Isaiah 1:17-18 NIVUK
[17] Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow. [18] ‘Come now, let us settle the matter,’ says the Lord. ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.
It should be no surprise to anyone that Christians have often been at the forefront of some of history’s most renowned campaigns for civil rights.
However, it didn’t start with Dr Martin Luther King or Jesse Jackson or Rosa Parks or Maya Angelou or Florence Nightingale or William Wilberforce or Mary Prince or any other of the myriad Christians who have stood with the minorities and poor and downtrodden throughout history.
In fact, it didn’t even start with Jesus Christ Himself.
The reality is that the cry for the poor against their oppressors is recorded throughout the Old Testament. Justice for the poor is written in Old Testament law:
Exodus 22:22-24 NIVUK
[22] ‘Do not take advantage of the widow or the fatherless. [23] If you do and they cry out to me, I will certainly hear their cry. [24] My anger will be aroused, and I will kill you with the sword; your wives will become widows and your children fatherless.
Exodus 23:6 NIVUK
[6] ‘Do not deny justice to your poor people in their lawsuits.
Exodus 23:9 NIVUK
[9] ‘Do not oppress a foreigner; you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners, because you were foreigners in Egypt.
Deuteronomy 24:14-15 NIVUK
[14] Do not take advantage of a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether that worker is a fellow Israelite or a foreigner residing in one of your towns. [15] Pay them their wages each day before sunset, because they are poor and are counting on it. Otherwise they may cry to the Lord against you, and you will be guilty of sin.
And many, many, many more.
In fact, disobedience of these commands and the underlying principles of fairness and justice was one of the reasons why the Jews went into exile.
Ezekiel 22:29 NIVUK
[29] The people of the land practise extortion and commit robbery; they oppress the poor and needy and ill-treat the foreigner, denying them justice.
So what happened?
Why is it that we now see professing Christians campaigning for policies that disadvantage the poor and needy, that exploit them with low wages and unfair taxation, that bury them in unrepayable debt, that deprive them of healthcare and education, that cause pollution, poison the water they drink and the air they breathe and snatch welfare payments from their wallets?
What has gone so badly wrong?
In my last post, I highlighted the issue that causes this: that of disobedience. I showed what lies at the heart of this, which is prioritising self over God. I talked about a character in the Bible who made this fateful choice (Saul) and what happened to him.
But the burning question now is: what does God think about this?
Does He agree with his self-appointed spokespeople, when they happily support policies, procedures and structures that harm the poor and vulnerable? Or is He dead against it?
The passage we are about to study makes God’s opinion crystal clear.
Before we start, I must get a few thing straight. Yes, I am Scottish. Yes, I am European. No, I am not a Communist. I lived through the Cold War. I have been to countries that were brought to their knees by communism. I have spoken to those who were persecuted by communism. I have seen the monuments of those who died under communism.
So no, I am one hundred percent not a Communist. If anything, I am strongly anti-Communist.
In fact, my honest opinion of those who argue that supporters of civil rights and justice are Communists is that they are saying so from a position of absolute ignorance, because they have no idea what a Communist is or looks like. They just see someone opposing their opportunity to make money at the expense of other people and slap a label on them so they don’t have to listen to them.
That is not a Christian approach – to anything, in fact.
We must also remember that modern political theories and systems such as Communism, Marxism, Leninism, Capitalism and others, did not exist when the Bible was written. Even universal suffrage – democracy as we know it – was not around.
So any arguments that the Biblical cries for justice and fairness for the poor and vulnerable belong to any particular modern political system are nonsense.
They are, and were, enshrined clearly in Jewish law.
The problem stemmed from the fact that, despite being tightly bound to the religious rituals that defined them as a nation, the Jews of Isaiah’s – and Jesus’ – day had neglected what the law said about social justice.
They had disobeyed it.
That caused a terrible effect on three areas of their spiritual life, with only one solution.
The first of these areas is their Worship.
Worship
Isaiah 1:10-13 NIVUK
[10] Hear 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. [12] When you come to appear before me, who has asked this of you, this trampling of my courts? [13] Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me.
God is completely uncompromising and utterly scathing with His prophecy here – even comparing His people with those of Sodom and Gomorrah, who were wiped out because of their sin (Genesis 19:1-29).
Even more shockingly, God says that their costly sacrifices, at the cost of their finest firstborn cattle and sheep, mean nothing to Him.
And this is not the first time this message has been sent:
Psalms 50:7-10 NIVUK
[7] ‘Listen, my people, and I will speak; I will testify against you, Israel: I am God, your God. [8] I bring no charges against you concerning your sacrifices or concerning your burnt offerings, which are ever before me. [9] I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens, [10] for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills.
So God is telling them that He doesn’t need their sacrifices. He doesn’t consume them, as pagan gods were said to do. He isn’t imploring them simply to offer their animals.
He wants more than that. Much more.
Amos 5:21-24 NIVUK
[21] ‘I hate, I despise your religious festivals; your assemblies are a stench to me. [22] Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them. [23] Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. [24] But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!
These are tough words. However, what is being said is that offering outward religious worship is not enough. Paying lip service to God in songs and prayers is not enough. Simply walking into a church building or even declaring a political allegiance with the Lord’s people is not enough:
Luke 6:46 NIVUK
[46] ‘Why do you call me, “Lord, Lord,” and do not do what I say?
Hosea 6:6 NIVUK
[6] For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.
What the Bible teaches again and again and again is that outward religion is useless. In fact, it is even offensive to God. That is, unless it is accompanied by a genuine heart. Unless it provokes a change in our attitude and action.
Unless it is meaningful.
As Jesus explained:
John 4:23-24 NIVUK
[23] Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshippers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks. [24] God is spirit, and his worshippers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.’
Often in churches we put a lot of emphasis on having the best worship teams. A lot of time and energy is spent on getting performances right: mixing the sound and harmonising and doing things on time and eliminating mistakes.
I know. I have been there for the rehearsals.
And it is right that we do so. God deserves our very best.
But the worship He wants is not the best music or the best sound but the best of our lives.
If we don’t get that right, then our worship is meaningless.
And where does the Bible say this worship should be worked out?
In fairness and social justice towards the poor and the vulnerable:
Luke 3:10-11 NIVUK
[10] ‘What should we do then?’ the crowd asked. [11] John answered, ‘Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.’
James 1:27 NIVUK
[27] 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.
In fact, worship without fairness and social justice is said by God to be meaningless.
So it isn’t possible for us to worship God and yet either ignore or be complicit in unfairness or injustice. We just can’t. To do so is a glaring hypocrisy.
But it also creates a huge problem for our Festivals.
Festivals
Isaiah 1:13-14 NIVUK
[13] Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations – I cannot bear your worthless assemblies. [14] Your 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.
Again, God doesn’t miss the target. This is such a strong message.
The Jews were required to celebrate three pilgrimage festivals in Jerusalem:
Exodus 23:14-17 NIVUK
[14] ‘Three times a year you are to celebrate a festival to me. [15] ‘Celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread; for seven days eat bread made without yeast, as I commanded you. Do this at the appointed time in the month of Aviv, for in that month you came out of Egypt. ‘No-one is to appear before me empty-handed. [16] ‘Celebrate the Festival of Harvest with the firstfruits of the crops you sow in your field. ‘Celebrate the Festival of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in your crops from the field. [17] ‘Three times a year all the men are to appear before the Sovereign Lord.
The purpose of these festivals was very clear: to remember what God had done for them and to be thankful for His provision.
When they appeared before the Lord, they were also to bring a tenth of all they produced to the Lord, but pay special attention to why they were to do this:
Deuteronomy 14:22-29 NIVUK
[22] Be sure to set aside a tenth of all that your fields produce each year. [23] Eat the tithe of your corn, new wine and olive oil, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks in the presence of the Lord your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name, so that you may learn to revere the Lord your God always. [24] But if that place is too distant and you have been blessed by the Lord your God and cannot carry your tithe (because the place where the Lord will choose to put his Name is so far away), [25] then exchange your tithe for silver, and take the silver with you and go to the place the Lord your God will choose. [26] Use the silver to buy whatever you like: cattle, sheep, wine or other fermented drink, or anything you wish. Then you and your household shall eat there in the presence of the Lord your God and rejoice. [27] And do not neglect the Levites living in your towns, for they have no land allotted to them or any inheritance of their own. [28] At the end of every three years, bring all the tithes of that year’s produce and store it in your towns, [29] so that the Levites (who have no land allotted to them or any inheritance of their own) and the foreigners, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns may come and eat and be satisfied, and so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.
So, as part of appearing before the Lord, they brought sacrifices, some of which were consumed by the priests and Levites (full time workers in the Temple – see Numbers 18:8-13), and their tithe, which was a ten percent tax on their produce, to support the foreigners, the fatherless and the widows who had no other means of support.
This giving is not just an Old Testament phenomenon. It also made its way into the New Testament church (Acts 6:1-7; James 1:27; 1 Timothy 5:3-16).
So offerings at the major times of worship were not so the priests could build a bigger house for themselves or buy the best donkey or the latest in fine robes.
No, it was for the poor and the vulnerable and the full time Temple staff among them.
But we know that this did not always happen (Nehemiah 13:10-13).
From these strong words, it seems like it wasn’t happening in Isaiah’s day, when the people gathered and celebrated, but forgot the poor.
Or worse, continued their heartless exploitation unabated (Isaiah 58).
Unlike the Jews, Christians across the world celebrate just two festivals: Christmas (Jesus’ birth) and Easter (Jesus’ death). Certainly in the West, these two festivals have become swamped in rampant and rapacious consumerism. We have become absolutely obsessed with what we will eat and drink and wear, despite being told we shouldn’t (Matthew 6:25-34). We are totally overcome with what we should give, especially to those dearest to us, to the extent that people get into crippling debt, just to give their children the ideal Christmas.
We stop being Marys. We start being Marthas (Luke 10:38-42).
In the meantime, we give little thought to those who cannot afford our lavish celebrations, who cannot afford to give their children even a glimpse of these festivals, who are unable to taste our festal food, or worse, are being exploited so that we can have the food and drink and clothes we crave.
Jesus Christ came down to save the poorest of the poor (us) to give us the riches of His grace. And yet we forget Him as if it never happened.
Not to mention those who are suffering.
I wonder if our religious festivals cause the same level of revulsion to the heart of God as those empty Jewish ones did.
It would not surprise me if it was so.
But I am not saying we should not celebrate. Of course we should! Jesus’ birth and resurrection are events worth celebrating.
But we cannot and should not forget why.
I am eternally in the debt of a small Evangelical church from a back street in Pitești, Romania. One of their families – the Voiculescus – took me in for Christmas 1999 when I was going to be left on my own (the rest of my team had all gone home). They gave me a traditional Romanian Christmas dinner. We went carol singing in the local hospital for old people who had no family and would not be getting out for Christmas. And then, in bracing cold (approaching –15 degrees Celsius), we took oranges and snacks to the street children living in heating ducts underneath the town.
They showed me more on that one day about what Christmas truly means than I have ever seen in anyone else.
It is to my shame that I have not repeated it here in my home country.
It’s when we forget what out festivals are all about and refuse to obey the commands to share and take care of our poor and vulnerable that our lavish festivals stick in God’s craw.
We have to learn from this.
But as well as our worship and our festivals, God then takes aim at something really personal, our Prayers.
Prayers
Isaiah 1:15 NIVUK
[15] When 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!
The picture here is disquieting to say the least.
Imagine how it would feel if you were in church one day, the person next to you raised their hands in worship, and you could see blood dripping from their palms, through their fingertips, across their wrist and down to the floor.
It would be like something from a horror movie.
God does not mean this literally, of course.
What He means is that His people are coming into worship in the Temple, despite having committed gross acts of exploitaion against the poor and the vulnerable who work for them.
There are some truly horrible examples of this in the Bible. For example:
Charging excessive interest on loans (Nehemiah 5:1-13 – see Leviticus 25:35-38). We must be clear on this: Christians have no place in the loan sharking or payday loan businesses, even if they are legal.
Sharp and unfair business practices (Proverbs 16:11, 20:10 – see Leviticus 19:35-36; Deuteronomy 25:15 and 16)
Withholding tax payments due to the government (Romans 13:1-7)
Paying unfair or exploitative wages (James 5:4)
But nowadays, we have invented some truly heartless ways to exploit people for personal gain that never in their worst nightmares would our forefathers have conceived of, such as:
Designing and selling products we know are chemically addictive
Marketing products that are known to be harmful
Denying health or property insurance payments to people who are due them
Excluding the poor from adequate education or healthcare provision
Price gouging on medication we know is necessary
Making unreasonable and excessive profits from the pawn industry
Using ‘race from the bottom’ economics to site our factories in places where lax legal frameworks will permit pollution and exploitation
Slavery, in all its horrific forms
The sex trade, in all its horrific forms
The use of child or prison or low-paid illegal immigrant labour
I could go on and on and on.
The reality is that, although we don’t see people literally with dripping with blood from their hands as they pray, it is very likely that within our midst there will be people who either actively participate in these activities or benefit from them.
After all, pretty much every Western economy, and, these days, Middle Eastern economy, has got to where it is as the result of some form of slave trade.
God clearly views this very, very seriously:
Micah 3:1-4 NIVUK
[1] Then I said, ‘Listen, you leaders of Jacob, you rulers of Israel. Should you not embrace justice, [2] you who hate good and love evil; who tear the skin from my people and the flesh from their bones; [3] who eat my people’s flesh, strip off their skin and break their bones in pieces; who chop them up like meat for the pan, like flesh for the pot?’ [4] Then they will cry out to the Lord, but he will not answer them. At that time he will hide his face from them because of the evil they have done.
And do you know something? It wasn’t just the prophets. Jesus accused the Pharisees and the teachers of the law of some pretty horrible practices:
Using the intricacies of their law to deny help to dependent parents (Mark 7:9-12)
Involvement of shady property deals that disadvantaged the vulnerable (Mark 12:28-40; Luke 20:43-46)
Hyper-focusing on the details of their ceremonial law while neglecting justice and mercy (Matthew 23:23-24)
Isaiah’s indictment – in common with the rest of the prophets – is quite breath-taking in it’s ferocity. But when we view with absolute honesty how our culture operates, with its utter contempt for the poor and the vulnerable, provided we have a nice life, then we are no different.
And that goes for Christians as well as non-Christians.
So when our worship, our festivals and our prayers are all trashed by our sin, what must we do?
There is only one thing we can do: Repent.
Repentance
Isaiah 1:16-20 NIVUK
[16] Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight; stop doing wrong. [17] Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow. [18] ‘Come now, let us settle the matter,’ says the Lord. ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. [19] If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good things of the land; [20] but if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.’ For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
When all we have is outward religion and there is no inward reality, when our rituals and rites are meaningless because we leave church no better than we came in, then Isaiah said that this is true of us:
Isaiah 64:6 NIVUK
[6] All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.
More religious acts won’t solve the problem. Fewer religious acts won’t solve the problem.
Only one thing will:
Repentance.
Realising where we’ve gone wrong. Refusing to do it again. Repenting and doing what is right.
That is the only solution.
And it’s difficult.
Of course it's difficult.
We are basically admitting that all the good works and all the religious acts – no matter perfectly we complete then – are useless to save us.
The only thing that can is throw ourselves on God’s grace, admit we were wrong and do what is right.
You see, relying on religious acts and outward righteousness is a form of pride. It communicates that we can save ourselves, not God; that we don’t need the cross, we just need to do religion better.
And that is not just untrue: it is a blasphemy and an insult to Jesus Christ.
As Paul explained:
Ephesians 2:8-9 NIVUK
[8] For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – [9] not by works, so that no-one can boast.
Here, in these verses, God offered a grand bargain to His people. The Babylonians and Assyrians were massing against both kingdoms. The Jews could choose: repentance or empty religious acts with no meaning.
If they accepted His cleansing, started over, repented and obeyed, their former sins would be forgotten.
But if they insisted on doing things their own way and rebelling, taking refuge in their idle religion while living evil lives, then they would pay the penalty.
And how should that repentance show itself?
John the Baptist told us, when he thundered at his audience:
Luke 3:7-9 NIVUK
[7] John said to the crowds coming out to be baptised by him, ‘You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? [8] Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our father.” For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. [9] The axe has been laid to the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.’
Three groups in particular asked him what they should do:
All three of these relate to social justice, fairness and righteousness.
Jesus then went on to say this in the Sermon on the Mount:
Matthew 7:15-20 NIVUK
[15] ‘Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. [16] By their fruit you will recognise them. Do people pick grapes from thorn-bushes, or figs from thistles? [17] Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. [18] A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. [19] Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. [20] Thus, by their fruit you will recognise them.
In the past, we might have believed that this was the fruit of the spirit, but it could also be this:
Matthew 25:34-36 NIVUK
[34] ‘Then the King will say to those on his right, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. [35] For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, [36] I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was ill and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.”
Religion can be the enemy of righteousness when it is religion just for religion’s sake and has no meaning or purpose other than to perpetuate a tradition.
But when true religion is meaningful, it challenges our attitudes towards the poor, the needy and the vulnerable. We must care for them – we have no option.
To do otherwise would mean to disobey God.
To do otherwise would mean not being like Christ.
To do otherwise would mean that we have not repented.
And repentance and trust in Jesus Christ is the only way to be saved.
Conclusion
We live in days when people’s allegiance to political doctrines and parties is often stronger than their allegiance to Christ. This shows itself when a near-transparent veneer of religiosity is dawbed over a heart and soul that are not truly committed to God.
The result is the chaos we see now.
And justice suffers as a result.
The fault of this does not lie with religion.
But the fault does lie with the ‘religious’.
It lies with those who, like Saul, choose religiosity over repentance and obedience; who would rather maintain their own power and position and society than do what God requires.
There is only one solution to this issue.
That solution is not more politics. It is not more religion.
That solution is repentance. It is a recognition that what has happened is wrong, a confession of this to God and an ‘about-face’ to do the right thing.
This is not an easy thing to do. After all, a religion-based approach to our salvation appeals to our ego. It allows us to believe that we can just perform certain rituals or do certain things and we will be saved, and the rest of our life can continue on as if nothing has changed.
But that is not true.
Salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.
But it must have an impact on how we live now.
And it does.
Far too much damage has been to the name of religion in general, and to Christianity in particular, by those who have used a thin, translucent veneer of religiosity to cover a heart full of injustice and unrighteousness.
It’s time to see through it.
It’s time to demand change.
It’s tine to be the change.
It's time to repent.
Because the consequences if we don’t are way too severe.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, I confess that it's way too easy for me to argue against those who ‘have a form of godliness but deny its power’: who claim to be religious but clearly are not. However, I know that I am often part of the problem. I want to be part of the solution. Search my heart, O Lord. See if there is any unjust way in me. I will repent and obey You. Amen.
Questions
What does Isaiah say is the problem with the Israelites of his day?
What is the sign that someone has repented, according to both Isaiah and John the Baptist? Do you see this in yourself?
Are you part of the problem or part of the solution? Which do you want to be? How can you change?
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