suffering servant – Penuel Baptist Chapel, Roch

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Isaiah 52:13 – 53

In a town there is a rule that every man must be clean shaven. Everyone who does not shave themselves must be shaved by the barber. There is only one barber in the town who only shaves people who do not shave themselves. This creates a problem for the barber. Who shaves the barber? The barber must be shaved but he cannot shave himself because the barber only shaves people who do not shave themselves. What can he do? The mathematician and philosopher Bertram Russell came up with that paradox.

A paradox is when two things are true but contradict each other, they don’t really go well together. They are against each other, but they are both true, so they have to go together. Sometimes, we find such profound things in the Bible that they fall into this category. The passage that we are looking at has 5 paradoxes – 5 pairs of things that are both true, but also go against each other.

Isaiah is in two halves. Isaiah chapter 40 onwards begins the second half. From chapter 40 onwards a figure is introduced, called the Servant. God’s servant was supposed to be Israel, God’s people in the first half of the Bible. They were supposed to be His servant for the nation, to take God’s blessing to the nations. But they failed in that because of their own sin. So, God is promising through this Servant figure in the second half of Isaiah, that He will send His own Servant who would both bring about the forgiveness for Israel for their own sin, but also bring God’s blessing to the nations. Who is this Servant? Jesus. Only Jesus could do what was needed. Only Jesus could bring about the forgiveness of sin for God’s people, not only to Israel but to all of the nations. Blessings are being included in God’s people through forgiveness. Only Jesus could fit the bill of the Servant of God. How He is going to do that, is what this Servant Song is all about.

In this Servant Song we have 5 contrasting images of this Servant, of Jesus.

He will be elevated through degrading.

To elevate is to make much of. Think of the influencers in our society. When was the last time someone famous was ugly? The ugly ones are rare. Normally, people we lift up are attractive people. The path of elevation for the Servant is through degrading. In chapter 52:13-15 we see He Will be elevated but many will be appalled. He will be injured so much that His appearance will be disfigured. He will be exalted. He will be worshipped. But in order to get there He must go through a path of being beaten so badly that He will be barely recognisable. The paradox is that He will be elevated but it is through being degraded.

Power through rejection.

The second image takes this further. There will be power through rejection. We read in chapter 53 this question, “Who has believed our message?” The message is what we have just been told. Who is going to believe that paradox? That just doesn’t happen. This is followed by a parallel question, “To whom is the arm of the Lord being revealed?” In other words, how is God’s strength going to be shown? The arm of the Lord is His strength. Often, our power is in our arms. How is God’s strength going to be revealed through His Servant, because this doesn’t look like power?

If we think about those in our society who are the most powerful – the super wealthy, the tech world and industry, the business leaders in our world – they don’t get to these positions of power through rejection. Normally, they get to positions of power through being the most powerful person. They will have faced rejection at some point in the process, but the actual getting to the position of power requires being the popular person. Politicians have to have the support of the party and the support of the country. They have to be popular with the people in order to lead.

But the means of God’s power being exercised is through the One who will be despised and rejected (v.3). He will experience suffering. That’s how God’s power works. It is not on the surface level of just popularity. It is on a deeper level. There is nothing superficial about God’s power. It is not just about popularity or appearance.

This should help us share the good news about Jesus. It should give us confidence. We don’t have to have the nicest church building, the greatest marketing campaign. God’s power came through rejection – rejection of God’s Son.

Serving through substitution.

The Servant Song is like the holy part of Isaiah. Verse 4-6 is the holiest part. How will God save His people? One is going to die in place of another. He took our pain. He took our suffering (v.4). The suffering that Jesus endured was our suffering.

Why did He have to suffer? “He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brough us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.” (v.5). He had no sin, no iniquities, no transgressions. Our sin, our iniquities, our transgressions caused Jesus to suffer. It should have been our suffering. Yet Jesus took our sin upon Himself and suffered in our place.

For sin there is a punishment that is deserved. Only when that punishment is spent can peace with God finally be established. That peace is not brought about by us being punished for our own sin because we could not be punished enough. Jesus was punished on our behalf. Verse 6 explains this further. We have got lost, gone our own way. As we have wandered rebelliously away, that sin was laid on Jesus, the suffering servant. Jesus is our substitute. He stands in place of us and takes the punishment for us. He suffers for us. He pays for our sins because we cannot pay for them ourselves.

We have a choice. We can endure eternal punishment for sin we cannot pay for ourselves, or we can choose to have Jesus pay for our sin on our behalf, our substitute. If you have never made that choice, please, today accept Jesus has died for you so your sin can be forgiven. We can only be saved when we know Jesus died in our place.

Atonement through submission

For most people, if you knew you were going to suffer a violent and humiliating death, you would fight for an escape. Death is not good. Ever. But Jesus, as He faced death, did so knowing how painful it would be. But still He went willingly, submitting Himself to the cross.

Verse 7 foretells of Him,
“He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.”
(Isaiah 53:7).

Being given over to death was like a lamb being given over to slaughter. We see the theme of sacrifice – the sacrifices that were made in the temple. We see the theme of substitution. For the Israelites in the first half of the Bible they needed a lamb to die for sacrifice in their place. Atonement is when sin is taken away and people are made right with God. Jesus made atonement for us. He was killed and buried, even though He was innocent. He did that willingly. Why? For the transgressions of His people. (8b).

Life through death.

According to the plan of the Father, in order to save His people, someone needed to die – one who would then rise again from death. At His ascension, He was lifted up from death to life and glory – all because He was willing to bring about forgiveness. He shares His life with all who will follow Him.

If Jesus has done all of that, how to be respond? We ensure the benefits of what Jesus has secured are for us. Have you truly accepted Jesus has died for you? Have you truly accepted that He bore your sin upon the cross and that you could be forgiven? If you have grown cold in your faith and have doubts, come back to the cross, to see what Jesus did on your behalf. Will you accept Jesus today and make this message your own? Will you come to Him and say, ‘Sorry God, I have done so much wrong. Will you please forgive me for my sins?’

The second response is to have such great joy and delight in your life in what has been done for you, that we let this dwell within our hearts. Are you filled with joy? You should be! Will it overwhelm us? It should do. A willing servant was able to go to the cross and die in our place for our forgiveness. That should fill us with a sense of joy and delight.

James Sibley 4 -Nov 2019 Philippians 2:1-11

As we think about Christmas, what is the central characteristic trait you associate with Christmas? Is it generosity? Central to Christmas is humility. If you went and searched the word ‘humility’ on a computer, one of the first things you would find is a quote, “True humility is not thinking less of yourself, it is thinking of yourself less.” This is attributed to CS Lewis, however, it is not! The quote doesn’t quite get it right. Romans 12 tells us not to think too highly of ourselves, “For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think,” (Romans 12:3).

This morning, as we explore Philippians 2:1-11, we are going to start at the end and work our way backwards.

“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:5-11).

Most commentators seem to agree these verses are some form of first century hymn which praise God and Jesus for what they have done. Paul is painting it as the ultimate picture of humility. These words are really beautiful, powerful and moving. True humility is something truly beautiful but rare. Think of the godliest person you know. Their humility is something that possibly stood out. Some people can be funny, intelligent and sporty – they seem to have everything. We are drawn to such people. Humility is not something we see often; sports celebrities when being interviewed rarely thank those who have helped them along the way. Politicians, more than any, are supposed to represent the people, yet are often referred to as being self-serving.

We see true humility in Philippians chapter 2 – probably where we would least expect it. God, who is worshipped by angels from eternity, is surely the last person you would expect to put people first. In Psalm 113 we see that God is to be praised,

“Praise the Lord! Praise, O servants of the Lord,
    praise the name of the Lord!
Blessed be the name of the Lord
    from this time forth and forevermore!
From the rising of the sun to its setting,
    the name of the Lord is to be praised!
The Lord is high above all nations,
    and his glory above the heavens!
Who is like the Lord our God,
    who is seated on high,
who looks far down
    on the heavens and the earth?
He raises the poor from the dust
    and lifts the needy from the ash heap,
to make them sit with princes,
    with the princes of his people.
He gives the barren woman a home,
    making her the joyous mother of children.
Praise the Lord!

We see this God of all the nations lifting the needy out of the ash heaps. The God of all glory sees and reaches down. Jesus does exactly the same. Though He is God, He emptied Himself to be born a servant. The divine Son of God humbled Himself! He took on flesh, set aside His power and glory – although He this still belonged to Him.

“Veiled in flesh, the Godhead see,
Hail, the incarnate Deity,
Pleased, as man, with man to dwell,
Jesus, our Emmanuel!”.
(Hark the Herald)

He did not relinquish His divine attributes but added humanity. Imagine there is a king ruling over a vast empire. Imagine, one day this king decides he will clean the toilets in the palace. He gets down on his knees. The king is still the king, but he is not using his powers but using his servitude.

Jesus became the suffering servant (Isaiah 53). The divine Son of God entered our messy world and experienced our pain. He mourned, He suffered,

“He walked my road and He felt my pain,
Joys and sorrows that I know so well;
Yet His righteous steps give me hope again –
I will follow my Immanuel.”
(‘Immanuel’, Stuart Townend).

Jesus, being a man and walking among us and ultimately dying in our place – Christ’s humilitation.

The 1689 Westminster Confessions states, “He was made under the law, and did perfectly fulfil it, and underwent the punishment due to us, which we should have borne and suffered, being made sin and a curse for us; enduring most grievous sorrows in his soul, and most painful sufferings in his body; was crucified, and died, and remained in the state of the dead, yet saw no corruption: on the third day he arose from the dead with the same body in which he suffered, with which he also ascended into heaven, and there sitteth at the right hand of his Father making intercession, and shall return to judge men and angels at the end of the world.” (The Baptist Confession of faith, 1689, 8:4).

But why? Why did He have to be humiliated? Why did He become a servant? He had eternal love, majesty and glory. He did not need anything! So why?

(i) It was the only way sinners like us could be saved. Only one could stand in our place. From the moment we entered this world we are sinners. God became man in Christ to save us.

(ii) It was out of obedience to His Father (Philippians 2:8).

(iii) It was out of love both for His Father and His people – those ones He set His love on in eternity past.

(iv) To bring glory to His Father and Himself, as He saves sinners, defeats sin and kills death. Jesus is the divine Son of God, who with God the Father and the Holy Spirit, lives in love from eternity past.

Jesus is undoing what Adam and Eve did in the Garden of Eden, as they grasped to be like God. His obedience was His exaltation (Philippians 2:9-11). One day every knee will bow before Jesus. Are you bowing the knee, standing before Him in faith or in judgement? One day He will return. He offers new life and a new future – being loved by God and by Him.

Why does Paul quote this hymn? He is trying to encourage humility, sharing Christ’s example. Paul has joy, gratitude and affection for the church in Philippi but he sees persecution, false teaching and disunity. He is worried that disunity will weaken them under persecution. Paul realises humility is the key to unity. Humility puts others first.

How does Paul show them this unity is achieved?
We are to look to Christ’s example. When we want to know how to do something we may often watch a Youtube video and follow the instructions. Paul urges us to follow Christ’s example, to follow in Christ’s footsteps. But there’s a problem for us; we can’t just copy Christ’s example. We need to be made alive before we follow His example. We are all dead in sin, proud by nature, putting ourselves first. Humility is really hard; our sinful hearts are always prideful. Humility does not come naturally to us.

Kane West says he is a born-again Christian, yet a few years back he claimed to be God. If he is truly saved then we will see a radical change in his heart. It doesn’t just come through following Christ’s example but also what Jesus does in us. Paul says to us in verses 1-2 it comes from being in Christ, participating in His Spirit, “If there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.”

This humility, love and affection comes only as Jesus saves and gives us a new heart and a new life. We have to get to a place where only Jesus can take us. We go where Jesus has gone as we are united to Him in faith. Through Christ’s humility and His exaltation, He fulfils the law. He gives us a new heart which has His law written on it. We are united to Him by His Spirit. He starts to sanctify us.

There is a bit of a dichotomy. Paul says, “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:12-13). Paul tells us to work out our salvation, to work as hard as we can to follow Christ’s example. But he is quick to say Christ works in us. We are to humble ourselves, to put others first.

For us, we are called to follow in Christ’s example, to put others first in humility. Following Christ is following the path to self-sacrifice but also the path to glory. The secret to true humility is to look in faith to Christ and His humiliation and exaltation, and to live by faith in Christ and His exaltation and humiliation.

Tag: suffering servant

August 25th 2024: Jonny Raine

November 24th 2019: James Sibley