church

INI
First Sunday After Epiphany
January 9, 2011
Ascension Lutheran Church, Tacoma WA
Paul Naumann, Pastor

JESUS CHRIST IS THE RIGHT MAN FOR THE JOB
Isaiah 42:1-4

Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our
Lord, Amen. Today's text comes from the 42nd chapter of Isaiah, beginning with
verse one, 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. 2 He
will not cry out, nor raise His voice, Nor cause His voice to be heard in the street.
3 A bruised reed He will not break, And smoking flax He will not quench; He will
bring forth justice for truth. 4 He will not fail nor be discouraged, Till He has
established justice in the earth; And the coastlands shall wait for His law. Here
ends our text.

In Christ Jesus, Who was anointed to bring the Good News to the poor in spirit,
Dear Fellow Redeemed,

Do you know someone who's just right for their job? Four years ago this week
our country mourned the passing of President Gerald Ford. In summing up his
life, no one said about him that he was the most gifted of American presidents,
that he brought to the office the most brilliant intellect or the most inspiring
oratory. What they did say was that he was the right man for the job. He supplied
the character traits most needed at the time: solidity, normalcy and faithfulness.
He had no baggage, no demons, no particular agenda other than to help the get
the country through a particularly rough time in its history. And in that respect,
the man and the mission were well-matched.

And that's important! Every manager in every business knows how important it
is to find the right man for the job. God knows that, too. And God the Father
chose His Son Jesus Christ to fulfill a certain mission. Jesus came to earth to do a
job: the job of saving people from hell! What's really tragic is that some people
are convinced Jesus isn't the right One for them -- or worse, that they're not the
right one for Jesus. But that's not true. As our text for today makes clear, Jesus
Christ is perfect for His job - the job of bringing salvation to sinners! Our theme
today is:

JESUS CHRIST IS THE RIGHT MAN FOR THE JOB

I. He has the right qualifications.
II. He has the right attitude.
III. He gets the right results.

We find ourselves today in the season of the church year known as Epiphany,
which literally means, "appearance." Beginning with His baptism by John in the
Jordan River, Jesus made His appearance to the people as the Son of God, the
promised Messiah. This was the starting point of His public ministry. He had a
big job to do: that of bringing salvation to mankind. Back then, a lot of people
doubted that this carpenter's son from Nazareth could really be the promised
Messiah. They certainly would not have viewed Jesus as the right Man for the job!

In our world of today, the majority of people still don't believe that Jesus is who
the Bible says He is: the only hope of mankind. What do you think? Is Jesus
Christ up to the job of being your personal Savior? Will you place your eternal
soul in His hands alone? In our text for today, the Lord through the Prophet
Isaiah describes Jesus' qualities. If you study that description carefully, it should
leave little doubt in your mind that Jesus Christ is THE RIGHT MAN FOR THE
JOB!

In the first place, Jesus has the right qualifications to be your Savior. Foremost
among those qualifications is the fact that He's the handpicked choice of
Almighty God. In our text, the Lord introduces His Son with the words, Behold!
My Servant whom I uphold, My Elect One in whom My soul delights! Now, God
didn't choose Mohammed to save you from your sins. He didn't choose Buddha,
and He didn't choose the Virgin Mary. He most certainly didn't choose you to
save yourself! God chose His Son, Jesus. Nobody else is even in the running.
Peter said, "Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under
heaven given among men by which we must be saved." Ac 4:12.

Jesus is further qualified for His office by the power that God gave Him -
nothing less than the power of the Holy Ghost! God said, "I have put My Spirit
upon Him." In our Gospel Lesson for today we saw how the Holy Spirit, in the
form of a dove, descended upon Jesus at His baptism. Jesus used that power of
the Holy Spirit to win the hearts of sinners throughout His earthly ministry. Just
as convincing is the fact that this power is still at work in the world today. It's
working saving faith in your heart right now, even as I speak these words!
Without the power of the Holy Spirit, no one can be saved; and only the Gospel
of Jesus Christ possesses that power.

The right man for the job, though, should have more than good qualifications.
He should also have the right attitude. That's very important in the business
world. I watched a TV comedy in which a man was being interviewed for a minor
job in the mailroom of a large company. The lady interviewing him asked what
his ambitions were, and he replied, "Simply to do the best job I can in handling
the company's mail." Well, the interviewer refused to hire him, because she said
his attitude wasn't aggressive enough. He should want to be a vice-president, at
least!

Well, being bold and aggressive might describe a good worker for a job on Wall
Street, but it's not a good description of our Savior. He will not cry out nor raise
His voice, says Isaiah, Nor cause His voice to be heard in the street. The job
Jesus came to earth to do was different, and it required a totally different attitude.
You see, we don't need a proud and demanding Messiah, to overwhelm us with
His majesty and remind us that we're wretched sinners. We've already got the
Law to do that. The Law accuses each us when it says, "All have sinned, and fall
short of the glory of God." If any of you are tempted to think that the sins you
commit every day aren't really that serious, remember - God says "Whoever shall
keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all!" Js 2:10. We
know we're sinners, and we know what the penalty is for sin: eternal death. What
we need now is a way out.

Jesus is the way out! Jesus comes to us -- He manifests Himself -- not with an
attitude of terror, but of meekness. Not of judgment, but of mercy. And that's the
right attitude for our Savior. From His lowly birth in a stable to His shameful
death on the cross, Jesus adopted the attitude not of a master, but of a Servant.
See the Savior of mankind visiting the poor and healing the sick! See the Son of
God preaching forgiveness to the tax collectors and "sinners"! See the King of the
universe riding into Jerusalem -- on a humble donkey! See the promised Messiah
washing the feet of His disciples! See almighty God condemned to death and
nailed to a cross, as though He were a disgusting criminal. Yes, Jesus knew what
kind of attitude He needed to be your Savior, and He adopted it willingly. Paul
says, "Christ Jesus, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God
something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a
servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man,
He humbled Himself and became obedient to death - even death on a cross!" Php
2:6-8 NIV.

Yes, Jesus comes to us with just the right attitude. He's not remote and exalted,
but down-to-earth and approachable. He brings mercy for our weaknesses,
forgiveness for our shortcomings. Is your faith weak? -You don't have to be
afraid! Our text says, A bruised reed He will not break, And smoking flax He will
not quench. Even if your faith is only a faint glimmer, like the smoldering wick of
a candle, Jesus won't snuff it out. Even the slightest glow of faith in Christ can
save you; salvation, after all, doesn't depend on how strongly you believe. It
depends on how strong is the Person you believe in. And Jesus Christ is very
strong indeed!

-That's really the bottom line, isn't it? Jesus has the right qualifications to be your
Savior, and He certainly has the right attitude toward sinners. But what really
makes Him the Man for the job is the fact that Jesus gets the right results!

In our text, Isaiah makes this prediction about the Christ: : He will bring forth
justice for truth. 4 He will not fail nor be discouraged, Till He has established
justice in the earth; And the coastlands shall wait for His law. What does that
mean? Simply that Jesus gets the job done.

Once, when Jesus was talking about the cost of discipleship, He said, You
shouldn't start something you can't finish. A contractor who pours the foundation
of a building and then runs out of money will soon find himself the laughingstock
of the community. Well, Jesus could talk about taking on huge jobs, because His
was the immense task of bringing forth justice to truth, or, in other words:
"bringing justice to the earth." And not just any sort of justice, but God's justice.
God's plan of justice was this: although you were guilty of many sins, and had
broken His Law times without number, you might go free if a high enough
ransom price were paid for your sin.

Jesus took on the job: the work of redeeming you from your sin. And He got
results. It wasn't easy - it meant tremendous suffering. There were many trials
that could have made Him falter or become discouraged, but He didn't. His love
for you drove Him on. Jesus stuck to it, and in the end, won the victory. When
He said those words from the cross, "It is finished!" it meant His work was
accomplished. The power of sin was destroyed. The price was paid for all people
of every nation, every coastland, and every island on earth! As Paul says, "God
was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to
them." II Cor 5:19. At that moment, God declared you righteous and holy for
Jesus' sake. There's nothing for you to be afraid of anymore! Christ has made you
a child of God, and an heir of everlasting life -- off hand, I'd say Jesus' work had
pretty good results!

What kind of a job do you have? Are you happy with your job? Chances are there
are some things about your job you like, and some things you don't like. It's very
rare to find a person who really feels that his job is absolutely perfect for him.
Actually, I know of only one perfect match. My fellow Christians, during this
Epiphany season, let's offer up our heartiest thanks to our gracious God. Because
when it came to filling the position of a Savior for us sinners, God made the
perfect choice: Jesus Christ - the right Man for the job! AMEN.