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• What God Wants  Isaiah 1:1, 10-20, Randy L Quinn     (see below)

• Always Ready, Luke 12:32-48, by Rev. Dr. David Rogne     
   

• Waiting on God,  Luke 12:32-40, by Rev. Randy L Quinn      
   

• Faith is . . . Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16, Rev. Thomas  Hall
   

• Telling the Truth about Worship, Isaiah 1:1; 10-20, Rev. Thomas Hall        

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What God Wants
based on Isaiah 1:1, 10-20
Randy L Quinn
 

The vision of Isaiah son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom! Listen to the teaching of our God, you people of Gomorrah! 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 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 asked this from your hand? Trample my courts no more; bringing offerings is futile; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and sabbath and calling of convocation-- I cannot endure solemn assemblies with iniquity. Your new moons and your appointed festivals my soul hates; they have become a burden to me, I am weary of bearing them. When you stretch 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. Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow. Come now, let us argue it out, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be like snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

Isaiah 1:1, 10-20

I recently read the story of a businessman who was working on a project at home¹. He was sitting at his desk, working hard one evening when his six-year-old daughter opened the door and walked over to his side.

She stood there a moment before the man rather anxiously said, “What do you want? I’m busy.”

“Mommy says it’s time for bed and I should go get a hug and a kiss from you.”

He leaned over and gave her a hug and a kiss, and then turned back to his work.

Meanwhile, the young girl didn’t move. Irritated, by her mere presence, he finally looked at her again, giving her a look that begged a response. (If you haven’t given that look, you’ve probably seen it.)

So she said, “Daddy I know you kissed me and I know you already gave me a hug, but you weren’t in it.”

When I first read that story, it was like looking into a mirror. I heard my story being told through the eyes of someone else. Maybe you recognize yourself, too.

Maybe it was at home with your family and your mind was on something else.

Maybe it was as we were praying together the Lord’s Prayer today.

Maybe it was when you hit your brother and your mother told you to say you were sorry.

You were doing the right thing, but you were simply going through the motions. You were not in it.

It happens to all of us on occasion. When it becomes our habit, however, it becomes problematic. Marriages fall apart when we are no longer in them. Children no longer have the guidance and direction they need when parents or teachers or pastors go through the motions and recite rote promises and passages without offering themselves along with their activities.
 

In one of the towns where we lived, the Ministerial Alliance took turns offering prayers at the beginning of every City Council meeting. Most of us did not attend the meetings on a regular basis so we didn’t know all of the issues being addressed and we didn’t know all of the people in the room. So, while we may have had good prayers, it was more often the case that we were not in it. We were simply saying words that no one heard – least of all God.

Isaiah is speaking to people in those kinds of settings. The people of Israel are doing all the right things. But from God’s perspective, they weren’t “in it.” Their prayers had become meaningless because their lives had no meaning. The Law of Moses, which had been given as a promise and a gift, had become a hallow shell of ritual activities.
 

Sadly, it still happens today. People come to church and go through the motions and say the right words, but they are not really in it. We profess to be a church that nurtures life-changing relationships with God, with one another, and with our community – but we only want to see the change in other people’s lives, not our own.

In June I mentioned one of the speakers we had at Annual Conference, Rudy Rasmus. Rudy Rasmus is the pastor of a church in Houston, Texas, an urban church that had 9 active members when he became their pastor, none of whom lived within walking distance of the building
 

The church now has several thousand members, many of whom live on the streets, the streets around the church building.

On his first visit to the church building, his pastor had asked Rudy to use his experience in real estate to give an opinion about the building’s worth and value. Rudy says that he had to step over people who were sleeping on the steps of the church in order to go inside the building.

But “those” people, the ones he had to walk over and around, became the focus of his attention. The building had some value, but he felt compassion for the people, people who had far greater value in the eyes of God. So when he went back to his pastor he asked for permission to begin using the church as a mission outpost where the Gospel might be practiced and proclaimed.

As he began his ministry, however, he knew the truth was the church had failed to, as Isaiah says it, “seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, [and] plead for the widow” (Is. 1:17).

But, he told those nine members, if they were willing and obedient, good things could happen in and through their church (Is. 1:19). He reminded them that though their sins were like scarlet, they could be made like snow (Is 1:18). It was also true for those poor souls who were surrounding the church – but they would never know if the people inside the church weren’t willing to get their hands dirty and touch them.

When Rudy was telling us that story, he asked us to consider the people we know who live in our community. He asked us to put a face on the people who we would be hesitant to touch. I might put the question to you and ask you who are the people in Brown County that you find yourself being polite to but not really caring about? Who are the people you don’t want to find sitting in the pew with you next Sunday morning?

Maybe it’s someone who has had a problem with addictions.

Maybe it’s someone who doesn’t have the same personal hygiene standards.

Maybe it’s someone who can’t find a job or hold a job.

Maybe it’s someone who dresses in a way that you find distasteful.

Maybe it’s someone who fails to mow their yard on a regular basis.

Maybe it’s someone against whom you have been holding a grudge because of what they said or did.

Who are you not likely to invite to join us in church? When you know the answer the question, Rudy suggests that is the person you are being called to love and care about. In fact, whenever we exclude that person from our lives and from the church, we are guilty of proclaiming a faith but not being in it – or more accurately not allowing God to be in us.

Years ago, I heard a preacher tell us “you can’t wring your hands and worry if you want to roll up your sleeves and work.” It’s a phrase that has echoed in my mind ever since.

In fact, I’m often haunted by it because I know too many of us would rather wring our hands than roll up our sleeves, myself included. We prefer to see life-changing relationships in someone else’s life rather than our own.
 

When we were passing the peace today, I asked you to tell three people “I love you and there’s nothing you can do about it.” As you leave here today, I am giving you a challenge. I want you to find one person this week that God loves – and you wish they would do something about it.

Find just find one person this week that doesn’t live up to your standards, someone you think needs to change
 

Then I want you to roll up your sleeves and find a way to honestly pray that God will show you how to love them in a way that your hearts are changed, not theirs. So that if you had the chance you could honestly say to them, “I love you and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

I will be joining you in this endeavor. I will look for that person in my life because I believe what God wants is for us to open our hearts to those whom the world thinks are unlovely. You see, I believe God wants us to have a life-changing relationship with God, with one another and with our community.

Let’s pray:

Open our hearts to your love, O God. Open our lives to your Holy Spirit, so that we may be transformed by your grace. Where there is hardness in our hearts, soften them; where there is an attitude of judgment, teach us forgiveness; and when we find ourselves going through the motions of life and not living in it, when our lives begin to feel meaningless, remind us that we are your children, heirs with Christ who have a purpose and a calling. Teach us to love. We pray in the name of Jesus who is the lover of all our souls. Amen.

1^ Told by Thomas Tewell on GoodPreacher.com