"The DNA of Authentic Faith
"
Sermon Preached by
The Rev. Jim Cantelon
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Text: Isaiah 11:1-6
The passage that was chosen for this morning's service is one of many passages in Isaiah that deals with the coming King, Israel's future Messiah - sometimes referred to in the Book of Isaiah as a suffering servant. Isaiah, like all other biblical prophets spoke to his generation, he spoke to his social and political contacts, his world. He saw the heavenly spirituality and the demands of heaven on earth through the lens of his own personal, social, and political perspective. Like other prophets he gave words of rebuke, of warning, of correction, and also of hope, and as any true prophet, always ended on a positive note.
One thing that should be made clear when it comes to prophesy in the Old Testament is that it is much more about forth-telling than it is about foretelling. There are future elements to Old Testament prophesy, but generally, Old Testament prophets addressed the current situation - current issues, slippery slopes, downward tendencies, bad habits - that needed to be addressed. They would speak to the leader or leaders of a nation with the hope that it would trickle down to the grassroots.
However, when considering their words from an historical perspective, we often see that they transcended the immediate. Indeed, sometimes they transcended time, especially when they spoke of the “Ideal King,” the Messiah. This passage, Isaiah 11, is one of several of those passages, as I noted a moment ago.
I would like to analyse briefly what we have read for the purposes of this morning's message. First of all, in verses two to five, Isaiah delineates the virtues that God requires in those set apart for leadership, especially the “Ideal King,” the coming Messiah. But anyone who would lead the nation must be someone first of all, of wisdom and understanding. Wisdom and understanding are essential attributes of a judge or a king. Without those qualities a kingdom is in great trouble indeed! Throughout history, there have been kings and queens who have lacked wisdom and understanding, and the decline of their nation reflected their lack.
He also talks about counsel and might: The ability to wisely assess a situation and the power to carry out judgement or justice. Many kings have been unjust, their counsel has been self-absorbed, and they have sought nothing other than their own aggrandisement and to enrich their own treasury. The ideal king is someone of counsel and might, this powerful combination of wisdom, understanding, with the power to make it happen.
Then he talks about knowledge and the fear of the Lord. We were just singing, or hearing sung The Fear of the Lord. A ruler must, himself, be ruled. A ruler must, himself, be accountable. He must have a moral compass, and indeed, the Scripture says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” A ruler must understand that he, too, is ruled, he, too, is accountable and, if he is unchecked here on earth the day will come that he will stand before his maker and give account with a wise ruler, a wise leader, who understands the implications of accountability here in space and time.
An old theologian by the name of G. D. Kirkpatrick once wrote:
It is significant that the princely figures, the statesmen and judges who have been accounted great by men, have all approximated in some measure to Isaiah's conception of the ideal ruler. If the electorate of the nations would demand that those who seek office have intellectual power, moral force with practical sagacity and religious faith, we should be better governed.
Absolutely true! You only have to look around our world today to see a world with nation upon nation in deep, deep distress, because of leadership that has no compass.
It is verses three to five that interest me for this morning's purposes, because it is in them that Isaiah talks about how the ideal king, the coming Messiah, rules. Interestingly, he says, “He will not judge by what his eyes see or decide by what his ears hear.” He is talking about appearances, first of all. He doesn't judge by what he sees. The fact is that for most of us, we do exactly the opposite, we do judge by what we see.
The Scripture says, “Man looks on the outward appearance” and we do. When we look at someone, we see them in a certain condition or a certain setting or a certain dysfunction or difficulties, and on the basis of what we see, we make judgements and we wisely and sagaciously comment to those among us about how obviously this person has made this decision and this decision and this decision on a downward spiral. We are so wise in our judgements on the basis of what we see!
Isaiah says, “You may look on the outward appearance, but the ideal king, the Messiah, looks at the heart.” And it is true. We have all had the experience. We finally have some time with someone upon whom we had already made judgements. I think of the many guests who have come through our studios over the years on my Eye to Eye program, and I have had some very outstanding and controversial Canadians, as you know. We all make certain assessments, certain judgements in terms about how they present on television and/or through their books. It is another thing to sit down in the green room, as I have time and time again, one hour before the interview and just get to know this person a bit. I have been astonished and rebuked in my own spirit at how wrong I have been, as I have judged on the basis of what appears to be the case.
“He doesn't judge by appearances, nor does he decide by what his ears hear.” It is astonishing how much veracity we give to reports we hear of someone through someone we know, and we nod, and we go “Ah-ha, yeah, we saw that too - yada, yada, yada!” On the basis of something we hear, we decide. The ideal king doesn't do this. He is not victim to hearsay, or to put it less delicately, gossip. These days, with the Internet and all the social networking that is available: Facebook and chat rooms and MySpace and what have you, we have lots of opportunity for gossip, the like of which mankind has not seen in history. Gossip is gossip, friends; hearsay is hearsay.
It is a wise leader, let alone individual, who sees beyond appearances and beyond hearing. What is fascinating, friends, is that this ideal king rules with a world view characterized by what I call the DNA of authentic faith: “With righteousness he will judge the poor.”
Now, Reverend McMaster mentioned a moment ago his lecture on the Dead Sea Scrolls. Some of you may have seen my interview a few weeks ago with Peter Flint of 100 Huntley Street, which is one of the foremost world scholars on The Dead Sea Scrolls. He put me on to a new Bible that has come out that is basically a word-for-word translation of The Dead Sea Scrolls. I am not very good in Hebrew, but with this, and my little knowledge of Hebrew, I have been able to find stuff in the Scripture I have never found before, and this is a case in point.
We read here in the New Revised Standard Version, “With righteousness, he shall judge the poor.” In The Dead Sea Scrolls it reads: “With righteousness, he will obtain justice for the poor.” In verse five, “Righteousness is a belt around his waist” and then, “Faithfulness a belt around his loins.” Now, I could literally take weeks in a series of sermons dealing with what I have identified as the DNA of authentic faith, but these three, to me, are the foundational elements in authentic faith: righteousness, justice and faithfulness.
A young lawyer came to Jesus on one occasion. You can read about it in Mark 12, Luke 10, and also Matthew 22. This young lawyer, very impressed with Jesus, gets him alone somehow, somewhere, and basically asks him, “What is the bottom line? What is it that God expects of me?”
Jesus' response is profound. First of all he says, Shema' Yisraél, Adonai 'Elohénu, Adonai 'ehad …. Now, I am a Pentecostal, but that is not tongues! That's Hebrew.
In Israel today, in Toronto today, any and every synagogue that has opened its mouth has done so with what is known as the Shema'. Shema' Yisraél, (Hear O Israel). Adonai 'Elohénu (The Lord our God), Adonai 'ehad (“the Lord is One.”) It is the great confession of the Jewish faith. Jesus, wholly and totally Jewish, expressed that as the prime requisite of anyone who would approach the Lord. In a polytheistic world, in a polytheistic culture, this was light to the Gentiles. But then he adds to it, “And you shall love the Lord, your God, with heart, soul, mind and strength, a second is like unto you shall love your neighbour as yourself. All the known prophets are there, no commandment is greater than these, do this and you will live.” This is Jesus, the Son of God, talking, not Cantelon, the preacher.
The bottom line of God's expectation of us all is righteousness, justice and faithfulness in the pursuit of both. You will discover in the Scripture that there is no talk about piety, there is no talk about church services, there is no talk about hymn singing, there is no talk about church programming, as valuable and important and as significant as all of the above may be. There is very little talk of religion. The Scripture is so focussed on righteousness, justice and faithfulness.
As you see in the bio, Kathy and I were invited by the Israeli Government back in 1981 found a church in Jerusalem, which we did. By God's grace, it continues to be the largest church in Israel to this day. We just had the 25th anniversary last January - a terrific event! While in Israel, I was exposed to so many “end time” scenario weirdoes and spiritual flakes that if I had not been strong in my faith, I might have been thrown off course. They come over to Israel with a sort of glazed look in their eyes and wildness in their faces, looking to fulfil their interpretation of the end of days.
They would come to me because I pastored the biggest church in the country and they thought that somehow if they could get my endorsement, then all would be well with them. They used to call me “The Bishop of Jerusalem,” which I wasn't, and never will be. I am not a bishop. I don't want to be a bishop. I don't look like a bishop. It is enough for me to stand before you in a clerical collar, something by the way which makes me unique, for it is the first time in 10 years, since I have worn a collar. I am rather enjoying it, frankly. People treat me with more respect!
Psalm 89, verse 14, says, “Righteousness and justice are the foundation of thy throne, O God.” How strong is that? Righteousness and justice are foundational to the very throne of God. Isaiah, in another passage says, “I will make justice the measuring line, righteousness the plumb line.” Anything and everything that God constructs physically or spiritually he does through this lens, the discipline of righteousness and justice.
None of us can sit here with any comfort at all if we believe for a minute that the men and women who designed and built this beautiful edifice decades ago didn't understand proper plumb and proper measurements. Just the slightest degree of variance, and over time, gravity wins, the building collapses and we die. The critical DNA elements to sustainability are righteousness and justice.
The psalmist says the Lord executes righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed. As you read the Old Testament especially, you see again and again and again, Israel's lack of righteousness and justice. It is really a constant theme in Scriptures. It all began with the very first account in Genesis: Adam and Eve hid from God, which essentially is symptomatic of unrighteousness; Cain killed Abel, injustice. Because righteousness is a low view of God, injustice is a low view of neighbour so to the extent that my view of God is low, to the extent that I see God as there to serve me, to the extent that I feel somehow through my spiritual vitality I carry God around in my back pocket and he serves me at will, I am unrighteous. To the extent that I see my neighbour as less than myself because of socio-economic situations, or because of the dysfunctions that have plagued him or her all of her life, I feel myself somehow superior to them and any trouble they have has come because in some way they have deserved this, I am guilty of injustice, because it means I have a low view of my neighbour.
The fact is that for most church people the discussion of righteousness is old hat. We are pretty well versed, we are pretty well catechized, we have gone through the catechisms, and we understand heaven's demands, so we think. But, it is often on the level of justice that we become less than capable.
I am a Pentecostal preacher's kid. My family have been preachers since 1913 in an unbroken, uninterrupted line of preachers. That is the problem with us Cantelons, you can't interrupt us! I cut my teeth on a Pentecostal church pew. In fact, I have a permanent dent in my head from sleeping while my father preached. My whole life has been the Church. But, I recall sometimes people in the Pentecostal context, back when I was a kid, speaking about the mainline denominations, of which you are one, and basically saying, “We'll let them do social justice.” The implication being that was all they were good for! We Pentecostals, we Baptists, you know, we Evangelical Protestants, we'll get people saved, hallelujah! That is the important thing!
As if it is either-or, friends, it has never been either-or! It has always been both righteousness and justice. If you say you love God and don't love your neighbour, the truth is not in you, euphemistically in the Greek, you are a liar! How can you say you love a God you have never seen, if you do not love your neighbour, who you do see? Doesn't matter how theologically articulate you may be; the treatment of your neighbour is the Litmus test of the authenticity of your faith.
The issue for a lot of us has been: where does justice begin? Where does it start? Long before the Apostle John in the Book of Revelation described God in his holy habitation seated on a throne, surrounded by the elders casting their crowns before him and myriad of angels crying, “Holy, holy, holy” long before then, King David, in Psalm 68, verse five, said this: “A