Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Wearing Our Sunday Best


So, about Isaiah 61:1-11. If you haven’t read it, I would encourage you to take a few moments and read it now. When you read it, don’t skim through – take it in, passage by passage. If you don’t, I am afraid this week’s BlogSpot won’t make much sense to you.

This is a great passage to follow up Brother Dave’s sermon from Sunday- humbly living out salvation. Isaiah takes these verses to describe what a living “church” looks like in the eyes of God. Before we can impact the world around us, we have to start with “Why”. The “why” is in verse 1 – we are anointed, as saved servants!

When you look into verses 4-6, you see what the “church” is doing in action. I like verse 5 because that is the part where we come in. We are not members of the tribes of Israel (as the Jews knew themselves to be), but we are the welcome gentiles… and we will ‘shepherd the flocks, and work the fields and vineyards.’

That means, we as Christians should be about our Father’s business!
The ending passages are a joyful perspective of what God’s children receive. We are not ‘given our shame,’ but we ‘receive a double portion of inheritance,’ (verse 7) and that inheritance is not monetary – it is that we are treasured by God, and we are saved from iniquity and broken-heartedness! We are beautiful to the Lord!

Think about all of that chapter, and the lifestyle of worship those actions produce: that, Chaplains, is our Sunday Best. And we would be wise to wear it everyday.

No comments: