Our Beliefs : Sermons : Sermon Archive - 2007 : December 16, 2007

Theme: Be Aware: View Life from the Highway to Heaven

Church year occasion: Advent 3

Tell me if you can guess who I'm thinking of: "He was a tight-fisted hand at the grind-stone, a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner! The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, shriveled his cheek, stiffened his gait; made his eyes red, his thin lips blue and spoke out shrewdly in his grating voice. He carried his own low temperature always about with him; he iced his office; and didn't thaw it one degree at Christmas." He lived in London. On Christmas Eve he sat busy in his counting-house. His nephew was named Fred. His business partner was named Jacob. His one employee was a clerk named Bob who had a son named Tim, who was rather small. Like Madonna or Cher, he is usually known by only one name. He had no reason to celebrate Christmas -- in fact, he would usually dismiss it with a "Bah! Humbug!" Of course most of you have figured out that I'm talking about Scrooge.

In Charles Dickens' story A Christmas Carol, Ebenezer Scrooge loved money more than people. It took a visit from his old partner Jacob Marley and three other spirits for him to finally see the error of his ways, help others with his money instead of hoarding it for himself, and especially to see his life from a completely different perspective. In fact, he was transformed from saying, "Bah! Humbug!" to Christmas into living a truly happy, joyous, generous life.

With the pressures and busyness of this world, it is very easy for Christians to say, "Bah! Humbug!" to Christmas and its true meaning of God becoming flesh to be our Savior. So, like the spirits of Christmas past present and future, Isaiah takes us on a journey to remind us of the joy we have in Christ. This is a life-changing journey as we view life from the highway to heaven.

As Isaiah takes us on this journey on this highway to heaven, the first thing he wants us to see is the land through which we are travelling. Usually when you go on a trip, say, to the Rocky Mountains, you have a pretty good idea of what you can expect to see on that trip. As much as you know what the mountains look like already, they still grab your attention and take your breath away when you see them again.

But that is nothing compared to the description of the land Isaiah takes us through, especially because we see beautiful things we didn't expect to find. Isaiah's says: "The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy." At this time, the army of Assyria was devastating the land. After that army passed through, it looked as blasted as a desert. It left only death and pain. But that dead desert would be turned into paradise --with the result that the very desert itself will shout for joy. Even flowers like the beautiful crocus, which shouldn't be found in a desert, are there in full bloom. We expect to see sun- and wind-blasted sand in a desert, but instead we see mountainsides covered with trees and rich and fertile land, like Lebanon and Carmel and Sharon, which were places known for their beauty in Isaiah's day. Later the desert is said not to just trickle with water to give all this life, which would be amazing in itself in a desert, but Isaiah says that the desert will gush water and "the burning sand will become a pool, the thirsty ground bubbling springs."

It's obvious that Isaiah isn't just talking about deserts and water -- he is speaking about the spiritual condition of this world. Everyone by nature is a desert of sinfulness. Scientists will tell you that even though there may not seem to be life in a desert, that there is life all over, just not very visible to the untrained eye. But when we are speaking of our spiritual condition, there is no life at all, not even a little spark. Everyone in this world was born dead in sin, as Paul says. Man had no hope of salvation. It would take an act of God to change it. We see that in the next verses as we shift our view from the land we are travelling through to the people who inhabit that land.

Isaiah describes God's people as having "feeble hands, unsteady knees and fearful hearts." That's understandable because the army of Assyria had already destroyed the Northern Ten Tribes of Israel and was now destroying everything in path on its way to Jerusalem, the capital of the southern kingdom of Judah. In such a desperate situation, some wanted to turn to the Egyptians for help. But the faithful king Hezekiah knew better. He turned to the Lord, the God of Israel. This was Isaiah's message: "Say to those with fearful hearts, 'Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you.' " God saw his people's desperate situation and said he would come to save them. He would come to destroy their enemies. God did that in one fell swoop when he destroyed the Assyrian army as it besieged Jerusalem -- all 185,000 men destroyed in one night!

But that was just a picture of the greater salvation that was to come. God would save them and all people from their desperate spiritual condition of being besieged and enslaved by the devil and their own sins. He would do that by sending his own Son into this world. Isaiah described that time to come: "Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy." Jesus quoted this verse to convince John the Baptist that he was the Christ. Because Jesus had a different perspective of this life, he reached out to those who suffer in this life.

But he did even more -- he gave spiritual sight to those who were blind in sin. He opened the ears of sinners by telling them the message of the gospel. Imagine the joy of those physically blind folks who were given sight or those who could never hear who could all at once rejoice in being able to hear. Now think how much greater our rejoicing is because we have been brought to faith in our Savior Jesus, which is the only hope anyone has of going to heaven when they leave this earth.

But why do we as Christians often not feel that joy? Why don't we have as much fun and rejoicing serving God and living in our salvation as Isaiah pictures? One reason -- we haven't done enough looking at our salvation to rejoice in it. We haven't meditated on God's Word and realized how desperate our situation was. We haven't seen how ugly with sin we were before God. If we don't do that, no, we won't jump up and down for joy in our salvation. We haven't agonized enough over what we deserve -- hellfire forever.

Only when we see how unable we are to save ourselves and how utterly we have failed God, only then will we rejoice in the salvation God has wrought for us by sending his Son.

Jesus called himself the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Christ came into our desert and showed us the only way to heaven. A highway built by Jesus himself. That is the same highway we view life from today. Isaiah calls it "the Way of Holiness." It is called that because only Jesus himself could have walked that road that leads to eternal life. He did it by living a holy life. For Jesus that road would have ended in eternal life. He had earned it. But Jesus wasn't content to simply live perfectly and go to heaven himself. Instead, he willingly jumped off that road and gave up his life on the cross where he suffered for the sins of the world. By giving up his life for every sinner, he gave every single sinner the invitation to come up on that highway to heaven. There is no toll for us to pay. Instead, Jesus paid our way by paying the ultimate price -- his own perfect life. Now he simply invites everyone to believe it. Jesus said, "Whoever believes in me has eternal life." Those who believe find themselves placed on this highway to heaven. Isaiah calls them "the redeemed" and "the ransomed of the Lord." They were bought back from sin and hell by Jesus. Although that applies to everyone in the world, only those who believe it will actually be on that road to heaven. That includes you and me. Isaiah also talks about those who won't be on that highway. "The unclean will not journey on it." Those who reject Christ will not be on that road. "No lion will be there, nor will any ferocious beast get up on it; they will not be found there." No enemy of the Christian could ever be on that road, nor could they ever pull us off that road. We live in the strength of the Lord as we travel on it until we reach our final destination -- heaven.

That is the last thing Isaiah wants us to view from the highway to heaven -- heaven itself. He calls it Zion. He says, "[The redeemed] will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away." With our goal of heaven before us, our life will always involve rejoicing. Even when times are difficult, even if everyone and everything else fails in this life, we know our God has rescued us and given us heaven.

What is your view of life? Do you see it as a desert or an oasis because of Christ? Do you live in fear and unsteadiness, or with the strength God gives in his Word? Do you live as a blind man groping around in the dark, or do you live as someone who used to be blind but who now can see everything God has done for you in Christ Jesus? If you aren't overjoyed in your view of life, then you haven't taken a good look from the highway to heaven. When you do, life becomes joyous. You start looking for ways to serve others instead of yourself, and serve God above everything.

A seminary professor once conducted an experiment. One day in class he gave 15 of his students an envelope with instructions in it. Five were told to go across campus quickly to reach their destination. They had no time to dally, and if late they would be docked in their grade. Five others were told to get there in 45 minutes. They had plenty of time, but they couldn't be too slow. The final five had three hours to make it across campus, so they had plenty of time. Unbeknownst to any of these students, the professor had arranged for some drama majors at Princeton University to be situated alongside the path they had to take, simulating great human needfulness. One was sitting with his head in his hands, crying and wailing in a way one couldn't ignore. Another was lying face down, as if he had had some kind of seizure and was unconscious. And others needed help as well. All 15 students had to make their way past these obviously needy persons. Do you think any of them stopped?

None of "15-minute group" stopped to see what they could do, although all five of them aspired to be Christian ministers. Two of "45-minute group" stopped to try to help. All five of "3-hour group" stopped to help.

The story of Ebenezer Scrooge is truly is a great tale. He had been only concerned about making money -- the sooner the better. He had no time to stop and help others; in fact, he often despised others. But he was transformed by his experience with the spirits of Christmas. He no longer lived for himself but for others because he saw the importance of doing something with his life.

Your life has also been transformed because you rejoice in what Christmas is all about. Jesus did something with this life -- he gave it up for you to pull you onto the highway to heaven. As you travel that highway, rejoice in your salvation, look to serve others with your life as Jesus served you. And think of how many others you know who could join you on that road if you only tell them about it. Amen.