A Roadmap for worship

Today we start a two-part sermon series on the topic of worship. As you might have noticed, there has been a lot of changes in our church this year. We currently don’t have a worship director. It is our hope and desire to get one ASAP in order to allow pastor David to focus on youth ministry.

There is a group of us (committee) who went through a book called Worship Essentials: Growing a Healthy Worship Ministry without Starting a War by Mike Harland.

The author offers four necessary values for any church that hopes to have a healthy worship ministry: 1. Tell the Story, 2. Make True Disciples, 3. Engage the Body 4. Aspire with Purpose.

We want to move beyond the question “what are our needs and preferences?” to a church that exalts Jesus.

What I want to do this morning is to point out that one of goals at MEFC is to tell the story of the gospel each time we gather.

If someone came to church for four weeks and all he/she heard was only the songs we sang, how much of the gospel story would he hear in the songs we sing?

Main idea: The goal of worship is to respond to God’s revelation of who he is and what he has done.

Read Isaiah 6:1-13

Pray!

Allow me to give you some historical context in order to understand this passage better. Verse 1 reads

Isaiah 6:1 ESV

In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple.

King Uzziah reigned in Judah for fifty-two years marked by great material stability & prosperity for the nation of Judah (2 Chr. 26)

By the end of Uzziah’s reign, however, clouds were gathering: Tiglath-Pileser III continued the expansion of the Assyrian Empire into world domination (Syria & Babylon).

In the year that King Uzziah died the nation of Judah finds itself in a national crisis (i.e. In the year of the September 11 attacks or in the year 2020 of the pandemic).

So many questions. What’s going to happen to the economy? What’s going to happen to our national security? What’s going to happen to our current freedoms? Is the next king going to lead us well? Are we going to be okay?

It is in this moment of national and personal crisis that Isaiah has a powerful experience.

“I SAW THE LORD SITTING UPON A THRONE”

One of the reasons why this sentence is so significant is because the Prophet Isaiah saw none other than our Lord Jesus himself. The Apostle John writes that the Prophet Isaiah saw the glory of Jesus and spoke of him (Jn 12:41),

What a contrast! King Uzziah is no longer on the throne, but Jesus is.

The fact that the text says that the Lord is seated on the throne is very significant. The Lord is not pacing back and forth saying, “oh no, what are we going to do now?” He doesn’t call a meeting with Gabriel and Michael saying, “let’s figure this mess out.” The fact that Jesus is seated on the throne reveals that He is in absolute power and authority over the universe, over a nation and over a person’s life.

God wasn’t taken by surprised nor threatened by King’s Uzziah’s death.

God reveals himself to Isaiah. He seated on his throne. #HeavenRules

Main Idea: The goal of worship is to respond to God’s revelation of who he is and what he has done.

We want to tell the story of the gospel each time we gather. Four marks Christ-exalting worship:

1. A Conviction of God’s Holiness

Isaiah 6:2–3 ESV

Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!”

The Hebrew word for holiness, Kadosh, is derived from the root Kad, which means “to cut” or “to be separated.”

Bible scholar Louis Berkhof writes, The Holiness of God “denotes that He is absolutely distinct from all His creatures and is exalted above them in infinite majesty.

This is the testimony of Scripture that seeks to exalt God above his creation.

Exodus 15:11 ESV

“Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?

1 Samuel 2:2 ESV

“There is none holy like the Lord: for there is none besides you; there is no rock like our God.

The phrase “Holy, holy, holy” is not just repetition; it is a Hebrew literary device designed to emphasize and intensify a superlative idea (i.e. underline, bold, exclamation point!). God’s holiness is the only attribute that is emphasized 3x.

To say that God is Holy, Holy, Holy is to say that He is beyond the beyond and he is above the above. In other words, God is in a class by himself.

Notice what happens at the voice of the Seraphim in v.4

Isaiah 6:4 ESV

And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.

Isaiah’s vision is designed to gives us a glimpse of how majestic God us.

Is it possible that one of the reasons why we find worship services often times boring is simply because we have forgotten how big God is?

In his book, Yawning at Tigers, You Can’t Tame God So Stop Trying, Drew Dyck writes, “A vision of God’s holiness is essential to our worship. It rescues our worship from superficiality and makes it passionate and profound. If we had a vision of God like Isaiah did, I don’t think we’d be asking him for good parking spots.”

It is my honest desire for us to leave this service, not saying “what a great church,” or “what an awesome worship band.” I would like for us to leave this morning’s service saying, “What an awesome God we worship. There is no one like him in holiness majesty.”

A second mark of Christ-exalting worship is:

2. A Confession of our sinfulness

Notice Isaiah’s reaction to the Holiness and Majesty of God:

Isaiah 6:5 ESV

And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for 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!”

You would think that Isaiah would have say, “this is so cool. I’m going to write a book and do a tour sharing about my experience.”

Instead, Isaiah in a way is “traumatized.” He is literally undone to the point that he cries out “Woe is me!

Allow me to explain to you the significance of the Isaiah’s expression.

When a prophet would deliver a message from God, he would start the phrase with the word “blessed” if it was good news. But if it was bad news, he would start the message with the word, “woe.”

In the Bible the word “woe” is associated with doom and judgment.

Isaiah’s declaration is perplexing to say the least. Upon encountering the Lord’s majesty and holiness he pronounces the judgment of God upon himself.

Isaiah’s declaration is perplexing to say the least. Isaiah is the most quoted prophet in the NT, and yet, upon personally encountering the majesty and holiness of God, he pronounces the judgment of God upon himself. For our God is a consuming fire (Dt. 4:24; Heb 12:29)

Brothers and sisters, If we saw our sinfulness in the light of God’s holiness we would also cry out, “Woe is me! We are lost.”

Well, at this point Isaiah feels like bad news.

I got Good News for us all this morning. Yes, there is a huge gulf that is hopelessly wide between God’s holiness and our sinfulness, but that’s exactly where the gospel, the good news of Jesus come in.

You see, the good news is that this Holy God who is dangerous consuming fire turns out to be a rescuer and a lover. He doesn’t simply love us from a distance, he himself bridges that great chasm that lay between God and humans.

Let me be very clear, We cannot make sense of God’s love, grace and mercy without first understanding his Holiness. The cross must be interpreted in light of God’s holiness.

That lead us to the third mark of Christ-exalting worship.

3. A Cleansing that is freely given

Isaiah 6:6–7 ESV

Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”

What an amazing picture of God’s grace and mercy!

God doesn’t say to Isaiah, “Get your act together.” God himself provides the solution.

The burning coal comes from the altar where substitutionary sacrifices had taken place. At the altar, a lamb would have been sacrificed to atone and forgive the sins of people.

What you see is a picture of the gospel: atonement, propitiation, satisfaction, forgiveness, cleansing and reconciliation. (Motyer, Isaiah, 82)

Our hearts must be gripped by the height of God’s Holiness and by the depth of his love.

We must never attempt to shrink God down to our size and we must let go of our attempt to tame God’s relentless love.

“your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for."

Noticed how Isaiah is on the receiving end of God’s grace. His guilt is taken away and his sin is atoned for.

Amazing grace! Guilt is removed because of Jesus’ atoning sacrifice on the cross! Trough the cross, God offers forgiveness and restoration.

You will never graduate from Grace University. Isaiah experienced God’s grace as a believer.

Main Idea: The goal of worship is to respond to God’s revelation of who he is and what he has done.

>>>Growing in awe of God? Gospel charts from The Gospel-Centered Life

Graphic #1 - Shrinking the Cross

This happens when I either (a) minimize God’s perfect holiness, thinking of him as something less than his Word declares him to be, or (b) elevate my own righteousness, thinking of myself as someone better than I actually am. The cross becomes smaller and Christ’s importance in my life is diminished.

Graphic #2 - Shrinking the cross through performing & pretending

Pretending minimizes sin by making ourselves out to be something we are not. Pretending can take many forms: dishonesty (“I’m not that bad”), comparison (“I’m not as bad as those people”), excuse making (“I’m not really that way”) and false righteousness (“Here are all the good things I’ve done”). Because we don’t want to admit how sinful we really are, we spin the truth in our favor.

Performing on the other hand, minimizes God’s holiness by reducing his standard to something we can meet, thereby meriting his favor. Now, to reveal your tendency toward performance, pause and answer this question:

As God thinks of you right now, what is the look on his face? Do you picture God as disappointed? Indifferent? Does his face say “Get your act together!” or “If only you could do a little more for me!”

If you imagined God as anything but overjoyed with you, you have fallen into a performance mindset. Because the gospel truth is: In Christ, God is deeply satisfied with you (adopted as child of God). But when we fail to root our identity in what Jesus has done for us, we slip into performance-driven Christianity. We imagine that if were “better Christians,” God would approve of us more fully. Living this way saps the joy and delight out of following Jesus, leaving us to wallow in a joyless, dutiful obedience. Our gospel becomes very small.

How do you grow in awe of God in order to experience lasting transformation?

The answer is simply “applying the gospel to your daily life.”

Graphic #3 - The cross chart

Growing in the gospel means seeing more of God’s holiness and more of my sin. And because of what Jesus has done for us on the cross, we need not fear seeing God as he really is or admitting how broken we really are.

Instead of excusing our sin or falling into patterns of remorse (I can’t believe I did that!) and resolution (I promise I’ll do better next time),

true gospel repentance moves us to realize and repent.

Realize: “I did do that.” (“That IS what I’m really like!”) Repent: “Lord, forgive me! You are my only hope.” As we learn to live in light of the gospel, this kind of true repentance should become more and more normal for us. We will stop being surprised by our sin, so we will be able to more honestly admit it. And we will stop believing we can fix ourselves, so we will more quickly turn to Jesus for forgiveness and transformation.

Sin is a condition, not just a behavior, so true repentance is a lifestyle, not just an occasional practice. Repentance is not something we do only once (when we are converted), or only periodically (when we feel really guilty). Repentance is ongoing >>> as time goes on our need for the gospel increases (i.e the Apostle Paul, 1 Timothy 1:15)

A final mark of Christ-exalting worship is:

4. A Commission that is gladly accepted

Isaiah 6:8 ESV

And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.”

Worship ought to propel us outward, even when it’s hard and inconvenient.

God warns Isaiah that he will have 0 converts (vv.9-10) . What motivates Isaiah? He experienced God’s grace.

Motto for 2021: Each one invest in one

Main Idea: The goal of worship is to respond to God’s revelation of who he is and what he has done.

Conclusion: You can experience God’s grace through the person of Jesus. Receive him through repentance and faith.