Seder 58 Sermon: A God for Everyone

 At a sermon at Church of the Messiah on February 22, 2025, Kyle Kettering's text was Isaiah 33:13:  "Hear, you who are far off, what I have done; and you who are near, acknowledge my might."  

Kyle noted that "far and near" can be understood in several possible senses.  This expression can be a merism, a way of saying "everywhere."  The expression can also be understood geographically, in terms of distance from Jerusalem, as in Psalm 97:1 and Isaiah 24:15.  On the other hand, it can be understood in a spiritual sense, as in Isaiah 29:13.  It also can be understood chronometrically, in reference to different eras; or culturally.  Certainly there's a great cultural gap between the ancient Near East and today's United States.  

In whatever sense we understand Isaiah 33:13, God is avaialble to all who are willing to submit to him and obey him--verses 14-16.  People from both Israel and the nations are brought together into one holy temple, as Ephesians 2 explains.

Seder 58: Isaiah 33---The True King Will Prevail

 The miracles of the Exodus sent a powerful message to the Egyptians, the Israelites, and all the people in the region.  Moses' father-in-law Jethro affirmed, "Blessed be the LORD, who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of Pharaoh and has delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians.  Now I know that the LORD is greater than all gods, because in this affair they dealt arrogantly with the people" (Ex 18:10-11).  

But not everyone got the message, and so God gave periodic reminders.  In the late 8th century BC, the haughty Assyrian Empire conquered the Kingdom of Israel and threatened to overrun the kingdom of Judah.  Through the prophet Isaiah, God warned the Assyrians---and all other evil human empires---that there was a day of reckoning in their future.  The destroyer would one day be destroyed (Isa 33:1), for the God of Israel is the true king (verse 5).  When things seemed hopeless for Judah (vv 7-9), God would arise (verse 10), and the plans of the nations would come to nothing (vv 11-12).  All the world would witness this (v 13).  

Isaiah's message to Judah was to place trust in God, not in political alliances with nations in the region.  To succeed, the people needed to submit to God's rule and live according to his ways (vv 14-16).  Then they would live in peace, troubled by no foreign powers (vv 17-24).  

Seder 58: Titus 1--Challenges on Crete for Titus

 In Exodus 18, Jethro instructs Moses on the importance of delegating authority. He advises Moses to find reliable people to assist him and ease the burden he is facing as Israel's human leader (verse 22).  

Shared governance is also important for Christian congregations.  When Paul leaves Titus in charge of Christian communities on the island of Crete, he directs Titus to appoint elders who are ethical and trustworthy (Titus 1:5-9).  

He goes on to tell Titus that qualified elders might not be so easy to find, quoting a famous Cretan (Epimenides) who said that "Cretans are always liars" (verse 12).  Paul affirms that Epimenides' statement is true!

Here is another example illustrating that "all" in the Bible is often not a mathematical "all."  If every single thing uttered by a Cretan is untrue, we are faced with a paradox (known as the Epimenides paradox).  If Epimenides' statement is true, then it is false as the statement of a Cretan.  On the other hand, if Epimenides is liar, then his statement is true. 

But there is no paradox if Cretans are just often unreliable rather than always unreliable.  

Seder 58: Exodus 18---Jethro and Moses

 In the Exodus God sent a message to all the people in that region.  It received a range of reactions.  Two kinds of reactions are contrasted in Exodus 17 and 18.  (Reactions from 40 years later are covered in the book of Joshua.)

The Amalekites launched an attack against Israel, and by implication, an attack on God's plan to bless the nations.  

On the other hand, Moses' father-in-law Jethro confessed his faith in Yahweh as the supreme God (Exod 18:8-12) when he heard about all that had happened.  

In his positive response to the Exodus, Jethro was influenced by his respect for Moses.  In Exodus 18 we also see the mutual respect of Moses and Jethro, as well as Moses' characteristic humility.  When Jethro passed along some wise advice about sharing authority and delegating responsibility, Moses quickly embraced it. 

In a sermon at Church of the Messiah on June 5, 2021, Kyle Kettering emphasized that God's plan brings together those who are "near" and those who are "far off" (Isa 33:13-22; Jer 23:23).  In Jesus he has brought together those who are near (Israel) with those who are far off (the nations) into one people united by one Spirit (Eph 2:11-22).