Sermon Central
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A Worship-Filled Heart
Contributed by Dennis Lee on Apr 16, 2023 (message contributor)
Summary: Worship is a broad topic, so I’d like to look at it through the lens of the prophet Isaiah’s encounter with God before His heavenly throne as found in Isaiah 6:1-8. From this encounter, I’d like to share several aspects about worship that will change our lives and relationship with God.
A Christian’s Heart
“A Worship-Filled Heart”
Watch on YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVxbexDKb_Q
In the early to mid 1900’s, pastor, author, and counselor, AW Tozer, who had written 12 books, including the Christian classic, “The Pursuit of God,” said that worship is the missing jewel of modern evangelism. And, it is with this in mind that I’d like to continue our series on the heart of a Christian.
As we began our time of praise and worship we sang, “The Heart of Worship,” which says, “I’ll sing You more than a song, for a song in itself is not what you have required.”
What these words point to is the fact that our worship of God is very broad and takes in not only what we say and sing unto the Lord, but also in what we do and how we do it. In other words, our worship of God covers everything we do and say, and that everything we do and say should be an extension of our worship of God.
Seeing that worship is such a broad topic, I’d like to look at worship through the lens of the prophet Isaiah’s encounter with God before His heavenly throne.
But let me start by telling you a story.
One Sunday, a pastor stood before those of his congregation that came on Super Bowl Sunday, all four of them: three women and one young man.
The pastor began his sermon by saying, “I give thanks to God that there are at least a handful who have made the effort to come and worship the Lord, to feed on God’s word, and who don’t believe that God is less important than the Super Bowl game on TV.”
Immediately the young man jumped up and said, “Oh my goodness, I forgot about the game,” and ran out of the sanctuary.
This got me wondering, is there something better to do than to gather as a church family and worship the Lord? Aren’t there chores to do, books to read, movies to see, games to watch, and web sites to surf, and outdoor outings to take? I mean, what motivates us to abandon our TV sets, computer screens and golf clubs to come to a Sunday morning worship service?
For some people coming to a Sunday morning service is a habit, which isn’t a bad thing. Some habits are good. You have study habits, and exercise routines. Therefore, attending a worship service, in my opinion, is a good spiritual habit to also have.
But something seems to be lacking if it is just another habit out of so many. Instead, it should be because coming to worship God with other Christians should be something we want to do and looked forward to with great anticipation and expectation.
For King David, this was the delight of his life.
He said, “I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go into the house of the Lord.” (Psalm 122:1 NKJV)
Others, come to church because they’re struggling. They’re grieving, hurt, lost, or lonely, and attending church is part of their search for answers. And it is an excellent place to start finding answers , because such a search should always lead to, and end with, Jesus Christ the author and perfecter of our faith.
For some, coming to church is a bargaining chip they play with God. They’ll come and see if God will help them find a job or a spouse. And so, they come and bargain with God, saying, “Lord, if you just give me a job, or a spouse, then I’ll come every week.” The only problem is that once they get what they want, or they don’t get what they wanted, they stop coming. It’s all about what God can do for them.
Still others come to church against their will. They come because their parents or spouse make them come, and if they want life to go smoothly the following week, they come.
There is a story about a man who was enjoying a pleasant sleep on Sunday morning when his wife suddenly yanked off the covers and announced, “Time to get up and get ready to go to church.”
Meekly the man said, “I don’t wanna go to church today. Just let me stay here and sleep in this one Sunday, and besides, the sermons are boring, and everyone hates me.”
Without the slightest bit of compassion, she looked at him and said, “You have to go to church, you’re the pastor.”
By the way, this is not an autobiographical story.
Now, as we look at a worship-filled heart, I’d like for us to look at an incident in the prophet Isaiah’s life where he is given a vision of God’s throne room.
“In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one cried to another and said: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!’ And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke. So I said: ‘Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.’ Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth with it, and said: ‘Behold, this has touched your lips; your iniquity is taken away, and your sin purged.’ Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?’ Then I said, ‘Here am I! send me.’” (Isaiah 6:1-8 NKJV)
