Isaiah 58:1-14
GET THIS: Only a true relationship with God can empower us to live out the kind of Christlike religion and relationships that makes a church shine bright.
Our Relationship With God is The Heart of Being A Church That Shines (v13-14)
See Isaiah 58:13-14 The phrase: “Then you will delight in the Lord…” is head waters of this entire passage … the other 12 verses are going to point a finger at us and call us to hard things! So we must remember that the power behind all the obedience this passage calls us to and the main promise behind all the other promises this passage makes is in that line: delight in the Lord… this passage builds TO this phrase and it most certainly builds OFF this phrase.
All the things that make a church shine… which we’ll see in a minute… must flow from a delight in the Lord. And so at the end of this passage, Isaiah holds up the key to Christlike relationships and Christlike religion.
God Calling Out: Bad Religion with Bad Relationships (Here is how NOT to shine!) (v1-5)
Read Isaiah 5:1-5
God calls them out for false religion. In three ways specifically:
(1) For Seeking Their Own pleasure Through Their Fasting.
(2) For Oppressing Others Even While They Fast
(3) For Fighting With Each Other Even While They Fast
They’re not coming to worship God through obedience, they want to bribe God towards their own ends. Made obvious by disregard and even hostility for others. Abasing self on the outside… while actually violently and forcefully abasing others on the outside AND inside. This is fake religion… this is ugly… This is us:
Godly Relationships With People Are Evidence of Godly Religion (this is what it looks like to shine!) (6-12)
Read Isaiah 5:6-12
6 Ways We Shine in Relation to Other People:
(1) Working for Justice (v6):
(2) Meeting People’s Needs (v7a-c):
(3) Loving Our Families (v7d):
(4) Break the bounds of those close to you (v9c):
(5) Stop Bad Mouthing People (v9d):
(6) Surrender your possessions and position to others (v10a-b):
You could probably sum up all 6 of these things in that line from verse 10…. Literally POUR YOURSELF OUT for others!
8 Results of People Delighting in the Lord and Loving Others:
(1) New life (v8a):
(2) Restoration / Healing (v8b):
(3) Security (v8c-d):
(4) Intimate relationship with God (v9a-b):
(5) Illuminating Guidance (v10c-d):
(6) Devine supply in time of need (v11a-c):
(7) Resources from outside of ourselves (v11d-f):
(8) Restoration & Eternal Transformation (v12):
So let’s feel this as heavy. And if you’re anything like me you’ll start to feel hopeless: “why would God call me to live in 6 ways I never could if i want to get 8 things I could never get for myself!”… “Why would he tell me that if i want to have the impossible, i must do the impossible!” I want you to feel that weight today … don’t think you get to wiggle out from under it.! INSTEAD… Might it make us be desperate for God!
Isaiah 55:1–3 “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David.
Take Time To Reflect
(1) What practices (habits) are you forming (or will you start) that lead you to delight in the Lord? Talk to a pastor if you need some guidance in this.
(2) In what specific ways do you need to begin pouring yourself out for others (who specifically and how specifically)?
(3) Are you truly a child of God? You will not have the ability to love God fully or love people selflessly outside of the saving work of Jesus. Please talk to a pastor if you have questions.
GET THIS: Only a true relationship with God can empower us to live out the kind of Christlike religion and relationships that makes a church shine bright.