1 00:00:01,200 --> 00:00:03,320 A reading from the prophet Isaiah. 2 00:00:04,600 --> 00:00:08,119 Cry aloud, Do not hold back. Lift up your voice like a 3 00:00:08,119 --> 00:00:10,720 trumpet. Declare to My people their 4 00:00:10,720 --> 00:00:13,920 transgression to the House of Jacob, their sins. 5 00:00:14,880 --> 00:00:19,000 Yet they seek Me daily and delight to know My ways, as if 6 00:00:19,000 --> 00:00:21,840 they were a nation that did righteousness and did not 7 00:00:21,840 --> 00:00:23,920 forsake the judgment of their God. 8 00:00:24,560 --> 00:00:26,800 They ask of Me righteous judgments. 9 00:00:27,040 --> 00:00:29,080 They delight to draw near to God. 10 00:00:29,880 --> 00:00:32,720 Why have we fasted and you see it not? 11 00:00:33,520 --> 00:00:36,920 Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it? 12 00:00:37,920 --> 00:00:42,000 Behold, in the day of your fast, you seek your own pleasure, and 13 00:00:42,000 --> 00:00:46,000 oppress all your workers. Behold, you fast only to 14 00:00:46,000 --> 00:00:49,160 quarrel, and to fight, and to hit with the wicked fists. 15 00:00:49,880 --> 00:00:53,760 Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice to be heard 16 00:00:53,760 --> 00:00:58,320 on high. Is such the fast that I choose a 17 00:00:58,320 --> 00:01:00,760 day for a person to humble himself? 18 00:01:01,840 --> 00:01:05,800 Is it to bow down his head like a Reed, and to spread sackcloth 19 00:01:05,800 --> 00:01:10,960 and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast and a 20 00:01:10,960 --> 00:01:15,600 day acceptable to the Lord? Is not this the fast that I 21 00:01:15,600 --> 00:01:20,200 choose to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps 22 00:01:20,200 --> 00:01:23,720 of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, To break 23 00:01:23,720 --> 00:01:27,160 every yoke? Is it not to share your bread 24 00:01:27,160 --> 00:01:30,440 with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house 25 00:01:31,320 --> 00:01:34,760 when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself 26 00:01:34,760 --> 00:01:39,440 from your own flesh. Then shall your light break 27 00:01:39,440 --> 00:01:42,320 forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up 28 00:01:42,320 --> 00:01:44,840 speedily. Your righteousness shall go 29 00:01:44,840 --> 00:01:47,720 before you. The glory of the Lord shall be 30 00:01:47,720 --> 00:01:52,400 your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the 31 00:01:52,400 --> 00:01:57,320 Lord will answer, you shall cry, and he will say, Here I am. 32 00:01:58,000 --> 00:02:01,280 If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the 33 00:02:01,280 --> 00:02:05,760 finger and speaking wickedness, if you pour yourself out for the 34 00:02:05,760 --> 00:02:10,240 hungry, and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall 35 00:02:10,240 --> 00:02:13,440 your light rise in the darkness, and your gloom be as the 36 00:02:13,440 --> 00:02:15,960 noonday. And the Lord will guide you 37 00:02:15,960 --> 00:02:20,400 continually, and satisfy your desire in scorched places, and 38 00:02:20,400 --> 00:02:24,920 make your bones strong. And you shall be like a watered 39 00:02:24,920 --> 00:02:28,760 garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail. 40 00:02:29,320 --> 00:02:31,720 And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt. 41 00:02:32,160 --> 00:02:36,040 You shall rise up the foundations of many generations. 42 00:02:36,560 --> 00:02:40,480 You shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of 43 00:02:40,480 --> 00:02:45,480 streets to dwell in, if you turn your back your foot from the 44 00:02:45,480 --> 00:02:49,400 Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and 45 00:02:49,400 --> 00:02:53,440 call the Sabbath a delight, and the holy day of the Lord 46 00:02:53,440 --> 00:02:57,040 honorable. If you honor it, not going your 47 00:02:57,040 --> 00:03:02,480 own ways, or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly, then 48 00:03:02,680 --> 00:03:06,080 you shall take delight in the Lord, and I will make you ride 49 00:03:06,080 --> 00:03:09,000 on the heights of the earth. I will feed you with the 50 00:03:09,000 --> 00:03:13,200 heritage of Jacob, your father, for the mouth of the Lord has 51 00:03:13,240 --> 00:03:19,120 spoken the word of the Lord. Please pray with me. 52 00:03:20,520 --> 00:03:30,040 Loving God, I pray that He may settle deeply within each and 53 00:03:30,040 --> 00:03:39,880 every one of us in this moment. I pray that your presence, your 54 00:03:39,880 --> 00:03:44,560 love for for each and every one of us may be unmistakable. 55 00:03:47,160 --> 00:03:49,640 It may be your words to speak today. 56 00:03:50,360 --> 00:03:51,680 Your name we pray. Amen. 57 00:03:53,840 --> 00:04:01,160 Please be seated. Hi everybody, I want to open 58 00:04:01,160 --> 00:04:02,840 with a story that some of you may know. 59 00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:09,760 In 1983, a 23 year old law student was sent alone during an 60 00:04:09,760 --> 00:04:14,000 internship to a maximum security prison in Georgia to deliver a 61 00:04:14,000 --> 00:04:17,920 message to a man on death row. No lawyer with him, no legal 62 00:04:17,920 --> 00:04:22,760 help to offer, just a message. Your execution will not be this 63 00:04:22,760 --> 00:04:25,240 year. You have another year, he 64 00:04:25,240 --> 00:04:27,440 writes. I wasn't prepared to meet a 65 00:04:27,440 --> 00:04:30,240 condemned man. I was eager and inexperienced 66 00:04:30,240 --> 00:04:31,880 and worried. I was in over my head. 67 00:04:32,880 --> 00:04:35,720 He had gone to law school because like many of us, he 68 00:04:35,720 --> 00:04:37,480 wanted to do something about injustice. 69 00:04:37,920 --> 00:04:40,680 And like many of us, he grew disillusioned. 70 00:04:40,880 --> 00:04:43,440 Right the coursework. Like, how relevant is this? 71 00:04:43,440 --> 00:04:47,760 He felt he was disillusioned by the inequities in our systems, 72 00:04:48,440 --> 00:04:51,560 by his own inadequacy. But here he was. 73 00:04:52,400 --> 00:04:55,920 Henry the prisoner arrived in chains into that little room. 74 00:04:56,600 --> 00:04:59,120 Our speaker stuttered through his message, and Henry broke 75 00:04:59,120 --> 00:05:01,880 open into relief. Another year he could see his 76 00:05:01,880 --> 00:05:04,560 wife and kids. They ended up talking for three 77 00:05:04,560 --> 00:05:07,520 hours, laughing, getting to know each other, becoming quick 78 00:05:07,520 --> 00:05:10,600 friends until the guards abruptly tore them apart. 79 00:05:11,600 --> 00:05:16,440 As Henry is cuffed and shoved out, he planted his feet and 80 00:05:16,440 --> 00:05:20,040 sang a hymn. I'm pressing on the upward way. 81 00:05:20,040 --> 00:05:23,520 New heights I'm gaining every day, Still praying as I'm 82 00:05:23,520 --> 00:05:26,240 onward, bound. Lord, plant my feet on higher 83 00:05:26,240 --> 00:05:28,840 ground. And our speaker was absolutely 84 00:05:28,840 --> 00:05:31,160 stunned. He writes. 85 00:05:31,600 --> 00:05:34,280 I had come into the prison with such anxiety about my 86 00:05:34,280 --> 00:05:36,760 inadequacy. I had no right to expect 87 00:05:36,760 --> 00:05:39,000 anything from a condemned man on death row. 88 00:05:39,400 --> 00:05:42,280 Yet he gave me an astonishing measure of his humanity, 89 00:05:42,880 --> 00:05:46,680 proximity to the condemned may the question of each person's 90 00:05:46,680 --> 00:05:50,080 humanity more urgent and meaningful, including my own. 91 00:05:50,880 --> 00:05:54,760 His grandmother had always told him, you can't understand most 92 00:05:54,760 --> 00:05:57,640 of the important things from a distance, Brian, you have to get 93 00:05:57,640 --> 00:06:00,360 close. That law student was Bryan 94 00:06:00,360 --> 00:06:02,880 Stevenson. Six years later, he founded the 95 00:06:02,880 --> 00:06:05,600 Equal Justice Initiative, which has provided legal 96 00:06:05,600 --> 00:06:09,480 representation to hundreds of people illegally convicted or 97 00:06:09,480 --> 00:06:13,120 unfairly sentenced, the central thesis of his book? 98 00:06:13,120 --> 00:06:17,360 Just Mercy and of his life's work is that we are not defined 99 00:06:17,360 --> 00:06:18,760 by the worst thing we've ever done. 100 00:06:19,280 --> 00:06:21,320 He attributes this to the Christian gospel. 101 00:06:22,560 --> 00:06:24,120 I've had the pleasure of meeting him. 102 00:06:24,200 --> 00:06:26,800 He radiates calm, purpose and warmth. 103 00:06:27,520 --> 00:06:30,960 Even my most skeptical non Christian colleagues and friends 104 00:06:31,440 --> 00:06:35,040 that I met him with have been really moved by the way that his 105 00:06:35,040 --> 00:06:38,560 faith empowers him to do such hard, costly work with such 106 00:06:38,560 --> 00:06:41,920 energy and joy. We're really drawn to people 107 00:06:41,920 --> 00:06:45,320 like that, aren't we? People who shine with goodness 108 00:06:45,320 --> 00:06:49,400 and know what they're about. As Christians, we're also to, 109 00:06:49,640 --> 00:06:54,360 we're also called to be that. Our current series on being a 110 00:06:54,360 --> 00:06:58,760 Spiritual Beacon Church for the city of Chicago invites us to 111 00:06:58,760 --> 00:07:03,080 consider various ways to shine the light of Christ for people 112 00:07:03,720 --> 00:07:07,320 to draw them into the joyful, purposeful peace that comes from 113 00:07:07,320 --> 00:07:12,720 knowing who we are in Christ. Fully known, fully loved, fully 114 00:07:12,720 --> 00:07:16,800 renewed. This vision and promise is so 115 00:07:16,800 --> 00:07:20,400 good. The call for how to get there, 116 00:07:20,520 --> 00:07:25,480 as modelled for us in today's passage in Isaiah, is urgent and 117 00:07:25,480 --> 00:07:29,240 very practical. Actually, as we turn to Isaiah 118 00:07:29,240 --> 00:07:33,440 58, I want to name an important note about the particular versus 119 00:07:33,440 --> 00:07:36,040 universal. The text was written for a very 120 00:07:36,040 --> 00:07:38,720 particular community, in a very particular context. 121 00:07:39,240 --> 00:07:42,640 The Judeans had returned from their home after a really long 122 00:07:42,640 --> 00:07:47,640 exile in Babylon, only to be beset by fractured community, 123 00:07:47,880 --> 00:07:54,000 economic equality, inequality, political subjugation again, and 124 00:07:54,000 --> 00:07:57,400 the disorienting gap between the glorious restoration they have 125 00:07:57,400 --> 00:08:01,080 been promised and the difficult reality they actually came home 126 00:08:01,080 --> 00:08:04,400 too. We can relate to these 127 00:08:04,400 --> 00:08:08,080 disappointments in general, for sure, as such hardships cycle 128 00:08:08,080 --> 00:08:10,640 through history. But it's still important to 129 00:08:10,640 --> 00:08:13,240 acknowledge that the Judeans are not us, and their situation 130 00:08:13,240 --> 00:08:17,000 isn't ours. And yet this passage still 131 00:08:17,000 --> 00:08:19,920 speaks to us because it addresses things that do not 132 00:08:19,920 --> 00:08:24,760 change, The human tendency to perform faith without embodying 133 00:08:24,760 --> 00:08:30,880 it, God's call to express our faith in concrete, proximate 134 00:08:30,880 --> 00:08:36,360 care for those in need, and the reliability of God's promises to 135 00:08:36,360 --> 00:08:38,600 the community that takes that seriously. 136 00:08:40,400 --> 00:08:43,960 Like the Judeans, many of us may be engaging in some sincere 137 00:08:43,960 --> 00:08:45,480 religious practice. Right? 138 00:08:45,480 --> 00:08:48,640 We're here. Maybe particularly so during 139 00:08:48,640 --> 00:08:53,240 this Lenten season, while feeling disconnected from God 140 00:08:53,560 --> 00:08:57,320 and perhaps paralyzed in the face of social suffering. 141 00:09:00,240 --> 00:09:03,360 The passage is something to say about why, and it's actually 142 00:09:03,360 --> 00:09:04,880 more freeing than we might expect. 143 00:09:05,440 --> 00:09:10,320 Thankfully, it's also urgent, as expressed by God's call for the 144 00:09:10,320 --> 00:09:14,640 prophet to be loud and declarative with his message in 145 00:09:14,640 --> 00:09:17,800 the opening verse. Cry aloud. 146 00:09:18,120 --> 00:09:21,560 Do not hold back. Lift up your voice like a 147 00:09:21,560 --> 00:09:24,240 trumpet. Declare to my people their 148 00:09:24,240 --> 00:09:26,960 transgression to the House of Jacob, their sins. 149 00:09:28,520 --> 00:09:32,760 While God's people are verse 2, seeking Him daily and even 150 00:09:32,760 --> 00:09:36,800 delighting to know God's ways, they're doing so with hypocrisy. 151 00:09:38,000 --> 00:09:42,800 As we enter into verses 3 through 5, I want to lovingly 152 00:09:42,800 --> 00:09:47,360 carry us through some honest and potentially uncomfortable self 153 00:09:47,360 --> 00:09:51,600 examination as we hold this passage up to ourselves as a 154 00:09:51,600 --> 00:09:54,640 mirror. God anticipates the people's 155 00:09:54,640 --> 00:09:57,880 questions in verse 3. Why are we fascinating? 156 00:09:57,880 --> 00:10:02,000 You see it not. Why have we humbled ourselves 157 00:10:02,280 --> 00:10:06,600 and you take no knowledge of it? They seem genuinely confused. 158 00:10:07,160 --> 00:10:11,360 They've been dutiful, and God responds notably, not with 159 00:10:11,360 --> 00:10:13,520 comfort per SE, but with a diagnosis. 160 00:10:14,640 --> 00:10:21,160 Behold, in the day of your fast, you seek your own pleasure and 161 00:10:21,160 --> 00:10:25,320 oppress all your workers. So let's see with how this can 162 00:10:25,320 --> 00:10:28,360 be true of us. First, you seek your own 163 00:10:28,360 --> 00:10:31,840 pleasure. On the very day we're performing 164 00:10:31,840 --> 00:10:36,400 devotion, our primary focus may still be on our own interests 165 00:10:36,400 --> 00:10:39,080 and our own comforts. And this doesn't have to be 166 00:10:39,080 --> 00:10:41,840 dramatic, right? Maybe we're being faithful in 167 00:10:41,840 --> 00:10:46,040 many ways, but we haven't had a real conversation across 168 00:10:46,040 --> 00:10:50,680 difference in a while. Our bubble is very intact. 169 00:10:52,280 --> 00:10:55,840 Some of us live and work and worship in spaces that are for 170 00:10:55,840 --> 00:10:59,760 honest, pretty uniform. Similar educational backgrounds, 171 00:11:00,360 --> 00:11:04,680 similar political assumptions, similar income brackets, similar 172 00:11:04,680 --> 00:11:08,440 cultural references. The default posture of some of 173 00:11:08,440 --> 00:11:12,560 these spaces towards Christian faith might be a kind of polite 174 00:11:12,560 --> 00:11:15,960 skepticism, right? The assumption that serious, 175 00:11:15,960 --> 00:11:20,480 educated people have moved past that, and many of us have 176 00:11:20,480 --> 00:11:24,200 quietly absorbed some of that skepticism, perhaps while 177 00:11:24,200 --> 00:11:27,640 sitting in a Pew. Others of us have lived their 178 00:11:27,640 --> 00:11:31,240 whole lives inside the church, Christian School, Christian 179 00:11:31,240 --> 00:11:34,200 friendships, Christian workplace, Christian everything. 180 00:11:34,880 --> 00:11:39,120 We're fluent in the language, comfortable in the culture, and 181 00:11:39,120 --> 00:11:43,600 the world outside that culture can feel genuinely foreign and 182 00:11:43,600 --> 00:11:47,720 maybe even a little threatening. Both of those are bubbles. 183 00:11:49,000 --> 00:11:53,320 Bubbles that limit the reach of God's light, the verse 184 00:11:53,320 --> 00:11:56,080 continues. And oppress all your workers. 185 00:11:56,760 --> 00:11:59,960 The word for a press here, nagas, is the same word used for 186 00:11:59,960 --> 00:12:03,440 Pharaoh's task makers in Egypt. So it's a pretty strong word. 187 00:12:04,120 --> 00:12:07,800 So consider the people with less power than you and any social, 188 00:12:07,800 --> 00:12:12,200 professional or economic relationship both seen and 189 00:12:12,200 --> 00:12:14,680 unseen. And I'm not only talking to 190 00:12:14,680 --> 00:12:17,080 working folks here. This is very relevant to student 191 00:12:17,080 --> 00:12:19,680 life too. The people we have some kind of 192 00:12:19,680 --> 00:12:23,920 power over and know it, The people we have power over. 193 00:12:23,920 --> 00:12:27,160 And I haven't actually thought about them very much, right? 194 00:12:27,760 --> 00:12:30,440 Or the people whose labor we benefit from without much 195 00:12:30,440 --> 00:12:34,680 consideration. And it's not about guilt. 196 00:12:34,680 --> 00:12:39,320 This is about sight. The text is asking who has less 197 00:12:39,320 --> 00:12:42,320 power than you and how are you considering them? 198 00:12:42,320 --> 00:12:46,920 How are you treating them? God continues in verse 4. 199 00:12:47,720 --> 00:12:52,080 Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to hit with a 200 00:12:52,080 --> 00:12:54,960 wicked fist. Fasting like yours to stay will 201 00:12:54,960 --> 00:12:57,160 not make your voice be heard on high. 202 00:12:57,840 --> 00:13:01,240 And maybe we aren't literally hitting anyone, but where does 203 00:13:01,240 --> 00:13:03,880 strife live in your life right now? 204 00:13:04,920 --> 00:13:07,120 Again, it doesn't necessarily have to be very dramatic. 205 00:13:07,720 --> 00:13:11,920 It might be like the chronic low grade tension with someone that 206 00:13:11,920 --> 00:13:15,360 you refuse to address. Like too awkward, like you know, 207 00:13:15,720 --> 00:13:19,000 the relationship where you hold power and you wield it. 208 00:13:20,800 --> 00:13:25,000 The person you consistently make smaller, their quiet remarks, 209 00:13:25,120 --> 00:13:30,800 small gestures. And then verse 5, the image that 210 00:13:30,800 --> 00:13:37,720 looks so right, the head bowed like a Reed sackcloth ashes, all 211 00:13:37,720 --> 00:13:42,400 the correct postures of humility and penitence performed over a 212 00:13:42,400 --> 00:13:45,320 life that remains fundamentally unchanged. 213 00:13:45,880 --> 00:13:50,240 Christian virtue signalling, like posting about a social 214 00:13:50,240 --> 00:13:54,640 issue without actually changing anything about our life to move 215 00:13:54,640 --> 00:13:58,320 the needle towards change. Or even if we don't use social 216 00:13:58,320 --> 00:14:03,480 media, lamenting injustice in the right company while our 217 00:14:03,480 --> 00:14:07,000 actual life remains sealed off from anyone affected by it. 218 00:14:08,320 --> 00:14:12,440 Or feeling deeply about things and letting the feeling 219 00:14:12,440 --> 00:14:18,160 substitute for the doing. Or the Lenten practice that's 220 00:14:18,160 --> 00:14:24,240 entirely oriented inward. What it does for us, our body, 221 00:14:24,240 --> 00:14:29,600 our habits, our health, with no outward tort, turn towards 222 00:14:29,600 --> 00:14:33,160 anyone else. God is not critiquing this 223 00:14:33,160 --> 00:14:36,080 devotion. God is asking, who are you 224 00:14:36,080 --> 00:14:41,480 actually doing this for? When the devotion is correctly 225 00:14:41,480 --> 00:14:45,480 directed at God rather than at ourselves, it doesn't just look 226 00:14:45,480 --> 00:14:50,760 good, it does good and God wants us to be faithful. 227 00:14:51,880 --> 00:14:54,960 God is incredibly clear and direct about what that looks 228 00:14:54,960 --> 00:14:59,000 like, and it communicates them in rhetorical questions here to 229 00:14:59,040 --> 00:15:03,040 engage our minds to reflect before answering. 230 00:15:03,560 --> 00:15:06,040 Yes. Verse 6. 231 00:15:06,920 --> 00:15:11,120 Is this not the fast that I choose to loose the bonds of 232 00:15:11,120 --> 00:15:15,120 wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the 233 00:15:15,120 --> 00:15:18,920 oppressed go free and to break every yoke? 234 00:15:19,440 --> 00:15:22,080 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the 235 00:15:22,080 --> 00:15:26,360 homeless poor into your house when you see the naked, to cover 236 00:15:26,360 --> 00:15:29,560 him and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? 237 00:15:30,920 --> 00:15:36,000 Verse 6 is about releasing people from bondage, burden, and 238 00:15:36,000 --> 00:15:38,360 oppression. This can be literal. 239 00:15:38,360 --> 00:15:42,400 Perhaps you're a lawyer, a social worker, a therapist, a 240 00:15:42,400 --> 00:15:46,120 doctor, a teacher, a policy maker, someone whose 241 00:15:46,120 --> 00:15:49,640 professional life puts you in direct proximity to people who 242 00:15:49,640 --> 00:15:52,040 are trapped in a need of an advocate. 243 00:15:52,400 --> 00:15:56,480 Let's use that. But bondage also takes forms 244 00:15:56,480 --> 00:15:59,080 that don't require a professional license, right? 245 00:15:59,600 --> 00:16:02,440 Maybe someone in your life is trapped in a story about 246 00:16:02,440 --> 00:16:06,040 themselves that is not true and you're in a position to tell 247 00:16:06,040 --> 00:16:08,320 them otherwise. Please do so. 248 00:16:08,760 --> 00:16:10,920 It's always been so life changing when people have done 249 00:16:10,920 --> 00:16:14,240 that for me. Or maybe someone is in a 250 00:16:14,240 --> 00:16:17,880 relationship or a situation that they cannot see their way out of 251 00:16:17,880 --> 00:16:19,720 you, Right? Like we get so mired up in it 252 00:16:20,320 --> 00:16:23,000 and you can speak truth to them. You're in that position. 253 00:16:24,040 --> 00:16:27,680 Help them to expand their perspective and shake off false 254 00:16:27,680 --> 00:16:30,800 narratives. Persist in being there for them 255 00:16:31,040 --> 00:16:33,280 as they work through all the tangles. 256 00:16:34,560 --> 00:16:40,480 If you feel trapped somehow today, loosen the bonds and seek 257 00:16:40,480 --> 00:16:45,080 prayer during service Today they will be prayer ministers on 258 00:16:45,080 --> 00:16:47,840 either side during communion. Go up to them. 259 00:16:49,400 --> 00:16:53,680 Bondage is anywhere a person is stuck and carrying something 260 00:16:53,680 --> 00:16:56,480 that they were meant never meant to carry alone. 261 00:16:56,920 --> 00:17:00,840 Liberation begins with whoever is close enough to notice. 262 00:17:02,120 --> 00:17:06,359 So we must notice. As Christians, we must notice. 263 00:17:06,800 --> 00:17:10,560 Verse 7 is what hits me hardest in some ways because it's so 264 00:17:10,560 --> 00:17:14,440 direct and personal and I can't, like, intellectualize my way out 265 00:17:14,440 --> 00:17:18,800 of it. Is it not to share your bread 266 00:17:18,800 --> 00:17:22,280 with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house 267 00:17:22,680 --> 00:17:25,920 when you see the naked to cover him and not to hide yourself 268 00:17:25,920 --> 00:17:29,760 from your own flesh. We are to feed, house, and 269 00:17:29,760 --> 00:17:33,480 clothe people. Food, housing and clothing are 270 00:17:33,480 --> 00:17:36,720 so fundamental. They're so immediately 271 00:17:36,720 --> 00:17:40,360 practical. So when we see the need, we are 272 00:17:40,360 --> 00:17:43,000 to provide. And the Hebrew here is second 273 00:17:43,000 --> 00:17:46,000 person singular. So God is speaking to each of us 274 00:17:46,000 --> 00:17:49,280 individually here. And when God tells us not to 275 00:17:49,280 --> 00:17:52,440 hide ourselves from our own flesh, God prohibits us from 276 00:17:52,440 --> 00:17:56,160 deliberate social blindness. We cannot pretend that like we 277 00:17:56,160 --> 00:17:59,800 don't see the physical body of our fellow human being in need. 278 00:18:00,320 --> 00:18:03,000 We are to look upon their humanity as our own. 279 00:18:03,560 --> 00:18:06,840 And this is really powerful because it's so physical, right? 280 00:18:07,000 --> 00:18:10,160 It invites us to think about Jesus physical body on the 281 00:18:10,160 --> 00:18:13,320 cross. On the cross, Jesus literally 282 00:18:13,320 --> 00:18:17,080 embodied the bonds, the straps, the breaking, the not holding 283 00:18:17,080 --> 00:18:20,680 himself from his fellow human being so that all the wickedness 284 00:18:20,680 --> 00:18:24,520 and oppression can die with his physical body to be resurrected 285 00:18:24,520 --> 00:18:26,680 in a new form and a new life, right? 286 00:18:26,680 --> 00:18:28,760 That's the good news, that's the gospel. 287 00:18:29,320 --> 00:18:32,080 And the gospel message is that through Jesus's life, 288 00:18:32,160 --> 00:18:35,360 resurrection or death and resurrection, we are fully 289 00:18:35,360 --> 00:18:39,480 forgiven for all the ways that we've fallen short, fully freed 290 00:18:39,480 --> 00:18:42,600 from any need to prove ourselves to be good enough, fully 291 00:18:42,600 --> 00:18:46,320 accepted into God's promise of perfect justice and peace. 292 00:18:48,000 --> 00:18:54,080 And while we're on this earth in this human condition, right, 293 00:18:54,240 --> 00:19:00,880 we're called to be beacons of this good news by choosing to 294 00:19:00,880 --> 00:19:03,760 walk and talk like Jesus as best we can. 295 00:19:04,200 --> 00:19:07,800 Because when we do, the light of God's goodness breaks forth like 296 00:19:07,800 --> 00:19:12,520 the dawn and obliterates the darkness that plagues us all the 297 00:19:12,520 --> 00:19:16,560 time, whether it's in your own mind or just like surrounding 298 00:19:16,560 --> 00:19:19,120 you when you're like reading the news or just, you know what I 299 00:19:19,120 --> 00:19:20,760 mean? That like darkness that we're 300 00:19:20,760 --> 00:19:26,360 just like so overwhelmed by sometimes as Christians, we're 301 00:19:26,360 --> 00:19:32,200 called not to just wait it out until that final day, until 302 00:19:32,320 --> 00:19:34,800 God's long term vision is fulfilled. 303 00:19:35,720 --> 00:19:42,280 This lice until that end is not just twiddling our thumbs and 304 00:19:42,280 --> 00:19:49,520 like waiting in this malaise, God granted each of us free will 305 00:19:49,520 --> 00:19:53,280 because our day-to-day decisions are a key part of that vision. 306 00:19:53,640 --> 00:19:56,840 God shapes us through our choices and he didn't even have 307 00:19:56,840 --> 00:19:59,520 to include us in his work, but he did. 308 00:20:00,240 --> 00:20:03,400 And while it can be challenging to follow through at times, for 309 00:20:03,400 --> 00:20:06,760 sure, the light, the healing, the goodness that we get to 310 00:20:06,760 --> 00:20:09,440 witness. And I know many of them in here 311 00:20:09,440 --> 00:20:13,640 have witnessed this right. It's so beautiful, it's so 312 00:20:13,640 --> 00:20:17,080 empowering. And God has our fronts and 313 00:20:17,080 --> 00:20:18,680 backs. Your righteousness shall go 314 00:20:18,680 --> 00:20:21,160 before you. The glory of the Lord shall be a 315 00:20:21,160 --> 00:20:23,760 rear guard. And as I read through the rest 316 00:20:23,760 --> 00:20:27,080 of God's promise, I want you to receive it as His promise to you 317 00:20:27,080 --> 00:20:31,200 personally. Verse 9 Then you shall call, and 318 00:20:31,200 --> 00:20:35,520 the Lord will answer you. You shall cry, and he will say, 319 00:20:35,720 --> 00:20:40,400 here I am. Do you believe that that God 320 00:20:40,400 --> 00:20:45,040 will answer your call? Maybe you'll hear God's voice 321 00:20:45,040 --> 00:20:47,520 audibly, but more likely you'll feel it right. 322 00:20:47,520 --> 00:20:53,120 Something settled and known deep in you that's worth wanting, is 323 00:20:53,120 --> 00:20:56,440 worth pursuing. If you take away the yoke from 324 00:20:56,440 --> 00:20:59,280 your mist, the pointing of the finger and speaking wickedness, 325 00:20:59,280 --> 00:21:03,040 if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of 326 00:21:03,040 --> 00:21:06,520 the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and 327 00:21:06,520 --> 00:21:11,320 your gloom be as a noonday. So much of our malaise comes 328 00:21:11,320 --> 00:21:15,000 from feeling helpless, aimless and paralyzed. 329 00:21:16,440 --> 00:21:20,400 And God's answer is not for us to wallow in it, as sometimes 330 00:21:20,400 --> 00:21:24,880 I'm tempted to do. It is to act specifically, 331 00:21:25,280 --> 00:21:27,720 outwardly, on behalf of someone else. 332 00:21:27,720 --> 00:21:30,320 And that's what moves us from gloom to light. 333 00:21:31,440 --> 00:21:35,200 But I want to pause here 'cause I know many of you are already 334 00:21:35,200 --> 00:21:37,640 doing this work, and you are tired. 335 00:21:38,480 --> 00:21:43,000 God sees you, and God's promise is liberating for you too. 336 00:21:43,880 --> 00:21:45,760 Because we are not the light source. 337 00:21:46,160 --> 00:21:49,040 God is. And a candle doesn't generate 338 00:21:49,040 --> 00:21:50,880 its own flame. You know that. 339 00:21:51,520 --> 00:21:54,840 It carries 1. And when we try to be the source 340 00:21:54,840 --> 00:22:00,400 rather than the carrier, we burn out, we burn our own reserves. 341 00:22:00,480 --> 00:22:03,440 That's striving, fixing, doing in our own strength. 342 00:22:04,520 --> 00:22:10,280 So self-care is not selfish. Rest is not lazy. 343 00:22:11,200 --> 00:22:15,200 Sabbath is not optional. I'm still working on that one. 344 00:22:16,680 --> 00:22:21,280 Being in community with people who nurture you, allowing 345 00:22:21,280 --> 00:22:25,520 yourself to be cared for in addition to doing the caring. 346 00:22:26,000 --> 00:22:30,720 Those are not indulgent. They are how the candle stays 347 00:22:30,720 --> 00:22:35,920 lit and the text asks us to pour ourselves out for the hungry. 348 00:22:35,920 --> 00:22:38,600 It doesn't ask us to fix world hunger, right? 349 00:22:39,480 --> 00:22:42,800 It asks us to satisfy the desire of the afflicted person in front 350 00:22:42,800 --> 00:22:45,160 of you. Not every afflicted person 351 00:22:45,160 --> 00:22:47,960 everywhere. And that distinction is not a 352 00:22:47,960 --> 00:22:52,480 loophole, it's a mercy. So let's lessen each other's 353 00:22:52,480 --> 00:22:55,480 burdens, put down the finger pointing the bitterness, the 354 00:22:55,480 --> 00:22:58,600 words that diminish despite seeing that all the world 355 00:22:59,200 --> 00:23:02,320 everywhere, and trust that the God who makes his promise is 356 00:23:02,320 --> 00:23:04,960 already ahead of us and behind us in the doing of it. 357 00:23:06,640 --> 00:23:11,360 And the promise continues verse 11 and the Lord will guide you 358 00:23:11,360 --> 00:23:15,000 continually and satisfy your desire in scorched, also 359 00:23:15,000 --> 00:23:19,960 translated as in drought places and make your bones strong and 360 00:23:19,960 --> 00:23:22,880 you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water 361 00:23:22,880 --> 00:23:26,680 whose waters do not fail. For those of us who have been 362 00:23:26,680 --> 00:23:29,720 living inside the bubble, the Christian bubble, the comfort 363 00:23:29,720 --> 00:23:33,480 bubble, the bubble of people who look and think like us, it's 364 00:23:33,480 --> 00:23:37,360 worth considering how these bubbles can be places of 365 00:23:37,360 --> 00:23:41,720 drought, right? And like, in what ways have 366 00:23:41,800 --> 00:23:44,120 these bubbles limited our growth? 367 00:23:45,640 --> 00:23:49,000 We know that growth comes from struggle, not complacency and 368 00:23:49,000 --> 00:23:51,600 ease, right? We need to challenge ourselves 369 00:23:51,600 --> 00:23:55,200 in order to grow as Christians. We need to burst that bubble of 370 00:23:55,200 --> 00:23:58,760 comfort and familiarity in order to let the light free to shine. 371 00:23:59,560 --> 00:24:03,480 And God promises to guide us and satisfy us, to strengthen us in 372 00:24:03,480 --> 00:24:07,640 that. So for those of us paralysed and 373 00:24:07,640 --> 00:24:12,960 overwhelmed, when we scroll the news, when we feel the weight of 374 00:24:12,960 --> 00:24:16,160 the city, this country and things that are happening in the 375 00:24:16,160 --> 00:24:20,560 world, hear this. And your ancient ruins, verse 376 00:24:20,560 --> 00:24:24,640 12, shall be rebuilt, and you shall raise up the foundations 377 00:24:24,640 --> 00:24:27,920 of many generations. You shall be called the repair 378 00:24:27,920 --> 00:24:30,280 of the breach, the restore of streets. 379 00:24:30,280 --> 00:24:36,720 To dwell in this is beautiful because it's a promise of 380 00:24:36,720 --> 00:24:40,440 restoration. As we burst our bubbles and get 381 00:24:40,440 --> 00:24:45,280 proximate. We are rebuilding God's Kingdom 382 00:24:45,320 --> 00:24:53,760 along with him, and we as a church can do that together. 383 00:24:55,680 --> 00:24:59,440 How amazing it would be if we can invite people in and they 384 00:24:59,440 --> 00:25:04,360 can dwell and sit here and feel loved and known. 385 00:25:06,720 --> 00:25:11,040 So let's do it. Let's shine God's light, get 386 00:25:11,040 --> 00:25:15,040 proximate, maybe get a little uncomfortable and push ourselves 387 00:25:15,040 --> 00:25:17,680 to get out of this bubble that we're in. 388 00:25:21,360 --> 00:25:21,680 Amen.