church

INI
The Fifth Sunday after Trinity
July 4, 2010
Ascension Lutheran Church, Tacoma WA
Paul Naumann, Pastor

OUR GREATEST ALLEGIANCE IS TO CHRIST
Isaiah 42:1-7

Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus
our Lord, Amen. Today we turn to the 42nd chapter of the Prophet Isaiah,
beginning with the first verse, as follows:

“Behold! My Servant whom I uphold, My Elect One in whom My soul delights!
I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles. He
will not cry out, nor raise His voice, Nor cause His voice to be heard in the
street. A bruised reed He will not break, And smoking flax He will not quench;
He will bring forth justice for truth. He will not fail nor be discouraged, Till He
has established justice in the earth; And the coastlands shall wait for His law.”
Thus says God the LORD, Who created the heavens and stretched them out,
Who spread forth the earth and that which comes from it, Who gives breath to
the people on it, And spirit to those who walk on it: “ I, the LORD, have called
You in righteousness, And will hold Your hand; I will keep You and give You
as a covenant to the people, As a light to the Gentiles, To open blind eyes, To
bring out prisoners from the prison, Those who sit in darkness from the prison
house. These are the Words.

In Christ Jesus, Who came to "bring freedom to the captives," Dear Fellow
Redeemed,

How long has it been since you've said the Pledge of Allegiance? It may have
been quite a while. If you're like me, you may remember how in grade school we
used to stand up and say the pledge at the start of every day. We'd put our
hands on our hearts, and recite in unison: "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands - one nation
under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." We said it so often, in
fact, that maybe it didn't mean a whole lot to us then. Well, it means a lot to me
now -- especially when I see the sacrifices made by the brave men and women
of our armed forces as they struggle to secure freedom for people Iraq and
Afghanistan.

“Liberty and justice for all.” We have to admit, don't we, that real liberty and
true justice remains more an ideal than a reality, even here in America. In fact, a
lot of people would say that that we have less liberty now than in generations
past, and that there is still quite a bit injustice and inequity in our country. To
say that our government isn’t perfect is a massive understatement! But you
know, there is such a thing as perfect liberty and perfect justice. We can have it
right now. We can’t get it from capitalism, or from socialism, or from
communism. No earthly king or dictator or can bestow this brand of liberty and
justice. Only God can do it -- and that’s exactly what He does, in the person of
His Son Jesus Christ. As much as we value our allegiance to this blessed
country in which we live, this morning I’d like you to consider the fact that, in
the words of our theme:

OUR GREATEST ALLEGIANCE IS TO CHRIST
I. He brings real liberty
II. He brings true justice
III. He brings them for all

What does "liberty" mean to you? Many people define "liberty" as "doing what
I want to do." And that's what the founding fathers said, wasn't it? -That we're
all entitled to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Isn't that what our
country stands for? You can do whatever your heart desires, as long as you’re
not hurting someone else.

But having the freedom to do something doesn’t mean it’s right. And the wrong
kind of freedom can be deadly! Consider the drug methamphetamine. Meth is
cheap, powerful and readily available. Its use has become rampant in Western
Washington. They say that meth gives a person a sense of great freedom and
control, when of course the opposite is true; it’s the chemical that controls the
person. It drives him to do things he would otherwise never think of doing. He
thinks he's exercising his freedom, when in fact he's under the control of
something that is killing him.

You know, there's a substance more deadly than methamphetamine or any
other poison. It's sin. Rebelling against God's will and breaking His
commandments brings certain death - a death more final and devastating than
any induced by drug or poison. Sin leads to eternal death in the fires of hell.
God has given us His Law. He has established His unchanging standard of
righteousness as to how people are to live and behave. Now, people may think
that they are exercising "liberty" by ignoring God's Law and going their own
sinful way. But that's really no liberty at all. It's slavery - the slavery of being
controlled by something that is killing you. Jesus himself said: "Most assuredly,
I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin." -- John 8:34. And we read
in Romans that "The wages of sin is death". All the world, since the first fall
into sin in the garden of Eden, has been under this captivity. All people are by
nature enslaved to sin, whether they realize it or not. What a paradox it is that
in America, this land of liberty so many people are the unwitting slaves of sin,
sin that will eventually and inevitably mean their eternal death!

Once you and I too were also under this dark slavery. In a famous hymn,
Martin Luther described how each human being is by nature:

"Fast bound in Satan's chains I lay;
death brooded darkly o'er me.
Sin was my torment night and day;
in sin my mother bore me."

We all, likewise, were by nature imprisoned in sin, sentenced to death, and
awaiting execution. We all of us have shameful sins in our past. You know
yours and I know mine (God, of course, knows them all.) With our sin, we
locked ourselves into death row and threw away the key. We couldn't escape by
ourselves - our only hope was for someone to else to come along and set us
free. What we needed was a Liberator.

Do you know what the most prolifically-produce aircraft of WWII was? The
Boeing B-24 bomber. Of the 18,000 made there is only one left flying. You can
see it if you want to – it’s in Seattle this 4th of July weekend as part of the
“Wings of Freedom” tour. The aircraft was designated the B-24, but it was
better known as “The Liberator,” because of the fundamental role it played in
liberating Europe from the grip of Nazi Germany. You and I have a liberator,
too. God the Father was speaking directly to this Liberator in our text for today
when He said, I, the LORD, have called You in righteousness, And will hold
Your hand; I will keep You and give You as a covenant to the people, As a light
to the Gentiles, To open blind eyes, To bring out prisoners from the prison,
Those who sit in darkness from the prison house.

Why should we "pledge our allegiance" to Jesus Christ? Because Jesus brings us
real liberty. He has opened our eyes, unlocked every door of every dark prison
cell, and pronounced a pardon to all captives! You and I have been pardoned
from the punishment that our sins deserved, as Paul said: "There is therefore
now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus."

Well, that's certainly liberty. The question is, is it justice? -- What do you
suppose would happen if Governor Gregoire did the same thing here in
Washington – “brought the prisoners from the prison.” What if she pronounced
a general amnesty and let all the criminals in the state prisons go free? I think
there would be a huge outcry, and justly so. Not only would it be very
dangerous to have all those criminals at liberty, it would be an offense to our
sense of justice. It simply wouldn't be right for all those people to go
unpunished for what they did. For most people, justice means that folks get
what they've got coming to them!

Well, what about God's justice? He must be quite concerned about it, because
the word “justice” crops up three times in our brief text for today. It says that,
when Messiah comes, He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles. …He will
bring forth justice for truth. He will not fail nor be discouraged, Till He has
established justice in the earth.

It's pretty obvious that God is in favor of justice! And when is justice served?
When everybody gets what they've got coming to them. So let me ask you this -
what have you got coming to you? If you’re honest. If you really look at your
life and the things that you’ve done. Of course, if you have been absolutely
perfect, if you have kept all of the commandments without doing or even
thinking anything wrong even once, then you have a reward coming. But if
you're like the rest of us - if you have broken God's commandments time and
time again, if you’ve rebelled against God’s will, if you’ve insisted on living and
thinking your own way instead of God's way, then you're guilty of sin, and sin
deserves punishment. For God doesn’t wink at sin. The holy and righteous God
doesn’t shrug sin off or sweep it under the carpet. The Bible says that “God is a
just judge, and God is angry with the wicked every day.” – Ps 7:11. And in His
perfect justice, what punishment has God decreed for sin? No mystery there:
"The wages of sin is death!" God’s justice is absolute, and when we think about
justice in that way, it can be very frightening indeed!

But in our text "justice" isn't meant to be frightening at all. Just the opposite.
It's meant to bring us joy! God's perfect justice does involve punishment for sin,
but here's the Good News: instead of you getting what was coming to you,
Jesus got what was coming to you! Jesus brings us true justice. You, the
convicted prisoner on death row, were awaiting your well-deserved execution,
when the Son of God Himself stepped into your place. He took all of the
punishment you deserved by dying on the cross. His blood, His agony, His
awful abandonment by His heavenly Father – these were the price God
demanded so that His perfect justice could be satisfied. And since the price was
paid, our freedom from the slavery of sin is real and permanent. As John writes
in His first Epistle: "Jesus Christ, the Righteous One...is the atoning sacrifice
for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world." -- 1
John 2:1-2 NIV.

It’s important to have justice, but it’s equally important that that justice be
FOR ALL. In 2012, September 22nd may turn out to be a bigger holiday than
the 4th of July. Because that day will mark the 150th anniversary of Lincoln’s
Emancipation Proclamation, freeing the slaves. With a stroke of a pen, the
president declared that, henceforth, ALL people would be considered equal
under the law. Which brings us to the third reason why we willingly "pledge our
allegiance" to Christ. He brings us liberty from sin, and He satisfied justice for
us on the cross. But the best part about these blessings is that they're not just
for a select class of people. Jesus brings them FOR ALL.

How many people in the world enjoy the kind of liberty and justice that are
mentioned in the Pledge of Allegiance? Some do, of course; but many do not.
The Serbs in Yugoslavia, the Tutsis in Rwanda, the ethnic Daliths (or
“untouchables”) in India - these are examples of people who are being denied
liberty and justice simply because of their ethnic extraction. In Isaiah's time, the
most important ethnic distinction was between Jews and the gentiles ("gentile"
being the designation for everyone who wasn't a Jew.) But God - the same
Almighty God who created the world - declared that, henceforward, there
would be no distinctions made. Jesus Christ would bring liberty and justice for
ALL people, without exception: "Thus says God the LORD, Who created the
heavens and stretched them out, Who spread forth the earth and that which
comes from it, Who gives breath to the people on it, and spirit to those who
walk on it: 'I, the LORD, have called You in righteousness, and will hold Your
hand; I will keep You and give You as a covenant to the people, as a light to
the Gentiles...'"

God's grace makes no distinction between races, classes, gender, or income.
Jesus' love is intended for all! As St. Paul writes in Galatians: "There is neither
Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female;
for you are all one in Christ Jesus." -- Galatians 3:28 NIV.

I don't think any of us here would ever think that God would discriminate
against us because of our race or gender or social status. But there are other
doubts that assault us, aren’t there? They usually come because we perceive in
ourselves a lack of good Christian living or a lack of firm faith in our Savior. We
look around and see other people who seem to be much more involved than we
are in spiritual things, who seem to have a much stronger faith than we do, and
we wonder: "Am I really the right kind of person to be a disciple of Jesus?" The
good news this morning is that Jesus died for all -- and that means Jesus died for
you, too. If you've ever felt yourself weak, if you've ever worried that God
would finally give up on you, if you've ever felt like your faith was flickering
and about to go out -- then the third verse of our text has good news for you:
"A bruised reed He will not break, and smoking flax He will not quench."

A "bruised reed" is someone who isn't a perfect Christian. Someone who's got
problems and blemishes and failures in their past. It's a person who can't seem
to get a handle on this life, let alone the next life! Likewise, a "smoking flax" is
someone who's faith is weak - flickering and seemingly about to go out.

Well you know, Jesus didn't come to make people strong enough to solve their
own problems. He came to solve our problems, period. In every way that you
are weak, He is strong. On the way to the cross He did not break, and His light
did not grow dim or burn out - He endured it all. He endured it all for you
personally, so that you can now draw on His strength. Jesus says: "Come to Me,
all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. - Matthew
11:28. Also, "All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who
comes to Me I will by no means cast out. -- John 6:37.

And so, God gives you a personal assurance - that Jesus died, not only for ALL,
but for YOU in particular. And that's not based on your love for God (thank
goodness!) but rather on His eternal love for you!

This great amnesty, the great invitation of the Gospel has gone out: "Jesus
brings real Liberty and true Justice -- and He brings it for All!" How sad it is
that so many prisoners are choosing to stay in their cells, unwilling to come out
into the bright light of the freedom of God's grace! May each of us this morning
pledge our lives once more to sharing this good news of Christian liberty with as
many people as we can. Of course, we're proud to Pledge our Allegiance to our
great country, especially on this Fourth of July. But how much more shouldn’t
we pledge our undying allegiance to our Savior? He shed His own blood to
bring perfect liberty and justice to all the world - including each one of us.
Truly, OUR GREATEST ALLEGIANCE IS TO CHRIST. AMEN.