Sermon Recap
The Lord’s Good Plan
Scripture referenced
- Isaiah 53:1-12
- Leviticus 17:14
Brian preached from Isaiah 53 on what he called the Lord’s good plan, the idea that God’s purposes can look completely different from the outside than what God is actually doing. The sermon worked through the chapter verse by verse, with members of the congregation and guests taking turns reading aloud. Brian’s central question was whether there is an area of your life right now where you are a reluctant participant in something God is trying to do.
What was said
Brian opened by noting that Isaiah 53 is so dense that the only right thing to do was read all twelve verses together as a congregation. Once they had done that, he pointed to the contrast at the heart of the passage: God is raising up this figure with favor, a tender green shoot, while humanity looks on and despises him, meaning to glance at him and look away, to treat him as nothing special. Those two things are happening at the same time.
He used the picture of a surprise birthday dinner to get at this. The person being surprised may drag their feet and resist going out, not knowing what is waiting for them. In the same way, he said, many people encountered what God was doing in Jesus and simply did not pick up what the Lord was putting down.
Brian then worked through what the passage says about sin. He described it as breaking God’s moral law, and said that breaking one law makes a person a lawbreaker, the same way cracking one rotten egg into an omelet ruins the whole thing regardless of how many good eggs went in before it. He used a tightrope image, a line strung between the Grand Teton and the Middle Teton, to say that trying to be a good person is not sufficient because the human condition means we cannot hold on indefinitely. He said the Bible makes clear that the consequence of breaking God’s law is permanent separation from him, and that no accumulation of good deeds changes that.
To show what Isaiah 53 actually describes, Brian told a courtroom story. A man is found guilty of a crime that carries the death penalty. A stranger walks in and asks to die in his place. The judge allows it. Brian asked the congregation how that man would feel walking out of the courtroom free, and the responses that came back were guilt and being stoked and thankful and surprised, all of which he said were valid. He then extended the story: three days later the man who died is walking down the street alive, looking for the person he died for.
Brian said that story is Isaiah 53. The Mashiach paid the price for sin, died, and because he had not broken the law, sin and the grave had no claim on him. He cited the moment from the Gospels when John, a cousin of Jesus, saw Jesus coming and said, behold the lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world. He connected this to his own life, saying that as a sophomore in high school his highest ambition was to be a dirtbag climber and a ski bum, and it was not until he recognized that he had broken God’s law repeatedly that he realized he needed a savior.
He closed the argument with a single line: hidden beneath human rejection is God’s redemption. He asked the congregation to sit with one honest question, whether there is one area of life right now where God is trying to get their attention and they are being a reluctant participant, resistant to a good plan they cannot yet see clearly.
Touch points
- Read Isaiah 53 slowly this week and sit with one verse that lands differently than it did before.
- Ask God honestly whether there is one area of your life where you have been a reluctant participant in his good plan, and listen for his answer.
- If you have a prayer request weighing on you, write it on the connect card and drop it in the black box on your way out, or find someone on the Tribe staff and ask them to pray with you in person.
- Invite a friend or a young family to the Sunday evening service, especially someone who is usually busy on Sunday mornings.
- If you want to serve, find Amanda after the service and add your name to the clipboard for one of the setup, teardown, or Tribe Kids roles in the new space.
Doing a Bible study?
- Brian described the human condition using the image of a tightrope stretched between two Teton summits, where everyone eventually falls regardless of how hard they try. Where do you find yourself on that tightrope right now, and what does it feel like to hold on?
- Isaiah 53 was written hundreds of years before Jesus was born, yet it describes his suffering in striking detail. What stood out to you most as the chapter was read aloud tonight, and why?
- Brian walked through a courtroom story where an innocent man volunteers to die in the place of someone who is guilty. When he asked the room how Colson would feel walking out of that courtroom, people said both guilty and stoked. Which of those reactions resonates more with you personally, and what does that tell you about where you are with what Jesus did?
- Brian said that when he was a sophomore in high school he realized he needed a Savior, and that moment changed everything. Has there been a moment like that in your own life, or is that something you are still working through?
- At the close of the sermon Brian asked whether there is one area of your life right now where God is trying to get your attention but you are being a reluctant participant in his good plan. What came to mind when he asked that question?
Resumen en español
Esta noche fue el primer servicio de Tribe en su nuevo hogar temporal en First Baptist Jackson, y Brian Hunter predicó sobre Isaías 53, un texto escrito cientos de años antes del nacimiento de Jesús que describe con una precisión asombrosa lo que le sucedería al Mesías. Brian explicó que aunque Dios estaba llevando a cabo un plan extraordinario, la humanidad en general no lo reconoció. Lo despreciaron, lo trataron como algo ordinario, y cuando sufrió, muchos pensaron que era un castigo merecido. Ese malentendido no cambió el plan de Dios.
El hilo central del mensaje fue este: todos los seres humanos hemos roto la ley moral de Dios, y esa ruptura tiene una consecuencia, la separación eterna de Dios. Ninguna cantidad de buenas obras puede compensarlo, igual que un huevo podrido arruina todo el omelette sin importar cuántos huevos buenos se agreguen. Pero Dios, en su amor, envió a su Hijo a pagar el precio que nosotros debíamos. Brian usó la imagen de un extraño que entra a una sala de tribunal y ofrece morir en lugar del culpable, que queda libre. Eso, dijo, es exactamente lo que hizo Jesús, el Cordero de Dios que quita el pecado del mundo.
Brian cerró con una pregunta personal para cada oyente: hay algún área de tu vida donde Dios está tratando de invitarte a algo bueno, pero tú estás siendo un participante reluctante? Debajo del rechazo humano, dijo, está la redención de Dios. Ese es el plan bueno del Señor.
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Pasajes bíblicos mencionados:
- Isaías 53:1-12
- Isaías 53:2-3
- Isaías 53:4-6
- Isaías 53:10-12
- Levítico 14 (mencionado brevemente en relación a la sangre y la expiación)
Topics
Isaiah 53 Servant Of God Sin And Forgiveness Substitutionary Atonement Why Jesus Died