"Encouragement For Christians

Who Are Discouraged"

Sermon on Isaiah 40:25-31

Weekend of May 3, 1998

Saint Mark's, Watertown

Pastor Karl Walther

The book of Revelation has the angels saying: Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!

The Word of the Lord for our special consideration this morning is Isaiah chapter forty, verses twenty-five through thirty-one. There the Lord assures his followers that he has strength and that he gives strength to them:

"To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?" says the Holy One. Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.

Why do you say, O Jacob, and complain, O Israel, "My way is hidden from the LORD; my cause is disregarded by my God"?

Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.

He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

This is the word of the Lord.

Introduction: Christian Discouragement and Weariness

Dear fellow Christians-- whose God has strength, and whose God gives strength:

° Do you ever suffer Christian discouragement?

Now, I know you suffer discouragement, plain old discouragement; everybody does. We get discouraged about a job we can't finish. Or we get discouraged about a relationship that's gone sour.

But do you ever suffer Christian discouragement?

Christian discouragement occurs when condemned sinners who now trust in Jesus ... love Jesus, and they look to serve Jesus, and they invest their heart and soul in that love and service-- and ... it seems like it makes no difference at all.

That's Christian discouragement. And I'm guessing you've suffered it.

° And my friend, do you ever suffer Christian weariness?

Again, I know you suffer weariness, plain old weariness; everybody does. We get tired from lots of work. Or we get tired from trying to please others.

But do you ever suffer Christian weariness?

You see, Christian weariness occurs when condemned sinners who now trust in Jesus ... love Jesus, and they look to serve Jesus, and they invest their time and energy in that love and service-- and ... it seems like all of that makes very little difference in the mindset of our culture or in the lives of others.

That's Christian weariness. And again, I'm guessing you've suffered it.

Theme: Encouragement For Christians Who Are Discouraged

Christian discouragement, Christian weariness-- they're tough things. How do you cope with them? Well, though Christian discouragement and weariness are tough things, they're not new things. And by considering how God's people in the past coped with them, no doubt we can learn how to cope with Christian discouragement and weariness ourselves.

In today's Word of the Lord to us, God provides: ENCOURAGEMENT FOR CHRISTIANS WHO ARE DISCOURAGED. This "Encouragement For Christians Who Are Discouraged" lies, finally, in two facts: that our GOD HAS STRENGTH, and that our GOD GIVES STRENGTH to us.

Part #1: Israel Suffered Discouragement

Now in today's text, God speaks his Word to us once again through Isaiah. Isaiah lived and prophesied late in the eighth century before Christ. Those were days in which God's people lived in two kingdoms in the inherited land of Canaan. There were the northern ten tribes of Israel, and there was the southern tribe of Judah.

Now in those days, the northern ten tribes of Israel already had a long history of idolatry. At first they merely, sinfully made idols to represent the true Lord. Afterwards, they very entirely rejected the Lord in favor of filthy fertility gods: the Baals. And since that time, they had never really turned back to the true Lord.

Nevertheless, there were still followers of the true Lord in the Northern Kingdom. They were the likes of Elijah and Elisha who had earlier battled the Baals. But these followers of the true Lord were discouraged and weary. Despite their testimony, their nation didn't experience a change of heart. And now the Lord was looking to exile the Northern Kingdom five hundred miles away in Assyria-- to be dispersed, and never to be heard from again.

And then there was the Southern tribe of Judah. Although it had some good kings, it had more bad ones. One of the bad kings who ruled at the time of Isaiah was a fellow named Ahaz. Of his reign we read: Ahaz made cast idols for worshiping the Baals. ...He sacrificed his sons in the fire, following the detestable ways of the nations the Lord had driven out before the Israelites. ...Ahaz gathered together the furnishings from the temple of God and took them away. He shut the doors of the Lord's temple and set up altars at every street corner in Jerusalem. In every town in Judah he built high places to burn sacrifices to other gods and provoked the Lord, the God of his fathers, to anger.

Now once again, there were still followers of the true Lord in the Southern Kingdom. Isaiah himself, whom God caused so clearly to see the birth, the life, the death, the resurrection of our Savior -- Isaiah himself was living and prophesying. But such followers of the true Lord were getting discouraged and weary. Despite their testimony, things just kept getting worse and worse.

And so in God's Word to us today, Isaiah has God's faithful followers saying: "My way is hidden from the Lord; my cause is disregarded by my God." It's as if to say, "The Lord is ignoring the righteous path in which I am following him."

Application #1: We Suffer Discouragement

"My way is hidden from the Lord; my cause is disregarded by my God." Doesn't it seem that it's that way for you, too, sometimes? Let me give you some examples....

° You've worked hard all your life. You've spent an entire career, faithfully laboring. And you've done it to serve your Savior. ...Yet, you've grown weak. You've grown sick. You know sometime all too soon, you will die. (That's Christian weariness.)

° Or you're a faithful laborer now. Every day you get up early. Every day you work pretty late. You scrimp and you save. And you do it to serve your Savior. ...Still, you don't seem to have as much money to spend as your neighbor-- who does none of this. (That's Christian discouragement.)

° Or you diligently study. Every morning you drag yourself out of bed for school. Every day you pay attention in class. Every evening you do lots of homework. And you do it to serve your Savior. ...Yet, your grades aren't perfect at all. Or your grades are pretty good, but you face ridicule for that. (That's Christian weariness.)

° Or you've been faithful in your relationships. You've been a faithful friend. You've been a faithful spouse. You've been a faithful parent. And you've done it to serve your Savior. ...Still, you've lost your friend. Or you've lost your spouse-- maybe even to divorce. Or you've lost your child-- maybe he's even lost to Christ. (That's Christian discouragement.)

And worst of all, you know -- and I know! -- that really, we deserve this discouragement: for all those times we've discouraged our God through our transgressions. We know we deserve this weariness: for all those times we've wearied God with our sins.

Part #2: God's Strength Encouraged Israel

Well, to the discouragement and weariness of his people, past and present, God responds. He said to Isaiah and to Israel (and here's God's Word to us today):

"To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?" says the Holy One. The Lord is drawing the eyes of his people off their idols-- and off their idolatrous desire that the Lord make their life so much easier. And the Lord is urging that their eyes squarely meet his.

Lift your eyes and look to the heavens, he says. Those six thousand stars that the average eye sees, those one hundred billion other stars in our galaxy, all those other hundreds of billions of stars in all those thousands upon thousands of other galaxies -- each star of which is powerful enough to burn us like our star does on a springtime day, and some stars of which are so sizable they'd swallow us at the distance of our sun -- look at all those stars!

And then ask yourself: Who created all these? The answer is: He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing. You see, not only did our God make all those stars, but his great power and his mighty strength sustain them every second. He even knows each one by name!

And the Lord makes the application: Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. So: He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He has an unending supply of energy, to take away weariness. He has an unending supply of encouragement, to take away discouragement.

And guess what! It says right here: our Savior shares that with those who trust in him! He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. That's God's own promise!

And then he underlines that with a contrast. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall. And friends, I'll vouch for all of that! But those who hope in the LORD -- literally, those who eagerly expect him -- will renew their strength.

How much is that so? God says: They will soar on wings like eagles. The way an eagle, three feet in height and much more in wingspan..., the way an eagle, acute in eyesight and having those powerful human-sized hands..., the way an eagle, cruising at a hundred twenty-five miles an hour and soaring hundreds of feet over mountains already tens of thousands of feet in height...-- the way a powerful, energetic eagle operates: that's the way God's people will operate.

The Lord concludes: They will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

Application #2: God's Strength Encourages Us

Fellow Christian: there you have it! God, who is stronger than all the stars, will energize you like an eagle! Let's return to our earlier examples....

• You-- you who have worked hard all your life, and now suffer aches and pains: God, who is stronger than all the stars, will energize you like an eagle.

How can that be? Well, you know the power of Christ's resurrection! The Apostle Paul expressed it, when he asked: "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?" and commented: The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

You see: through Jesus, you can rejoice you worked hard for the Lord all your life. Through Jesus, you can cope -- even flourish! -- now. And through Jesus, you know that your final victory is coming soon: because Jesus has forgiven your sins!

• And you-- you who are a faithful laborer now, and suffer weariness and maybe even poverty: God, who is stronger than all the stars, will energize you like an eagle.

How can that be? Well, you too know the power of Christ's resurrection! The Apostle Paul expressed it, when he said: Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

You see: through Jesus, you can rejoice as you get up every morning and work until every evening. Through Jesus, you can cope -- even flourish! -- now. And through Jesus, you know that your work will bring honor to God everlastingly: because Jesus will bring you to heaven eternally!

• And you-- you who diligently study, and suffer discouragement and maybe even ridicule: God, who is stronger than all the stars, will energize you like an eagle.

How can that be? Well, you know the power of Christ's resurrection, too! The Apostle Paul expressed it -- and you've studied it! -- when he said: God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

You see: through Jesus, you can rejoice as you get up for classes every morning and study well into the night. Through Jesus, you can cope -- even flourish! -- now. And through Jesus, you know that your study will bring glory to God everlastingly: because Jesus will introduce you eternally to his Father-- your Father.

• And you-- you who have been so faithful in your relationships, and now suffer heartache: God, who is stronger than all the stars, will energize you like an eagle.

How can that be? Well, you know the power of Christ's resurrection, too! The Apostle Paul expressed it -- and you've experienced it! -- when he said: Because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions -- it is by grace you have been saved.

Through Jesus, you can rejoice, even while you struggle with friendship and lack of friendship, marriage and lack of marriage, parenthood and lack of parenthood. Through Jesus, you can cope -- even flourish! -- now. And through Jesus, you know that your faithfulness will bring glory to God everlastingly: because Jesus will give you a relationship to him eternally.

Conclusion: Christian Encouragement and Peace

So: Christian weariness, Christian discouragement-- they're not pleasant, of course, and they're not avoidable, in this sinful world. But they're not insurmountable, and they're not permanent either....

Christ has risen!-- and he will energize you. Christ has risen!-- and he will encourage you. And so: God, who is stronger than all the stars, will energize you like an eagle-- not only here, but also hereafter, not only now, but also eternally! Amen.

The book of Revelation has the angels saying: Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise! Amen.