Text:\u00a0 Isaiah 58: 6-12<\/p>\n
This kind of word is important for us to hear from time to time.\u00a0 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.\u00a0\u00a0 Call it a rut or a wrong turn.\u00a0 We Christians can and do sometimes make our Christianity into something that lives in our head and not in our hearts.\u00a0 And sometimes there is a terrible disconnect between what we claim to believe about our Lord and how we live as his people.\u00a0 There\u2019s a word for that.\u00a0 My dad, used to say, that\u2019s the reason he didn\u2019t go to church.\u00a0 I\u2019m not going there with all those hypocrites.<\/i><\/p>\n
It was a poor excuse.\u00a0 But sadly, there can be some truth to it in our lives. Sometimes a lot.\u00a0 It sure was here in old testament Judah.\u00a0 Think about it.\u00a0 In our gospel lesson we hear Jesus say to us, Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful<\/span>.\u00a0 Well here the Lord zeroed in on his people\u2019s \u00a0lack of mercy and compassion for others.\u00a0 And they were clueless.\u00a0 \u201cWhat\u2019s wrong?\u00a0 We\u2019re doing the worship thing, Lord.\u00a0 C\u2019mon Lord.\u00a0 <\/i><\/p>\n Are we just doin\u2019 the worship thing?\u00a0 The Lord points us in a much different direction.\u00a0 He helps us get out of our rut.<\/p>\n LET YOUR LIGHT SHINE<\/b> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 When we were in Japan, we visited some of the Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines.\u00a0 In many of the places, I noticed a kind of ornament on a string.\u00a0 Some big.\u00a0 Some small.\u00a0 What you did was pay some money.\u00a0 Then on it you could write your prayer and hang it with all the others.\u00a0 More money bought you a bigger prayer thing that was more likely to get the attention of the gods.<\/p>\n You find the same kind of thing all around the world.\u00a0 People tend to make religion into this.\u00a0 Do your religious thing, a prayer, a sacrifice, an offering so god or the gods will treat you well.\u00a0 That\u2019s what these people had made their religion.<\/p>\n Go back a few chapters and you read how low the people had sunk.\u00a0 They joined in idol worship that involved perverted sex.\u00a0 In our text we hear:\u00a0 How they oppressed the poor, exploited their workers and ignored those in need, even their own family members.\u00a0 And more than that.\u00a0 Isaiah speaks of the finger so easily pointed at others in judgment.\u00a0 He speaks of malicious talk.\u00a0 Maybe gossip or angry words,\u00a0 These people were just plain nasty to be around.<\/p>\n So the Lord made life hard for them so they might turn from their ways.\u00a0 And their response, they fasted.<\/p>\n 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\u2019s help and forgiveness.\u00a0 In this same book, the prophet Isaiah had told his people where that forgiveness was to be found.\u00a0 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<\/span>.\u00a0 Forgiveness could be found in the One that God would saddle with all our guilt.\u00a0 Jesus.\u00a0 By his wounds, we are healed<\/span>, Isaiah preached to the people.\u00a0 (Isaiah 53)<\/p>\n But those that fasted did not look to the One who was to come.\u00a0 Instead they thought their fasting should turn God around and make things better. But it wasn\u2019t the Lord who needed to be turned around.\u00a0 It was them.\u00a0 They needed to repent of their hypocrisy.\u00a0 They needed real religion<\/b>.<\/p>\n Here the Lord helps us understand what that looks like\u00a0 6<\/sup>\u201cIs not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice\u00a0 and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? <\/span>7<\/sup>Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter\u2014 when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood<\/span>? Again Jesus\u2019 words come to mind.\u00a0 Be merciful, as your Father is merciful.<\/span> \u00a0Real religion that knows the grace and mercy of God in Christ has compassion on those in need.\u00a0\u00a0 Real religion which touches our hearts with God\u2019s love cannot help but have love for others.\u00a0\u00a0 For you see, our Christians faith is not something we DO only at a certain time and place.\u00a0 Christian faith is what we ARE.\u00a0 We are people set free from sin and death at the cross and empty tomb of our Lord.\u00a0 We are people set free to love, help and serve one another.\u00a0 For that is real religion.<\/b><\/p>\n God here called his people back from their hypocrisy to that real religion.\u00a0 He told them, 8<\/sup>Then your light will break forth like the dawn<\/span>, \u2026in verse 10, he uses the same picture.\u00a0 Then your light will rise in the darkness and your night will become like the noonday<\/span>.\u00a0 That\u2019s real religion<\/b>.\u00a0 It shines in us and it shines out.\u00a0 It shines in our hearts with the greatest love ever known.\u00a0 A love that bled and died for us.\u00a0 Then it shines out as Jesus said.\u00a0 You are the light of the world.<\/span>\u00a0 Real religion shines out as we push back against the selfishness in \u00a0our hearts.\u00a0 It shines out as we go from here with sympathy and kindness for others.\u00a0 It shines out as we become more the kind of husbands, wives, children, workers, neighbors that God would have us be.\u00a0 It shines out as we hold up the name of our Savior in this dying world.\u00a0 So let your light shine.<\/b> \u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s about real religion<\/b>.<\/p>\n But the Lord also makes clear it\u2019s about something else.\u00a0 It\u2019s about real blessing. <\/b>\u00a0And here I\u2019d like you to think about something.\u00a0 Some have just graduated and are looking for their first job out of school.\u00a0 Sometimes that job comes with benefits.\u00a0 Health insurance, 401k, etc.\u00a0 Why does the employer give them?\u00a0 Is it out of the goodness of his\/her heart.\u00a0\u00a0 No.\u00a0 You earn them as compensation for your work.<\/p>\n But don\u2019t get the wrong idea about these blessings.\u00a0 For these people, for us today, there is no way we could earn or deserve what the Lord promises here.\u00a0 Nevertheless to let your light shine is about real blessing.<\/b><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/b>The prayers of these people fell to the ground unheard and unanswered by the Lord.\u00a0 The only thing they got was a busy signal on the other end. \u00a0But who ruined the connection? They did with their hypocrisy.<\/p>\n But the Lord did not push them away.\u00a0 He promised those that repented, 9<\/sup> Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; <\/span><\/p>\n you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I<\/span>. That\u2019s real blessing<\/b>.\u00a0 Last week an elderly lady from our congregation fell in her driveway and could not get up.\u00a0 It was getting dark and it was likely no one would see her or hear her.\u00a0 She cried to the Lord for help.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Real blessing.<\/b><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/b>Then this for those who let their light shine.\u00a0 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 \u00a0where things could seem pretty confusing.\u00a0 Put yourselves in their sandals and listen to this promise. 11<\/sup>The 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<\/span>. Real blessing.<\/p>\n Then this promise.\u00a0 12<\/sup>Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins <\/span><\/p>\n and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings<\/span>. \u00a0This was a special promise to a people who had seen their country left in ruin by the Babylonians and their people led away.\u00a0 Return to me.\u00a0 Let your light shine and you will get to rebuild your homeland.<\/i><\/p>\n But that promise was not all about bricks and mortar.\u00a0 It was also about you and me.\u00a0 For the Lord would bring back a believing remnant of people who would let their light shine<\/i>.\u00a0 They would rebuild and generations would pass until that day when a man and his wife would take shelter in a dark stable.\u00a0 And there another light would shine.\u00a0 A light for us all.\u00a0 That light that now shines in our hearts by the grace of God.\u00a0 The light of the world, Jesus Christ.\u00a0 Real blessing.<\/b>\u00a0 Now let your light shine.<\/b>\u00a0 Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Text:\u00a0 Isaiah 58: 6-12 This kind of word is important for us to hear from time to time.\u00a0 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.\u00a0\u00a0 Call it a rut or a wrong turn.\u00a0 We Christians can and do sometimes make […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-456","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermon"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=456"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":457,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456\/revisions\/457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nI.\u00a0 It\u2019s about real religion
\nII.\u00a0 It\u2019s about real blessings<\/p>\n