Isaiah 58: Week Four

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0:00 We are like with the with the kids on Sunday mornings during Lent right now We've like picked us several themes to try and help them think through What repentance looks like and what forgiveness means and so we found like a bunch of different stories? Because I couldn't get them to pay attention to Isaiah 58 week after week Beverly, but I bet I can get you guys So we're back on Isaiah 58 Working our way through it. I'm loving it. I hope you are enjoying it as well Isaiah chapter 58 somebody

0:33 Showed it to me a couple weeks ago and it felt like such a good lent passage for us It's felt like a timely Lenten passage and The verses that we're gonna focus on this morning are eight to eleven But I'm gonna start at verse one here and read for us just to kind of remind us where we've been Isaiah chapter 58 starting at verse one Cry aloud and do not hold back God says to Isaiah cry aloud and do not hold back lift up your voice like a trumpet

1:05 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 for For sake the judgment of their God they ask of me righteous judgments. They delight to draw near to God Why have they? Feared why have they fasted sorry? Why have they fasted and you we you have seen it not they ask?

1:36 Why have we humbled ourselves and you take no knowledge of it? Behold in the day of your fast God says you seek your own pleasure and To press all the workers who work with for you behold your fast You fast only to quarrel and to fight and to hit with a wicked fist Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice heard on high is Such the fast that I choose a day for a person to humble himself

2:09 Is it to bow down his head like a reed to spread out sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast a day acceptable to the Lord? It's not the fast that I choose to Loose the bonds of wickedness to undo the straps of the yoke to let the oppressed go free and to break every yoke Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house?

2:40 when you When you set the naked to cover him when you see the naked to cover him and Not hide yourself from your own flesh and here's our verses for this morning then your light shall break forth like the dawn and Your healing shall spring up speedily Your righteousness shall go before you your glory the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard Then you shall call and the Lord will answer you shall cry and he will say here. I am

3:16 If you take the way the yoke from your midst the pointing of the finger and the speaking wickedness if you Pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desires of the afflicted then Shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as noon day and the Lord will guide you Continuously and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your homes strong and you shall be like a Water to garden like a spring of water whose waters do not fail

3:51 God through Isaiah is describing to Israel the kind of worship that he's looking for And we got to the point last week where we started to describe the worship he's looking for He's first he says these people are a mess Then he describes why they're a mess He's like they're they're like doing performing the perfunctory acts of worship They're looking like they're worshiping but in that while they're seeking God quote-unquote. They're they're oppressing their workers

4:22 They're working against mercy against justice And actually they're perpetuating violence in their midst He's like this isn't the kind of fast I'm looking for and then yesterday or last week He starts to describe the sort of fast that he's looking for It's like I'm looking for people who move towards brokenness with mercy Who respond to places of injustice with hearts of justice who?

4:53 Who work to like set things right? That's the kind of fast I'm looking for and It's we talked a little bit about the the call of God on the people of God in the world to be agents of mercy and justice and The willingness of God to come alongside and then for the verses for today starting at verse 8 He starts to describe what will happen if we can live that way

5:25 Which is kind of beautiful verse 8 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 rear guard I love this idea of light in the story of scripture. I've talked about it before but it's pretty significant The idea of light in the story of scripture remember. It's the first thing God makes Let there be light and

5:57 Lights like this weird thing we slavin all the way figured out right It's like is a wave and a particle who knows? It doesn't need matter to travel but it can travel through it's like a weird thing, but God just speaks it into existence and then Throughout the story of scripture light is associated with God At the very end when John gets a picture of the end of the world and the coming of the new creation He says the new creation won't need a son because Jesus sitting on the throne will provide all the light that is needed

6:34 and of amazing You get a snapshot of that in Jesus life stepping back a little bit when he goes to the Mount of Transfiguration and he takes Peter James and John early in the morning They walk up on top of Mount Tabor and he says he just kind of reveals for a minute who he is Pulls back the curtain and he kind of it comes up off the ground and he says it was hard It was kind of like blinding white it was hard to look at him wider than anything could bleach him It says he's Sean with light light came out of the person of Jesus

7:05 Light is somehow associated with things being revealed as they really and truly are and it has this like nature of divinity this nature of Divine is divine quality. It's connected to God. This is why Jesus is often called the light of the world right and so When I read this I was like oh cool cool like your light will shine. I like my light

7:42 There's one little passage I I'd like to come back to it a lot because Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount of Matthew chapter 5 Looks at a group of people assembled around him and says hey you are the light of the world and I love that and I love to tell you about it because I like to kind of I don't want to Bird in you with undue responsibility But I do like to Raise your notion of your own capacity

8:15 What you might be able to accomplish in the world And so God through Isaiah is saying hey I have a group of people who are walking around in the world who are coming to me and mad that I'm not listening But the thing is they're not actually pursuing me if they were pursuing me They would live like I encourage them to live and they would go towards the places of brokenness poverty and injustice moving with healing Generosity mercy and justice they would move towards the places where they're needed

8:46 With the things that they're needed and then I would come to their aid He says and so what then he says and then your light will shine and so the first time I come through this I'm like yes my light will shine image bearer Activator of good in the world and you and But because I am diligent I did not go with my first impression I Don't think that's untrue, but I also don't think it's what Isaiah or God is saying through Isaiah here

9:19 Your light will shine Meaning my light he says your light will shine then once you live like that once you move towards places of poverty brokenness and injustice with Generosity healing and justice then your light will shine It's like divine quality will show up If you look what I was first thinking my light origin with me and then I looked over to Isaiah chapter 60

9:49 On mine. It's like a facing page and it's what I read for us in our call to worship arise shine For your light has come and The glory of the Lord has been has risen upon you oh oh West told the story of when we were his first hike we had a series of hikes we did together with some buds and That first hike we got there. It took me longer to get up there than I thought it would you know

10:22 it's like a 10-hour drive and It's supposed to be 10 hours when you're not coming with a bunch of dudes you got to stop all the time You know and buy stuff We got there later and we wanted it was already dark when we got out of the car and then we were hiking this covered tree And it was pretty dark. We needed headlamps to see But just maybe our last hike or the one prior We were in a different spot in the woods We woke up early and we needed to get started before the sun came up the moon was still out

10:53 And the kids got up and put on the flashlights and I was like we don't need these flashlights cut the flashlights off the moon's enough right Of course the moon that's why I was thinking about this night sky for you guys this morning if you'd seen these lunar activities, you know Of course, we know the moon doesn't have any light of its own right It like when it lines up bright The Sun will hit the moon and then it'll reflect off the moon and come back to us right and

11:24 When we're the when the earth is blocking it or the Sun comes and it's full on us Then we can't see the reflection of the moon or it's obscured There's a story about Moses When he's Moses, you know, he he went upside. I got the 10 commandments and God's gonna do something different with Israel as they're in Egypt He's are outside of Egypt. They beat Egypt. They're in the desert. He's gonna take him into the promised land and he's assembled Israel Two million of them in the desert. He's figured out how they'll eat. They'll get water from the rock

11:54 He's figured out how or how they'll drink. They'll get water from the rock How they'll eat they'll pick up the manna in the morning off the ground in the evening. They'll pick up the quail He's gonna he's gonna subsist two million people in the desert. They've been slaves for generations He wants them to be conquerors and so he's got to bring his presence down in the midst of him And so he gives Moses a kind of a synopsis of what the heavenly city looks like and says build this tabernacle Just to look like the heavenly city and but before you do that. Well, that's happening Let's have a tent where just you and I meet Moses because I got to get real close to you

12:25 If you're gonna be who you're supposed to be in the world And so Moses goes into this tent to meeting They know that he's in there when the pillar of cloud assembles over top of the tent of meeting and only Moses has the courage or calling To go into the tent and when he comes out, he's Reflecting divine light out to people You know That when you start to read the story at first when he comes out of the tent of meeting they have trouble looking at him Because he's been in the presence of God and light is associated with the presence of God and it lingers

12:58 It bounces off of Moses. It's not as though Moses Has now has an internal light that is shining out different from all the other humans around him It's he's been in the presence of the divine light and it lingers on him it reflects off of him to the people around him We know this is true because what happens is in between his visits with God his light starts to fade No, not Moses his light the light he's reflecting like the moon to the people

13:33 He's been in the presence of the Sun that when he gets that light it reflects off of him to the people when he's been out of the Presence of God for a while it starts to dim so much that the people actually only listen to him when he's reflecting the light And so if you read the story he ends up putting a veil over his face So they can't tell if he's reflecting light or not because he wants him to listen to him all the time Not just when he's reflecting light This is what Jesus is talking about in Matthew chapter 5 when he says you are the light of the world

14:04 You don't have to save the place You don't have to solve the problems You don't have to muster up the sort of mercy that solves the problem of poverty You don't have to imagine the solutions of justice that's set to write all the injustice in the world. This is not your job You are not the Master light of the world you are the little moons the little reflectors of the Sun

14:38 God Through Isaiah says hey Israel if you would start living like I have called you to live Moving in the ways of God in the world He's like then you will find that I come in and your light will dawn in the darkness When you start moving in the ways of the presence of God the presence of God comes down boom off of you into the world

15:08 I When we were hiking though the night when I told her the morning It was still dark Sun hadn't come up yet and the guys had flashlights on it's got the flashlights off Now one it's way cooler to hike by the light of the moon than the light of a flashlight Yeah, it's just cooler But also it works better

15:38 Actually A flashlight is lame Compare it like it has even the best flashlight, you know you get a You get a big one. I got one that I got a headlamp one where on my head And then they wear out look it's shining right there of course. That's good because it'll only go like this Right the flashlights dumb Compared to the light of the moon

16:09 The moon has the flashlight is Generating something working hard all the little batteries going back and forth in the electrons to power the diodes to shoot out What we think is light it's working hard, but it is not as effective as the moon who is generating no light on its own Just reflecting the light of the Sun and it will wipe out my little flashlight You know And Isaiah on behalf of God to the people of Israel is like if you start moving

16:44 Towards the Sun you'll reflect the light that will wipe out the darkness in front of you You don't have to generate it you don't have to solve the problem Okay, then and your Your heel shall spring up speedily it will be just better Then he goes your righteousness shall go before you The glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. This is if we were to well

17:18 We could go just to Isaiah chapter 4 God is using language Consulate with Isaiah he develops a common language This is how I know when he says that your light will rise that it's the same Sort of understanding of light rising as in Isaiah chapter 60 because God and Isaiah to build a vernacular And so when he says your light will shine he's talking about the light that's coming The light that for you will come

17:50 of course comes in person of Jesus, but here he's like when he says that your rear guard we says Your righteousness again same not mine, but the one who who's come for me The righteousness who will come for me will go before me and the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard And he's referring back to there's this theme where that runs throughout Isaiah that comes first in Isaiah chapter 4 If you want to look there with me Isaiah chapter 4 I'm starting at verse 2

18:22 In that day the branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious and the fruit of the Land shall be the pride and honor of survivors of Israel and he who is left in Zion and the remains in Jerusalem will be called holy everyone who has been recorded for life in Jerusalem when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and Cleanse the bloodshed the blood stains of Jerusalem from its midst

18:55 By a spirit of judgment and by a spirit of burning remember Isaiah starts out by saying hey you guys Southern Kingdom you're gonna be conquered just like the northern kingdom was because you've been walking away from God for so long again I have his reputation in the world solid by the way that you're carrying it around and so he's got a clean House so that people know to move back towards him to find the light again But then he says there's something that's gonna happen after that God's done and that's what's coming right now then he says verse 5 then the Lord will create over the whole

19:28 sight of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud by day and Smoke and the shining of a flaming fire by night over all the glory There will be a canopy there will be a booth for shade by day from the heat and for a refuge and a shelter in the storm in the evening when God says through Isaiah Hey when you start to worship with this kind of fast when you start to move towards places of brokenness with healing

20:00 Towards poverty with mercy towards injustice with justice Then your light will shine on you and it will reflect and remove the darkness in the places where you're going Then he says your righteousness will be like a guard your righteousness will go before you and the Lord God will be your Rear guard and he's calling them back to the days when they walked through the desert When they knew clearly where they were going When they had a pillar of fire in front of them at night and a cloud in the in during the day

20:33 And so they had the comfort of knowing the presence of God is in the tabernacle and leading us in the cloud We know where we are going It is clear and in front of us and we know we are protected in our rear guard We will not be caught up from behind or destroyed Unknowing we are led and protected and God is saying through the prophet Isaiah Would you like to know where you are going to be led and protected start walking in the direction of God?

21:08 Then your light will shine upon you and push out the darkness Then your righteousness will go before you and the Lord God will be your rear guard Start moving in the ways of God Then you shall call the Lord this is back in Isaiah 58 Then you shall call the call and the Lord will answer

21:42 You shall cry and he will say here I am If you take away the yoke from your midst and the pointing finger and speaking witness wickedness if you Pour yourself out for the hungry Satisfy the desires of the afflicted then shall your light rise in the darkness and Your gloom be as the noon day

22:15 and the Lord will guide you continually and Satisfy your desire in the scorched places and make your bones strong and you shall be like a Water to garden a spring of water Whose waters do not fail there's an aspect of The story of God Where there are some things that are just

22:47 true And there's a version of that here Israel the context here we can tell by what God is speaking to Isaiah is that Israel is frustrated They feel like they performed the appropriate worship and they do not hear from God They feel like they don't know where to go or what to do they feel exposed and vulnerable They feel like their rear is exposed and they are directionless in front of them

23:20 They feel like no one is fighting for them and God through Isaiah is like guys There's a way I made you to live There's a way to do this where you're not wandering around aimlessly Wondering what should I do with myself and who will protect me in the face of problems that are large? He's like start small in the places in front of you

23:53 He says there are people who work for you who are oppressed. He starts that small You don't even have to go outside of the people on your own payroll. He says For us what would be the corollary Where might you find brokenness? Injustice Where might you be able to offer?

24:25 Mercy Generosity and justice I I different seasons in my life when I felt very open-ended about what I'll do with my future I've started with that question and years ago almost 20 years ago now a sequence occurred to me that was really helpful It was like Lord

24:56 I want to love my neighbor as I love myself and love the Lord God all my heart so mine and strength out could I do it Just because of the nature of I am of who I am really grand ideas come to mind Where I could accomplish Lord I should be doing very large and beautiful things And the sequence that came to mind was hey, he who is faithful with a few things will be faithful with much He was faithful with a few things if I can't be an agent of justice in the in in my immediate circle

25:32 If I can't be an agent of generosity and healing in my tightest circles, I'll never make it to the broadest So let me start auditing my actions in my family In my friendships In my place of employ my work He was faithful with a few things will be faithful with much and trust that as I walk towards those places

26:02 then the light of God will shine upon me and And reflect out and push out the darkness though the first sequence was hey If I want to figure out how to love my neighbor Well, he was faithful with a few things will be faithful with much and then the second one was When you're the people of God the rules of the world don't apply to you Nations can thrive in deserts water can come from rocks So anticipate if I start being faithful with the few things that really cool opportunities will come up look for him

26:34 Because if I start moving in Mercy generosity and healing towards the thing of God then the light of God will come and there will be opportunities If I'm willing to step beyond my own capacity into the capacity of God the moon has no light of its own But can light up the whole place right and then the last one is One he mentions here and I've seen this to be true He was faithful with the few things will be faithful with much

27:06 Then when I am starting to be faithful with much the rules the world don't apply to me the regular Constrictions or constraints that are on everyone else aren't on me because I don't have to have my own light and can still Light up the whole place because I'm connected to the Sun, right? And so then what I found is He is faithful with a few things will be faithful with much The rules the world don't apply to me The Lord will give you the desires of your heart Walking towards God stepping into his light in the places of mercy healing and justice

27:44 I start to desire More mercy healing and justice for the people around me and if I start asking God he gives them to you the Phrases in the scriptures the Lord give you the desires of your heart or not a blank check But it's written to people who have aligned themselves with the things of God So that the things I desire are the things he is desired and it's not a trick I've experienced it myself and you can as well there

28:15 There are not tricks, but there are handy things to learn in Dealing with the God of the universe the Sun from whom all light originates if you'd like more light in your life Walk towards it This is what Isaiah is saying If you like more clarity more provision more purpose and direction more protection and hope

28:50 walk towards the light mercy healing generosity justice In your first little circle and then go out he was faithful with a few things will be faithful with much And Know that every time you prodigal your way away You can come back again Let me pray. Hey Lord. Thank you for this room and for your

29:20 constant light upon us teach us how to orient toward it That we might experience light in our life and Be agents of light in the world In Jesus name we pray