Lakes Baptist Church AM Service Podcasts

Isaiah 65:17-25 We Are Called To Care

·0 min

The episode is a sermon delivered by Pastor Mike Jones at Lakes Baptist Church. He begins by reading Isaiah 65:17-25, which describes God's promise to create a new heaven and a new earth, a place of joy without weeping or premature death. Jones establishes a theological framework, explaining that the original creation was perfect, but sin corrupted humanity's relationship with God and all of creation. He references Romans 8:22-24 to describe how creation groans for redemption. The sermon then pivots to apply this theology to contemporary ethical issues. Jones argues that followers of Jesus, living between the first creation and the future restoration, are called to be agents of renewal. He focuses specifically on labor exploitation in the global fashion industry. He provides examples from Bangladesh, India, and Cambodia, detailing unsafe conditions and unfair wages. The most detailed example is the 2013 Rana Plaza factory collapse in Dhaka, Bangladesh, which killed 1,134 garment workers. Jones states this tragedy helped wake up the world to the human cost of cheap clothing. He then introduces a practical resource: the Ethical Fashion Report and Shopping Guide produced by Baptist World Aid Australia. He shares statistics from the report, noting that only 5% of surveyed companies can demonstrate payment of a living wage and only 7% know their raw material sources. Jones encourages the congregation to use consumer power ethically, to be vocal, and to avoid being closed-minded. He announces a specific campaign: sending postcards to the fashion brand Dectuba, which has consistently received an F grade for non-disclosure. The sermon concludes with a prayer, asking God to help the church live out its faith by caring for people globally and making ethical choices.

As heard by us

Isaiah's vision of renewal becomes a call to weigh how ordinary purchases affect workers.

Isaiah 65 gives this service its shape, setting the promise of a new heaven and new earth against the harm sin has done to people and creation.

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Why you'd press play

You want Isaiah's hope to reach the clothes rack, where a shopping guide puts care into practice.

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