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.