Bible Talks - Family Church (9:45am)
Series: From Darkness to Dawn · Talk No. 5
Total satisfaction
Sunday, 16 October 2005
Isaiah 55 ESV or NIV
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Big Ideas
One word: Invitation
Sentence: God invites everyone to find total satisfaction in the mercy and pardon offered freely through the work of the servant, Jesus.
The unsatisfying search for satisfaction
Earlier this year I was watching TV when I stumbled upon “GMA with Bert Newton”. Many of you may be familiar with the show, and would know that it’s just a big front to sell you things. This particular day, they were promoting a nifty little device called the “V-Slicer”. I was captivated. The V-Slicer would bring an end to all my vegetable cutting woes. With ease it could slice and dice any vegetable I threw at it, all with minimal mess and fuss. I had to have one. I couldn’t believe that I’d survived for so long without one! I knew that if I had one, my kitchen would be complete. I would be totally satisfied. So with a quick trip down to the local Danoz Direct store, I was the proud owner of its cheaper imitation, a super slicer!
It works well. I can slice my way through a bag of onions in no time! But soon after getting it, the novelty wore off, and it just became another kitchen utensil to wash up after dinner. You see I, like many others in this world, am a thrill seeking gadget junkie. I get satisfaction from cheap thrills, like super slicers! But generally the satisfaction doesn’t last long and soon I am looking somewhere else to feed my need.
I think Stacy Orrico describes this human condition best in her recent song “More to life” where she sings
“There’s gotta be more to life, than chasing down every temporary high, to satisfy me”
Chapters 1 to 40 of Isaiah that we looked at last year showed that the Israelites also eagerly desired total satisfaction. They called it Shalom. Shalom means peace, and to them stood for complete wholeness, the complete covenant blessing, full enjoyment of all that God has promised.
They knew that the future Messiah would be the Prince of peace (9:6). He will bring peace that will last forever (9:7). They looked forward to the end of history, where the Lord will establish peace (26:12), where one day Zion would experience peace (52:7).
But before full and final peace could be realised, the relationship between God and his people had to be put right. And that is what we saw last week in Isaiah 53. We heard about the suffering servant, Jesus, and the sacrifice he made for us. Isaiah 53:5 reads
“the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.”
Isaiah 53:5
So now as we approach Isaiah 55, the doors to shalom, peace and total satisfaction are wide open. Isaiah 55 is God’s invitation to all people, to find total satisfaction through the pardon and mercy available through Jesus.
I’ll just pray for us now, as we consider God’s word.
Well if you have a look at your outline, you will see that I will be covering three main topics: God’s invitation, Three reasons to accept the invitation, and RSVP. It will help to have you bible open to Isaiah 55, and I’ll be quoting from NIV.
Gods invitation
The invitation
God is a very enthusiastic host! We’ve all received invitations that go something like… “There’s a party on the hill would you like to come?” They’re usually addressed to us, and simply invite us to an event. But that isn’t the wording God has used here in Isaiah 55:1. See if you can pick the repeated word as I read it:
1 "Come, all you who are thirsty,
come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without cost.
Isaiah 55:1
I think he wants us to ‘come’! There is almost an urgency to it, isn’t there! God’s saying “Wherever you are now, come to the waters, come buy and eat!” And this invitation isn’t just to a single person or group. God throws it wide open to “all you who are thirsty”. Now where have we heard the Bible talking about thirst before?
- The Israelites were thirsting for Shalom.
- The word ‘thirst’ has also used earlier in Isaiah to talk about spiritual need as a result of sin.
- Jesus talked about thirst. Remember the woman at the well? John 4:13-14 reads
13Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."
Thirst is a common theme. All humans have a spiritual thirst. One of my favourite quotes is “There is a God shaped hole in all of us that only God can fill”. And here in Isaiah 55:1, God is offering to fill it because of what Jesus achieved in Isaiah 53.
The cover charge
Being involved in Beach Missions and Youth groups, means I organise a lot of meetings. Quite often I’ll put out an invitation to a meeting, and at the end I’ll write “bring $5 to cover pizza”. It’s the cover charge, which means I don’t have to bear all the cost! But here, God doesn’t mention $5 to cover pizza! Instead he says, 55:1
you who have no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without cost.
Isaiah 55:1
So it’s free! Food always tastes better when it’s free! But there still a purchase and a cost isn’t there?
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
It’s free to us, because the price has already been paid. It’s like a wedding reception. You don’t pay at the door, because the host has already covered the cost. God has covered the cost, and paid the price in full with the servant in Isaiah 53 who we know as Jesus.
The comparisons
Well it sounds good doesn’t it! But what about all the other invitations we get that promise total satisfaction? Other religions? Materialism? V-Slicers? Why can’t we just get our fulfilment, our Shalom from them?
God answers fairly clearly, verse 2:
2Why spend money on what is not bread,
and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Isaiah 55:2
God is saying: Don’t be deceived by cheap imitations. Many other thing, whether religious or materialistic, promise to sustain and satisfy us. But they never do. They can’t. They are not the bread that only God can offer to satisfy our spiritual hunger.
The guarantee
God is so confident in what he is offering, he gives a satisfaction guarantee. But wait, there more! Not only do we get a satisfaction guarantee, but also an everlasting covenant. Just like the one he made with David. If we listen to God, and eat this bread talked about in verse 2, then our soul will be satisfied. Guaranteed satisfaction of mind, body and soul. Verse 2:
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.
3 Give ear and come to me;
hear me, that your soul may live.
I will make an everlasting covenant with you,
my faithful love promised to David.
Isaiah 55:2b
What in the ‘richest of fare’ or food that we will be delighting in? Well if sneak a look ahead at verse 7, we see that it is none other that the mercy and pardon offered through Jesus.
So this is an image of guaranteed total satisfaction, sealed with an eternal covenant from God. It’s what all those ‘New Age’ers’ are looking for at the “Mind Body and Soul” festival in Darling Harbour! And its right here, guaranteed to us who are Christians.
Three reasons to accept the invitation
Well, God has spent the first few verses posing the invitation to us. He now gives us three reasons why we should accept!
What God says, he does
And the first is a reminder that God is trustworthy. He keeps his promises. What God says, he does. He gives us two examples. And what better example to illustrate this than to talk about how he kept his covenant with David. God made a number of promises to David that you can find in 2 Samuel 7. Some of them were:
- To make his name great
- To give the Israelites a land & free them from exile
- One of David’s offspring shall have a kingdom that lasts forever
Well, it’s obvious that David’s name has been made great from verse 4:
4 See, I have made him a witness to the peoples,
a leader and commander of the peoples.
Promise 1 kept. It’s a little harder to see Promise 2 being fulfilled through this passage, but we know from biblical history that it happened. And promise 3, well it’s just been answered in Isaiah 53. Jesus is David’s offspring who will have an everlasting kingdom. And Israel will play a part in seeing that kingdom grow. Verse 5
5 Surely you will summon nations you know not,
and nations that do not know you will hasten to you,
because of the LORD your God,
the Holy One of Israel,
for he has endowed you with splendor."
Isaiah 55:3b-5
David conquered nations physically, and Israel will conquer them spiritually. They will be like a magnet, attracting people of all nations to the kingdom of God. So God kept his promises to David. What God says, he does.
The second example God gives, is that he works powerfully through his word to achieve what he wants. He gives an illustration in Isaiah 55:10-11
10 As the rain and the snow
come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
Isaiah 55:10-11
Just like the rain is sent to water the plants and make them grow, so God’s word is sent to achieve his purpose. Now Isaiah’s readers could probably think of lots of examples of this: Creation, the exodus, the exile. All events where God spoke and it happened.
We have an even better view of God’s word achieving its purpose, because we live after Christ. We can see God’s big picture climaxing in Christ and his gospel. We can see that what God says, he does.
Gods offer is generous (6-9)
The next reason God gives to accept his invitation is that what he is offering is generous. See we don’t think the way God thinks. We don’t act in the way God would act. We can wear as much “What Would Jesus Do” paraphernalia as we like. But in the end we have to accept that Gods ways and thoughts are far different from ours. We are a people in constant rebellion with God.
So its generous God then who would offer pardon and mercy, if we simply turn to him. He maps this out for us in verse 6-9.
6 Seek the LORD while he may be found;
call on him while he is near.
7 Let the wicked forsake his way
and the evil man his thoughts.
Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him,
and to our God, for he will freely pardon.
8 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,"
declares the LORD.
9 "As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Isaiah 55:6-9
God will pardon people whose thoughts are evil. God offers guilty people, like you and me, a pardon. And that is a generous offer.
What God does, will last (12-13)
The third reason God gives to accept his invitation is that what he does, will last. We see this in verses 12-13. Many of you probably know these verses from an old song.
These verses give a hint of what is to come. The return from exile, a new creation, the reversal of the curse. Have a look with me at verses 12-13.
12 You will go out in joy
and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and hills
will burst into song before you,
and all the trees of the field
will clap their hands.
13 Instead of the thornbush will grow the pine tree,
and instead of briers the myrtle will grow.
This will be for the LORD's renown,
for an everlasting sign,
which will not be destroyed."
Isaiah 55:12-13
It’s a jubilant passage isn’t it! That’s because it’s a jubilant topic. It’s talking about the new creation and the salvation of Gods people. Highlights of this new creation are joy and peace. Remember that the Israelites eagerly desired peace, or shalom. It appears the Genesis curse has been reversed with the spiky unpleasant plants being replaced by strong, beautiful plants. There’s also imagery of nature celebrating. When we see this in other parts of the Bible, it associated with the return of Jesus, for example Psalm 96:11-13
11 Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad;
let the sea resound, and all that is in it;
12 let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them.
Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy;
13 they will sing before the LORD, for he comes,
he comes to judge the earth.
He will judge the world in righteousness
and the peoples in his truth.
Psalm 96:11-13
Our Isaiah passage closes by reminding us that this is all God’s doing, and it testify’s to his eternally greatness. The invitation he gives us and the salvation he is offering is not temporary. This new creation will be an everlasting sign, like the rainbow was to Noah, to remind us that what God does, will last.
RSVP
So we’ve heard that God has invited us to receive mercy and pardon freely for our sins. This mercy and pardon will bring complete satisfaction to body, mind and soul. We have been urged to accept the invitation because God is trustworthy, the offer is generous, and the result is eternal.
So how do we accept this invitation? How do we RSVP? Well Isaiah has included some instructions on that too.
Listen to God
Firstly, we need to listen to God. Verses 2 and 3 make that pretty clear.
2b Listen, listen to me….
3a Give ear…
hear me, ...
Isaiah 55:2b - 3a [paraphrased]
With so much competing noise in our lives, we need to give God our undivided attention. How do we do that? By having our relationship with him, which is strengthened through reading the Bible and prayer, as our source of total satisfaction. The irony is that we are so often caught up seeking our own satisfaction, we don’t stop and listen to the only one who can satisfy.
Do you feel far away from God? He wasn’t the one who moved.
Don’t put off
The next part to the RSVP is to take action now! Don’t put it off! Verse 6:
6 Seek the LORD while he may be found;
call on him while he is near.
Isaiah 55:6
How often do we receive party invitations and think to ourselves “I’ll just see who else is going” or “I’ll just wait and make sure I don’t get a better offer!”
There will be no better offer than the one God is making.
There is an urgency to the invitation, because it won’t last forever. We don’t know the RSVP date. But God has set a day of judgement, it will come like a thief in the night. So don’t keep making excuses. Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near.
Make a U-turn
The Youthgroup at this Church is called One80. The name mean’s that when we follow Christ, we turn away from our evil thoughts and ways, and follow him. Mathematically, we are making a 180 degree turn (you can tell an engineer came up with the name!). But that is the next step that is suggested in Isaiah to RSVP to this invitation. Verse 7
7 Let the wicked forsake his way
and the evil man his thoughts.
Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him,
and to our God, for he will freely pardon.
Isaiah 55:7
We need to turn away from the world’s offers of satisfaction, which are selfishly ‘me-centred’. We need to turn to the God who satisfies, through the work of the servant, Jesus Christ.
Don’t be satisfied with less
Don’t be satisfied with less. You could walk away from this sermon thinking that I have some kind of Godly hate for all the enjoyable thing God has given us. Like Super Slicers! I don’t, and please don’t take that away from this sermon. God has given us many good things to enjoy whilst living on earth, but they are not to be our primary source of satisfaction. If we find that we are looking to Money, or Materialism, or Romance for our daily satisfaction then we may have a problem. Remember that satisfaction is found in God, through Christ. Don’t be surprised if you are less than satisfied if you give lip service to Jesus, while you are really seeking satisfaction somewhere else. Don’t forget what Jesus said to the woman at the well. We need to keep drawing from the well of living water that satisfies.
Does this mean we will never be dissatisfied? No. This side of heaven, we will have a godly dissatisfaction with the state of the world. But God isn’t finished with us yet. When he does return, our satisfaction will be complete.
If you haven’t accepted God’s invitation then I strongly urge you to consider it, and ask any of the ministry staff here about it. If you have accepted God’s invitation, then look to God as your only source of satisfaction, through Jesus.
Amen.
