Joyfully Working Righteousness Isaiah 64:1-9
Grace, mercy, and peace âŚ
For our first sermon of the Church Year weâre going to work our way through todayâs Old Testament reading. Our theme is âJoyfully Working Righteousnessâ. Itâs taken from verse 5, You meet him who joyfully works righteousness.
The New Living Translation puts it this way: You welcome those who gladly do good, who follow godly ways.
When someone asks you to do something, your boss, or your mother or father, or a friend, you might do it reluctantly, or gladly.
If you do it gladly, then you put your heart in it, and youâre more likely to do your best. If you do it reluctantly, then youâre not as likely to try hard or care about the job you do.
God calls us to care about working righteousness in the world; to do our best to do good. To help us with that, the Holy Spirit gives us joy in doing whatâs right.
In our Old Testament, Isaiah shows how he yearns for whatâs good and righteous in a corrupt and fallen world.
This was written about 700 B.C. By this time the Assyrian Army had overrun both Israel and Judah, and laid siege to their holy city, Jerusalem.
As Isaiah witnessed all the death and destruction, he lifted his voice to heaven in an anguished prayer: Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence.
Come down from heaven, O Lord; tear open the sky; shake the mountains and appear in all your righteousness; put an end to all this suffering; stop all the evil doers who cause it.
⌠as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boilâto make your name known to your adversaries, that the nations might tremble at your presence!
What a stir it will cause all around the world when God finally reveals himself for all to see.
Things sometimes happen that shake this world. Hitler and his crusade of evil shook the whole world at the time.
Nothing will shake the world as it will be shaken when Jesus comes again. Never before will there have been so much excitement; so much exuberance for some, and so much terror for others.
Psalm 99: 1 says, The LORD reigns, let the nations tremble; He is enthroned above the cherubim, let the earth shake!
Jeremiah 5:22 says, 'Do you not fear Me?' declares the LORD. 'Do you not tremble in My presence?
Even those who doubt or deny God now, wonât be able to ignore him when he stops the earth, opens the heavens, and appears with his angels. Then those who spurn or dismiss him now, will shake with fear, and weep with regret.
But God wants us to rejoice when he opens the heavens and comes again. So he calls us to repent, and gives us the power to believe, that we need not tremble in His holy presence.
3Â When you did awesome things that we did not look for, you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence.
At the time of Moses, the presence of God came down in a cloud and fire, covering and shaking the mountain in Sinai.
The people were afraid, as we would be, too. How amazed they must have been when Moses walked up the exploding mountain into the cloud. There he received the law of God, and brought it down to the people so they could gladly follow it.
To this very day we have the same commandments for us to gladly follow. God helps us to love Him, so that we can obey His commandments with joy; that we gladly do good; joyfully work righteousness, as our Old Testament says.
 4 From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for him.
God takes action on behalf of those who look to Him for help; who trust in Him. He intervenes on our behalf.
God intervened for us by sending His Son to save us from sin and certain death.
He also personally intervenes by sending us the Holy Spirit, who gives us the power to believe, and the desire to do good in this world.
5Â You meet him who joyfully works righteousness, those who remember you in your ways.
Or again as the NLT puts it, You welcome those who gladly do good, who follow godly ways.
This morning we saw God personally intervene on Braydenâs behalf. God has placed his name on Brayden, and has gladly welcomed Brayden into His family.
Brayden Alan Baumann is now a child of God; under His personal care; given a share of His glorious inheritance, which far outlasts and superceeds any earthly inheritance.
God has given Brayden His own Spirit to live in his heart, and to help him grow in godly love and knowledge.
In Baptism Godâs Spirit joyfully meets ours, and purifies our hearts. As we sing in the hymn, Lord of Glory You Have Bought Us, the Holy Spirit helps to take away the love of sinning; helps us to joyfully work righteousness and gladly do good.
God welcomes us to rejoice every time we overcome any temptation to do wrong or to be selfish or worldly. He wants us to feel good, but not be proud or vain, every time we have to the courage to say no to the invitation to join in the fun, when that fun dishonors God, or is at the expense of other people. Â When we love and partake in whatâs good in the world, Godâs Spirit rejoices in us; God meets us with joy.
Still the sin in us always tries to take away the joy of honoring God and doing good.
Verse 6 says, Behold, you were angry, and we sinned⌠we have all become like one who is unclean.
But 1 John 1:7 tells us, If we walk in the light, the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all unrighteousness.
And so we live and rejoice according to the Psalm, Create in Me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit in me; that I might joyfully work righteousness in all the situations and circumstances of my life; that I may gladly do good in this world that needs it so badly.
Verse 8, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.
A lump of clay canât shape itself into anything useful or beautiful; but a potter can.
The Holy Spirit has started to shape little Brayden, and is shaping Braydenâs big sister, Addalyn, and is shaping all Godâs faithful, baptized children of all ages, into something beautiful in His eyes, beautiful with righteousness and love, made for joy and salvation.
Thereâs a commercial that promises, âYouâre in good hands with All Stateâ.
Even more so, the Gospel promises, âYouâre in good hands, when God is your Fatherâ.
O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.
May God continue to shape your heart and your spirit to joyfully work righteousness; to love one another deeply, as He deeply loves you; and to gladly do good in this world that needs it so badly.
For someday soon He will shake the world; He will tear open the sky and reveal Himself, and bring His children home at last.
Until then, as He shapes your life for goodness and love, may His peace which passes understanding, guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus. Amen.