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Isaiah 61:1-4
Good morning. Our first Bible reading is from Isaiah 61 verses 1 to 4, and if you've got the Red Church Bible, that is on page 1,159.
The spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives, and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour, and the day of vengeance of our Lord, to comfort all who mourn, and to provide for those who grieve in Zion, to bestow upon them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendour. They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated. They will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations.
Luke 7:18-23
And our second Bible reading is Luke 7 verses 18 to 23, and if you're also reading on the Church Bible, that is page 1,605.
John's disciples told him about all these things, calling two of them. He sent them to the Lord to ask, Are you the one who is to come, or shall we expect someone else?
When the men came to Jesus, they said, John the Baptist sent us to ask, Are you the one who is to come, or shall we expect someone else?
At that very time, Jesus cured many who had diseases, sicknesses, and evil spirits, and gave sight to many who were blind. So he replied to the messengers, Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard. The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is being proclaimed to the poor. Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.
This is the word of the Lord.
Jesus is Good News for the Poor
Well, good morning, everyone. It's always a privilege and something that we look forward to to be at Deep Creek. My son, Zach, here is a very faithful servant for coming with me for the activities that we do. He's a little bit crazy wearing a t-shirt on a morning like this, but that's what we got to work with.
I want to take you to a place much warmer than here, onto a street that doesn't look that dissimilar from some of the streets that we would see in Australia, but in a country that is known globally as the shopping centre for natural disasters. They had a, speaking of earthquakes, they had a 7.8 magnitude earthquake just recently, another thing to contend with in life and a context of challenges.
So while that street there looks fairly normal, if you look what happens when you go down a little alleyway, things change significantly. As you walk down this little alleyway, the noise levels start to become higher, stray dogs walking around, people shouting at one another, live wires sort of sitting on the ground and the water level continuing to deepen. My friend's strategy was to try and keep their shoes intact at all costs, but as you continue down into that area, you see the most challenging of circumstances and people whose eyes reflect that.
People who are suspicious of any guests in their area, people who are hostile to one another because they need to protect their own spot, and people who face all sorts of challenges. When we went into a family home, we asked about their hopes and their dreams, which was a question they couldn't really answer. We asked about their children's plans for their education and their school, which was a question they struggled to be able to qualify because in that house, late in the house, they were hoping that they'd have enough food for the next day in that their father would be able to find some kind of work because food for the day was very dependent on everything going right.
It's a world that is largely forgotten. How do you even get out of that? Poverty traps people in survival and robs them of hope and a future. When you don't know the value of school, when your house leaks water, whether it's hit or miss, whether there's enough food for the day, what do you do next? Around the world, children are much more likely to be in poverty and much more vulnerable to its effects.
Many of you know me because I've been to Deep Creek a few times before. Megan gave this great sermon title as part of your series. I think now that Megan's moved on to other things, I'm going to have to contact her every now and then just help her to sharpen up my other sermons because what a great promise to work with that Jesus is good news because he's good for the poor.
My hope in our time together this morning as we open up Isaiah 61 and then as we go to Luke 7, that we'd actually be able to not feel guilty that we've got something that others don't have, that we wouldn't feel overwhelmed because the plight of the world's poor, that we would fall more in love with Jesus because of this very fact. Jesus is good for the poor.
Compassion's Mission: Partnering with the Local Church
I work with Compassion. I know many of you are familiar with it, but if you're not, let's just give a quick high-level catch-up. Compassion works throughout the world in 30 countries exclusively through partnership with local churches. What that means is that churches that are located in the most extreme areas of poverty, who were there before Compassion arrived and who will be there long after, they don't need us anymore. They're the ones that we partner with.
The sign at the front of their building says the name of their church, just like you've got here, Deep Creek. It doesn't say anything about Compassion.
We get behind the local church to hero them and in 30 countries, more than 9,000 church partners. And the way that we do that is Christ-centered. We call it holistic child development.
And so there's a spiritual element to helping release children from poverty. There's also a really physical one. We're going to need to get you some help with your roof.
And there's the cognitive part of just growing up, learning, accessing education, and then the economic and socio-emotional aspect as well.
The Transformative Power of Jesus' Mission
So Isaiah 61 announces this really good news. The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.
Context is that this message is being spoken into Judah at 500 years before Christ. Jerusalem had been destroyed, but they'd been able to come back on their land. But as they looked around, it was ruins.
The people are poor. Families and communities have been fractured. There's grief, injustice, disappointment.
They'd returned from exile 40 years ago, but in many ways, they're still living with its consequences.
But a new identity is announced. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives, to release from darkness for the prisoners, and to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. Five centuries later, in Luke 4, this is the identity statement that Jesus reads out in the synagogue to announce the focus of his ministry. Good news to the poor. And this is good news all around because the central promise of Jesus, good news for the poor, takes some of the work off our shoulders, stops us, should stop us being overwhelmed by the problem because we are in love with Jesus, who is bringing good news.
The first part of that announcement in Isaiah 61 is about who he is. He's good news for the poor. He binds up the brokenhearted. He releases the prisoners who are captive.
But the second part is the good news about what happens to those people because Jesus isn't good news at the poor. He's good news for the poor. He is good news in transforming them.
And so then we see, I'm going to the end of verse 3, they'll be called oaks of righteousness, a planting for the Lord for the display of his splendor, that they will rebuild the ancient ruins. They will rebuild and restore places long devastated. They will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations.
One of the great things about the kingdom of Jesus is that he works with us, transforms us to become re builders. They join him in this mission too. He doesn't do things at us, but with us. They will rebuild.
Jesus' Ministry: A Focus on the Poor
So then we come to Luke and I'm going to Luke 7. But as we get there, I want to think about Luke 1. Before Jesus is even born, Mary sings her song and she declares that Jesus will lift the humble and fill the hungry. And then in Luke 2, Jesus is born. That story that's so familiar to us and good news of Jesus' birth is first announced to the shepherds, the poor and the lowly first announced to them.
In chapter 4, Jesus reads Isaiah 61 out and says, today in me, and then by the end of four and into five, he touches the untouchable, Simon's mother-in-law, a leper. In five, he calls Levi, he eats with tax collectors and sinners. I have come for the sick, he declares, not the well. In chapter six, Luke's great kingdom sermon begins with this line. At the very beginning of that great kingdom sermon on the plain, he says, blessed are you who are poor. Jesus promised his identity, his focus, his priority, first among many things, is blessed are you who are poor.
Across the other side of the city, I should have a photo of this community, I got to meet Pastor Pete. Pastor Pete had planted this church that you can now see flourishing here over 30 years ago, and Compassion had been partnered with them to help them to reach the children in their community who are living with extreme poverty for over 27 years. In that community, we see the fruit of holistic child development over generations of young people, and in fact, that woman who is there teaching the young people, she grew up through the program and is now able to contribute back. She's one of the oaks of righteousness that have been transformed as Isaiah 61 shows us.
As we walked through that community, and I've got a photo there as well, it was very different. That's good news, but let's go to the next one. Sorry, I'm out of order.
As we walked through that community, we had a very different welcome because that community over two generations of young people had been transformed. We went into that family's home and asked about their hopes and dreams, and they could list them out.
I want to study and go to university and be able to be a nurse. I want to study and become a mechanic and finish school and become a mechanic. We have a dream for our family that we would be able to honor and serve the Lord.
They said, I'm not making this up. This was the conversation in the house.
I'll get ahead of myself. This was amazing to walk through a community that felt different because the local church over decades had been sharing news physically and spiritually that Jesus is good for the poor. It took me a little bit to find the pastor. He was sitting sort of in the back of the hall, and I met him at lunch. I asked him about the church, and so he described how they were gospel-focused, and he described how they loved having the support of compassion to do what it was that they were already beginning to do after he planted.
As I interrogated him a little bit more because it was kind of like, you know, tell me what God's done. Well, it turns out that that church has planted nine churches and that the community across that network of nine churches is now over 1,000 strong.
He also told me that during COVID he had gotten COVID and lost his eyesight, and he now couldn't see. He's blind. I said, man, that sounds difficult. What's that done for your ministry?
Probably a list of like a template that I was assuming things that his response might be. He said, oh, it's improved my preaching. He said, now I've got to memorize the whole passage. He said, ask anyone. My preaching's improved a lot since I went blind.
And then he started to share his vision for his church community that now that they were spanning across not a huge geographical area but across multiple different gatherings, he said, what we want to do is be able to get the thousand people together.
He said, God's already given us a block of land for that to happen on. And there was a miraculous story about how it was worth nine million pesos and they got it miraculously somehow and then they've got this land.
And he said, but we need to put a shelter because it rains so much in the Philippines. We can't really gather people for an event without a shelter.
I said, well, what's your plan for getting that shelter together? He said, well, I don't really have a plan. He said, but I know that God has done it before. And so if he's done it before, he'll do it again.
He said, I don't know when. I don't know how. But God has done it before and he'll do it again.
Got back in the car with a bunch of people that I was with. We're all preachers. And the comment was made, that man, Pastor Pete, has no sight, but more vision than all of us combined. I can tell you that Jesus is good for the poor because God gave that community, Pastor Pete.
Jesus' Response to Doubt: A Focus on His Mission
So now we get into Luke 7. When the men come to Jesus, they said, John the Baptist sent us to you to ask, are you the one who is to come or should we expect someone else? John the Baptist has boldly announced Jesus' arrival. He's boldly been involved in Jesus' baptism. He's come into conflict with the king, King Herod, over his wife and got himself thrown into jail. And here is John the Baptist, sorry, here is John the Baptist in jail having had announced that the one who's coming to set the captives free is here.
What a confusing challenge to have been the announcer of something that is happening for maybe others out there, news is circling into the prison, but not happening for him.
So frustrated, he sends some people to go and ask, did I go? I know I got the announcement right, but are you it?
Can you imagine in your workplace or in your school, your superior comes to you and says, look, I'm glad you're here, but is there anyone better than you coming? Because you're not doing what I expected.
Or maybe for you, that's a spot you're in with your relationship with Jesus. Not doing what you expected, not coming at the time that you hoped for.
Here's the truth. You can be following the real Jesus and still feel the ache of him not doing what you hoped in the way that you hoped in your timeline.
And so John the Baptist men come and say, are you the one that is to come? Or should we expect someone else?
What does Jesus do? He focuses them back on his primary mission.
My hope today with just this little text is that we would do that as well, that we would be focused back with our questions about why Jesus hasn't done something for us right now with this text onto the number one priority.
So he replies to the messages, look at what I've done. Go back and report to John what you've seen and heard. The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and good news is proclaimed to the poor. The text challenges us to look at Jesus as he truly is rather than becoming disillusioned because he doesn't meet our own expectation or tradition right in this moment. Let's allow Jesus to redirect us to good news to the poor. And then we, too, become Isaiah's oaks of righteousness for the display of his splendor, rebuilders of ancient ruins, restorers of places long devastated.
N.T. Wright says that when Jesus reads this out, that for the early Christians to ignore the plight of the poor would not only be forgetting Jesus' own teaching and example, it would be to forget the whole messianic agenda. Tim Keller said, the more you understand the gospel of grace, the more likely you are to care about people who are poor, marginalized, and hungry. The more that we understand the gospel of grace, the more likely we are to care about people who are poor, marginalized, and hungry.
So coming right back to that community that you only would find if you walk down a small alleyway and wade through some grey water and show up to a scene of chaos and despondency. We get led right to the center of that community, and there in a humble-looking building, we find a small church, and it's called the Good News Praise Center. And I get goosebumps right now even talking about it, because of course he is. When I was thinking heaven is so far from this place, where would you even start to develop a community like this? How would you even help these young people, like really enmeshed in the cycle of planting this church location and building a Christian community there?
Where was Jesus? Right in the center of this community, shining light for all to see, welcoming others, going to them, but then turning them into oaks of righteousness, displays of his splendor for others to see and for that community to be transformed.
The next photo is one that I've actually got now on my desktop, on my computer, because it's a great reminder. That's just their stage. Simple little humble building. The floor is concrete.
It started out with normal ceiling height, and by the time they added more and more concrete because of the water levels, the supermarket nearby improved their drainage and continues to grow as a commercial enterprise, but it's slightly up the hill. The better their drainage is, the worse it is for the people who live in the waste water that comes from the supermarket.
So the church just continues raising the level and serving the people there and bringing the gospel.
If there's ever any question that Jesus is good news for the poor, it would be seeing Jesus with skin on and his team players in that community sharing good news. Isaiah 61 and Luke 7 show us that Jesus is good for the poor. I'm not exaggerating to say there's 9,000 other stories around 30 countries of transformation like that, of apostolic venture into new places to bring the name of Jesus physically in word and deed around the place.
And so I want to commend compassion to you again. I want to thank you as a church community for being a partner. I want to thank you for you as individuals. I know dozens of you are sponsoring children.
Right around the world, one of the key ways that our program operates is through one-to-one sponsorship. It's someone like you picking up a profile like this, at a gathering like this, and saying, I can't change the whole world, but maybe Jesus is leading me to this one.
I think the text gives us a promise today. Jesus is good news for the poor, but then asks a question back to us. Are you?
Jesus is good for the poor. Are you?
And I know there's many ways to respond. I know there's many things that you're already involved in. And I commend that to you as well, because Jesus' work is so expansive.
And just when you think surely he's not at work there, then there's someone doing something else. But right now, I'd just like you, before Jesus, to consider whether you would pick up one of these profiles from Zach in his t-shirt. It's the only one of this kind in the world today.
This represents a real child. It's not a pamphlet. If you're seriously considering sponsoring, you're welcome to take it. But please don't take it as if it's a pamphlet.
This represents the prayers of a family today who are praying that their young person would be sponsored in order to support that church in developing them holistically.
There's some information on the back about their hobbies and activities, family life. There's a map showing where their church is located. And the beautiful thing about this, I didn't plan it, but the beautiful thing about this is that this child here, RJ, children out there from all sorts of churches that have reached out to them. But RJ is from Good News Church, from that church that we visited. And so I'm praying that he would be sponsored and grow to be an oak of righteousness in his community as it is transformed physically and spiritually.
So for those of you who are already sponsoring children, thank you. I encourage you to write letters, just a simple letter.
I know sometimes we overcomplicate it in our head and then we feel guilty that we haven't written for seven years and then we don't do it at all. But I'll tell you from the other side, the confusion that sending a letter introduces is a holy confusion.
And kids are up at night thinking or awake at night thinking they've never left their slum. Why would someone who doesn't know me, who doesn't have the challenges I face, write me a letter? Why would they love me?
Because Jesus is good news for the poor can be the only way to resolve that.
If you are interested, you haven't sponsored before, or maybe you've got capacity to go again and add another child into your generosity, then I encourage you to do that as well. A farmer from Togo explained the impact of his child being sponsored in a way that I want to leave with you. He said simply, if you open my heart, you would only find joy.
We're now going to watch as we conclude a video that shows the story of a man who was sponsored, is now released from that cycle of poverty in Jesus' name, and whose whole family generations have been impacted as a result. Before we do that, I'd like to pray.
Lord Jesus, I thank you. What a relief. You are good news for the poor.
But then also, Lord, I know that you invite us to search our hearts that as we follow you, we would become the same as you, as you transform us, that we would pass it on to transform others.
And so, Lord, I pray that each person here or watching on the stream, Lord, would know clearly the lane that you're calling them to run in, and would respond generously with whatever it is that you're calling them to do.
But to do so because we're convinced of the promise that your identity is that you are good for the poor. In Jesus' name. Amen.
