Authentic Worship Includes True Repentance

“Authentic Worship”
 Message @ Jericho Ridge Community Church – Sunday, Feb 21, 2016
Text: Isaiah 1 // Series: Isaiah: New Day Dawning

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times… Or at least I’m sure it felt like that to the prophet Isaiah.  He had served four consecutive generations of kings in Judah.  Listening carefully to God and speaking forth truth in compassion and judgement and praise.  It was no easy task, but these were not easy times.

King Uzziah had become king at age 16 and was open to guidance and to the work of God in His heart and his kingdom.  He was a rarity: a good king.  But when Uzziah king contracted leprosy, things got complicated.  The king turned the administration of his kingdom over to his son, Jotham who was also a pretty good king.  He desired to follow God but he also intentionally overlooked some pretty blatant idol worship that Isaiah had spoken to him about repeatedly.  Jotham didn’t get rid of the high places and shrines that people frequented to inquire of false gods other than the Lord.  His divided heart was his downfall.

But the worst of the worst of times happened under King Ahaz.  By any measure, he was a horrible king.  Spiritually, ethically, politically, the man was anemic and paltry. When his kingdom was attacked, he emptied out God’s temple of every piece of gold or silver he could find in there and used it to pay off the Assyrians to protect him.  Which didn’t end up working out well for him.  On top of that, he took his own children and sacrificed them in the fire to appease idols!    

Just when things were at their lowest moment, a young man became king.  Hezekiah.  At only age 25 he was the polar opposite of Aahz.  He followed the Lord with his whole heart and soul and mind and strength.  2 Kings 18:5 says of him “Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before or after his time.”  Yes, Isaiah had seen & wrote about the best of times and the worst of times.  Four generations of righteousness, rebellion, repentance, renewal.  And that’s what makes the book in the Old Testament that bears his name so interesting and so relevant for you and I today.  66 chapters. 1,292 verses – The book of Isaiah is long enough to be called a major prophet. But really, it might be more accurate to call Isaiah a pastoral prophet.  Because he speaks with such tenderness as he relates God’s heart.  Giving spiritual care and guidance not only to the kings, but to the people and also down through the centuries to us today.  But he also doesn’t pull any punches.  There’s strong statements of judgement as Isaiah proclaims how far people have strayed from God’s heart.  The book is directed to a people who have known both the best and the worst of times in their own lives and who are in need of hope, healing and comfort.  And so the words of Isaiah ring out to God’s people in tumultuous times like his or like ours that there’s a new day dawning.        

Here at Jericho, we’ll be spending 10 weeks this spring exploring the major themes of the book.  We’ll be looking at questions like “what are the consequences for rebellion against God?  How much can I still sin and still be OK with God?” and “what does genuine repentance look like versus putting on a bit of a show?” Isaiah helps us understand important sometimes complicated biblical themes like God’s holiness, or what heaven is like, or how God’s grace and His justice fit together.  It’s a fascinating book so I’m glad you’re along for the ride. 

We begin in chapter 1, where in verse 1 we are reminded that this is a series of prophetic visions that God gave to Isaiah during the 8^th century Before Christ during the reign of the four listed kings of Judah.  I think it’s helpful to clarify what the Bible means when it uses the word “prophet” to describe someone like Isaiah.  Sometimes we think of the prophetic tradition as concerned primarily with prediction of the future or prognostication… While there are elements of this, to be certain – for example, Isaiah predicts very specific elements about the birth of Jesus as Messiah.  The prophetic tradition is also deeply concerned with the question ‘how do we live in the world?’  What does God require of us?  Often the prophets issue corrective instructions, sometimes situationally specific, but often they are speaking forth wise counsel or timeless wisdom for living.  So it’s fair to say that prophets do some foretelling but mostly its forth-telling God’s words.  Declaring what’s on God’s heart and encouraging people to embrace it. 

So Isaiah looks around at the people of God, at the world in which he lives and in chapter 1, he identifies 3 big issues.  Actually two issues and one solution.  Turn with me in your Bibles or on your phones to Isaiah 1, I’ll be reading from the New Living translation, some of the verses will appear up on the side screens but I’d also love you to follow along.  If you are new or visiting with us and don’t have a Bible of your own we’d love to send you home with one as our gift to you.  Visit the Welcome Centre.  As we dive in, we see that Isaiah’s that the three issues Isaiah points out for the people of his day are alive in well in our own hearts

Slide – Isaiah 1:2-4 [note: I’ll be reading through to the end of 1:9]  

Isaiah’s first big issue is an issue of

1. Heart Rebellion (1:1-9)

He uses an image from the real world to communicate a spiritual truth.  He says even animals recognize loving affection and care given to them.  Even your pets or your livestock have a sense of fidelity and loyalty (OK maybe not cats, dog’s sure do).  But God’s people have become so intent on pursuing evil, so corrupt that they have rejected, despised, turned their backs on Him.  God has raised them, cared for them, provided for them, given them food, shelter, a land in which to live, and yet they live in such a way that He doesn’t even exist.  

Isaiah says “you want to know what this feels like?”  By living in this way…    

• Continuing to willfully sin against God is like a child intentionally rejecting their loving parents

This is rejection of the deepest & most intentional kind.  A heart that’s bent on hurting the heart of loving Father.  Some of you know the pain of this experience 

In the 1990’s we used to say “talk to the hand”.  Do you remember that expression?  I can think of times in my own life where in little or big ways, essentially I said that to God (maybe you have too).  “Talk to the hand, cause the ears aint’ listening!”  There have been times that I wanted to do my own thing or continue in the temporary pleasures of sin for a season.  So we say to God through our actions or directly through our words: “get out of my life.  I don’t want you around right now!”  Yet Isaiah reminds us in verse 5 “this kind of rebellion is an invitation for punishment!”  In verse 28 he says “rebels and sinners will be completely destroyed and those who desert the Lord will be consumed”.  It’s like we have open wounds or sores and the infection is seeping deeper and deeper and will kill us in but we refuse medical help.  “Merely a flesh wound” we say J It’s as if our debt is mounting higher and higher due to our reckless spending but we run away from sound financial advice.  We choose to continue to harbour anger in our hearts and when someone in Life Group invites us to open up, we choose to run away.  We get loaded down with a burden of guilt and shame.  But here’s where it gets really weird… or should I say it hits close to home.

Isaiah says “in the midst of this rebellion; while your hand is up to keep God away, you still put on your Sunday smiley face and go to church and sing and serve with the rest of them!”  Look with me at verse 11 and we’re going to see a sharp definition emerge of authentic worship.  [Two Slides: Isaiah 1:11-15]       

Isaiah pulls no punches, does he?  It’s raw and in your face as he raises his second big issue.  The first one was that their hearts were in a state of rebellion, but the second issue is that they are practicing

2. Hollow Religion (1:10-15)

Outwardly, things look really good.  Sacrifices are happening, as per the laws of Moses.  People are lookin’ good when they come to the temple courts for worship.  They are brining gifts, money is going into the offering plate… They are declaring & observing days for fasting.  There’s hands lifted in prayer and worship…  But on the inside, hearts are still living in active states of rebellion. 

Their Pretend piety designed to hide massive incongruity 

And so God says ‘you know what I think about all of this?  It’s a load of crap!”  I don’t’ want to see it anymore.  I hate it.  You are satisfied with the sheer quantity of worship but I’m looking at the heart behind it &I find your lack of faith disturbing   

We have a word for this in the English language.  It’s called hypocrisy [mask photo].  The word comes to us from the ancient Greeks and for the world of the theatre.  As an actor immersed in your craft, you would take on a different persona when you get onto the stage that is not who you are in real life.  You play your part so effectively that the audience believes you are your character.  The Greek’s called these actors hypocrites.  They wore masks to conceal their true identity.  The divergence between who they really were on the inside and who they led others to believe on the stage came to be known as hypocrisy.   

Here Isaiah is driving at the same concept. He points out that particularly when it comes to religious observances or worship any of us can all fall into the temptation to put on a good show for God and for others.  To parade, as it says in Isaiah 1:12, across the stage of your life with lots of pomp and ceremony – makin’ it look good.  But behind the mask, there are issues unattended to.  Sins un-repented of.  A kind of religion that rings completely hollow before God. 

These are people who put on a suit and tie to go to church but who abuse their spouse verbally and physically.  These are people who raise their hands during worship in song, but those same hands click through to sexually explicit images.  These are people who sing beautiful harmonies and melodies that impress those who sit in the rows around them but who raise their voice in bitterness and gossip in the car ride on the way home.   

You see, hypocrisy is not a new problem or old problem.  It’s not even exclusively a religious problem.  It’s simply a human problem.  When Jesus interacts with the religious people of his day, it’s one of the things he highlights.  In Matthew 23, Jesus uses the illustration of a cup and says ‘you spend a lot of time cleaning and polishing the outside so that it looks good in public but inside, you are full of greed and self-indulgence.  Let’s focus on cleaning the inside, the outside will also be clean.  What Jesus is saying here is that hypocrisy is a heart problem.    

But religious hypocrisy is particularly insidious perhaps because it’s so sneaky.  So Isaiah names it and says “worship that is driven by this kind of incongruence is worship driven by duty and not by devotion and it is deplorable.” Cut it out! 

This is the bad news section. Thankfully, Isaiah also lets us know not only the problems but also the solution.  That’s his third issue that he highlights.  If we want to deal with heart rebellion and hollow religion, we need to embrace “holistic repentance”.    You have to change not only your mind, but also recognize that true repentance must include changed behaviour. 

Look with me at Isaiah 1:16-18… 

What does true repentance look like? 

I am prone to think of it as saying “I’m sorry” and being done with it.  But Isaiah says, nope.  There’s more to it than that!  Wash yourself – admit that you are dirty.  Stage one.  If you are not yet ready to agree with God that something in your life in sinful, then you’re still in a state of heart rebellion or hollow religion.  You’ve not moved into repentance yet.  Stage 1 of repentance: admit you need it 

Stage 2, look with me at 1:17 – the text says we need to “learn to do good.”  So the focus is not only on what I am walking away from but also on what I am embracing.  There’s a counter action or actions that I need to begin to practice.  Sometimes slowly, sometimes by God’s grace immediately.  What practices do you have in your life that will help you learn to do good?  Scripture intake – project 3:45 reading plan.  Perhaps it’s an accountability friendship, someone who can call you on your crap.  Perhaps it’s a spiritual practice like silence that can help you combat pride or help you learn to listen.  What are you learning?  

The next part of repentance that Isaiah says needs to happen is “Seeking Justice.”  This is a fascinating definition of sin that we don’t often give consideration to.  In 1:21-23, Isaiah strongly indicts those in civic leadership and says you have a duty to guard and advance justice and righteousness.  But instead, you have allowed greed and self-interest to prevail.  The imagery here is prostitution.  That just liking giving yourself sexually to one who is not your spouse degrades you personally, that forsaking justice, accepting bribes, failing to provide for those who are weak and people who are poor is equal to prostitution.  When those in power fail to steward their power to protect the weak and the vulnerable in society, that is a sin.  A systemic perpetuation of sin.

It’s a bit easy for us to sit back and think “well, that would never happen!” but friends, there are so many examples that touch our world that we would do well to think about.  Isaiah 1:17 says that justice means helping the oppressed, those on the margins.  Friends, this is one of the core reasons that compels us to send teams to Guatemala year after year.  To fight for the rights of widows by giving them security of a home.  People with disabilities in Guatemala make up approximately 20% of the population yet once you are not able bodied, you are marginalized.  Friends, that’s not right.  So when you give money or you pray or you go, you are a part of righting a wrong that God cares deeply about.  You are seeking justice, loving mercy.  Helping the oppressed and caring for widows.       

Here I think also of our friend Vicky who is visiting from Tanzania. She works with Peter Ash who founded Under The Same Sun.  They work tirelessly to defend the cause of orphans.  Vicky, can you tell us the story of one of those kids?

Thanks, Vicky.  JRCC is sending a team to Tanzania this summer to care for those kids.  To speak hope and life into them.  Meg and I will be leading a conference for pastors to catalyze the local church in this important mission. 

Friends, this is holistic repentance.  Repentance that has both a personal but also a social dimension to it.  James 1:27 says it this way “Pure & genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.”

Balancing those two dimensions is a challenge, to be sure.  Trying to figure out, for example, if my mutual funds have companies in them that participate in exploitation of people who are poor or inappropriate uses of the earth’s resources is a challenge.  But the social and personal elements of repentance are both important to God so they need to both be important to you and I.  I love the way this cartoon puts it: “If repentance were meant to be easy, there would be an app for it”

I know for me, I am prone to leap past the personal aspects of repentance and rail against systemic injustice.  But both elements need to be held in our hearts.  This is where listening to the Holy Spirit becomes critical.  Quieting your heart and allowing Him to search you like we talked about last weekend.  I can remember a time recently when I needed to practice repentance.  It came out of a conversation I had with someone on the phone.  I had been expressing my opinion strongly and we were in an area of discussion where we saw things differently.  Later, they came to be and expressed that they felt wounded by what I had said.  So I replayed the conversation, checked in with some people who know me well and whose advice I trust and realized that at points in the phone call, I had spoken from places of hurt and anger.  So I got back in touch and asked for a meeting with them to say I was sorry.  We had a good evening together saying we were sorry and speaking blessing over each other.  It was a challenging evening but a healing evening as well.  But here’s the point: repentance can’t just be an internal, heart thing.  I can’t just make things right vertically with Jesus and leave it at that.  There are horizontal dimensions to repentance that must be walked out.    

This is why Isaiah is so clear in 1:27 – “those who repent will be revived by righteousness.”  You see repentance isn’t just about what we stop doing.  It’s also about what start doing.  Not just about leaving something behind, but also embracing something.  Here we stand in a wonderful and deep tradition in Anabaptism that places an emphasis not just on what we say or profess but also on how we live it out.  One of the earliest Mennonite confessions was drafted in 1632 in the city of Dordrecht in Holland (I am more than willing to repent of my horrible butchery of the Dutch language).  Here’s a photo of the cover page from the first translation into English in 1727 in Philadelphia.  The thing that I respect and want to incorporate into my own life here is the emphasis on repentance being demonstrated in the real world.  Listen to a section of the confession of Dort:

We believe and confess, that…the first lesson of the precious New Testament of the Son of God is repentance and reformation of life, and that, therefore, those who have ears to hear, and hearts to understand, must bring forth genuine fruits of repentance, reform their lives, believe the Gospel, eschew evil and do good, desist from unrighteousness, forsake sin, put off the old man with his deeds, and put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness: for, neither baptism, supper, church, nor any other outward ceremony, can without faith, regeneration, change or renewing of life, avail anything to please God or to obtain of Him any consolation or promise of salvation.” 

So here’s the question for you and I today: Is there fruit of repentance in your life?  We’re going to move into a time of responding to God in worship and celebrating communion.  This is one reason why the Apostle Paul in his instructions on how to engage reminds us to examine our hearts.  Because it is inappropriate and spiritually dangerous to come and proclaim “yes, Jesus, I love you” in public way when your heart and life do not reflect this. 

This is not to say that you have to be perfect to partake – none of us would measure up.  But that’s the point of the cross.  That Jesus lived a perfect life and invites you and I to embrace the forgiveness offered.  The language of Isaiah 1:18 is so resonance and true here: “Come… though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, I will make them as white as wool”.  So I would invite you not to rush to the communion table.  Take time to examine your heart.  Repent of anything God points out to you.  Perhaps go and make a phone call or send an e-mail asking for a meeting if you need to.  If the person is in the room, have the guts to go to them and repentant.  Then come to the table.  A place of deep mercy and grace.    

Our prayer team is here.  Dale and Katy and myself…  We have been praying for you already this week and would love the privilege of praying for you now. 

Let us now humbly confess our sins to the Lord.  Merciful God, we have sinned in what we have thought and said, in the wrong we have done and in the good we have not done. We have sinned in ignorance: we have sinned in weakness: we have sinned through our own deliberate fault. We are truly sorry. We repent and turn to you. Forgive us, for our Saviour Christ's sake, and renew our lives to the glory of your name.