Isaiah 56:9-58:14
9 Come, wild animals of the field! Come, wild animals of the forest! Come and devour my people!
Not really the words we want to hear from God, are they? Hey, wild animals, come and attack and eat my people! This is not a verse people make beautiful pictures of is it. You know a sunset in the background and “Come and devour my people”. Ha!
What on earth is going on here?
1. Our leaders lead us astray: our country and our church is full of ignorant and blind leaders
Well v10 gives us the answer: it’s a leadership problem. 10 For the leaders of my people— the LORD’s watchmen, his shepherds— are blind and ignorant. They are like silent watchdogs that give no warning when danger comes.
The leaders of Israel give no thought to God. They serve themselves and their own desires, and give no warning of the danger the country is in. Judgement is just a hairs breadth away. And they are drunk!
And two thousand seven hundred years later – we’ve got the same problem! Warlords, dictators, corrupt politicians, unwise politicians. Just look at the mud-slinging, the lying, the selfishness that goes on even in our own country as everyone tries to puff themselves up and bring others down. Who’s acting in the people’s best interest? Who’s obeying God? As Churchill said: “Indeed it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.…”
We here in Norway have been blessed with great wealth – a gift from God. But we have failed the test. We have used that wealth to declare ourselves independent from God. We have applauded ourselves and our genius in stumbling over oil. We are full of self-righteousness instead of thankfulness. And the church? Well the church is falling into ruin. It is driven by popularity contests instead of God’s word. It has fallen into a coma in its rush to be relevant and “lav terskel” – in trying to make it easy for people to accept the gospel, we’ve thrown out sin – and in throwing out sin, we’ve thrown out the gospel! Doh!
10 For the leaders of my people— the LORD’s watchmen, his shepherds— are blind and ignorant. They are like silent watchdogs that give no warning when danger comes.
Our job is to warn! Warn of the danger of rebelling against God, ignoring God. Instead there’s smiles and a sentimental “Jesus loves you”. Not if you stand against him at the end. Then you will experience his anger, his judgement. Watch dogs that don’t bark when there’s danger are useless.
Our leaders lead us astray: our country and our church is full of ignorant and blind leaders
But it’s not just them is it? It’s us.
2. We follow our leaders into sin: Our lives are chaotic, unstable, full of worry and fighting because we worship idols, and they will kill us
3 “But you—come here, you witches’ children, you offspring of adulterers and prostitutes! 4 Whom do you mock, making faces and sticking out your tongues? You children of sinners and liars! 5 You worship your idols with great passion beneath the oaks and under every green tree. You sacrifice your children down in the valleys, among the jagged rocks in the cliffs.
Where is our country headed? Where are we headed? We all know that God created the world with physical laws, like gravity. If we jump off the roof, we will hurt ourselves. But we often forget that God has also made the world with moral laws. There is a way life is made to work: God’s way of love. Love, self-sacrifice, truth, honesty, justice – that’s the way we’re designed to live. And when we live our own way, thinking of ourselves, giving up on our marriages because it’s “too hard”, walking away from our children because they’re too much bother, when we seek riches instead of God’s kingdom – whatever it is, doing it in the end hurts us badly – and hurts those around us. Just like jumping off the roof. Ow my leg. Ow my heart. I’ve made a mess of my life.
In September 2008 the successful award-winning novelist and philosopher David Foster Wallace hanged himself. He was not a Christian – but he understood life. This is what he wrote a few years before he died: “in the day-to-day trenches of adult life, there is actually no such thing as atheism. There is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship. And the compelling reason for maybe choosing some sort of god or spiritual-type thing to worship [whatever that is] … is that pretty much anything else you worship will eat you alive.
If you worship money and things — if they are where you tap real meaning in life — then you will never have enough. Never feel you have enough….
Worship your own body and beauty and sexual allure and you will always feel ugly, and when time and age start showing, you will die a million deaths before they finally plant you….
Worship power — you will feel weak and afraid, and you will need ever more power over others to keep the fear at bay.
Worship your intellect, being seen as smart — you will end up feeling stupid, a fraud, always on the verge of being found out.”
What are the idols that you worship or that you’re tempted to worship? Think about it. Then take out a piece of paper now, and write it down. Money? Sex? Time? Comfort? A new house? A new car? A new job? A new woman? Even family can be an idol. “Oh I can’t sacrifice this for God because of my children”. What is it that if God said “give this up” you would say no? What is it that keeps you from serving him fully? Maybe it’s reputation - what others think of me? I’ll give us a minute to think and then to write it down.
What do we sacrifice in order to serve that idol? Whether it’s getting rich or living the good life or doing what we want when we want with whoever we want? Who do we ignore, trample underfoot, push aside in order to get what we want?
Are we not like Israel? 10 You grew weary in your search, but you never gave up. Desire gave you renewed strength, and you did not grow weary.
We are so desperate to sin that we drive ourselves to exhaustion in our hunt to disobey God. We want to sin. And if you’re sitting there thinking well, that’s not me – examine your own heart again, and ask the Lord to show you what’s really there. And look at your life – not at all the good things you do – but all the good things you SHOULD be doing, but aren’t. And the standard is not those around you – the standard is the Lord Jesus. What are you not doing that He would be doing? And then weep.
Why do we sin? 11 “Are you afraid of these idols? Do they terrify you? Is that why you have lied to me and forgotten me and my words? Is it because of my long silence that you no longer fear me?
Maybe it is sometimes fear. Perhaps more often than not. We fear missing out on something good. We don’t really trust that God’s way is the best way. And so we sin. And hurt ourselves.
Or we fear being made fun of - looking like fools. We fear the shame of being a Christian. And that can be real! But should we fear to walk the same path Jesus walked? The same path the apostles walked? The same path any great Christian of the past walked? Bear the shame for Christ because we are not alone. He is with us. Instead be afraid of turning aside, choosing the easy path. Because then we are alone.
Or perhaps we fear change? That we’ll lose “ourselves”. I’ll have to become some Christian weirdo! Well, my experience has been the opposite – the more I’ve been willing to lose myself, the more I’ve discovered the real me – the person I was born to be.
Yes, it is frightening to follow God. Yes, it does cost. But as David Foster Wallace pointed out – everybody worships. And if you’re not worshipping God – it will bite you. And eventually it will destroy you. Just as it destroyed the Israelites. Just as it destroyed David Foster Wallace.
Living against God in His world is like fighting a hurricane.
When we were in Wales a year or so ago the winds were so strong that I watched a seagull battling to fly into the wind- it struggled and struggled, flapping like mad, until suddenly it was whisked away – backwards.
That’s us, trusting in our idols.
Take out your piece of paper and look at what you wrote. Now listen to v13 Let’s see if your idols can save you when you cry to them for help. Why, a puff of wind can knock them down! If you just breathe on them, they fall over!
Let us get it into our heads that the way of life that seems wise to us – will kill us. Chasing happiness going from one woman to the next – she’s not making me happy, she’s the problem, I can’t be bothered with her nonsense – that will lead to a broken mess of relationships, children growing up with no father, a cold heart, and loneliness. Chasing money, houses, cars, boats, cabins, things – will lead to dissatisfaction, never having enough, always needing more.
Our desires, our wants, our “needs”, our lusts, “har du lyst, har du lov” is a terrible slave driver. And it will destroy us from the inside out.
Even good deeds – doing good works – won’t help. For some of us, particularly those who’ve grown up in a Christianised country, “being good” is our idol. The earnest do-gooder. You think that will be enough. What does God say in v12? 12 Now I will expose your so-called good deeds. None of them will help you.
Being good is not enough. Why? Because you have ignored God, the very source of goodness. Your goodness is just selfishness. The motive is to make me look good. And it will bite you. You will grow weary. You will grow angry. You will grow bitter because people aren’t responding the way they should – they’re not thanking you or praising you or even giving anything back. They just take and take and take – and then leave. And without Christ’s unending love driving you, it will crush you.
And religion? Well, God closes that door in chapter 58, doesn’t he. 2 Yet they act so pious! They come to the Temple every day and seem delighted to learn all about me. They act like a righteous nation that would never abandon the laws of its God. They ask me to take action on their behalf, pretending they want to be near me.
Is that us? Yes, sometimes it is. And v1 tells us what to do Shout with the voice of a trumpet blast. Shout aloud! Don’t be timid. Tell my people Israel of their sins!
PEOPLE OF ROCK INTERNATIONAL CHURCH, WE HAVE SINNED AGAINST GOD. Sinned in what we have done. Sinned in what we have not done. Forgive us O Lord! For we are not like Jesus. Instead we have turned to idol worship and then pretend to be pious in church. Lord, save us from making our Christianity empty rubbish.
No, true religion is seen in what we do. For those of studying James, this should ring a bell. Do you love God? Show me. Show me.
And that’s what God says to his people. ? 6 “No, this is the kind of fasting I want: Free those who are wrongly imprisoned; lighten the burden of those who work for you. Let the oppressed go free, and remove the chains that bind people. 7 Share your food with the hungry, and give shelter to the homeless. Give clothes to those who need them, and do not hide from relatives who need your help.
Haha – does God know human nature or what! If we are loved by God, if his love has been poured into our hearts, then we will love others. Then your light will shine out from the darkness, and the darkness around you will be as bright as noon. 11 The LORD will guide you continually, giving you water when you are dry and restoring your strength. You will be like a well-watered garden, like an ever-flowing spring.
James has been amazing. For those of you not in Bible study, well you’re missing out. Seriously, repent. It’s an hour. Make it happen. You want to grow as a Christian? You want to know God better? Get to know each other better? Wednesday night, 8-9pm. It’s part of growing up as a Christian, making a decision to set aside time to be with God, and be with your spiritual family. Just saying “I belong to Rock Church” but never going or going once in a while – it’s like taking out membership in a gym, but never going. You’re not getting stronger or fitter, are you?
Listen to these words from James, after telling us that God demands obedience from those who have his Spirit (literally he is jealous for our obedience)
Jas 4:7–10 So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world. 9 Let there be tears for what you have done. Let there be sorrow and deep grief. Let there be sadness instead of laughter, and gloom instead of joy. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honour.
Oh, and for those of us who’ve ever asked the question “why did God take so-and-so, they were such a wonderful person” – 57:1 answers that. 57:1 Good people pass away; the godly often die before their time. But no one seems to care or wonder why. No one seems to understand that God is protecting them from the evil to come. 2 For those who follow godly paths will rest in peace when they die.
To live is Christ – to die is even better. To live is Christ – we live for him, every moment to serve him. But to die is even better – for we are with him and will see him face to face.
The alternative is in v21 There is no peace for the wicked,” says my God.
Idols will damage us and eventually kill us. Our lives will be unstable, chaotic, out of control, full of worry and fighting because we worship idols, and they will kill us. Unless we bend ourselves to God’s will, we will never find peace. Only in Him, only his paths lead to peace.
Our hope, our only hope, is in Christ. Let Jesus be our leader. Listen to him.
3. Jesus brings peace, not chaos, to our lives
Now. You are probably feeling battered and bruised by this sermon so far. I know I am. I have been battered by this text, convicted of my sin, ashamed of who I am before the Lord. But there is also great comfort here. And that’s what I want us to see now. Let’s look up and see our hope of salvation. When we’ve made a mess of things, again. When we’ve sinned, again. Listen to this.
15 The high and lofty one who lives in eternity, the Holy One, says this: “I live in the high and holy place with those whose spirits are contrite and humble. I restore the crushed spirit of the humble and revive the courage of those with repentant hearts. 16 For I will not fight against you forever; I will not always be angry. If I were, all people would pass away— all the souls I have made. 17 I was angry, so I punished these greedy people. I withdrew from them, but they kept going on their own stubborn way. 18 I have seen what they do, but I will heal them anyway! I will lead them. I will comfort those who mourn, 19 bringing words of praise to their lips. May they have abundant peace, both near and far,” says the LORD, who heals them.
The Lord has seen what we do, but he will heal us anyway. Why? Because by his stripes we are healed. By his death we are restored. The arms of Jesus outstretched on the Cross bring us back to God. His death covers my sins. His blood pays for me. That is what it cost. That is the cost of you and me knowing God. How can we treat it so lightly? How can we go back to our idols so quickly? How can we sin so easily? Oh God, convict us! Show us the glory of your Son on the Cross! Let us see the blood flow for us. Let us hear the cry of agony. Let us know the love that kept him there on the cross. We are bought at a great price brothers and sisters. So when we are tempted to sin, when we are tempted to do the wrong thing: Let us remember that we are not our own. Let us praise God with our lips and with our lives. Let our lives be a song of praise to him. No more idols. No more sin. No more chaos. Brothers and sisters, decide today to follow Him.
As a symbol, I’d like you all now to pass your pieces of paper with your idols forward. Now we’ll stand and say the confession together.
This is what repentance means. Let’s burn our idols. No more. No more.
Let’s pray. Father, thank you for your Son paying the price for our sin. Thank you that though we did not deserve it, you decided to rescue us. Let us obey you. And as we obey you, we will be like an ever-flowing spring. We will be known as a rebuilder of walls and a restorer of homes. Our lives will say “Jesus lives here”. Oh Lord, be our delight, our great desire. Amen.