I have a confession to make. I haven’t eaten a tasty store-bought or restaurant-made pizza since coming to Canada. The crusts are consistently too dry or too doughy. The pepperoni is too greasy and too salty. And the pizza sauce is too sweet. It’s not as bad as the pizza I had in Australia though. They used ketchup for tomato sauce so that when my fellow backpacker took a bite he looked up and said, “You call this pizza?” As far as I’m concerned you haven’t had real pizza until you’ve eaten a Chicago-style stuffed pizza. I mean look at this picture (show picture of stuffed pizza from Giordano’s). Do you see all that cheese and the generous slathering of pizza sauce? How can you not! Now imagine biting into tasty pieces of sausage, mushroom, and pepperoni as you chew. Do you now understand my frustration with Canadian pizza?
I might find pizza here disappointing but that’s nothing compared to the dissatisfaction God expressed over Israelite worship practices in our text this morning. Unlike many today who don’t bother worshipping God at all, the Israelites of the prophet Isaiah’s day went as far as fasting, that is refraining from eating in their bid to honor the Lord. But God wasn’t impressed. He said: “…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… 5 Is this the kind of fast I have chosen?” (Isaiah 58:3, 4a, 5a)
“You call this a fast?” God may never ask that question of us because we’re not in the habit of fasting. As Lutherans, however, we do take pride in our Christ-centered worship practices. Could it be, however, that God looks at what we do and thinks: “You call this worship?” True worship, as we’ll find out, is persistent, not sporadic. It’s done for others, not for oneself. And it’s beneficial, not futile.
I went to an all-boys college where girls were not allowed in our dorms except for regulated times on the weekend. So when do you suppose we picked up our dirty socks and vacuumed chip crumbs from our couches? That’s right, usually only just before those perfumed visitors took to our halls. The rest of the time it didn’t bother us to live in the sweat and grime of collegiate bachelorhood. Our housekeeping routine, you could say, was sporadic.
That’s what Israelite worship practices were like. Many only came to the temple and fasted when they wanted something from God. The rest of the time they didn’t give much thought to the way God wanted them to live. Accordingly God said: “Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for a man to humble himself?” (Isaiah 58:5a) God did not want his people to clean up their act only when it suited them. He wanted persistent, not sporadic worship.
We certainly can be guilty of sporadic worship if we only show up to church at Christmas and Easter but every-Sunday church-goers who say, “Religion is the most important part of my life” may also unwittingly be guilty of sporadic worship. You see, God doesn’t just want to have a part in our life as if he has to compete with the internet for our attention and with our bank account for our affection. Worshipping God is what we are to do with all of our time and with all of our being. I’m not suggesting that you spend 24/7 sitting in one of those chairs in front of this pulpit. You might do that and still be guilty of sporadic worship. The Apostle Paul explains what persistent worship is. “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31).
Yes, it’s OK for you to surf the net. But as you do, ensure that all the websites you browse glorify God. The same is true of the hymns that you sing here and the words of encouragement that you speak to fellow members. Don’t do it to draw attention to yourself but to praise God and help others. That was the problem with the fasts during Isaiah’s day. They weren’t done to God’s glory but to earn God’s favor. Isaiah reported: “‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?’” (Isaiah 58:3a) The irony was that God had noticed their fasts. He noticed how hypocritical they were. Is that what God observes about our worship? Does he see us just going through the motions when coming to receive Holy Communion? Does he perceive people who think that by being in church this morning God owes them? If so, listen to what God said to Isaiah. “Raise your voice like a trumpet. Declare to my people their rebellion and to the house of Jacob their sins. 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…” (Isaiah 58:1b, 2a). “You call this worship?” No matter how good the singing is. No matter how big the offerings are, it’s all rebellion and sin if we don’t persistently do this to God’s glory.
God went on to define how it is that we give him glory in true worship. He said: “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?” (Isaiah 58:6, 7)
True worship, God explains, is not done for oneself to score points with God but is done for others. Accordingly the people of Isaiah’s day should have spent less time fasting and more timing helping their neighbors. Instead people were running around without adequate clothing and food and the so-called “believers” were doing nothing about it. They weren’t even caring for their own families!
These words hit me between the eyes – especially on Sundays. By the end of the day I’m wiped out and just want to sit on the couch and veg. It’s easy for me to tune out what’s going on around me and not see, or really, ignore that my family needs help doing this or that. I think to myself: “I’ve done my Christian duty today. I’ve preached a sermon and taught Bible class. I’ve listened to members share their cares and concerns. What more does God want?” He wants me to keep worshipping him by giving a hand wherever and whenever it is needed. But when I do, my actions are still tainted with sin. I’ll help get dinner ready because, well, I’m starving and want to get the food on the table more quickly. Or I’ll fold the laundry because if I don’t, I won’t have a place to sit and watch TV. When I consider my actions I can’t help but cry out with the Apostle Paul, “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:24) Thanks be to God for he has saved me and you through Jesus. God speaks about this salvation in the next part of our text from Isaiah. Listen. “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” (Isaiah 58:8, 9a).
A lot of people think that it’s a waste of time to worship God on Sunday morning in church and a waste to worship him by serving others the rest of the week. But such worship is not futile; it’s beneficial. God promises to go ahead and behind us – just like his glory did when the Israelites left Egypt through the watery escape hatch of the Red Sea. No, you’re not going to fall behind on your work because you’ve stopped to help someone. You’re not going to be more exhausted because your busy serving others. Just as God made sure that the sandals and clothes of the Israelites didn’t wear out the forty years they traveled to the Promised Land he will see to it that you don’t wear out either.
But best of all, God says that you will shine with righteousness. Oh, we know this righteousness isn’t of our own making, as I just got done saying that even our best efforts to serve are tainted with sin. We will shine with righteousness, however, because of Jesus. His genuine worship was never sporadic. What does this have to do with you? Well Jesus did it all for you. When large ships come into a foreign harbor, they’ll take on a harbor pilot. That’s someone who knows the ins and outs of that particular harbor and is able to steer the ship safely into port. That’s what Jesus does for you. Give him the controls. He will bring you safely to the mansions of heaven. He not only knows the way, he’s taken the penalty for any wrong turns you’ve made along the way.
Subpar pizza may be disappointing but subpar worship is disastrous. Those who do not take to heart God’s words today should expect God to ignore them when they call to him for help. But why would we want to ignore what God has to say today? Why wouldn’t we want to worship him with our whole being? He’s saved us from hell and promised us heaven. He is worthy of our worship, our persistent, selfless worship. Amen.
