Easter Service

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Title

Easter Service

Teacher

Peter Hubbard

Date

April 12, 2020

Scripture

TRANSCRIPT

Hey, everyone. I’m Justin, and I want to welcome you to North Hills Church, especially if this is your first time joining us. We’re going to get started in just a few minutes. But first, here’s this week’s Need2Know. At the end of the service, Peter is going to lead us through communion together. If you haven’t taken time to prepare the juice and bread already, now would be the opportune time. Also, if at any point the livestream goes down, we will upload a pre-recorded version of the service to our website within 10 minutes.

We wanted to take some time during this Need2Know to simply give praise for the many things that have happened in the last month. OneAnother, the benevolence fund at North Hills is helping dozens of families and individuals in this time of need. Also, a lot of our life groups are meeting online together. Just recently, Alive has seen two students make confessions of faith during online meetings. Kidstuff and Treehouse had classes on Zoom, and so many children had fun interacting with their friends and teachers. Men and women’s ministry continue to meet with online discussions. College ministry and Encore ministry are also staying connected through online tools as well. God is truly working in unique ways through all the different ministries in our church, and we can’t wait to hear more amazing stories from all of you.

Several weeks ago, we decided to push pause on the Revelation series and dive into 1 Peter 5 to see what it means to be humble, watchful, and hopeful in times of uncertainty. This miniseries has been such a blessing, and we encourage you to go back and watch it online from our website if you happened to miss a week. Starting next Sunday, we’ll be going back to Revelation for the remainder of the series. There are so many opportunities to get connected at North Hills. Please visit the Need2Know section of our website to learn more about different ways to connect and get involved. That wraps up this week’s Need2Know. Have a great week, everyone.

Good morning, North Hills Church. I’m so glad to be able to greet you on this Easter morning. Two things I bet you weren’t ready for this morning: number 1, that you were going to see a choir and number 2, that you were going to see me in a suit. And yet you have received both on this Easter morning. I’m thrilled to welcome you to our first ever live streaming service. And while I wish I could see your faces in the seats in front of me or the pews over at Northwest, I’m still thankful to God that he allows us to stay connected through the use of technology.

I will say, one thing I am going to miss this year is the traditional Easter greeting, sometimes called the Paschal greeting or the Easter acclamation. Many denominations for many, many years have used this as a regular part of their Easter gathering. The greeting begins with someone saying, “Christ is risen,” and then the hearers respond, “He is risen indeed.” So, I gave myself some time this week to figure out how we could reproduce this on a grand scale. And to do that, I’m going to need your help right now. So, in all of your gatherings all over the upstate, if you have a phone, I want you to take it out right now and do one of two things. If you’re on social media, whatever platform — Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, whichever one it is — go ahead and open up that and take a picture of your surroundings right now. It can be you, your TV, living room, whatever it is. Take a picture. If you’re not on social media, that’s fine. I want you to open your text app and pick a friend that you’re going to text. Whether you’re on social media or whether you’re texting, both of you are going to do the exact same thing. You’re going to put the same text in: He is risen indeed. So, social media people have that picture. Go ahead and type it in as I am doing right now, and you will see it on my Instagram. And if you’re texting, I want you to text “He is risen indeed.” Because here in a moment when I say, “Christ is risen,” we’re all going to post to social media or text our friend all at the same time. Ready, North Hills? Here we go. Christ is risen. He is risen indeed.

And the story of the resurrection of Jesus is found for us in John 20.

“Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, ‘They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.’ So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going toward the tomb. Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. After stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples went back to their homes.

“But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept, she stooped to look into the tomb. And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. They said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping?’ She said to them, ‘They have taken my away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.’ Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?’ Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, ‘Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Mary.’ She turned and said to him in Aramaic, ‘Rabboni!’ (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, ‘Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.”‘ Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, ‘I have seen the Lord’ — and that he had said these things to her.”

“On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’ When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the father has sent me, even so I am sending you.’ And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.’”

“Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, ‘We have seen the Lord.’ But he said to them, ‘Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.’”

“Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.’”

“Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”

Good morning. I’m wondering this morning if some of us can relate to Jesus’ disciples, his apprentices, being locked in that room afraid. Even though resurrection has happened, there’s still fear. And how does Jesus respond? He comes through the locked door and steps in and says, “Peace be with you.” So, as we sing together, wherever you are, if you can find a posture — whether that’s sitting or standing or kneeling or laying down —  but invite Jesus into those parts that still feel locked and scared. So, let’s even just pray together. I’ll pray out loud and we can pray together wherever we are.

Jesus, we need you. We need your peace. We need you to free us from fear, whatever corners of our lives haven’t been touched by resurrection yet or it just doesn’t feel like that’s real. Let that change. We’re inviting you into every part of our world. Jesus, in the rooms that we’re in, in this auditorium that we’re in physically, in each house and space and table, apartment, wherever we are watching and listening and singing and participating, Jesus, let us have eyes and ears to see and hear you present, resurrected, death-defeated saying, “Peace be with you.” Let it be real to us. As we sing, let these words sink in deep, and let your name, who you are, your nature be shown off so clearly, your reputation, your value. We just want to lift you high, see how amazing you are, and be transformed. Amen.

As we keep celebrating what he’s done for us, I don’t know if some of you enjoy whistling or if maybe some younger ones of us have just recently learned how to whistle, but we’re going to try whistling after the choruses in this song as a way to make a joyful noise to the Lord who rescues us, saves us, and lifts us from the grave. Jenny is going to lead us vocally, and we can all sing and whistle. “Who, Oh Lord”

Alright, I assume that sounded beautiful wherever you are, too. We’ve got one more song to sing, and there are some quotes in it from the book of Ephesians, from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, about waking up and rising from the grave. I just want to remind us of the wild picture that Paul paints in that letter.

He says that we were rotting corpses, a silent cemetery, lifeless, hopeless, done. But God loved us, rich in mercy. And he had a brilliant idea. He first became like us — Christ, God in the flesh, skin and bone, muscle, lungs, blood, tears, laughter. Then he became even more like us, dead. God as a corpse, lifeless in a cemetery with us. But then his eyes flash open, breath filled his lungs, and he sprang up from the grave. Death was arrested. And then he turned to our dead bodies and said, “Wake up!” And our eyes flashed open, breath filled our lungs. We sprang from our graves. God had become like us, dead. And now we become like him, fully alive forever. Our old life was isolated and aimless, but this new life is a shared one — shared identity, shared purpose. Christ and we are all one new person. It’s a new kind of life entirely we’ve been raised to. He’s the head. We’re his body. We’re one thing. He doesn’t see us as separate individuals who run around doing our own thing anymore. With Christ, in Christ, altogether, we are one flesh, one mind, one spirit. So, let’s walk, let’s live in a manner worthy of that high, high calling. Let’s quickly and decisively get rid of anything that Christ himself wouldn’t participate in — any form of unkindness, any kind of calloused hardness of heart. That kind of thinking, it just doesn’t work here. The smallest hint of sexual immorality, alarm bells go off. Sex is meant to picture the glory of this reality — God and man together, and anything less has to go. So, we’ve got work to do, not much time to do it, and an enemy who wants us all to stay corpses. So, sober up, gear up, put on your armor. Let’s go with Christ, in Christ, in his love to wake up the other corpses. There is resurrection on offer.

So, we’re going to sing this song together as a wake-up call to each other. We’re saying, “Church, this is who you are!” Even though we are separate across the city, across the globe, we are one with Christ, in Christ. Let’s not hold back. Let’s punch dance out our praise like a corpse that just woke up. We’re free to look like idiots. We’re alive. I know it can be scary to dance and worship at the big gathering here, but who cares at home? What are you trying to prove to your family or your roommates? Just like Christ sang this song to us, we’re going to now sing it to each other and to those who are still dead in their sins. Come awake, come awake!

When you have seen the inside of a tomb, and Christ has shown you what it’s like to be dead spiritually and then brought you out into new life, there is no national crisis, there are no regulations that can keep us from praising him. We are thrilled to be celebrating this Easter with you, even though I know it’s not the same. But we are so grateful we can do it together. And thank you to Brian and Ryan and Quinn and Jenny and Justin and Tyler and Susan and Mel and others who are working behind the scenes so that we could enjoy this time together.

If you could turn to Isaiah 58, Isaiah 58. And I want to take a bit to explain why we’re going to be in Isaiah 58. And if this is the first time you’ve visited with North Hills, I know this is an unusual way to visit, but I would strongly encourage all of us to find a Bible or turn to the Bible on your phone, or even if you have to Google Isaiah 58. It would be really helpful to have this text in front of you. It’s a big text and it’s, I believe, a text that you’re going to want to keep going back to throughout the week because there’s way more here than we can cover in a few minutes.

But while you’re turning to Isaiah 58, let me explain how we got there on this Easter. If our schedule hadn’t changed, we would have been in Revelation 22:1-5. And in that passage, we hear about the river of the water of life. The river of the water of life, which nourishes the tree of life, and on the tree of life there are leaves for the healing of the nations. Can you imagine anything we need more than the healing of the nations? 209 nations have reported COVID-19. There are only 195 nations recognized by the United Nations, so that obviously includes territories. But this is an international crisis. And when you read about God’s promise to provide a river of life that nourishes this tree of life, which has leaves for the healing of the nations, it raises some big questions as to where we’re looking and who were trusting in.

But that also sent me on a study throughout the whole Bible on water and life. From Genesis 2 to Revelation 22, the Bible connects those two — the river of the water of life. And we’re going to return to that passage in a few weeks. As Justin mentioned, we’re going to be back in Revelation next week. So, we’ll be in Revelation 22 in a couple weeks and we’ll talk about that river of the water of life. But I want to show you today one example of a river that brings about life from a passage you would normally not think of as a resurrection passage, but I believe it will help us celebrate the resurrection today.

So, in order to do that, we need to step back a bit. And let me give you a little context. Isaiah, the book of Isaiah, is a masterpiece of poetry and prose, from God through Isaiah to Judah. Judah is the southern part of Israel. Israel, at this time was broken into two big parts — the northern part of Israel, which was commonly called Israel (which was taken off eventually into Assyria), the southern part, which was known as Judah, (which was eventually taken off into Babylon). So, even though the message is focused on Judah, that southern part, it is a global story. It is God fulfilling his promises to Abraham to bless all nations through the sacrificial ministry of the humble Servant, the Servant King, who is described throughout the book of Isaiah. And in doing that, he is restoring and renewing the entire cosmos for the healing of the nations.

There are three parts to Isaiah. Part 1 is before exile (chapters 1-39), and in that there’s a lot of warning. Part 2 – in exile (40-45), and there you hear a lot of comfort for a weary and a discouraged people. And then the third big part, after exile (56-66), where we learn what repentance and restoration looks like. So, our chapter here, Isaiah 58, is in that third section where we’re going to learn about repentance and restoration. And specifically, chapter 58 focuses in on the difference between fake and fruitful worship, fake worship and real worship, fruitful worship.

God is confronting Judah for their fake worship, and he’s going after their motivations. They are performing religious acts, assuming that if they do this, God is going to do this, and he’s going to do what they demand. And in doing that, they are acting like the pagan nations all around them. For example, the Canaanites would hold these massive, vile festivals full of immorality trying to stimulate their gods to make them and their animals and their fields fertile. And in a sense, Israel is participating in this kind of religious bartering, this unholy haggling, trying to bully gods into blessing. Look at verse 1,

“Cry aloud; do not hold back; lift up your voice like a trumpet; declare to my people their transgression, to the house of Jacob their sins. Yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the judgment of their God; they ask of me righteous judgments; they delight to draw near to God. ‘Why have we fasted, and you see it not? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?’”

You can hear the people crying out, a lot of anguish, a lot of frustration. God, we’re doing what you told us to do. We’re praying. We’re fasting. But you’re not cooperating. You’re not giving us what we are after. Then in the second half of verse 3 God explains why.

“Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure.”

And you might want to underline that. It’s a theme in this chapter. You seek your own selfish, sinful pleasure. You claim to be worshiping me (God is saying) but in the end you’re really worshiping yourself. And you oppress all your workers. Verse 4,

“Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to hit with a wicked fist. Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice to be heard on high.”

You fast to fight. Your fasting and your fighting are motivated by the same selfishness. And that kind of worship is not the kind of worship I am seeking. Your fasting and your fighting both flow from the same fountain and are fueled by the same selfishness. You seek your own pleasure. When you worship, you dress up your selfishness in the garments of religion. But it’s the same. It’s the same selfishness as when you argue and abuse and mistreat one another. And when that formula doesn’t produce what you claim you want produced, you are frustrated, and you tend to take it out on your neighbors.

Have you noticed that some of the most difficult people to live with are some of the most religious people? Why is that? Well, God is highlighting that right here. When we spend so much of our mental and physical energy trying to placate God or impress people, we don’t have anything left to truly love. And so, we end up mad at God and frustrated with people. In verse 5, God is saying,

“Is such [is this kind of worship] the fast that I choose, a day for a person to humble himself? Is it to bow down his head like reed, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast, and a day acceptable to the Lord?”

God is saying, this is not what I want. And in the end, this is not what you want. Stop haggling with God. Stop. What do I mean, haggling? Stop gambling with God. It’s like you have cards, and God has cards. And you think, “If I can get cards that are higher than his cards, when we put them on the table, I’m going to be able to get what I want religiously.”

When I first became a Christian, as a teenager, I was so passionate about sharing Christ, that I would just go throughout my neighborhood knocking on doors and go on mission trips knocking on doors and talking to many, many different kinds of people, many people with different religious backgrounds. But whenever I asked them the question, if you stood before God right now, and he asked you, “Why should I let you into my heaven?” What would you say? And when I asked them if they would be spending eternity with God, the three words I would repeatedly hear, no matter what the religious background, was “I hope so.” I hope so. And those words betray a kind of holy haggling with God. I hope that if I can do enough good things that they’re going to offset for whatever God has against me, that these will counterbalance or be higher cards or somehow convince God that I was sincere enough or did enough, earned enough. And all of that is a kind of unholy haggling.

And what Isaiah is revealing in verses 1-5 is, this is what you could call fake worship. It is religion, but it is not true, fruitful worship. And he’s calling us to turn from that and turn to what is genuine and real and actually bears fruit and life in our lives. And the way he communicates this for the rest of the chapter, verses 6 on, he describes three unexpected cycles of fruitful worship. Three unexpected cycles of fruitful worship. I know this is a lot, but kids, you can follow this because we’re going to see three cycles of the same movements throughout the rest of the chapter. You can actually draw this, kids.

So, what do I mean, unexpected? Well, these people were exiles. Isaiah is preparing them to return from being in exile. And so, the kind of movements that the gospel (moving from gambling with God to believing the gospel) … The kind of movements that God calls us too, are not movements we would naturally go toward. They are unexpected. Exiles typically have experienced disorientation, isolation, vulnerability. And so, we’re going to tend to hoard. We’re going to tend to hold on and play it safe. And God is saying, “No, I want you to move in the opposite direction.” And the three movements that we’re going to see three times are dying, rising, living. Dying. rising, living. Dying to your own selfish pleasure so your worship doesn’t simply reinforce your selfishness. Rising in healing and security. And then living in God’s smile and favor and presence. So, let’s look at those. I’ll mention the first and the third fairly quickly, and we’ll spend a little more time on the second one.

Cycle number 1, verses 6-9, dying. What do we mean, dying? Look at verse 6.

“Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?”

Not to hide yourself from your own flesh. What do we mean, dying? Isaiah is confronting the people for turning worship into a kind of escapism, a protectionism. And the walls, Isaiah is warning them, the walls that they’re building around them, which include religious activities, are actually walls that are built to protect yourselves, but are entombing yourself. You are becoming entombed. That’s not where life is. That’s not where fruitfulness is. I want you to die in this way. I want you to open up and be vulnerable. Don’t hide from people. I want you to look honestly at the suffering of this world. See the injustice and not flee and pretend like it doesn’t exist, but actually move toward it. And in a sense, that’s a kind of dying. It’s a dying to our own sense of security. It’s a dying to our own thoughts as to the way the world should work. It’s a kind of death through vulnerability.

But then, look at what happens. Look at the rising, verse 8.

“Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.”

This unexpected dying leads to an unimaginable upturn, a healing righteousness, glory.

And then look at the living, the third part. Dying, rising, now living. Verse 9,

“Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’”

Living in the presence of Yahweh, our covenant God, in his steadfast love. We’re not haggling with him. We’re enjoying his presence.

Look at cycle number 2. It does the same three things again. Notice the dying. Verse 9, second half, starts a new section in the middle of verse 9.

“If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, [which is a kind of character assassination, accusations] and speaking wickedness, if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted.”

Pour yourself out. See the contrast to verse 3? Seek your own sinful, selfish pleasure. No, pour yourself out. What does that mean, pour yourself out? Does it mean we should never eat, take care of ourselves, exercise. No. Obviously there’s a way in which we need to be able to, there are times we need to put on the oxygen mask so that we can help those in crisis around us. But God here is calling his people away from a utilitarian use of worship — using worship as a way of getting and taking advantage of others. And in contrast, like Paul described in Philippians and in Timothy, I want you to pour yourself out like a drink offering, to pour yourself out for the neediest. And this is a challenge today, isn’t it? Some of you are probably thinking, why are you preaching this today? We can’t even go outside. How are we going to pour ourselves out?

Well, before we describe how this is brought about, how this happens, let me just share some praises as to ways in which you are so creatively living this out already. I’ll just mention a few examples. I hear of many of you running errands for others, shopping for groceries. Business owners who are doing everything they can do to take care of employees, even at their own expense. Many of you are giving sacrificially, not only so the needs can continue to be met here at our church, but so that the overflow is able to bless ministries around this community. Over the last few weeks, you have generously sacrificed so that we are giving tens of thousands of dollars to other ministries in crisis at this time. That is a kind of a pouring out. Visiting people from a distance on Zoom or standing at a distance in their front yard, checking on them. Delivering meals, phone calls, texts, prayers online, prayers in private — all of these are tangible ways in which we pour ourselves out.

And look at the rising. The rising, secondly in verse 10,

“If you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday.”

Many years ago, Jerry Sittser experienced a … He was with his family in their minivan. They were hit by a drunk driver. It was a horrible car wreck. His mother, wife, and one of his daughters were all killed in that one car wreck. And he wrote in his remarkable book, “A Grace Disguised,” about what it was like to walk through the darkness of grief as the shadows began to close in on him to such an extent that he felt like he was going to be suffocated. He found himself running after the sun that was setting as the darkness was like a wave coming over him. And one day his sister said to him, “Jerry, you need to turn east. You’re chasing the setting sun. You need to turn east. Plunge into the darkness and trust that the sun will rise.” What does he mean, plunge into the darkness? It doesn’t mean to give in to despair. But rather, to be honest about grief, to face it squarely in the midst of the mundane. He was still trying to raise his other children. To be able to mourn genuinely so that he’s truly present with his children, but still living life. And he goes on to describe how that sunrise occurs. This is what Isaiah is referring to — a kind of dying, a kind of rising.

And then look at the living in verse 11.

“The Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail. And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; and you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; and you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in.”

In times of vulnerability and insecurity he will meet you, guide you, satisfy you. Look at verse 11. This is the verse that drew me from Revelation 22 to Isaiah 58.

“You shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.”

These waters point toward the water of the river of life. This chapter began with people trying to fast enough, sacrifice enough, to try to get God to give them what they thought they needed. And now God is promising not only to provide them with what they need, but to create a mobile ecosystem out of them. Like a human hotspot where you’re not just looking around for Wi-Fi, you are Wi-Fi. You are … A spring of water is rising up in you. Life, the life of Jesus Christ flowing in and through you so much so, that what were scorched places (verse 11), places where nothing can grow, those places become watered gardens. Your life, your joy, your satisfaction is not dependent on your environment or your circumstances. A spring of water whose waters do not fail, flow up within you. And everything around us can change and be cut off, but there’s something going on in this new way of living.

And Jesus came not only to model this, but to provide it. We could not produce this. We can’t produce this. There’s no amount of sacrifice that can produce this. That’s the whole point of the first part of the chapter. Jesus poured himself out on the cross. Look at Psalm 22:14.

“I am poured out like water.”

This is talking about the Messiah. Jesus is saying this. Isaiah 53:12,

“He poured out his soul to death.”

He poured out his life on Good Friday. His light rose in the darkness on Easter morning. That is why we celebrate. He now lives so that we live in his newness of life. Scorched places become watered gardens, places in your life you thought nothing could grow see new life. And the invitation is to all of us. Isaiah 55:1. Isaiah said,

“Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; [These waters that do not fail. Come to these waters.] and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! [Notice there’s no more haggling.] Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. 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.”

This is our invitation this morning. Come to the waters.

Look at the final cycle. Cycle number 3, verse 13, dying. In what way are we dying here? Verse 13,

“If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure [There it is again.] on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the Lord honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly.”

In what way are we dying? We’re dying to what we think we need, the way God is supposed to meet our needs, and everybody around us is supposed to meet our needs. We die to this. And look at the rising. Verse 14,

“Then you shall take delight in the Lord, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth.”

That image of riding on the heights, that rising up to the heights, and not just being there, but riding on the heights, is an image of moving from cowering to confidence, joy-filled confidence. True humility leads to a kind of joyful boldness. And God’s Sabbath rest becomes a delight.

A few days ago, I was talking to a doctor friend of mine who heads up the COVID-19 response at a Johns Hopkins hospital. And the next day he texted me this. He and his wife Susanna were talking about this.

“I am struck how through all of this, God has forced us into a Sabbath, not of our own choosing. He has commanded us to be still. Even the earth, the land, obtains a Sabbath as all our machines and factories are stilled. All of our hope and belief in the inevitability of progress is made to look foolish by the single word of a viral genome that would fill only a few pages. Such a small speech and yet such terror, and the undoing of nations.”

We are still. We enter his rest. It feels like a place of powerlessness, like everything’s falling apart, but yet actually, he is raising us up. He is renewing us. He is preparing us to truly live. That’s what this dying, rising, living movement is. Notice the second half of verse 14. “I will feed you.” I will feed you. This chapter began with people fasting and ends with feasting. It began with God confronting the house of Jacob (verse 1) for their hypocrisy. And now God is promising a feast, provided through the covenantal promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. That’s “the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it.” Jesus, who is both the source and the seed of Abraham, invites us all into a feast as we turn from bartering to believing to trusting him. Our lives are swept into this dying, rising, living movement. He did for us what we could never do on our own because our magnetic pull toward our own selfishness is too strong. He had to break it. And he did it by dying, rising, and living in his power. It is all for his glory, and notice, for our good. Those two come together. I will feed you. We see the most vivid fulfillment of this promise in Jesus, when he, in Matthew 26:26, sat with his disciples.

“Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, ‘Take, eat; this is my body.’ And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.’”

Today,  if you are turning from bartering with God, if you are tired of trying to impress him or others, and you’re putting your confidence in Jesus Christ, I invite you to participate in a meal that dramatizes the dying, rising, living. If you could right now, if you have bread and juice, you could go ahead and go get those right now. While you’re doing that, I want to show another passage that is so similar to Isaiah, 58 in 1 Corinthians 11 that describes this very meal we’re about to participate in. Paul warns against eating this bread and drinking this cup of the Lord in what he calls an unworthy manner (1 Corinthians 11:27). He invites us to examine ourselves before we partake of this meal. Why did he have to give this warning? Well, if you read the whole context there in 1 Corinthians 11, what were the people doing in the church at Corinth? They were participating in the Lord’s Supper in a way of selfishness. Listen to what Paul’s words are. Verse 21 of 1 Corinthians 11, “One goes hungry, another gets drunk.” They’re taking the Lord’s Supper, which he gave to us to feed us, and they’re turning it into a means of their own selfishness. They were, in Paul’s words, humiliating those who have nothing. This seems to be the same thing Isaiah is confronting Judah for back in Isaiah 58. You’re participating in worship, but you’ve twisted it into something to be about you. It’s not that. So, before we partake of this meal, this miniature meal that dramatizes the dying, rising, living, let’s go before God, and let’s ask him to prepare our hearts so that we do not eat in a manner that is not worthy.

Father, our hearts naturally seek our own sinful pleasure. It’s default. We can dress it up with religion, and we can try to present it in a good way before you or our neighbors, but you see through all that. You can see our flesh and the way we fast or do other religious things. You can see our flesh in the way we fight with one another, even in the way we feast. Our motives get all complicated and contaminated. Right now in our living rooms, right now in our vehicle, wherever we are, we repent. We turn from that, Lord. We don’t want fake worship. We want to worship you in spirit and in truth. And we don’t have to try to conjure that up ourselves. This is why you came, Jesus. This is why you died. This is why you rose from the dead. And this is why you live on today. We put our faith in you. You who were poured out. You rose from the grave to live forever. The grave and sin have no claim on us. So, we feed on you, the food that truly satisfies. We thank you, in Jesus’ name, amen.

In that same passage in 1 Corinthians Paul said,

“The Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, ‘This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’”

Let’s eat in remembrance of him.

“In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.’ For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”

Drink this in remembrance of him. If you have trusted Jesus today, we want to know. We would love to pray with you, encourage you. You can use the chat feature, or you can email me at peterh@northhillschurch.com. peterh@northhillschurch.com. We would love to provide resources to help you grow in your walk with the Lord. Now, I want to, before we go, pray a blessing over you, your friends, your family, on this Resurrection Sunday. If you’d like to hold out your hands and receive this blessing, it flows from Isaiah 58. Now, may the one who poured himself out for you — you the hypocrite, me the hypocrite. He poured himself out for the very ones who used, abused, neglected, ignored him. He poured himself out for us. May we experience the light in the darkness that he provides in his resurrection. May he fill us with his Spirit and empower us to go fueled by his life and love, empowered to pour ourselves out, to experience the light of his resurrection in the darkness. And Lord, may he empower us. Please, Lord, make us watered gardens in Greenville. Make us watered gardens around the world, like springs of water whose waters do not fail. During a time of drought, whose waters will not fail. In scorched places, whose waters will not fail. Lord, grow us as gardens. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen. I love you. He is risen.