Text: Isaiah 58: 6-12
This kind of word is important for us to hear from time to time. There is a part of us that would reduce our Christianity down to nothing more than a label and some ritual we follow when we come together. Call it a rut or a wrong turn. We Christians can and do sometimes make our Christianity into something that lives in our head and not in our hearts. And sometimes there is a terrible disconnect between what we claim to believe about our Lord and how we live as his people. There’s a word for that. My dad, used to say, that’s the reason he didn’t go to church. I’m not going there with all those hypocrites.
It was a poor excuse. But sadly, there can be some truth to it in our lives. Sometimes a lot. It sure was here in old testament Judah. Think about it. In our gospel lesson we hear Jesus say to us, Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Well here the Lord zeroed in on his people’s lack of mercy and compassion for others. And they were clueless. “What’s wrong? We’re doing the worship thing, Lord. C’mon Lord.
Are we just doin’ the worship thing? The Lord points us in a much different direction. He helps us get out of our rut.
LET YOUR LIGHT SHINE
I. It’s about real religion
II. It’s about real blessings
When we were in Japan, we visited some of the Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines. In many of the places, I noticed a kind of ornament on a string. Some big. Some small. What you did was pay some money. Then on it you could write your prayer and hang it with all the others. More money bought you a bigger prayer thing that was more likely to get the attention of the gods.
You find the same kind of thing all around the world. People tend to make religion into this. Do your religious thing, a prayer, a sacrifice, an offering so god or the gods will treat you well. That’s what these people had made their religion.
Go back a few chapters and you read how low the people had sunk. They joined in idol worship that involved perverted sex. In our text we hear: How they oppressed the poor, exploited their workers and ignored those in need, even their own family members. And more than that. Isaiah speaks of the finger so easily pointed at others in judgment. He speaks of malicious talk. Maybe gossip or angry words, These people were just plain nasty to be around.
So the Lord made life hard for them so they might turn from their ways. And their response, they fasted.
Fasting was meant to be a way to express your grief, your distress over your sin. It was an outward way to express your need for God’s help and forgiveness. In this same book, the prophet Isaiah had told his people where that forgiveness was to be found. All we like sheep have gone astray, each has turned to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Forgiveness could be found in the One that God would saddle with all our guilt. Jesus. By his wounds, we are healed, Isaiah preached to the people. (Isaiah 53)
But those that fasted did not look to the One who was to come. Instead they thought their fasting should turn God around and make things better. But it wasn’t the Lord who needed to be turned around. It was them. They needed to repent of their hypocrisy. They needed real religion.
Here the Lord helps us understand what that looks like 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? 7Is 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? Again Jesus’ words come to mind. Be merciful, as your Father is merciful. Real religion that knows the grace and mercy of God in Christ has compassion on those in need. Real religion which touches our hearts with God’s love cannot help but have love for others. For you see, our Christians faith is not something we DO only at a certain time and place. Christian faith is what we ARE. We are people set free from sin and death at the cross and empty tomb of our Lord. We are people set free to love, help and serve one another. For that is real religion.
God here called his people back from their hypocrisy to that real religion. He told them, 8Then your light will break forth like the dawn, …in verse 10, he uses the same picture. Then your light will rise in the darkness and your night will become like the noonday. That’s real religion. It shines in us and it shines out. It shines in our hearts with the greatest love ever known. A love that bled and died for us. Then it shines out as Jesus said. You are the light of the world. Real religion shines out as we push back against the selfishness in our hearts. It shines out as we go from here with sympathy and kindness for others. It shines out as we become more the kind of husbands, wives, children, workers, neighbors that God would have us be. It shines out as we hold up the name of our Savior in this dying world. So let your light shine. It’s about real religion.
But the Lord also makes clear it’s about something else. It’s about real blessing. And here I’d like you to think about something. Some have just graduated and are looking for their first job out of school. Sometimes that job comes with benefits. Health insurance, 401k, etc. Why does the employer give them? Is it out of the goodness of his/her heart. No. You earn them as compensation for your work.
But don’t get the wrong idea about these blessings. For these people, for us today, there is no way we could earn or deserve what the Lord promises here. Nevertheless to let your light shine is about real blessing.
The prayers of these people fell to the ground unheard and unanswered by the Lord. The only thing they got was a busy signal on the other end. But who ruined the connection? They did with their hypocrisy.
But the Lord did not push them away. He promised those that repented, 9 Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I. That’s real blessing. Last week an elderly lady from our congregation fell in her driveway and could not get up. It was getting dark and it was likely no one would see her or hear her. She cried to the Lord for help. And he was there for her just as he promised. Somehow she was given the strength to inch her way to the cell phone just outside the door. Real blessing.
Then this for those who let their light shine. These people lived in land where it was hot and water was often hard to come by. And like us, life would take them to places and where things could seem pretty confusing. Put yourselves in their sandals and listen to this promise. 11The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. Real blessing.
Then this promise. 12Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings. This was a special promise to a people who had seen their country left in ruin by the Babylonians and their people led away. Return to me. Let your light shine and you will get to rebuild your homeland.
But that promise was not all about bricks and mortar. It was also about you and me. For the Lord would bring back a believing remnant of people who would let their light shine. They would rebuild and generations would pass until that day when a man and his wife would take shelter in a dark stable. And there another light would shine. A light for us all. That light that now shines in our hearts by the grace of God. The light of the world, Jesus Christ. Real blessing. Now let your light shine. Amen.
