7 Redeeming Actions for Great Community!

7 ACTIONS I CAN TAKE STARTING TODAY!

Isaiah 1:16-17 “Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Remove the evil of your deeds from My sight. Cease to do evil, 17 Learn to do good; Seek justice, Reprove the ruthless, Defend the orphan, Plead for the widow. 

CONTEXT:

We live a culture that is quickly rejecting the idea of a “sinful nature” and “sin” isn’t being defined by a Judeo-Christian understanding but by the experiences of a culture that is trying to rid itself of even the idea of God. “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil” Isaiah warns us.   At the time Isaiah is writing he too was watching a nation that believed in God and whose very founding was God’s doing rejecting that God and his values. A society or culture that rejects the idea of God or tries to kill the idea of God in humanity is capable of anything inhuman. The Nazi’s rejected the idea of original sin as part of their protestant teaching. The results are evident in history for us to see. They made love of nation and the idea of a third millennium of German rule more valuable than life. During the time of Isaiah, the nation of Israel was abandoning God and his law. God was bringing judgment on all of the Jewish Kingdoms. The Northern Kingdom had been dissolved and carried away. Now Judah was following in the same path. Isaiah lives during the reigns of 4 different Kings of Judah. His oracle of coming judgment is given to start his time as a prophet. God has had enough Judah. God will come and remove Jerusalem and your Kingdom unless you change your way of doing life.  How can Judah restore itself to being pleasing again to God? Isaiah reminds them of the sacrifice and what is required of the bringer not in just outward action but in the heart. Physically wash and make yourself clean. Practice getting the dirt and things on the body off so that you may come to God and come before God. This was a ceremonial act but didn’t deal with the heart. It was to symbolize what you were doing inwardly. Isaiah then gives 7 imperatives for making yourself clean to nation of Israel. 

1.   REMOVE THE EVIL OF YOUR DEEDS FROM MY SIGHT. 

I am not sure you can remove anything from God’s sight. So, the intent here is for true worshipers to come to God not with just clean hands but clean hearts, minds, and purpose. God desire people who worship in Spirit and Truth Jesus told the woman at the well. God seeks and longs for those because they please Him. Be truthful about what is going on in your heart with God daily. Nothing is hidden from Him so talk with Him about what is going on in your heart.  How do we wash the mind, or the heart, or even our souls? We must speak truth about our fears, our sins, our hang ups, and habits WITH GOD. We must not be afraid to own our brokenness before others when God reveals it for His purposes. Brokenness is powerful for God.

2.   CEASE TO DO EVIL

Our actions need to be good continuously, and any action that we are doing that is evil must be stopped. Giving up doing what is evil sounds easy but when it is a habit of your life or a thing that you gain any comfort from it is bound to you in a wicked way.   We have to take radical action regarding such things. Paul wrote, “Flee”.  Physically removing yourself by running away from it. The writer of Psalms speaks of blessings coming by removing your seat, and changing your friendships. “Don’t sit with, eat with, or hang around sinners.” Some voices and relationships must be abandoned for the sake of spiritual and mental health.

3.   LEARN TO DO GOOD

Replace those evil actions with good actions. A spiritual person must have a physical outlet for his or her faith to take root. A man who stole must stop stealing Paul said and instead learn to give. The complete opposite of activity must take place. What you do that is evil can only be healed by doing good in the same direction that your evil kept you. Take whatever it is that is your habit and seek to good in that manner. 

4.   SEEK JUSTICE

Justice can only be defined as doing what is right toward others in regard attitudes as Jesus describes in the sermon on the mount. You shouldn’t hate anyone. Your should lust after a woman in how you look at her. You shouldn’t take what isn’t yours but be a giver. You should call anyone a fool, but be kind. This is the justice we are to seek. Loving another person and for that matter every person God divinely brings into your life is the means by which you seek justice. Seeking justice is continually asking, “How can I love this person in the way Jesus would have me love them?” “How can I honor God in this relationship?”

5.   REPROVE THE RUTHLESS

Be an officer for dealing with those who have no compassion. Reproving is speaking up toward those who lack kindness. God doesn’t want a culture that is not civil in its words and actions. “In what ways can you speak up to correct such behavior?” “How can you be a better listener to those who don’t agree or think like you?” Use your words in a way that pleases God and brings honor to Him. The Spirit of God will give you the words to speak in those times as He guides you in all wisdom and truth.

6.   DEFEND THE ORPHAN

A society or world that abandons its children or allows for their abuse is badly broken. A society that gets God’s blessing is one that recaptures the offspring of a broken home and restores that child.  The child then becomes a father who doesn’t abandon his own children but creates a stable home.  God is greatly pleased when God followers pursue such a manner of worshiping and living with Him.   “What child’s life are you willing to invest in to redeem it for the Kingdom of God?” 

7.   PLEAD FOR THE WIDOW

A woman who loses her husband had no means for security and fatherless daughter was often an easy victim of culture. The men of the nation of Israel are here challenged to speak in defense and to provide systems of government that cared for such women. The converse was a culture where women were abused sexually, made to be slave labor for the rich, or simply made of no value. God sees women who are without a husband as necessitating the assistance every God follower. “How can you support those women and daughters who lack a father or a husband?” 

Summary:  All of these actions start with me. I CAN...

A.   Remove the habit of coming to God with an impure heart or hands.

B.   Remove the permissive heart I have toward holding, and practicing impurity in my life.

C.   Pursue doing good where I once practiced evil. This practice leads to restoration of my heart, and others hearts.

D.  Love those that I meet daily in the manner I am called to love them by God. This creates a glorifying culture and reveals the reality of God to others.

E.   Speak out against those who practice religiously the truth but do not love others. Religion should never be the bully on the street.

F.   Engage in the practice of redeeming children who are abandoned by culture and family!

G.  Protect the abandoned women and daughters God brings into my life, home, church, and culture.

I will create a God-glorifying community in which God is pleased and His grace flows by taking these actions in 2019.