A New Shoot From An Old Tree

By: Paul DeVries

Scripture Reading: Isaiah 11:1-11

December 6th, 2009

He was an elderly man—not far from the end of his life. She was a young woman (a girl really), just beginning her young adult life. They were very different individuals, really at very different places in their lives. And yet, their lives’ stories were very similar in some painful ways. The stories which came to dominate their lives were stories of family betrayal, intense emotional pain, shame, despair, and muffled anger. Each of these individuals were disappointed and let down by the church. Each of them also was disappointed in their own lives, their own sins and shortcomings. Their respective stories of collective shame, anger, guilt, bitterness and despair dominated their lives. These stories formed a negative "script" that played out in their heads and spilled out into all areas of life. As their pastor I met repeatedly and regularly with each of them. Their stories where hard to hear the first time, the second, the third, and all the many times I heard them—they repeated their pain—filled, shame—draped, stories over and over again. It seemed that just as Adam and Eve had lost the innocence of the Garden of Eden—lost access to the tree of life—so these individuals had lost their ability to reach out and taste life. For all practical purposes, grace, hope and healing seemed dead to them. The stories of our lives—the stories that we have created that surround and define the meaning of our lives—these stories often function to shape who we are and how we see ourselves. Sometimes these are public stories, sometimes they are private. Sometimes they are positive—filled with energy, hope and life; sometimes they are negative—filled with regret, anger and despair. Our stories shape us and our view of life and God. As I have already been describing, many of us carry negative stories—negative self—talk in our heads or a negative view of life that we share with everyone—and this can overwhelm us and shape our existence. The question is, if our story is a negative one, is there any hope for us? Can our stories be re—written? Well, I have good news for you. In our text for today, Isaiah 11:1—11, God comes to his sinful, wretched, lost people, and he begins to show them how their story is going to be rewritten. He shows us how our stories can be re—written. Although many of us may think of Isaiah 11 as telling a good and positive story—after all, it is a story that many of us are used to hearing around Christmastime, a story that leads us to the birth of Jesus Christ, the Messiah—the story doesn’t begin with good news. The story begins with the very negative image of a stump—just a plain, ol’e dead stump. Many of us want to rush to the good news of Jesus Christ, who is the shoot, the new branch, which comes from the stump. We want to focus on the positive, but hold on a minute. Let’s take some time to be honest about the opening image here. We must not rush too quickly past the stump. For if we do, we will never understand God’s re—write of our story … we will never see the need for a re—write. So, let’s spend some time on just the first half of the first verse. Before we rush the new tree of life, let’s spend some time just being stumps. By the time of the prophet Isaiah, Israel’s story has become a stump. The tree that had been God’s people of Israel has been cut in half—Israel and Judah divided—and now Isaiah prophetically let’s us know that the tree is completely dead. Life is cut off, and dead. Notice that Isaiah doesn’t even talk about the stump of David, but the stump of Jesse, David’s much less well—known father. The prophet doesn’t say a shoot will come forth from the stump of David. In many ways that would have been a better, more positive metaphor, don’t you think? David, after all, was the famous king of Israel. Every king aspired to be a king like David—every leader, a leader like David. So, why doesn’t Isaiah refer to David? Well because he wants us to see that it is now just a stump. There was nothing spectacular about Jesse, except what God did through Jesse’s son, David. So too, there is nothing spectacular about the stump, except what God is going to bring out of the stump. Frankly, the Davidic line of kings hasn’t been all that impressive during the time of Isaiah anyway. Yes, Hezekiah, one of the Davidic kings during the time of Isaiah, was a good and god—fearing king who brought about much needed religious reform. But Hezekiah was followed by Manasseh, who was a very long—lived and very evil king. By the time of Isaiah, the Davidic line of kings wasn’t necessarily something to boast about. So, God comes through Isaiah saying that the line of David is done for, a stump—so done for that he doesn’t even mention David’s name—only Jesse’s. It’s just a stump—the stump of Jesse. God’s people are for all practical purposes dead and done for. The dead state of God’s people is evident already when God calls Isaiah to the prophetic ministry in chapter six. When Isaiah sees the Lord he says, "Woe to me, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips." Isaiah knew that he and his people were just stumps. Then the Lord gives his first word to Isaiah and it is not a good word. It is a word of total annihilation, not only for the northern kingdom, but also for the southern kingdom. All of Israel will be destroyed. God goes on in the chapter to say that all of Israel will be barren, nothing but stumps left where once there were trees. God’s rewriting of our stories begins with stumps and brokenness. I wonder if stumps are a large part of your story as well. Perhaps you feel a little stumpy in your spiritual life, or physical life. I’m talking about those things in our lives that plague us, which we just can’t seem to get past. Perhaps it was a great injustice perpetrated against you by a so—called friend—or worse yet, by a brother or sister. Remember the elderly man that I mentioned in the introduction to this message? Well, he was one of the bitterest men I ever knew. I visited him regularly as a pastor. This man had been wronged by his wife, his brother, and the leaders of the church. His loved ones and his church let him down. Truly great sin had been committed against him with little repentance and no healing ever taking place. This sin was tragic, even more tragic was that this man never recovered. Every time I visited him the same script would play out. He would tell me in vivid detail his pain—filled story as if I had never heard it before—same pain—filled words each time, same voice inflection, even the same gestures. Over and over again, the story of despair dominated his life, playing repeatedly, endless, both in his head and publically to anyone who cared to listen. Even though some at least expressed sorrow, and some who had hurt him asked for forgiveness years after the fact, this man never recovered. He lived life as a recluse in bareness. His life was a stump. The painful truth is that we, God’s people, know something about living as stumps. Oh, our story may not be that similar to the man’s story that I was just describing. Your story may not be so extreme. But still, brokenness, our sin against another, another’s sin against us can cling to us—overwhelm us. We know something about stumps. Perhaps your stump is the harsh words—careless words spoken in anger—that have damaged a relationship seemingly beyond repair. Maybe these words have become your story, your stump. Or maybe it is the elementary teacher who told you that you were dumb and wouldn’t amount to much. Those words have become your story, your stump. Or maybe it’s the parent who abused you, and years of therapy and care designed to get you to re—write the story simply hasn’t worked. Or perhaps you yourself have written your negative, stumpy story, by sinning against God, doubting him, cursing him, leaving him behind to go our own rebellious way. Maybe this is your story—maybe you can’t forgive yourself and aren’t sure God will either. Even though in theory you believe in grace, perhaps your negative story, your own personal stump, gets in the way of God’s grace. This is reality of living without the grace of God, without the flourishing tree of life, is where Adam and Eve, our first parents, where after they were driven from the garden. Because of their sin, rebelliously eating from the forbidden tree, God drove them away from the garden, away from the tree of Life. The tree of Life was lost. And, as Isaiah 11 opens, it seems that the tree is still lost. In fact, the tree appears dead … nothing but a stump is left. Yes, tragically we, just like ancient Israel and Judah of Isaiah’s day, know something about stumps. So, the question is, how do we get from the stump to the grace of God? How do we get from where we are to where God wants us to be? Is there any hope for once again finding a tree of Life? Well notice that the story of Isaiah 11 isn’t dominated by the dead stump. The stump is just in the first line, the opening verse. Isaiah quickly brings his original listeners from the stump to the Messiah, whom we now know as our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The Messiah is the reality of Isaiah 11, the promise of a coming Christ is the reality, which is why you often hear this passage read around Christmas time in many Christian churches. If we are to move from the pain of the stump to the hope of the Messiah, we need to note that it is a Savior, the Christ, the divine Messiah that Isaiah is talking about, not merely some human king or leader. Notice some of the specific words of the chapter. The words of verses 1—3 are all about the character of the shoot—the person—who comes from the stump. This person is filled with the Spirit. Three times the word spirit is used. We are told that the person will come with wisdom and understanding. In other words, this person will have the very best of King David’s understanding and King Solomon’s wisdom. Moreover, this person, this new shoot that comes forward from the stump, will live in the knowledge and fear of the Lord. Now, who is it that has that type of character? Did King David have that type of character throughout his life? Well, he was a man after God’s own heart, but he couldn’t live that way perfectly—David also committed great sin. King Solomon had wisdom, but also great failings. There is only one person, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who lived consistently in the Spirit, with wisdom and understanding, in the fear and the knowledge of God his Father. Verses 4 and 5 go on to tell of the actions of this person, this shoot from the old dead tree stump. The new shoot will not judge with his eyes or ears. In other words, he will not need to use the normal human instruments of the flesh to be a good and just judge. Isaiah has told us that the Israelites are always hearing but never understanding, always seeing but never perceiving. But the person Isaiah now speaks of in chapter 11 will not be a mere Israelite or a mere human being. This person will care for the needy and the poor in a way that no earthly king or government past, present or future has ever been able to. Finally, verses 6—11 trace the marvelous results of the Messiah’s work. A new world comes forth—a world in which there is perfect security and safety even amongst the wildest and deadliest animals—a world in which even the infant will be free and safe to play with the Cobra—a world in which the new shoot will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord—a world in which all the remnant of God’s people scattered throughout the land will be brought back to God. This hopeful imagery was all seen by the prophet Isaiah already in his day, but what he could only look forward to while standing in the midst of the stump—the dead tree of Israel and Judah—we today are able to embrace fully in the Messiah who has come; namely, Jesus Christ our Lord. Why then, I ask you, do we so often live in and with the stump? Well, I suggest to you that we, like ancient Israel and Judah, too often refuse to live in congruence with the story that God wants to write for our lives. His story is a story of redemption, especially designed for those of us who have been inflicted with a stumpy story, or have made our story nothing but a stump. God has rewritten the story, are we ready to embrace the script he has written? God’s ancient people to whom Isaiah first writes were not willing or able to embrace his re—write. They made two crucial mistakes. First, they failed to perceive that they were nothing but stumps. Second, they failed to understand that the prophets, like Isaiah, were telling them about the way back to the tree of life. These failures are what Isaiah highlights in chapter 6 when he says that the people are always hearing but never understanding, always seeing but never perceiving. These failures were really twin failures that resulted in one reality: many were lost to captivity, grief, and despair. So too, today. Too many of us are left captive to our pain and grief and despair. But it needn’t be that way. Perhaps you are wondering about the pain—filled young woman who I talked about in my introduction. I already completed the story of the elderly man’s despair and hopelessness. What about the young woman? Well, at around the same time that I was regularly visiting the elderly man who lived a stumpy life, overwhelmed by the negative story of betrayal, grief and anger at the church; I also was meeting regularly with the young woman who was wrestling with her own negative story of betrayal, sin, shame and brokenness. To the best of my knowledge and to the best of my limited pastoral ability, I listened responsively to each story. I tried to speak words of care, compassion, understanding and grace to both individuals. And yet, the man could not hear, receive, or own my actions and words. Tragically his life remained a stump. The young woman, however, experienced a turn around. I remember it vividly because the turnaround seemed to come from nowhere—certainly not from me (there was nothing magic or even particularly insightful from the words and gestures I spoke and offered), and certainly not from her (she was caught up in despair and hopelessness). So what happened? Well, when I asked her that same question she said: "I just decided that it was God’s job to forgive and to heal and that it was my job to be forgiven, to forgive others, and to be healed." In other words, she stopped trying to fix herself and others, and let God do it. Isaiah wanted his listeners to grasp the profound and the life—altering reality that by themselves they were just stumps. But with God even stumps can be transformed. I want you to hear the same message today. Yes, it is true that we are lost in ourselves. We can’t always find life, and hope and joy and grace—in fact, some of us can’t ever find these things. But if we turn to the shoot of God that comes from our rather stumpy existence, then we find the new tree of life. We find Christ. So, what will your story be? Will it be the elderly man’s story of endless bitterness and brokenness, or the young woman’s story of hope and healing? Will it be the stump, or will it be the new hope—the grace and power of the Messiah—that dominates your story and life? Let’s pray together, right now, in the name of Jesus, that his story will be our story.
Prayer

Pray with me please Dearest Heavenly Father, We confess that too often our lives are like stumps. We sin, we are broken, others sin against us, we are broken, we are stumps. Remind us, O Lord, of your healing and your salvation in the name of Jesus Christ, the new shoot that comes up. May we embrace Jesus as our Lord and Savior. May we grow with the new shoot that grows up from the stump of our lives. This is our prayer. In Jesus name, Amen.

About the Author

Paul DeVries

Rev. Paul DeVries, most commonly referred to as “Pastor Paul”, is the Sr. Pastor of Brookside Christian Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He is married to Diane (nee Vanden Akker) and the father of four children. He graduated from Calvin Theological Seminary in 1989 and served for 12 years as the pastor of Unity Christian Reformed Church in Prospect Park, New Jersey. As a pastor his first love and greatest joy comes in the honor of bringing God’‘s Word to his congregation on a weekly basis through his preaching. He enjoys reading, camping with his family, watching his children’‘s sporting events, and working on home improvement projects - inside and outside his home.

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