"He’s such a religious man. I see him go to church every week." Have you ever heard someone described that way? I’d be the last person to criticize anyone for going to church every week, I’m sure you realize, but being ‘religious’ is not necessarily the same thing as walking in the light. It’s not necessarily the same thing as being a Christian.

When it comes to religion, people sometimes judge by their own ideas. For some people being religious means not smoking or dancing or playing cards. For others it means not swearing. Still others think it means carrying a big Bible around everywhere you go.

Some things never change. In Jesus’ day the Pharisees looked religious to people because of the special prayer shawls they wore, their regular fasting, and the fact that they stopped on the street corners to pray. Go back 700 years further and you find the same wrong opinions. You’ve all heard many times how the Israelites had fallen away in Isaiah’s day. But that doesn’t mean they weren’t religious by outward standards. Quite the contrary. Some of the worst sins they were guilty of took place under the guise of religiosity. There’s an equal danger for us today. If Satan can’t get us to stop coming to church—fine! He’ll lull us into going through the motions without any true faith. That’s the problem God sent Isaiah to address in our text. His message wasn’t only for them though. It’s for us as well.

Nobody’s ever been able to fool God. "Walking in the Light Is More Than ‘Religion.’" Far more!

Earlier in chapter 58, we hear the people of Israel complaining that God didn’t pay any attention to their outward show of piety. ‘Why have we fasted, [O God] and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?’ (Isa. 58:3a) But nobody fools God. His answer? "Day after day they seek me out; they seem eager to know my ways, as if they were a nation that does what is right and has not forsaken the commands of its God. They ask me for just decisions and seem eager for God to come near them." (58:2) But wait just a minute. "On the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers. Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high. Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for a man to humble himself? Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed and for lying on sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord?" (Isa 58:3b-5)

Hypocrisy is what it’s called. Sure they were religious, but they weren’t really believers. They weren’t Christian. They had no intention of changing their ways. Running after the almighty shekel was still their top priority. And their wicked deeds were only a visible sign of the deep problem in their hard hearts. They didn’t love God above all things. They didn’t love him at all. They treated him as a customer at their stall. "I’ll trade you a few ceremonies for prosperity and protection. Name your price, God. We’ll dicker a bit and see if we can come up with a good deal." What a profane way to treat the chairman of the board of the universe!

What about us? We’re here in church—and that’s certainly the right place for us to be. But is it just a show? Does it reflect our true religion in our hearts? Do our lives the rest of the week show the same interest in being godly? Or do we leave church like the Israelites and immediately begin quarreling, slandering and backbiting? Do we let the readings from God’s Word slip in one ear and out the other, and then never touch a Bible again until next time? Do we think to ourselves "That’s nice" and then refuse to apply God’s counsels to our own attitudes and actions?

In a week and a half we’ll be beginning what has traditionally been our Christian time of fasting—the season of Lent. What kind of a Lent will it be for you? A time of repentance, or a time of complete oblivion—"what’s that season called again?" Have we given up the fight against the seven deadly sins? Do you remember what they are? I’ll remind you: pride, sloth, greed, lust, anger, envy and gluttony.

God cares about what is in our hearts. He isn’t looking for excuses. He won’t be talked out of his requirements. "Oh, God, you understand, you know, nobody’s perfect." That just doesn’t cut it with God. God wants to see repentance and faith when he looks into our hearts. "God, I have truly sinned against you more than I can ever know, in my thoughts my words and my deeds, not only by what I have done, but what I have left undone. Forgive me my sins for the sake of the blood of Jesus, and give me the strength to fight temptation and to strive against my lazy sinful nature. Give me the strength to do your will."

That’s what God was looking for in ancient Israel, and he’s still looking for the same thing today. "Walking in the Light Is More Than ‘Religion’"—far more!

God didn’t leave any mystery surrounding what he expected of his people. We all know what he has redeemed us from—the unholy three: sin, death and the devil. But we often forget what he has redeemed us for. He has redeemed me, a lost and condemned creature…that I should be his own, and live under him in his kingdom, and serve him in everlasting righteousness, innocence and blessedness.

God knew how miserably the Israelites had failed to serve him. They’d done it by failing to care for their fellow human beings. What did God expect of them? "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? ⁷ Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? But such things can only come from a true heart, a heart dedicated to God in faith, the kind David prayed for when he first penned the words we so often sing: "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me."

What God expects of us today is no different and no less that what he expected of his people of old. Last week’s Old Testament lesson from Micah summarized it oh, so well: He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. (Micah 6:8)

It all begins with that humble walk with God. It’s no accident that the first table of the law deals with our relationship to him. "‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’ (Lk 10:27a). If we truly make that our number one priority in life, the rest is easy: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’" (Lk 10:27b) It’s easy, I say, because we see in our neighbor an opportunity to serve Christ himself. Jesus will remind us on the last day, "whatever you have done for the least of these, you have done it unto me."

When was the last time you saw someone who needed food or shelter or help fighting injustice or advice or a guiding hand? Or are we just too cocooned these days to notice people? Jesus wants us to look, to notice and to help.

Are you getting some ideas for Lent? I hope so. For that matter, I hope you’re getting some ideas for today, and tomorrow and this week and for the rest of your lives. You see, "Walking in the Light Is More Than ‘Religion.’" It’s all about sacrifice. The great Apostle Paul himself wrote, "Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship." (Ro 12:1)

"Crazy." "Stupid." "Strange." Sure, some might say that. Certainly your own sinful Adam within you will say those things. But what does he know, except worldliness and evil and his old pal the Devil?

But, then again, others might, as Jesus says in our Gospel lesson, "see your good deeds, and glorify your Father who is in heaven."

Friends, God has called us to a life that IS strange to the world around us. He’s called us to live each day, as if we were going to heaven. But wait a minute! We ARE going to heaven. Maybe it’s really not so strange after all then!

It IS strange, though, to our native way of thinking, because we’re so seduced by the idea, that if we think about others, who’s going to take care of me? O ye of little faith. Listen to God’s promise.

No money could ever buy, no amount of self-indulgent, self-absorbed climbing could ever achieve what God promises to those who love him above all and love their neighbor as themselves: true inner peace and happiness and contentment. But that’s what God promises to his faithful people, if they’ll just let go and let God. Like the middle eastern sun, coming up bright and warm, God says, "so will your life be"—glowing for all the world to see. "Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear" as we find ourselves feeling truly, finally, whole from the inside.

May God grant each of you to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you may come to know him better and better, live unto him alone each day, walking in the Light, and know his marvelous blessings! Amen.