No. 37. >> Isaiah 42:3 speaks of a merciful servant. It seems to me that this can be helpful to us. How can this text help shape a pastor's ministry? >>DR. DANIEL L. GARD: Let me read a little further in this 42nd chapter of Isaiah. Begin with the third verse. A bruised reed he will not break. And a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. In faithfulness he will bring forth justice. He will not falter or be discouraged until he establishes justice on earth. In his law the islands will put their hope. This is what God the Lord says: He who created the heavens and stretch them out. Who spread out the earth and all that comes out of it. Who gives breath to its people and life to those who walk on it. I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness. I will take your hand. I will keep you and make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles. To open eyes that are blind. To free captives from prison. And to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness. One of the most difficult questions for the church and her ministry is: How do we let the light of Christ shine through us to the world? It's not really a matter of should we. But rather, it's a matter of how and where do we begin. The Bible describes the world as a harvest field. One that's simply ripe and ready for harvest. And yet, we also know that daily many die without having known the Savior. If, indeed, there was ever a time -- in fact, in all times and places this has been so. But how much more so today has there ever been a need for the church to be active in reaching out for Christ as it is today. Yet, the harvest field is not just in other parts of the world. It is not only among people in your community and mine who have no church home. But it can also very often be among those who are sitting in the pews of the church. Among those who perhaps are there for a variety of reasons. None of which are, perhaps, the right reason. What I'm driving at here is that the mission field is huge. Sometimes in modern church parlance we speak of missions or being missional as having to do only with outreach. I would propose that that's a very limited view of being a missionary. The pastoral office is also missional in reaching inward within the parish to those, yes, who are baptized. Those who are called. Those who have heard the message. And those that need the strength of that message to be repeated to them. Missions has the outward emphasis but also very much I believe an inward message. Now, understand this, that I'm not saying that perhaps those who are members of a Lutheran parish but have not been shall we say overly active are necessarily headed for hell. Salvation comes not by how often you occupy a church pew. But by faith in Jesus Christ. What I am saying is that the longer a person stays away from Christ in his presence among his body, the church, the more that person's salvation becomes jeopardized simply because the message becomes so much more distant and far from them. For where else do we hear the Word? Where else do we receive his blessed sacrament? So we need to be concerned as pastors about our brothers and sisters in Christ who are not with us on a particular Sunday morning. How can we be missional or outreach to them? Before we can effectively reach into the community or the world as a whole, to bring the light of Christ out into a world of darkness, we also have the task of reaching within the church. The words of our text speak of a Messiah who is coming and whose ministry would be one that I hope your pastoral ministry is based upon with regard to those inactive members of your church. They tell us a lot about how to imitate our Lord. Remember what Isaiah said? A bruised reed he will not break. And the dimly burning wick, he will not quench. Well, let's look at the method of this one of whom Isaiah spoke. The prophet said: He shall not cry nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. Now, that does not mean that Jesus never spoke in a loud voice. But rather, it's prophetic or poetic language which is used to emphasize his attitude towards people. He cared and he did everything he could to let people know that he cared. That he loved them. He ministered in his own words to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. In other words, to those who were members of the nation but did not actively participate in the true faith of Israel. These people were like bruised reeds and dimly burning wicks. Not broken reeds. But bruised. Not quenched wicks, but dimly burning. Jesus did not desire ever to destroy them. But quite the opposite. He intended to heal the bruising and to tend the flame. So that flame which now only barely flickered would grow brightly. Never dimly. Thus, he was first and foremost, the gentle Jesus. When needed, yes, he could thunder the law. Just as his people are called and preachers are called to thunder the law and preach the judgement of God. But he always did so for one purpose. And that was to soften their hearts so that they might receive the Gospel. He loved the people. And wanted the best for them. That was his method. He used the law for the purpose of waking up those who were spiritually dead to the sweetness and the joy of the Gospel. His goal was to in the words of the text to open the eyes of the blind. To bring the prisoner out of the prison. And them that sit in darkness out of the prison house. This Christ was the great liberator. The one who came to set mankind free. Free from prison. Free from the darkness of the world. His goal was for all mankind, not just for those who are literally blind or literally sitting in a prison cell. Blindness is the natural state of the human being. And being a prisoner is the condition of all of those who are trapped by sin. In other words, it's our condition. Jesus had only one reason for coming into the world. That was to open our eyes. And by opening our eyes to set us free from the prison of our own making. That's what the suffering servant, the Messiah, the servant of Israel, the servant of Isaiah spoke, that's what he was all about. That's what Calvary was about. If Christ did not die in our place, we would have no hope for freedom. We would live and die as spiritually blind, as spiritually imprisoned. But because Christ did accomplish our salvation, did arise from the grave, we can all know what his love and gentleness has accomplished for us. That which we could never know on our own. Freedom. And heaven itself.