SERMON: Don’t Give Up

Spoken Live: April 25, 2021

at New City Church in Des Moines, IA

Summer 2018 an event happened in America that impacted our culture.

No matter your race or ethnicity it had a wide impact that crossed over a diverse group of people.

The world found out that the rapper Drake has a kid.

In a feud between the rapper Pusha T, Pusha T was out to end Drake’s career.

Pusha T revealed the truth about a secret Drake had hidden for months.

That tends to be a role of many rappers throughout history.

To reveal the truth about society and often call out and expose injustice.

This was the same role of prophets in the Bible.

To expose the evil among God’s people, the Israelites, and call out the idolatry and injustice.

The rapper Pusha T called out Drake and exposed him from having a secret child hoping to end his rap career.

 Instead, Drake chose to not give up and is still making albums to this day.

 It’s up for debate whether he’s still making good music or not, he’s still putting out music.

Today’s talk will be an encouragement to not give up.

Let us begin by seeing what the rapper and prophet Isaiah has to say to his people back then, and then we will discover if what he has to say is still relevant now. I will read, then pray.

O Jacob, how can you say the Lord does not see your troubles?
    O Israel, how can you say God ignores your rights?
28 Have you never heard?
    Have you never understood?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
    the Creator of all the earth.
He never grows weak or weary.
    No one can measure the depths of his understanding.
29 He gives power to the weak
    and strength to the powerless.
30 Even youths will become weak and tired,
    and young men will fall in exhaustion.
31 But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength.
    They will soar high on wings like eagles.
They will run and not grow weary.
    They will walk and not faint.

Background Story of Isaiah and King

Prophets were not only truth tellers, but they were also dramatic. Does anyone know anybody like that: someone that just be doing the most. Do you have a friend like that? Or are you that friend? That’s who Isaiah was.

 Isaiah had once walked around naked just to tell everyone that they were going to be taken as captives by a nation called Babylon. Doing THE most…

In this story, it begins with the King of the nation Israel, God’s People, who was looking out of his window one morning after waking up, taking his shower, and brushing his teeth. And the first thing he sees is a naked Isaiah, and he’s like what in the world is going on. He looks further out and he sees his cousin with a huge army of soldiers and another nation coming at his door step getting ready to take his nation, burn the city and turn him into a captive who is exiled.

Worried, the king runs to his phone and is trying to figure out who to call for help. While on his phone he gets distracted and spends a couple of hours on tiktok and then tries making a video. After posting it he tries to remember what he was doing before and hears a voice calling his name to come outside. It was his cousin yelling at him from outside that his kingdom was about to be destroyed!

The king calls his friend the king of another nation called Assyria and tells him that he needs Assyria’s army to help protect the city. As he’s talking with him on the phone Isaiah comes up to see him and while the king is trying to talk on the phone Isaiah keeps interrupting pleading to the king to depend and trust on God not on the nation of Assyria. Isaiah keeps trying to get his attention and is like my name literally means God is salvation bro, listen God is trying to save you. God even had Isaiah tell the king that the king can ask for any sign he wanted and God would give it to him . Instead the king goes naah I’m good…   

After this, the army from Assyria helps out the king and gets rid of his enemies. After that the king starts bowing down and believing in the gods of Assyria. He even puts a shrine in the Temple where the God of the bible is supposed to be.

Not too long after this the king dies and then his son Hezekiah becomes king. Hezekiah then undoes all of the bad things his father did and destroys the idols of the Assyrian gods and then stops the partnership with Assyrian. All seems to be going well but then this new nation comes called Babylon and Hezekiah becomes friends with them and ends up partnering with them making about the same mistake his father did. Isaiah tries telling him not to too. However no one listened to Isaiah and the country Babylon took over the land and turned everyone into captives, destroyed their city and exiled them from their land. And then 100+ years pass and Isaiah probably dies.. The end.

I’m kidding I think one thing we can learn from this part of the story is how Isaiah would faithfully prophesy to the king of Israel instructing him how to be faithful to God even though the king wouldn’t listen. Isaiah kept trying and never gave up telling the kings to trust God. But the king would not listen, and everyone suffered from it. Hearing can be a life-or-death matter. Listening can be vital for our survival. Have we listened to God lately?...

People in the Story of Isaiah 40

100+ years later in the story We find the Israelites, God’s people, had given up on God. They were in troubled times.

They believed that God was no longer with them, and they acted as if He no longer existed.

They were discouraged and started believing in idols from other nations. They believed that God had given up on them.

Perhaps you have felt that way before.

Asking the question does God even care about my situation? Does he not see me? And If he does then why doesn’t he do something?

Why would he allow my grandparent, my friend to die, to be hurt? Why would he allow me and that person to breakup.

Why would God allow a virus to run rampant around the world? To allow a derecho to tear up the town.

Why would God allow the death of so many people of colored to be killed and riots happen.

It’s easier to believe your friends at school who question why you believe in Christianity.

Why do you believe in a God who has turned his back on people for so long.

This is exactly how the people of God felt during this time. And like us many of them developed a bitterness towards God.

 We see this another time in the story of the Bible when Jesus’ died.

His disciples had given up hope.

Jesus’ disciples believed that Jesus was the savior of the world, and when he died they loss their hope.

They wondered why would God deceive us and fool us like that. How could Jesus just give up.

However, this author in Isaiah 40 reminds God’s people that they had actually turned their back on God just like the kings of Israel did.

He reminded them that when you turn your back on God you are susceptible to the evil and corruptness of the world.

The evilness of the other nations. My brothers and sisters evil is alive and well today. We see it all around us.

The root cause of the brokenness and hurt we see in the world is an evil force.

And it was this same evil force that took Jesus out.

That put Jesus on the cross killing him.

But there was so much life in Jesus that death couldn’t hold him down.

Jesus defeated death and evil showing that he stronger and mightier than the evil we face in the world. 

And it’s from this God we get our strength. The God who beat death.

After Jesus got up from being dead he brings comfort to his disciples who had given up.

And instead of growing angry with them for their unbelief, and Instead of hitting Peter, one of his disciples, on the head with a fishing pole he instead cooks them breakfast.

Brining comfort to their stomach and to their souls.

This is what God tells his people: comfort comfort in Isaiah 40. I am here.

I have not given up on you. I’m with you, and I will fight your battles, I will renew your strength, I will gather you into my loving arms and I will bless you. Amen? Let’s read part of this passage again:

29 He gives power to the weak
    and strength to the powerless.
30 Even youths will become weak and tired,
    and young men will fall in exhaustion.
31 But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength.
    They will soar high on wings like eagles.
They will run and not grow weary.
    They will walk and not faint.

Second Isaiah Picks up the Pen

In this section God partners with this person to say this and we have no clue what his or her name is.

Who is this person?

We have no clue who is writing this.

The Isaiah I mentioned before is most likely long dead. More the 100 years had passed.

But this new person sees that everyone is discouraged, but HE still continued to hear from God and waited on the Lord.

She picked up where Isaiah had left off and continued to write. picked up the pen and continued to write and continue the work of Isaiah.

Back in this time everyone admired and looked up to the first Isaiah.

He talked about God’s salvation and hope.

People viewed him like how we view MLK Jr. Today.

And just like many long for a MLK Jr. figure today, back then they longed for Isaiah to speak to them about hope, truth, and salvation.

And this new person who’s name we don’t know, we’ll call them Isaiah Jr., continued the work of the first Isaiah and continued to write to the people for them to have hope. He picked up a pen and continued the work.

Whose pen do you need to pick up?

Who has blessed you with their work or words, and you need to continue their work for them.

 I know for Erin it’s her grandma. A black female pastor in Chicago loved by her community and passionate about justice. Who’s work do you need to continue that you’re grateful for.

Is the work of your grandparents, a friend who, a historical figure? Who’s work do you need to continue?

 We all continue the pen and work of Jesus.

We continue to meet needs just like Jesus did and be a healing presence for people.

We continue the mission statement Jesus declared for himself when he began his ministry, stating in Luke 4:18 & 19

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
    for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released,
    that the blind will see,
that the oppressed will be set free,
19     and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come]”

We continue the work of bringing good news to the poor, proclaiming the captives will be released, the blind will see, and that the oppressed will be set free, and that God’s kingdom and favor has come. And just like how the Second Isaiah, Isaiah Jr, encourages everyone to not give up, and It’s SO easy to do that.

Don’t Give up

I came all the way from Phoenix to tell someone to not give up on following God, do not give up on being a witness of Jesus,

do not give up on sharing Jesus the light of the world with others, do not give up practicing and pursuing justice, White people do not give up on empathizing and learning from people of color, people of color don’t give up on preserving your dignity, do not give up striving for health to cope with anxiety and depression, do not give up on renewing the city, do not give up the work of continuing Jesus’ work, and do not give up on that thing that God has given you a strong conviction about or that thing Jesus has put in your heart. Amen?

I wear white and black every Sunday not only because it’s convenient, but because of this verse in Revelation 7 that speaks to what God’s kingdom, heaven will be like. It says in Revelation 7:9

9 After this I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white robes and held palm branches in their hands. 10 And they were shouting with a great roar,

“Salvation comes from our God who sits on the throne
    and from the Lamb!”

 The idea of this is called a beloved community. A community where people of different ethnicities join together living in harmony and equality with one another. This is what God’s Kingdom is like. I wear white to show the hope we have to create that today, but black to show that this dream and God’s kingdom is not yet fully realized.

And this is what MLK Jr. Talked about in His I have a Dream Speech where he declared:

So even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day down in Alabama with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, one day right down in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.I have a dream 

Have we given up on that dream becoming a reality?

Have we lost sight and given up on what Jesus rose for?

Please don’t give up on that dream my brothers and sisters.

I think we were given a sign this week that the work we do does matter.

With Derek Chauvin claimed guilty of the killing of George Floyd we were given a sign that our voice and cry for justice does matter.

This week we saw justice happen and in order to get to that beloved community justice, repentance and accountability must be obtained.

Do not stop the work of bringing together a beloved community that MLK Jr. mentioned, but it begins here before it starts out there. Remember you are not alone.

You have one another to renew each other and encourage each other when you grow weary and tired, and discouraged.

And remember you still have Jesus with you. I believe Jesus’ last words to his disciples to be the most comforting words ever spoken. This is in Matthew 28:28 when Jesus states, “I am with you Always, even for we know Jesus is with us and because he is with us when we grow tired, we can lean on him and tell him where it hurts and expect healing and expect to be given his strength.”

And because of that fact the words of the rapper, and prophet of our day, Kendrick Lemar ring true:

We gon' be alright, We gon' be alright

Do you hear me, do you feel me? We gon' be alright.