Reasonable Worship

Title: Reasonable Worship

Text:

Book of Isaiah

When we think about something that is reasonable, we typically mean that it is something that is obvious or makes sense. Clearly, not everything makes sense. We are not all-knowing creatures.

Sometimes we may describe what is reasonable or rational by seeing or hearing of things that are irrational. For example:

Illustration:

Buddhist monk beats, kills child, 9, during prayer session, authorities say

A Thai boy was beaten to death by an incensed Buddhist monk after the child displayed "playful" behavior during a temple prayer session, Thai police said Friday.

Monk Suphachai Suthiyano, 64, allegedly assaulted Wattanapol Sisawad, 9, with a bamboo stick and slammed the boy's head against a pillar before Sisawad fell into a coma last weekend, AFP reported. Sisawad died as a result of his injuries on Thursday.

We stand in shock of something like this because most people would consider that reasonable behavior is that you would train, teach, kindly treat a child and not kill.

What would you consider to be reasonable behavior if someone saves your life?

What would you consider to be reasonable behavior if someone provides your a home, food on your table, a job to support your family?

We would expect that there would be love, a kind response, faithfulness. Yet, we see Israel acting towards God’s kindnesses in what seems to be inconsistent with his goodness and irrationality.

(1) What is he saying?

(i) v. 8 - The Call of the Lord and the Response of Isaiah

(ii) v. 9 - 10 The Commission of the Lord and the Responsibility of Isaiah

(iii) v. 11 - 13 The Chastening of the Lord and the Return of special Individuals

(2) Why is he saying this?

This reveals Isaiah's willingness to be part of God's sovereign judicial hardening of Israel.

This reveals Isaiah's willingness to be part of God's sovereign judicial hardening of Israel.

The revelation is really about the worthiness of the Lord whom Isaiah has seen with his eyes. It is only reasonable that Isaiah commits.

Brief application:

What is it that really prevents God’s people from committing to the cause of their sovereign Lord? Some would say that they are just so busy with (i) work (ii) kids schedules (iii) family matters…but I assure you that Isaiah had a job, he had kids, and he had a family. The real impediment is that we’ve not taken time to see the Lord in his holiness, specifically as he has been revealed in the Lord Jesus Christ.

(3) What is the principle?

The Lord graciously works through judicial hardening for his sovereign purposes.

Brief Application:

This is both good news and sobering news. The holy Lord is gracious enough to continue to send his message to people who continue to reject him; but it is the sending of this message that actually hardens the hearers as they reject it.

It is good that you continue to hear the message of the scriptures, but if you hear it without actually exercising faith in it, the scriptures can become something you become increasingly hardened to.

I would caution both parents and grandparents that your response to the scriptures can become a tremendous influence upon your children. If you hear and do not do, then you are revealing that you actually do not believe. You will influence this kind of faithlessness in your children.

(4) How do I understand this in light of what Jesus Christ has done?

(i) God has kept his promise regarding the holy “seed” in a complete way - , ,

(ii) God has judicially hardened Israel in a complete way - ,

(iii) God’s judicial hardening of Israel has a purpose that has been revealed in more complete way (WHY?) - , - ,

(iv) God has made holiness possible in a complete way

How astounding that God should use the word “holy” (qōdeš) of the remnant of his people when it has been used already in v.3 in relation to his own transcendent being! This is condescending grace indeed!

Grogan, G. W. (1986). Isaiah. In F. E. Gaebelein (Ed.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel (Vol. 6, p. 58). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.

(5) What does all of this mean for the Christian today?

(i) It is only reasonable that our worship of the Lord be marked by complete, life-long, sacrificial service -

Parents, your will show the worth of someone or something by what you are willing to sacrifice for that someone or something.

(ii) It is only reasonable to believe that God’s purposes are greater than the scope of our immediate circumstances -

Parents, your desires/plans and purposes for your children must be subjected to God’s purposes. Don’t teach them to choose a college based on scholarships. Teach them to love Jesus supremely and to allow the Lord’s worthiness to guide their choices. Don’t teach them to find their identity in a GPA, but to find their identity in the person of Jesus Christ. If all of your praises, accolades, Instagram and Facebook posts are about their performances and accomplishments rather than Christ’s work in their lives, you may be guilty of unwittingly shaping their purposes around the wrong thing.

(iii) It is only reasonable to believe that the God who makes us holy by Christ will bring his work to completion, according to His promise -

Who are you trusting to the end?

Conclusion:

Let me ask you again, what would you consider to be irrational? For example:

New Jersey woman, 42, robs, murders mom, grandmom and goes on spree in New York City, reports say

A New Jersey woman reportedly bludgeoned her mom and grandmom to death with a nightstick, leaving the lifeless bodies inside a blood-spattered, high-rise apartment while she used the women’s cash and credit cards to live it up in Atlantic City and New York City.

Heather Barbera, 42, reportedly confessed to the July 7 murders of her mother, 67-year-old Michelle Gordon, and grandmother, 81-year-old Elaine Rosen, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

Would you consider for a moment the love of Christ that motivated him to present his body as a sacrifice? Would you consider that through his death for our sins, burial, & resurrection we are saved. What would you consider to be reasonable, in contemplation of what you see?