He Set His Face Like Flint

In one paragraph

This third Sunday of Advent, Pastor Matt continued a series through the Suffering Servant passages of Isaiah, working through Isaiah 50:4-11 and Isaiah 52:13-53:12. Rather than treating these as abstract prophecy, he read them as a first-person account from Christ himself, written seven hundred years before the passion. His point was simple: there is no Christmas worth celebrating apart from the...

Read together

1. Luke 2:8-11 Read during the Advent candle lighting as the candle of joy passage about the angel announcing Christ's birth to the shepherds
2. Nehemiah 4:14 Read aloud as the foundation text for the Fight Club men's ministry, calling men to fight for their families
3. Isaiah 50:4-11 Primary sermon text, read and expounded as a suffering servant passage spoken from Christ's first-person perspective
4. Isaiah 52:13-14 Read as the opening verses of the fourth servant passage, describing the servant's exaltation and his marred appearance
5. Isaiah 53:1-12 Central sermon text, read through in full as the detailed suffering servant prophecy fulfilled in Christ's passion, death and resurrection
6. Luke 9:51 Cited as Luke's deliberate echo of Isaiah's flint-faced servant, marking the turning point where Jesus set his face toward Jerusalem
7. Romans 8:31 Paraphrased as Paul's version of the servant's challenge, 'If God is for us, who can be against us'
8. 1 Peter 2:21-25 Quoted to show Peter calling back to Isaiah 53, describing Christ bearing sins in his body and committing himself to God who judges righteously
9. Romans 3:9-18 Read at length to establish that all, Jews and Gentiles alike, are under sin and there is none righteous, not even one
10. 1 Corinthians 1:18 Referenced to contrast how the message of the cross is foolishness to those perishing but the power of God to those being saved
11. 1 Timothy 1:15 Quoted as a trustworthy saying that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners
12. Jude 24-25 Read as the closing benediction, ascribing glory to God who is able to keep believers from stumbling
13. Mark 15:27-28 Cited to show the scripture was fulfilled when Jesus was crucified between two robbers, numbered with the transgressors

Talk about it

1. Pastor Mark pointed to Isaiah 50:4, where the servant says God 'awakened my ear morning by morning.' What does it look like practically for you to give God the first part of your day, and what gets in the way of that?
2. The sermon described Jesus setting his face like flint toward Jerusalem, voluntarily giving his back and his cheeks, and not hiding his face from shame and spitting. What does that kind of willing obedience in the face of suffering say to you about what it cost Him to go to the cross?
3. Pastor Mark noted that most people in Jesus's day applied the suffering servant passages to the nation of Israel rather than to a coming Messiah, because they were expecting a military conqueror. Where do you think people today, or even people in the church, still misread or reshape who Jesus is to fit what they want Him to be?
4. The sermon drew a sharp contrast between option one, trusting in the Lord and relying on God, and option two, kindling your own fire, which ends in torment. Where in your own life are you tempted to kindle your own fire rather than trust God's way?
5. Pastor Mark said there is no reason to celebrate Christmas if Easter had not happened, and that Christ's suffering was redemptive. How does keeping the cross in view change the way you actually experience Advent and Christmas this season?