“A Life of Worship”

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!