Devotion 12.13.23

Isaiah 61

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,

    because the Lord has anointed me

    to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,

    to proclaim freedom for the captives

    and release from darkness for the prisoners,

2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor

    and the day of vengeance of our God,

to comfort all who mourn,

3     and provide for those who grieve in Zion—

to bestow on them a crown of beauty

    instead of ashes,

the oil of joy

    instead of mourning,

and a garment of praise

    instead of a spirit of despair.

They will be called oaks of righteousness,

    a planting of the Lord

    for the display of his splendor. The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,

    because the Lord has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.

Once upon a time, in the 21^st century, our men's ministry was named "Oak and Iron," a combination of verse 3's "oaks of righteousness" and Proverbs 27 "iron sharpens iron." It was meant to convey our ultimate goal of our ministry, to become "oaks of righteousness," and to convey the means, sharpening.

Christ came to plant his ministry here on earth by means of the call and sharpening. As disciples of Christ, our ministry is his as explained in Isaiah 61. God's word is our sword, a double-edged sword. It calls out and calls to, we do not. We are vessels proclaiming God's Word that binds wounds or tears through the flesh to reach the heart and convict.

Christ called out mostly to those who thought they were "religious." He called out hypocrisy and sanctimony that mistaught, misused, or misled. His parables taught us the righteous path for the lost and for the sinner, as in the Prodigal Son, also known as the "Parable of the Two Lost Sons." He embraces the lost sinner who, realizing the error of his ways, returns and then admonishes the lost sinner, who is angered by the fact that He embraces the lost sinner and realizes the error of His ways.

Our title as "oaks of righteousness" is through nothing we do, but only as grafted into the vine of Christ and through Him alone are our works "righteous." God's Word sharpens us as do other men of faith, holding one another accountable through sharing God's Word and prayer and support. Sharpening may be painful at times, but necessary as we grow in the faith to share God's Word to the lost.

We are now simply known as the Men's Ministry, but that message is the same regardless. We do pray to remember our purpose and our mission is to share God's Word to help make us men of God as sons, fathers, brothers and friends to those we meet and to those for whom we've been given responsibility.

It is good, however, to remember our roots from time to time.

Devotion 12.12.23

Isaiah 11

The Branch from Jesse

1 A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;

    from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.

2 The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—

    the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,

    the Spirit of counsel and of might,

    the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord—

3 and he will delight in the fear of the Lord.

He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes,

    or decide by what he hears with his ears;

4 but with righteousness he will judge the needy,

    with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.

He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth;

    with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.

5 Righteousness will be his belt

    and faithfulness the sash around his waist.

Baseball has a new Babe Ruth, but he doesn't come from the house of Ruth. His lineage is from a different world, but he has Ruthian numbers. Shohei Ohtani is where the Dodgers rest their hopes, in spite of the fact that his pitching days may be numbered. Boston traded Ruth, though, and the Yankees tabled his pitching to focus his hitting. I haven't seen Ruth's contract value in today's numbers, but somehow I don't think it is the equivalent of $70 million a year.

Paul Simon once wrote, "Where have you gone Joe DiMaggio, our nation turns its lonely eyes to you," during a time of strife in our nation, but the song doesn't sound the same with Ohtani's name ("Mrs. Robinson"). So, the possible Babe Ruth of our lifetime probably won't deliver us from our woes, and it is possible he may or may not deliver the Dodgers from theirs either given his second Tommy John surgery which may sideline him as a pitcher.

Sport, however, is analogous to life, and we constantly put our hopes in something or someone. Surely the next election will be the answer. Surely this book or this movie gives us hope in a better tomorrow. Surely my favorite talk radio or podcaster can give us the real answers we seek. 

Isaiah prophecies the coming of someone from the house of David, Jesse's son. A shoot which will bear fruit and bring judgement and righteousness which produces justice and deliverance. This shoot will be the only true deliverer as he makes his righteousness known through wisdom, understanding, counsel and might through God's Spirit. In Him, we are given access to this same Spirit. It delivers us, through Him, and gives us the salvation we desperately seek.

As we observe this advent, we pray, "Come Lord Jesus, come. Thy will be done."

Devotion 12.11.23

Isaiah 40

3 A voice of one calling:

“In the wilderness prepare

    the way for the Lord;

make straight in the desert

    a highway for our God.

4 Every valley shall be raised up,

    every mountain and hill made low;

the rough ground shall become level,

    the rugged places a plain.

5 And the glory of the Lord will be revealed,

    and all people will see it together.

For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

There are two movie trailers out right now that have my attention. One is titled "The Shift" and is supposed to be based on the book of Job. It is coming out soon, or may even be in theaters now. The other is a biopic on Dietrich Bonhoeffer. It's scheduled for Nov 2024. 

Trailers whet the appetite. They give us a sense of anticipation, and sometimes they are on target while other times they set us up for a really bad movie. 

God uses John the Baptist to make the way of His Son Christ known in advance. John, whose birth is documented in the gospels along with Christ's, goes into the wilderness and teaches a message of baptism and repentance. Mark 1 cites Isaiah as he references John's work:

1 The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God, 2 as it is written in Isaiah the prophet:

“I will send my messenger ahead of you,

    who will prepare your way”—

3 “a voice of one calling in the wilderness,

‘Prepare the way for the Lord,

    make straight paths for him.’”

4 And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

Far more substantive than a movie trailer, John prepares the people of that day for a baptism that will quench the thirst of all who believe, a baptism in the Holy Spirit provided the Son for the creation of faith for all. Christ will be baptized as an act of obedience to the Father by John, who will declare his unworthiness to baptize the Son of God.

The good news is we are not worthy either, but God's love does the impossible. It forgives us and makes us new creations in Christ Jesus. For that, we are thankful and ask for that good news to be shared as we wait for Christ's return.