Isaiah 58: Week Two

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0:00 It's fun to think about kids needing forgiveness. Every time, no matter our age, we need forgiveness. I remember telling somebody one time that we were baptizing a baby and they were saying, you know, the baby hasn't made a choice for sin yet. And I was telling them that I think babies are the most selfish people on earth. They only care about themselves. They don't care about what anybody else has going on. All they want is everyone to take care of them.

0:32 We're born in a state of sin, whether we make choices for it or not. And the idea that Jesus comes back and forgives and forgives and forgives and forgives is staggering and fun to remind children of. I think it must be why he makes babies so cute so that we have the patience to put up with their selfishness. So for Lent, we are working our way through Isaiah 58 just because it's that good.

1:04 And we just did the first two verses last week. Today we'll do verses three and five, three through five, three, four and five. And remember we said last week that Isaiah, he's a prophet, which means he speaks for God before Pentecost, before everyone can receive the Spirit. God speaks to his people through prophets. Isaiah might be the most important prophet or at least the most prolific prophet. He preaches in the southern kingdom before he prophesies that the northern kingdom will be conquered and they are.

1:38 And then even though the southern kingdom survives longer, he says they will be conquered and they are. And then the second half of his book is prophesying the redemption of Judah and Benjamin, the Jews, coming back out of Assyria and Babylon to Israel to restore the temple and the Israel, the Israel borders. And in Isaiah 58 he's telling Isaiah what to say to Israel.

2:09 And last week about the first two verses, I'll read them here. Cry aloud, do not hold back, lift up your voice like a trumpet, declare to my people that their transgression are, declare to my people their transgression, to the house of Jacob their sins. Yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways as if they were a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the judgment of their God.

2:41 They ask of me righteous judgments, they delight to draw near to God. And we talked about seeking God and drawing near to God and why they might do that and why they might not find him if they're not doing it honestly. But verse three, he goes further, why have we fasted the people say and you are not and you hear it not, you see it not.

3:11 Why have we humbled ourselves and you take no knowledge of it, the people say to God? Behold, in the day of your of your fast God says, you seek your own pleasure and to press all your workers, oppress all your workers. Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to hit with a wicked fist. Fastening like yours this day will not make your voice to be heard on high.

3:41 Is such the fast that I choose, a day for a person to humble himself? Is it to bow down his head like a reed and a spread sack cloth and ashes around him? Will you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord? The people there in verse three are frustrated with God because they're like, we fasted and you see it not, we'd humbled ourselves and you take no knowledge of it.

4:19 I was trying to think of why people might be fasting or humbling themselves before God. What are the reasons why people go to God? And maybe it's a question for you, what are the reasons, when do you go to God? What are you looking for? Definitely when you're in trouble, when you need provision or protection, right?

4:52 When you want someone else to change, when you feel like there's an injustice that you need to be vindicated from or so when you need defense from other people who are coming against you. What was the last one? When you need forgiveness for sure, that would be the dream when you recognize that you need a fresh start, that you've made a mistake. The only other one I was thinking of is when you need direction, I have friends who might go to God when they need direction.

5:29 The Israelites here are saying, hey we fasted and we humbled ourselves and you haven't done anything. So when you go to God looking for provision or vengeance or judgment or protection, when you say, I need money, I need this person to stop doing this thing, I need this thing to go the right way, I need to know which choice to make and it feels silent. Or like God takes no notice, that's a familiar place to be maybe, I mean it is for me.

6:07 It's a familiar place to be. These folks did what they went to God in the way that you're supposed to. He describes it actually, which it's more intense than what I would usually do if I were going to God. He says, is this the fast that I choose? A day for a person to humble himself? Is it to bow down his head like a reed to spread sackcloth and ashes under him?

6:41 So this is a practice, right? We know the practice from the story of Jonah and Nineveh, where Jonah comes and pronounces judgment on the people and then they turn and go to God for forgiveness or mercy. We don't want your judgment to come and they put ashes on everybody and they sit on burlap and he declares a fast for the whole city. Your animals, your children, nobody will eat, everybody will be uncomfortable, will be on our knees uncomfortable in front of God.

7:18 The message is Lord without your intervention, this is who we'll be. So just a moment of reflection, what does it look like when you go to God looking for the things we listed? Defense, vengeance, provision, direction. What does that look like for you? Is it a whole day?

7:48 Have you ever sought God for a whole day? Yes. Yes. Good. Israel seems to be in a position where they really need God to show up. If you take a whole day and spread out sackcloth and pour ashes on yourself, these are probably pretty dire.

8:22 They've done this and they're frustrated. They're calling out to God, hey, you haven't heard and you haven't seen. And so God says something to Isaiah. He's like, good, tell these people this. Is this the fast I'm looking for? He doesn't seem to be happy with their fast. He's like, you wonder why I'm not responding. He doesn't seem to be happy with their fast. Let's look at it here. Verse 3, Israel first says, why have we fasted and you see it not?

8:58 Why have we humbled ourselves and you take no knowledge of it? Behold, in the day of your fast, Jesus said, you work for your own pleasure. Interesting. And oppress all your workers. Interesting. Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to hit with a wicked fist.

9:29 Fasting like this, fasting like yours this day will not make your voice to be heard on high. So he's talking like about what they're praying, but while they're praying and fasting, their life is pursuing whatever they'd like at whatever cost or expense.

10:03 I was thinking of a couple of verses. Look, you can hold your finger here in Isaiah 58 if you want, but look to the right in James 2. James. Remember that James is towards the back because it's after all of Paul's letters.

10:34 Let's see. Peter's before. It's right before the Peter's guys. Chapter 2, verse 17. Actually, let's go back to verse 14. James is the brother of Jesus, like one of those when he was in Nazareth and preaching and he had a whole crowd

11:08 around Jesus in the house and brothers and mother were staying outside, saying, come out here, you're being crazy. They didn't get it at first. Jesus was their brother and their son and he's saying all these things with all these people following him and they feel like he's crazy. Something happened after the crucifixion and resurrection, probably the gift of the spirit and Jesus' family comes around. Mary comes around, but James also comes around and James nears we can tell in the first century ends up as like a bishop in the church in Jerusalem, especially.

11:40 He stays in Jerusalem amidst the persecution and helps lead the Jerusalem Council. So this letter that James writes is not to a specific church like Corinthians or Philippians or Galatians. It's to the church broadly, which is why it's titled James. So he's just writing a letter on how we live out faith in this world where Jesus is king, but we can't see him. And in chapter 2, it's a short letter. In chapter 2, starting at verse 14, he says, what good is it, my brothers and sisters,

12:15 someone says he has faith but does not have works. Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, go in peace, be warmed and filled without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself if it does not have works is dead.

12:45 But someone will say, you have faith and I have works. Show me your faith apart from works and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one, you do well, even the demons before the believe and shutter. Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar?

13:16 You see that faith was active along with his works and faith was completed by his works. And the scriptures were fulfilled that says Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. And he was called a friend of God. You see that a person is justified by works not by faith alone. And in the same way was not also Rahab, the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way.

13:54 Or as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so faith apart from works is dead. Oh nice. Of course, you know, people have people heard that before, raised their hand, faith without works is dead. And you get like the classic, we talk about Abraham, the big accomplishment of Abraham is he believed in it was credited him as righteousness.

14:29 God said I'd like to give you good things Abraham said I'll take them. Thank you very much. And that is Abraham's defining quality. What James is saying is that his works justified him. He's talking about when God says, hey sacrifice Isaac to me and Abraham goes up on the mountain and is ready to do it. Has tied Isaac to the altar, put the wood underneath him, raised the knife in order to kill the son.

15:00 And when you read the story of Abraham and Isaac, the sacrifice of Isaac carefully, you realize Abraham is realizing several things that are in the ! And God has also told him to sacrifice his son Isaac. And so he sure he believes that the God gives him good things so the God will work it out. And what James is saying is that the faith that he had that believed God would give him good things is born out in his actions that when he's willing to sacrifice Isaac.

15:35 That if he says he believes but never actually puts the belief in the faith, then Abraham would do well to recognize this is a red flag. If I don't have the courage to sacrifice Isaac, it's demonstrating that I don't actually believe God will give me good things. I believe I've got to get them. Here's Isaac, I'll take my good thing. And so James is saying in the case of Rahab, if she says all of Jericho is set against you, but I'll cast my lot with you.

16:11 And then when the messengers come, she brings them to the Israelites. She's not actually willing to cast her lot with them. Right? She's like, she doesn't have the courage of her faith. And so he's saying her faith is born out by the choices that she's making. So he says, your works by your works, you're justified. Your faith is made evident.

16:46 And so in Isaiah 58, when God is speaking to Israel and they're saying, what do we need? We need protection, provision, vengeance, direction, justice, mercy. Look, we're doing the thing. We're in the sackcloth and the ashes. He said, is this what I'm looking for? You live however you want and do the thing.

17:20 I thought of another verse for us. It's in 1 John. If you go just a little bit further to the right, 1 John 4. Starting at verse 19. Remember this is the Apostle John, the one whom Jesus loved. These are called the epistles of John for a second and third John again, because like James, he's writing these to the church diaspora. The church spread around before he dies. He writes them, they make copies and spread it all around.

17:53 So it's not written to any specific situation, but to general Christians in the first century trying to figure out how to live. 1 John 4 verse 19. By this we know that we abide in him and he and us, because he has given us his spirit. And we have seen and testified that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him and he and God.

18:23 So we have come to know to believe that the love of God has for us. God is love and whoever abides in love abides in God and God in him. Oh sorry I started at 13. Now I'm at verse 17. Sorry for that. By this is love perfected with us so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in the world.

18:55 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment. And over fears has not been perfected in love. Now we're here verse 19. We love because he first loved us. If anyone says I love God and hates his brother, he is a liar. For he who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.

19:32 And this commandment we have from him, whoever loves God, must also love his brother. Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God. And everyone who loves the Father, loves whoever has been born of him. By this we know that the love of the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. The verse that got me here was whoever says he loves God and hates his brother is a liar.

20:05 That's the one that got me under that passage. And we wonder if Israel might be wondering, hey I'm doing the thing. I got the sackcloth underneath me. I got the ashes on my head. I'm asking for your protection, your provision, your direction, your vengeance, your justice, your mercy. And you're not responding. And God's like is that what I was looking for? Was for you to do the thing for the day?

20:35 He's like you guys are asking me for the thing and meanwhile you're exploiting your workers, you're living for yourself, every other part of the day. That's not the way to get your voice heard in heaven or to plead your case. The implication is the call, if we want provision or vengeance or direction from God, it's to live with faith.

21:13 Not faith that says a thing but we use that metaphor last week of the car. As a friend that likes to describe faith as like looking at your car and might look at the car in the driveway and be enamored with all the gadgets and all the things that work right, the engine and the other things that work right. The engine and the electronics and all of it and you just love this car but if you love the car but never have the courage to drive it on the street, you actually don't believe it will get you anywhere.

21:53 If you have faith in this car but walk everywhere then you get no benefit from the car. The way that the car works for you is you get in and drive it. And the same is true with faith. If you look at faith as an idea but never put it into work, if it's like I know the way of God is to love the neighbor well but I don't have the time, energy or resources to love my neighbor, you get no benefit of faith. The intention of faith is to be able to go God knows better than me. And so I'll put the way of God into action.

22:28 And God says through Isaiah to the Israelites you wonder why you don't get the provision, the protection, the justice, the vengeance that you're asking for is because you actually don't really have any faith in me at all. It's borne out by the life that you live. So for us in this Lenten season, if there is some provision or protection or direction or vengeance that we need, the best move of repentance might be to put our faith into action.

23:15 To love your neighbor or to submit your future, he says you work for your own pleasure and you exploit your neighbor. So how might you submit your future or love your neighbor? Start in small ways and let it graduate. He is faithful with a few things and will be faithful with much. James gives you the answer about helping people less fortunate than yourselves. Move towards that.

23:48 Last little text here when Jesus is speaking in Isaiah, or God is speaking in Isaiah 58 through Isaiah and says, It's such the fast that I choose a day for a person to humble himself. Is it to bow down his head like a reed and spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Sometimes I feel like I don't know how or have the capacity to apply faith to my life.

24:18 I just am trying to survive. I can't think about what would faithfulness look like in the moment. And hearing that thing about the reed, it reminded me of Isaiah 42. And perhaps if you're wondering what faith applied looks like for you. In Isaiah, God says, in Isaiah 42, Behold my servant to my upheld, my chosen in whom my soul delights. He's describing the suffering servant who we know is fulfilled in the person of Christ.

24:50 I have put my spirit upon him and he will bring forth justice to the nations. He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice or make it heard in the street. A bruised reed he will not break and a faintly burning wick he will not quench. He will faithfully bring forth justice. He will not grow faint or be discouraged until he has established justice in the earth and the coast lands wait for him.

25:21 Thus says the Lord who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it. Who gives birth to the people on it and the spirit to those who walk in it. I am the Lord and I have called you in righteousness and I will take you by the hand and keep you. I will give you a covenant for the people, a light for the nations to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison, those who sit in darkness.

25:52 God has made a commitment that whatever faith you have, you will not abandon you. You will not snuff out your little ember of faith. You will not break over your kind of failing reed of life. But he will fan into flame your faith and stand up your bruised reed. Of course you don't have the faith of Abraham.

26:22 Of course you don't have the faith of Isaiah. Of course not. This is why he sent Jesus. The faithful worship isn't perfection, it's recognition. God through Isaiah wasn't calling Israel to be perfect employers and lovers of their neighbor. He was calling them to recognize they had failed as employers and as loving their neighbor and come back humbly,

26:54 acknowledging their failure, asking for forgiveness and the right to start again. Of course you have trouble getting to the car of faith and driving it. It takes courage and we don't always have it. The answer is not to be perfect. The answer is to recognize your imperfection. The answer isn't to have faith enough to move mountains, it's to recognize that you don't. And come and ask for the suffering servant to fan your little ember of faith,

27:26 to stand up your bruised reed and let you try and live a life of faith again. To your great benefit you will like a life better empowered by faith. And the world will be better off because of it. Let's pray. Hey Lord, thank you for the little gift of faith. Teach us to have the courage to believe that we can live lives of faith to our great joy and your great glory.

27:57 We know the world needs people of faith. We know we are made to live with faith. For those reasons and for the glory of your son, let's take hold of faith in this Lenten season by your grace. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.