This is a short reflection I gave for a pastors’ luncheon. I talk about Isaiah seeing the Lord in Isaiah chapter 6 and what that GLORY was all about.
You’ll notice the abrupt ending. It’s all about awe here, leaving the application for everyone to go figure out for themselves.
I know that Jesus said that our fasting should be in secret, but I’m going to at least talk about it a little bit here. LENT is coming, and I’m preaching both Sundays around Ash Wednesday at a protestant church. The funny thing is, when we think that we can beg God’s favor and force His hand, we are acting more like Islam than Christianity. I hope to flesh this out more in the coming weeks, but until then, let’s start things off with a baseline definition of fasting. It’s Isaiah 58.
[1] “Cry aloud; do not hold back; lift up your voice like a trumpet; declare to my people their transgression, to the house of Jacob their sins.
[2] Yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the judgment of their God; they ask of me righteous judgments; they delight to draw near to God.
[3] ‘Why have we fasted, and you see it not? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?’ Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure, and oppress all your workers.
[4] Behold, 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 to be heard on high.
[5] Is such the fast that I choose, a day for a person to humble himself? Is it to bow down his head like a reed, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast, and a day acceptable to the LORD?
[6] “Is not this 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?
[7] 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, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
[8] Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
[9] Then you shall call, 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 finger, and speaking wickedness,
[10] if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday.
[11] And the LORD will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.
[12] And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in.
[13] “If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the LORD honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly;
[14] then you shall take delight in the LORD, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.” (Isaiah 58 ESV)
(These are my notes for a sermon I was able to preach in October, 2013, at New Life Church of the Nazarene in Princeton, Indiana)
Matthew 16:24
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone wants to become my follower, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.
16:25 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
16:26 For what does it benefit a person if he gains the whole world but forfeits his life? Or what can a person give in exchange for his life?
16:27 For the Son of Man will come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done.Luke 9:23
Then he said to them all, “If anyone wants to become my follower, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me.
9:24 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.Galatians 2
2:16 yet we know that no one is justified by the works of the law but by the faithfulness of Jesus Christ. And we have come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by the faithfulness of Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.
2:17 But if while seeking to be justified in Christ we ourselves have also been found to be sinners, is Christ then one who encourages sin? Absolutely not!
2:18 But if I build up again those things I once destroyed, I demonstrate that I am one who breaks God’s law.
2:19 For through the law I died to the law so that I may live to God.
2:20 I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So the life I now live in the body, I live because of the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
2:21 I do not set aside God’s grace, because if righteousness could come through the law, then Christ died for nothing!Isaiah 1 – God Hates Religion!
1:9 If the Lord who commands armies27 had not left us a few survivors,
we would have quickly become like Sodom,
we would have become like Gomorrah.
1:10 Listen to the Lord’s word,
you leaders of Sodom!
Pay attention to our God’s rebuke,
people of Gomorrah!
1:11 “Of what importance to me are your many sacrifices?”
says the Lord.
“I am stuffed with32 burnt sacrifices
of rams and the fat from steers.
The blood of bulls, lambs, and goats
I do not want.
1:12 When you enter my presence,
do you actually think I want this –
animals trampling on my courtyards?
1:13 Do not bring any more meaningless offerings;
I consider your incense detestable!
You observe new moon festivals, Sabbaths, and convocations,
but I cannot tolerate sin-stained celebrations!
1:14 I hate your new moon festivals and assemblies;
they are a burden
that I am tired of carrying.
1:15 When you spread out your hands in prayer,
I look the other way;
when you offer your many prayers,
I do not listen,
because your hands are covered with blood.
1:16 Wash! Cleanse yourselves!
Remove your sinful deeds
from my sight.
Stop sinning!
1:17 Learn to do what is right!
Promote justice!
Give the oppressed reason to celebrate!
Take up the cause of the orphan!
Defend the rights of the widow!John 6:28
So then they said to him, “What must we do to accomplish the deeds God requires?”
6:29 Jesus replied, “This is the deed God requires – to believe in the one whom He sent.”Perseverance
- James 1
- 2 Peter 1:6
- Romans 5:3
- 2 Thessalonians 3:13
- Hebrews 10:36
- Revelation 3:11
All of these are one time events that open up a new door to do something.
They are a significant event in and of themselves, but all of them require continuous action
Matthew 16 and Luke 9 – Denying Myself is a daily activity
Activity without the inaugural event is death – Isaiah and Hebrews 11
Inaugural event opens the door to a life correctly ordered and possible
Galatians 2:20
Understand the role, work, and purpose of the work God requires, and go do it.
john 15:1
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.
2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.
3 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.
4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.
5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
6 If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.
7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.
9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.
10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.
Isaiah 29:13-14
And the Lord said:
"Because this people draw near with their mouth
and honor me with their lips,
while their hearts are far from me,
and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men,
therefore, behold, I will again
do wonderful things with this people,
with wonder upon wonder;
and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish,
and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden."
"Their fear of me is a commandment taught by men" really gets to me because that has been the point of religious teaching for so long.
"Fear The Lord, repent!" Was something Jesus preached sometimes, but not with as much emphasis on fear as much as He emphasized a salvation. I’m thinking of Jonathan Edwards through to modern college campus street preachers. I’m thinking of the holiness movement and legalism and people that don’t cuss around preachers.
Wisdom and discernment will leave us if we are not sincere on the inside about what we profess and teach on the outside. If our relationship with God is done by rules, He Himself will lead us away from that so that we’ll hopefully meet the real God. If our reverence, honor, piety, etc. are activities that are measurable, calculated, and choreographed, He will confound us to abandon that and follow Him. We can trust in that.
We were talking about Isaiah 28 at the mission yesterday.
Isaiah 28:16 (HCSB)
Therefore the Lord God said: “Look, I have laid a stone in Zion,a tested stone,a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; the one who believes will be unshakable.”
In ancient times when they built buildings, it was very difficult to make a large stone perfectly square. SO they would spend all of their time on one perfect stone, making it completely square, and then line up all the rest according to its edges. The other stones needed to be flat, they couldn’t be big round boulders, but they didn’t have to be flattened into perfect square because the cornerstone was perfect. As long as they were lined up correctly with the cornerstone, the building would be built correctly.
It’s the same way with us and Jesus. HE is our righteousness; HE is our correct standing before God, and as long as we are aligned with Him correctly, our obtuse corners don’t cause any problem in the building of the building, which is us: His Church.
This opens up a bunch of questions about how we should live. Should we preach all about how you should be square like the cornerstone? Should we make ourselves the judge of what square is? Should we be the square police? Should we be the dictators of which sides need to be square and which sides can pass?
All of the answers to that are of course, obvious in our words but not so much in our actions. The fact is, if the stone next to you is a little rougher or a little rounder, you might end up holding a little more weight on that wall.
But as you bear that weight, you can shut up about that round boulder, because at the end of the wall there is a perfect cornerstone that bore ALL of the weight of perfection for you.
