Isaiah 58:1-12
The Message
(MSG)
58
1-3 “Shout! A full-throated shout!
Hold
nothing back—a trumpet-blast shout!
Tell my people what’s wrong with their
lives,
face
my family Jacob with their sins!
They’re busy, busy, busy at worship,
and
love studying all about me.
To all appearances they’re a nation of right-living
people—
law-abiding,
God-honoring.
They ask me, ‘What’s the right thing to do?’
and
love having me on their side.
But they also complain,
‘Why
do we fast and you don’t look our way?
Why
do we humble ourselves and you don’t even notice?’
3-5
“Well, here’s why:
“The bottom line on your ‘fast days’ is profit.
You
drive your employees much too hard.
You fast, but at the same time you bicker
and fight.
You
fast, but you swing a mean fist.
The kind of fasting you do
won’t
get your prayers off the ground.
Do you think this is the kind of fast day I’m
after:
a
day to show off humility?
To put on a pious long face
and
parade around solemnly in black?
Do you call that fasting,
a
fast day that I, God, would like?
6-9
“This is the kind of fast day I’m after:
to
break the chains of injustice,
get
rid of exploitation in the workplace,
free
the oppressed,
cancel
debts.
What I’m interested in seeing you do is:
sharing
your food with the hungry,
inviting
the homeless poor into your homes,
putting
clothes on the shivering ill-clad,
being
available to your own families.
Do this and the lights will turn on,
and
your lives will turn around at once.
Your righteousness will pave your way.
The
God of glory will secure your passage.
Then when you pray, God will answer.
You’ll
call out for help and I’ll say, ‘Here I am.’
9-12
“If you get rid of unfair practices,
quit
blaming victims,
quit
gossiping about other people’s sins,
If you are generous with the hungry
and
start giving yourselves to the down-and-out,
Your lives will begin to glow in
the darkness,
your
shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight.
I will always show you where to go.
I’ll
give you a full life in the emptiest of places—
firm
muscles, strong bones.
You’ll be like a well-watered garden,
a
gurgling spring that never runs dry.
You’ll use the old rubble of past lives to
build anew,
rebuild
the foundations from out of your past.
You’ll be known as those who can fix
anything,
restore
old ruins, rebuild and renovate,
make
the community livable again.
The word of God for the People of God
Note – Generally I use a more “traditional”
translation, but in this case, “The Message” was very accurate to the original
and was very understandable to English speakers. I couldn’t NOT use it!
“A Life of Worship”
We’ve all met THAT
person.
- The
person who knows it all. Whatever you say is obviously wrong! THAT person is
always right. If you say the Earth is round, THAT person will insist it is
flat. Don’t argue…it’s pointless.
- THAT
person overemphasizes literally everything. You get sick and tell people that
you had a nasty cold. THAT person comes back that he or she had to be taken to
the hospital, was dead upon arrival, they brought out the shocker things that
restart the heart, but of course, the doctors couldn’t do it right, so THAT
person got up, shocked him or herself back to life and then walked out of the
hospital on his or her own power.
- That
person is “better than you.” You accomplished something great – THAT person’s
accomplishment is better!
- THAT
person thinks he or she is “God’s Gift to Us!”
Isaiah is talking to THAT person. But, Isaiah is
also speaking on a much more personal level to us – All of us! Whether we want
to admit it or not, we Christians can be THAT person, and we do a “good” job of
being THAT person sometimes.
How? Isaiah talks about “Fast Days.” Instead,
think of “Worship times.” Right now, let’s not think outside of scheduled
church worship. Do we bicker and fight at church? Do we “swing a mean fist?”
Yes, I know of specific instances where actual fistfights have broken out in
churches. But rather, the norm is for a “mean tongue” which can be just as
damaging!” Doesn’t a “tongue
lashing” often hurt just as bad as a physical beating?
Do we push our employees too hard? Wait – I don’t
have employees, you say. Yes you do. We all do. Do you eat out occasionally? Do
you go to the store? Do you use public restrooms? Someone is working behind the
scenes FOR YOU. They are
essentially your employees. Studies have shown that restaurant employees hate
Sundays because that is when the Christians come out. Isn’t that backwards?
Shouldn’t that be the best day for restaurant employees? They say that tips are
lower, complaints are higher, and people are more rude. And all of this happens
AFTER ATTENDING CHURCH!
· These
people work for you! If your order is wrong, can we tell our server in a kind
way? Servers often work below minimum wage and tips are their actual wage (not
in all cases, but in many). Can we tip generously? This may be the only income
this person has
· Consider
why this person may be making mistakes. If they came to work not feeling well,
the smell of food is one of the last things that is relieving. Very few people
come to work and say, “I’m going to do a horrible job today.”
If we bicker and fight, swing a mean fist (or
tongue) and push our employees too hard, why should we expect God to hear our
prayers? That’s what Isaiah said. Why should God see us as righteous?
God isn’t looking for a “Fast Day,” or “Worship
Day,” but rather a “Worship lifestyle.”
The first thing many will say is that they don’t
have time. It’s hard enough to find time on a Sunday to worship. To that, I say
it is extremely possible if we reorder our priorities. Worship IS what we do in
church, but Worship is also how we dedicate our lives. We can worship at work,
in retirement, in school, or wherever we are. We can dedicate anything we do to
God.
I worked as a teacher for 10 years. One of the
strongest Christians I knew was a janitor. He and I became close friends. He
took his job as a ministry. I asked him how cleaning toilets could be a
ministry. He asked me how it isn’t. I remember his words. He asked me if I’ve
ever been to a messy public restroom. I had. He said as long as he can control
it, no one should have to experience that. He put 100% into all he did. I was
“educated,” he wasn’t. He taught me!
When we make our lives worship, we will run into
barriers. Don’t run from barriers. Barriers are meant to be broken. Jesus said
the world will hate us because it hated him first. If you hit a barrier, you
are doing it right! Consider it “medal.”
Here is a comparison. My grandfather fought in WWII. He was shot in the
leg and lost a large portion of skin and flesh. He won the Purple Heart. He
never spoke of the injury that plagued him all of his life, but he did bring up
his Purple Heart, or would speak of it if asked. He was proud of it. God will
reward our “injuries.”
Change the mindset that Worship is a Sunday thing
to Worship is a 24/7 thing!
If Worship is your lifestyle, then the words of
Isaiah will speak to you and you will answer God’s call.
You will break the chains of oppression! There
are large chains and small chains. We will win and we will find times we don’t
see the victory. But, sometimes, we are just meant to be the person to wear
down the chain so someone else can break it.
We will break down barriers and bring love to
where there is hate. The world has enough hate. God calls us to sow love.
Isaiah says in 58:9 to quit blaming the victims
and gossiping about sins. Yes, that is hard to do! Some people do cause their
own situation. But if we all got what we deserved, I’d hate to see where I
would be – I won’t speak for you, but I know my fate would not be good. Point
Blank – There ARE victims in society. Sometimes they have done sinful things to
cause it, and other times they have not. It is not our job to judge them – it
is our job to love them. God says
give yourselves to the down and out.
Notice God DIDN’T say give your things. There is a HUGE difference! In
the original Hebrew, it says, “give your soul…” The word for soul means “entire
being.”
Why do we do this?
First of all, our prayers are heard by God, and
God says, “Here I Am.”
Second of all, we are known as “Fountains of Life”
in a broken world. Isn’t that the call of the church? Aren’t we to bring life
to the broken? Notice what a fountain does. It gives sips. We give sips to
people to sustain and then help them flourish.
We don’t save anyone – But through cooperating
with God, we can point them to the One who can!
