Caring for the Marginalized
Sermon Recording
Sermon Outline
Speaker: Rev. Charles Drew
Sermon Series: Wisdom from God on How to Engage Politically
Isaiah 58:1-11; Psalm 139:1, 13-18 (ESV)
1 Cry aloud; do not hold back;
lift up your voice like a trumpet;
declare to my people their transgression,
to the house of Jacob their sins.
2 Yet they seek me daily
and delight to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that did righteousness
and did not forsake the judgment of their God;
they ask of me righteous judgments;
they delight to draw near to God.
3 ‘Why have we fasted, and you see it not?
Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?’
Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure,
and oppress all your workers.
4 Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight
and to hit with a wicked fist.
Fasting like yours this day
will not make your voice to be heard on high.
5 Is such the fast that I choose,
a day for a person to humble himself?
Is it to bow down his head like a reed,
and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him?
Will you call this a fast,
and a day acceptable to the Lord?
6 “Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of wickedness,
to undo the straps of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry
and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover him,
and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
8 Then shall your light break forth like the dawn,
and your healing shall spring up speedily;
your righteousness shall go before you;
the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.
9 Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer;
you shall cry, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’
If you take away the yoke from your midst,
the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,
10 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.
11 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.
Ps 139:1 O Lord, you have searched me and known me!
13 For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother's womb.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 If I would count them, they are more than the sand.
I awake, and I am still with you.
Sermon Outline
I) God earnestly wants us to share his love for our troubled world.
A) God fiercely opposes heartless religion.
vv.1-5: "Cry aloud; do not hold back; lift up your voice like a trumpet; declare to my people their transgression, to the house of Jacob their sins
v. 4: Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to hit with a wicked fist.
B) God loves it when we love people the way he does.
vv. 6-7: "Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
“Breaking yokes” and humanizing people.
“Why should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham (a person, not a beast!) whom Satan has kept bound for 18 long years, be set free on the Sabbath Day from what bound her” (Luke 13:15-16).
II) Unborn children and (often) their mothers-to-be.
A) Mothers
B) The unborn
Are they persons, “neighbors” whom we should love as we love ourselves?
Reflections from Psalm 139
a) God’s attentive handiwork:
v. 13: You formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb.
v. 16: Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there were none of them.
v.15…intricately woven
v. 13: You yourself formed…
b) Continuity: You formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb…
c) Defenseless and exposed
C) The ‘fast that God chooses’ cares for both mother and child
James 1:27: true religion “visits orphans and widows in their affliction”]
D) Public policy?
Comforting words:
Mt. 11:28-30: Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."
Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard. 9 Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer … 10 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. 11 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.
Prayer of Confession
God of mercy and justice, we praise you for your love for the weak and for your insistence that all people be treated with justice and dignity. We worship your Son, our Lord Jesus, who welcomed the outsiders, fed the hungry, set free the sick and possessed, and insisted that we follow him. We also confess our hypocrisy. We say that we love you, but we are so often unlike you. We pray and read our Bibles, we sing your praises, make vows, and declare the creeds of the faith; but we often fail to love what you love and to hate what you hate. Injustice and oppression do not trouble us the way they trouble you. We are often content to be comfortable and safe when so many are not. We insist that we be treated with dignity while indulging in demeaning comments and tweets. We have often ignored the complexities of abortion, preferring slogans and condemnation over loving engagement on behalf of all the parties involved. Cleanse us by the power of your cross. Transform us by the power of your Spirit. We pray in the name of Jesus, who is gentle with us, and died to bear our sins away. Amen.
Questions for Reflection
In Isaiah 58:1 God calls Isaiah to cry out like a trumpet at the sins of his people. Verses 2-5 tell us what is making God so angry. What is it?
God describes his chosen fast in verses 6-8. Paraphrase what he says and list 3 examples of Jesus “fasting” in this way.
Tulsa Oklahoma mayor chose in early 2020 to reopen an investigation into the 1921 Tulsa race riots that left 300 people dead and the formerly prosperous black section of town in ruins. Accosted by a white citizen for the investigation, he responded, “If your ancestors had their entire neighborhood burned down, and your neighbors murdered, wouldn’t you want to find out what happened to them?” What clues does Isaiah 58 give us for how God feels about the mayor’s stance. Are there any questions about the American story and your role in it that God may be wanting you to ask?
God is eager that we break every yoke (v. 6), lifting out of human experience every act, every structure, every word, and every way of thinking that dehumanizes and oppresses people. Heaven will see the end of every such burden, and we get to participate now in that great project. What is one thing you can do, however small, to give a friend, neighbor, or family member a foretaste of God’s new world.
Most of us have friends who have had difficult pregnancies (perhaps it was you): perhaps they could not afford to have a child, perhaps they were too young, perhaps the pregnancy was life threatening, perhaps they were under a lot of pressure to have an abortion and were conflicted about it. Recall what happened. What sort of counsel, if any, did you give? What sort of help, if any, did you offer? Did the friend follow through with the pregnancy or have an abortion? What followed from their decision? Take a moment to pray for your friend.
While Psalm 139:13-18 does not say that unborn children are persons, deserving of equal protection under the law, it gives us pause at the prospect of abortion. What reasons can you find in the passage for being hesitant about ending the life of the unborn?
With respect to abortion, Republicans tend to focus attention on the status and protection of the unborn while Democrats tend to focus attention on the rights, freedoms, and well-being of pregnant women. Imagine being part of a focus group made up of people on both sides of the issue whose mission is to promote public policies that aim at caring for all parties. Knowing that no solution will ever satisfy everyone, what sorts of solutions might you try to advance in the group.
Pray for one group of marginalized people for whom you are burdened.