Attract Others to Worship God

Introduction

Isaiah 60

Last week we saw that God’s people attract others to God. We must live such radically different lives that we make others curious about God; so that they ask questions about God; and so that they will come and seek God. We ended with the exciting call that God wants to wear us as his special, treasured clothing for his renown and praise and honor.

We are a people who attract others to worship God. Isaiah 60 explains this very well. The main focus of this chapter is that when God comes to redeem his people, the nations will come to worship God, and the world will come to know peace and justice. This chapter begins and ends with light. God is light. We are children of the light. God is with us. God lives in us. God shines his light through us into the world so that others will come to the light, and worship God.

1. God came, God is coming, God will come (vv. 1-2)

Isaiah 59:2-15 describes Israel’s sin, their disobedience and failure to live as God’s people. There is no justice, righteousness, and peace. They have turned their backs on God. Verses 14-15 — “So justice is driven back, and righteousness stands at a distance; truth has stumbled in the streets, honesty cannot enter.  Truth is nowhere to be found, and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey.”

Isaiah 57-59 is also an accurate description of the world today. All have sinned (Rom 3:22-23). People are living in darkness. They stumble around not knowing where they are going. (Is 59:9-10; 1 John 2:9, 11). The only hope for Israel and the world is God. Only God can save them (Is 59:15-21).  Chapter 59 ends with the promise that the Redeemer will come to Zion. God will save, if people are willing to repent, to turn back to Him. God promises that His Spirit and His Word will be with his people from this time on and forever (vv20-21).

And then God himself arrives in Israel. Isaiah 60:1-2 — “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you.” 

The promised Messiah is the Light for the nations, sent to bring God’s salvation to the ends of the earth (Is 49:6; 9:2; 42:6-7). God came already! These words have been fulfilled. Jesus Christ, God himself, came. “Light has come into the world” (John 3:19; 1:9). Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12; also 9:5; 12:46). Jesus destroyed the devil’s work, destroyed the darkness (1 Jn 3:8). In Jesus is life, “and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:4; 1 Jn 1:5).

Isaiah 60 concludes in verses 19, 20 — “the Lord will be your everlasting light.” God came. God is still coming to the world today. Jesus lives in us. Everyday, when we live Christlike lives, we show Jesus, God, to the world. When we live as a kingdom of priests, a holy nation, God comes to the world. Every time we proclaim God’s Word to the world, God comes to the world.

And God will come. The promise of Isaiah 60 will be fulfilled when the Lord comes again to make everything new (Rev 21:5). God will come and dwell with his people (Rev 21:3). The new city “does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light …” (Rev 21:23-24) “There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light” (Rev 22:5). 

2. The nations are coming to God (vv. 3-16)

When God came to save his people, the nations will come to worship this saving God.

The nations will come bringing Israel’s children. “Your sons come from afar, and your daughters are carried on the hip … bringing your children from afar” (vv 4 & 9). These are not just ethnic Israelites. Psalm 87 and Isaiah 44:5 show that people from many nations will become citizens of Zion, part of God’s people. These are people from all nations just as God promised Abraham. The ingathering of the nations began in the New Testament, in Acts. The ingathering of the nations goes on today as God’s people go to the ends of the earth to fulfill the Great Commission. Through faith in Jesus Christ many people are being brought into the family of Abraham, becoming children of God (Gal. 3:26-29). And when our Lord comes again this ingathering of nations will be completed. Persons from every tribe and language and people and nation will be brought in the new city (Rev 5:9; 21:26).

The nations will come bringing gifts (verses 5,9,11). From all over, from the ends of the earth, they bring their wealth with thanksgiving to God for his salvation. This was fulfilled when the wise men brought gifts to Jesus (Mt 2:1-12); when the early church gave to those in need (Acts 2:44-45); and when Paul collected money from the nations for the suffering believers in Jerusalem (Rom 15:25-27). This is being fulfilled today as God’s people give from their blessings and wealth. This will be fulfilled when the Lord comes again. The nations will bring their splendor, glory and honor into God’s new city (Rev 21:24,26). The beauty, the best of what human cultures and civilizations, human work and trade, have produced, will be redeemed, purified, perfected, and brought into the new creation.

The nations will come bringing worship to God (verses 6,7,9,13). The whole world will know who the living God is. “Then you will know that I, the LORD, am your Savior, your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob” (Isa. 60:16b). Jesus came. And for the past two thousand years since Pentecost the nations have been coming to bring their praise and worship to the living God. And at the end of time people from every nation will bow their knees at the name of Jesus, and acknowledge that Jesus Christ is the Lord, to the glory of the Father (Phil 2:10-11).

3. Peace has come, Peace is coming to the world (vv. 17-22)

When God comes to live with his people, peace comes to the world. When God’s light, God’s kingdom comes, transformation comes to the world. There will be peace and well-being with justice (v17). No longer will there be violence and war (18). God will be with his people. He will be their light, their life, and their glory. There will be no sorrow. The people will be righteous.

Peace has come to the world. Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, came. God’s kingdom came into the world. Where Jesus rules, where Jesus is the Lord in people’s lives, things happen. Lives are changed. Communities are transformed. Wherever and whenever, we work for God’s justice, and show God’s love to the world, however small it may be, there God’s kingdom is made visible. There peace comes to the world. SHOW VIDEO

“It's the kind words. A simple smile. More than showing up. Going the extra mile. It's giving everything when you've got nothing left. Sharing a little hope with a single breath. … 'Cause there's an empty soul that wants to be known around me now that I can lead to you. Revealing love that won't refuse. It's a prayer in an empty room. Little things we do when nobody's around. A hand reaching out to a heart in doubt. It's the smallest spark that can light the dark. That’s how you change the world.” (Newsboys)

God’s kingdom, his peace, has come, but we also know that it is not yet complete. The Prince of Peace will come back. There will be a new creation. There will be perfect peace. We know this because God himself gives us his assurance that this will happen. “I am the Lord; in its time I will do this swiftly.” (v22) The Word of the ever faithful God. This gives us faith and hope to live with courage as God’s people in this world. 

4.  Shine with God’s Light

So, where does this leave us today? Last week we saw in Titus 2 that we must live in such a way that we make the teaching about God our Savior attractive. Paul ends that chapter with these words — “For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.” (vv 11-14)

In Philippians 2:14-16 Paul says this — “Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life.” Perhaps Paul had the words of Daniel 12:3 in mind when he wrote this — “Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever.”

Jesus the Light of the world came to save the whole world. Now Jesus is sending us to be his light in the world (Mt 5:14-16). Our good deeds, our love, our unique, peculiar, different, holy life, is the light of Jesus that attracts people to come and worship God. Jesus brought the light. We must do the shining. And when we shine the light of God into the world, then change will happen, peace will come. Is this not just and idealistic dream? Why does the world not change?

Jesus warned us. Not all people will come to the light because the light exposes their evil deeds, and they don’t want to give up their way of life. “Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed” (John 3:20; Eph 5:13). The world rejects the light. They persecute those who are in the light. They try to extinguish the light. But this light cannot be extinguished. Where God’s people live truly as God’s people, God’s light will shine, and change will happen. Not by our power, but by God’s power. 

The early church devoted themselves to lives of godliness. They loved their enemies. They prayed for their persecutors. They cared for the poor wherever they found them. By AD 250 the Christian community in Rome was supporting 1,500 destitute people every day. All around the region churches were setting up food programs, hospitals and orphanages. And what happened? “Within two and a half centuries Christians had gone from being a small band of several hundred Palestinian Jews to the greatest social force in world history. In fact, the influence of Christian good works was so great in the fourth century that Emperor Julian (AD 331 – 363) became fearful that Christianity might take over the world forever by the stealth of good works” (Wright).

Throughout history whenever God’s people took seriously Jesus’ call to be the light of the world, things happened. God’s people became a social force that brought God’s salvation and blessing, God’s peace, to communities. I believe it’s time for us, to pray urgently, and ask God to do it again. It’s time for us to repent. It’s time for us to live by the power of the Holy Spirit, to live by the power of God’s Word, and the power of prayer. 

What do people see as they watch our lives and the life of our church? Who are the outsiders in our community? How should we pray for them? How should we love them? Are we shining God’s light into our community? Are we attracting others to come and worship God? We should take these questions seriously. Pray about. We should repent when we failed to be the light. We should ask the Holy Spirit to empower us to God’s light in the world.