Daily Dose of Hope

November 24, 2024

Day 1 of Week 35

Scripture: Isaiah 23-25; 1 Corinthians 3

Welcome back to the Daily Dose of Hope, the devotional and podcast that complements the New Hope Bible reading plan. Today, we are starting week 35 – woohoo! You guys have been incredible sticking with your reading.

Our Old Testament reading is Isaiah 23-25. After the prophecies about judgement on the various nations, today’s reading details the Lord’s judgement at the end of times. This is God’s final judgement on the entire earth as a result of humanity’s sinfulness in the last days. As you read through chapter 24, you’ll notice that some kind of catastrophic event occurs that creates a deformed earth. No one is able to avoid this – all classes of people from all around the globe. When Isaiah speaks of “the city,” keep in mind this isn’t a particular city but a metaphor for the inhabited parts of the earth.

In chapter 25, the tone changes drastically. Now that judgement is over, God’s people are celebrating and praising the name of the Lord. God has carried out his plans for the earth. Those who stood against God have been destroyed. Isaiah is visioning a banquet celebrating that the Lord is exalted king over all the world. The banquet is on Mt. Zion in Jerusalem. Most importantly, God will take on the curse that has infected all people since Adam and original sin. Jesus will swallow up all death and pain. And the people rejoice. I just love the image of death being swallowed up forever. No more tears. Just sit and let that sink in for a bit.

Let’s move on to our New Testament reading in I Corinthians 3. Paul continues to have harsh words for the Christ-followers at Corinth. They think they live by the Spirit, but Paul tells them they actually are still living by worldly standards. He had to teach them like babies in the faith; they lack maturity. One example of this is their view of Christian leadership. They see leadership as focusing on an individual, that person having a following, pitting one person again another. In a sense, they view Christian leadership as a popularity contest. Paul makes the case that there are no individual superstars in Christian leadership. Different people have different tasks at different times. Some people plant, some people water, and others harvest. One task is not better or more important than another. They are all necessary for expanding God's Kingdom.

My own experience is that Christian leadership has to be rooted in humility. I struggle with this but I know it’s the goal. Jesus is of course our ultimate example. As a servant leader, he washed dirty feet, touched lepers, and ultimately gave up his life for those he led. No superstardom there, just a lot of rolling up sleeves, getting dirty, and experiencing sacrifice. We find a beautiful example of Christian leadership in Philippians 2:5-8:

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross.

Blessings,

Pastor Vicki