry out and shout, O inhabitant of Zion,
For great is the Holy One of Israel in your midst!''

Sing Out, for the Lord Christ is With You!

Mighty men (including women) influence their surroundings in mighty ways. But even mighty men had to learn their strengths. In the time of the judges, God tapped Barak the son of Abinoam, commanding him to take ten thousand men and meet the Canaanite general Sisera on the battlefield. God promised Barak that He would deliver Sisera into his hand.

You probably don't know much about Barak, do you? Neither do I. Even though God had mighty plans for Barak, Barak didn't trust in the might of the Lord God enough to stand on his own as the chosen general of God's army. He could have become a household name. But he said to God's messenger, the judge Deborah, ``If you will go with me, then I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go!'' Deborah went, saying, ``nevertheless there will be no glory for you in the journey you are taking.''

If only Barak had trusted that God his Savior was truly with him! His timid faith meant that he would be overshadowed.

How about us? I recently heard of a sister congregation in the area that built a new school building, to be dedicated this month. They owe $2 million on it. Now, you may think them foolish for taking on such a debt. You may be envious, thinking that God must be working among them more than He is here. It's certainly been a long time since we have put so much trust in God's blessings!

Isn't it easy to take the attitude of Barak, who basically said to God, ``Show me the money.'' But the Lutheran Church is larger than any one congregation. We are part of that ancient body of Christians which confesses the pure and catholic doctrine of Jesus Christ that God has given us in the Bible. As Lutherans, we are sure that God is with us. This is not because we feel His presence. It's not because of our earthly leaders. It's not because His teachings make sense to us. As Lutherans, we are sure that God is with us because that's what He says Himself, directly to us in His Word. Jesus said, ``Where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.'' We have His Word. We have His sacraments. Our Lord cannot be separated from them, so we have Him too.

So don't be shy or timid, like Barak. God has mighty plans for you. Our theme today is this: Sing Out, for the Lord Christ is With You! He has become the spring of your salvation. You have become the voice of His glory.

He has become the spring of your salvation.

Our text is entirely about the praises of God. Sometimes His praises are misunderstood. I've heard people innocently say things like, ``It's fine to have all that teaching in our worship, pastor, but God wants our praises too.'' So, trying to praise God, people have written music and sermons and even new orders of worship all geared toward saying something like ``God, we feel wonderful about You and we love you so much.'' If you compare that to Isaiah 12, you will notice some differences.

Isaiah is describing the day of deliverance, when God's people will praise Him. ``And in that day you will say: `O LORD, I will praise You.' '' OK, but what does that mean? There are two ways to ask. We can as why do God's people praise Him, and how do God's people praise Him. As it turns out, the why and the how of praising God have the same answer.

Right after the part I just read, our text begins praising God on the spot, by proclaiming the reason He is to be praised. Here's what it says. ``And in that day you will say: `O LORD, I will praise You; Though You were angry with me, Your anger is turned away, and You comfort me. Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid; ``For YAH, the LORD, is my strength and song; He also has become my salvation.'' ',''

What is said right there is the very backbone of God's praise: He is our merciful Savior, our salvation. You wouldn't know what that means unless you realize that, without Him, you would perish. Here's an example. When humans try to worship God, we tend to talk about ourselves instead: our works, our love, and even our faith. We tend to say things like, ``God, we feel wonderful about you and we love you so much.'' It's good to feel wonderful about God, and to love Him. Except that it's a big, fat lie. When we are talking about ourselves, then we are talking about fallen man: fallen, depraved, and sinful man. He does not love God.

But someone objects. ``No, I really do love God as a Christian!'' But that's not what we're talking about here. The moment you bring Christianity into it, you are no longer talking about yourself, your works, your love, or your faith. Christianity is about someone else, someone called Christ. But even Christians sometimes lose sight of that, and prefer self-oriented worship instead.

The apostle Paul was honest about this. He admitted it in Romans chapter 7, ``I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find.'' So we are self-absorbed people, even when it comes to worshipping and praising God.

But I said Christianity is different, about someone else. In Isaiah's example, the good praise we find simply tells us about Christ, and what He did for us. So how to properly praise God is easy to answer: we simply proclaim why we praise Him. And we can even use Isaiah's own words, because they apply to us --- even to self-absorbed, self-serving people. He wrote, ``Though You were angry with me, Your anger is turned away, and You comfort me. Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid.''

Don't you have reason to praise God? I don't mean feelings within you, or a desire to change your life. I mean: hasn't God done something mighty and wonderful for you? Hasn't He taken a personal interest in you, to save you from the everlasting doom of our fallen race? Yes, He has. In fact, Paul wrote, ``If God be for us, then who can be against us?'' Yes, we have reason to rejoice every day. God has made us His own --- He has done it! ``God was in Christ reconciling the Word to Himself.''

There are some who mock that thought. They can't accept the surpassing righteousness of God, and don't want any part of it. If they do not repent, they will have their heart's desire, and a terrible thing it will be. But we have something else, a Savior, and all who are not ashamed to call Him that will have a new heart's desire, and will dedicate their lives to His praise. ``Therefore with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.''

Sing out, for the Lord Christ is with you! He has become the spring of your salvation.

You have become the voice of His glory.

Sing out, for the Lord Christ is with you! You have become the voice of His glory. Boy, that sounds grand, doesn't it? But it may not seem so grand when you realize what I mean. Here's what Isaiah wrote, ``And in that day you will say: `Praise the LORD, call upon His name; Declare His deeds among the peoples, Make mention that His name is exalted. Sing to the LORD, For He has done excellent things; This is known in all the earth.' ''

You, the redeemed in Christ, have become the voice of His glory. That's your purpose in whatever callings you serve each day of your life. Now, I know that we don't usually think about that part of Christian living. In fact, we may be pretty vulnerable revealing our faith to the people we know. But it's part of being a Christian. It's what Christians do.

More often, we probably think of Christian living in other ways: using God's Word, and living a God-pleasing life. So our purpose is to worship God and live at home or work or school in a way befitting a Christian. And that's usually as far as we consider the Christian life. But God wants our praises too: out loud, in public, shameless praises. Not just saying how much we love God. No, God has put you here in your life, and me in my life to tell the world how He loves us, and to confess what He has done for us. Embarassing? Could be. But that's what Christians do. It's a major reason that we have been called to faith: to sing the praises of our Savior. Hear what St. Peter wrote, ``you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.'' What praises? That you ``once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.''

That means that everyone you know needs to hear about Jesus from you, because He died for all. It doesn't matter if your neighbors or coworkers or friends don't seem like godly people, because you and I are not godly people either, not without the good news of forgiveness and eternal life. But we have the Gospel now, don't we? God has told us, and now the door to heaven is open! So ``Declare His deeds among the peoples, Make mention that His name is exalted. Sing to the LORD, For He has done excellent things.''

Shame on us for not taking this seriously enough. But it's hard to do, isn't it? We will probably lose some people we considered friends. Even family members will probably turn against us. If things like that haven't happened yet on account of Jesus, then maybe we've been trying to keep our faith a secret, instead of confessing our Savior as we should. The world around us won't love us for it, but Jesus said, Matthew 10:32, ``Whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven.'' So take courage from His Word! Not everyone will reject the Gospel. You will have new and better friends, and this precious fellowship we share in Christ will be strengthened.

But first, we still have a guilt problem. We haven't sung the praises of God as we should. Part of us doesn't even want to. You know what that means. The fruitless fig tree was cursed by Jesus and withered. We deserve that condemnation. But Jesus even took that guilt upon Himself. He suffered and died to forgive Peter, who denied Him. He also suffered and died for you. Your sins are forgiven. So ``Cry out and shout, O inhabitant if Zion, For great is the Holy One of Israel in your midst!'' Amen.

Soli Deo Gloria!

This document was translated from LATEX by HEVEA.