Sermon Outline:
The Hypocrite’s Indignant Attitude Towards God.
Hypocritical Worship is Exposed After the Worship is Over
The Sins of the Hypocrites: Injustice and Oppression
God Explains Sincere Worship and Selfless Love.
God Promises Hope for Repentant Hypocrites.
Family Discussion Questions:
What makes a hypocrite more likely to accuse God of being unjust?
How does God expose the hypocrisy of the people of Judah?
What were the sins that exposed their hypocrisy?
What was fasting meant to communicate? How will that meaning be shown in how we treat others?
In what ways will our treatment of others, particularly our family of faith, visibly reveal our love for God?
What does the imagery of adders' eggs and spiders' webs communicate about the good works and performative worship of the people of Judah?
What do the repentant sinners recognize about themselves in 59:9-13?
What hope does God promise to those whose worship is sincere? Is this promoting a kind of transactional worship? How would this understanding of worship be different from the rationale of the hypocrites?
Contra our first question: how does humbly letting go of the things we have coveted and pouring ourselves out for others guard us against wrongly accusing God of treating us unjustly?
How does Jesus create “true fasting” and “true Sabbath keeping” in us?
