24 January 2010
I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to Isaiah 58
1. "Shout it aloud, do not hold back. Raise your voice like a trumpet. Declare to my people their rebellion and to the house of Jacob their sins.
2. For day after day they seek me out; they seem eager to know my ways, as if they were a nation that does what is right and has not forsaken the commands of its God. They ask me for just decisions and seem eager for God to come near them.
3. `Why have we fasted,' they say, `and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?' "Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers.
4. Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high.
5. Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for a man to humble himself? Is it only for bowing one's head like a reed and for lying on sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD?
6. "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?
7. Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter-- when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
8. Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
9. Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
-- this Wednesday, President Obama will be called upon to deliver his first State of the Union address to the U.S. Congress since serving as President of the United States
-- this is the moment when our nation's highest elected official is called upon to look back over the events of last year and give a report on the current condition of the country and the progress made by his administration -- this speech is also used to outline the president's goals and agenda for the next calendar year, thus setting the tone and direction of the administration for the upcoming political year
-- when President Obama delivered the first major speech of his presidency -- his inaugural address last January -- he continued to speak on the theme of change that had swept him into office and he promised to restore America to its former greatness -- in that speech, President Obama made the following statement:
-- "The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness."
-- as President Obama comes before the nation this Wednesday to deliver his State of the Union address, what will he say his administration has accomplished in regards to this last statement?
-- as the people who call themselves Christians, what will we say we accomplished in regards to this challenge from the President?
-- can we, as a nation and as a Christian people, proclaim that all in our country are equal and free and have been given the "chance to pursue their full measure of happiness" or that conditions have even marginally improved over the past year?
II. Sanctity of Human Life
-- today we will be observing Sanctity of Human Life Sunday -- the one Sunday of the year when churches are encouraged to take a moment to observe and reflect on the sanctity of human life
-- I don't know what President Obama will say about the sanctity in life in his State of the Union address on Wednesday -- I do know that as we start this new year and as we look back on 2009, we find ourselves increasingly surrounded by a culture of death
-- abortion continues to stalk our children like a plague -- calls for physician-assisted euthanasia resound in the media and in the various health-care bills put forth by Congress -- and we find ourselves surrounded by the homeless, the hungry, the sick, and the poor
-- this past year has seen an erosion of pro-life laws and regulations -- and while the dreaded Freedom of Choice Act has not been passed into the law as promised earlier by President Obama, other anti-life changes have been enacted by our government
-- as Congressman Chris Smith pointed out: "in his first year in office, President Obama has moved swiftly to allow the use of U.S. taxpayer's money to fund abortion groups all over the world by rescinding the Mexico City Policy -- he has enabled China’s coercive population control program by funding the United Nations Population Fund -- and [he has] rolled back restrictions on funding for human embryo-destroying stem cell experimentation -- Obama is also in the process of altering federal regulations to roll back the nation’s existing conscience protection laws that protect the rights and freedoms of healthcare providers (such as Catholic hospitals, physicians and nurses) who are opposed to performing abortions on personal or moral grounds." [http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/jan/10012301.html]
-- without a doubt, the past year has not been kind to the unborn, the elderly, or the poor in our country or across the world
-- but, all of the blame does not lay with the federal government -- we, too, shoulder much of the responsibility for this erosion of life -- for far too long, the church has been a silent witness to a culture that has devalued human life
-- last year in America, over 250,000 unborn babies were legally killed -- 250,000 souls created and knit together by the Lord God Almighty Himself -- since the passage of Roe vs. Wade legalized abortion in 1972, almost 50 million babies have been killed in the United States alone -- and yet, by and large, the church is silent
-- sure, we have a few who are active in the pro-life movement -- a few who support crisis pregnancy centers -- a few who protest outside abortion clinics -- but where is the outcry for our children -- for God's children -- in the Christian community as a whole?
-- and it's not just the babies -- Kenneth Connor wrote that other than the unborn, "no single age group in our country suffers more from a diminished view of the value of human life than the elderly" -- in the eyes of many in this country, these souls -- the elderly -- the terminally ill -- the chronically afflicted -- the permanently bed-ridden -- the handicapped -- have lost any meaningful quality of life
-- several years ago, former Colorado Governor Richard Lamm declared that the elderly had a duty to die and get out of the way -- statements such as these allowed the question to be raised during the health care debates in the halls on Congress this past summer, "Why not dispose of them for their own and society's good? -- Wouldn't our resources be better spent on the more productive members of society?"
-- and what about those we pass every day who live under bridges in our communities and our cities? -- who is concerned about the plight of the poor and the homeless? -- who is reaching out to them?
-- according to the National Coalition for the Homeless, more than 3.5 million people experience homelessness during any given year in the United States alone, and that figure was before this current economic crisis hit -- this past year alone, we have seen hundreds of thousands of people lose their jobs and join the ranks of the homeless in our country -- this means that more than one percent of the people in the United States this year will be eating out of trash cans and sleeping under bridges
-- what happened to the church? -- what happened to the people that God called to care for the widows and the orphans and the poor? -- what happened to the people that Jesus called to care for the least of these? -- what have we been doing while death has been prevailing in our land?
-- perhaps this passage from the prophet Isaiah might shed some insight on these questions
III. Scripture Lesson -- Isaiah 58:1-9a
-- writing to the people of the nation of Israel, Isaiah was concerned about the hypocrisy of religion, especially the disconnect between the religious life and worship of the people of Israel and their daily lives -- although proclaiming to worship and follow God, the Israelites did not live out their faith in their daily lives, displaying lives of questionable ethical behavior and self-centeredness that ignored the plights of their neighbor
-- this passage occurs within the Book of Comfort, the section of the Book of Isaiah from Chapters 40 through 66 that follow Isaiah's devastating prophecies against Judah and the nations around them -- here in this section, Isaiah speaks of restoration and a return to God from a people exiled because of their idolatry and hypocrisy
-- let's look back at this passage again and see what God's words to the people of Israel say to us today in light of the sanctity of life
-- verse 1
1. "Shout it aloud, do not hold back. Raise your voice like a trumpet. Declare to my people their rebellion and to the house of Jacob their sins.
-- the people of Israel have been asleep -- they have been slumbering in their worship -- going through the motions of religion without realizing that their hearts had drifted from God and from His commands -- and, so, God calls out to the nation of Israel -- telling Isaiah to shout His message to them -- telling Isaiah to raise his voice like a trumpet so that the nation might wake up and hear the word of God and be made aware of their rebellion and their sins
-- what will it take for the church today to wake up from our rebellion and sins? -- what will it take for us to hear the word of God and stir ourselves from our slumbering worship and into action in Christ's name on behalf of the unborn and the elderly and the poor in our midst?
-- Christ did not die on the cross so that we might meet together once a week to praise Him -- He did not die on the cross so that we could huddle together in church on Sundays while those around us suffer -- He died on the cross to redeem humanity -- to restore creation -- to repeal the curse
-- He died on the cross to build His church, so that we might change this world through Him
-- what will it take for us to hear that call from God again?
-- verse 2
2. For day after day they seek me out; they seem eager to know my ways, as if they were a nation that does what is right and has not forsaken the commands of its God. They ask me for just decisions and seem eager for God to come near them.
3. `Why have we fasted,' they say, `and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?'
-- the people in Isaiah's day were going through the motions of religion -- they were gathering together as God commanded -- they were worshiping Him and fasting and following God's law -- but yet, their hearts were far from Him -- and when they sought Him through their practice of religion, God did not hear
-- God said that the people of Israel seemed eager to know about Him and His ways -- but they didn't know Him and they didn't follow His ways
-- for all their forms of godliness, they were failing to live out the life of faith as God desired -- there's a difference between knowing about God and knowing God -- there's a difference between knowing what God wants us to do and actually doing it -- and that's where the nation of Israel was failing -- that's where we are failing
-- we think God is happy with the form of religion -- but He wants more than lip-service -- He wants our hearts and our hands and our feet
-- look back at the second part of verse 3
3b. "Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers.
4. Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high.
5. Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for a man to humble himself? Is it only for bowing one's head like a reed and for lying on sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD?
-- religion in Isaiah's day had become self-centered instead of God-centered -- it had become a matter of practice and duty rather than a means of communing with God
-- God used the example of fasting to make His point -- the people were following the letter of the law -- they were fasting as commanded, but their hearts were not following their actions -- for them, to fast was a means to an end -- it was the way to get from God what they wanted -- "If I fast," they thought, "then God will hear my prayers and will give me what I desire" -- they were treating God as a great genie in the sky who grants wishes because his lamp is rubbed or as a vending machine that was forced to respond if they put in the right amount of religious activity
-- we do the same thing, don't we? -- "If I come to church, then God will hear me" -- "If I give an offering today, then God will answer my prayer" -- "If I read my Bible, then God will give me what I want"
-- but, God says here, "It's not about what you do -- it's about who you are -- You can't fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high -- you can't just come to Me one day a week and think that means we have a relationship -- you can't pretend to be holy and then turn around in the next moment and fight and quarrel with each other"
-- that's not religion that is acceptable to God -- that's not worship that He finds pleasing
-- so, what does please God? -- what does He truly desire from us?
-- verse 6
6. "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?
7. Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter-- when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
-- what does God expect from us? -- to loose the bonds of injustice and wickedness -- to set the people free from evil -- to share our food with the hungry -- to provide support to the homeless and the poor -- to not turn away from our own flesh and blood -- whether that is our elderly or our unborn
-- how did President Obama put it -- "to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness."
-- God is not interested so much in our forms of religion -- in whether we attend church and read the Bible and pray and follow the letter of the law -- God is interested in our hearts -- do we have a heart for Him every moment of every day and not just when we gather for one hour on Sunday? -- do we have a heart for His people -- for the people that He died for -- the poor and the homeless -- the oppressed and the weary -- the elderly and the unborn?
-- God doesn't want our promises -- He wants our faith to be lived out in action
-- verse 8
8. Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
9. Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
-- when we live lives of faith instead of just going through the motions, God promises healing and restoration -- when we are seeking to do His will on earth, then God promises His glory and His power will be with us -- when we are living righteous lives in His name, then God tells us that His light will break forth like the dawn and will bring about a new day in our hearts and in our homes and in our country
-- this promise that God makes to us and to the Israelites here is similar to that of 2 Chronicles 7:14 -- "if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. "
-- it all begins with us -- we must hear the call of God in our lives -- we must know God and we must show God to others -- we must care for the poor and the helpless -- we must speak life and hope to the hopeless -- we must stand up for those without a voice in our communities
-- and, if we do that, God promises to hear our cries and to heal and restore our land
IV. Closing
-- on Wednesday, President Obama will be presenting the State of the Union to the nation
-- if you were called on to present the state of your heart or the state of the church to God, what would you say?
-- are we doing what God has called us to do in regards to protecting and preserving the sanctity of life in this country?
-- or are we sleeping in our pews? -- are we slumbering while those around us suffer? -- are we keeping our light hidden in a basket while the world grows darker day by day?
-- as we close today, let us pray that God gives us ears to hear His voice -- that He gives us a heart that responds to Him and to the needs of those around us -- and that He empowers our hands and our feet and our voices that we might stand up and make a difference in this country in 2010
-- let us pray
No comments:
Post a Comment