Isaiah 58:3-7 – Worship From A New Heart
These people are diligent to go through all the forms of religion correctly. They assume, of course, that this is what pleases God and that they can commend themselves to God in this way. And then nothing happens like they expect. What they’re trying to do is sway God’s favour with outward religious forms. God sees the motivation, He knows their hearts, and He is not willing to go along with this. They are then angry, complaining that their service to Jehovah is useless, and it’s a waste of time. This demonstrates their hearts are still in bondage to sin. It shows that they have no concept of their sinful nature. It shows that they have no concept of their need of righteousness that must come from Someone else, because there is none in them. They have dead hearts. Therefore, they cannot love God. They cannot love their neighbour. And it works out into hypocrisy. A hypocrite is someone who says one thing but does another. The hypocrite all along knows that what he is saying and what he is doing are different, and he doesn’t care.
Religion is just a little part of their life. What are these people doing on the day of their fasting? They are saying to their workers, work harder. It’s a time for strife, arguments, and fighting. They’re yelling and screaming. A true fast from the heart comes from a repentant, contrite, and humble heart, that’s looking to the cross. That’s exactly the opposite of what we see here. The behavior here in verse 4 comes from self-righteous, haughty, and proud hearts that will not abide being crossed. Worship, including fasting, must be what pleases God. God says to them, ‘Is this really what you think pleases me?’ A person who was fasting would be bowed down; they would sit on sackcloth and ashes. They would use these things to express that they were worth nothing, and were looking to God, looking humbly on His grace in Jesus Christ. But these people thought if they just went through the outward things, surely that’s got to be enough for God.
The godly has these actions come naturally from a changed heart, a heart of faith in Christ’s Person and Work. So the fast day becomes the kind of fast day that God does want, as we see in verses 6-7. The redeemed sinner to whom mercy has been given lovingly can show this mercy of God to others, and he delights to find that he can serve and love his Saviour by loving these others.
Question
- What did these people think about fasting?
Prayer Points
- Pray that we would love God and others from a heart changed by Him.
- Use prayer points from your congregation.
- Pray for family matters.