"If you pour yourself out for the hungry
and satisfy the desire of the afflicted,
then shall your light rise in the darkness
and your gloom be as the noonday.
And the LORD will guide you continually
and satisfy your desire in scorched places
and make your bones strong;
and you shall be like a watered garden,
like a spring of water,
whose waters do not fail."
-Isaiah 58:10-11
This issue was brought to my attention by a friend who texts me often with an honest struggle to find joy in God. I'm writing about this issue because I've been finding out how many Christians struggle with it (including myself). Indeed, we are commanded in Psalm 37:4 to "Delight yourself in the LORD, and He will give you the desires of your heart." So why is it that so many of us struggle to find joy in the LORD?
There is an emphasis stemming from American culture creeping into the church toward individualism or independence. We wrongly believe our Christian lives are most important and most effective when practiced in private. Certainly, there is an aspect of our walk with God that should be done in private (Matthew 6:6). However, if we believe that we will find our full joy in God in private, then we are woefully mistaken. We worship on Sundays as a gathered body because it delights God and it grows our joy in Him. We fellowship with the redeemed because our unity "makes our joy complete" (Philippians 2:2). Trying to go at it alone as an independent Christian is by definition an oxymoron that is dangerous to our faith. We must fellowship with the body, but Isaiah also takes us one step further.
Our joy is also fostered in sharing the love of Christ with those in need. Isaiah describes our responsibility as "pouring yourself out for the hungry and satisfying the desire of the afflicted." That sounds like hard work. That sounds like it would require our time and money, and a lot of it. It could be dangerous and we could be taken advantage of. Certainly this is not something that would make us happy. It will only add more stress to our lives and darken our days. But God through Isaiah says otherwise! When you pour yourself out to those in need, without stipulations, conditions, requirements, hesitations, or inhibitions, "your gloom will be as the noonday"!
Are you depressed? Are you struggling to find joy in God? Are you trapped in trying to find joy in worldly pleasures? Are you going through a tough time? Are you in a "scorched place"? Serve! Share! And feel the joy of God satisfy your desires and strengthen your bones. Do NOT wait for joy to arrive in your private worship before you pour yourself out to others. Pour yourself out because of the love and grace you have already received, and joy will arrive in abundance! Go ahead, try it. I dare you.
2.08.2012
Highways and Hedges
"A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. And at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, 'Come, for everything is now ready.' But they all alike began to make excuses... So the servant came and reported these things to the master. Then the master of the house became angry and said to his servant, 'Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame... Go out into the highways and hedges and compel people to come in that my house may be filled.'"
-Luke 14:16-23
I've heard this parable many times in different contexts. It has encouraged me to get rid of excuses and follow Christ. It has encouraged me to share the Gospel with everyone, not just those whom I prefer. It has taught me that God through Christ has reached out beyond His chosen people of Israel to Gentiles like myself. It has also showed me God's great love in reaching down to mankind to save them in their poor condition. As John MacArthur puts it, "God is more willing to save sinners than sinners are to be saved." However, lately this passage among others has emphasized a different view of the Church.
It is in our nature to think highly of ourselves. Therefore it is natural for us to identify with the rich invited guests of this parable first. But when we realize we are not like them, we would rather identify ourselves with the servant of God's household. But looking at other similar parables, we realize that only Jesus Christ is the servant, the mediator of the relationship between God and man, the "new way" invitation. So that leaves us to identify with the only other characters in the story: the poor, crippled, blind, lame, homeless, helpless, unwanted outcasts. If you are in Christ, then He is describing you as a lowly human being with as many adjectives as possible.
For fear of reading this parable too literally, let me interject that Jesus is not saying all rich people go to hell and all poor people go to heaven. Rather, I believe we can equate the meanings of the word poor in this passage and in the Beatitude of Luke 6:20 ("Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.").
So when next Sunday rolls around, take a look around the members of the church. Here gathered in one place are the poor, crippled, blind, lame, homeless, helpless, unwanted outcasts. We are not the almighty righteous. We are not the holy and blameless. We are not the one with it all together. We are not the best society has to offer. We do not deserve to be together worshipping our Savior. More so, we are the last to deserve salvation.
The church is made up of sinners saved by grace, not religious people once tainted by sin. The church is the result of Christ's most powerful saving work on the cross reaching down to the lowliest of sinners to give them the opportunity to worship Him. The church should be the shining example of extreme grace, not a people who think they are worthy of grace. We should say with Paul, "I do not account my life of any value or precious to myself" and sing with Isaac Watts:
Alas! and did my Savior bleed
And did my Sovereign die
Would He devote that sacred head
For such a worm as I?
-Luke 14:16-23
I've heard this parable many times in different contexts. It has encouraged me to get rid of excuses and follow Christ. It has encouraged me to share the Gospel with everyone, not just those whom I prefer. It has taught me that God through Christ has reached out beyond His chosen people of Israel to Gentiles like myself. It has also showed me God's great love in reaching down to mankind to save them in their poor condition. As John MacArthur puts it, "God is more willing to save sinners than sinners are to be saved." However, lately this passage among others has emphasized a different view of the Church.
It is in our nature to think highly of ourselves. Therefore it is natural for us to identify with the rich invited guests of this parable first. But when we realize we are not like them, we would rather identify ourselves with the servant of God's household. But looking at other similar parables, we realize that only Jesus Christ is the servant, the mediator of the relationship between God and man, the "new way" invitation. So that leaves us to identify with the only other characters in the story: the poor, crippled, blind, lame, homeless, helpless, unwanted outcasts. If you are in Christ, then He is describing you as a lowly human being with as many adjectives as possible.
For fear of reading this parable too literally, let me interject that Jesus is not saying all rich people go to hell and all poor people go to heaven. Rather, I believe we can equate the meanings of the word poor in this passage and in the Beatitude of Luke 6:20 ("Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.").
So when next Sunday rolls around, take a look around the members of the church. Here gathered in one place are the poor, crippled, blind, lame, homeless, helpless, unwanted outcasts. We are not the almighty righteous. We are not the holy and blameless. We are not the one with it all together. We are not the best society has to offer. We do not deserve to be together worshipping our Savior. More so, we are the last to deserve salvation.
The church is made up of sinners saved by grace, not religious people once tainted by sin. The church is the result of Christ's most powerful saving work on the cross reaching down to the lowliest of sinners to give them the opportunity to worship Him. The church should be the shining example of extreme grace, not a people who think they are worthy of grace. We should say with Paul, "I do not account my life of any value or precious to myself" and sing with Isaac Watts:
Alas! and did my Savior bleed
And did my Sovereign die
Would He devote that sacred head
For such a worm as I?
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