Friday, November 12, 2010

A new momentum

One thing that I have come to understand in the last few years is that while I can take much personal application from the bible, it was not written to me.

I know, brilliant right! I am a master of the blatantly obvious...

I think this is a way a lot of us read the scriptures today though, "What is God trying to say to me here?" While this is an appropriate question, I think it is out of place, our first question should be, what was God saying...period? Who was He saying it to? When did He say it? What was going on when He said it? When we have a reasonable grasp on these questions I believe we then can begin to ask God, now what do you have here for me also? What do you have here for us?

The basic premise of Isaiah is fairly clearly laid out. The nations of Israel and Judah were not following after God. They had become corrupted with the idolatry and self gratification of the nations surrounding them. The children of Israel were to be set apart from the rest of the world, set apart, holy to the one true and living God. They were falling down on their one primary calling. So God was preparing to unleash the surrounding nations to bring judgment on His own children. I know this sounds harsh, but I genuinely believe this action to be inspired by God's immense love for his sons and daughters. They were on a path to self destruction from which they may never return and this was God's way of leading them to refocus on the life that He had given to them, life with Him. It was who they were intended to be.

And so we enter chapter 1.

Vs. 2, "Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the Lord has spoken: 'Children have I reared and brought up, but they have rebelled against me.'"

Isaiah goes on to speak for the Lord His pain at seeing His children living in such spiritual, moral and physical desolation. People spreading evil and corruption instead of goodness and blessing and light as they were intended to.

He goes on to say in vs. 11-15, "What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the Lord; I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats. When you come to appear before me, who has required of you this trampling of my courts? Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations-I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates; they have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood."

Wow...

It strikes me that even though God commanded all of these forms of worship at one time, He is now saying stop; following the rule, the ritual is not good enough. I would rather you not gather in solemn assembly at all in your current condition than try and look as if everything is alright in your religious expression "on the weekend". So what is God's requirement in this?

Vs. 16, "Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil,". I think we have really clued into this in our churches today, it's time to stop the backward momentum of sin in our midst. All of my life growing up in the church I have heard about the power of sin to destroy the life of the believer. How their is no room to allow even a little sin to exist because once it takes root it grows and corrupts. I think this is true. The answer presented to me was to simply stop sinning. In fact this was passionately preached, "Wash yourselves! Make yourselves clean! Remove the evil of your deeds! Cease to do evil!" And so I tried, and I tried with all of my heart! I wanted to stop sinning! I tried to stop sinning, I really tried....but I couldn't, and so I decided that I would at least appear to stop sinning. I was surrounded by people who had somehow mastered the art of not sinning (or so I thought), and I was not going to be the only one struggling in the midst of so many who were so holy. It was only later when the divorces and rumors of affairs, and illegitimate children were born, and the drug addictions all started coming out that I began to realize I wasn't the only one trying to 'fake it til I make it'. The other thing I began to realize is the more I was trying to convince others of my own righteousness, the more I had to draw attention away from myself and to other blatant evil doers, homosexuals, baby killers, liberals, and so on.

What I am realizing now is that washing myself, making myself clean, removing evil deeds from my life, ceasing to do evil in and of itself only leads to stagnation. Yes, I may stop, or more likely somewhat slow down the momentum of sin in my life, but now I am going nowhere, now I am doing nothing. I begin to be known for what I am against, not for having a new life from above. It is not what God had in mind for Israel and Judah or for us either. We were never intended to stop living, we were intended to live differently, the way we were created and purposed to live, a life from above. We cannot get stuck on vs. 16, we must keep reading.

Vs. 17...
learn to do good;
seek justice,
correct oppression;
bring justice to the fatherless, (the orphan)
plead the widow's cause.

There must begin a new momentum. When Jesus began His ministry, He began to preach, "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." Repent, change your way of thinking. Cease pursuing your own way of life and follow me to learn a new way of life, my way of life, a life from above. There must be an end to evil and sin in my life, in our midst, and their must be a new momentum that begins to build in a new direction.

A direction of doing good; not just thinking good, holy, righteous, Godly, thoughts, but actually DOING good in our lives.

A direction of seeking justice. That we not stand idly by permitting injustices around us.

A direction of correcting oppression. That we stand for those who cannot stand for themselves.

A direction of bringing justice to the orphan and pleading the widow's cause. Those who are so often times forgotten because we hate to gaze into the eyes of pain. That we live to create community and family with those who have been violently and suddenly stripped of their own.

When we begin a new momentum, we move further and further from evil, not because we are trying to stop its tide outright, but because our lives are becoming so full of His life that there is simply no more room for evil. Swing your fists at the darkness and you will only bloody your knuckles. Move toward the light, and darkness will retreat with no effort at all.

It's time for a new momentum. A momentum of the demonstrated goodness of the Kingdom of God.

3 comments:

  1. you know that I am right there with you. :)

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  2. I love this , Casey. What you're saying, I think, is that we quit focusing on sin and "live" in His light and love. I used to spend alot of time confessing sin. I heard some of our friends say that they would "commit" a little sin and confess it..1John 1:9... cuz the verse says He cleanses from ALL unrighteousness. I guess it is a game we play with God to make sure we are covered. I dont think about sin so much anymore...as far as continually inspecting myself. When I do sin, I think I feel it stronger...it pierces my conscience and heart.I dont feel condemnation...I feel I need to turn and walk in restoration. And...I know this sounds awful, butI think I sin less now. I mean, that momentum concept you write of propels me toward what is right and good and pure. The self-sin- focus pulls me backwards...and I think about sin. Oh my goodness...creating my own space here!!! lol.

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  3. Mom, that is exactly what I'm talking about! A couple of years ago when a friend took me out mountain biking the first thing he told me was that my bike will go where I look. If I want to miss the rock, don't look at it, but focus on the path around it. Looking at the rock that you want to miss draws you right into it. It's crazy, but it's true! I think the same can be said for the sin in our life. If I'm focused on the sin I want to avoid, I am not focused on God.... Focus on God and there is no room for sin. I am NOT talking about sinlessness here, that isn't even the goal, the goal is Christlikeness which will result in sinlessness all in it's own time.

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