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 home.
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.
