Easter: Isaiah 5

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0:00 This morning to talk about the resurrection, I feel a little bit, you know, I do a lot of things with my days. I think about myself in a lot of different ways, but on the night before Easter, I know that I preach regularly, because I'm just excited. I had trouble sleeping last night. I love that we all stop whatever's going on, and we make a special point to pull the family together around the idea of Easter.

0:33 Maybe it hits some of us more or less than others, but the notion that culturally we could pause and celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, I really love it. I'm not a big ham guy, but I love ham today, right? I'm not a big Thai guy, but I love ties on Easter. You know, we dress for things that are important, and today is important. What a crazy story. We talked on Friday about what a banal and pedestrian way it is to die, crucifixion.

1:10 The Romans were efficient at crucifixion and did it often, and with impunity and seeming disregard. I told the story on Friday, but at one point they crucified 6,000 people at one time, and it was the 1980s before they found any bones of anybody who had been crucified before, because nobody cares about the people that are crucified. It happens on the outside of town, and they're left there to be thrown away and forgotten.

1:40 Crucifixion is a forgettable way for forgettable people to die, but the story of Jesus has endured, and become a cultural calling card across cultures and through regimes, across borders, because the story of the crucifixion of Jesus is not just the unjust killing of one. There have been unjust killings of thousands, but this unjust killing released into the world the original spirit of life again, and started something new.

2:17 You and I put on pastels, though we wouldn't be caught in pastels any other day, because the spirit is alive. And of course, we've told the story of the resurrection a lot, and so when it comes to those sleepless nights, and I wonder what might we tell about the story again, I'm always pleasantly surprised by the faithfulness of God to remind us of the goodness of His work, even though the story is old.

2:58 And today, the Psalm that Marker had caught me. So if you would look like typing on your phone or flip to some copy to Psalm 118, and we can look at it together, we had Psalm 118 as the call to worship, because Terry picked it out for us, and he nailed it. And when I read it this week, he said, we're going to read Psalm 118 for the call to worship. I read it this week, and there's a phrase that stuck out to me, but before we get to it, I want to look at most of what Mark read for us to get started, Psalm 118.

3:33 Let's see where we should start. Let's start at verse 14. Where did you start, Mark? Verse 14? 15? Yeah, let's look at verse, let's start at verse 14. Now, we don't have a lot of context for the Psalms, but remember that the Psalms are this hymnbook of the people of God, written in Old Testament times. A lot of them about David, or by David, we think. And so they have both like a battle, conquest, some of them motif, a personal prayer motif, a lament motif.

4:12 This one in my head, I imagine it as a celebration. After a battle, they didn't think they would win. I don't know, but then they all get used liturgically and apply to the people of faith in the first century. This was the first part of school they'd memorize all 150 Psalms. So for us Psalm 118, starting at verse 14, the Lord is my strength and my song. He has become my salvation. This is a quote that is this like sneaky refrain among the people of God.

4:46 We think that the first time this was uttered was Miriam after the crossing of the Red Sea. It's in an archaic Hebrew form. It might be the first thing our people wrote down. It's definitely some of the oldest text we have in the Bible. And it pops up over and over again. Exodus, Deuteronomy, and into the Psalms. The Lord is my strength in my salvation. My strength in my song, and He has become for me my salvation. Initially, when He defeats the Egyptian army and drowns them in the Red Sea, Miriam exclaims.

5:19 But then the people of God realized we find ourselves in need of salvation all the time. And here comes the God, just like the Red Sea. God has become my strength and my song. He's become my salvation. Glad songs of salvation are in the tents of the righteous. See? The right hand of the Lord does valiantly. The right hand of the Lord exalts. The right hand of the Lord does valiantly. For those who are the Lord's, they rejoice in their tents because He has delivered them.

5:53 Israel knows they were in a place where they needed salvation and God came through. So then verse 17, I shall not die but live. And recount the deeds of the Lord. The Lord has disciplined me severely, but He has not abandoned me or given me over to death. Open to me the gates of righteousness that I may enter through them and give thanks to the Lord.

6:25 The psalmist recognizes that they are in a place needing salvation. And it sticks with Israel, it makes it into the psalms because of course, any human will find themselves in a place where they need rescue. Or deliverance, where they need to be saved.

6:58 You need to be rescued, whether you like it or not. You need more strength than you can muster. You need more life than you can summon. You need more generosity, kindness, creativity, adventure than you can manufacture on your own.

7:36 Whether you like it or not, human people, you need rescue. The story of Scripture starts with this beautiful picture of created order. And the capstone of created order are the image bearers of God in the world. The namers of all animal kind, the cultivators of all earth, humanity, walking through the world,

8:18 unashamed, unembarrassed in complete vulnerability and love with the ones around them, with clear purpose and mission in the world, humanity charging through the world, burying the image of God to everyone they encounter. And the way the story of Scripture goes is enamored with their own capability and disabused of God's good intentions. Convinced God is holding out on them, humanity flips the table and tries to be God.

8:53 And when they do, of course, shame, guilt, fear, condemnation. And finally, death come running in. And the Scriptures explain to us why humanity needs rescue because we are not God, though we try to be all the time. The Psalmist says, I shall not die but live and recount the deeds of the Lord. The Lord has disciplined me severely, but he has not given me over to death.

9:36 Open to me the gates of righteousness that I may enter through them and give thanks to the Lord. This is the gate that the Lord of the Lord, the righteous shall enter through it. I thank you for you have answered me and have become my salvation. The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. That's the one where I got a new thought about Easter. The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. And so I mean, I love that phrase. It sounds so pretty.

10:10 I don't know. Maybe it's because I like making things. It sounds pretty to me. The idea of a cornerstone. When I, right after high school, I had this job with this land development crew and it was just for a summer. We would do site surveys, you know? I would sit in the back of a club cab, like the little 18-year-old on this crew with all these career surveyors, construction guy land developers.

10:43 They would smoke like chimneys and keep the windows closed. We would go mark out golf courses and developments. My job mainly was just to hold a little pole. If you've been on a survey career or seen them before, they get a little site thing. And you get this pole with this mirror on it and you walk 100 paces and you just count out how far it is and you stand there. And then the thing, the little tool measures height, absolute height relative to a point and like it has shoots a laser.

11:24 And the laser comes back and it knows distance and height and angle so it can hold the pole completely plumb. Right? Before they had lasers and survey crews, they had cornerstones. Pick the squarest rock you can, guys. Let's get it square on all sides. Big though, big. So you got a long run on either side and up to the top. And we'll put it right in the corner and then we'll follow the lines. This will be the bedrock upon which we build the building.

11:57 If the cornerstone is square, the building will hold. If the cornerstone is solid, the walls will settle. The solmist says that the stone that the builders rejected, they're building the building and look like it's not right. Get it out of there. This one, God says, I'll use and become the capstone. The one that the builders rejected. Remember, Jesus is using barren wounds. He is using virgin women. God is using all throughout the story of scripture,

12:34 the ones that the world forgot, found blemishes with and could not sustain it. To demonstrate his capability, the solmist says the stone that the builders rejected has become the capstone. And so I started to go, why am I enamored with that? And it actually has a fun little thread for us this Easter morning. And the thread starts in Isaiah chapter five.

13:04 If you want to look there with me, Isaiah chapter five, just a few verses. We've said this before, but remember, at the time when Isaiah is living and all the kings, this is before the death, resurrection, ascension and dispatch of the spirit. So humanity doesn't have the spirit. So when God wants to communicate to people, he comes with a special dispensation of the spirit in order that someone might understand the word will intent of God and speak it for people. Isaiah is one of these people. We call him prophets.

13:34 And at a time when Israel is falling apart, the prophet Isaiah is speaking on behalf of God to his people. And he tells this story in Isaiah chapter five. He says, let me sing for my beloved. My love song concerning his vineyard. My beloved had a vineyard. On a very little hill. He dug it and cleared it of stones and planted it with choice vines.

14:05 The job of clearing it with stones would be a real pain, you know? Because you're not digging them out with a bobcat or something. And so hopefully he's got some kind of shovel tool. I don't know. In Old Testament, maybe he's using like pry sticks or something. And then he's like rolling. He's doing a lot of work. He's getting the ground ready. He's doing a lot of work. My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.

14:36 And he dug it and cleaned it of stones and planted it with choice vines. And he built a watchtower in the midst of it and hewed out a wine vat in it. And he looked for it to yield grapes. But it yielded wild grapes. Just like he had done nothing at all. He did all that work. And the vineyard was like, whatever, man, we look just like all the other places on this hill. No different wild grapes just like everywhere else. And now I will tell you,

15:08 what will I do with my vineyard? I will remove its hedge and it shall be devoured. I will break down its wall and it shall be trampled down. I will make it a waste and it shall be pruned or howed. And briars and thorns shall grow up. And I will command the clouds that rain to rain no rain upon it. For the vineyard of the Lord of Hosts is the house of Israel. Hello. And the men of Judah are his pleasant planting.

15:40 Isaiah speaking on behalf of God to Israel says, oh my gosh, you guys are out here in the world. And God made a very special place for you. Because out here outside the garden, it is hard to live. And you need rescue. The world is not safe for you and you are not safe for it. But I will make a perfect place. I will cultivate it just for you to set you aside.

16:13 So when he calls Abraham and then Abraham to Isaac and then Isaac to Jacob and then Jacob through Egypt and then out of Egypt through the desert. And then through the desert into the promised land he says, I am setting you aside now. Wald cities are yours. Fortified cities are yours. Vineyards that are fruitful. Flowing with wine are yours. I have gifted you the prophets and the tabernacle and the temple.

16:45 Every way for you to know because God, though Israel, for God his name and asked him not to come, moves towards the end. He moves towards people. Though they forgot his name and asked him not to come, he came anyway. Whether you realize it or not, the God of creation and life has come for you.

17:21 To set you aside, to cultivate life for you. To create space for you to flourish. To let him be God. He did for Israel and they couldn't, they couldn't just let him be God.

17:57 They took a notion of justice and made it to your knee. They took a position of generosity and made it greed. They took a position of service and made it exclusivity. They took a position of forgiveness and made it judgment and hypocrites. They couldn't endure. He says he's going to kick him out. Our story continues. Go forward to Mark.

18:27 Jesus is talking to the Pharisees and they want to know by what authority is he doing the things that he's done. In Mark, Jesus began to speak to them in parables and says this. A man planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a pit for the wine press and built a tower and leased it to servants and went into another country. He's telling the same story that God told through the prophet Isaiah hundreds of years before to the Israelites now going, why have we been kicked out?

18:58 Why are we small? Who's authority are you come here by? And he tells them and he expands the metaphor and says that the owner of the vineyard sent emissaries, prophets like Isaiah. And every time they dismissed and disregarded the ones who had come. And he says, when the season came, he sent a servant to the tenants to get from them some of the fruit of the vineyard and they took him and beat him and sent him away empty handed.

19:30 And again, he sent to them another servant and they struck him on the head and treated him shamefully. And he sent another and him they killed. And so with many others, some they beat, some they killed. And he had still one beloved son and finally he sent him to them saying, oh, they'll respect my son. But those tenants said to one another, this is the air come let's kill him. And the inheritance will be ours. And they took him and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard.

20:01 What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others. Jesus takes the metaphor of Isaiah and says, hey, guys, it's done. I'm done dealing with Israel in this way. God had hoped that Israel would be the vineyard on the fertile hill and all would come and see that life in the vineyard means good wine.

20:33 And they go there and they experience life in the vineyard and it tastes like everywhere else. And God says, I can't have my reputation tied to this group of people anymore. That job is done. I'll give it to somebody else. And he says right after that, he says, after I'll give the vineyard to somebody else, have you not read this scripture that the builders rejected, the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. And this was the Lord's doing and it is marvelous in our eyes. Jesus is saying, you rejected?

21:04 I'm going to build something new. He says, the time for Israel as the example is over. I'm building something new. Jesus extends the metaphor of Isaiah from hundreds of years before and then injects a moment of hope. He says, judgment has come. One thing is done. Something new is starting. Okay, the last place for our little phrase is in Acts chapter 5.

21:41 Peter, the leader of the disciples, has now the spirit at their Pentecost, has been out there doing some miracles and the Pharisees are still hustling trying to get ahead of the way of Jesus. They killed Jesus, but the guys keep going. They call Peter in before them to give them an answer. And here's Peter's answer. Then they say, by what power or by what name did you do this? Same question they asked Jesus. And Jesus gave them the metaphor referring back to the metaphor from Isaiah, which they knew.

22:13 And they completely just right over their head because they are so convinced of grasping for their own power, for their own wealth, for their own solutions. They can't see what God is doing right in front of them. They are so stuck on, the best I can do is what I can get. They can't imagine what God might give that they miss what he is doing altogether. And so then they killed Jesus. Jesus has resurrected, ascended, dispatched the spirit and they ask his next one, Peter, hey, what authority are you doing this?

22:43 And then Peter filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, rulers of the people and elders. If we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, then let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by him this man is standing before you well. Jesus, this Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone.

23:21 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. Peter in front of the rulers says, guys, this is it. Now is the time. Jesus has started something new and we've got the bedrock and the plumb line. We know upon which we build and which direction we go. He set up something altogether new that pulls us into it.

23:55 He said, you want to know what authority I live by? It's the authority that Jesus gave me. It's not my own. And so that I know I stand on Jesus but move in the same direction. So that the death that couldn't hold Jesus won't hold me. You know that it is the contention of the people of faith since the beginning.

24:27 That Christ was fully dead. Jesus of Nazareth was fully dead. And now is fully alive. We'll never die again. Flesh and bone. Body and soul. Somewhere waiting to return. That means it is the contention of our people. That there will come a day where you will come face to face with the stone the builders rejected.

25:01 The cornerstone and plumb line. The bedrock upon which we stand. And his eyes will make contact with yours. And his arms will wrap around you. And his mouth will smile and his heart will take joy to see you come into his presence again. That he was dead. We'll never be dead again. And that is the plumb line upon which you and I are made.

25:37 People who like Christ contain a life force broader, deeper and more powerful than death. And destined for eternity with him. My prayer is that you today might remember you're not God. But there is one who has a long history of salvation.

26:08 And at just the right point lifted up a cornerstone. A bedrock and plumb line upon which we build our lives. And that we build those lives with him forever. Let me pray that prayer for us. Hey Lord, thank you for the gift of your son and the work of his resurrection. Accomplish our resurrection as well today.

26:41 That we might start now to live with you forever. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.