To be honest, I am not enjoying this "light" preaching series very much, which might mean it is good to push myself into areas I have not preached previously. On the other hand, the John passage, which I mentioned briefly in the sermon, is a passage I love to preach!
Part of the challenge for me is the struggle to figure out the role of the church and the preacher in this time of so much turmoil and division in the country. If the church is called to shine light in the darkness, or be used by God to shine in the darkness of our world, how do I do that in my preaching with a gathered congregation that would have very different understandings about what the darkness in our world actually is.
“Light to the Nations”; Isaiah 49: 1-7; St. Andrew Presbyterian Church; January 18, 2026
Isaiah 49: 1-7
Listen to me, O coastlands;
pay attention, you peoples from far away!
The Lord called me before I was born;
while I was in my mother’s womb he named me.
2
He made my mouth like a sharp sword;
in the shadow of his hand he hid me;
he made me a polished arrow;
in his quiver he hid me away.
3
And he said to me, “You are my servant,
Israel, in whom I will be glorified.”
4
But I said, “I have labored in vain;
I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity;
yet surely my cause is with the Lord
and my reward with my God.”
5
And now the Lord says,
who formed me in the womb to be his servant,
to bring Jacob back to him,
and that Israel might be gathered to him,
for I am honored in the sight of the Lord,
and my God has become my strength—
6
he says,
“It is too light a thing that you should be my servant
to raise up the tribes of Jacob
and to restore the survivors of Israel;
I will give you as a light to the nations,
that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”
7
Thus says the Lord,
the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One,
to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nations,
the slave of rulers,
“Kings shall see and stand up;
princes, and they shall prostrate themselves,
because of the Lord, who is faithful,
the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”
Introduction: Another week in the prophet Isaiah,
another week in what scholars call Deutero, or 2nd Isaiah,
another week focused on the servant
another week with multiple options for whom the servant refers,
although in this week’s passage in vs 3 we hear the servant called by name Israel, which expands our sense of who the servant might be
or at least gives us permission to imagine the servant being Israel,
or a foreshadowing of the coming of Christ,
or even the servant as the church, the body called into being with Christ as its head,
which is how the great reformer John Calvin interpreted this text (see https://biblehub.com/commentaries/calvin/isaiah/49.htm)
And another week with powerful images:
The Lord called me before I was born;
while I was in my mother’s womb he named me.
the image of the God who creates us,
the God who knows us intimately, even before we are born,
the God who not only calls us into being, but calls us into discipleship and service.
and, of course, the powerful, easy to imagine image of the servant as a light to the nations.
Move 1: The servant announces this image for all to hear.
a. From the coastlands to the people far away.
1.Everyone is to hear the voice of the servant.
everyone is to know the message the voice of the servant shares.
2. It is the voice of the servant,
it is the voice of Israel,
it is the voice of those who follow the servant.
it is the voice that speaks to us and speaks to the world.
c. As we listen to the voice of the servant, we note that it is not a voice of triumphalism;
not a voice that seeks to dominate,
but a voice that invites.
d. we read a wonderful story from the gospel of John.
1. The calling of the disciples
2. Notice how Andrew (this church’s namesake, but the way)
notice how Andrew
responds to meeting Jesus, the messiah for whom they have been looking.
he simply tells his brother Simon,
to come and meet Jesus.
no threat like if you don’t come meet him you are going to sheol
no i’ve got it figured out and you do not so you better come with
no cajoling
just a simple invitation that brings Peter into the fold and sets him on the way to being one of the great leaders of the early church.
Move 2: the servant speaks and shares a powerful image of the servant as a light to the nations.
a. in that image, we discover God’s expansive purpose of engaging all the world.
1. A reminder that the servant comes not only for a particular person,
not only for a particular people,
but for all the nations of the world.
2. God will not be satisfied until all the world,
knows God’s love and bows down before God.
b. perhaps that seems overwhelming or unattainable.
How can we be a light for all the nations?
1. Imagine how Israel must have felt.
2. In part, they must recognize this calling is connected to God’s calling of Abraham and God’s special relationship with Israel.
the servant’s call is not the first time Israel has understood itself to have a special role in the world as God’s emissary to the world.
3. But, they hear these particular words while they are a defeated people;
while they are an exiled people;
while the Temple and Jerusalem lay in disrepair.
4. In some ways, they might logically hear these words and think, “Not us.
We have no influence in the world.
Our light has been put out and there is nothing we can do about it.”
5. We know that feeling as well.
not as defeated people, perhaps,
but as people who wonder if there is anything we can do that makes a difference in the world.
the world is being run by those others, what can we,
or what can the church do?
6. But God tells the Israelites,
God tells us,
not only are you able to live out your calling,
but you are called to do more than just to rescue the house of Jacob or Israel,
you are called to be a light to all nations.
Imagine defeated Israel as a light to all nations;
Imagine the church, powerless in the face of all the world’s powers, as a light to all nations
b. The image of a light to all nations reminds me of The Statue of Liberty
She holds a torch above her head with her right hand,
a light for all how enter the harbor of NYC to see.
With her left foot she steps on a broken chain and shackle,[8] commemorating the national abolition of slavery following the Civil War.
The idea for the statue was conceived in 1865, when the French historian and abolitionist Édouard de Laboulaye proposed a monument to commemorate the upcoming centennial of U.S. independence (1876), the perseverance of American democracy and the liberation of the nation's slaves.
The Statue of Liberty’s torch is a powerful symbol of hope and freedom.(https://www.monumentsandsights.com/does-the-statue-of-liberty-light-up-at-night/)
A light to the nations?
does that statue in the harbor outside NYC really matter to our global world?
probably not,
but it is there as a reminder to both our nation and our world about who we are and what we stand for as a nation.
That is the servant’s calling and the church’s calling,
to stand in the world and proclaim God’s love and God’s justice for all the world to hear and to see.
move 3: the reason we are called to be a light to the nations is linked to God’s desire to save all the world.
a. The one who created the world and called it good desires for the world to reveal that goodness.
2. It is easy to point out the many places and people who fall short of living as God wants us to live,
including ourselves,
but that does not mean God’s desire to save the world has changed.
b. The servant’s voice that speaks to the world reveals the Expansiveness of God’s grace.
1. we too often make determinations about who is in God’s grace and who is not,
which ignores God’s desire to save all the world.
2. To live into calling as the servant, the church must hear again the broadness of God’s love and God’s saving grace.
3. Our calling is not to claim God’s love as our own,
but to share God’s love with all the world.
Conclusion: The statue of Liberty’s torch quit being lit in 1886.
i don’t think they ran out of oil, but they had financial issues
and then mechanical issues
and then labor issues.
But, today, At night, the torch is lit by 16 floodlights, creating a stunning and inspiring sight. (https://www.monumentsandsights.com/does-the-statue-of-liberty-light-up-at-night/
too important a symbol to stop lighting, so they found a new way.
Our task to be a light to the nations is too important to stop,
so we have to keep finding ways to share God’s love and God’s saving grace.
it is a servant’s calling.
It is our calling.
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