Isaiah 1 is about the PEOPLE of God living separated lives from God. I believe it is the perfect launching Pad to deal with us/believers not living the traded up life. In fact to use Isaiah 1 WITHOUT dealing with the fact that the people who are separated ARE the people of God seems like a disconnect.
Isaiah 1:2-4 (NIV)
2 Hear, O heavens! Listen, O earth! For the LORD has spoken: "I reared children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against me. 3 The ox knows his master, the donkey his owner's manger, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand." 4 Ah, sinful nation, a people loaded with guilt, a brood of evildoers, children given to corruption! They have forsaken the LORD; they have spurned the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on him.
Isaiah 1
The first five chapters of Isaiah reveal the spiritual condition of Judah, which is summarized in 1:2-4 as a rebellion against the God who has reared them like a father.
Isaiah 1:2-4 (NIV)
2 Hear, O heavens! Listen, O earth! For the LORD has spoken: "I reared children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against me. 3 The ox knows his master, the donkey his owner's manger, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand." 4 Ah, sinful nation, a people loaded with guilt, a brood of evildoers, children given to corruption! They have forsaken the LORD; they have spurned the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on him.
How badly were they afflicted?
Isaiah 1:5 (NIV)
5 Why should you be beaten anymore? Why do you persist in rebellion? Your whole head is injured, your whole heart afflicted.
The rejection? For the same thing as we struggle with today.- Judah has turned to pagan ways, trusting idols, wealth, and military
Affected individually…
Isaiah 1:6 (NIV)
6 From the sole of your foot to the top of your head there is no soundness-- only wounds and welts and open sores, not cleansed or bandaged or soothed with oil.
As a Nation- wrecked!
Isaiah 1:7 (NIV)
7 Your country is desolate, your cities burned with fire; your fields are being stripped by foreigners right before you, laid waste as when overthrown by strangers.
If not for God’s Mercy there would be NOTHING left.
Isaiah 1:9 (NIV)
9 Unless the LORD Almighty had left us some survivors, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah.
Their Worship had become repulsive to God!
Isaiah 1:10-14 (NIV)
10 Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom; listen to the law 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. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations-- I cannot bear your evil assemblies.
14 Your New Moon festivals and your appointed feasts my soul hates. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them.
This is one of a number of significant passages in the prophets which condemn God's people for their displeasing worship. Passages like Hosea 6:6 and Micah 6:6-8 share with this text an apparent rejection of formal worship practices in favor of righteousness and justice (cf. vv. 16-17).College Press NIV Commentary, The - The College Press NIV Commentary – Isaiah: Volume 1.
Hosea 6:6 (NASB)
6 For I delight in loyalty rather than sacrifice, And in the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.
Micah 6:6-8 (NASB)
6 With what shall I come to the LORD And bow myself before the God on high? Shall I come to Him with burnt offerings, With yearling calves? 7 Does the LORD take delight in thousands of rams, In ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I present my firstborn for my rebellious acts, The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? 8 He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God?
Result of this false worship- God will not listen, He cannot
Isaiah 1:15 (NIV)
15 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. Your hands are full of blood;
What are they to do?
Isaiah 1:16-17 (NIV)
16 wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight! Stop doing wrong,
17 learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.
TRADE UP!
Isaiah 1:18-19 (NIV)
18 "Come now, let us reason together," 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 best from the land;
“Come now, let us reason together,"- Not meaning come negotiate with me.
Could be- Come see things from my perspective, the true perspective..or come and be joined with me in thinking.
- Reason Together with me
- Your sins will be cleansed
- You will eat the Best of the Land
But if NOT…
Isaiah 1:20-23 (NIV)
20 but if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword." For the mouth of the LORD has spoken. 21 See how the faithful city has become a harlot! She once was full of justice; righteousness used to dwell in her-- but now murderers! 22 Your silver has become dross, your choice wine is diluted with water. 23 Your rulers are rebels, companions of thieves; they all love bribes and chase after gifts. They do not defend the cause of the fatherless; the widow's case does not come before them.
- You will suffer
- You will be surrounded and dwell among injustice, unrighteousness and death
- Your money will fail you
Dross- “a movement away”
Dross- it is the impurity that remains after precious metals are processed.
- Your pleasures will be tasteless!
- Your rulers will fail you
Purification will Come! A Cleansing will happen with the People of God- Who will remain?
Isaiah 1:24-28 (NIV)
24 Therefore the Lord, the LORD Almighty, the Mighty One of Israel, declares: "Ah, I will get relief from my foes and avenge myself on my enemies. 25 I will turn my hand against you; I will thoroughly purge away your dross and remove all your impurities. 26 I will restore your judges as in days of old, your counselors as at the beginning. Afterward you will be called the City of Righteousness, the Faithful City." 27 Zion will be redeemed with justice, her penitent ones with righteousness. 28 But rebels and sinners will both be broken, and those who forsake the LORD will perish.
All of your Idols that you traded me for will be revealed as false, worthless and weak and unable to help you at all
Isaiah 1:29-31 (NIV)
29 "You will be ashamed because of the sacred oaks in which you have delighted; you will be disgraced because of the gardens that you have chosen.
30 You will be like an oak with fading leaves, like a garden without water.
31 The mighty man will become tinder and his work a spark; both will burn together, with no one to quench the fire."
Big idea: Missional living and revealing the “Traded up” life to others to reunite souls to God must begin with the people of God Trading up. And to trade up, we have to renew our minds that a missional life IS a Trade UP!
Encouragement (and the tone will be INVITATION not CONDEMNATION) would be to give up the lives we are living for “small things” and “trading up” our lives for the great mission of reuniting souls with God. But it must start with the people of God living traded up lives and to do that we must believe it is trading up!...We do that and we won’t be able to be stopped from taking that life united with God to others!
Contention: the reason we do not live Missionally is that we ourselves (the people of God) are in many ways living “separated” from God even though we are the people of God and are saved. We don’t live “traded up” lives because WE DON’T believe it is a trade up life. God is a trade up for some things, but when it comes to my day to day life…we say…thanks, but no thanks…I got this!
Problem: How can I encourage someone to go and tell the good news of “trading up” unless they are “trading up” and I actually believe it IS “trading up”? I believe that a huge part of our lack of evangelizing the world is that we PREACH it is a trade up, but our lives reflect that we don’t believe it is a trade up because WE are not traded up.
Solution: Live a “traded up life”, taste the reality of a “traded up life” THEN you will not be able to keep yourself from going and telling others about uniting their souls with God- You will actually feel like you are unloving, unkind, deceptive and failing if you are NOT leading others to a Life united with God.
NOTE: As a side note I would like to make evangelizing about much more than “asking Jesus into their hearts”. Some friends of mine in Haiti struggle impacting 50,000 lives a month for Jesus through schools, orphanages, water wells etc… It hurts them when people tie their evangelism strictly to how many people accepted Christ. With your permission I would like to talk about evangelism more in the way of “introducing people to Jesus”…when they surrender to Him is out of our power, but INTRODUCING Him IS in our power.
To be sure I will not allow for JUST our actions to do our speaking…the action must be connected to Jesus by our confession, but when we are acting we are evangelizing….even if there is no immediate profession.