Do you ever stop and wonder what God thinks about churches? Does God like what we do on Sunday mornings? What do you think is God’s idea of good religion? About sixteen years ago, my sister and her family were living in While we were in However, our oldest daughter, who was seventeen at the time, was absolutely sickened by the opulence of that cathedral. In fact, she was so upset that she refused to stay there, and asked if she could go back to our hotel alone. Lisa was, in that situation, reacting like a prophet in the Bible might have reacted. Almost everyone is overwhelmed by the beauty of the cathedral, but the prophet sees something different. In this case, the prophet saw that an enormous amount of money and effort went into the building of that cathedral while many people were probably starving. The prophet speaks on behalf of God. Isaiah was such a prophet. He saw that the people were great at putting on worship services, but they didn’t really love God. In the passage we’re looking at this morning, Isaiah points out how the people fast and pray religiously, but they care nothing for the poor and needy. I’m reading Isaiah 58: 1 "Shout it aloud, do not hold back.
Raise your voice like a trumpet.
Declare to my people their rebellion
and to the house of Jacob their sins.
2 For day after day they seek me out;
they seem eager to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that does what is right
and has not forsaken the commands of its God.
They ask me for just decisions
and seem eager for God to come near them.
3 'Why have we fasted,' they say,
'and you have not seen it?
Why have we humbled ourselves,
and you have not noticed?'
"Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please
and exploit all your workers.
4 Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife,
and in striking each other with wicked fists.
You cannot fast as you do today
and expect your voice to be heard on high.
5 Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,
only a day for a man to humble himself?
Is it only for bowing one's head like a reed
and for lying on sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call a fast,
a day acceptable to the LORD ?
6 "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe him,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
9 Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am
"If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.
11 The LORD will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.
12 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.
As many of you know, I love Isaiah. Isaiah rants like an angry prophet, pointing out with vivid language what the people are doing wrong. But then he comes back with these wonderful promises of what God wants to do if the people will only listen and obey.
He strikes hard at these well-to-do religious people who make a big show of their religious fasting while they are exploiting the poor people who work for them. Isaiah says they fast, and then they wonder why God doesn’t seem to notice or reward them for their fasting.
Isaiah says that instead of making a big show of fasting for a day, it would be much better to choose God’s kind of fasting:
6 "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe him,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
Then, right away Isaiah gives the promise of what God will do for his people if they turn and obey him:
8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
9 Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am
"If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.
11 The LORD will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.
12 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.
The task for us today is to discern what Isaiah’s prophecy to
Isaiah seeks to know the heart of God and to apply that understanding of God’s heart to the current situation. He knows that God cares for all of the people—not just the rich, and not just the poor, and not just the ones who are religious, and not just the ones who happened to be born in
Do you think Isaiah would be impressed with the churches in
Maybe Isaiah would say something like this:
Your traditional churches have tall steeples and expensive organs; your modern churches have expensive sound systems and professional powerpoint---
You study the Bible and think you know all the answers; you raise your hands and sing words of praise to God--
Yet you finish your worship and get into your fancy cars and drive to your well-appointed homes, never thinking of the poor or the lonely ones or those who are trapped by addictions.
You spend your time gossiping and you look down your noses at those who you think are different.
What Isaiah wants us to understand is that to God, all people are his beloved children. So when God sees those who have much hoarding their wealth while people around them are going hungry, it makes God angry. We might also think of this in a spiritual sense. We who know the love of Jesus Christ often hoard our knowledge for ourselves, while people around us remain ignorant of God’s love. Might that also make God angry?
Now, perhaps you are saying to yourself, yes, but those people who don’t know the love of Jesus ought to come to our church and hear about it. In fact, we wish they would come and join us!
The problem is, it’s not that simple. The responsibility is on us to make the gospel understandable and available to the people who need it. Too often, we make assumptions about people we don’t know. So if we are going to show people the love of Jesus, it stands to reason that the first step is to get to know them! We need to make the effort to make the connections with our neighbors.
Last Wednesday in our Bible Study, I shared some thoughts from a book called The Externally Focused Church. One thing I shared was about someone wanting to attend church for the first time that helps us understand that it might be more difficult than we realize.
“The demographics of our country are changing. Fewer people claim a Christian heritage. Recently at [a church in
What? He didn’t know how to go to church? Who wouldn’t know how to go to church? But think of it this way…would you know how to go to a Buddhist temple? How about a mosque? Do you know if these institutions have open seating or assigned seats? Do they expect nonbelievers to follow the same external patterns of bowing or kneeling as the true believers? There’s a lot to know.
We must accept the fact that an increasingly large portion of our population has no idea of ‘how to go to church.’” [1]
I grew up going to church every Sunday of my life. Most of my friends and relatives attend church, at least some of the time. So going to church—even a strange one—is not at all intimidating to me. But to some people, it certainly would be.
We need to be willing to listen to Isaiah’s message. Living in our church world, perhaps we have become blinded to some things. Perhaps we have made assumptions about people we don’t really know. Perhaps, even, we have assumptions about ourselves that are not very accurate.
The prophet shakes us up. Isaiah went straight for the jugular by attacking the people for their fasting. Probably the closest parallel today would be worship, prayer, and Bible study. Isaiah would probably tell us we are wasting our time having worship services, prayer meetings, and Bible studies if they are not making any difference in our lives or in the lives of our neighbors.
But Isaiah also assures us that God wants very much to bless us. God just wants us to take a good hard look at ourselves and admit that we might not always have all the answers, and we’re probably not nearly as good as we think we are. If we really want to do things God’s way; if we really want God’s idea of good religion, we will have to listen to the prophets—to Isaiah of old, and to the voices among us that are truly seeking God’s will.
Prayer:
God, we confess that often we have been guilty of doing religious things without humbling our hearts. We confess that we have been guilty of thinking only of our own needs, and of quarreling with one another.
We want to choose your idea of good religion. We want to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke.
We want to share our food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter— to clothe the naked, and not turn away from our own flesh and blood.
We know that when we humble ourselves and do these things, our light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; that our righteousness will go before us, and the glory of the LORD will be our rear guard.
We will call, and you, the LORD will answer; we will cry for help, and you will say: Here am
May we do away with the yoke of oppression and with the pointing finger and malicious talk. May we spend ourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed.
May you guide us always, and satisfy our needs in a sun-scorched land and strengthen us.
May we be like a well-watered garden; like a spring whose waters never fail.
May we rebuild the ancient ruins and raise up the age-old foundations.
May we be called Repairers of Broken Walls, and Restorers of Streets with Dwellings.
Amen
[1] Rick Rusaw and Eric Swanson, The Externally Focused Church. Loveland, CO, Group, 2004. pp.27-28.
While we were in However, our oldest daughter, who was seventeen at the time, was absolutely sickened by the opulence of that cathedral. In fact, she was so upset that she refused to stay there, and asked if she could go back to our hotel alone. Lisa was, in that situation, reacting like a prophet in the Bible might have reacted. Almost everyone is overwhelmed by the beauty of the cathedral, but the prophet sees something different. In this case, the prophet saw that an enormous amount of money and effort went into the building of that cathedral while many people were probably starving. The prophet speaks on behalf of God. Isaiah was such a prophet. He saw that the people were great at putting on worship services, but they didn’t really love God. In the passage we’re looking at this morning, Isaiah points out how the people fast and pray religiously, but they care nothing for the poor and needy. I’m reading Isaiah 58: 1 "Shout it aloud, do not hold back.
Raise your voice like a trumpet.
Declare to my people their rebellion
and to the house of Jacob their sins.
2 For day after day they seek me out;
they seem eager to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that does what is right
and has not forsaken the commands of its God.
They ask me for just decisions
and seem eager for God to come near them.
3 'Why have we fasted,' they say,
'and you have not seen it?
Why have we humbled ourselves,
and you have not noticed?'
"Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please
and exploit all your workers.
4 Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife,
and in striking each other with wicked fists.
You cannot fast as you do today
and expect your voice to be heard on high.
5 Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,
only a day for a man to humble himself?
Is it only for bowing one's head like a reed
and for lying on sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call a fast,
a day acceptable to the LORD ?
6 "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe him,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
9 Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am
"If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.
11 The LORD will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.
12 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.
As many of you know, I love Isaiah. Isaiah rants like an angry prophet, pointing out with vivid language what the people are doing wrong. But then he comes back with these wonderful promises of what God wants to do if the people will only listen and obey.
He strikes hard at these well-to-do religious people who make a big show of their religious fasting while they are exploiting the poor people who work for them. Isaiah says they fast, and then they wonder why God doesn’t seem to notice or reward them for their fasting.
Isaiah says that instead of making a big show of fasting for a day, it would be much better to choose God’s kind of fasting:
6 "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe him,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
Then, right away Isaiah gives the promise of what God will do for his people if they turn and obey him:
8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
9 Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am
"If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.
11 The LORD will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.
12 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.
The task for us today is to discern what Isaiah’s prophecy to
Isaiah seeks to know the heart of God and to apply that understanding of God’s heart to the current situation. He knows that God cares for all of the people—not just the rich, and not just the poor, and not just the ones who are religious, and not just the ones who happened to be born in
Do you think Isaiah would be impressed with the churches in
Maybe Isaiah would say something like this:
Your traditional churches have tall steeples and expensive organs; your modern churches have expensive sound systems and professional powerpoint---
You study the Bible and think you know all the answers; you raise your hands and sing words of praise to God--
Yet you finish your worship and get into your fancy cars and drive to your well-appointed homes, never thinking of the poor or the lonely ones or those who are trapped by addictions.
You spend your time gossiping and you look down your noses at those who you think are different.
What Isaiah wants us to understand is that to God, all people are his beloved children. So when God sees those who have much hoarding their wealth while people around them are going hungry, it makes God angry. We might also think of this in a spiritual sense. We who know the love of Jesus Christ often hoard our knowledge for ourselves, while people around us remain ignorant of God’s love. Might that also make God angry?
Now, perhaps you are saying to yourself, yes, but those people who don’t know the love of Jesus ought to come to our church and hear about it. In fact, we wish they would come and join us!
The problem is, it’s not that simple. The responsibility is on us to make the gospel understandable and available to the people who need it. Too often, we make assumptions about people we don’t know. So if we are going to show people the love of Jesus, it stands to reason that the first step is to get to know them! We need to make the effort to make the connections with our neighbors.
Last Wednesday in our Bible Study, I shared some thoughts from a book called The Externally Focused Church. One thing I shared was about someone wanting to attend church for the first time that helps us understand that it might be more difficult than we realize.
“The demographics of our country are changing. Fewer people claim a Christian heritage. Recently at [a church in
What? He didn’t know how to go to church? Who wouldn’t know how to go to church? But think of it this way…would you know how to go to a Buddhist temple? How about a mosque? Do you know if these institutions have open seating or assigned seats? Do they expect nonbelievers to follow the same external patterns of bowing or kneeling as the true believers? There’s a lot to know.
We must accept the fact that an increasingly large portion of our population has no idea of ‘how to go to church.’” [1]
I grew up going to church every Sunday of my life. Most of my friends and relatives attend church, at least some of the time. So going to church—even a strange one—is not at all intimidating to me. But to some people, it certainly would be.
We need to be willing to listen to Isaiah’s message. Living in our church world, perhaps we have become blinded to some things. Perhaps we have made assumptions about people we don’t really know. Perhaps, even, we have assumptions about ourselves that are not very accurate.
The prophet shakes us up. Isaiah went straight for the jugular by attacking the people for their fasting. Probably the closest parallel today would be worship, prayer, and Bible study. Isaiah would probably tell us we are wasting our time having worship services, prayer meetings, and Bible studies if they are not making any difference in our lives or in the lives of our neighbors.
But Isaiah also assures us that God wants very much to bless us. God just wants us to take a good hard look at ourselves and admit that we might not always have all the answers, and we’re probably not nearly as good as we think we are. If we really want to do things God’s way; if we really want God’s idea of good religion, we will have to listen to the prophets—to Isaiah of old, and to the voices among us that are truly seeking God’s will.
Prayer:
God, we confess that often we have been guilty of doing religious things without humbling our hearts. We confess that we have been guilty of thinking only of our own needs, and of quarreling with one another.
We want to choose your idea of good religion. We want to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke.
We want to share our food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter— to clothe the naked, and not turn away from our own flesh and blood.
We know that when we humble ourselves and do these things, our light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; that our righteousness will go before us, and the glory of the LORD will be our rear guard.
We will call, and you, the LORD will answer; we will cry for help, and you will say: Here am
May we do away with the yoke of oppression and with the pointing finger and malicious talk. May we spend ourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed.
May you guide us always, and satisfy our needs in a sun-scorched land and strengthen us.
May we be like a well-watered garden; like a spring whose waters never fail.
May we rebuild the ancient ruins and raise up the age-old foundations.
May we be called Repairers of Broken Walls, and Restorers of Streets with Dwellings.
Amen
[1] Rick Rusaw and Eric Swanson, The Externally Focused Church. Loveland, CO, Group, 2004. pp.27-28.
Lisa was, in that situation, reacting like a prophet in the Bible might have reacted. Almost everyone is overwhelmed by the beauty of the cathedral, but the prophet sees something different. In this case, the prophet saw that an enormous amount of money and effort went into the building of that cathedral while many people were probably starving. The prophet speaks on behalf of God. Isaiah was such a prophet. He saw that the people were great at putting on worship services, but they didn’t really love God. In the passage we’re looking at this morning, Isaiah points out how the people fast and pray religiously, but they care nothing for the poor and needy. I’m reading Isaiah 58: 1 "Shout it aloud, do not hold back.
Raise your voice like a trumpet.
Declare to my people their rebellion
and to the house of Jacob their sins.
2 For day after day they seek me out;
they seem eager to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that does what is right
and has not forsaken the commands of its God.
They ask me for just decisions
and seem eager for God to come near them.
3 'Why have we fasted,' they say,
'and you have not seen it?
Why have we humbled ourselves,
and you have not noticed?'
"Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please
and exploit all your workers.
4 Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife,
and in striking each other with wicked fists.
You cannot fast as you do today
and expect your voice to be heard on high.
5 Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,
only a day for a man to humble himself?
Is it only for bowing one's head like a reed
and for lying on sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call a fast,
a day acceptable to the LORD ?
6 "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe him,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
9 Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am
"If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.
11 The LORD will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.
12 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.
As many of you know, I love Isaiah. Isaiah rants like an angry prophet, pointing out with vivid language what the people are doing wrong. But then he comes back with these wonderful promises of what God wants to do if the people will only listen and obey.
He strikes hard at these well-to-do religious people who make a big show of their religious fasting while they are exploiting the poor people who work for them. Isaiah says they fast, and then they wonder why God doesn’t seem to notice or reward them for their fasting.
Isaiah says that instead of making a big show of fasting for a day, it would be much better to choose God’s kind of fasting:
6 "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe him,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
Then, right away Isaiah gives the promise of what God will do for his people if they turn and obey him:
8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
9 Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am
"If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.
11 The LORD will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.
12 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.
The task for us today is to discern what Isaiah’s prophecy to
Isaiah seeks to know the heart of God and to apply that understanding of God’s heart to the current situation. He knows that God cares for all of the people—not just the rich, and not just the poor, and not just the ones who are religious, and not just the ones who happened to be born in
Do you think Isaiah would be impressed with the churches in
Maybe Isaiah would say something like this:
Your traditional churches have tall steeples and expensive organs; your modern churches have expensive sound systems and professional powerpoint---
You study the Bible and think you know all the answers; you raise your hands and sing words of praise to God--
Yet you finish your worship and get into your fancy cars and drive to your well-appointed homes, never thinking of the poor or the lonely ones or those who are trapped by addictions.
You spend your time gossiping and you look down your noses at those who you think are different.
What Isaiah wants us to understand is that to God, all people are his beloved children. So when God sees those who have much hoarding their wealth while people around them are going hungry, it makes God angry. We might also think of this in a spiritual sense. We who know the love of Jesus Christ often hoard our knowledge for ourselves, while people around us remain ignorant of God’s love. Might that also make God angry?
Now, perhaps you are saying to yourself, yes, but those people who don’t know the love of Jesus ought to come to our church and hear about it. In fact, we wish they would come and join us!
The problem is, it’s not that simple. The responsibility is on us to make the gospel understandable and available to the people who need it. Too often, we make assumptions about people we don’t know. So if we are going to show people the love of Jesus, it stands to reason that the first step is to get to know them! We need to make the effort to make the connections with our neighbors.
Last Wednesday in our Bible Study, I shared some thoughts from a book called The Externally Focused Church. One thing I shared was about someone wanting to attend church for the first time that helps us understand that it might be more difficult than we realize.
“The demographics of our country are changing. Fewer people claim a Christian heritage. Recently at [a church in
What? He didn’t know how to go to church? Who wouldn’t know how to go to church? But think of it this way…would you know how to go to a Buddhist temple? How about a mosque? Do you know if these institutions have open seating or assigned seats? Do they expect nonbelievers to follow the same external patterns of bowing or kneeling as the true believers? There’s a lot to know.
We must accept the fact that an increasingly large portion of our population has no idea of ‘how to go to church.’” [1]
I grew up going to church every Sunday of my life. Most of my friends and relatives attend church, at least some of the time. So going to church—even a strange one—is not at all intimidating to me. But to some people, it certainly would be.
We need to be willing to listen to Isaiah’s message. Living in our church world, perhaps we have become blinded to some things. Perhaps we have made assumptions about people we don’t really know. Perhaps, even, we have assumptions about ourselves that are not very accurate.
The prophet shakes us up. Isaiah went straight for the jugular by attacking the people for their fasting. Probably the closest parallel today would be worship, prayer, and Bible study. Isaiah would probably tell us we are wasting our time having worship services, prayer meetings, and Bible studies if they are not making any difference in our lives or in the lives of our neighbors.
But Isaiah also assures us that God wants very much to bless us. God just wants us to take a good hard look at ourselves and admit that we might not always have all the answers, and we’re probably not nearly as good as we think we are. If we really want to do things God’s way; if we really want God’s idea of good religion, we will have to listen to the prophets—to Isaiah of old, and to the voices among us that are truly seeking God’s will.
Prayer:
God, we confess that often we have been guilty of doing religious things without humbling our hearts. We confess that we have been guilty of thinking only of our own needs, and of quarreling with one another.
We want to choose your idea of good religion. We want to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke.
We want to share our food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter— to clothe the naked, and not turn away from our own flesh and blood.
We know that when we humble ourselves and do these things, our light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; that our righteousness will go before us, and the glory of the LORD will be our rear guard.
We will call, and you, the LORD will answer; we will cry for help, and you will say: Here am
May we do away with the yoke of oppression and with the pointing finger and malicious talk. May we spend ourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed.
May you guide us always, and satisfy our needs in a sun-scorched land and strengthen us.
May we be like a well-watered garden; like a spring whose waters never fail.
May we rebuild the ancient ruins and raise up the age-old foundations.
May we be called Repairers of Broken Walls, and Restorers of Streets with Dwellings.
Amen
[1] Rick Rusaw and Eric Swanson, The Externally Focused Church. Loveland, CO, Group, 2004. pp.27-28.
I’m reading Isaiah 58: 1 "Shout it aloud, do not hold back.
Raise your voice like a trumpet.
Declare to my people their rebellion
and to the house of Jacob their sins.
2 For day after day they seek me out;
they seem eager to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that does what is right
and has not forsaken the commands of its God.
They ask me for just decisions
and seem eager for God to come near them.
3 'Why have we fasted,' they say,
'and you have not seen it?
Why have we humbled ourselves,
and you have not noticed?'
"Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please
and exploit all your workers.
4 Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife,
and in striking each other with wicked fists.
You cannot fast as you do today
and expect your voice to be heard on high.
5 Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,
only a day for a man to humble himself?
Is it only for bowing one's head like a reed
and for lying on sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call a fast,
a day acceptable to the LORD ?
6 "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe him,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
9 Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am
"If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.
11 The LORD will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.
12 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.
As many of you know, I love Isaiah. Isaiah rants like an angry prophet, pointing out with vivid language what the people are doing wrong. But then he comes back with these wonderful promises of what God wants to do if the people will only listen and obey.
He strikes hard at these well-to-do religious people who make a big show of their religious fasting while they are exploiting the poor people who work for them. Isaiah says they fast, and then they wonder why God doesn’t seem to notice or reward them for their fasting.
Isaiah says that instead of making a big show of fasting for a day, it would be much better to choose God’s kind of fasting:
6 "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe him,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
Then, right away Isaiah gives the promise of what God will do for his people if they turn and obey him:
8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
9 Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am
"If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.
11 The LORD will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.
12 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.
The task for us today is to discern what Isaiah’s prophecy to
Isaiah seeks to know the heart of God and to apply that understanding of God’s heart to the current situation. He knows that God cares for all of the people—not just the rich, and not just the poor, and not just the ones who are religious, and not just the ones who happened to be born in
Do you think Isaiah would be impressed with the churches in
Maybe Isaiah would say something like this:
Your traditional churches have tall steeples and expensive organs; your modern churches have expensive sound systems and professional powerpoint---
You study the Bible and think you know all the answers; you raise your hands and sing words of praise to God--
Yet you finish your worship and get into your fancy cars and drive to your well-appointed homes, never thinking of the poor or the lonely ones or those who are trapped by addictions.
You spend your time gossiping and you look down your noses at those who you think are different.
What Isaiah wants us to understand is that to God, all people are his beloved children. So when God sees those who have much hoarding their wealth while people around them are going hungry, it makes God angry. We might also think of this in a spiritual sense. We who know the love of Jesus Christ often hoard our knowledge for ourselves, while people around us remain ignorant of God’s love. Might that also make God angry?
Now, perhaps you are saying to yourself, yes, but those people who don’t know the love of Jesus ought to come to our church and hear about it. In fact, we wish they would come and join us!
The problem is, it’s not that simple. The responsibility is on us to make the gospel understandable and available to the people who need it. Too often, we make assumptions about people we don’t know. So if we are going to show people the love of Jesus, it stands to reason that the first step is to get to know them! We need to make the effort to make the connections with our neighbors.
Last Wednesday in our Bible Study, I shared some thoughts from a book called The Externally Focused Church. One thing I shared was about someone wanting to attend church for the first time that helps us understand that it might be more difficult than we realize.
“The demographics of our country are changing. Fewer people claim a Christian heritage. Recently at [a church in
What? He didn’t know how to go to church? Who wouldn’t know how to go to church? But think of it this way…would you know how to go to a Buddhist temple? How about a mosque? Do you know if these institutions have open seating or assigned seats? Do they expect nonbelievers to follow the same external patterns of bowing or kneeling as the true believers? There’s a lot to know.
We must accept the fact that an increasingly large portion of our population has no idea of ‘how to go to church.’” [1]
I grew up going to church every Sunday of my life. Most of my friends and relatives attend church, at least some of the time. So going to church—even a strange one—is not at all intimidating to me. But to some people, it certainly would be.
We need to be willing to listen to Isaiah’s message. Living in our church world, perhaps we have become blinded to some things. Perhaps we have made assumptions about people we don’t really know. Perhaps, even, we have assumptions about ourselves that are not very accurate.
The prophet shakes us up. Isaiah went straight for the jugular by attacking the people for their fasting. Probably the closest parallel today would be worship, prayer, and Bible study. Isaiah would probably tell us we are wasting our time having worship services, prayer meetings, and Bible studies if they are not making any difference in our lives or in the lives of our neighbors.
But Isaiah also assures us that God wants very much to bless us. God just wants us to take a good hard look at ourselves and admit that we might not always have all the answers, and we’re probably not nearly as good as we think we are. If we really want to do things God’s way; if we really want God’s idea of good religion, we will have to listen to the prophets—to Isaiah of old, and to the voices among us that are truly seeking God’s will.
Prayer:
God, we confess that often we have been guilty of doing religious things without humbling our hearts. We confess that we have been guilty of thinking only of our own needs, and of quarreling with one another.
We want to choose your idea of good religion. We want to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke.
We want to share our food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter— to clothe the naked, and not turn away from our own flesh and blood.
We know that when we humble ourselves and do these things, our light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; that our righteousness will go before us, and the glory of the LORD will be our rear guard.
We will call, and you, the LORD will answer; we will cry for help, and you will say: Here am
May we do away with the yoke of oppression and with the pointing finger and malicious talk. May we spend ourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed.
May you guide us always, and satisfy our needs in a sun-scorched land and strengthen us.
May we be like a well-watered garden; like a spring whose waters never fail.
May we rebuild the ancient ruins and raise up the age-old foundations.
May we be called Repairers of Broken Walls, and Restorers of Streets with Dwellings.
Amen
[1] Rick Rusaw and Eric Swanson, The Externally Focused Church. Loveland, CO, Group, 2004. pp.27-28.
Raise your voice like a trumpet.
Declare to my people their rebellion
and to the house of Jacob their sins.
they seem eager to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that does what is right
and has not forsaken the commands of its God.
They ask me for just decisions
and seem eager for God to come near them.
'and you have not seen it?
Why have we humbled ourselves,
and you have not noticed?'
"Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please
and exploit all your workers.
and in striking each other with wicked fists.
You cannot fast as you do today
and expect your voice to be heard on high.
only a day for a man to humble himself?
Is it only for bowing one's head like a reed
and for lying on sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call a fast,
a day acceptable to the LORD ?
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe him,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am
"If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.
and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe him,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am
"If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.
and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.
We want to choose your idea of good religion. We want to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke.
May we do away with the yoke of oppression and with the pointing finger and malicious talk. May we spend ourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed.
May we be like a well-watered garden; like a spring whose waters never fail.
May we be called Repairers of Broken Walls, and Restorers of Streets with Dwellings.
[1] Rick Rusaw and Eric Swanson, The Externally Focused Church. Loveland, CO, Group, 2004. pp.27-28.
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