Three Ingredients (Isaiah 1:1,10-20)

There are a few different ways to make pancakes. For example, we can buy a bottle of pancake mix from the shops, add water, shake, and pour the batter into a hot pan. Another way to make pancakes is to use a more complicated recipe using self-raising flour, baking powder, eggs, milk, sugar and vanilla extract. A simpler recipe involves mixing just three basic ingredients: a cup of self-raising flour, an egg and a cup of milk.

It is important with all recipes that we use the correct quantities of the ingredients. With our simple three-ingredient pancake mix, the egg is easy because an egg is an egg, even though the size of the egg can vary. We then need to use the right quantities of flour and milk. If our pancake mix has too much flour and not enough milk, the result will be more like a scone or damper than a pancake. If we use too much milk and not enough flour, the pancake will be too runny. For pancakes that are tasty and enjoyable to eat, we need a mix of all three ingredients in the right proportions.

In this week’s Old Testament reading, Isaiah 1:1,10-20, we can hear the prophet talk about three key ingredients to life as God’s people. The first was worship, which for God’s Old Testament people meant performing sacrifices and observing certain religious festivals and celebrations as were prescribed in the Law of Moses. The second ingredient was doing good, treating others in ways that were just, and taking care of vulnerable people in their society. This was also required by the Law of Moses. The third ingredient Isaiah described was asking God for forgiveness for the sins the people had committed.

In Isaiah 1:10-20, he was warning God’s people that they were getting the balance between the three ingredients to a God-pleasing life wrong. Isaiah said they had prioritised the observance of religious festivals and celebrations but had forgotten to treat others justly or take care of the vulnerable of their society. Isaiah said, “I am sick of your burnt offerings” (v11 NLT), “Stop bringing me your meaningless gifts” and “your celebrations … are all sinful and false” (v13). The problem was that while God’s people were enjoying their religious festivals and celebrations, their “hands were covered with the blood of innocent victims” (v15). Outwardly they might have looked very religious, but they were treating people badly and oppressing them instead of living in ways that were just and right.

Isaiah told God’s people to restore the balance between the three ingredients. He said, “Learn to do good. Seek justice. Help the oppressed. Defend the cause of orphans. Fight for the rights of widows” (v17 NLT). God didn’t want his people to just perform sacrifices or religious festivals and celebrations. He wanted them to live justly with each other and take care of the needy or vulnerable. Isaiah’s call for God’s people to look for forgiveness was for the wrongs they had done by treating people unjustly and not looking after the vulnerable.

These words speak to us too. We are no longer under the Law of Moses because God has set us free from the Law through Jesus. However, Isaiah’s words still describe three vital ingredients of the Christian life: worship, doing good and receiving forgiveness. Isaiah challenges us to ask how well we balance these three. Do we keep worship, doing good and forgiveness as vital ingredients in our lives as God’s people? Or can we get the mix wrong?

For example, if we think the goal of the Christian life is attending worship but forget that God calls us to do good and take care of vulnerable people, we get the mix wrong. The New Testament teaches us that meeting together with other Christians for worship is a vital part of the Christian life (see Hebrews 10:25). However, if our sole focus is coming together for Sunday services and we are not doing good for others, then we are missing a vital ingredient, sort of like a pancake mix that has no milk or flour. Isaiah reminds us that along with worship, the Christian life also includes learning to do good, seeking justice, helping the oppressed, defending the cause of orphans, and fighting for the rights of widows (v 17 NLT).

In our Future-Focused Church conversations we have been challenged to think about how we can practically show love to our neighbours in the way Jesus teaches us in John 13:34. Isaiah is saying the same thing. We might not be oppressing our workers the way they were in Isaiah’s day, and we might not have a lot of orphans or widows in our society, but there are still injustices in the world and our own nation that need to be put right. We have people living around us who are vulnerable either socially, financially, emotionally or relationally. These challenges might seem too big for us, and we might think we can’t make a difference. But Isaiah’s words challenge us to think how we can do good both as individuals and as a community of people who believe in and are learning to follow Jesus our Saviour.

We can find a good mix of the three ingredients of worship, forgiveness and doing good through a growing faith in Jesus. He did the ultimate good for us in his life, death and resurrection which removes our sin, makes us clean and right, and restores us in relationship with God. When we were oppressed by sin, fear, guilt or shame Jesus set us free by his grace to us. When we were spiritual orphans because of our sin, God gave us his Holy Spirit and adopted us into his family, giving us full rights and privileges as his children and heirs. When we were spiritual widows, Jesus made us part of his church, which the Bible calls the bride of Christ (Ephesians 5:25-29; Revelation 21:2). Jesus united himself with us, gave everything for us and to us, and provides us with every good thing we need in body, mind or spirit because of his great love for us. When we were oppressed, orphaned and widowed, Jesus did good for us and made us right with God in his life, death and resurrection. He set us free, gave us new lives as God’s children, and loved us with a perfect and life-giving love which is stronger than death. As people who have received every good thing we need for our bodies, minds and spirits in him, Isaiah reminds us to trust him as we do good for others.

Maybe in the next week or two you might like to make pancakes for yourselves, your children or grandchildren, or maybe you could invite some neighbours over. Try using just a cup of flour, an egg and a cup of milk. As you stir the batter, give some thought to how life as God’s people is a mix between worship, receiving forgiveness, and doing good for others. Then ask God to show you who the vulnerable or needy people are in your life or in our region, so together we can find a healthy and life-giving mix of worship, forgiveness and doing good by taking care of the needy and vulnerable in the grace God provides us.

More to think about or discuss:

• What’s your favourite way of making pancakes? Have you ever added too much milk or flour? What did that do to the pancakes? How did you make the batter right again?
• How does Jesus do what Isaiah says in your life by doing good, seeking justice or taking care of you when you’re vulnerable or in need?
• What is one practical way you can do good, work for justice, or help someone who’s vulnerable this week?