Isaiah 55:6-11 Turn to the Lord who freely forgives!

As a kid we took our favorite stuffed animal with us everywhere. A typical day in the life of a favorite stuffed animal might include sitting at the table for breakfast, holding a crayon, marker or paintbrush, eating a snack, visiting the restroom, sitting at the table for lunch, traveling around the backyard, side yard and front yard through grass, bushes, trees, dirt, mud, clay and sand, jumping in the pool, tasting a popsicle or juice box, sitting at the table for dinner, taking a bath, brushing its teeth and getting drooled on during the night. Multiply this typical day by weeks, months or years and the stuffed animal you love so much will be so dirty that you fear it will be beyond cleaning.

With all the cleaning products available to us, we ought not fear any stain. There are so many choices when walking down the aisle or scrolling on a phone for cleaning products, but what really counts is that the cleaning ingredient works. In a similar way, Paul points out in our New Testament reading that what matters when our souls are stained with sin and need to be cleansed the is the message, not the one who delivers it as we read in 1 Corinthians 3, 5 What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. 6 I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. 7 So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow… 11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. When our soul needs to be cared for, we need everything else to fade into the background, so we get Jesus the foundation and giver of life.

Without God our souls remain neglected, dark and dirty. When we put our hope, trust, love and future into anything else more than God, our souls are neglected. No job, government, bank account or relationship will give us relief from our sins, purpose for our lives and salvation from death and hell. In answer to their need for spiritual care, the prophet Isaiah spoke the Word of God to the southern kingdom of Judah in the decades surrounding the turn of the seventh century B.C. Many who heard the Word of God from Isaiah had grown comfortable and proud of their sins, and needed their sins pointed out to them as we hear in Isaiah 5, 20 Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. 21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight. 22 Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine and champions at mixing drinks, 23 who acquit the guilty for a bribe, but deny justice to the innocent. The people were guilty and deserved to be punished for their rampant sins. Coming up with a defense against these sins was impossible. The lasting impact of these sins brought despair to some and hopeless attempts by others to escape God’s judgment, neither of which did God want for his people.

As we travel through life collecting stains, scars and shame, we fear that at some point we will be too dirty for God to clean off. Like those who heard the Word of God from Isaiah, our sins drive us away from God, but God does not watch us wander away as if he was glad to see us go or looking forward to punishing us. Instead, we hear God call out to us in our Old Testament reading from Isaiah 55, 6 Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near. 7 Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. God is not sitting up in heaven on his throne waiting for you hoping not to be disappointed by whatever you bring him. When we are frustrated and broken crying and screaming that we have nothing left to offer God, our hearts are blaming God for things he has not done. We have sinned and we have been sinned against by others, and we live in a sinful world. Yes, we are broken and have nothing to offer God, but that does not mean we ought to turn away from him or that he has nothing to give us.

In response to the way we think about our sins, God has a different way of thinking. God does not ask us for anything; he only wants to give. When we rationalize in our minds that we cannot be forgiven, loved or accepted by God, the cure for our sinful thoughts are these words from Isaiah 55, 7 … Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them, 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.” God’s love for us goes beyond what makes sense in our minds. Justice would be served if God put us to death and held us in dungeons in hell for our constant selfish, weak, misguided, hurtful thoughts, words and actions, but God loves us. Rather than lock all of us away, he punished his only Son Jesus on the cross for our sins. All the ‘woes’ from Isaiah 5, the regrets we have stored up in our minds, the frustration with our sinful stains, scars and shame were taken from us and given to Jesus. Through his death and resurrection, we are washed clean of our sins, and God has brought us close to himself in a bond even stronger than a toddler and a favorite stuffed animal. Our Psalm for today sums up God’s message to each of us when we think there is no hope for us as we read in Psalm 65, 3 When we were overwhelmed by sins, you forgave our transgressions.

Now is the time to turn to God, and he will freely forgive all your sins. Hearing God’s Word in worship or Bible study, in songs and personal devotions is not preparing you for a test or trivia night, or to win a debate or receive a morality award. These words of God that call you to him for forgiveness and mercy are to save your life. God paints a picture of a barren earth being filled with life in our Old Testament reading, and what he is describing is the life he gives you through the message of Jesus as we read in Isaiah 55, 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. You are the purpose for which God has given his Word. Your life, your forgiveness, your sense of self, your purpose, your future and self-worth all come from God, firm and established like a flourishing, vibrant, strong, beautiful garden with grass and flowers, trees and fruit. Jesus wants us to be aware of God’s life-giving way of thinking so that we are not lost to our fallen thoughts, so he tells a parable about a farmer who went out to sow seeds. In our Gospel reading, Jesus warns us that hearing his Word without putting it into practice by not applying to our lives or meditating on it, or using it to defend ourselves from persecution, or letting it give us hope, peace and comfort in the face of worry and the deceitfulness of wealth will lead to death. Then, in Matthew 13, he ends with, 23 But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” God’s Word will always accomplish what he desires. Jesus is our confidence that God’s will is good as our sins are forgiven and heaven is ours. Be aware of thinking that you cannot turn to God. Always turn back to him. Seek him now for he is always near you. As a kid we took our favorite stuffed animal with us everywhere. A typical day in the life of a favorite stuffed animal leaves it covered in stains from food, dirt, markers, drool, etc. Multiply this typical day by weeks, months or years and the stuffed animal you love so much will be so dirty that you fear it will be beyond cleaning. As we travel through life collecting stains, scars and shame, we fear that at some point we will be too dirty for God to clean off. In response to the way we think about our sins, God has a different way of thinking. Through Jesus’ death and resurrection, we have forgiveness, so God calls us to turn to the Lord who freely forgives. Amen.

        

Gunnar Ledermann, Pastor Divine Peace Church