A shoot will come from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit..

Friday at the men’s Bible breakfast Pastor John mentioned that a number of people were getting together in downtown Denver in protest of a Christian church being denied the opportunity to have a float in the Parade of Lights. It was announced on the radio that people were going to gather and sing Christmas carols, not holiday songs, not Frosty and Rudolf but Silent Night, Come All Ye Faithful, and things like that. I thought it was a great idea and I declared I would go, and then the day happened: There was preschool chapel, phone calls to make, Cambodian House church, sick members to visit, a couple of errands to run, and I had just enough time to put up my Christmas lights; the church needed a couple things from the store and before you know it, the day and evening were gone. Despite my best intentions I just got busy and forgot.

I wasn’t bad or evil. It wasn’t that I was involved in some gross sin or selfish pursuit of me or for me. I just got busy. This led me to think about all the little compromises that got the house of David, of whom Isaiah is writing, in such a mess. Oh, it is easy to point to David and all the mistakes he made with Bathsheba. “They’re the reason, yep it is their fault.” No, as I read the Old Testament I see time and time again how men and women just like us get busy and begin to neglect the things of God.

God had blessed them with security and prosperity. They made a compromise here and there. A little less trust in God here- after all things are going well- and a little more trust in me here- a little more attention to business and personal interest and a little less time with God. All those little compromises added up over time and then one day they looked around at a nation falling apart and wondered, “How did we get here?”

How do our lives often get in such a state of disarray? Do we set out one day to become an alcoholic, or plunge ourselves into deep financial trouble? Do we say, “Today, I’ll begin casting a golden calf of false belief,” or “Today, I think I will let my heart grow cold to the things of God.” No, it happens over time a little compromise here and a little self-serving justification there. Before we know it we are in a place we don’t expect - doing that which we’d never thought we’d be doing.

The prophet Isaiah uses a wonderful illustration to describe how bad things had gotten. The strong- seemingly invincible family tree of David has become nothing but a splintered, lifeless stump… And from it was to come the One who was to save us from sin, and now the tree has been reduced to a rotting stump and obviously a stump incapable of producing a royal shoot. In worldly terms it is impossible- all is lost. But do not despair for despite all that had been done- the mess made of things - it was not beyond the reach of the Father. He has declared through the Prophet that a shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse. . And if that were not enough, God has promised He will bear much fruit. God has a way of using contrasts to drive home a point. From “lifelessness” I will bring life. Sounds like baptism- from being spiritually dead to alive in Christ, from “a fruitless life” in the eyes of God, to a life that is pleasing to Him. That is amazing! Despite my shortcomings because of this One who will be the shoot from the stump of Jesse- this Son from the House of David, this one called Emmanuel- because of Him I’m pleasing to God- my life will bear fruit pleasing to God.

I understand this, for my kids are less than perfect but still I love them in spite of what they do, and if I who am evil can do this good thing how much more can my Father in heaven do, who is prefect.

Of this shoot from the stump of Jesse- this Jesus- “listen to Him” declared God when Jesus was baptized. For He is My Son- He is God in the flesh appearing and in Him will be The Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.. Being fully God He will speak not the words of men but the very Words of God.

Many of us read provocative, thought inspiring and challenging things from authors like Martin Luther, Max Lucado, C.S. Lewis, Confucius, Robert Frost, and Charles Shultz but none of their words are God’s Words: able to see into the heart, convict men of sin and forgive that sin; Apart from God none of them can offer real and lasting comfort and peace.

God’s Words carry power and truth and will demand full acceptance. This is where the House of David, the Romans of St Paul’s time, and we today get in trouble. We compromise that Word of God. We twist it to say what we want. We neglect the parts that cramp our lifestyles and if necessary drown out the message by listening to the words of the world. Then we lose our fear of God and the aroma of our lives rises up to God like five-day-old fish left in the kitchen trash. But of this Jesus it is written that He will delight in the fear of the Lord.. His life will be a fragrance that is pleasing to God. For His life will be as the Psalmist writes “blessed” for he is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers but His delight is in the laws of the Lord and on His Law He meditates day and night. He can please God- He can be blessed because He is God. And we can be blessed, as well, for He has drawn us to Himself. He has bid us to come and listen to God’s Word. When and where the scripture are read and studied, He will bless and nourish us. Come and be in My fellowship here in my house and wherever people gather in My name, and I will call you “blessed”.

From that stump will come the One to save us from the stink of all our self-centeredness and our self-absorbed busyness. He saved us from the stench of all our worldly compromises and neglectfulness regarding the things of God- He will save us from all our sins. He did so by and at the cross. There he took from me and the whole world all that is offensive to God- He took our sins- and He paid the price demanded to forgive them: All His blood wrung from His body and His heart crushed by God’s wrath against sin. Again, the stump of Jesse looked defeated but on the third day Jesus rose up from the dead, victorious over sin and death. And He calls those who believe in Him “blessed”.

Imagine, me, “blessed”. I’ve messed up my witness for Him. I messed up lots of things. I have great intentions but the good I would do, I don’t do. The bad things, the improper things, and the sinful things I know I shouldn’t do, these I do; yet God forgives me. More than that He loves me- has declared Himself for me. He is my champion- I see this as I read of His life from Bethlehem to Jerusalem; I really see this at the cross. I see it at the Lord’s Table where He comes to me in a real yet sacramental way. There He takes hold of me if only for a moment forgiving my sins and strengthening my faith.

All around me are people who don’t know of this shoot from the stump of Jesse. They are living lives that make them smell okay to the world; but to God, because they are apart from Him, they smell of five-day-old fish. They, like all of us, are in need of hearing of the One who has taken out the trash of the world. They are in need of knowing about our Jesus who takes from us the stink of our sins and freely gives us the gift of a life- fragrant and pleasing to God.

I came across a cartoon in which the teenage son is supposed to take out the trash. He like many waits until it is well beyond full. As a matter of fact in the cartoon he has a stepladder and from the top he is adding to the trash an apple core and is in so many words saying, “it isn’t full yet.” All around us a people who are living well intended lives but apart from Christ their trash is overflowing. They like us need to hear of Jesus. The one who has taken out the trash of our lives. They, like us need to hear of this shoot from the stump of Jesse- this Jesus who came to save us from our sinful selves. Amen.