Touch Beyond Measure

Isaiah 58:9b-14; Luke 13:10-17; Hebrews 12:18-29

Central Baptist Church—Lowesville, VA

26 August 2007

We like to measure success by tangibles on which that we can lay our fingers. We look at position, authority, attendance, income, percentages, grades, scores, and other statistics. The standards we see in the marketplace are the same ones we bring to church. By such standards, we can only be successful if we have the latest and greatest in comparison with others. Our attendance, offerings, and facilities must be extraordinary by standard measures. Even so, these are measures of the church as an institution, not measures of faith. What measure for success would Christ Jesus have us use?

While we measure wealth and success by those things we possess or retain, Isaiah spoke in opposite terms. Wealth and success lie in giving away that which is under our control. It is using those things in our possession to touch others with a measure of God’s grace. It is watering gardens in Malawi and aiding the needy in our midst as well. It is showering others with God’s love and expressing support for those whose lives are bowed down with care. Do we live to satisfy the needs of others, or our own?

We tend to think of the Old Testament as displaying a lesser ethic than the New Testament or even our own social structure. These words in Isaiah, however, display no lesser ethic or value for all of life. They are the words of a prophet who understood the value Yahweh placed on all people. Yahweh expected Israel to utilize wealth not for personal gain alone, but for the welfare of the larger community. Indeed, failure to respect the needs of the poor was one of the prophet’s complaints against Israel, drawing the nation toward exile in judgment.

Why, then, does Isaiah insist on mentioning the Sabbath in the same breath? Of the Ten Commandments, it is the only one he mentions in this context. Indeed, he mentions Sabbath, not as a burden, but as an offering of delight in God. It was to be a break from our dedication to ourselves and our personal pursuits. Rather than a burden, Sabbath is a gift and a pledge of faith in God’s faithful provision. Honoring the Sabbath was not about following a legalistic code, but delighting in God. It is a gift of our time, attention, and trust, not out of necessity, but love. Do we give of ourselves beyond a measure of necessity?

One of the changes made to the Baptist Faith and Message in 2000 downplayed the importance of the Sabbath or The Lord’s Day. Baptists changed the language to soften requirements for its observance. Such changes reflected our communal change in attitude, relegating time for God to a plane of lesser importance. Deep down, we still look upon our responsibilities toward God as burdens, rather than the freedom to trust in God’s provision and delight in God’s loving care. Are we too consumed with selfish pursuits to make time for delighting in the One we claim as Lord?

Hebrews reminds us that faith does not bring us to things tangible, but to things intangible. By faith we are ushered into the presence of the living God. Our faith does not subsist in those meager things that can be touched, measured, and quantified. Neither is success in faith about things like attendance, buildings, and offerings. These can be shaken, broken, and destroyed. Faith, however, is on the order of that which cannot be undone. It is acceptable service or worship with reverence and awe.

What does such worship look like? How do we even recognize appropriate service to God? Hebrews says worship is mutual love, hospitality to strangers, remembering the hopeless in prison, the tortured as though we ourselves were being tortured. This love, expressing itself through tangible deeds and goods, is true worship. As we worship by gathering here to make time for God, so success in faith is serving God by meeting the needs of others as though our own. It is following the example of others who lived in such a way as to model Christ Jesus before others. If Jesus is indeed the same yesterday, today, and forever, then Jesus’ example of living remains as viable as it was two thousand years ago.

A Christian university in Colorado recently fired a professor for not teaching that a free market economy system goes hand-in-hand with the gospel.[1] While in favor of free market economies, he defended a greater ethic taught by Jesus—serving the greater common good by looking after the interests of others. He places that teaching in action, heading up the 10/10 Project,[2] providing starter loans for small businesses in Africa. Jesus did not, after all decry wealth, but as Hebrews mentions, the love of wealth should not misdirect our attention from meeting the needs of others. Are we more concerned with protecting our interests than with serving God by looking after the interests of others?

Jesus looked beyond the surface issues that so often ensnare us. He looked past the measurable details of legalistic interpretation of the Sabbath. He sought opportunities to change and impact lives. He worked for redemption, not simply in terms of eternity, but also as release from the pressing issues of earthly existence.

This was not a simple issue in his day. Many were embroiled in concerns over the measurable aspects of living according to God’s will and command. First Century Jews were quite adept at following legal prescriptions, especially in accordance with the Sabbath. They had learned Isaiah’s lesson about not trampling the Sabbath and taken that message to heart. They understood that this was one of those issues that had driven them to exile and were very concerned with worshipping god appropriately in order to secure their national future. They just missed the rest of Isaiah’s words. They did not quite understand that beyond the quantifiable aspects of legal observance, love expressed in actions of grace and mercy is integral to worship itself.

The Sabbath was about learning to live beyond selfish pursuits. It was never about following a legal prescription for its own sake. It was about making time to remember our dependence upon God, as well as utilizing our resources in honest worship—serving God by meeting the needs of others. It is trusting God to provide for our needs as we invest in lives all around us.

Love is harder to quantify, but its character shines through in action. It is about the intangibles beyond those external markers of legal prescription, growth statistics, and quantifiable analysis. Touching lives beyond the limits of measurable markers is what Jesus’ ministry was all about. He did not bother with attendance records at crowded gatherings, recording offering totals, keeping records of visits, or worrying with physical structures. Jesus focused on transforming lives by meeting the physical and spiritual needs all around him. He did not minister to the community in order to grow a following, but in order to serve God. Do we live according to the freedom to touch lives beyond the limits of measure? This is true success in faith, living in accord with the example of Christ Jesus.

—©2007 Christopher B. Harbin

¹ Berny Morson, “Firing of prof at Colorado Christian puts focus on Christ and Capitalism.” Rocky Mountain News. August 13, 2007. http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/education/article/0,1299,DRMN_957_5670848,00.html.

² http://the1010project.org.