"Spiritual worship comes from our very core and is fueled by an awesome reverence and desire for God. Spiritual worship is focusing all we are on all He is, both personally and universally. It is the incomparable expression of both awe and affection for God. And it is one of the highest privileges we can experience on this earth." - Beth Moore
Since worship is all about approaching God, it stands to reason that the heart of worship involves our coming clean before God.
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At the heart of Real Worship is . . .
1. An awareness of our sin - v. 5
As a result of his being focused on the holiness and majesty of God through worship, Isaiah was made keenly aware of sin.
A. He was made aware of his own sin - v. 5a
Since worship is all about approaching God, when we do so, we will be convicted of our own shortcomings. We cannot seek to hide or cover up our sins and really worship God.
Last week, I referred to a passage of Scripture in Jeremiah 12:13. Now, the only problem is, I gave the wrong reference to the passage I was referring to. The passage, "While you have been sinning, I have been trying to talk to you, but you refuse to listen," is actually found in Jeremiah 7:13. Now, I share this with you, not only to make sure you have the correct reference, but to illustrate a point. The point is that a willingness to come clean and own up to one's mistakes is important in maintaining a good relationship with others. It is true in my relationship with you as your pastor; and it is most certainly true in our relationship with God.
But, unlike our relationship with one another, it is far more difficult to try to hide our sin from God. In fact, it's an impossibility. And if we truly are going to approach Him and focus on Him in worship, we will naturally, as we draw near the holy One of the universe, become convicted of our lack of holiness, even as Isaiah was.
Because we approach a holy God in worship, Real Worship will cause us to be made aware of our own sin, like Isaiah was. But also . . .
B. He was made aware of his neighbor's sin - v. 5b
We live in a day when men refuse to admit to sin.
"Our culture does not believe in wickedness - that is, in culpability. The 'conviction of sin' is hardly possible to us. We believe not in sin and forgiveness but in illness and recovery. It is the endless message of our culture that everyone is basically good and that most of our problems will be solved when we realize this - in other words, when we build up our self-esteem." - Brian Abel Ragen
This mindset is captured rather accurately in a poem by Anna Russell:
I went to my Psychiatrist to be psychoanalyzed,
To find out why I killed the cat and blacked my husband's eyes.
He laid me on a downy couch to see what he could find,
And here's what he dredged up from my subconscious mind
When I was one, my mommy hid my dolly in the trunk
And so it follows naturally that I am always drunk.
When I was two, I saw my father kiss the maid lady,
And that is why I suffer now from kleptomania.
At three I had the feeling of ambivalence for my brothers,
And so it follows naturally I poison all my lovers.
But I am happy: Now I've learned the lesson this has taught,
That everything I do that's wrong, is someone else's fault.
Sadly, if we are not sinners, then we have no need for a Savior, which is what the world thinks; and by the lack of a burden for the salvation of others, it appears to be more and more what God's people are coming to think. That's why we need to understand that when we gather for worship, it is not about how the pastor approaches the subject for that day or how the worship leader approaches to music for that day. It is all about how each of us approaches God on this day.
And when we truly focus on Him and make it all about Him, not only will we be convicted of our own sin, but also of that of our neighbor and or how we must be willing to to say, as Isaiah did to the call of God, "Here am I, send me!"
Which brings us to another thing that is at the heart of Real Worship:
2. An affirmation of Christ's sacrifice - v. 6
When God gave Moses the instructions on constructing the tabernacle on earth, his pattern was taken from the sanctuary in heaven.
"The work that these priests do is really only a copy and a shadow of what is in heaven. That is why God warned Moses when he was ready to build the Holy Tent: 'Be sure to make everything exactly like the pattern I showed you on the mountain.'" - Hebrews 8:5 (Easy to Read)
The altar mentioned here is the heavenly altar which corresponds to the altar of sacrifice found in the earthly temple, which is a foreshadowing of the ultimate and complete sacrifice for sin - the cross of Christ.
Note: even as Isaiah's attention was drawn to the altar of sacrifice in heaven Real Worship will draw our attention to the cross of Christ!
"All true worship is a response to God’s revelation. God reveals some aspect of His moral beauty – His love, mercy, or holiness – and we respond with worship. In other words, to the degree that God communicates His proper nature to us we respond with worship. Where do we find the revelation that produces worship? The cross is the Bible’s greatest revelation of God’s goodness and mercy. In other words, the more we see God’s goodness and our bankruptcy at the cross, the greater our capacity for worship. God initiates worship by revealing Himself, and the cross is the pinnacle of all worship-inducing revelation." - William Farley, Outrageous Mercy
When we draw near to God through worship, not only are we made aware of our problem with sin, but of God's provision for our salvation.
Which brings us to another thing that is at the heart of Real Worship:
3. An appropriation of God's solution - v. 7
Real Worship not only reminds us of God's provision for our sin problem; it also leads us to make God's provision for our sin problem personal. The Seraph sought to make real to Isaiah the fact that when we admit our sin, we appropriate God's forgiveness.
"What is described here is a symbolic act; it signifies that the sin was removed. We know this is symbolic because never in the sanctuary was sin removed by searing the lips with a coal from the altar. This is a heavenly scene and the heavenly correspondent to the coals is meant; the coals were the instrument of consuming the sacrifices that became the sin offering. The point is that the prophet was cleansed by direct divine intervention. The focus is on the lips because they represented the sinfulness of the prophet." - Allen Ross
The forgiveness of the cross is complete and total. When we come to Christ, that is the basis on which we are accepted as children of God eternally. But as children of God, when it comes to our day to day living, and our individual failures, it is good to be reminded that the forgiveness of the cross is not only complete and total; it is also specific and personal. This is what Real Worship will remind us of.
Conclusion: May this be our prayer every time we gather for worship:
Savior I come, quiet my soul, remember
Redemption's hill, where Your blood was spilled for my ransom
Everything I once held dear I count it all as loss
Lead me to the cross, where Your love poured out
Bring me to my knees, Lord I lay me down
Rid me of myself, I belong to You
Lead me, lead me to the cross
