{"id":667,"date":"2014-01-05T21:31:15","date_gmt":"2014-01-06T03:31:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/?p=667"},"modified":"2014-11-25T10:15:20","modified_gmt":"2014-11-25T16:15:20","slug":"vision-being-the-light-to-the-nations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2014\/01\/05\/vision-being-the-light-to-the-nations\/","title":{"rendered":"Vision, Being the Light to the Nations"},"content":{"rendered":"

Video Link<\/a>
\nAudio Link<\/a><\/p>\n

Isaiah 60:1\u20136
\nEphesians 3:1\u201312
\nMatthew 2:1\u201312<\/p>\n

Today is the Epiphany of the Lord. The easy route to take today would be to tell you about the Wise Men who visited Jesus, Joseph and Mary and show how the Isaiah and Matthew text can be tied together. I am not going there, other than what I just said, for now. I hear these scriptures today, calling us to something, something that God tells us about in Isaiah, Paul confirms we are part of and what the wise men saw.<\/p>\n

A prophet, such as Isaiah is to see what the future holds for God\u2019s people and what God is telling the people to be, do, expect, etc. etc.\u00a0 A prophet is a visionary that can cast a vision, although the vision is not always rosy, but a vision that is based upon what God wants for God\u2019s people in the overall story of God\u2019s love for humanity.<\/p>\n

To get a real feel for what Isaiah speaks about; we need to read on further in the chapter.\u00a0 It is verses 10-22 that the bigger picture reveals its self, one other than just the gold and frankincense tied to the Gospel of Matthew that we read today.<\/p>\n

In verses 1-4, Isaiah casts a vision of God\u2019s Light shining upon God\u2019s people, a beacon in the darkness that will attract other nations and kings. \u00a0\u00a0The people have God\u2019s light and it is the light upon and in the people that there is an expectation of a response when Isaiah says, \u201cnations shall come to your light\u201d.<\/p>\n

The people are not to hide in the light; it is there for others.\u00a0 The light is to shine in the darkness; it will be like a dawning light.\u00a0 There is an expectation that the Jews are also to be the light.\u00a0 The Jews are to live differently, being the light and the people of the law.\u00a0 They live and set an example for all to come to.\u00a0 The law required them to minister to the least, last, lost\u2026the widows, orphans and poor.\u00a0 They are the light for those in need.<\/p>\n

\"2013-11-20<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In our baptism, we as Christians are a changed people.\u00a0 By God for God, who transforms us to carry out the mission of Christ, here on earth. Changed to be a light to the nations, freed from the law in the death of Christ and born anew in the resurrection of our Lord.\u00a0 Paul says in Ephesians today, that the Gentiles have become fellow heirs, members of the same body.\u00a0 We are therefore adopted into the family of God.\u00a0\u00a0 We are no longer bound by the law, but freed from the law to respond and be the light also.\u00a0 How have you responded to your baptism?\u00a0 How are we being the light of God?\u00a0 What are you being called to do\u2026.to be part of\u2026.beyond worship but outside of the four walls here.<\/p>\n

\"HopeLutheran\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Verses 4-6 tell of the people of Israel being joined by their sons and daughters.\u00a0 It also says to lift your eyes; see what is beyond, not what is in front but what God will bring.\u00a0 In faith in the promise of God, respond to the calling to see beyond today and step out in faith.\u00a0 What more can you do?\u00a0 What more can Hope Lutheran do?\u00a0 With God, with church, through faith we build it, and they will come.\u00a0 We reach out as the light in faith, looking beyond the horizon and in doing so see as the prophets do, and we can live as God intends for us.<\/p>\n

There will be rejoicing and abundance and all shall proclaim praise to the Lord.\u00a0 Christians grafted into the vine, adopted into the family of God, brothers and sisters with Christ Jesus will be among those that are described coming to the kingdom in Israel.\u00a0 Some of you may have already seen a connection here, something new, people gathered, plenty and all praising the Lord are just a few of the correlations of what we are told in the book of Revelation, chapter 21.<\/p>\n

I have included all of Chapter 60 of Isaiah for you today in a handout.\u00a0 I invite, in hope and faith, that you will take the time to read this.\u00a0 Read what more God has in mind for the Jews and for Christians, adopted into the family of God.<\/p>\n

As Christians, then we have the opportunity and duty to walk faithfully in the light.\u00a0 In campus ministry, each and everything we do is about stepping out, being a faithful people, looking beyond the horizon and be part of what God has planned.\u00a0 Next week, the students and I will depart to Houston TX, to partake in a variety of urban ministries.\u00a0 For some of them, including myself, we have not been on a mission trip before.\u00a0 This is an opportunity to walk in the light of God.\u00a0 The majority of the students planned on this trip, expecting to go, walking in faith, with no real idea on how they were going to afford the trip.\u00a0 They planned to do ministry, in faith that if they build it, God will provide.\u00a0 Some are fully funded; others are still looking for funding today.<\/p>\n

My supervising pastor and I are building in faith and we have fronted the money for the trip, in faith that God will provide a way for them to pay for the trip.\u00a0 We are confident that this is where our eyes have been directed, the vision that God wants us to see and partake in.<\/p>\n

I know a retired pastor who always pushed our congregation to have a vision based in faith.\u00a0 I never really understood it.\u00a0 It never made sense to me. Each year the council wanted only to make a commitment of 5% towards benevolence,\u00a0 back to the synod.\u00a0 Each year he convinced the congregation to make the commitment to a vision of 10% plus.\u00a0 The congregation lifted their eyes to the horizon to see the vision and walked in faith.\u00a0 God provided each and every time, despite it not making sense to me.\u00a0 It must have made sense to God.<\/p>\n

Decisions to expand, invest, to spend money is always difficult.\u00a0 First and foremost, everything we have, everything we are is from God for God and we are only the stewards here on earth.\u00a0 As we look to the horizon, decrement is key to the vision.\u00a0 The slave, who buried the talent in Matthew 25, did not lose the money but he had no faith that God would provide.\u00a0 His decrement prevented a vision of walking in faith of what God would provide.\u00a0 The other slaves took risk and increased their talents for the master.\u00a0 They had vision and faith in what would be provided by God.<\/p>\n

The vision cast by Isaiah, to be the light of the nations is what the wise men also followed.\u00a0 They followed the light to the place of the birth of our Lord, Christ Jesus.\u00a0 These wise men were overwhelmed with joy, brought gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.\u00a0 Having been warned not to return to Herod, they left by another route.\u00a0 Jesus and His parents escape and we will celebrate the baptism of our Lord next week.<\/p>\n

It is after Jesus\u2019 baptism his ministry starts and so does ours in our connection, adoption by Christ into the family of God.\u00a0\u00a0 It is there; we receive the light, step out in faith and carry out the mission of Christ, being the light to the nations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Video Link Audio Link Isaiah 60:1\u20136 Ephesians 3:1\u201312 Matthew 2:1\u201312 Today is the Epiphany of the Lord. The easy route to take today would be to tell you about the Wise Men who visited Jesus, Joseph and Mary and show how the Isaiah and Matthew text can be tied together. I am not going there, … [Read more…]<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[48,21,10,5,83,44,31,35,53],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"entry","1":"post","2":"publish","3":"author-admin","4":"post-667","6":"format-standard","7":"category-campus-ministry","8":"category-faith","9":"category-jesus","10":"category-law","11":"category-sermon","12":"category-stewardship","13":"category-theology-of-the-cross","14":"category-trust","15":"category-vision"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2m6h5-aL","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1341,"url":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2015\/06\/12\/gods-power-and-majesty-uses-all-even-in-our-ambiguity\/","url_meta":{"origin":667,"position":0},"title":"God’s Power and Majesty Uses All: Even in our Ambiguity","author":"Douglas Dill","date":"June 12, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"http:\/\/youtu.be\/wKhSOdF_scs Audio Version Sunday, May 31, 2015 Holy Trinity Old Testament \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Isaiah 6:1\u20138 Psalm \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Psalm 29:1-11 New Testament \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Romans 8:12\u201317 Gospel \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 John 3:1\u201317[1] \u00a0 I don\u2019t know about you but for myself, in the texts for today, I hear ambiguity and reliance upon the Father, Son\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Christ"","block_context":{"text":"Christ","link":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/category\/christ\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/wKhSOdF_scs\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":811,"url":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2014\/02\/09\/responding-to-god-and-others\/","url_meta":{"origin":667,"position":1},"title":"Responding to God and others","author":"Douglas Dill","date":"February 9, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Audio Link to Sermon Video Link to Sermon Isaiah 58:1-12 Psalm 112:1-9 1 Corinthians 2:1-12 Matthew 5:13-20 Have you ever attempted to call someone but kept getting static and even drops on the line? 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