Lent Week 2 - Deny Yourself, Love Another

Christ Church Elders
10 hours ago
4 min read

Scripture Reading

Isaiah 58:1-7

Big Idea (For Parents)

Isaiah here describes God’s intention for Israel’s one regular divinely-appointed Old Testament fast, the Day of Atonement. That season began with the “Feast of Trumpets” (Leviticus 23:24-25; cf. Isaiah 58:1) followed by the Day of Atonement ten days later (Leviticus 23:27). God told the Israelites to “afflict yourselves” on that day (Leviticus 23:27) so that their sincere self-examination would foster the confession, repentance and faith which were the spiritual foundations intended to support their atonement rituals resulting in forgiveness and restored joy.

In Isaiah’s day, Israel’s dutiful performance of the rituals—including fasting—had become an empty shell lacking the genuine confession, repentance and faith that the rituals were designed to promote. As such, their rituals provided no benefit, but only increased their sin.

God’s proof that their fasting and other rituals were not motivated by love for God was that they did not produce actions of love for other people made in God’s image. The Israelites oppressed and were sinfully violent towards some (v.3-4, 6). In their greedy, wholly self-centered consumption (v.3), they also refused to give generously to others (v.7). This sin was particularly glaring since the Day of Atonement was followed by the Feast of Booths/Tabernacles in which all Israelites, including the poor and downtrodden, were to feast freely as the people generously gave of the over-abundance with which God blessed them. Moreover, the Sabbath and Jubilee years began at this time, in which slaves were supposed to be released and people restored to any ancestral lands which had been lost.

The proper response to this sin was to confess the lack of love for God and people which produced it and begin to walk in repentance as they loved God through acts of love to people (v.6-7). As they committed themselves to those actions in faith, God would be changing them from the outside in, shaping their hearts to be like his own.

Family Reflection

(Read aloud or summarize)

God gave Israel a special time of year, announced by trumpets, in which the people were to fast from food as they thought about the badness of their sin and its negative consequences, including how their sin hurt other people. They were then supposed to confess the sin and choose to stop doing wrong and start doing right. This time of fasting was followed by a celebration in which they would do good for other people instead of harming them in sin.

In Isaiah’s day, many people still did some of the actions God commanded, like fasting, but they did not want to confess and stop their sin. They hoped that God would give them good things because of their fasting and other rituals even if they kept right on sinning, no matter how much their sin hurt others. They didn’t realize that their lack of love for God was shown by their lack of love for people made in God’s image. God was not happy with their rituals when they were done without love.

God sent Isaiah because even though the people weren’t loving God, God was faithful to love them. He called them back to their original mission—to turn from loving sin to loving God, and to express their love for God by loving God’s image-bearers, other people. As they trusted God’s word through Isaiah and connected their fasting to acts of others-focused love, God would work on them from the outside in to shape their hearts to be more like his own. Then their rituals would be more and more fruitful, and they could truly be happy with God and each other.

Discussion Questions

(Choose 1–2, adjust for age)

1- How did the Israelites in Isaiah’s day treat others when they were fasting?

2- Why do you think the Israelites chose to fast and do other rituals but not to act lovingly towards other people?

3- Why do you think the Israelites’ unloving actions towards other people made God so angry?

4- What are some ways the Israelites could have better loved other people in Isaiah’s day?

(Hint: God's law defined "love" for them, commanding things like sharing with the poor during the Feasts of Tabernacles/Booths, giving access to the poor to gather food in the Sabbath years and releasing slaves and restoring people to their ancestral lands in Jubilee years. Love also meant holding people accountable for their actions. If they were obeying all of God's law, the Israelites could be sure they were loving others well.)

Practice—Love in Action

(Simple, embodied action for the week)

Take the initiative this week to do something to invest tangibly or relationally in another. Don’t let any fasting be an excuse not to do it. Rather, ask God to work through your fasting and others-focused acts of love to produce in you the change that the fasting is intended to promote in the first place--less love of sin, greater love of God and others.

Examples:

-When reminded of the thing from which you’re fasting, use it as a trigger to remind you to briefly pray for another in that moment. If fasting in some way as a family, take time to pray together for another during the fast period. Tell the persons that you’ve prayed for them.

-Give any money saved through fasting to further Christ’s mission in the world.

-Use any time saved due to fasting to reach out and check in on someone who has been in a difficult season.