Turned Upside Down

Sermon from August 23, 2009
12th Sunday after Pentecost
Based on Scripture: Isaiah 29:16

Introduction

There are some things in life where being upside down isn’t a bad thing.

About two years ago people were all excited about growing tomatoes upside down. You could buy an upside down tomato planter for $19.99. An upside down tomato plant had advantages.

When I was growing up, at just about every pot luck, someone made an upside down pineapple cake which was a big favorite. There was nothing wrong with that kind of upside down pastry.

But most of the time being turned upside down is not a good thing.

Having an upside down mortgage -- not ok.

Having the company you work for go upside down because of hard economic times --extremely stressful.

Having a relationship such as a friendship or a marriage go upside down -- devastating.

There are some upside down situations though that are beyond our control such the economy or people ruining our lives. However, there are some circumstances in which we turn things upside down for ourselves and for others.

This is the situation to which Isaiah 29:16 is referring when the Lord declares, “You turn things upside down.”

It’s one thing to have others or to have outside forces turn our live upside down. It’s an entirely different matter when we are the ones turning things upside down for the bad.

Before we look at some of the messages from Isaiah 29, here is the setting.

Background

Isaiah lived about 100 years before the birth of Jesus.

The prophet Isaiah lived at a time when 2/3 of Israel was ravaged by troops from northern Iraq. All that was left of Israel was the region in the south where Jerusalem was located.

You would think that the invasion and occupation of northern Israel would have caused the survivors in southern Israel to humble themselves, wake up and turn their lives to God, but just the opposite happened. The people in southern Israel came up with this weird formulation that since they were spared from the invasion, it must be obvious that they were highly favored and could do no wrong. God would never allow them to be conquered.

The Lord is furious with the attitude of the people in southern Israel and so he appoints a priest named Isaiah to warn the people of hard times to come unless they repent. The Lord offers them forgiveness and mercy if they will just love and honor him.

In Isaiah chapter 29, the Lord chastises the people for doing just the opposite of what He had commanded.

This then brings us to some of the lessons from Isaiah 20.


We Turn Things Upside Down When We Serve God With Our Mouths But Not With Our Hearts, Our Hands, Our Minds, Our Feet.

Isaiah 29:13

Every day we turn our lives upside down when we do just the opposite of what we say even to ourselves that we won’t do. We say to ourselves,
“I’m not going to lose my temper today.”
“I’m not going to eat that bowl of ice cream before I go to sleep tonight.”
“I’m not going to waste an hour on the internet.”

And then we go and do it.

Everyday then we need to rely on Christ. We need him to keep our lives right side up. We can’t do it on our own.

Jesus is the only one who ever lived completely right side up. Everything in his life was in proper order, sequence and direction.

Jesus, help me fight the temptations that I will battle today. Do not let me succumb. Be my strength. Be my defense. Be my offense. Be my wall.

Let what I say be consistent with what I do. Only you can help me.

We Turn Things Upside Down When We Start Telling God What To Do

Isaiah 29: 16

The Lord reminds us that we are all clay pots. How’s that for a reality check?

Sometimes the Bible describes us as amazing creations of God. In today’s terms, we are more impressive than the most complicated computer. In Psalm 139, God builds us up as being fearfully and wonderfully made. In other words, it’s scary to think just how marvelous God created us to be.

But because of our sinful human nature, we can’t handle such compliments. We get huge headed, and we get too full of ourselves. That’s when God has to humble us in verses such as Isaiah 29:16.

Bible scholars say that many people of southern Israel, called Judah, in Isaiah’s day thought they were smarter than God. They thought that they could make alliances and treaties with neighboring nations and that these unions would insure protection against the intimidating troops from northern Iraq called Assyria back then.

The people thought that they had a better plan than what God could come up with. They took matters into their own hands, and so the Lord had to let them know that He is the potter and we humans are the clay or the pots.

Today, too, when we think that we know so much with our Twittering, Blackberries, and Googling, God sobers us by declaring we are nothing but wet clay or dry pots. Any IQ we have, virtual or real, are from the Lord.

All wisdom is centered also in Jesus Christ, God’s Son. In Jesus is all of God’s knowledge and information. In Christ, we find the solutions to life’s problems.

God Will Turn Things Right Side Up.

Isaiah 29: 17-19

The tall forests of Lebanon (enemy of Israel) will become wheat firelds
Isaiah 29:17
The blind shall see
Isaiah 29:18
The meek and poor (who are in tears) shall have joy
Isaiah 29:19

When we are upside down, God will turn us right side up. When everything in our lives are out of kilter, God will put things back in place.

The intimidating country of Lebanon would be humbled.
The blind will be given sight.
The powerless and poor will celebrate.

We may make a mess and mockery of our lives, but Jesus is there to put the pieces together.

The president of one of our church’s seminaries gave a sermon earlier this year.

Humpty Dumpty fell off the wall -- Wall Street. And all the king’s horses and the king’s men couldn’t put Humpty Dumpty together again.

Even God though can put together Wall Street if He chooses. When people on Wall Street and we on Lua Kula Street and Puunui Street are humbled and are crawling on stomachs and realizing that the Lord Almight reigns, then the Lord will put us together again.

Then will He make things right side up again.

Because Jesus Christ lived the perfect upright life for us, God will put us upright also. Because Jesus paid the price for the damages we have done in turning things upside down for the worse, God will make the arrogant forests into humble fields, the blind will see, and the poor in spirit will rejoice.

In Jesus’ name.

Amen.