"What Does the Future Hold?"
Sermon Presented December 2, 2007
First Sunday of Advent - Year A
Isaiah 2:1-5
What does the future hold for you? As you get older, do you find limitations to your activities that you don't want to face? Are your dreams limited by physical or economic factors? Are you optimistic about your future or are the prospects frightening? What does the future hold for this congregation? What does the future hold for the city of Milwaukee with its rising rate of poverty and crime, or for our nation with its wars and uncertain economy? What does the future hold for Israel and the Middle East - locked in the throes of war and hatred? What does the future hold for the world as the proliferation of nuclear weapons continues and the gap between the haves and have-nots widens?
As we begin this season of Advent, we aren't just beginning a religious warm-up for Christmas, we are looking to God to provide us with the where-with-all to flourish. And in order to flourish, we need hope. Our text this morning leads us to God as the source of instruction - as the source of peace - as the source of our hope. I'm reading from the prophet Isaiah 2:1-5.
Isaiah speaks to the people of Judah - to the inhabitants of its capitol Jerusalem, and he speaks of a future of peace when nations will follow God and allow God to arbitrate their differences. He speaks of a time when God's people will learn God's ways and walk in those ways by turning weapons of war into agricultural tools. Wait a minute! The prophet is speaking of a geographic area where there has never been peace! He offers words of hope for God's direction toward peace that eluded them then and eludes them now! How can these words guide us or even inspire us? The words are great and hopeful, but what can we do with them today? How can they inspire new hope in us?
A vision of God's future should inspire God's people to live godly lives in the present, just as the advent of Jesus should have brought permanent peace and justice to the world. But we are humans who learn everything the hard way, and even though we claim to be followers of Jesus, we shirk our responsibilities when it comes to peace and justice issues. Lives lived in God's future are lived with hope and not fear - with grace and not judgment. Living with hope and living in the grace of God bring light and life - not only to us, but to those whose lives we touch. How can this be accomplished?
Let's look at the text more carefully. It's one of the shortest texts in the lectionary series - only five verses. Here God says that at some future time, many people will stream to God's house - to the place where God's people believe God dwells. They will make the journey so they can learn God's ways and walk in God's paths. They will come for instruction and for inspiration. They will trust God to arbitrate their conflicts. When people allow God to instruct, judge and arbitrate, they will change to become those who seek peace and not war. And when individuals change, nations change. The text ends with a plea for God's people to walk in the light of God! Here lies the secret to a godly life.
Few people choose this kind of life! There is a divide between what we are called to do and what we do! For this reason, peace and justice are elusive. We want to live in a world where peace and justice reign, but we fail to walk in the light of God.
These words from the prophet are familiar. They impressed the architects of the United Nations building so much that they are chiseled on the walls of the UN Plaza in New York City. "They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more." We long for that elusive peace, even though reality gives a daily barrage of IUD's, suicide bombers, children killing children, and other acts of violence and abuse. We desire arbitration and negotiations that will bring peace. We celebrate the re-opening of negotiations for peace in the Middle East, but we aren't optimistic. We hope for peace, but our hope is only a dim flicker. How can we make the future brighter?
First, let me suggest that we make bite-sized efforts to bring peace. Our hope lies in doing something! When we walk in the light of the Lord, we can receive a vision of something we can do. Sometimes we have the erroneous idea that there is only one way to achieve God's ideal for the future and it takes a great leader to accomplish it. But God through Isaiah indicates that there is more than one way and more than one path to peace and wholeness. Those who look to God for direction need to realize that God has multiple ways and multiple paths to bring people to God's light. I may not choose the same path as you or as my neighbor chooses, but if I truly seek God's ways, then I will discover ways to bring peace and justice to my world.
In this passage, Isaiah speaks of God as both judge and arbitrator. The field of arbitration is recognized as an important tool to bring peaceful resolution to conflict. Les spends a great deal of time negotiating for the musicians with the Symphony management. Teachers negotiate salary contracts and working conditions with the school board and often arbitrators are employed. When I was in Kansas City recently, I spoke with a friend of Gary's who is using arbitration to dissolve his marriage. The United Nations serves as an avenue for nations to arbitrate their differences with one another if they choose to use this resource. If God serves as arbitrator, there will be peace and justice, but people must choose to live in the light of God.
Why don't people seek arbitration? Why don't we seek God's guidance in our disputes? The primary reason is that we want to maintain a position of power over our enemies - over our spouse - over our neighborhood - over our children - over our government or other nations. We don't want to relinquish power when we don't know what an arbitrator will decide. We want to win - not compromise. With this attitude, it's impossible to have peace.
Even Christians - who should understand the ways of God - put our own desires ahead of God's offered path. The prophet says that when God illuminates the way and people follow in that way, there will be peace. He doesn't break this down, but the peace offered is internal as well as external. When our path is lighted, the journey is less stressful.
How do we know God's ways? How can we find God's paths for us? How can we discover a future that holds peace and wisdom instead of strife and a corrupted message?
The prophet suggests that the path to enlightenment begins with worship and instruction - both of which are available in God's presence - in God's house. He doesn't suggest that we get our instruction from a multi-millionaire televangelist or teacher. If a person is making exorbitant amounts of money from preaching and teaching, then that person is suspect to me. Jesus didn't preach a prosperity gospel, but the instruction Jesus gave was to love and serve one another. Weigh the messenger and the message you hear preached against the total message of the scriptures - not just a small portion taken out of context. Pray - pouring forth your thanksgivings and requests to God. Meditate on the Scripture and ask God for illumination. When we do these acts of discipleship, we will find the path we are to follow.
We want peace in our own lives and in our relationships. We want peace on the streets of Milwaukee and we hope that our new police chief will be able to bring a rapid decrease in the number of murders and other incidents of violence. We desire peace in the Middle East and we hope that the new negotiations for peace will be successful. We want an end to the war in Iraq and we hope that this will become reality in the near future. Our text offers hope at the end of a judgment statement. It moves from Jerusalem as a burned out city to Jerusalem as a destination for the nations because God will lead nations to dismantle their war machines and shape them into instruments of peace. This oracle is for all of the nations. Gentiles will come to the mountain of the Lord along with the Jews. Everyone - all peoples - are to live by the word of the Lord. The motivation for the trip to Zion isn't "feel-good" worship, but to learn God's ways.
It is tempting to write off this prophetic statement as idealistic, unrealistic, or as applying to an era outside of history. It's unrealistic to expect peace among all nations. It's unrealistic to expect it in our own lives. However, this passage brings us the power of expectation and that expectation brings hope. We won't find peace unless we can imagine it; unless we believe and articulate the vision that God has a better way and will help us to find it.
We go to God's house to worship and to learn God's ways so we can walk in God's paths. This text doesn't point to learning theology - even though we need to try to understand what we believe and why. We seek God's presence and instruction so that our lives will change - so that the world will change.
Thankfully, God doesn't expect the same thing from us at each juncture of our lives. Our physical abilities change as we age, and so does our income. However, we understand that some things don't change, and the unchangeable element is God's desire for peace and justice - to be attained through God's people.
What does the future hold? Let's keep God's vision for peace and justice before us, and then let's look for opportunities to achieve what seems unachievable. It's important to act on the insight God gives us rather than to believe an issue is hopeless and do nothing.
What does the future hold? Well, that depends on whether or not we walk in the light of God. On this first Sunday of Advent, let's choose the path God opens to us. Let's hope for a brighter future where peace and justice reign.
