Isaiah 58: Week Three

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0:00 Okay, we are three weeks into Lent. It's the third week of Lent. How's it going? Is it marked off anything different for you? My Lent's going okay. Not as good at the thing I wanted to be doing. I was adding more prayer practice into my week. I'm just doing okay at it, Bob. I could be doing better.

0:30 I'm not hitting my goal right now. But that's okay. I have bare good fruits sometimes, and other times not, I ask for forgiveness. We are for the Lent working our way through Isaiah 58, and I'm committed to doing that. So this morning we're on Isaiah 58 verses 6 to 10. If you want to follow along, you might pull up the whole chapter, Isaiah 58, and we'll focus in on verses 6 to 10. We've been talking a little bit. We talked several weeks ago about just the nature

1:01 of a prophet, and remember that before Christ's death, resurrection and ascension, before Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit is given out on all people, young and old men and women, before then, God's Spirit, if He wants to talk to people, speaks through prophets. His Spirit comes on specific people for specific purposes, and they speak on behalf of God to the people. I don't know what it would feel like, but my sense is, it would feel deeply authoritative

1:31 when you heard a prophet speak. And Isaiah's probably the most famous of Israel's prophets. Jeremiah's book might be a little bit longer. Isaiah prophesies in a couple of key points. By Isaiah 58, God is telling Isaiah to talk to the people about how they should be living as they're coming back from exile in Babylon. He's mixed in prophecies about what this suffering servant who will deliver them will look like.

2:03 And in Isaiah 58, He's talking specifically about what worship ought to look like. At the beginning, He said, hey, these Israelites are fasting, and they're bothered that I'm not listening to them. He's like, but they do this fast. They stop eating, and they cover themselves in sackcloth and ashes, but while they're doing that, they're exploiting all of their workers. They're violent with each other. He's like, they fast and expect me to respond

2:35 as though they were a nation that actually cared about righteousness and they don't. And so should they be surprised that I'm not listening to them when they're going through the motions, performing like they are pious, God-fearing people, but not living like it at all. Should they be surprised when they don't hear from me? That's what He said so far.

3:06 And if we go to Isaiah 58, verse six, okay, just right before that, in verse five, is this the fast that I would choose, God says, 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? Will you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord? Well, this is the last, the tail bit of his critiquing

3:37 the worship of the Israelites, and he says, is this what you would call a fast to the Lord, a day to humble yourself, spread out sackcloth on it, cover yourself in ashes and bend down like a reed? And I would say, yeah, that's probably what I would call fast. God through Isaiah is being almost ironic biting. He would not call that a fast, because He says, hey, the problem isn't that you don't know the posture to hold, the problem is that your heart doesn't have any position towards actual humility or repentance at all.

4:08 It doesn't demonstrate that you actually care about this. You're trying to manipulate me with your actions. You're trying to look holy, but not be holy. You're trying to look as though you care about righteousness and justice when you don't at all, right? And so now in six through 10, he's gonna describe to us what a fast that he would like looks like in chapter, in verses six through 10, Isaiah chapter 58 verses six through 10, is not this the fast that I choose? God says, to loose the bonds of wickedness,

4:42 does somebody have a different translation for that word, wickedness? Yeah, in justice, to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free and break every yoke, is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house? When you see the naked to cover him

5:13 and not to hide yourself from your own flesh, then shall your light break forth like the dawn and your healing shall spring up speedily. Your righteousness shall go before you and the glory of the Lord shall be your rearguard and then you shall call on the Lord and the Lord will answer. You shall cry and he will say, here I am. If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the fingers and the speaking of wickedness, if you pour yourself out for the hungry

5:44 and satisfy the desires of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and the gloom be as noon day. Oh, sounds easy enough. God says, here's the fast I would like. Mike described it earlier, fast from your selfishness and care about someone else. He says, here's what I would like.

6:14 Here's what right worship would look like. Loose the bonds of injustice. Feed the ones who are hungry. Close the ones who have no food. Live as though you care about someone else at all. Oh, I just told you guys at the start. I've had whole seasons of my life wondering if I cared about anyone at all.

6:45 And God through Isaiah says, care about someone. When I first thought about this, like what is right worship look like, I thought about the psalm that Demetrius read for us at the beginning. What is it that the Lord looks? A broken spirit and a contrite heart. That was the phrase that came to my mind at first and I had to look it up to make sure that it was right, that it actually said a broken spirit and a contrite heart.

7:16 It sounds so hopeless to have a broken spirit and a contrite heart. But somewhere along the line, I mean, I spent a lot of time in a good church growing up in a good Christian family, but somewhere though through no probably fault of anyone but my own, I internalized that I should be broken, have a broken spirit and a contrite heart

7:47 about my own internal sin, my own little piety, my own. If I was thinking about what I should be broken about, if I was thinking about Lent as a time of repentance, I should probably be repentant about what I said at the beginning, not praying enough. That somehow my, that I did too many of the things I shouldn't do, that I said too many things I shouldn't say,

8:20 was all kind of internal, that the place I find my sin is looking inside of myself. The personal piety is what we call it, personal individual holiness. Just it's a self-contained process. And so when I should have a contrite heart, I should be so broken spirited about how crummy I am. Which I think is fine,

8:52 but it didn't get me very far, I don't think. And it didn't move me towards what God is saying through Isaiah in chapter 58. It moved me into a closet maybe, which is good. Some people need to be in closets and in prayer, in sackcloth and ashes about how crummy they are and how unrighteous they are. Some people should be there, but most of the time,

9:23 when God is calling people to repentance in the story of scripture, He's calling them out of their closet, out of themselves, out into the world. Care about someone besides yourself, most of the time. And he doesn't hear in Isaiah chapter 58, loose the bonds of injustice, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, right? There's a famous, well not famous, actually,

9:54 it's not famous. It's a set of stories in Matthew that I really like. It's famous to me, Christina. It's in Matthew chapter 14, we're gonna bounce around. You don't have to go there, but you can if you want. If you're in a digital copy, you might be hard to follow along because I'm just gonna jump through. But if you don't wanna follow, that's fine, you can take my word for it. Matthew chapter 14, there's a good word for it. A group of stories in Matthew chapter 14.

10:24 That to me are very compelling. At the beginning of chapter 14, Herod has John the Baptist, remember John the Baptist, he's the first prophet in the New Testament. It had been quiet for 400 years and God had not spoken. Rely on the words of the prophets that you already have that are written out. And then like bursting onto the scene comes this like crazy person in the desert who wears camel's hair,

10:58 eats locusts and honey and stands by the Jordan River. Why would anyone care what he has to say? He's a crazy person. They go outside of town to listen to him because there's something different when God speaks. And God was speaking through him and it resonated. People could feel the difference. John the Baptist was stirring folk up saying, hey, the way that you're living is less than what you're called to. You're stuck in a set of rules and you're not caring about the people around you. It was causing such an uproar that Herod,

11:29 the puppet Jewish king, arrested John the Baptist and threw him in jail and said, you're causing problems for me because the people are changing their patterns of behavior and I don't like it, go in jail. But then when Jesus was out there doing the same thing, causing trouble, encouraging people to review their life, Herod looks at John the Baptist. He's like, I thought I imprisoned this guy. What's he doing running around out there and threw a set of weird stories? He ends up beheading John the Baptist. John the Baptist was Jesus's cousin.

12:00 When he hears about his cousin die, the forebearer, he decides to go off by himself. If you see verse 14 of Matthew verse 13, now when Jesus heard this that John the Baptist was killed, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself.

12:31 Of course he did. He's like having to heal people and teach all the time. He's tired. He just heard that John the Baptist, his cousin was beheaded brutally. That's sad for one, but also for two, he knows that John the Baptist is his forerunner. So not only has he lost his cousin, but his time has come, he needs to get his head straight on what's going on. He needs some peace and quiet from the people, for heaven's sake, right? And so he says, I'm gonna go off and be by myself.

13:02 He gets in a boat to be by himself. Verse 14. Oh wait, right before that. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from all the towns. And when he went ashore, he saw a great crowd and had compassion on them and healed their sick. This is the first part that gets me about this sequence of stories, the reason it makes it famous for me is because I know what it feels like to be exhausted by people. I just told you that, right? I know what it feels like to be exhausted by people.

13:34 Jesus was exhausted by people, tries to go be by himself. And when he gets there to be by himself, they're all there and he has what? It says he has compassion on them. This is what gets me is that Jesus doesn't love because he must, he loves because he can't not. His heart is in a position where he sees people that need leadership and he loves them. He's not doing it because he must, he's doing it because he can't not.

14:06 He teaches them and heals all their sick one at a time though he wanted to be by himself. And it gets to be late at night. And the disciples come to Jesus and they're like, dude, we're out here in the wilderness. Remember you intended to come out here and be by yourself? They followed you out here to the wilderness. It's late at night. You better send them back because they're gonna get hungry. And this is why Jesus says they're gonna get hungry. You feed them. Because he wishes they would actually care about him

14:37 instead of just trying to dismiss them. And he's like, you feed him. And they can't figure out how to do it, right? They're like, we only have this one little lunch. So Jesus feeds him. He's like, hey, bring me what you got. And then they collect him baskets. And then it says, right after they collect the 12 extra baskets. Jesus has demonstrated, if you care about people, I will come with you.

15:08 If you move towards somebody besides yourself, the spirit of God will move with you. If you walk towards the brokenness of people with whatever little bit you have, the spirit of God will multiply whatever little bit and help meet the needs. Because this is the work that God intends to be about in the world. He's demonstrated that completely. One little lunch fed 5,000 men plus their families and had 12 baskets left over. As soon as they pick up the 12 baskets, Jesus sends the disciples off by themselves.

15:39 He deals with the people. Disciples, you go and think about that. He deals with the people and disperses them. Once he disperses them, he walks up on the mountain by himself to pray. It gets to be late in the night and the disciples are in the boat on the sea of Galilee, buffeted by the winds. Jesus sees them from up on the hill. And this is when he walks on water. He's been trying to get alone since he found out his first cousin. And then his disciples don't care about anybody. So then he solves the whole village.

16:12 Then he finally gets prayed by himself. And to catch back up with the disciples, he's gonna walk across the water to get back to him. He's walking across the water to get back to him. And they see him from the boat and they're terrified and they call out. And Peter says, if it's you, I should be able to do the things that you do. I'm your disciple. So if it's you, Jesus, call me to come out and walk to you. Peter does what? Walks on water. Peter is not Jesus.

16:42 Peter did not have a virgin birth. He is not the word of God incarnate. He does not sit at the right hand of God, the Father almighty from whence comes the judge, will return the coming of the judge living in the dead. He does not. He's just Peter, man, a fisherman. And he walks on water. And when he realizes he's walking on water, he freaks out and starts to sink and calls out to Jesus.

17:12 Jesus saved me. Jesus is still standing on the water, right? He's not in the boat. Peter doesn't turn around and go to the boat and go, hey guys, why are you letting me sink? He goes to Jesus, standing on the water. Hey, Jesus, save me. Says immediately, Jesus reaches down, standing on the water and picks him up. I couldn't pick up Peter, he's a grown man. Jesus picks him up out of the water. What? And then carries him back to the boat? Like a baby. And as he's carrying him back to the boat,

17:44 he says, oh, you have little faith. Why did you doubt? What did he doubt? Jesus is carrying him like a baby walking on the water back to the boat. Jesus is frustrated that Peter doubted that he could do the thing. Walk on the water.

18:14 Jesus is frustrated that Peter doubted that his unregenerate heart would persist to the point that he would sink into the death in the face of Jesus who saves him. Jesus says, I called you out here. I'll give you what you need. Didn't you notice what the fish and the bloves?

18:44 You got this. When I very first moved back to Orlando, I knew that I wanted to find a way to serve the city. So I started the Google, that's how I did it, ways to serve Orlando. Actually, the classmate of mine was the chief of staff for the mayor at the time. A girl had graduated high school with me, and so I got a meeting with her, and I didn't have a, well, she wasn't chief of staff,

19:14 she was a student of the city. Oh, she wasn't chief of staff, she was the press secretary. I didn't have a church yet, but I was getting ready to start a church. And I said, hey, Brie, like, I'm getting ready to start a church down here, and we want to serve the city, what does Orlando need? She's like, do you have a church? I said, no, do you have a budget? I said, no, I don't have a budget. But I am here to make a difference. She's kind of chuckled at me. We kind of got it under control, you know? The EDC handles all the poverty issues,

19:46 or the employment issues, the churches handle the homeless, the second harvest handles the food, go volunteer somewhere, yeah, okay? So I didn't like that answer, so then I'm like Googling, where's the serve Orlando? And all the places, all the mostly homeless stuff came up. And I realized just me and my Google, I'll admit it to this room now, I did not care about the people who were homeless.

20:18 I just couldn't get myself to care about it. I thought these people have made their choices. And so I'm not gonna do something here, just because I must. That's what I thought. So then I found a Boys and Girls Club that was at the Coalition for the Homeless, and my kids were really young at the time, and I thought this I care about. These kids didn't make any choices. They're there, so I just went to the Boys and Girls Club, that was, they were in trailer, they were in two trailers at the Coalition for the Homeless,

20:50 and I said, how can I help you? She said, can you cook? I said, I can make dinner, I'll do that. I'm not great with kids. I said, well I can help you plan stuff. And this is what I found, and I've repeated it several times in my life. Locating myself in the place of the brokenness, the injustice, the hungry, the naked who need clothes. Locating myself there, it is true.

21:23 The spirit that rose Christ from the dead is alive in me. And when I am faced with the brokenness, with repeated, my heart is not so dead that it doesn't awaken at the sight of the failure, it does. If my heart is callous or does not care, the problem isn't in the Christ who lifts me up out of the water. The problem is my unwillingness to step out of the boat. My lack of faith isn't in God, it's that he could do anything through me.

21:54 And when I make a small step to move towards doing something, the great spirit of God comes with me, and awakens my heart and my imagination, and my capacity to do something. I did it again with coffee. I did not, coffee's like a global supply problem. And when I was buying coffee, I had an image of the exploitation of coffee growers around the world, and I had learned from the coalition of the homeless that maybe I could care about it if I moved closer to it. And so I did, long story, made short.

22:26 I ended up meeting very small-scale coffee growers and going, we can do something here. And by the grace of God we did, I talked to the guy who was helping me get the coffee from the growers in Guatemala. We were a consistent purchaser still to the day, a dozen years. He said, you kept guys in homes because you kept buying coffee from them, in the mountains in Guatemala. I didn't fix the coffee industry, but some people had a place to live. And what I'm saying is not that I found solutions,

22:57 is that idiots like Peter can walk on water when they find the capacity to follow Jesus into the places that matter. And so can you. And the call of Lent and Isaiah chapter 58 is that real worship of the God of creation and life, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of Christ in the church, is the people who go to the place that are broken because they care about others more than they care about themselves. And they have the capacity to believe that God does too.

23:28 And when they go there, he shows up and does stuff. God has a birth in you, the capacity to care. Don't squander it. Don't let it die in the boat. Move towards some brokenness, some injustice,

24:01 and wait to see what God would have you do. Okay, let's pray. Hey, Lord, thank you for the call of Isaiah. Let it be our call this morning to loose the bonds of injustice, to feed the hungry, however we might. Or we don't have to have all the answers, to just how to move towards good questions and wait for you. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.