Isaiah, Chapter 3

Good morning. Isaiah chapter 3, the first dozen verses in Isaiah chapter 3, focuses on the leadership and on the men in the nation of Israel. It isn't presented as Isaiah saying, this is my opinion, or this is how I think it looks. He presents it, this is how God views it. This is how God sees it. It's God's assessment, not just Isaiah's opinion.

And one of the things that comes out pretty clearly is the assessment of the leadership, the assessment of the men particularly, is not good. As he looks at it, the masculine expression within the society of Judah had gotten pretty sad and pretty blurred. I think our own society is heading in that direction as well. What was supposed to characterize the men was not holding up. to the biblical standard. Rather than being something that was God-given and described by the Lord, it was instead becoming something that was rather disgusting.

Then as we look at the passage we'll be looking at here this morning, it pictures God as the judge of Israel. That's kind of like the core of the chapter. God is the one judging His people. And then it takes on an expression there that shows the oppression, the abuse of the poor, for the sake of the gain of the leaders. And we'll look at that, of course, in more detail.

Now, the last part of the chapter switches, not looking at the men primarily, but the women of Israel. You have some distortion and some degradation in the picture of masculinity in the culture. Then in the last part of the chapter, you see the expression of femininity.

What had it become? Rather than looking at depth of character as a focal point in a woman, the question had become, how do I look? Sound familiar? How do I look? Huge focus on superficial attraction. Certainly our own culture has gravitated in that direction. I saw a presentation recently and here was a lady who already looked quite attractive, and she had begun a series and had actually been through more than two dozen plastic surgeries after she already started off as what any of us would call an attractive woman. Our culture has become obsessed with how do I look, how do I look, how do I look, and that also characterized the people of Israel.

We say here, tell me straight, Doc, is it serious? Isaiah had been telling the people of Israel about their dismal condition, giving them flashes of hope as they look forward to the future, and we've concentrated on those previously. He had been telling them about their dismal moral and spiritual condition, and we've seen that as we've stepped through the first couple of chapters here. So the question is, is it serious? Most certainly. Most certainly it's serious, a very serious condition. Now here looking at chapter 3, he tells them exactly, here's the way it looks guys, and it's not good. It's not a pretty picture.

The whole chapter is devoted to the assessment of their present moral and spiritual condition with the core that we'll be concentrating on this morning being God is the judge, God is the one who's discerning these things, it's not us. As we look at this passage here, And this is the passage of verse 13 through 15 we'll be focusing on. One of the things we're going to do, just for the sake of being able to look at it all on a slide, we'll break it into two in the middle of verse 14. Don't typically do that, but I want to make sure that we've got that clearly marked for you so that you see what we're doing. The first part of that, verse 13 and the first half of verse 14, the Lord arises to contend and stands to judge the people. The Lord enters into judgment with the elders and princes of His people. We'll break it in the middle of that verse there. Now, I want you to get ready for a Hebrew poetry pattern.

You might have noted we've mentioned this quite a bit already, and we're going to be mentioning it more. And by the way, after this, we've got 63 chapters yet to go, so we're going to see it a lot. So I thought we've got to come up with some kind of a shortened code to get the point across. And so one thought, after thinking this through very carefully, So we want to consider this very carefully. I've given this a lot of thought. Perhaps one of the approaches we could take is to look at maybe the Hebrew poetry pattern, maybe come up with a logo or something that helps communicate it. Well, anyway, we'll think about that.

Another approach was the Hebrew poetry pattern, kind of make it into an acronym, call it a hippie, you know. That was one thought. Another one was you have HPP, and make another acronym there, a HAL-FIL-FIL. So anytime we come across a Hebrew poetry pattern, we may just call it a HAL-FIL-FIL. Anyway, you think about that. Let's look at this HAL-FIL-FIL. Here is the Hebrew poetry pattern that comes in the passage that we've chosen.

And one of the first things we see is the beginning of each one of those lines is the LORD. Same thing in each case. As we look also, we see arises to contend, stands to judge, and enters into judgment. So we'll take a look at those. Those are kind of rhyming lines. There's also the people and his people with an additional explanation here, the elders and princes. Let's take a look at those one at a time.

But first, we've got to answer a question. Why the Hebrew poetry patterns? Why are we doing this? Well, first of all, the Hebrew poetry pattern helps us understand more clearly what was said. Nancy and I have this interesting thing, having been married 32 years now, we've discovered that occasionally we have to communicate a little more carefully, and one of the things that I have to do is to restate something a different way. You ever find that that helps clarify things? Nancy will have to remind me that saying the same thing five times doesn't help, okay? that's restating things, oftentimes makes things more clear. And so that's often what we'll find Isaiah doing as we step through the book of Isaiah.

He will restate the same thing, saying it in rhyming, not the sounds, but the meanings, in order for us to better understand what he's communicating. As we put it here, the Hebrew poetry pattern makes for more light bulb moments. Ah, now I understand. Plus, saying the same thing two or three times oftentimes gets the idea of emphasis. By repetition, you get the idea of what's important, what really matters by saying it more than once, sometimes three times. So the idea is it will sink into the brain a little more easily and be better understood. Now, hopefully you avoid moments like this. Okay. As we look at this, let's look at this first part, the Lord. That's the phrase that he repeats.

Isaiah's message is in contrast to all the nations around them. Think of all the pagan nations around them. They would oftentimes have a chief deity, but basically have a plurality of deities. The Egyptians, for example, had 700 gods. And so they had a vast pantheon, a great number of deities.

The Lord, however, is not just one God with one voice and one opinion among a great many. but He is the Lord, the One who is singularly and ultimately in power. Then, He isn't acting in judgment because He was ticked off. One of the difficulties that the pagan nations had is that they never knew when they were going to offend their God or the gods. And oftentimes they would write, and we have record of them saying, I just wish I knew what He wanted. The Lord, however, is unlike that. The Lord says, I am not like the other gods, and I will let you know very clearly what I want. This is what I'm looking for. So He didn't leave them in suspense, and He's telling them here, this is what I want. This is what I'm looking for. This is what's important. You need to know.

The other thing, and the point that we've made previously, Isaiah continues to refer to God as the Holy One of Israel. God is, throughout the book of Isaiah, holy. The pagan gods were anything but. So that makes the Lord stand out. It is the Lord, the one who is singularly the Holy One of Israel.

Now, the other thing is, being the Lord, He's not just arbitrarily asserting His authority. Ever have somebody come into a situation and just start bossing people around? That's not very welcome, is it? The Lord is singularly the one who has authority, who speaks with authority, because He has that authority innately in who He is. He is the one who created them. He is the one who chose them. He is the one who redeemed them out of Egypt. He has sole, ultimate authority over His people.

Think about this. As human beings, we have various authorities within our families, culture at different levels, and ultimately, there is accountability to the Lord Himself, whether a person acknowledges that or recognizes it or not. The Lord is the one to whom we are accountable. Why? Because He is the ultimate authority, even if it takes a while for people to come to that recognition. Ultimately, yes, every knee will bow. You look at Peter and Paul in the church as apostles, they had an authority that the Lord had given them, a delegated authority, an authority for which they indeed will have an accountability to the Lord.

Now, let's look at the next line, arises to contend, stands to judge, enters into judgment. It not only is a rhyming idea, but it's also a sequence. Let's take a look at that. Arises to contend, stands to judge, enters into judgment. This reflects the actions of a judge in the time of Isaiah. That is, unlike some of our judges now where they would remain seated, the judge would listen, gather the information, and when he was ready to speak, would stand up. We have an instance like that here with Ezra. Ezra has heard the situation, assessed what's going on, and as he is speaking, to the nation of Israel before Him, He stands to give His assessment, to pronounce His judgment upon them in terms of what they must do. This would be an example of what Isaiah is describing. He is describing the Lord acting as a judge in that time, ready to pronounce judgment. This is the Lord's statement about how are you doing and what's going to happen.

Even in our own modern courtrooms, we have some customs as to when people rise and when they stand up, and who rises at particular times. So all that's happened is we have different customs than what Isaiah is referring to. In those days, it was the judge who would stand up when he's ready to make a pronouncement. We have a judge or jury entering into judgment in our era, and Isaiah is just describing the Lord doing that with regard to the nation of Judah.

But this leaves us with a question. The question is this. God is acting as judge here. Are we ever to judge? Are we ever to judge? Let's take a look at a couple of verses here. Jesus says, Do not judge so that you will not be judged. Matthew chapter 7, Sermon on the Mount. Or even Paul writing in Romans. For in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself.

So should believers here in the church Today, now, should we ever judge? Have you ever been in the situation where you've had somebody that you're trying to talk to about something that they're maybe over the line on in your estimation, and you're trying to get them back on track, and they say, ah, don't judge. You ever had that happen? Yeah, I have. And you've likely had it happen, too. Now, let's take a look here at this question.

God has judged in the past, and He judges now, and it's clear from Scripture He'll judge in the future. But given these verses, should we judge? In fact, if we look at Scripture, even in the New Testament, even in the epistles written directly to the Church, we are told to judge. We are supposed to judge. And so let's take a look at what that means. We'll take a brief look. It certainly won't be thorough, but I think helpful. Here's an example, 1 Corinthians 11. Here's Paul writing to the church at Corinth.

They had certainly a lot of problems. They were a rather mixed up church. And notice what he says as he's dealing with their problem in the way that they take the Lord's table. Each one must examine himself. How about that? Examine yourself. So there's one statement about judging. Here's another. If we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, We are disciplined by the Lord. So let's take a look here. We're going to not cover the detail, but let's look at kind of the three key points here on our own judging. Judge oneself first is the first principle.

What has God revealed? And now in the church, certainly in the Old Testament, the point of comparison is the law of Moses. And this is what Isaiah is bringing them to. But for the church, what is consistent with the life of Christ living in and through me? We saw in Ephesians, the first half and a little bit more spells out the believer's position in Christ. The last half asks this question, what is consistent with the life of Christ living in and through me?

So when Paul says to them, one of the rather bold ones is, you who are stealing, stop it! He's not laying out a new Christian law, but he's saying, that's not consistent with the life of Christ. So, the first thing is to judge oneself. Now, we have to throw a little extra question in there. Do we need a little condemnation? Is that what he's looking for? There's therefore now, how much condemnation?

No condemnation for those in Christ. So, judging ourselves is not intended to say, okay, it's time to get out the whips. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. We have a position in Christ, and that's key, in Christ, in which there is no condemnation.

So if you want condemnation, I'm afraid I can't help you. The next part, judge another first with the intent to restore. This is the message that comes out of Galatians 6, 1-5. Judging another His first to be done, as is spelled out in that passage, was the idea of, I'm going to examine myself so that I myself will not be stumbling, will not be falling, as I am trying to correct the other person who fell. I myself will examine before I approach them. But there is a place for a believer approaching another believer.

Yes, it is proper, given this biblical context, to judge. And finally, failing judgment of ourselves, God will judge. Notice that in that 1 Corinthians 11 passage, if people fail to judge themselves, in other words, the first two points, God will judge. Yes, God will discipline.

When we look at the Isaiah passage, he's writing to Jews, not to the Church, so we have a different context, but there is still the same sequence. The Lord will deal with them in a similar sequence to what we have laid out here. only asking different questions, because it's Israel, not the Church. Alright, now the Lord arises to contend.

One of the things that we have to look at is Isaiah is writing this after the people have been off the track for a while. Have you ever been in a situation where you've seen a circumstance and you say, boy, what's going on is not right, and yet it continues to go on? Have you seen that? You've been in circumstances, you look at it and you say, boy, that's bad.

And it seems like the Lord has allowed it to continue. Well, one of the things that is clear, and we'll see it additionally as we go through the book of Isaiah, is when the Lord allows things to continue on that are unjust, when He allows people to continue on with their sin, it is not a reason for us to draw some wrong conclusion about the way that the Lord is or the way the Lord deals with people. What the Lord is doing is He's being gracious to allow people time to judge themselves or for others to, with the idea of restoration, step in and judge. It is not intended that we start drawing conclusions. Oh, the Lord doesn't care. Oh, the Lord's never going to bring any judgment. No, that's not the point. It's the Lord's patience. It's the Lord's grace that allows the time for people to respond.

We get into situations where we see injustice, and there is a temptation on our part to fly into anger. Is the situation unjust? It may be clearly unjust, and yet the Lord lets it continue. There are, there have been, and there will be injustices in the world until the Lord comes back and corrects them. there will be injustices in our daily life. Our tendency as human beings at times is to look at these situations where people clearly know right from wrong and they choose the wrong, and we see sometimes the very sad consequences of those choices. Even though we look at those circumstances and say, that is horrible, that is awful, that's terrible, it is possible for us to proceed from that point to creating our own injustice by our anger, by our rage in those situations. God is the final judge. He is the one who is objective and just. We might look at a situation and say, oh, this isn't right.

And then the flesh is tempted to come in and do something else that isn't right. I know in my younger years it was something that I was stunned, shocked. by my anger and rage that would grab me as I'd look at it and say, this isn't right, that isn't right. And then very soon I'd find myself in another injustice over the injustice. Strange thing about the flesh, isn't it? Now, let's look at another one here, the people, His people. The people aren't just some random group.

Notice that, and we've mentioned this previously, that there are three groups of people that the Lord has selected over time and into eternity to work with in different ways and to have fulfill his eternal purpose in different ways. The people here are the Jews specifically, the ones living in the southern kingdom, Judah. They are his people.

We're going to see the term his people and my people as we continue through the book of Isaiah all the way through to the end. And we'd make these points here. The Bible identifies these three groups and the Gentiles are called my people, the nation of Israel is called my people, and even the church. Those are three groups and each of them gets called my people. Here in this passage he's referring specifically to the Jews. That's where it applies.

We saw as we studied the last half of Ephesians how Paul dealt with the Jews and the Gentiles as they were a part of the Lord's action in bringing about the church from Jews and Gentiles, creating a new entity by putting the law out of commission with regards to the church.

If you look at this passage in 1 Chronicles, it's one here that clearly identifies the Lord's possession of Israel, your people, Israel, whom God went to redeem for himself as a people. The Lord looks at His redemption of Israel out of Egypt as His redemption, His action. And clearly, as we look at the biblical account, that's the picture that we get. Your people Israel, you made your own people forever. Those are a group that, as we see through the pages of Scripture, are maintained as a separate group. Here in Isaiah, one of the things we see is a sequence.

You notice the first time in this Hebrew poetry pattern, first time he talks to all the people. The second time, he zeroes in on the elders and the princes, that is, the leadership. And that's, I think, a valuable insight here. The Lord addresses the leadership, but he doesn't do so exclusively. He talks to the people directly. And that's an important thing to take a look at. The Lord does not simply talk to the leaders and leave it to the leaders to talk to the group of people.

The Lord, as He talks to groups of people, His people, He addresses all of them as well as the leaders individually. Now, why is that valuable to know? It's valuable for this reason. If you're here this morning and you're a believer, The Lord calls you His people.

The Lord is speaking to you directly. The elders and the deacons, nobody here can stand between you and the Lord. Your relationship is with Him directly. He communicates with you directly. That doesn't mean that leadership doesn't have a place. Yes, they do. But we don't stand between you and the Lord. We don't stand in such a place as to separate you from God. You have a direct relationship with the Lord, and He speaks to you directly.

Now, here in the church, one of the things that's abundantly clear is we look at the letters that are written to the churches. Believers are addressed directly. Notice as we've gone through Philippians, Ephesians, and Colossians, and you can see the same pattern in all the other letters to the churches. You see no instance where the elders are addressed in those letters as ones who received this message and then are told to just pass it along to those in the church. All the letters to the churches are addressed to all the people. As a matter of fact, even to the point that, as we see in some of the books, even to the point that The elders and deacons are only mentioned alongside the rest of the people in the book of Philippians, in the address.

God desires that each believer be brought to spiritual maturity. Each one. The Lord is addressing each person in this body when he speaks to us. Not just some. The Lord does not say, well that's just for those people. Those are the ones who are really high profile. No. The Lord certainly has some messages for those who have a more high-profile place, but the truth is every member of the Lord's body is essential.

Just try going without your toes sometime, right? Here is Paul, he writes to the church in Philippi. We studied this, that's now three years ago. To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, including the overseers and deacons, notice This is as close as it gets to addressing the leadership, but even in this instance doesn't do so by bypassing the people in the church.

The Lord is speaking directly to the people in the church. Now, here's the people, the elders, and the princes of his people. After addressing the people in general, he zeroes in on the leadership there. One of the things that comes out here, any position of leadership and authority will certainly have its privilege, but the flip side is there is also accountability. There is accountability in being a leader in a body, even today, even in the church.

It's not an excuse for abuse or for negligence. Failing that, God will bring judgment. He will do it differently in the church than he does with Israel, but the principle is the same. We must examine ourselves. There is a place for us to bring another brother or sister before the Lord, and there is a place, if there is no response, for the Lord to judge that person, or a group even, if that's what's needed. Look at the other point here. He says, first time, the people, the second time, His people.

Leaders don't own the people they lead. Leaders don't own the people they lead. We've noticed this focus on my people, his people, and we'll continue to see it. If there is someone who has a place of leadership in the church, whatever that is, and a number of us have different places of leadership in different parts of the church, it's still his body.

It's still his doing. Look here, the church elders are told that the flock is not theirs, but God's. Here is Paul addressing the elders from Ephesus in Acts chapter 20, and he tells them, Shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. Whose body is it? It's His. It's His. Or, 1 Peter 5, Shepherd the flock of God. It's His flock. It's His flock. The Lord maintains ownership. The leaders don't. The leaders are under shepherds at most.

If we look at Romans 14, 12, then each one of us is to give an account of himself to God. Who is this talking to? Every one of us. Each one. And Hebrews 13, 17, Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. There is an accountability to the Lord in all these things, in the leadership.

Now, let me ask this question, is the intent when we give an account that the Lord is just waiting to pour fire on us. The Lord is just waiting. Is this the way it is? The Lord is saying, I just can't wait until Vern blows it. And if he does, boy, I'm going to fry him. No. Fortunately, the Lord is looking as He judges. His intent is not, how can I fry somebody?

But certainly, as we saw, the Lord's intent is ultimately to restore and, in the end, to reward. Notice the warning here. Here's John writing in 2 John 8. Watch yourselves that you do not lose what you have accomplished with what's the intent? That you may receive a full reward. Some of the last words of Jesus in Revelation 22. He says, I'm coming quickly and my reward is with me. He is looking to reward. He is not looking there to say, Ha! Gotcha!

And that's an important point as we look at what does that accountability mean. Alright, now, in the last part of this passage here, it is you who have devoured the vineyard. The vineyard is often used as a figure of speech for the nation of Israel. We'll find that again in Isaiah in just a couple chapters ahead, but also throughout other passages in the Old Testament. Psalms and several of the prophets make use of that. Vineyards were often cared for by others.

So this is a position of trust, a position of responsibility. The Lord has put you in charge of this vineyard. The Lord has given the vineyard into your care. And what have you done with it? That's his question here to the leaders of the nation of Judah.

Human beings can, in times in those positions of trust, lose sight of their responsibility and their accountability. We've seen that in our own nation in recent years. Very bold examples of where people have lost sight of the accountability and the responsibility that they have. Those are the things that are high profile. The reality is that this is a principle and this is a truth that goes throughout the culture in lots of different areas. It can be true in families. mothers, fathers, who lose sight of what their responsibility is. And it goes back to another question.

If the vineyard is the children, and the mother and father have been given care of the children, remember we looked at the question, His people? His people is God's people, right? If we are a mother or a father, whose children are they? They're ultimately His, aren't they? We have been given care of them for a time. There is a responsibility that we have, and yeah, I'll call it a privilege, but also an accountability as well. They're God's kids. They're on loan to us. They're in our care for a time. The nature of the flesh is to begin to become negligent or be irresponsible or to act as if we don't have that accountability of the Lord. Once that neglect or abuse steps in, things can start to look pretty sad and fall apart. Sometimes get to a place where some severe damage is done.

The plunder of the poor is in your houses. Next phrase that comes across there, last part of verse 14. This is something that is just outrageous. Here are the poor people, they don't have much to begin with. The leaders were actually using the advantage of the position that they had to take things from them for their own personal benefit. So here are poor people who hardly have anything and they would take the little that they had and keep for themselves.

What kinds of things might that be? What do you mean? We might put in our own modern vernacular, what were you thinking? It's inconceivable that they would carry things out this way. Then he has, what do you mean by crushing my people and grinding the face of the poor?

He uses very graphic images here. Now notice we've got what here? A Hebrew poetry pattern. Anyway, you'll have to figure out which one of these helps you remember it better, but it's a Howfield film. Okay, Isaiah's figures of speech are very graphic.

What are you doing to the poor, my people? You're crushing, you're grinding. Very graphic images, very strong pictures of the abuse that these people were getting. They will have to answer for them. There is an accountability. It's going to come to an end. God says in this that the poor, the ones who are abusing, those are my people too. Those are my people. Now here's an interesting thing.

If you go back to Deuteronomy, he tells them, this is Moses speaking for the Lord, There will be no poor among you. How come there's poor here? The Lord will bless you in the land the Lord is giving you as an inheritance to possess if. If you are obedient, there will be no poor. You've got poor in your land, what does that tell you? You're not obedient. So the fact that there was poor in the land was telling them right off, you've got a spiritual and moral problem. You are not obedient to the law. But then they were also told, you shall not harden your heart nor close your hand to your poor brother.

Rather than giving to them as they ought to have, they responded instead by taking for their own household, for their own personal gain. One of the things they were supposed to do, for example, was gleaning. They were to leave the corners of the fields unharvested and the middle of the field, they weren't to go back and pick up any leftovers. They were to leave those for the poor and the strangers in the land to get from them. But, now we can dispense with that, because after all, if we harvest more, then we'll have more, even if it takes away from the poor. So they would dispense with the gleaning.

We don't need to do that. They weren't to take essential items from the poor. If they were loaning to the poor, they weren't to take essential items, like the millstone for grinding the grain, the little hand mill for grinding the grain. They weren't to take essential items from the poor of the Jews. And yet, they did. They were to pay wages promptly. They were to pay them before they leave. Not saying, wait. But they said, no, we'll make them wait. We'll make them wait.

This is out of Deuteronomy 24. Then we see the last part there, declares the Lord God of hosts. This is God's message that Isaiah is bringing to them. The Lord is the one bringing the charges and asking the questions and making the judgment. The Lord would indeed prefer, that is the Lord's desire that we judge ourselves as He would have had the Jews judge themselves. So that this kind of judgment would not take place.

And the Lord God of hosts, our culture allows people to drift into false concepts of God. And his very statement here, the Lord God of hosts, calling the Lord that, is in great part to correct their understanding. Who do they think God is? Our culture has people, for example, who say God doesn't exist.

That's why the black screen. God just doesn't exist. Or He exists, but He doesn't care. The phone line between he and I is covered with cobwebs. God doesn't give a hoot. Or he's like an old chuckling grandpa, oh boys will be boys. No, that's corrected here.

Lord God here refers to his supreme authority, his great authority. And Yahweh, his personal name, his self-existence, his eternality, the fact that he exists, eternity past into eternity future. Of hosts refers to the great number of beings He has created, angelic beings, angelic hosts. And also even to the masses, the number of the people of Israel. God has created great numbers of beings. He is the one who has authority. He is the one who is eternal. He is the one who has created great numbers of beings, those who are His to call upon.

If we look at it, look at this passage, There are three places of justice. Justice does come about, always. It may come about in our own lives or in our own lifetime. You may have seen that. Have you ever seen something happen and justice was served and you said, yes! It may come about when the Lord judges us all at a time to come.

For the believer, it is a judgment of, how can I reward you? Ultimately, because the Lord is a loving God, because He's a gracious God, He has provided for justice to be dealt with on the cross. And I'm glad for that. Aren't you? The Lord has dealt with justice on the cross because it's beyond justice. It is His love and His grace. That's the very best justice we can have.

See, I don't want to demand justice and that's all. I'd far rather have it dealt with on the cross. You have a resource here that I had on page six here. You can look at it. It looks more at judgments and resurrections. When you've got that memorized, let me know. I'll give you the next one.

What we'll take a quick look at here is just when the Lord was crucified, and we with Him, and buried, justice was served in those ways. Was there grace? Was there love? Oh, yes. But justice was served. And that's a wonderful place for it to be served. Grace is shown by our having been raised and ascended and seated with Him.

To the point that, Ephesians 2.7, it will take eternity in the ages to come for the Lord to show us all of His grace.

Let's pray. Lord, thank you. As we look at these passages, certainly there is a place for judgment, even in the church, as we saw here this morning, judging ourselves biblically, judging others biblically, and then realizing that There is a time for you to step in if we fail to do so. If we fail to say, what does the life of Christ look like living through me? You will discipline us because you love us, because you care for us. Thank you for your love for us. In Jesus' name, Amen.