The Pretender

 or click on camera – The Plastic Jesus

Scripture

Isaiah 58:1-3  “Shout with the voice of a trumpet blast.
Shout aloud! Don’t be timid.
Tell my people Israel of their sins!
²     Yet they act so pious!
They come to the Temple every day
and seem delighted to learn all about me.
They act like a righteous nation
that would never abandon the laws of its God.
They ask me to take action on their behalf,
    pretending they want to be near me.
³ ‘We have fasted before you!’ they say.
‘Why aren’t you impressed?
We have been very hard on ourselves,
and you don’t even notice it!’

The people of Israel were a bunch of pretenders. Look at what Isaiah (and God) says about them. He is calling out the pretenders.

In vs 2 he says they seem delighted to learn about me.

• Those are code words for “they like what they hear but have no plans to take it seriously.”
• My nephew is a professor at the University of Illinois. He is a professor of Atmospheric Science. He shared with me that his department  make it really hard on incoming freshman that choose Atmospheric Science as a major. I asked him why? And he said it is to weed out the pretenders. They want to weed out those who are not serious about this course of study.

The pretenders are those  followers of Christ that seem delighted to learn about Him but they have no plans to take Him seriously.

• They read the scriptures with no intention of listening.
• They pray with no intention of God answering.
• They worship with no intention of encountering God.

In vs. 2 Isaiah continues on by saying they act like a righteous nation that would never abandon the laws of its God.

• These are code words for “they play the righteous role but they have no plans for a real relationship with God.”

Over the past few years I have had two wives and a girlfriend. But only one of them is the real deal. A couple of years ago – Pastor Brandi and I were asked to play the role of girlfriend and boyfriend in the dinner theatre. This year I was asked to play the role of Ashley’s McKnight’s husband. I love these two ladies as sister’s in Christ but there is nothing real about these relationships.

• There is no emotional connection
• There is no commitment to each other
• These relationships cost me nothing
• There is nothing real about it. It is just a role I am playing.

In my relationship with my real girlfriend and my real wife (they are the same person)

• There is an emotional connection
• There is a commitment to each other
• There is a cost involved in the relationship that each one of us is willing to pay.

In other words we are not ACTING  like we are in relationship – we are IN a relationship. And it is for real. No acting. No role-playing.

The pretenders are those followers of Christ who ACT like they are in a relationship with God but are not IN a relationship with God.

• There is no emotional connection to God
• There is no commitment to serve God
• There is no desire to want to please God

It is true that God wants us “Just as I am” but do I love Him to the point of wanting to please Him with my life?

God continues to say  in vs. 2,  “They ask me to take action on their behalf,
pretending they want to be near me.”

• These are code words for,  “They pretend to want to be near me but what they really want is for Me to do stuff for them.”
• Children are masters at this. They know how to get what they want and fool their parents in to thinking that they want to be near them. They don’t know they are masters at this – it come with just being a child. We have all done this to our parents. We conned our parents into thinking that we wanted to be near them but in reality we wanted them for what they could do for us.

We do the same with God.  We want Him to take action so we can get what we want.  All he wants is to be with you. All we want is Him to act on our behalf.

The pretenders are those followers of Christ who want from God but don’t want God.

• They want him to do this and that.
• They want him to satisfy their immediate desire.
• They want him to answer their prayer in the way that best meets their needs.

In vs. 3 the pretender says, We have fasted before you!’   ‘Why aren’t you impressed?

These are code words for, “we do these religious things to earn your favor.”

The scriptures teach us that there is nothing we can do to impress God.

• Isaiah 64:6  – We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall, and our sins sweep us away like the wind.
• Mark 10:18/Luke 18:19 – “Why do you call me good?” Jesus asked. “Only God is truly good.
• We do try to impress each other with our accomplishments and good deeds.
• Matthew 6:1 warns us –  Be careful not to parade your good deeds before others to attract their notice or you will lose all your reward from your Father in heaven.

I used to think that God was impressed with the hundreds of teens who came to know Christ through my ministry in Ohio. I used to think that God was impressed when I put a good message together. I used to think that God was impressed with the number of people who came to the altar after I preached a sermon.

Do you see what I was focused on? These aren’t bad things – in fact they are very good things.

I was focused on myself and what I have accomplished.

These things make you feel good about yourself. We keep track of these things and think, “I must be the greatest.”

Since nothing we can do can impress Him, what does God want from you?

YOU!

You no longer have to perform for God nor do you have to perform for others.

I hate when people find out I am a pastor. They almost instantaneously begin to perform. Their language changes. They apologize for words they have already said. They automatically begin to talk about the Bible and scripture, theology and things. They talk about areas in their life they need to change. Then I go into pastor performance mode and talk too much. Then we both are performing trying to impress each other and the conversation goes nowhere.

So what does God want from you?

• Stop trying to impress Him and love Him.
• Stop trying to impress Him and serve Him.
• Stop trying to impress Him and love your neighbor.
• Stop trying to impress him and serve your neighbor.

Pretenders are those followers of Christ who do a lot of things to try and earn His favor but forget to follow Him. They end up becoming human doings versus human beings.

In this part of verse 3 the pretender says, We have been very hard on ourselves,  and you don’t even notice it!’

This is code for, “I have given up so much to follow you why don’t you bless me?”

Following Christ has never been about being hard on yourself.

• There are a lot of pretenders that are really hard themselves. Their mentality is we have given so much to follow Him – He owes us. Pretenders believe they are entitled to be blessed by God.

All pretenders want  from God is his  blessings. They don’t Him  – they want what he can give them.

Think about how we pray – “Lord please bless ….” (nothing wrong with this prayer by the way).

We always want God to bless us

• With a new house
• A new car
• A new baby
• Some new money

God owes us nothing. Just because you sacrifice for him does not mean you get a blessing from Him.

I am sure he wants to bless us – pretenders want material blessings

• Pretenders want  a new patio but he would rather give peace
• Pretenders  want a new Jeep  but he would rather give joy
• Pretenders want a new Honda but he would rather give us hope.

In vs. 2 Isaiah continues on by saying they act like a righteous nation that would never abandon the laws of its God.

Are you the real deal? or Are you a pretender?