Again, God doesn't like the worship and devotional practices of God's people, just like Micah last week. Is there a different answer coming from Isaiah about 200 years after Micah? Then Jesus teaches in the Sermon on the Mount about salt and saltiness, and light hid under a bushel. Is Jesus speaking to us?
[You may also be interested in what I had to say as the preacher at the Saturday, February 4th meeting of St. Augustine Presbytery when preaching on these same passages - click here to view that sermon video.]
There is remarkable similarity between the God's complaint in Micah and the complaint in (Third) Isaiah. In both complaints, God is peeved at the hypocrisy of the practices of God's people. They seek to do worship, prayers, fasting, and other ritual practices perfectly in the sanctuary, but their real lives are a sinful mess.
It would be a mistake for us, as modern Westerners, to individualize and personalize this message, like we tend to do. Here, God's condemnation is directed at all of God's people, and the hypocrisy involves the practices of the whole society of the faithful. They think they're righteous because of their ritual and devotional practices. They have paid no attention to the sinful practices that these same righteous folks regularly accept outside of the sanctuary.
In both cases, God's answer regarding what God truly desires points them outside the sanctuary and their ritual and devotions and into the world where sinfulness needs to be met with justice, compassion, and mutuality toward all. Perfect ritual and regular devotion are meaningless apart from the work of God in the world.
Jesus doesn't directly address worship, but he does have warnings in the Sermon on the Mount. He talks about his followers as being salt, but poses what that salt is good for when it loses its saltiness. Then the image of candlelight, yet what good is it if it's hid under a bushel?
It does relate to what the prophets said about God's complaint, namely that you can think you're doing what God wants, but it is possible in your self-absorbed righteousness to void the power and promise. How does that happen? Check out the sermon video below and discover how what we do (or don't do) as God's people relates directly to what the prophets and God and Jesus are talking about.
[You may also be interested in what I had to say as the preacher at the Saturday, February 4th meeting of St. Augustine Presbytery when preaching on these same passages - click here to view that sermon video.]
There is remarkable similarity between the God's complaint in Micah and the complaint in (Third) Isaiah. In both complaints, God is peeved at the hypocrisy of the practices of God's people. They seek to do worship, prayers, fasting, and other ritual practices perfectly in the sanctuary, but their real lives are a sinful mess.
It would be a mistake for us, as modern Westerners, to individualize and personalize this message, like we tend to do. Here, God's condemnation is directed at all of God's people, and the hypocrisy involves the practices of the whole society of the faithful. They think they're righteous because of their ritual and devotional practices. They have paid no attention to the sinful practices that these same righteous folks regularly accept outside of the sanctuary.
In both cases, God's answer regarding what God truly desires points them outside the sanctuary and their ritual and devotions and into the world where sinfulness needs to be met with justice, compassion, and mutuality toward all. Perfect ritual and regular devotion are meaningless apart from the work of God in the world.
Jesus doesn't directly address worship, but he does have warnings in the Sermon on the Mount. He talks about his followers as being salt, but poses what that salt is good for when it loses its saltiness. Then the image of candlelight, yet what good is it if it's hid under a bushel?
It does relate to what the prophets said about God's complaint, namely that you can think you're doing what God wants, but it is possible in your self-absorbed righteousness to void the power and promise. How does that happen? Check out the sermon video below and discover how what we do (or don't do) as God's people relates directly to what the prophets and God and Jesus are talking about.
| 02-05-17-ff-answers.pdf |
| 02-05-17-being_salty_salt_and_bright_light.pdf |