Reclaiming "Salvation" and "Joy"

Message preached December 16, 2012
Long Green Valley Church of the Brethren
Glen Arm, Maryland USA
based upon Isaiah 12:1-6 and Philippians 4:4-7

Order of Worship

listen to this in mp3 format

"Surely, it is God who saves me,
I will trust in him and not be afraid.
For the Lord is my stronghold and my sure defense,
and he will be my Savior."
(Isaiah 12:2, sung as refrain - from "The First Song of Isaiah," by Jack Noble White)

             The year was 1983, a rather difficult one in the life of my family. Those words from Isaiah meant a great deal to me. In May my father died, after a long illness. The next month a tumor was discovered growing inside my ex-wife, Karen. Before that diagnosis, we thought she might be pregnant with our first child which, though unplanned, might have brought some good news to a bad news year. You can probably imagine some of our fears once we learned the truth.

We were blessed in that our fears were not realized - the tumor was benign and, as you well know, down the road came four children. Somewhere along the way, this verse entered, possibly read in a devotional, or shared one-on-one by the chaplain at seminary, or spoken in a chapel service there, where it was put to music (the refrain of which I just sang).

I also connect these words with another person, Nancy Kieffaber, an older student at seminary, a single parent with a teenage daughter. At about that same time a growth was discovered in her, only hers was not benign. I do remember that in some fashion these words of Isaiah formed a common bond between Nancy and Karen, a song of trust in their Savior, from whom (the apostle Paul once wrote) “nothing can separate us... neither death nor life ...” (Romans 8:37-39). Two years later I sat beside Nancy at graduation. Not long after that she went to be with Christ.

We live in an in-between time. The “great light” has lit up the darkness. “A child has been born for us.” This messiah, we believe, has another name: Jesus. We hear Isaiah describe what we know in our hearts: “He was despised and rejected by others; a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity; and as one from whom others hide their faces he was despised, and we held him of no account. Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases; yet we accounted him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed.”  (53:3‑5)

This is especially true when it comes to reclaiming “salvation.” This is something we cannot seize. More to the point, it seizes us. When we respond to the question “are you saved?” we need to be clear that “salvation” is not something we grasp, rather it grasps us. It is not a possession. It is a relationship. “Listen!” Jesus says, “I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me.” (Revelation 3:20) There is our image for Advent, as we stand on the verge of the great adventure! We welcome our Savior into our home.

Of course, in the very next verse, our Lord continues, “to the one who conquers I will give a place with me on my throne, just as I myself conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.” (3:21) By “conquer” or “overcome,” however, we do not mean that our “fight” makes us “right.” We don’t earn our way to that throne.

The apostle Paul once wrote that we are to “work out (our) own salvation with fear and trembling...”  (Philippians 2:12) But, as Oswald Chambers once put it, that means that we “work out what God works in (us) -- not work to accomplish or earn (our) own salvation, but work it out so (we) will exhibit the evidence of a life based with determined, unshakable faith on the complete and perfect redemption of the Lord.” In order for us to work it out, make it visible, reveal it with our lives, we first need to open the door and welcome the One who works it in.

After he wrote of working out our salvation, the apostle Paul mentioned another word that is so very important to a life of faith - Joy. In so many ways, real joy is the evidence of God’s salvation “worked into us.” Is it any wonder that in the very next breath of Isaiah’s song of salvation, he brings up “joy”? - “With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.” (12:3) 

Paul echoed those words: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.” (Philippians 4:4) Why? “I have learned to be content with whatever I have,” Paul continued. “I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well‑fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” (4:11‑13)

            Advent is a time of preparation. We’re all busy making our homes ready for Christmas: putting up the decorations, providing joy to mothers and children in the Family Crisis Center, baking cookies, singing carols to nursing homes, sending cards, buying presents for loved ones. These are important, don’t hear me say otherwise. On the other hand, are we preparing ourselves on the inside? Are we welcoming Jesus into our hearts, that he might work in God’s salvation, that he might provide us with real, abiding joy?

"Joy to the world"

©2012 (revised from 2000) Peter L. Haynes
(you are welcome to borrow and, where / as appropriate, note the source - myself or those from whom I have knowingly borrowed.)

return to "Messages" page

return to Long Green Valley Church page