Who requires of you this trampling of My courts? (Isaiah 1:12)

 Who requires of you this trampling of My courts? (Isaiah 1:12)

This question, from the opening chapter of Isaiah, critiques the “worship” of God’s people. God had given them Solomon’s temple, designed according to God’s plan, as a place for God to meet with His people. We do not have a temple-building today that corresponds to this. Rather, the “place” where God’s people meet with God is in Christ. Yes, we have church buildings, but church buildings are not the temple, and this won’t be an article against tracking mud on the sanctuary carpet.

How is it that we “track mud” on Christ? Or the community of Christ? The question is not that hard to answer, though we will go to the text first.

The question that serves as the title is from verse 12. A question in verse 11 says, “What are your multiplied sacrifices to Me?” That is, you do the same things over and over, as though the mere doing of them is sufficient, even though you don’t mean them, or think seriously and spiritually about them. So Sunday we will observe Lord’s Table. Oh, it’s time for that again. No, it can’t be that way. It must be approached thoughtfully and soberly. The offering plate is available. Throw in another check. No, each offering is accompanied with the spiritual thought that God has given so much more to us. Read my Bible, then check it off the to-do list. No, this is God’s Word. It is the most distinguished message, and only heavenly message that you will read today. It is the light that illumines all else. We cannot do it perfunctorily.

The text goes on to emphasize God’s distaste for these thoughtless religious observances. The subject moves to prayer. Note this verse: “But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.” (Isaiah 59:2) We’ll talk more about this Sunday.

I remember standing at family’s door (everyone loves it when the pastor stands at the door) and the wife was giving the husband what-for because he had just tracked on her freshly mopped floor. She had a point. And so does God. We should not approach God’s presence in Christ with less care than we exercise when we trim our fingernails. Like the man at the altar who remembers someone who has something against him, stop what you are doing, take the time and the trouble, and make it right. Why? Because God has taken time and trouble for us, to make us right, through Christ.