Lesson

1. Servant – Isaiah 42:1

Isa 42:1  Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations. 

Isa 42:2  He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street; 

Isa 42:3  a bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice. 

Isa 42:4  He will not grow faint or be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands wait for his law. 

  • Word is the same word translated “slave” in your old testament.
  • Mission to the nations through a servant is a common theme in OT (Joseph, Daniel, Naaman’s slave girl)
  • Not “upstream influence,” not mission allied with power
  • In all three examples – exile, dislocation, loss of rights, being subsumed into a new and pagan culture, yet persistent witness, integrity, service.
  • Who is the servant in these verses: if Israel – God is sending them to Babylon as an anointed witness. Dispersion as deployment!
  • More than Israel because “will bear the iniquity of Israel” and NT shows us Jesus.
  • Jesus “did not come to be served but to serve…”
  • Yombe Proverb (DRC), “No serious person makes himself the leader of others.”
  • Incarnation: limits himself to human flesh, born in a manger not a palace.
  • Washing feet – the lowest of slaves
  • 30 pieces of silver – sold for a slave’s price, dies the death of a slave
  • Paul, 1Co 9:19  For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant (slave) to all, that I might win more of them. 
  • “A slave was an outsider who brought no rights with him from the society he came from, and had no claims on the society which maintained him.” Wiedemann.
  • What does it mean for us to enter a new culture as the servants/slaves of that community. What are you here to do? “I’m here to serve you…”
  • And how does this verse help us?
  • Isa 42:1  Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations. 
  • “my chosen” – easy to feel insignificant
  • “in whom my soul delights” – easy to feel downtrodden, undelighted-in.
  • “I have put my Spirit upon him.”