Isaiah 1:1, 10:20
“The Reasonable Thing To Do”
By: Rev. Kenneth Emerson Sauer,
Pastor of Parkview United Methodist Church, Newport News, VA
www.parkview-umc.org
One Mother’s Day, a woman who had been living as a widow for some time was sitting on her front porch when, out of the blue, a truck comes and pulls into her driveway.
And out jumps a florist who hands her a bouquet of flowers.
Of course, she knows who the flowers are from.
They are from her only son, Paul.
Paul had been her wonderful and unexpected gift from God when he came into the world.
As she sat on the front porch she remembered how she used to sing to Paul at night: “Jesus loves you little Paul.”
She remembered how, when Paul had gotten a little older, she had fenced in the yard so that he would have a safe place to play.
But too soon, Paul had learned to climb that fence.
Then she remembered how, on clear nights, she and Paul would sit on the porch swing and she would answer his questions about God.
But soon Paul got old enough to go off to school, and as he grew older he grew farther away from her.
As a youth Paul embraced the idol worship that his young friends were involved in.
He took drugs, and then as a young man, he started to drink heavily.
Soon, she saw Paul very rarely, and hardly even knew who he was anymore.
She had often wondered why he had rebelled so.
Then Paul moved to another city to live with a young woman who had a two-year-old little girl.
One day, drunk beyond reason and annoyed by the girl’s non-stop crying, Paul had shaken the child until she was silent; she fell asleep and never awoke.
Paul had been tried and convicted of the child’s murder, but the judge hadn’t yet imposed the sentence.
The mother sat on the porch with Paul’s flowers, and their sickening sweet odor blended with the scent of the funeral flowers that still seemed to fill her nostrils.
Paul had written on the card: “Mah, you must come and testify for me at the sentencing hearing.
Tell the judge you don’t believe I meant to do it.
It wasn’t my fault, Mah. I was drunk.”
Later in the evening the woman took stationary from her writing desk and went back out on the porch.
She wrote: “Why do you send me flowers, Paul?
I have not asked for them.
Your gifts disgust me.
They lie heavy on my soul.
You are asking for my help but I will not listen to you.
Your hands are covered with blood.
Take your wrongdoing out of my sight.
Cease to do evil, learn to do good, and seek justice.
Let us talk this over, you and I.
Your sin can be made white as snow in my eyes.
If you are willing to obey, you will have the good things of life but if you keep on rebelling, God’s judgment will have you instead.”
Those are some pretty tough words…
…but…
In our Old Testament Lesson for this morning, God has some pretty tough words for the Hebrew people.
He compares them to the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah!
He tells them that their sacrifices and offerings are “meaningless,” their “incense is detestable,” their assemblies are “evil,” He will not “listen” to their prayers and their “hands are full of blood”!!!
Now it is fatally easy to read this passage and agree that these people are making a hollow mockery of God.
They have a form of godliness with their rituals and their sacrifices, but they are hypocrites…
…because they have bloodstained hands…
…they are filled with lust and greed…
…their fortunes are built on crimes…
…they have hardened their hearts against justice, and shut their ears to the tears of little children and brokenhearted women.
And they do not even realize their sin.
Yes, so long as we keep our eyes on the temple services of the eighth century B.C., we can join in with Isaiah and denounce their horrible blasphemy.
It is always easy to sit back and condemn the people of another age.
But the Word of God has an amazing way of cutting across time and making its truth just as applicable to today as it was thousands of years ago.
Because what God is talking about is the relationship between worship and character.
And if the two don’t match…what good is the worship?
Just like there was nothing wrong with the flowers that Paul sent his mother…
…there was nothing wrong with the sacrifices and offerings of the Hebrews…
…it was the reason behind the flowers that mattered…
…it was the reason behind the sacrifices and offerings that made them detestable!
And it was the character of those who assembled that God could not bear.
We can talk about God all day long.
We can talk about loving God and loving our neighbors as ourselves until we’re blue in the face…
…but if this is only talk…
…if there is no action associated with it…
…what good is it?
We can call ourselves Christians all we want, but if we do not love our enemies, if we do not hear the cries of the needy, if we do not put our faith into action…
…are we really Christ’s followers?
Is there a deep inconsistency between the faith we profess and the way we live our lives?
What are our motives?
Do we claim to have faith, just in case we will need God to help us out of a sticky situation some time in the future?
How are we handling our lives right now?
What are our relationships with others like right now?
In verse 17 the Word of the Lord tells us: “learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.”
This is the only worship that is worthy of God…
…this is the only worship that God seeks from us…
…it is worship that reveals God’s character and will and causes others to praise Him because of it!
Worship does not consist of just coming to church on Sunday, and then behaving like beasts for the rest of the week…
…worship is to be who we are.
We are to live lives which seek justice and righteousness…
…we are to live lives that are unselfish and pure…
…we are to live lives that reflect God’s love and mercy onto a world that is void of love and mercy!
Our lives are to confront others with the love of God.
And this can only be done if our lives reflect His Spirit and His will.
Christianity is about lives that have been transfigured and transformed by the One Perfect Life—Jesus Christ the Lord!
Our right to worship a God of righteousness and love, in large measure, depends on the quality of our relationships with other human beings.
If we treat other human beings as if they have no dignity…
…if we carry into church anger, greed, revenge, or any other twisted kind of evil…
…how can we, in any reasonable sense, worship the God Who is, above all, merciful, just, and loving?
I think that this is what God is saying through the prophet Isaiah:
“wash and make yourselves clean.
Take your evil deeds out of my sight!
Stop doing wrong, learn to do right!”
In Matthew 5:23-24 Jesus says: “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother, then come and offer your gift.”
These are hard demands, for we are a fallen people.
Our natures are filled with evil.
We humans have a tough time getting along with each other, and loving each other.
I mean, gee, if I weren’t a Christian I’d be spending all my time being mad at other people, being mad at the world and feeling no remorse about it whatsoever!
But I can’t do that, and be happy or even sane…
…because I have met the living, loving and forgiving God.
So, I get mad, sure.
I don’t always treat others as I should.
I don’t always hear the cry of the needy, “Seek justice, encourage the oppressed.”
I don’t always “Defend the cause of the fatherless” nor do I always “plead the case of the widow.”
How about you?
Well, this is where we sinners with our sin must come face to face with the assurance of forgiveness through Jesus Christ our Lord!!!
Yes, in His infinite mercy, grace and love, God calls out to us and says:
“Come now, let us reason together…
…Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.”
But God doesn’t stop there…
…He continues…
“If you are willing and obedient…”
Yes, the message of complete grace and redeeming love is the Good News of God for sinful humanity, but even with the Cross of Christ as its message, the Gospel does not declare that we have unconditional forgiveness!
Now don’t get me wrong.
I’m not talking about works righteousness.
I’m not saying that there is some good deed, or some sacrifice or offering we can make in order to receive God’s forgiveness.
God’s gift of salvation is just that…
…it’s a gift…
…and cannot be earned!!!
But it is not forced upon us either!
We have a choice in the matter.
We can be willing and obedient, or we can “resist and rebel.”
qSo God says to us, in effect: “Come now, let us be clear about this.
I cannot forgive an unrepentant people. Your flaming sin will not, cannot be “white as snow” until you see yourselves as you are…
…until you see what you have done with your Creator’s love…
…and are ready to repent in obedience to His will.
But if you won’t do this, if you go on refusing and rebelling, that is the end; you will write your own death sentence.
You will end up in hell!!!”
Forgiveness is the divine possibility…
…and oh, how privileged we are to have that possibility…
…but as the Word of God tells us in 1 John Chapter 1: “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
There is that word “if” again!
To be willing and obedient to God is to confess our sins before God.
Then and only then can we be forgiven and be empowered to begin to “Stop doing wrong,” and begin to“learn to do right.”
Then and only then can our worship become real and acceptable to God.
Then and only then can our blood soaked hands be made clean!!!
Verse 20 in our Old Testament Lesson from Isaiah is sealed with the authority of God—God’s ultimatum, if you will: “For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
This is a tremendously powerful message.
We are to hear it and tremble.
We are to hear it and realize the seriousness of sin.
For sin is rebellion against the righteous and loving God.
We have no defense for our sins.
The wages of sin is death. That’s it!
No one is going to say that we didn’t mean to do these things…therefore we are not guilty.
No, we are to be completely dependent on God’s mercy.
We are to be completely repentant.
And if we are, we will be forgiven…
…there will be a celebration in heaven…
…we will be among those who were once lost, but now found by the love of God.
Our robes will be washed and made white in the blood of the Lamb.
And our entire lives will become a worship experience that is acceptable and pleasing in the sight of God.
“Come now, let us reason together,’ says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they are red as crimson, the shall be like wool.”
Let us pray: Almighty and Everlasting God, we come to you as sinners in need of your forgiveness. We confess that we sin against You. We confess that our sins are as red as crimson. But You offer us the gift of faith. For You so love us, that You have given Your one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. Lord we graciously accept your gift of forgiveness, and we ask that You will enable us to live our lives as a worship experience to You! We pray this in joyful obedience to Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
