1. Peter Marshall once prayed before the U.S. Senate: "Lord, we thank you that we can come to you just as we are. But remind us that we dare not leave as we came." (Senate Chaplain, '47-48)
2. What are some purposes of worship?
a. Respect God; Love God; Honor God
b. Dying in Service
Little Christopher climbed the steps of a large church building. Upon entering the foyer he saw three statues of Christian Martyrs. He asked his mother who they were and was told, "These are saints who died in service." Christopher then asked, "Which service, Sunday morning or Sunday evening?
Worship helps us to keep from dying in service to God.
3. Series Objectives:
a. To examine what the bible says about worship
b. To deepen our intimacy with God through worship
c. To obey God in greater ways as we learn to express our love to him in boldness and vulnerability
4. Isaiah 6.1-8
5. Isaiah's Background:
Isaiah prophesied for Judah in the 8th century BC. Rabbinic tradition says that Isaiah's father, Amoz, was a brother of King Amaziah. This would make Isaiah a first cousin of King Uzziah and grandson of King Joash. If this is true, Isaiah would have been of the "upper class" and of royal blood. Scholars believe he also has a great familiarity with the temple and the priestly rites of their worship.
I. In the Presence of the Lord We Regain Perspective
Dennis Wise was a giant Elvis Presley fan. In an article in the Boston Globe in 1988 he explained his obsession with Elvis. He followed his entire career; purchased every album he produced; and saw every one of his movies. He even purchased boots that looked like Elvis' boots in spite of the ridicule from his Jr. High classmates. As an adult he got a facelift and changed his hair to look like his idol. He wanted Elvis to notice him so he stormed the stage before and after his concerts. Yet, Elvis probably never saw him. He said at one point he even scaled the wall around Graceland to see Elvis but did not. "It's funny," he said, all of the effort I put into seeing him and never did." **How much effort do we put into seeing God in worship? OR, do we even try?
A. God Reveals His Perfection -- Holy, holy, holy
1. Completeness and emphasis as in Revelation 4.8
8 And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all round and within, and day and night they never cease to sing, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!"
2. Holy (kadosh) means to divide, set apart, make distinct
3. Antonym is to profane or make common -- Ezekiel 22.26
26 Her priests have done violence to my law and have profaned my holy things; they have made no distinction between the holy and the common, neither have they taught the difference between the unclean and the clean, and they have disregarded my Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them.
4. Rebellion causes us to try to make what is holy into something common or ordinary
a. Moses in Exodus 15.11-12
11 "Who is like you, O LORD, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders? 12 You stretched out your right hand; the earth swallowed them.
b. Hannah in None to compare -- 1 Samuel 2.2
"There is none holy like the LORD: for there is none besides you; there is no rock like our God.
c. Our Universe -- Billions of Galaxies with innumerable stars and no end -- No one is like God
B. God Reveals Our Imperfections
Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner did a comedy skit years ago called, "The 2013 Year Old Man". In the skit, Reiner interviewed Brooks, who was the old man in the skit. At one point, Reiner asked the old man, "Did you always believe in the Lord?"
Brooks replied: "No. We had a guy in our village named Phil and for a time we worshiped him."
Reiner: "You worshiped a guy named Phil? Why?"
Brooks: "Because he was big, and mean, and he could break you in two with his bare hands!"
Reiner: "Did you have prayers?"
Brooks: "Yes, would you like to hear one? 'O Phil, please don't be mean, and hurt us, or break us in two with your bare hands.'"
Reiner: "So when did you start worshiping the Lord?"
Brooks: "Well, one day a big thunderstorm came up, and a lightning bolt hit Phil. We gathered around and saw that he was dead. Then we said to one another, 'There's somthin' bigger than Phil!'"
The question of who is in charge in our lives sometimes comes down to who we recognize as being bigger.
1. The presence of God shows us his greatness and our smallness
2. The presence of God shows his perfection and our sinfulness -- "undone"
3. The presence of God shows us the way back -- Teshuvah -- Isaiah 55.6-9
6 "Seek the LORD while he may be found, call upon him while he is near; 7 let the wicked forsake [leave/abandon] his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return [shuv -- return; turn back from sinful conditions] to the LORD, that he may have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. 8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says the LORD. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
II. In the Presence of the Lord We Rekindle Our Passions
A. Our Passion for God is Fired Up by God --
1. "Seraphim" = "Burning Ones" -- passionate for God
2. His Words set our hearts on fire -- Jeremiah 20.9
3. We seek to be holy because he is holy -- Leviticus 19.2
B. Our Passion for God is Revealed in Worship
1. Awe and Respect -- Isaiah 6.5; cf. Revelation 1.17-19
2. Joy and Gladness -- Isaiah 1.6-8
a. Joy in worship -- Psalm 100
b. Joy in Salvation -- Acts 8; 2.46-47
46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. Acts 2.46-47
7 Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. Luke 15.7
10 Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents." 15.10
It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.'" 15.32 (music and dancing)
3. BOTH Awe and Joy; Fear and Fear Not -- not either/or
Ecclesiastes 12.13
But he laid his right hand on me, saying, "Fear not, I am the first and the last; Revelation 1.17b
C. Our Passion for God is Revealed in Service -- Isaiah 6.8; Leviticus 19.18
D. God's Passion for US is revealed in His Presence -- Isaiah 57.15-16
1. To enter the "Holiness Zone" we are changed as Isaiah and Moses -- (Both "Here am I")
4 When the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, "Moses, Moses!" And he said, "Here am I." 5 Then he said, "Do not come near; put off your shoes from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground." 6 And he said, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. Exodus 3.4-6
Natural rescinded in supernatural -- bush that should have been consumed but wasn't because the holy God was there
2. The Story of Jesus
Paul Eshelman, the man responsible for distributing millions of copies of the Jesus film around the world, tells about the time that the film was shown at a refugee camp in Mozambique, on the southeast coast of Africa. Although most of the people had never heard the gospel, they fell in love with Jesus through the film. When he was arrested, beaten and led away to be crucified, they began to weep and wail, and many rushed toward the screen. Their cries and the dust they stirred made it impossible to finish the film, so the projector was turned off. For more than thirty minutes, the townspeople were on their knees weeping and confessing their sins. One counselor told Eshelman, "that no one could do anything but confess sins."
Eshelman said that eventually, after more than thirty minutes, the film crew turned the movie back on so the people could know the end of the story. You know the end. It doesn't end in death on a cross, but in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. When the townspeople saw how the story ended, Eshelman said, "The crowd exploded as if a dam had burst. Everyone began cheering and dancing and hugging one another and jumping up and down." When the invitation was given for people to accept Christ, nearly everyone in the crowd wanted to respond! The following Sunday, five hundred new believers showed up at the forty-member church in the refugee camp!
