Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20030105.htm

JESUS CHRIST IN OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY
Part XXI: Trusting God's PLAN When Our Lives Appear Pointless
(Isaiah 42:1; 49:1-8 with Matthew 12:12-20, 21)

Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

As this is the first Sunday of the New Year, the year 2003, we may be taking a step back from ourselves to look long and hard at our lives.

That can be discouraging, though! Not all our dreams or goals made even in 2002 may have been met to our grief, and even what we would like to accomplish for the Lord may have lost its steam:

(1) Two believers in our Church spoke with me this past week to express their concerns in failing to achieve their respective ministry goals. You see, both had planned to obtain some food for me and others as a ministry effort but had been unsuccessful in the process. Both felt so bad about not reaching these goals that they even sought my forgiveness!

(2) Another believer I know was hoping she could get a better paying position at her employment to be more self-sufficient only to see that goal go unmet! It seems she is back to "square one"!

(3) Another believer in our Church shared with me her deep disappointment over a ministry she had really wanted to see get off the ground seeming to come to a grinding halt. She is also concerned about another ministry effort she has wanted to see blossom, but which, again, seems halted!



When we look at our lives in 2003 in view of what we desire to ACCOMPLISH for the Lord, are we DISCOURAGED over the seeming FUTILITY of it all? IF so, HOW does God expect us to RESPOND effectively, and WHY?!



(We turn to the sermon "Need" section . . . )



Need: "I would love my life to count for God in a meaningful way, but SO far, I am tempted to see my life as POINTLESS! As I face a brand new year in 2003, what HOPE is there just to keep GOING?!"
  1. The RISEN Jesus told His disciples on the road to Emmaus how He fulfilled Old Testament Messianic prophecies, Luke 24:25-27.
  2. As these men were edified by Christ's teaching of those passages (Luke 24:32), we also view them, following the list of prophecies named in the Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, s. v. "Messianic Prophecies."
  3. The Isaiah 42:1 and 49:1-8 predictions in light of Matthew 12:21 show the Father's PLAN to use Christ with GREAT IMPACT by means that seem DISCOURAGING to Messiah Jesus HIMSELF:
    1. The prophet, Isaiah predicted God the Father would use the Hebrew Messiah (Jesus) to disciple the Gentiles in Isaiah 42:1 and 49:6b.
    2. Yet, to do so, God would use a plan that, at the human level would make even the Messiah initially say His effort seemed pointless:
      1. The Messiah was sent to the nation Israel, a nation that was very disobedient to God, cf. Matthew 3:1-2.
      2. Hence, since Messiah's words would be so convicting of sin, the hardened people of Israel would quickly reject Him, so the Father decided keep Messiah in obscurity for some time, Isa. 49:2-3:
        1. Messiah would realize He had been called from birth to serve God as the Father would begin to lead Him even as a child, Isa. 49:1. The fulfillment of this prediction is implied in Jesus' words when He was in the temple at age 12, cf. Luke 2:48-49.
        2. Yet, as the words the Father gave Him were so "sharp" in that they exposed sin, the Father would cause Messiah to live in obscurity until just the right time for His ministry, Isaiah 49:2-3.
        3. This is why Jesus was "hid" in Nazareth for 30 years!
      3. Then, Messiah would be quickly rejected by Israel, making Him humanly say His ministry seemed to be fruitless, Isaiah 49:4a.
  4. In solution, the Father Himself would be the Messiah's Help:
    1. To offset the tendency for discouragement, the Messiah would entrust Himself and His ministry to the Father for His reward, Isaiah 49:4b.
    2. Accordingly, the Father would make Israel's rejection a springboard for Messiah to disciple the nations while later reaching Israel 49:5-8:
      1. Isaiah 49:5 shows Messiah making the Father His All-Sufficiency to offset His ministry work discouragement as follows:
        1. He would recall the Father had called Him from the womb for His work so His ministry was thus not be fruitless, Isa. 49:5a, 1.
        2. He would recall the Father wanted Him to disciple Israel, so God would make Him effective to reach that nation regardless of its current rebellion against Himself, Isaiah 49:5b,c.
        3. He thus would know He was honored in the Father's eyes, and so He could be content to know He had pleased Him, Isa. 49:5d.
        4. He would also look to the Father as His strength to keep Him encouraged and productive in view of Israel's rejection, 49:5e.
      2. Then, Messiah would receive the Father's word that though Israel had currently rejected Him, the Father would make the Messiah a Light to the Gentiles before finally reaching Israel, Isa. 49:6-7, 8.
    3. In this way, Matthew 12:14-21 begins to show the fulfillment of these prophecies as Jesus is first rejected by Israel!
  5. As the Father sent the Son to US, so He sends US, and that means He may PLAN to use us with the GREATEST IMPACT through means that at FIRST seem POINTLESS and DISCOURAGING:
    1. As God sent His Son to us, He sends us unto the world, John 20:21b.
    2. However, that ministry may well include events to make us think our ministry efforts are humanly pointless, and thereby discourage us:
      1. We may be dispirited over years of obscurity similar to Isa. 49:2!
      2. We may be rejected for ministering the truth as was Jesus, and be tempted to be discouraged to think our work is pointless! (49:4a)
    3. Thus, we need to look to God our Father as did the Messiah, Jesus in Isaiah 49:4b-5 for help over such ministry effort discouragement!
Lesson Application: If tempted to be discouraged at the seeming pointlessness of our lives and ministry efforts, (1) believe on Jesus as Savior from sin to become a child of God, John 1:11-12. (2) Then, we yield to God's leading to do His will in accord with our gifting and His Word, Isa. 49:1. (3) We handle obscurity and seeming futility in our efforts as did Jesus: (a) we recall God who has led us THIS far MUST have a PURPOSE in doing so (III,D,1,a above); (b) we recall we CAN do what GOD intends we achieve (III,D,1,b above); (c) we recall GOD is happy with our work if we are doing what HE called us to do, and that is all that really matters (III,D,1,c above). Finally, (d) we look to GOD for our encouragement in the face of what discourages us about our lives and our ministry efforts (III,D,1,d above)!

Conclusion: (To illustrate the sermon lesson . . . )

 William Carey started out as a village cobbler, a menial occupation in his day. When he was converted to Christ, he fostered a burning desire to see people of Third World nations evangelized.

In 1786 he suggested at a meeting of Baptist ministers in Northampton, England that they should consider their responsibility to reach Third World nations for Christ. One minister responded to him, saying in the terminology of the era, "Sit down, young man! If God wants to reach the heathen, He'll do it without you or me!"

Six years later, while preaching at that same Association's gathering in Nottingham at Whitsuntide, Carey pleaded to "expect great things from God and attempt great things for God.'" When his message seemed to have fallen on deaf years, and the meeting was about to disperse, William Carey asked the minister, Andrew Fuller, "Is there nothing again going to be done, sir?'" Thus, a resolution was made at the eleventh hour of the meeting to form a Baptist Society for propagating the Gospel "among the heathen." So on October 2, 1792, in Widow Wallis's back parlor in Kettering, England, 13 pounds, 2 shillings and 6 pence was placed in "a snuff-box to start the work of world evangelization." (A. Skevington Wood, The Inextinguishable Blaze: Spiritual Renewal and Advance in the Eighteenth Century, p. 239-240)

Dr. Pat Cate, a missionary we support and one who is quite knowledgeable on William Carey, has told me Carey's diary once he got to India reads like a journal on depression. Physical hardships, sicknesses and other discouraging obstacles to his work always seemed to plague Carey and his wife. In fact, regarding his ministry, Carey claimed the only thing he could do well was to "plod."

Yet, because of his work, William Carey translated the Bible into several Indian dialects, and ended the religious practice in India of drowning infants in the Ganges River. He is now known as the "Father of Modern Missions."