Meditation No. 3

Meditation Title: Religious Wrong Doing

Isa 1:10 Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom ; listen to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah !

Isaiah has just compared Judah to Sodom and Gomorrah , so now he calls them by those two names, the inference being that morally they were similar. He tells them to hear and take note of God's word and His law. In this case they are one and the same thing. The Lord is having to speak to Judah about their behaviour and therefore He is referring to things which come under the category of His law. Now I have already referred to the Law as God's ‘design-rules' for Israel . Essentially, they call Israel to live lives that are in line with the way God has designed us to ‘work' best. This is very basic teaching and yet one which is so often forgotten. When the Lord created the earth, and us on it, it was ‘ very good ' (Gen 1:31). He designed us to function in certain ways and when we function outside those parameters, our lives break down, and not only has this been seen in the world ever since the Fall, but we see this being worked out so clearly in the West in the early part of the twenty-first century.

Now there is a refinement to what we have said so far. The most crucial thing about the Law was that it was all about living in harmony with God as well as with our fellow human beings. Thus when the Lord introduces what we now call the Ten Commandments, we find Him saying, “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt , out of the land of slavery.” (Ex 20:2). He is reminding Israel that He is the God who has saved them and a God with whom they can having a living relationship, and that relationship is the all-important issue. Now this is important to understand because we next find the Lord criticising their religious habits. Their natural feelings were obviously, “Well as long as we do the things God told us to do in the Law, it will be all right,” and therefore once they did those things, they felt they could do what they liked in the rest of their lives, but what they then did indicated that the ‘religious things' really didn't come out of a relationship with the Lord, but as a pretence of a relationship. If they had a genuine relationship with the Lord, they could not have done some of the things they were doing. Bearing that in mind, let's see what Isaiah says.

“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. When you come to appear before me, who has asked this of you, this trampling of my courts? Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations-- I cannot bear your evil assemblies.” (1:11-13) i.e. why are you bringing all these sacrifices, why are you offering incense, why are you celebrating all these special days? The implication is that they are all meaningless. All of this religious ritual is meaningless! Indeed the Lord tells what He feels about them: “Your New Moon festivals and your appointed feasts my soul hates. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them.” (1:14) i.e. I intensely dislike these days that you call special.

Even more, He declares, “When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you; even if you offer many prayers, I will not listen.” (1:15) What? God is saying He will take no notice of someone's prayers? Why? “Your hands are full of blood.” (1:15c) Ah! There is injustice in the land! Now look at His instructions to them.

“Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight! Stop doing wrong, learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.” (1:16,17). They are polluted with sin and need to wash themselves. They need to get rid of these sins; they need to stop doing them. When you have a relationship with the Lord you CANNOT keep on sinning! The apostle John taught, “I write this to you so that you will not sin.” (1 Jn 2:1) and “No one who lives in him keeps on sinning.” (1 Jn 3:6) and “No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God.” (1 Jn 3:9). The apostle Paul taught, “We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?” (Rom 6:2) and, “count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” (Rom 6:11) and, “You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.” (Rom 6:18). The New Testament writers confirmed what the Old Testament prophets declared: you cannot have a living relationship with the Lord and carry on sinning.

Thus Isaiah tells them to learn to do what is right. Our new lives involve us in learning what God's will is: “be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will.” (Rom 12:2). This is to have a practical outworking; they are to work for justice, lift up those who are oppressed and care for orphans and widows. The apostle James reiterated this: “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” ( Jas 1:27). God cares for all people, especially those who are vulnerable, and the church is to really look after these ones.

Do we see this? God wants to bring His blessing into our lives as a community, and therefore, as a community, we are to care for one another. When a community does this it creates security, a sense of goodness in living. That is this God of love's intent, to bless us in community, so that we feel it is good to be part of it. That's how it must have been in the early church as we read, “All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people.” (Acts 2:44-47). Is that how ‘church' is for us? If not, we have something to work for!