Oppression: using force and lies to deprive others o what is rightfully theirs
Isaiah was a giant in his day. He was respected in royal circles despite his unpopular message.
Isaiah 1:10-17
Hear the word of the Lord,
you rulers of Sodom!
Listen to the teaching of our God,
you people of Gomorrah!
11What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?
says the Lord;
I have had enough of burnt-offerings of rams
and the fat of fed beasts;
I do not delight in the blood of bulls,
or of lambs, or of goats.
12When you come to appear before me,
who asked this from your hand?
Trample my courts no more;
13bringing offerings is futile;
incense is an abomination to me.
New moon and sabbath and calling of convocation—
I cannot endure solemn assemblies with iniquity.
14Your new moons and your appointed festivals
my soul hates;they have become a burden to me,
I am weary of bearing them.
15When you stretch out your hands,
I will hide my eyes from you;
even though you make many prayers,
I will not listen;
your hands are full of blood.
16Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;
remove the evil of your doings
from before my eyes;
cease to do evil, 17
learn to do good;
seek justice,
rescue the oppressed,
defend the orphan,
plead for the widow.
We tend as a church to talk mostly about what God loves. Based on the Isaiah passage what does God want more; worship or doing right? Push come to shove, what does God ask from us here? Which is easier acts of worship or seeking justice? Which do we see more in the modern church?
Todd did an amazing job bringing the message yesterday in the Contemporary Service. If we are to be like Jesus we are going to revere how people get to God. His message set this group in the right direction. "Trampling of my courts" sound familiar?
God commands 7 things from us:
wash yourselves; make yourselves clean
remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes
cease to do evil
learn to do good
seek justice
rescue the oppressed
defend the orphan
plead for the widow
We've been talking about all 7, but we keep coming back to 2 of the 7; learn to do good and seek justice. Isaiah was talking to people who walked, talked, acted, appeared, performed rituals, showed up like God's people. These people were off-based and off track. What did God tell them to do? God told them to do 7 things. Don't you think when God says, "Okay, you've really gone and messed things up. So much, I can't bear to even look at you. So do these things" we might want to pay attention?
Learn to do good: Why do we have to learn? You mean it doesn't come natural to us? Of course not. By nature we are self focused. Learning is a mind set, an openness, a willingness to set aside our selfishness.
Seek justice: If we get real with ourselves and allow ourselves to really take a look around, injustice is easy to see. We now have to hunt out opportunities to make sure that people have what is rightly theirs. Next thing you know he'll want us to rescue the oppressed (your Bible might say "encourage the oppressed" I like the NRSV's rescue. Encourage the oppressed? Hang in there oppressed! Some translations read rebuke the oppressor. Bad oppressor! Rescue rings true to me.
It's clear that God hates injustice. God calls every Christian to join the fight against it. Christians have a decent track record at fighting injustice (we are responsible for our fair share too). So what are you doing about it?
Today, I saw 17 people change the lives of two people, maybe two families. As I saw our youth get to try out the PETs today, I saw the joy and the happiness in their faces and voices. I couldn't help but think how much more joy will the man or woman that gets the PET experience. Our team stood up and walked away. The future owner will not be able to do the same. We shouldn't take that for granted.
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