Be the Sheep-Naked
If we are willing to point out a need shouldn't we also be willing to fill it?
There is much more in the scripture this week than in the sermon. That’s by design, I think. Pastor Lee keeps the message short in this series to allow us time to complete the mission activity she has us do at the end. It’s a good, practical approach.
This week’s message is about providing what is needed. A quote in the sermon is appropriate to set things in context. Pastor Lee said, “Diagnose the sickness but also provide the cure.” Her point is that we shouldn’t just point out the problem if we aren’t willing to also be part of the solution. If it bothers me enough to say something about it, it should bother me enough to do something about it. The actions necessary might not be completely evident to me, but I should be willing to help if someone else knows what to do. I’m getting a little ahead of myself, but it should flavor the context of the scripture used for the message. Let’s look at that now. Pastor Lee only used to verse 12. I’m going to include everything in the chapter for reasons that will become evident.
1“Cry loudly, do not hold back; Raise your voice like a trumpet, And declare to My people their transgression And to the house of Jacob their sins.
2“Yet they seek Me day by day and delight to know My ways, As a nation that has done righteousness And has not forsaken the ordinance of their God. They ask Me for just decisions, They delight in the nearness of God.
3‘Why have we fasted and You do not see? Why have we humbled ourselves and You do not notice?’ Behold, on the day of your fast you find your desire, And drive hard all your workers.
4“Behold, you fast for contention and strife and to strike with a wicked fist. You do not fast like you do today to make your voice heard on high.
5“Is it a fast like this which I choose, a day for a man to humble himself? Is it for bowing one’s head like a reed And for spreading out sackcloth and ashes as a bed? Will you call this a fast, even an acceptable day to the Lord?
6“Is this not the fast which I choose, To loosen the bonds of wickedness, To undo the bands of the yoke, And to let the oppressed go free And break every yoke?
7“Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry And bring the homeless poor into the house; When you see the naked, to cover him; And not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
8“Then your light will break out like the dawn, And your recovery will speedily spring forth; And your righteousness will go before you; The glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
9“Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; You will cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’ If you remove the yoke from your midst, The pointing of the finger and speaking wickedness,
10And if you give yourself to the hungry And satisfy the desire of the afflicted, Then your light will rise in darkness And your gloom will become like midday.
11“And the Lord will continually guide you, And satisfy your desire in scorched places, And give strength to your bones; And you will be like a watered garden, And like a spring of water whose waters do not fail.
12“Those from among you will rebuild the ancient ruins; You will raise up the age-old foundations; And you will be called the repairer of the breach, The restorer of the streets in which to dwell.
13“If because of the sabbath, you turn your foot From doing your own pleasure on My holy day, And call the sabbath a delight, the holy day of the Lord honorable, And honor it, desisting from your own ways, From seeking your own pleasure And speaking your own word,
14Then you will take delight in the Lord, And I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; And I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
Isaiah 58:1–14 (NASB95)
Verse 1 starts right off with controversy. God told Isaiah to tell His people specifically to point out where people break God’s laws. That’s a far cry from “judge not lest ye be judged.”
1“Do not judge so that you will not be judged.
Matthew 7:1 (NASB95)
How do we reconcile the words of God with the words of Jesus? By reading beyond just the first verses in both cases. In both cases, let’s include the next verse in context with the first verses back to back.
1“Cry loudly, do not hold back; Raise your voice like a trumpet, And declare to My people their transgression And to the house of Jacob their sins.
2“Yet they seek Me day by day and delight to know My ways, As a nation that has done righteousness And has not forsaken the ordinance of their God. They ask Me for just decisions, They delight in the nearness of God.
Isaiah 58:1–2 (NASB95)
1“Do not judge so that you will not be judged.
2“For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you.
Matthew 7:1–2 (NASB95)
In the Isaiah passage, we see that the people to whom we are to declare transgressions are, in fact, God’s people who “Delight to know My ways” and “has not forsaken the ordinance of their God.” In the case of Jesus’ words in Matthew, we have, “For in the way you judge, you will be judged.” How do we reconcile those? It is simple to reconcile but hard to do, which seems to be most of the things Scripture tells us where personal accountability and change are involved.
First, Isaiah only tells us to point out “transgressions” or sins to God’s people. In my opinion, this is not a call to be finger-pointing to people who are not believers. There is a very good reason for that, which is also contained in those first two verses of Isaiah. God’s people are supposed to believe God’s word. In Isaiah, God says in verse two where He talks about “they seek Me” and “Delight to know My ways” and “not forsaken the ordinance of their God.” Note also in that passage we are to seek redress for justice from God rather than Man.
Second, in the words of Jesus, He warns us about how we go about providing the admonitions of those transgressions. The way we go about it and the things we point out as transgressions are the way we will be judged when our time comes. If we are harsh on those around us, we will be judged harshly, but if we are forgiving, then God will be forgiving. We will reap what we have sown, be judged as we have judged, and be rewarded according to our works. Those are all scriptures.
6The one who is taught the word is to share all good things with the one who teaches him.
7Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.
8For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.
Galatians 6:6–8 (NASB95)
1“Do not judge so that you will not be judged.
2“For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you.
3“Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?
4“Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold, the log is in your own eye?
5“You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.
Matthew 7:1–5 (NASB95)
9“Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.
10‘Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.
11‘Give us this day our daily bread.
12‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’
14“For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
15“But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.
Matthew 6:9–15 (NASB95)
Controversy solved, again in a scriptural fashion.
12“In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
13“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it.
14“For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.
Matthew 7:12–14 (NASB95)
We aren’t done with verse two yet from Isaiah 58 either. The first part has a command or at least gives us an example of how we are to behave. “Yet they seek me daily.” There are no coincidences.
As I was writing this, on Tuesday morning, lamenting the fact that I won’t be able to get all of “Monday Morning” done on Tuesday morning, it occurred to me that perhaps I should break this up and make it more of a journaling exercise across the entire week. I’ve been lamenting the lack of growth in the Substack membership but I also don’t post as regularly on there as others who have a far larger following do. Daily content causes something like that to provide value to those who follow it, but I wasn’t sure what to do in that regard. I might now. Monday Morning With Jesus may be going away and shifting to just Scripture Muse and become a near daily event. I’ll have to contemplate this and pray on it, though maybe it would also give me a way to work in the Questions of the Week.
However, we still aren’t done with verse 2. We are to seek God daily but also to “delight to know My ways.” I suspect that portion will be hard for many modern Christians. There is a lot in the Bible the modern church doesn’t want to “delight to know,” especially when it means changing how we think or act.
I’m going to wrap it up for today and post this. I’ll pick it up again tomorrow (I think) with verse 3. Isaiah and God are going to talk a lot about fasting with the right and wrong ways to do it, or at least aspects of fasting that are right and wrong.