Open Your Ears to Hear!

Pastor: 
Rev. Jon Brohn
Date: 
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Sermon Text: 

Isaiah 40:1–11 (NIV84) 1 Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. 2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins. 3 A voice of one calling: “In the desert prepare the way for the LORD; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God. 4 Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. 5 And the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all mankind together will see it. For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.” 6 A voice says, “Cry out.” And I said, “What shall I cry?” “All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field. 7 The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the LORD blows on them. Surely the people are grass. 8 The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.” 9 You who bring good tidings to Zion, go up on a high mountain. You who bring good tidings to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with a shout, lift it up, do not be afraid; say to the towns of Judah, “Here is your God!” 10 See, the Sovereign LORD comes with power, and his arm rules for him. See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him. 11 He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young. 

 

My dear friends in Christ,
     The human ear is an amazing sensory organ. Can you believe that a combination of bones, cartilage, flesh, and nerves enable us to hear? This time of year, our ears hear some of our favorite sounds. We hear our favorite Christmas music wherever we go—in the stores, in our cars, and in our homes. We hear the tiny clinks of decorations as we pull them out of boxes and hang them on the tree. We hear the timer go off in the kitchen when the Christmas cookies are ready to come out of the oven. We hear the giggles of children as they run and play in the fresh snow. We don’t have to try very hard to hear some wonderful sounds this time of year.
      There are plenty of Christmas sounds we don’t enjoy hearing. Sometimes the music is too much, too repetitive and we’d rather not hear it. The jangling of the bell-ringers is loud and strident when we’ve walked past the fifth or sixth on our shopping expeditions. We hear the sounds of tired moms and frustrated children at the end of a long shopping day. We grow tired of news stories about fights and thefts and unChristmaslike behavior. After a while, it’s tempting to plug up our ears and not listen to all the bad news.
     No one wants to hear bad news. That’s where Isaiah’s congregation was at. The first 39 chapters of Isaiah’s prophecy were a message that Israel was heading into a pretty deep valley. While they were trapped in that valley, it would be tough to hear the LORD’s voice. Isaiah warned that armies from Babylon would march into Jerusalem, destroy everything including Solomon’s beautiful temple, and carry them off into exile. They would lose their homes and livelihoods. Some would lose family members. They wouldn’t see their homeland again for 70 years. No one wanted to hear that.
     Isaiah had more bad news. He pointed out the mountain of sins the people had committed against the LORD. Rulers allowed unjust laws to be passed that took advantage of the poor and weak. They made alliances with Egypt because they didn’t trust the LORD to protect them. The spiritual shepherds of the nation told them lies and led them astray. They had turned away from the LORD to follow Baal, Asherah, and many other false gods. They brought sacrifices to these gods on the altars that had belonged to the LORD. When Isaiah told them about their sins, they plugged up their ears and refused to listen!
      They kept them plugged when he talked about the finality of their sins. Isaiah said, “All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field. The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the Lord blows on them. Surely the people are grass” (Isaiah 40:6–7). Even if they ignored the warnings about the valley they would fall into, or the mountain of sins they had piled up, they couldn’t ignore the fact that they would not live forever. Their lives were like a piece of grass or a fragile flower—beautiful in season, but brown, wilted, and eventually dead.
      We can have a tough time hearing the LORD. We fall into valleys where it is hard to hear the LORD’s voice even as we head into the Christmas season. Can you hear his voice over the door-buster commercials and ads telling you what you need to make this Christmas extra special? Can you hear his voice when you’re busy wondering where the money will come from to cover Christmas gifts and travel costs? Does the valley of Christmas depression muffle his voice? Everyone else has a place to go for Christmas. They have family and friends, parties, and groups where they belong. Sometimes we can’t hear the LORD’s voice with all the other sounds of Christmas to distract us.
      Sometimes it’s not just hard to hear the Lord’s voice. Our own mountains of sin lead us to plug our ears so we can avoid the LORD’s Advent message. On the top of our mountain of sin stands the god of Christmas Preparations. Oh, it is so beautiful! We wrap it in hundreds of LED lights and the shiny paper. We bring our wish lists and lay them at its feet. We offer it our checkbooks and credit cards. We fill trays with cookies and sweets as a way to appease the god. We write our letters and address them by hand to lay at its feet. We make it the most important part of the season, and it affects every part of our lives. We fight over who will serve it best—who is hosting, and who isn’t. We crab when mom assigns decorating and cleaning duties. Our mountain of sins is just as high as Israel’s. That mountain of sin leads to the same place—a dried out, withered, death that waits for everyone whose ears are plugged and ignoring the LORD’s message.
     God provided a solution for plugged up ears. He provided a soothing, tender message for Isaiah to share with his people. “Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins.” (Isaiah 40:1–2). What three pieces of good news would comfort Israel? Her hard service has been completed. Her sin has been paid for. She has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins.
     Open your ears! Isaiah had good news for Israel’s future. Even though they would struggle through a low time in Babylon, they would be able to come home. Even though no sacrifices had been made at the temple for 70 years, their sins were paid for—God would cover them all! They would receive double blessings from his hand—freedom from their captivity, and the fulfillment of God’s promise to send the Messiah. What beautiful words, like music to Israel’s ears!
     God sent Isaiah to open ears so they could hear the good news of comfort and forgiveness. In our gospel reading, we heard how John the Baptist came to open people’s ears so they would be ready for the Messiah’s arrival. John’s message fulfilled Isaiah’s words. “A voice of one calling: “In the desert prepare the way for the LORD; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God. Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain.” (Isaiah 40:3–4). John came to prepare the way for the LORD. He accomplished that when he preached a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. When the people admitted their sins and repented, God filled in the valleys and leveled the mountains of sin. They were forgiven!
      The people’s ears were open. They were ready for Jesus to come. They were ready to hear the message, “ ‘Here is your God!” See, the Sovereign Lord comes with power, and his arm rules for him. See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him. He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young” (Isaiah 40:9–11).
     John could point to Jesus and say, “Here is your God!” Jesus proved John’s message was correct. He came with power. Just think of all the miracles he performed—healing the sick and lame, calming the storm, raising the dead. Jesus brought his reward with him. He promised forgiveness to all who believed in him. And, he said, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (John 10:11). Jesus took care of his sheep, young and old, and laid down his life to pay for the sins of the world.
     Are your ears open? Can you hear the good news? The message hasn’t changed over the past 2700 years. Isaiah reminds us, “The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever” (Isaiah 40:8). Isaiah’s message and John’s message were meant for our ears. It reminds us what our December Christmas preparations are all about. It pulls us out of the deep distractions that try to keep our ears plugged and our lives too busy for his Word. It levels the mountains of our sins through the message of repentance and forgiveness that has never changed. It brings us to the manger and announces: “Here is your God!” (Isaiah 40:9). Our ears tell us that the message doesn’t match up with what our eyes can see. It’s just a baby born in lowly surroundings. Ah, but our ears don’t deceive us, because we hear the promise: “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6).
     Open your ears. Listen to God’s tender words of comfort and promise. He gives the greatest gift we could hope to have this Christmas season. “Here is your God!” Your Savior. Luther wrote about this child, “Now is overcome the power of sin, death, hell, conscience, and guilt, if you come to this gurgling Baby and believe that he is come, not to judge you, but to save” (Luther; Bainton, 39-40). That’s why he came. Hear it! Believe it! Amen.
 

To God alone the glory!                Pastor Jon Brohn 

Sermon Audio: 
20111204 Sermon.mp3