Friday, April 11, 2008

Isaiah 58: WOW!

So... my reading in the Bible this morning was from Isaiah 58.
As I was reading it hit me - what a perfect example of the kind of change that needs to happen in the church of our time!
Check out these verses:

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.


How many times have we been guilty of this?

How many times do we perform our Christianity for ourselves rather than for the sake of others who are in need?
How many times has our "spirituality" ended in quarreling, strife and striking each other?

I know I have been guilty.

3 comments:

  1. I think you right, these verses speak clearly to the church today. Fundamentalism began as a response to liberalism, the social gospel movement and post-tribulaional theology which had begun to reinterpret the purpose of the church in terms of social justice. I'm afraid that in our efforts to maintain the pure gospel, we through the baby out with the bathwater. May of us seem almost afraid reaching out to peoples physical needs, because the goal of evangelism may be lost. We're neglecting an important part of our God given mandate to be lights in the world. Perhaps there would'nt be such an outcry for government run social programs today if the if we as the church were doing our job to meet peoples physical needs as well as their spiritual ones.

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  2. Just a quick correction, I wrote post-tribulationalism but I meant post-millenialism. I really need to proof-read BEFORE I send, sorry. Maybe that helps my babble make more sense.

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