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An Invitation to Abundant Life a sermon on Isaiah 55 by David C. Mauldin Westminster Presbyterian Church, Mobile, Alabama
What makes life abundant? How are we fulfilled as human beings? The answers seem obvious, at least they do for middle-class Americans like us. Meaningful work, enough money for life’s little comforts and pleasures, a good education, family and friends. But I wonder … We human beings are odd creatures. Consider a few odd facts and questions:

1. Most people would list a good job among the things they want in life. Part of the reason is a good job means good pay. We’ll come shortly to the issue of money, but I also think people expect more from a good job—prestige, a positive work environment, and maybe a sense that one’s work means something, that you make a contribution to the greater good. Men in our society, we are told, base a lot of their self-worth on their profession. Question: Do the people who have good jobs like this look forward more to going to work or to days off? Do they skip out, call in sick when they are not, and watch the clock for quitting time? Are there any fulfilling jobs? Is the best job still not as good as not having to work? But if that is true why do people have trouble adjusting to retirement, even if they didn’t have a particularly good job? My point is: We look for work to fulfill us? Does it?

2. Consider money and the good things in life it can buy. If money is as good as everyone seems to think it is, we would expect rich people to be happier and more fulfilled than poor people. Question: Why do rich people kill themselves at a much higher rate than do the poor? Also, we would expect people in prosperous countries to be happier, better able to face life’s problems, and more successful in relationships than people in poor nations. Question: Why is the divorce rate so much higher in rich countries? Why are drug and alcohol abuse such a widespread problem in the most affluent nation in the history of the world?

3. Education has always been about more than a good job that makes good money. One needs a solid education to be a complete person—or at least that’s the theory in our society. We place greater emphasis on getting a degree than any society in history. If our theory is sound, we should be happier and better able to cope than any society in history. Are we? In your experience, are intelligent people more likely than the population at large to be happy and well adjusted?

4. Relationships. Everyone knows that to be fulfilled you need good friends and family. What would life be without them? But why do families have so much trouble getting along? Why do so many couples split up? Why do your friends rally to support you when you are down, but when you succeed they are resentful and jealous, even if they try to hide it?

Let me be clear: I am not against meaningful work, money, education, or relationships. God gives us all these good gifts. But I do often wonder. Our culture seems to make these the foundation for an abundant life. So why is it that even those among us who succeed in achieving these things so often are unfulfilled?

Our scripture reading this morning is an invitation to abundant life. “You have not because you ask not,” it basically says. Life, fulfilling and abundant, is God’s free gift. All you need to do is ask. Just come. Take it! Here it is! God wants to give it to you—wants you to have it. There is no reason not to.

We read this passage and we shake our heads in disbelief. Surely it cannot be as simple as that! Even people who believe there is a God and that God may be the best—or only—source of abundant life tend to think God makes it hard. You have to deny yourself, right? Give up all those fun little sins. Give yourself away in good deeds. Fulfillment through God is for people like Dietrich Bonhoeffer (the German pastor and writer who opposed Hitler and was executed by the Nazis just before the end of World War II) or Mother Teresa. “Everyone who thirsts”? “You that have no money”? Can God really intend his greatest blessings for someone like me? And can it be that easy?

Rhetorically speaking, this chapter hits us like a shotgun blast at close range. Six glorious ideas are packed together. Call them comforting truths. Call them promises. Any one of them by itself is a work of beauty and potentially life-changing. Clustered together in this chapter, they all rush at us at once: (1) the abundance of God’s grace, (2) God’s everlasting covenant, (3) mercy, (4) God’s transcendence, (5) the power of God’s Word, (6) the end of exile and the curse. It’s too much. It overwhelms. And it is supposed to.

This passage, you see, is the triumphant conclusion to a larger symphony. You know how some music builds and builds, gets faster and louder, until at the end every instrument is going full force and the piece ends in an explosion of sound and fury. I like music like that. This passage does the same thing with words. The symphony it wraps up is Isaiah chapters 40-55. Before I can go on, I need to explain about the Book of Isaiah.

Isaiah was a prophet who lived about 700 years before Christ, back when God’s people lived in the tiny kingdom of Judah. There was a king in Jerusalem and a Temple too. With a descendant of King David on the throne and sacrifices being offered in the Temple, life made sense. God’s promises were a comfort, and his people needed them. They were always in danger from some larger empire. They were constantly tempted to worship false gods and take advantage of the poor and weak. Most of the time they got rid of the temptation by giving in to it. They needed a prophet. Isaiah was one of the prophets God sent. Chapters 1-39 of the Book of Isaiah go back to this man and his times.

More than 100 years later, when disaster fell in the form of a Babylonian invasion, and the Babylonians got rid of the king and destroyed the Temple and took anyone of consequence into captivity far from home, God’s people needed to be reminded of what Isaiah had said. It was the same message for a new era. Scholars call this 2 Isaiah. It was written by a person or persons inspired by the original Isaiah’s message. In the Bible it comprises chapters 40-55. Our passage is the triumphant conclusion to this special writing. The rest of the Book of Isaiah, chapters 56-66, comes from a later time when God’s promises in 2 Isaiah had begun to come true, but not as fully as God’s people had hoped. They faced the same question earlier generations had: Has God failed us? The answer was no, of course. Again, the same message addressed the needs of a new generation.

What then is the one message that binds the Book of Isaiah together? God is in control. God has a purpose. God has a people. God’s people have a mission. That’s it—in a nutshell. God is in control. God has a purpose. God has a people. God’s people have a mission. If you believe that, all you need is to also believe that you are part of God’s people and you are well on your way to abundant living.

Second Isaiah promised new, abundant life for God’s people in exile. God had not failed. God was not finished with them. The return home to Judah to rebuild the Temple and start living the way God’s people were supposed to was daunting. It took faith. Not only did they have to believe God was doing something. They had to be willing to be part of it. No wonder, then, that 2 Isaiah ends the way it does—with more exciting promises thrown at us than we can handle. Let’s take a closer look at some highlights.

Chapter 55 begins with God acting like a Middle Eastern street vendor. I went over there for a month while I was in seminary, and I ran across this colorful character. He begins calling to you as you approach. He asks questions: Where are you from? German? English? American? What would you like? (Of course you would like something!) How about this? No, no, no—not that! Too cheap. I have the best prices. On and on he goes. It is an aggressive style of selling.

“Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters!” It reminds me of Jesus saying, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me” [Jn 7.37]. Or of the parable Jesus told in which servants were sent out to the highways and byways to invite anyone who would come to the feast. This is the abundance of God’s grace. And it poses a profound question: Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread? Put more literally: Why do you waste your life on things that do not fulfill? Why dull the pain and dreariness of life with alcohol, nicotine, overeating, or marathon sessions in front of the TV or computer? Why measure your worth in terms of dollars and social clout? Why base your self-esteem on other people’s opinions? Why move from job to job and town to town looking for yourself? Why, even, try to make yourself fulfilled through religious ritual or service? Abundant life is the free gift of God. You receive it as such from his hands or you go on looking endlessly in all the wrong places. You may get hotter or colder in your search, but you never find it anywhere else.

God’s grace cuts against our expectations. We think we ought to earn it. We are suspicious of any deal that looks too good. Yet God sends us this invitation to abundant life in his characteristic style. He says, “Here it is! Receive it if you dare!” We have only two options: surrender to his love and ask him for grace, or walk away. Some walk away sad, like the rich young ruler, disappointed because he thinks he knows better than God what makes life abundant. Others walk away laughing, wondering how anyone could be so naïve and gullible as to think the only thing that makes life worth living can be yours just by asking God sincerely and humbly for grace.

Verses 3-5, the second of the six amazing promises in this passage, concern God’s covenant with David. After what had happened to send them into exile, God’s people feared God had given up on them. His covenant with David certainly seemed broken. The issue then had to be addressed. God had not forgotten his promise. He would be true to his Word. When God makes a promise it is forever. This is the reason I tell you about what happened to God’s people of old. They needed to know God is trustworthy, and so do we. Otherwise, what good is his promise, even if he gives it?

They are not so different from us, despite the obvious differences in time and place. What, do you think, are the three most common concerns people have about God? In my experience they are: (1) Is God there? Does he care? Does he have a plan and purpose? (2) If so, why is the world and/or my life such a mess? In other words, assuming God is there and makes these promises, can we really expect them to come to anything, and if so when? (3) Have I messed up my life to the point God doesn’t want me and/or cannot use me? I’m talking now about guilt. Maybe the promises won’t come true, but it is my fault, not God’s.

I constantly find people wrestling with these basic questions in one form or another—exactly the way God’s people in ancient Israel wrestled with them. So, I am not surprised when our passage moves from reassuring us that God keeps his promises into an invitation to repent. Have you let God down? Of course you have! So much that he doesn’t want you anymore? So much that he cannot use you for his plans and purposes? Absolutely not! “Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake their way … let them return to the Lord … for he will abundantly pardon.”

You cannot enjoy abundant life if you are stuck in your old ways. It is impossible. The old ways smother life. They suffocate you. But God wants you to have abundant life. So what does he do? He invites you, through his grace, to leave the old ways behind. He will wipe the slate clean. He will give you a fresh start.

Now, these verses feel as light and airy as a springtime breeze, and that may give you the false impression that God pardons so fully and freely because sin is after all a minor matter. What God wants is our happiness, so let’s just forget the guilt and move on, right? If you get this impression, it is because you haven’t read chapters 40-54 leading up to this one. Sin is serious. If you had read them, you would know that the exile happened because God’s people had sunk themselves in sin. God had to do something radical to get them out and to turn them back into a light to the nations and a kingdom of priests showing others the way to God. The exile happened, not because God was powerless to stop it, but because he used it to prune and ultimately renew his people. You would also have found in your reading the mysterious suffering servant: “He was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed” [Isa 53.5]. God offers pardon not because it is easy and costs him nothing. He offers it despite the fact that it is hard and cost him dearly. He offers it because of his great love.

The next verses, 8-9, comfort me in all kinds of situations. “My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD.” Most of the time, I cannot fix even the things I know are wrong. I suspect there is plenty wrong with the world, the church, with you, and with me that I don’t even recognize. Yet when I do recognize a problem, most of the time it is beyond my scope. In fact, in most cases I cannot even imagine how the problem could be solved, by God or anyone.

If you think I am being dramatic, wait until your marriage falls apart or you lose your job or you are diagnosed with a terminal illness or any of a million events happens in which you feel powerless. That’s when you learn to appreciate a transcendent God whose ways and thought are as high above yours as the heavens above the earth. God is in control. He is working with a plan and purpose. He is bigger than your problems. Bigger, in fact, than all the problems of the world. At the same time he cares. He is not so big that he can’t be bothered with our needs. Just the opposite. He is so big, he already has them in hand. Verses 8-9 are just an eloquent way of saying: God is big enough to handle your problems. If you do not understand what he is up to, trust him anyway.

My favorite of the six promises is verses 10-11. God sends out his Word, and it will not return empty. It will accomplish everything he intends. You can see why this would be a preacher’s favorite part. Christians believe that when God’s Word is preached, God works in the hearts and minds of the listeners doing more than the mere words of the preacher ever could. It comforts me to know that even though I am inadequate to the task, as all humans are, God can still use my preaching.

The power of God’s Word means more than that, though. I think of the Bible, translated into over 2,000 languages, available to 95% of the world’s population in a language they can understand. And by the way, this fact is a miracle and blessing of the modern world. Never before has God’s Word been so available. I think, though, our passage has more than that in mind. God’s Word is his Word of promise. God’s promises hang as an inescapable reality over the world. God has promised. He has given his Word. It is not going to bounce off a hard, unchanging world and echo back to him empty. It is going to change the world. Does rain that falls on the earth change the earth, giving life and growth? So does God’s Word.

The last promise pertains especially to the return to Jerusalem and the Promised Land. God’s people would go out with joy and be led forth with song. Even the rivers and hill would welcome them and help them on their way. That’s poetry. But in characteristic fashion, God lays it on too thick: that little line about the thorn might not have caught your attention, but it is probably the deepest and most important in the whole chapter. Thorns and briers, you will recall from your reading of Genesis, were the consequence of Adam’s sin. Here, at the very end of 2 Isaiah, God promises an end to the curse. The Promised Land is just a start. The ultimate goal is Eden. Maybe something more. How about the kingdom of God? That is poetry, but it is not exaggeration.

Here we find something we can claim as our own. We’re not in physical or political exile. We are simply estranged from God and our fellow human beings. God promises an end to that exile. This is also why 3 Isaiah was necessary and why Jews were still looking for God to do something when Jesus arrived on the scene. When the prophets promised forgiveness and new life to God’s people, they didn’t limit themselves to a return of the good old days with a king in Jerusalem and sacrifices in the Temple. They promised a never-ending era of peace when all the nations of the world would come to know and love God. God would change the fortunes of his people, but more importantly their hearts. The prophets promised so much, in fact, that later generations (including ours) had to decide whether they were just exaggerators or whether God would really do all that.

I for one would say they were exaggerators, except for one thing. Jesus came, and he was an Isaiah kind of guy. God is in control. God has a purpose. God has a people. God’s people have a mission. That was his agenda. He understood his own identity and mission in those terms. He was the one who would make all those glorious dreams a reality. He did the decisive part with his death and resurrection. He will do the rest when he returns someday. In the meantime, he has been revealed as the source of abundant life. He always was, even back when 2 Isaiah wrote about it. He is the living water God invites us to drink. He is the Son of David who keeps the covenant. He died so that we might be forgiven. He is both God and Man—the bridge between God’s ways and our ways. He is the surprising fulfillment of God’s promises. He is the living Word who goes forth and accomplishes God’s will. Through him the curse has ended. That is why I call him the substance of the Old Testament. He always was. Now we recognize him.

What you must do, then, is simply this: Decide whether it is all too much, and go on looking for life in all the wrong places, or ask God for the gift he is eager to give you. You might object, “If Jesus gives abundant life, why are so many Christians just as broken as everyone else?” Because we all need mercy. And because we are whole and fulfilled to the extent that we surrender ourselves to God and become like Christ. You can’t use him like a pill or a genie. You have to find your life in him. Amen.

rev_mauldin@yahoo.com
March 11, 2007

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