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Oct 06, 2019

Am I my own?

Am I my own?

Passage: Isaiah 49:1-16

Speaker: Patrick Lafferty

Series: Isaiah: The Story Beneath the Story

There are few greater consolations than when someone both grasps your affliction and also is well furnished to effect a remedy. You might even be moved to sing. This week Isaiah introduces us to a prominent theme in his words--a Servant who both sees Israel’s plight and is uniquely fitted to help. But this Servant has his sights on something greater than even Israel’s healing. On account of that he sings--a song meant to become our own.

Order of Worship

Pre-Service Text: Luke 13:34
Call To Worship: Zephaniah 3:14-17
The Lord’s Prayer
New Testament Reading: Hebrews 4:11-16
Sermon Title: Am I my own?
Central Text: Isaiah 49:1-16
Benediction: Hebrews 13:20-21
Post-Service Text: Acts 13:47-48

10.06.19 Sermon Notes

Illustration

Readings & Scripture

Pre-Service Text: Luke 13:34
34 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it!
How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her
wings, and you were not willing!

Call To Worship: Zephaniah 3:14-17
LEADER: Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion;
shout, O Israel!
Rejoice and exult with all your heart,
O daughter of Jerusalem!

PEOPLE: The Lord has taken away the judgments against you;
he has cleared away your enemies.
The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst;
you shall never again fear evil.

LEADER: On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem:
“Fear not, O Zion;
let not your hands grow weak.

ALL: The Lord your God is in your midst,
a mighty one who will save;
he will rejoice over you with gladness;
he will quiet you by his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing.

The Lord’s Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name,
thy kingdom come, thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, and the power,
and the glory, forever.
Amen.

New Testament Reading: Hebrews 4:11-16
11 Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. 12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13 And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
14 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Central Text: Isaiah 49:1-16
Listen to me, O coastlands,
and give attention, you peoples from afar.
The LORD called me from the womb,
from the body of my mother he named my name.
2 He made my mouth like a sharp sword;
in the shadow of his hand he hid me;
he made me a polished arrow;
in his quiver he hid me away.
3 And he said to me, “You are my servant,
Israel, in whom I will be glorified.”
4 But I said, “I have labored in vain;
I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity;
yet surely my right is with the LORD,
and my recompense with my God.”

Is. 49:5 And now the LORD says,
he who formed me from the womb to be his servant,
to bring Jacob back to him;
and that Israel might be gathered to him—
for I am honored in the eyes of the LORD,
and my God has become my strength—
6 he says:
“It is too light a thing that you should be my servant
to raise up the tribes of Jacob
and to bring back the preserved of Israel;
I will make you as a light for the nations,
that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

Is. 49:7 Thus says the LORD,
the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One,
to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation,
the servant of rulers:
“Kings shall see and arise;
princes, and they shall prostrate themselves;
because of the LORD, who is faithful,
the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”

Is. 49:8 Thus says the LORD:
“In a time of favor I have answered you;
in a day of salvation I have helped you;
I will keep you and give you
as a covenant to the people,
to establish the land,
to apportion the desolate heritages,
9 saying to the prisoners, ‘Come out,’
to those who are in darkness, ‘Appear.’
They shall feed along the ways;
on all bare heights shall be their pasture;
10 they shall not hunger or thirst,
neither scorching wind nor sun shall strike them,
for he who has pity on them will lead them,
and by springs of water will guide them.
11 And I will make all my mountains a road,
and my highways shall be raised up.
12 Behold, these shall come from afar,
and behold, these from the north and from the west,
and these from the land of Syene.”

Is. 49:13 Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth;
break forth, O mountains, into singing!
For the LORD has comforted his people
and will have compassion on his afflicted.

Is. 49:14 But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me;
my Lord has forgotten me.”

Is. 49:15 “Can a woman forget her nursing child,
that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb?
Even these may forget,
yet I will not forget you.
16 Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;
your walls are continually before me.

Benediction: Hebrews 13:20-21
20 Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, 21 equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

Post-Service Text: Acts 13:47-48
47 For so the Lord has commanded us, saying,
“‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles,
that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’”
48 And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.

Related Scriptures:

  • Genesis 22:18
  • Psalm 67
  • Psalm 87
  • Song of Solomon 8:6
  • Isaiah 43:5-6
  • Mark 10:45
  • Luke 13:34*
  • John 4:1-15, 7:38
  • John 5:9, 30; 8:28
  • John 10:16
  • Acts 13:47
  • 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, 7:22-24
  • 2 Corinthians 6:1-10
  • Philippians 2:1-11
  • Hebrews 1:1-4
  • Hebrews 4:11-13
  • Revelation 1:16

Discussion Questions & Applications:

  1. What might people mean by saying they believe “I am my own”? Brainstorm several possibilities. If someone believes that, what else must they believe about themselves, life, happiness, or whatever else you can come up with? How do those answers change if you believe, in contrast, “I am not my own.”
  2. How is this Servant not his own? To whom does he belong, and for what purposes does he exist? (compare this “song” of his with a similar passage in 42:1-9)
  3. What do we discern about the need of Israel from the commission this servant receives? What do we discern about the need of the whole world?
  4. If this story of the servant is, as we’ve said before, a story beneath the story of a greater Servant, then how does Jesus both parallel and exceed the profile and purposes of this Servant?
  5. If our faith is in the greater Servant who came, “not to be served but to serve and be a ransom for many (Mark 10:45), in what sense(s) are we not our own but His? In what senses might we also belong to--i.e. living for the good of--the world?

Quotes

  • You will give the people of Earth an ideal to strive towards. They will race behind you, they will stumble, they will fall. But in time, they will join you in the sun, Kal. In time, you will help them accomplish wonders. - Jor-El to his son in Man of Steel
  • A Christian man is the most free lord of all, and subject to none; a Christian man is the most dutiful servant of all, and subject to every one. - Martin Luther
  • Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light. - Dumbledore
  • For the reporters on the Times, those who tell me that “I am my own” are on the side of the angels, while those who cast doubt on that proposition are to be cast into outer darkness where there is wailing and gnashing of teeth. - Alan Jacobs

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