City Life Starter

I. The Word: Isaiah 1:10-17

10Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom; listen to the instruction of our God, you people of Gomorrah!

11“The multitude of your sacrifices what are they to me?” says the Lord. “I have more than enough of burnt offerings,

of rams and the fat of fattened animals; I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats.

12When you come to appear before me, who has asked this of you, this trampling of my courts?

13Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations

I cannot bear your worthless assemblies.

14Your New Moon feasts and your appointed festivals I hate with all my being. They have become a burden to me;

I am weary of bearing them.

15When you spread out your hands in prayer, I hide my eyes from you; even when you offer many prayers,

I am not listening. Your hands are full of blood!

16Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight; stop doing wrong.

17Learn to do right; seek justice.Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.”

II. Reflection Questions:

1. What is God talking about when He says to the Jewish people, “New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations I cannot bear your worthless assemblies.”

2. Why is God so mad at them?

3. Why is generosity and compassion to “the fatherless and widows” God’s remedy for their broken relationship with Him?

I love these verses! They hurt, but I love them. In them God is screaming violently at the religious hypocrisy that filled Israel during the years of Isaiah the prophet. I am drawn to these verses over and over because I feel sorrow that I am just like these Jews. I am sorrowful that I belong to a church that sometimes is just like these hypocritical religious actors. 

When God says, “Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations I cannot bear your worthless assemblies.” These are all church activities: prayer services, monthly (new moon) services, weekly (sabbath) services…and God hates them all! Hates! 

Why?

Why is He so angry? So violently anti religious services? Isn’t He God? The creator of religion hating religious services…absurd! Hard to imagine what would have set Him off?

 The key to understanding why is in verse 17, “Learn to do right; seek justice.Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.” The oppressed, the orphan, the widow. These are people without power, without resources, and without means to pay back any good deed shown to them. Compassion is one of the main characteristics of the God of Israel. Mercy and grace to the undeserving are at the core of His being, so to worship Him at a church service with a form of godliness, and all the while neglecting to show His character to the widows and orphans in our world, is simply sinful and evil. 
How can the people of God, who obtained that relationship through generosity, fail to extend generosity to others? There is little else that is more evil in God’s eyes. 

Jesus picked up on this when He tells the story of the servant who was forgiven his debt by his lord, and then was not willing to forgive another man his debt. Listen to how Jesus in Matthew 18:34 describes that non-generous, non-merciful, man…”And his lord, moved with anger, handed him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed him.” Listen to how harshly Jesus talks about someone who received mercy, compassion, and generosity from God and refused to pass that along to another. 

Here is the simple lesson from Isaiah 1:10-17…God is generous to those who cannot repay Him, and so should we be. 

Or else we might hear this about us and our churches one day….”And his lord, moved with anger, handed him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed him.” Did you ever notice that it will be really hard to earn enough money to pay off debts while you are in jail being tortured! 

God is generous…so should we be!

Prayer

God help.