 |
| Rev. Brent Russett |
Pastor of
Sunnyside Wesleyan Church in Ottawa:
http://www.sunnysidechurchottawa.com/ _______________________________________________________
PODCAST LINK to CFRA broadcast - Sunday, August 31st, 2014:
____________________________________________
‘How Great is our God’
Good
morning. And welcome to good news in the morning. Happy Labour Day weekend. My name is Brent Russett. I am the Senior
Pastor at Sunnyside Wesleyan Church. It is my pleasure to look at some of
life’s challenges, and then bring you some good news in the morning.
This
program is brought to you by Good News Christian Ministries.
You
can find Good News in the morning on the internet at Goodnewsinthemorning.ca .
There you can hear past episodes and find interesting articles.
This
morning I want to talk to you about the
Greatness of God, Because the size of your God matters
J.B.
Philips, translator of the Philips translation of the Bible, wrote a book
entitled “You’re God is too small” I read this book over a decade ago and at
the time I remember thinking, some people’s God may be too small, but I have a
grand view of God, I have a big view of God. My God is not too small. Mr.
Philips your title may apply to many people but it doesn’t apply to me.
And
indeed I do have a grand view of God. But as I come before our passage of
scripture in Isaiah 40, I find that indeed my view of God is too small. For
although I know God to be bigger than the oceans, and grander than the Grand Canyon,
and mightier than a hurricane, and more spectacular than thunder and lightning,
- as I read over this passage God is indeed bigger yet, and grander yet, and
mightier yet, than my impoverished imagination can conceive. He holds the
universe in his hands, and names the stars.
Mr. Philips was right, my God is too small, and so probably is yours.
So
this morning I want you to come and sit before this passage of scripture with
me. My prayer is that God would open our eyes anew to see who he really is. My
prayer is that he would expand our vision and enhance our imaginations and
embolden out faith to reach out an hug the infinite, and embrace the almighty,
to fall in love with God as he is all over again.
Life
has a way of diminishing our view of God. Fear of what will come, has a way of
causing us to cocoon causing us to lose our vision of God. The minutia of life
has a way of causing us to stare down at our feet, causing our horizons to
shrink.
God
understands this. The book of Isaiah
when it was written, was divided into two scrolls. Many scholars would call
these two scrolls 1st Isaiah and 2nd Isaiah. 2ND Isaiah starts here in chapter
40. The prophet is writing to prophetically to the captives in Babylon. God
knows that the years of suffering will take their toll. He understands that the
years of being disenfranchised and expatriates in a foreign land will cause
faith to falter. Some will be asking, “Where is your God?” Others will say like
vs 27 Isa 40:27, ‘"My
way is hidden from the LORD; my cause is disregarded by my God"? God has forgotten me. God is not remembering
me.’
You
see, the forces arrayed against the people of God were on a global scale.
Babylon ruled the world. No one could defeat the armies of the great king of
Babylon. One of the seven wonders of the world, “the hanging gardens of Babylon” were in their back yard. They were a
testimony to the grandeur and power of technical prowess of the Babylonian
empire.
Israel
had been divided into a Northern Kingdom and a Southern Kingdom. Those the Northern
Kingdom had all but disappeared. Now only Judea survived. It’s main city
Jerusalem had been decimated. It was oppressed by the rulers of the earth. The
people of God had been carried off to Babylon where they were held captive.
What could they do. Global powers were at play, and they were powerless in the
face of those powers.
Can
you imagine being one of those captives in Babylon. You can’t go back to your
country. You feel distant from God because the place where you found God has
been leveled. Your heart is homesick, your body is tired and your soul is in
grief.
So
sentiments like--- God has forgotten me, or God is not big enough to deal with
this, or just a diminishment of faith were normal. And into that situation God
calls his prophet to speak.
21 Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it
not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood since the earth
was founded?
22 He
sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like
grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out
like a tent to live in.
23 He
brings princes to naught and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing.
24 No
sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown, no sooner do they take root
in the ground, than he blows on them and they wither, and a whirlwind sweeps
them away like chaff.
The
global powers that you see are nothing compared to me.
That
is not a bad message to remember when you feel powerless in the face of global
powers. What is happening in Russia and the Ukraine. What is happening in
Israel and Gaza. The world has huge issues.
But
the global issues are not the only kind of storm that we see around us. The
Babylonian captivity can come in many forms in our lives. For some of you, your
storm comes more in the way of pain, or sickness, or depression, and your view
of God narrows. For some of you, your Babylonian captivity comes in the form of
dysfunctional bosses, or wayward kids, or unmanageable stress, or relational
discord. For others of you it comes in
unrealized dreams, dashed hopes, and real fear.
What
I want you to know, is that wherever you find yourself, God is there. And God
wants to expand your vision of who he is. He wants to increase your faith in
who he is. He wants you to trust him for
who he is.
So he
asks you these questions.
21 Do you
not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have
you not understood since the earth was founded?
These
questions are asked kind of like, Do you
not know? Of course you do. Have you not heard? Of course you have. People of
God you know who God is, but in these questions is a call for you to know who
God is. To know who God is in the face of the Babylonian empire. To know who
God is in the face of global power in front of which you cannot stand. To know
who God is right now where you are.
You
may think that the problems are big. You may think that the situation is big.
But Verse 22
22 He (Yahweh, the Lord God) sits enthroned above
the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out
the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in.
Not
only is he above the earth. He is enthroned above the earth. He rules the
rulers of the earth. The people that stand in your way are like grasshoppers.
You may think the issues are big, but that is only if you see it from your
perspective. If you see it from God’s perspective, the issues aren’t all that
big.
23 He brings
princes to naught and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing.
24 No
sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown, no sooner do they take root
in the ground, than he blows on them and they wither, and a whirlwind sweeps
them away like chaff.
The
global forces that look so insurmountable, the rulers of this world that look
unconquerable, well – they are scarcely planted, they are scarcely rooted and
they are blown away.
The
King of Babylon is great. But really people who are you going to compare me to,
God says.
25 "To whom will you compare me? Or who is
my equal?" says the Holy One.
26 Lift
your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the
starry host one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of his great power
and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.
Who
is my equal asks God. Look at the sky, who created these. As an example God
says, look up, I am so great that I know
each star, and I call them by name.
In
the 2500 years since this was written, we have come to know a lot more about
the stars. We have been able to view them close up. I understand that you can
even apply to name a star. But what God says is I have named them, and the
milky way with its millions of stars, I know them all.
I
think is God were speaking into today, He would say, to whom would you compare me. I
know more than Google, I see further
than the Hubble Telescope, I mapped the genome before you even knew there was
one, and although your knowledge base doubles every few years, you will never
catch up to me in a million years. To whom will you compare me.
With what power will
you compare me, with a hurricane or a Tsunami, or a nuclear bomb. They are but
sparks compared to me. Nothing compares to my great power and mighty strength.
MUSIC
Chris Tomlin – How Great is our God
People
it is important that you have a sense of how big God is. It is important that
you have a sense of how strong and great and wondrous God is. God, in this
passage is trying expand the vision of the people of God. He is trying to get
their eyes off their problems and on to himself. He is trying to move their
vision of life from staring at their feet to looking up at the sky. He does
this because, the size of your God matters.
When
you go to visit your doctor and the news isn’t good. The size of your God
matters. When you are sitting in uncertain circumstances when you are fearing
the worst but hoping for the best, the size of your God matters. When your
vision of what could be done is beyond your ability, the size of your God
matters. When you approach death’s door, the size of your God matters.
An
expanded vision of God will not only carry you through life, it will increase
the adventure of life. It will cause you to trust in the face of adversity and
take steps of faith in the face of opportunity. That is why you need to know
the greatness of your God.
And
now a transition comes to this passage. The focus moves from God to the people
of God.
Isa 40:27 Why do you say, O Jacob, and
complain, O Israel, "My way is hidden from the LORD; my cause is
disregarded by my God"?
Or
has some people would argue, yes maybe God is big, so big that he can’t see me.
Maybe he is strong, but he has forgotten me. Yes maybe he is amazing, but that
is all the more reason why he shouldn’t take note of me.
Isa
40:28 Do you not know? Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will
not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no-one can fathom.
God
is so big and so powerful and his understanding is so vast that not only does
he know the stars by name, he knows you by name. He created this world and he
knows it minute detail.
Or as
Psalm 139 says
O LORD, you have searched
me and you know me.
2 You
know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You
discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.
4
Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD.
5 You
hem me in--behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me.
6 Such
knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.
That
is what Isaiah means when he says “his understanding no-one can fathom.
This
helpful to know when you are tempted to think, God doesn’t know, God doesn’t
care, I am just one of billions of people. Or as our passage says "My way
is hidden from the LORD; my cause is disregarded by my God"? He wants you
to know that you have not escaped his attention.
Verse
28 says that he does not grow tired an weary. He is not tired of you coming to
him with your problems. You are going to wear him out. He loves you.
It is
also important to know that he does not grow weary because it is precisely that
part of his character that he wants to speak into you.
Isa
40:29 He gives strength to the weary and
increases the power of the weak.
He is
going to speak out of who he is, into who you are. He is going take from his
character and add into your character.
Now God recognizes this isn’t the way it usually works. He realizes that
he is speaking against the human condition.
Isa 40:30 Even youths
grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; Even when you are in your prime, life can
get you down. Being held a captive in Babylon can wear on you. Life can wear on
you.
So
the question is how do you access this strength. How do you access this power.
How is the strength of God infused in your life.
Come
with me to verse 31.
Isa 40:31
but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar
on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not
be faint.
Now
many of you will recognize this verse better from the KJV.
Isa 40:31 But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew
[their] strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and
not be weary; [and] they shall walk, and not faint.
To
access this strength of God one version translates it hope in the Lord. One translates
it wait upon the Lord. You can tell that this is a hard Hebrew verb to
translate. The Amplified Bible tries to
bring out the nuances on the translations. Here is how it translates it.
Isa 40:31 But those who
wait for the Lord [who expect, look for, and hope in Him] shall change and
renew their strength and power.
But
those who wait, and look for and expect and hope for the Lord, they shall renew
their strength.
God
wants to speak strength into your life. The people were stuck in Babylon and the
years were wearing on them. Life was wearing on them. They were just surviving
but they were not thriving.
What
he is saying is wait on me and I will strengthen you on the inside so that you
are going to soar like the eagles, you are going to be able to run with
endurance, you are going to be able to walk and not keel over.
I
know what it means to just survive in life. So, what does God call us to do?
He
calls us to wait on him, to look for him, to expect him, to hope in him.
You
might guess that this is not a passive activity. This is not like waiting in
line at the grocery store. There is a looking towards God with quiet
expectation. There is a coming before God in all of his greatness and goodness
with the confidence that he is going to speak into the core of your being.
This
is not about coming before God with a lot of words. It is not about coming
before God with the right prayers. It is about coming before the greatness of
God with a quiet confidence that he will be great for me.
As
the Psalmist says, “Be still and
know that I am God”.
I
want you to hear the heart of the Lord today. So I am going leave you with Isaiah 30:18.
Isa 30:18 Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; he rises
to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who
wait for him!
The
Lord longs to be gracious to you so wait on him.
Let’s
pray,
Lord, I want
to thank you for today, and for the message that you come to those who wait. Lord,
I pray for those whose vision of you has been lessened by the troubles of this world;
that you would expand their vision of you, once again; that they would see you for
all of who you are. I pray that you would speak into their lives in some exceptional
ways. Thank you Lord for what you’re about. Thank you Lord for how you are at work
in peoples’ lives. I pray this in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Thank
you for your words of encouragement, and for keeping us in your prayers.,
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May you know
Jesus Christ personally and profoundly.
May the Holy Spirit reside deep within your heart . And may the heavenly Father surround you with
His constant and abiding and accompanying love
MUSIC
George Beverly Shea – How Great Thou Art. 3:00 min
By Rev. Brent Russett
Pastor of Sunnyside Wesleyan Church in Ottawa:
_______________________________________________________
PODCAST LINK to CFRA broadcast - Sunday, August 31st, 2014:
PODCAST LINK to CFRA broadcast - Sunday, August 31st, 2014:
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