Renewing Our Spiritual Passion

Isaiah 1:1-6; 57:10

Do you have this gnawing feeling inside of you for life as it was meant to be? Do you ever dream of life as it ought to be? The cynicism on bumper stickers express it in a more negative way, “Life s----, and then you die!” It is the same agonizing desire for life to be what it was meant to be. It is a haunting feeling. It is a very agonizing feeling.

Life as it was meant to be—what would that be like? The evening news supports the same conclusion that life is not what it was meant to be. There is genocide in Rwanda. It’s famine in Africa. Corruption in Washington. Murder on the streets. Street bombings in Baghdad. The social fabric of society is unraveling.

When the world brings us to the end of ourselves, to whom do we turn? Too often we simply seek to renew our grip on ourselves. We seek new inspiration to continue on the same old paths. We convince ourselves to continue on the same road we have been on with a dogged determination not to give up doing the same old things we’ve always done.

Isaiah 57:10

10 You were wearied by all your ways,

but you would not say, 'It is hopeless.'

You found renewal of your strength,

and so you did not faint.

The people in Isaiah’s day were weary. The Israelites were wearied in their efforts to govern their lives without God. They were reaping God’s judgment. However they would not say to themselves “It is hopeless” to continue in our ways. They persisted in their disobedience to God. Rather than return to God they renewed their faith in themselves.

Why is the World Afraid to turn to God?

The scary part of it all is that we can get so used to the way life is---we hardly take notice that life isn’t what it was meant to be. The only time we are forced to face reality is when life crashes in on us. When life crumbles few turn to God, because the world quickly pulls them back into the same old rut, as it convinces them to just go with the flow. Here is what God says to his rebellious children in Israel.

Isaiah 57:11-13

11 "Whom have you so dreaded and feared

that you have been false to me,

and have neither remembered me

nor pondered this in your hearts?

Is it not because I have long been silent

that you do not fear me?

12 I will expose your righteousness and your works,

and they will not benefit you.

13 When you cry out for help,

let your collection [of idols] save you!

The wind will carry all of them off, NIV

God ask Israel, “Who do you dread more than me?” Israel feared their enemies more than God. Instead of returning to God, they renewed their alliances with their enemies. The strange thing about this behavior was that it wasn’t anything new. Israel had turned to renew her alliances with her surrounding enemies numerous times. There were times when they sent the gold of Solomon’s temple to their enemies to make an alliance with them. They replaced the gold vessels of the temple with bronze vessels. Can you imagine such insults toward God? Imagine placing your trusts in your enemies.

How many seek the world’s approval of their lives because they dread the worldly consequences of not doing so. Israel tried to make herself look righteous to her enemies. She bowed to a common collection of idols. She wanted the world to know she shared their values. God said, “. . . let your collection [of idols] save you! The wind will carry all of them off . . .”

Israel was standing where many sinners stand today. Sinners frequently seek to convince themselves that they will be fulfilled through some means other than returning to God. Despite disappointments and punishments, which inevitably follow the sinner, she somehow finds enough satisfaction to continue in her evil ways. (John T. Willis, Isaiah, The Living Word Commentary, Sweet Publishing Company, Austin, Texas, 1980, pg. 441.)

Changing direction in life seems frightful, even when we know it is absolutely essential. We embrace the known rather than facing the unknown. We long for renewal but doubt it is possible. We feel the odds against us make it impossible. God was speaking to those who lived with the dread of what would happen to them if they turned to God. They worried about how their enemies would react.

James tells us that we can choose our enemies as well as our friends. To choose the world as your friend is to choose God as your enemy. To choose God as your friend often makes us enemies of the world.

James 4:4

4 You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. NIV

Who would you rather have as your friend, God or the world? You may think that God doesn’t want to be your friend because of your sinfulness. However, Isaiah pleads with Israel as we would plead with a child to return to doing right.

Isaiah 1:2-6

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.

5 Why should you be beaten anymore?

Why do you persist in rebellion?

Your whole head is injured,

your whole heart afflicted.

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. NIV

God asks Israel, “Why should you be beaten any more? Why do you persist in rebellion?” Have you ever ask a child why he continues in rebellion? Even though the child is miserable he persists in rebellion. He continues to be disciplined, but persists in disobedience. All the reason in the world doesn’t change his mind. Likewise, why doesn’t Israel set herself free to discover God’s healing? God seeks to reason with Israel.

Isaiah 1:18-20

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;

20 but if you resist and rebel,

you will be devoured by the sword."

For the mouth of the LORD has spoken. NIV

Israel could simply return to God--God would erase all her sins. To refuse would mean disaster. Israel was free to make her choice. She didn’t have to live in fear of her enemies. However, she continued in her sins.

God’s call was not solely to the nation of Israel, it was also a personal call for each Jew to return to God. Regardless of what the nation did each person in Israel needed to heed God’s call.

Never too late to Return to God

God’s vision for Israel was also his personal goal for every Jew. It was a vision that every Jew had a stake in, but it also placed the responsibility on every Jew to discover God’s will for their personal lives. When Christ came there were many longing for God to fulfill his promise to national Israel, but they never saw God’s purpose for every heart.

Many have developed visions to build churches, but God’s vision is Christ reigning in every heart. There is no other way to build God’s kingdom, for his kingdom is solely about the reign of Christ in every life—the establishment of the kingdom of God in every life. For people to map out a purpose for God’s kingdom, the church, without Christ reigning in their hearts is absurd. Without Christ reigning in our hearts we cannot discern the purposes to which God is calling us. When God rules in our hearts God’s power is unleashed on our world, and protects us from our enemies.

Ephesians 1:15-23

15 For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16 I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. 17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 18 I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, 20 which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way. NIV

Ephesians 3:20-21

20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. NIV

Can you imagine trying to map a plan for the survival of God’s people without the power of God? Yet that is exactly what Israel sought. Yet, history repeats itself when we refuse Christ rule in our hearts. We are telling ourselves we have enough strength to do it our way.

It matters little how much you have sinned or how much you are suffering for your sin--God stands ready to rescue you. Manasseh was a king who reigned during the last days of Isaiah. The Jews say that Manasseh was probably the person responsible for Isaiah’s death. He filled Jerusalem with blood from one end to the other. He refused to listen to Isaiah. According to the Jews Isaiah’s blood flowed through the streets of Jerusalem also.

2 Kings 21:8-9

9 But the people did not listen. Manasseh led them astray, so that they did more evil than the nations the LORD had destroyed before the Israelites. NIV

2 Kings 21:16

16 Moreover, Manasseh also shed so much innocent blood that he filled Jerusalem from end to end-besides the sin that he had caused Judah to commit, so that they did evil in the eyes of the LORD. NIV

2 Chronicles 33:9-13

9 But Manasseh led Judah and the people of Jerusalem astray, so that they did more evil than the nations the LORD had destroyed before the Israelites.

10 The LORD spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they paid no attention. 11 So the LORD brought against them the army commanders of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh prisoner, put a hook in his nose, bound him with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon. 12 In his distress he sought the favor of the LORD his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. 13 And when he prayed to him, the LORD was moved by his entreaty and listened to his plea; so he brought him back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD is God. NIV

This is the most moving powerful story of conversion in the entire Bible.

2 Chronicles 33:15-17

15 He got rid of the foreign gods and removed the image from the temple of the LORD, as well as all the altars he had built on the temple hill and in Jerusalem; and he threw them out of the city. 16 Then he restored the altar of the LORD and sacrificed fellowship offerings and thank offerings on it, and told Judah to serve the LORD, the God of Israel. 17 The people, however, continued to sacrifice at the high places, but only to the LORD their God. NIV

Manasseh led Israel to repentance. Israel continued to worship in their high places out on the hillsides but they worshipped God.

Conclusion:

This same possibility is extended to all through Christ.

It looks as impossible for us as it did for Nicodemus when he asks, “How shall an old man be born again?”

Titus 3:3-8

3 At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. 4 But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. 8 This is a trustworthy saying. And I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone. NIV

It is obvious a new birth is death to the way we now live. That makes a life to God seem as dreadful to us as it did to Israel. But it is the way to life in Christ.

Romans 6:1-14

6:1 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3 Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

5 If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin- 7 because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.

8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.

11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13 Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. 14 For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace. NIV

Bible Study Questions

1. What would life be like if life was it was meant to be?

2. Why do people persist in their ways even though they know their life is not what it was meant to be?

3. Why do we dread change more than we fear God?

4. According to James 4:4, what do we do the moment we choose our friends?

5. How does God reason with Israel in Isaiah 1:2-6; Isaiah 1:18-20?

6. What would God do for Israel the moment she returned to God?

7. What must we do to discover God’s purpose for the church?

8. What happens when God rules in our hearts?

9. Discuss the story of Manasseh? How great was his rebellion? What were the consequences? What were the results of the harsh consequences placed upon him by God?

10. What kind of leader did Manasseh become after his repentance? What do you think Isaiah said to Manasseh when he met him in eternity?

11. Is it possible to be reborn? What does it require?

12. Why do we fear a rebirth?