Life in the Fast Lane

Text: Isaiah 58:1-12 Title: Life in the Fast Lane
2/17/10 Ash Wednesday

This last Sunday afternoon/night I took a trip to South Carolina. On the way there I came across every person in the Southeast U.S. who had procured a driver’s license without any kind of course in driver’s education where the most basic of information related to correct driving is taught. For example, the title of the left lane on an interstate is not the sight-seeing lane, but the passing lane. It is for those who are driving at a higher rate of speed than the people in the right lane. It is the fast lane. Apparently, lots of people didn’t get that part of the program. I, however, like to use that lane for its’ intended purpose, and it is extremely aggravating when the road is filled with other people who do not share the same driving practices. When they ride beside their neighbor for 3-4 miles while the traffic backs up behind them as if there has been an accident, I find myself wanting to speak at a much higher decibel-level than normal to help them remember that this is the fast lane, and if they’re not going to use it correctly, they need to get out of the way.

I think that’s how God was feeling in Isaiah 58. There were a lot of people in the fast lane, but they weren’t going anywhere. Unlike our modern highway system, this lane in the road of spiritual practices wasn’t built for speed. It was built for a deeper level of intimacy with God, an avenue for becoming the kind of people who reflect the heart and mind of God.

The practice of fasting has long been embraced by the people of God. In the OT it is often connected with repentance. When expressing sorrow for sin, the Israelites fasted with sack cloth and ashes (another symbol of sorrow for sin). Fasting is also a spiritual discipline that says “I am more hungry for a deeper relationship with God that feeds and sustains my spirit, than I am for physical food that feeds and sustains my body.” We know from the NT that John the Baptists’ followers fasted, and that Jesus fasted as well. In Matthew 6 which is Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, it’s pretty clear that fasting as a normal, accepted practice that Jesus not only encouraged, but assumed would be a part of the life-rhythm of His followers.
Of course, people fast for other reasons too. We fast to lose weight, to prepare for a surgery, to protest or draw attention to a specific political or humanitarian issue. This kind of fasting is called a hunger strike.
Tibetan freedom fighters A unique hunger strike without food and water started on July 28, 2008, led by Tibetan Youth Congress started in Indian Capital, New Delhi in protest against the Chinese occupation of Tibet. The 6 monks on hunger strike were in a critical situation and therefore the Indian police forcefully hospitalized them.

In the 12th Season of “The Simpsons” in an episode entitled “Hungry, Hungry Homer” Homer goes on a hunger strike when he inadvertently discovers that the Springfield Isotope’s owner is planning to move the baseball team to Albuquerque. Homer is shocked and attempts to alert the media to the plan, but when Homer comes back with the press Duff had removed all traces of the evidence Homer found in the room. The journalists dismiss Homer's story and call him a liar. In response, Homer stages a hunger strike in which he chains himself to a pole near Duff Stadium in order to force the owners of the team to admit they are moving to Albuquerque. He attracts a great deal of attention, so during the night the team decides to move him into the ballpark and exploit his popularity using the name "Hungry, Hungry Homer."
Eventually Homer becomes so thin and sickly that the team decides to get rid of him, replacing him with a man who drinks a bucket of paint but falls down twitching doing so. In a public ceremony, the team's owner unchains Homer and offers him a free hot dog. Homer realizes the hot dog is topped with Southwestern ingredients, proving the team is really moving to Albuquerque. The crowd then takes notice that the hot dogs are even wrapped with "Albuquerque Isotopes" paper and are enraged. Howard tries to continue his denials but even Duffman turns against him. Homer's hunger strike is over as he celebrates under a shower of food thrown by the cheering fans, praising him as a hero.
As a result of Homer exposing the scheme, the mayor of Albuquerque decides to abandon his plan to steal the Isotopes

There are different reasons people practice fasting, many of which have nothing to do with Christianity or deepening a relationship with God. But the practice of fasting we read about in the OT and that is carried over into the New and beyond, was to symbolize a spiritual hunger for God that was even greater than the physical hunger for food. Sometimes, however, the people of God were guilty of being in the fast lane without really going anywhere.

That’s what was going on in Isaiah 58. God was aggravated with the folks in the fast lane in Isaiah’s day is because they were guilty of engaging in godly practices while neglecting to live godly lives. Their surface-level religion allowed them to separate rituals from real life, to have a line of demarcation between what they did with/for God, and what they did to or for others. They were in the fast lane, but when it came to their lifestyles and relationships with other people, they weren’t going anywhere. Read text

Their problem wasn’t the practice of fasting. It was the whole idea that doing spiritual practices could compensate for an unspiritual life. See vs. 3b-5. What they were trying to get by with was offering God religious acts than didn’t make an ounce of difference in their relationships - with God or with other people. God wasn’t content to have them practice spiritual acts if it didn’t result in Spirit-led lives.

What did God expect? Vs. 6-7 - loose the chains of injustice, set the oppressed free, share food with the hungry and provide the poor wanderer with shelter, clothe the naked, and don’t neglect your own family. In short, God expected that all the religious activity would lead to them doing God’s work in the world, particularly among those who were poor and oppressed. Ill. One of the things that has excited me these last few months at Grace is the responses I’m getting back from people who have participated in Room in the Inn. Two Friday nights a month, different 2:42 groups are giving rides, fixing meals, ministering to and serving those who have no place to call home. Many people have been involved for the first time in their lives and have found a tremendous amount of fulfillment in serving. They’ve picked up the towel and basin of service and engaged people - real life people in ways that extend the grace of God. We’ve gotten exposure to the kinds of practices that God tells the people in Isaiah’s time is what He wants to see ALL the time. In other words, if our wonderful times of worship and spiritual practice where we receive grace from God and share grace with each other never gets to the point where it compels and propels us to extend grace in the world then our spiritual practices don’t really account for much. God wasn’t pacified with religious practices when it didn’t help to make a more spiritual people. He never is. As it says in verse 3, He doesn’t even notice what we’re doing when our religious acts don’t translate into a different way of life.

But when our religious acts so connect us with God that His heart for people begins to become our heart for people, that’s when it really gets good! What did God promise? Vs. 8-12 - Wholeness - when there is continuity between your religious practices and your God-led life, you will find healing, and a level of prayer where instead of God saying “Who are you?” God answers (vs. 9). He promises His ongoing guidance (vs. 11), strength, and restoration - not just individually, but look at what He says in vs. 12. It will result in the restoration of the whole community (in this together). So one of the things we see here is how our personal/private practice has corporate implications.

Fasting is good. I need to embrace this practice. It’s been a long time since it was a regular part of my rhythm and routine. But it’s not about fasting just to fast. It’s about intimacy with the God who says “if you’re spending that kind of time with me, it needs to show up in how you see and treat other people, particularly the poor, hungry, and homeless, people who need someone to stand up for them because they are unable to do it for themselves. Often-times people talk about giving something up for Lent. Maybe this year, we need to take something on. Fasting. Giving to the poor. Getting involved in serving the less fortunate at Room in the Inn, the Firehouse Day Shelter or the Salvation Army, becoming an advocate for someone.

During this Lenten season, we’re going to hear a lot about what is below the surface of our lives, and we begin that conversation tonight with an invitation to life in the fast lane, where we position ourselves not only to practice a spiritual discipline, but to have some intimacy with God that results in His heart becoming our heart. So consider this an invitation to a deeper walk with God, an invitation to life in the fast lane.

Imposition of Ashes