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Music from the Mars Hill worship band,
RED LETTER.

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Melodic, Slightly Gothic, Glorifying, Dynamic, and Introspective, Red Letter promotes a sound not found on the shelf at your usual Christian bookstore. Check it out, it is well worthwhile.

Isaiah 57:14 + 62:10

Build up, build up, prepare the road!
Remove the obstacles out of the way of my people.

Pass through, pass through the gates!
Prepare the way for the people.
Build up, build up the highway!
Remove the stones.
Raise a banner for the nations.

How often do we set up obstacles for the unbeliever rather than tear them down? The truth is that sometimes (and I would argue many times) we get so hung up on the things that really don’t matter, we’re blocking the road to Jesus! At our church doors, are we encouraging everyone to enter, or are setting up guards who make sure that everyone’s got their shirts properly pressed and tucked in? Do we look in contempt if they smell like smoke? Does their political beliefs cause us to question them? What sinners we are! “Pass through, pass through the gates!” should be our heartfelt plea!

Even inside the walls we bicker over the most ridiculous things. We tear each other down as if our way is the only right way – so quickly forgetting that Jesus’ way is the only right way; and whatever removes the obstacles for as many people as possible is what we’re commanded to do!

This means we are going to have to contextualize our message for the culture that we live in. This doesn’t mean that we change the truths of the message. We hold our core theology in a closed hand but our methodology in an open hand – open to change and adaptation according to the culture we are in. And don’t think that there is a church out there that doesn’t do this – every church contextualizes, the question is to what culture or year? See, pews weren’t put into the church until the 13th century – before that everyone had to stand. The King James Version of the Bible was recorded in the 17th century according to the language of the time. The list could go on and on. Today there are more TV’s in America than people! To not make use of the technology of today would mean losing our foothold in the culture and would result in the viewing of church as outdated and it’s message inapplicable.

Build up, build up, prepare the road! Don’t block it.

Isaiah 49:6

[The Lord] says:
"It is too small a thing for you to be my servant
to restore the tribes of Jacob
and bring back those of Israel I have kept.
I will also make you a light for the Gentiles,
that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth."

There has never been a time where God questioned what He was going to do with humanity. His plan has never been thwarted, nor has anything ever caused Him to doubt. The Almighty, Sovereign God, who we rebelled against, willed in His heart to save many and call all to His heart.

God is just in everything He does; For the first half of history He decided to use His people, Israel. That God pursued us at all is a statement of His love for us. Just three chapters earlier He makes this promise to Israel, "I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you." (Isaiah 46:4)

But that is not the end of the story; God willed to enter in to human history through His people Israel as the God Man: Jesus Christ. Jesus, born of God through the virgin Mary, lived a righteous and just life; in every way acceptable to the Father God. Then He did what God had planned for thousands of years: He died, crucified on a cross, for our sins. But death could not overtake Him and He rose again on the third day, bringing victory over the powers of sin and death. And here why this is so pertinent to Isaiah chapter 49: Christ died for everyone. Even the Gentiles, who were not the chosen of God through the first half of history. He died that, through the tribes of Jacob and the line of Judah, salvation in Christ Jesus would come to the ends of the earth.

Praise the Lord that He has overcome death and called us to be His sons and daughters for eternity. But it doesn't stop there; just as we can have life through Christ because He used a chosen generation, so we are a chosen generation that God wills to take His message to the ends of the earth. And just as He promised to sustain Israel in Isaiah ch.46, so He promises to sustain us.

Truly, Truly the Lord Loves. Jesus Loves us all.

Secret and Whisper

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Isaiah 38:1-8

In those days Hezekiah bacame ill and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to him and said, "This is what the Lord says: Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not recover."

Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, "Remember, O Lord, how I have walked before you faithfully and whith wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes." And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

Then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah: "Go and tell Hezekiah, 'This is what the Lord, the God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will add fifteen years to your life. And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city.

"'This is the Lord's sign to you that the Lord will do what he has promised: I will make the shadow cast by the sun go back the ten steps it has gone down on the stairway of Ahaz.' " So the sunlight went back the ten steps it had gone down.

Why did God send word through Isaiah to Hezekiah saying, "You are going to die, you will not recover?" If God knows all - past, present, future - then He would have known that this truly was not going to happen.

Hezekiah, upon hearing of his imminent death (from God himself, not just a doctor with a Ph.D), humbled himself and cried out to God - weeping bitterly. God heard his weeping and and prayers and gave him 15 added years of life. That's a great story of healing. I hope that all of us can experience such a powerful sign of healing; but I find it interesting and I have a question:

Was it because of Hezekiah's response that he was healed?

If we answer 'yes' to that question, we must ask ourselves, "What do I need to do in order that God might save me from this?" Or we have the mindset that if I respond in humility and faith, God will show grace to me. But soon we will begin to see that this isn't a simple math equation (more faith + more humility = more blessing) because there are sometimes when healing just doesn't come. And we begin to ask more questions, "Why do some people die even when they respond to illness in humility and faith? Why is God not fair - I thought He loved all of us equally?" If we hold this belief we will start to say that God is not good and loving.

Was it because of Hezekiah's response that he was healed?

No.

I submit to you that God took Hezekiah through this trial for the sake of correcting a view that he held. We have established that Hezekiah rightly went before God and cried out to him in submission, but what specifically did he say? Verse 3, " ' Remember, O Lord, how I have walked before You faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in Your eyes.' " (emphasis mine) Did it take God by suprise that Hezekiah was a faithful servant of His? Had he forgotten what Hezekiah had done for Him? No.

In 2nd Kings 18:5 -7a we read, "Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him. He held fast to the Lord and did not cease to follow Him; he kept the commands the Lord had given to Moses. And the Lord was with him; he was successful in whatever he undertook."

Hezekiah was a good guy. God knew this. He didn't need Hezekiah to remind him of what a good follower he was. Rather than show me that all I need to do is remind God of all the good that I've done for Him to remember to bless me, Hezekiah's prayer shows me the beginnings of something in Hezekiah's heart: pride and self-righteousness. He was beginning to think that God was on his side no matter what; that because he was such a faithful dude, God would bless everything he did. This wasn't right and it was time for some humility in Hezekiah's life.

God humbled Hezekiah. He showed Hezekiah that Hezekiah wasn't in charge. Hezekiah wasn't in a position of leadership. Hezekiah wasn't in control of the outcome - God was. God is in charge. God is in the position of leadership. God is in control of the outcome, and He doesn't need any of us. Hezekiah was not an indispensable asset to God's team. So what did God do?

God let suffering come to Hezekiah.

Now, it was never in God's head that He might actually have to let Hezekiah die. God knew Hezekiah - He knew how he would respond. Hezekiah's healing was not based on his response to suffering but on the fact that God was teaching him humility. Sometimes God will take us through seasons of life that are meant for instruction and correction, and sometimes it won't be a season at all and death will take us from this world. Either way, God will get the glory - not me.

The answer to suffering is not always, and hardly ever (unless the reasons are obvious and self-inflicted) to do something. Yes, if I am now lonely because I burned all my bridges by talking about people behind their backs, I need to go to them and ask for forgiveness. Yes, if I am suffering from an STD there is an obviouse action step: stop having sex outside of marriage! But if I suddenly found out that my husband is cheating on me and wants a divorce - that is not my fault and it is in God's hands, not mine. If I just got back the test results for skin cancer that are positive, there is nothing I need to do to remind God He shouldn't have let this happen to me or to somehow prove my merit to God! If you lose your job while being an honest and hard working employee, recognize that it is God who gave you the job in the first place, and apart from His unconditional blessing there is nothing you can do to earn it back.

This passage is not a reason to remind God of all the good that we do, so that He might remember to not bring suffering to us. The point is to remember who God is, and who we are not. This is the good news of the Gospel: In that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. In that while we are all ill-deserving of God's glory, He chooses to use us in this life for His glory, while others are taken to God's glory a little sooner. Either way, it is a blessing. God is good. And whether or not I live a life of health and wealth or I live a life of pain and suffering, He has counted my name in the everlasting kingdom of God.

Isaiah 28:12-15

[God] said, "This is the resting place, let the weary rest";
and, "This is the place of repose" -
but they would not listen.
So then the word of the Lord to them will become:
Do and do, do and do,
rule on rule, rule on rule;
a little here, a little there -
so that they will go and fall backward,
be injured and snared and captured.
Therefore hear the word of the Lord you scoffers
who rule this people in Jerusalem.
You boast, "We have entered into a covenant with death,
with the grave we have made an agreement...
for we have made a lie our refuge
and falsehood our hiding place.

God hates religion. Religion says "Do and do, do and do, rule on rule," so that we are careful not to fall out of favor with God. It says that in order for God to love me and not exercise his wrath on me, I have to do something for Him; ultimately the measure between me and God comes down to my actions, not God and His heart of Grace, Love, Compassion, and Forgiveness. This is the source of self-righteousness and God hates it.

This text says that this results in oppression of the less 'holy' so that, "they will go and fall backward, be injured and snared and captured." By running to religion instead of God we are entering into a "covenant with death." We use rules, regulations, and religion as a refuge from evil and a hiding place from God's holiness, but He says that it is a lie and a falsehood.

When we understand that there is nothing we can do to deserve God's grace and love, we understand there is nothing we can do to make that grace and love go away. It is not about me; It is all about Jesus.

Isaiah 10:1+2

Woe to those who make unjust laws,
to those who issue oppressive decrees,
to deprive the poor of their rights
and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people,
making widows their prey
and robbing the fatherless.

For years I thought that by sinning less I grew closer to God. Every time I sinned I turned away from Him and was distanced from Him by my own doing.

There is truth in saying that turning to sin distances you from experiencing the goodness of God in everyday life; sin is rotten goodness and consequently has a bitter taste. But I am no farther from God than when I first began. See God reaches down to all of us, despite our total depravity.

The moment I begin to think that I can do anything that will cause God to smile on me more and give me grace, I have undermined the Gospel. It is out of this mindset that we turn to legalism and religion. Any justice administered by an unjust judge is, by nature, injustice.

Out of this comes a heart of evil, opposing love and grace for we begin to become blind to that fact that it is solely because of God's love and grace that He sees us at all. I am humbled by this truth and compelled to worship a God who love's beyond what I deserve. I cannot run from God. I cannot run to Him. He is - despite my struggle and despite my victory - He is.

May God's goodness become fruit in our lives and not a platform from which to oppress the poor and needy.