Are we still a Christian nation? Do we want to be a Christian nation? What is a Biblical vision for Christian rule? Isaiah 11 helps to answer these questions.

Are we a Christian nation?

Last year a census was taken and the results are only just coming out.

This week the data on religion and ethnicity were released and the results hit the headlines. One of the key results was perhaps shocking. For the first time less than half the population put down their religion as ‘Christian,’ many instead opting for ‘no religion.’

This once again sparked a debate over whether you can call our country a Christian country. In many ways the answer to this question is, “Yes, we are a Christian country.” After all our new monarch will be crowned in a Christian ceremony in a Christian church. We have a national church and Bishops in the House of Lords. Perhaps more fundamentally, though, Christianity has been the dominant religion since England as a nation was conceived for well over 1,000 years. The values and outlook we take for granted are far more deeply influenced by our Christian faith than many people realise. For example, the idea that every human being is of equal value and worth arises from the Biblical idea that we are all made in the image of God. We take that idea for granted, but it would have been alien to many of the ways of thinking that existed in cultures before the influence of Christianity. So, yes, in many ways we are a Christian country.

Yet, on the other hand there are many reasons to answer, ‘No!’ to that question. After all, less than half the population would now even call themselves Christians and worse than that a very small minority could be called, ‘active Christians’, who attend and support a local church or want to grow in their understanding of faith or a relationship with God. Christianity or faith is hardly ever spoken about in the news or national discussions. In short people’s knowledge of God in this country has shrunk massively. All these facts suggest that we are no longer a Christian nation.

But perhaps we need to ask ourselves a more important question. Do we want to be a Christian nation? And if so, what do we mean by that? What might a Christian nation look like?

Isaiah’s Vision: A Better nation

Isaiah lived 700 years before Jesus. His was not a Christian nation, but it was meant to be a nation that worshipped the same God of the Bible. In a sense it was clearly, God’s nation, there was the temple, the Priesthood and kings, who could track their ancestry back to the great King David, the Son of Jesse.

But there was a growing trend to abandon this faith. Isaiah is critical of the ‘religion’ of his age, that had become focussed only on the ritual and abandoned God’s call to right living. Worse than that there was a move to embrace some of the more fashionable gods of the age alongside or instead of the God of their ancestors. Increasingly, Isaiah’s nation, Judah, seemed to be drifting away from God.

And Isaiah as a prophet, regularly warns of God’s judgement on the nation for this. Indeed, they were facing one of their greatest challenges, the rapid rise of the Assyrian empire, who were successfully invading many of the neighbouring nations.

Yet, he also gives great visions of a better future for the nation, an idealisation of the kind of nation that would come about, if the rulers and people were to truly follow their God and a vision of what God would one day achieve in bringing about.

Chapter 11 is one of these visions. So, let’s look at what kind of better nation Isaiah says God will bring about.

A nation of hope not despair – 11:1

Firstly, it is a nation of hope not despair. The image at the start is of a shoot coming out of a stump, the stump of Jesse. Jesse was David’s father and so this stump stands for the dynasty of kings that came after David and the nation they ruled.

Because of the threat of the marauding Assyrians, it was a nation in deep despair, a nation and kingship that felt itself as good as dead, things were going from bad to worse.

But Isaiah says, just as sometimes a dead stump, suddenly produces a green shoot, so God will give Judah new life and a better future. It may feel like nothing can be done about the Assyrians, but somehow God will save them. There is hope and this hope will be linked with a better king.

We too live in times, where the challenges seem to be mounting up and things seem to be going from bad to worse. Yet, the same God is still there. He controls the future and he promises that in the end he will bring us to a far better future. If you are feeling like a dead stump now, trust in the Lord, to bring about new shoots of life.

In such times, don’t we want to be a nation of hope not despair? This is what being a Christian nation means. Isn’t that something we long for?

A nation of justice not corruption – 11:3-5

Secondly, Isaiah’s vision of a better nation is of one of justice rather than corruption. A country, where those in charge make sure that the poor are cared for and looked out for and where wickedness is punished.

To be a Christian nation is to stop corruption and to make sure the poor are cared for. The truth is this is what our Christian heritage has on the whole helped us to bring about. Bribery and corruption are relatively rare compared with many parts of the world. The poor are pretty well supported, through benefits, the National Health Service and so on.

Yet, at the same time as we are moving away from a focus on Christian faith, that these things are beginning to slip away, as we hear of corruption in giving contracts for PPE, the increased reliance on food banks and a chronically underfunded NHS. Don’t we want these values to be reinforced? Surely, they are part of what it means to be a Christian nation.

A nation of peace not conflict – 11:6-9

Thirdly, Isaiah’s vision is of a nation that has peace not conflict. Perhaps this was particularly pertinent in a world where the Assyrian Empire were causing so much war and bloodshed.

The imagery he uses to describe this new state is really beautiful. Animals that would normally hunt and tear apart their prey, being no threat, but living in peaceful co-existence. This is a place with no harm or destruction, where little children can play in utter safety!

Our world seems to be increasingly full of conflict and harm. Marriage and relationship break ups are all too common, we have become increasingly aware of terrible abuse carried out against children. Our national debates seem to be become more vicious and critical and there is talk of culture wars. And internationally of course we are faced with an horrific war in Europe.

Isn’t Isaiah’s vision of a truly Christian nation something that we long for and want?

Isaiah’s Solution: The Knowledge of the LORD

So how can such a vision come about? Isaiah’s answer seems to be ‘the knowledge of the LORD’, which he mentions in verse 2 and verse 9. Let’s look a bit more closely at what he says will bring this about.

A Spirit Filled Ruler – 11:2

Firstly, Isaiah says in order to have this kind of nation, you need a ruler who is filled with the Spirit of the LORD. The emphasis here is not on any spiritual experience or miraculous powers, but on a Spirit that gives the ruler, wisdom, understanding and knowledge and fear of God. It is of a ruler whose heart is to delight in doing what God wants, who prays earnestly and seriously, ‘Your Kingdom come’, ‘Your will be done.’

In Isaiah’s lifetime, such a ruler did come about. After Ahaz was Hezekiah, one of the godliest kings in Jerusalem. He encouraged people to live according to his laws and when it looked like Assyria was going to conquer Jerusalem, he cried out to God and God rescued Jerusalem from the siege.  Because of his rule, the kingdom continued under the rule of a Davidic king for another 100 years.

Yet, Hezekiah, only partially fulfilled this prophecy. When Jesus came, he brought an even greater fulfilment as the ultimate Son of David, the one who would rule at God’s right hand. The Spirit of the Lord rested on him and he taught his followers the knowledge of the LORD in an even more profound way and gave us the good news of God’s Kingdom that was open to all when they turned back to Jesus.

A Knowledge Filled Earth -11:9b-10

Jesus came not just to Jerusalem, but he sent his followers to preach the good news, the gospel, the knowledge of God revealed in and by His Son to the whole world. And they went. The reason England has been Christian for over 1,000 years is because that gospel came here. And the gospel is still going out throughout the world, bringing transformation and change to nations that value hope, justice and peace.

Isaiah’s vision was more than a vision for a better nation, it is a vision for a transformed world. It is an international vision. Indeed, it says the nations will rally to the banner of the root of Jesse to Jesus. His Kingdom is both not of this world, yet it is for this world. It is both the hope of a perfect future that he will bring about when he returns and a vision for a better world now that we can work towards as his followers. But all this comes about through the growth of the knowledge of God, brought about in and through Jesus.

Can we achieve Isaiah’s Vision without Isaiah’s solution?

So, do we want a nation of hope, justice and peace or are we happy to slip into a state of despair, corruption and conflict? Most people would long for the former rather than the latter, yet Isaiah would say that we can only have these things, if we embrace the knowledge of God.

We live in a nation that has many benefits from its Christian heritage, but where the present reality is that the knowledge of God is fading away.

The danger is that as we lose the knowledge of God, we will gradually lose the benefits of our Christian heritage. Increasingly, people live for today and don’t care about the future, because they have lost hope. They live for themselves without caring about others because they don’t take God’s judgement seriously. And they are increasingly angry with others, because they have lost touch with the God of grace.

As those who do take the knowledge of God seriously, who have met with the root of Jesse, Jesus Christ, let’s play our part and pray for the spread and reception of the knowledge of God in our nation, that we may truly become a Christian nation in every sense of the word!

What should be the target and strategy for the church?

Advent the season of hope pointing to Jesus – following his ways.

It is a few days until we can start opening advent calendars but today marks the fourth Sunday before Christmas and so is known as the first Sunday in advent, the official start of the church  season of advent. 

Advent counts us down to the start of Christmas on the 25th December. Advent also gives us an opportunity to reflect on the first Christmas when Jesus came into the world as God with us to then bring us hope through his death and resurrection. We also, in the advent season, look ahead to Jesus returning. To bring to completion all that God has promised.

Our verse for today from our Isaiah reading says ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the temple of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths’

We are going to explore that in more detail but this passage is a passage of hope, that our future is secure if we walk in the light of the Lord, following his ways, his path, following in his footsteps.

Situation for Judah

Two kingdoms

This passage was for the Kingdom of Judah. The Jewish people came from the twelve tribes of Israel and under David all the tribes came together under his rule. But after the death of David’s son Solomon, the kingdoms became divided into the southern kingdom which was made up of the people from the tribe of Judah and the northern kingdom containing all the other tribes.  Isaiah was prophesying to the southern kingdom. 

Through the prophet Isaiah God speaks to his people warning them what will happen if they don’t turn back to God and follow his ways. The verses either side of Isaiah 2:1-5 (1:21-31; 2:6-22) are verses of judgement but these five verses themselves are verses of hope. A target that can be reached and then within these verses are also a strategy of how to reach it.

It is a target that goes beyond the hopeless situation they are in facing God’s judgement and leads them to a future of hope of restoration.

Target and strategy

I’m reaching the halfway stage of my curacy and there are several targets that I am supposed to be reaching. It’s coming up to the halfway assessment and Paul and I have to complete this form to evidence achievement of these targets and to put in place for the next half of my placement how I will achieve them. To strategize.

Target and strategy can seem quite cold words but actually really it’s about achieving the goal, the dream, the purpose that God has for me and in these verses in Isaiah.

Isaiah sees a word from God. He sees a vision of a future, a target to be reached, or really they’re  a dream of what could be. We read 

• in v2 that Isaiah sees that ‘the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established as the highest of the mountains.’ Mountains were often places where altars and shrines were put up for a variety of gods. In saying God’s house will be the highest, it is saying that God’s kingdom will be established as the kingdom. 
• This kingdom is a place that people from all nations will stream to.
• There will be a restored faith in v3 where people will return to the house of the Lord – the temple – so that he may teach us his way and that we may walk in his paths
• There will be Peace from conflict. V4 states they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. Violence and wars were a common feature in that time. Nations would rise up against nation. These words are written into that time showing a future where that will no longer be the norm. One commentator writes, ‘In the midst of war and devastation, the people of Israel are called to thinking beyond what surrounds them and believe that there is hope for change in God’s kingdom.’

So if this is the vision of what Gods kingdom could be, the target, the dream, what is the strategy? How is this dream to be achieved?

Strategy  

The strategy can be gained from v3 and v5, to follow the God of Jacobs paths, and walk in His light

• For the people of Judah walking in his paths, being taught his ways was focussed around the Ten Commandments and the scrolls of scripture that they had – the Torah. A relationship with God focussed on temple worship and learning about their God through the reading and teaching of scripture . (This actually happened later on during King Hezekiahs reign – but was short lived)
• Despite warning after warning Gods people could not remain faithful to God. They  did not follow his paths and eventually Israel was captured first firstly by the Babylonian’s and then Judah was invaded by the Assyrian’s and Gods people were scattered. Yet through other prophets a message of hope was still proclaimed, the same hope Isaiah saw, this future hope had been promised and God would fulfil it
• And so in the New Testament Jesus came to fulfill that vision to be the example and the means by which we can walk in the light and participate in this image of hope. Where Gods kingdom is the kingdom, open to all nations, where relationship with God is restored and is a kingdom of peace and hope. 
• Jesus taught his disciples the way of this kingdom in all that he taught them and he summed up the commandments from the Old Testament as this – they’re said here most weeks – Love the Lord your God  with all your heart all your soul all your mind all your strength and love your neighbour as yourself on these two things hang all the law and the prophets. It is by following these commands that Jesus followers can be walking in the light. Pointing others to Gods kingdom of hope and peace by their love for God and their love for others.

Our situation today.

How can we receive and give that peace and hope today?

I was at a curacy weekend away recently and a lot of people were showing real concern about our current world situation and were reporting that for many there is a sense of Hopelessness around. Worry and concern for the future. I wonder if that’s your experience too. Are you tempted to turn off the news.

How about in our own lives. There are many people that we are regularly praying for as churches in central Ramsgate that are seriously unwell. There are people with Ongoing financial concerns.

And yet this passage in Isaiah can speak to us in those seemingly hopeless situations.

Our Target is the same as in Isaiah – there is a future vision a future hope of Gods eternal kingdom – a kingdom of peace. Even in the current circumstances we can trust in the certainty of Gods eternal kingdom.

And we can be certain and reach that dream by walking the light of the Lord. By knowing his faithfulness, following his ways and being his hope in the world. 

The bible contains many passages that instruct us how knowing Jesus changes the way we think and behave and Gods spirit in us helps us to follow these things through, by not giving into sin and temptations which do not promote his kingdom of love peace and hope.

Conclusion – So in this season of advent As we walk in the light of the Lord may we know His hope and bring that hope to others. May we spend time reflecting on how we can walk more fully in the light, our strategy may involve putting down unhelpful habits and picking up new ones that help demonstrate Gods eternal kingdom by being his people of love hope and peace, worshipping God until he comes again and establishes his kingdom for ever. His kingdom of hope. So this advent season, as Isaiah said in v5, come let us walk in the light of the Lord.

In this short and snappy parable Jesus gives a very strong warning against greed. But what is wrong with greed?

Black Friday – Buying Better Possessions

This Friday it is Black Friday. The special sales day, which is meant to kick off the Christmas shopping bonanza. We are bombarded with adverts encouraging us to make the most of the bargains and often see people queuing and fighting for the best deals.

We are offered deals on all the latest and best stuff:

• iPhone 14,
• 55in TV screen,
• Play Station 5
• Samsung Smartwatch
• Swanky Coffee Machine

All of this adds up to encouraging us to focus on gathering an abundance of possessions.

But will all this stuff really make you happier? Will your life truly be better as a result?

Jesus’s words act like a pin to the ballooning consumerism of Black Friday. He says, “… life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”

Arguing over Money

This comment comes in response to a request from someone in the crowd:

“Teacher tell my brother to divided the inheritance with me.”

Probably his father has died and now there is an argument between his brother and him about sharing out the inheritance. Such arguments and manoeuvrings to gain more money are just as common today as they were then. An inheritance is likely to be the biggest amount of money people will gain in one go, so if having lots of money is what matters to them, it is at this stage that their greed will show itself and often erupt into bitter and destructive family disputes. I wouldn’t be surprised if most of you here were aware of such disputes.

Jesus refuses to be caught up in someone else’s argument. Rather than joining the argument over the money from the inheritance, he turns it into an argument about people’s attitude to money in order to warn both the crowd then and ultimately us now.

Jesus may not care about this man’s inheritance, but he does care about his soul and ours. So, he issues a very strong warning:

“Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed;…”

(Luke 12:15)

Again and again in the New Testament and the Bible, greed is listed as one of the most serious of sins. Do we watch out for it? Do we guard our souls against it?  Or are we so contaminated by the consumerism of our society that we allow our souls to be deeply infected with a desire to accumulate an abundance of possessions and to grab hold of as much money as possible, no matter what the cost to our relationships or our souls?

Fool’s Gold

To ram home the warning, Jesus tells a parable. It is perhaps one of the most simple parables. There is just one rich man and God. Yet it packs a powerful punch.

The rich man is a farmer and he is already rich. But then he has a bumper crop. He is going to be even richer! His only problem is that he now has so much that he doesn’t know what to do with it all. Then he comes up with a solution. He’ll build bigger barns, so that he can live comfortably and luxuriously off the proceeds for the rest of his life, eating, drinking and being merry.

Then God responds and says, “You fool!”

This rich man’s whole attitude is utterly foolish and wrong.

But why? What is wrong with his attitude. I think we can point to three aspects:

1. Solitary

First of all, his attitude is very solitary. The short story, puts over a real sense of isolation for this man. It is mainly about the man deliberating with himself and talking to himself. It is all about ‘I’:

What will I do?

I have no place to store my crops.

This is what I’ll do.

I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones.

I will store my surplus grain.

I’ll say to myself.

The only time he says, ‘You’ is when he is talking to himself!

This is totally and utterly self-centred. No other person gets a look in. It hasn’t even occurred to him he could use his extra wealth to help others or give to the poor.

This in itself is a challenge to the man who approached Jesus. His concern was for his own gain from the inheritance, fighting for his own selfish ends. No doubt the battle was ruining his relationship with his brother.

When greed grips our hearts, then we quickly become self-obsessed and selfish. We have a solitary attitude that can damage our relationships and stop us caring for those in need around us.

Paul warns in 1 Timothy 6:9:

“People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction.” (1 Timothy 6:9)

Perhaps part of the reason for loneliness and relationship breakdown in our society today is the strong encouragement to run after bigger and better possessions that creates quite a selfish attitude.

Even in the church how selfish are we with our wealth?

John Wesley famously said,

“Earn all you can,

Save all you can,

Give all you can.”

Do you give all you can or just enough to salve our conscience?

Are we more concerned to use our wealth for the good of others or so that we can eat drink and be merry for many years to come?

Ultimately, such a self-centred attitude to money, makes us fools in God’s sight!

1. Temporary

The second reason the rich man of the story is a fool is that his attitude is too focussed on the temporary. He plans to store up wealth for this life, but fails to take into account death. God says to him:

“You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?” (Luke 12:20)

From the perspective of eternity, gathering more stuff for yourself is pointless. When you die, you leave it all behind. As God says to the rich man: ‘Then who will get it?’ Not you is the point.

To ignore our death as relevant to our life is all too common and all too easy in our world of relatively good health and long life expectancy. Yet, it is ultimately foolish.

In Psalm 39, the Psalmist says:

“Show me, O LORD, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting is my life. ” (Psalm 39:4)

Those who know that their life is drawing to an end, suddenly discover that the things they value and their attitudes change.

As Christians we know that one of the greatest gifts we have from God is eternal life. We can have a confidence about death, which means that we should not fear thinking about it or contemplating how little is our time on earth.

When we do that surely, we must move from gathering things that are only temporary and working for what is eternal. Looking forward to the day when Jesus acknowledges us before the angels and God.

1. Idolatry

The third reason the rich man in the story is a fool is that his greed is actually a form of idolatry. His possessions have taken the place of God in his life.

Jesus goes on to say in verse 21:

“This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich towards God.” (Luke 12:21)

In all his deliberations the man did not once think about God. Jesus tells the story in the context of a Jewish culture for whom talk about God and the idea of God was very much a focus. Yet, this man in the story shows no concern for God, when he thinks about what to do with his new found wealth.

Indeed, the man that had come seeking Jesus’s help. Seemed to see Jesus, the God-man not as someone to listen to and serve, but someone who could be enlisted to serve his own selfish ends.

In both cases, concern for God’s will or kingdom was not a reality in their deliberations about money.

As Christians it is even easier for us to ignore God when it comes to thinking about our money, because unlike Jesus’s time God is hardly ever spoken about outside of churches.

In fact there is a sense that money has become the replacement god. In Colossians it says:

“Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.” (Colossians 3:5)

As Christians then if we are to take Jesus’s strong warnings seriously, if we are to avoid the foolishness of allowing wealth to become a false god, then we need to work harder than ever to consider what God wants us to use our wealth for. This is the wise approach.

What we need to do is learn what it means to be rich towards God.

So how can we be ‘rich towards God’?

To end let me suggest three areas where we can be rich towards God:

1. Care for God’s World

First, of all when it comes to climate change. As Christians we believe that this world was God’s beautiful creation and Genesis tells us that our purpose is to care for it and tend it.

As such as Christians we should be at the forefront of calls to deal with the problems of climate change – even though it may cost us financially! To put it bluntly, investing in a change to green technologies is a far better use of money than just gaining an increasing abundance of possessions that we don’t need!

Sadly, it is attitudes of greed and wanting to hold on to wealth that are the biggest barrier to dealing with the climate change crisis.

1. Care for God’s People

Secondly, if we believed that God has called us to be a part of a family, then rather than being selfish with our money and possessions we should want to use them to help God’s people.

This can be done locally and informally as we seek to support people in our own community who may be struggling – especially during this cost of living crisis. Yet, we must not forget our brothers and sisters around the world, who are being impacted even more severely by the food shortages caused by the war in Ukraine. Perhaps more than ever we should be giving to Christian aid charities like Tearfund or Christian Aid.

1. Care for God’s Mission

Finally, we should be concerned for God’s mission. That includes the need to equip and enable the church to be effective at mission in our local area.

We need to be honest. The church is in decline, so there is less people to give. If those people fail to be more generous, then the resources we have will be stretched even more thinly, our mission will suffer and the decline will become worse.

If we truly believe that people’s greatest need is Jesus, then we will want to be generous and fund a church that is properly equipped to reach out with the Good News.

Good Friday not Black Friday

So are we being rich towards God? Or is our attitude to wealth selfish, foolish and godless?

Black Friday may encourage us towards an attitude of greed, but Good Friday surely encourages us towards generosity.

In 1 Corinthians, Paul says:

“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.” (2 Corinthians 8:9)

If Jesus was willing to give up the wealth and riches of heaven to the utter poverty and humiliation of the cross, then how can we not like Christ, reject the foolishness of greed and act in great generosity towards God?