Better than good 1

Good morning church! So good to see you!

If this is your first time worshiping with us, we hope that you feel welcome here at East. We have a gift for you today just for worshiping with us! If you will fill out the card from the back of the seat in front of you with as much info as you feel comfortable with and drop it by Next Steps in the lobby on your way out, we will get you a free tshirt, just for being here today!

Those cards can also be used to let us know about prayer requests and decisions you would like to make.

Over the years, I’ve heard several preachers lead their churches to do a responsive interaction thing. The pastor would say, “God is good.” and the church was supposed to say “all the time.” Then the pastor would say “all the time.” and the church was supposed to say “God is good.”

I fear though that when churches do that, they don’t fully understand what they are saying. The word “good” in our culture doesn’t mean much. Statements like “He is a good person,” could be said of most people I know. And we talk about a GOOD pecan pie or a GOOD pizza. Is that what we mean when we say God is Good? He is just above average?

The goodness of God means so much more than that. That’s why we are saying in the next three sermons that God is “Better Than Good.”

If you have a Bible open to Isaiah chapter 6.

These 8 or so verses will be our focus for the next three weeks. I want to read the whole thing, then we will pray and come back and talk through it!

Isaiah 6:1–8 CSB

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne, and the hem of his robe filled the temple. Seraphim were standing above him; they each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. And one called to another: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Armies; his glory fills the whole earth. The foundations of the doorways shook at the sound of their voices, and the temple was filled with smoke. Then I said: Woe is me for I am ruined because I am a man of unclean lips and live among a people of unclean lips, and because my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Armies. Then one of the seraphim flew to me, and in his hand was a glowing coal that he had taken from the altar with tongs. He touched my mouth with it and said: Now that this has touched your lips, your iniquity is removed and your sin is atoned for. Then I heard the voice of the Lord asking: Who will I send? Who will go for us? I said: Here I am. Send me.

PRAYER

This morning our focus will be on the first four verses really. Before we get to the content on the outline of this message, let’s get the context right.

What is the first thing we see?

Isaiah 6:1 CSB

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne, and the hem of his robe filled the temple.

As we read that, what should be the first question we ask? “Who is King Uzziah!” I’ve read this and even preached on it without ever asking that question!

We read about King Uzziah in 2 Chronicles 26.

2 Chronicles 26:1–5 CSB

All the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in place of his father Amaziah. After Amaziah the king rested with his ancestors, Uzziah rebuilt Eloth and restored it to Judah. Uzziah was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jecoliah; she was from Jerusalem. He did what was right in the Lord’s sight just as his father Amaziah had done. He sought God throughout the lifetime of Zechariah, the teacher of the fear of God. During the time that he sought the Lord, God gave him success.

So, King Uzziah seems like a pretty solid king! He followed the Lord and he had success. Beginning in verse 6, we see all that God did through Uzziah: won big battles against the Philistines and built huge towers and cities in territory they once held. He was feared by all nations around. His army was trained well and equipped with the best tech of the day.

But it all got to him.

2 Chronicles 26:16 CSB

But when he became strong, he grew arrogant, and it led to his own destruction. He acted unfaithfully against the Lord his God by going into the Lord’s sanctuary to burn incense on the incense altar.

All the fame got to his head. Uzziah was just a king. He was a king called of God to lead the people politically and in battle, but he was not a priest called of God to lead them spiritually, nor could he enter into the holy place of the temple. But that’s exactly what he did. Though 80 priests gathered to talk him out of it, he did it anyway. And as he did, he became inflicted with leprosy.

2 Chronicles 26:21–23 CSB

So King Uzziah was diseased to the time of his death. He lived in quarantine with a serious skin disease and was excluded from access to the Lord’s temple, while his son Jotham was over the king’s household governing the people of the land. Now the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz wrote about the rest of the events of Uzziah’s reign, from beginning to end. Uzziah rested with his ancestors, and he was buried with his ancestors in the burial ground of the kings’ cemetery, for they said, “He has a skin disease.” His son Jotham became king in his place.

After all that Uzziah had been used to accomplish, yet what is remembered of him? He was a leper.

So, here you have this king who considers himself high, and lifted up stepping into God’s presence arrogantly, and he pays for it, dearly.

And then Isaiah begins this next section by saying “In the year King Uzziah died...”That doesn’t seem to just be a date marker. It seems that the biblical author is conveying a connection.

We are going to see the contrast with the way Uzziah and Isaiah enter the presence of God.

One more thing that might confuse before we jump in… Who are these Seraphim? These are some sort of heavenly being that seems to be created to glorify God through song all day in his throne room.

We will look next week at the actions of Isaiah, but today we want to focus on the main character, god himself!

Point number one...

1. Holiness: An ATTRIBUTE of God

The spiritual beings called seraphim that Isaiah sees begin to cry out worship to God. They begin this worship by declaring that God is HOLY. This is an attribute of who God is.

All of us have characteristics or attributes that together make up who we are.

Some of you are kind, hospitable, caring, funny, trustworthy, genuine. Other people, not any of you in this room though, are mean, stuck up, selfish, untrustworthy, arrogant. For each one of us there are a list of characteristics that would define the whole of who we are.

In the same way, there are a whole set of characteristics that we see about God. We see that He is merciful. He is love. He is gracious. He is all powerful, all knowing, and ever present. He is just. He is eternal. and the list goes on and on. We will discuss these soon in a sermon series. But for now, recognize that holiness is one of these many attributes that, together, attempt to sum up all that God is.

However, holiness might be more important than most of the other attributes in understanding who God is...

2. Holiness: MORE THAN an Attribute

Isaiah 6:3 CSB

And one called to another: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Armies; his glory fills the whole earth.

The angels don’t just say that God is holy. They say that God is HOLY HOLY HOLY. What does this repetition mean?

In the biblical text, if the same thing is said twice, it is to get our attention. This is why Jesus begins many statements in the New Testament with “Truly, truly, I say to you...” This is Jesus way of saying, Hey, you following me?”

But when something is said THREE times, it is done for more than emphasis. Three is a number of completeness in the Bible.

We see God as Father Son and Holy Spirit.

The Jews looked at their three patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Samuel is called by God three times before he finally responds properly.

Jesus prays in the garden of Gethsemane three times before he is arrested and ultimately killed. And then he raises on what day was it??? The third day!

And here, the angels say that God is HOLY HOLY HOLY.

Isaiah seems to be declaring that God is COMPLETELY holy!

For God, his holiness is more than just an attribute. It is more than just a characteristic that we see in him some of the time.

“God’s holiness unlocks the door to understanding and making sense out of everything else about Him.” - Tony Evans

It really is the very nature of who God is! It is the attribute by which all other attributes are understood and measured.

To help you see that, we need to look at what the word HOLY actually means.

We can often think only in terms of morality. Holy means not sinning. And that is true to a degree. But that’s not the whole picture that the word conveys. Holy is also used by some superhero sidekicks as an everyday adjective.

SLIDE WITH ROBIN AND BATMAN

But these are not the fullest intent of the word.

3. Holiness: Sets God Apart

The most basic definition of the word holy means “set apart” or “other.” Totally unique. Different.

If you have encountered and know God, you should agree that there is no better way to describe him! He is just different...

You and I also use that word to describe a weird uncle we see at holidays, but I don’t mean it that way, right?

But it is clear from Scripture and from personal experience that God exists and acts in totally unique ways.

As we have already stated, God isn’t just holy, though. He is HOLY HOLY HOLY! He is completely holy. Meaning he is completely or perfectly SET APART.

This actually introduces another characteristic that is tied to holiness: transcendence. To say that God is transcendent is to say that he is above all of creation: unreachable in a very real sense.

This is seen most clearly in Isaiah 55...

Isaiah 55:8–9 CSB

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not my ways.” This is the Lord’s declaration. “For as heaven is higher than earth, so my ways are higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

God’s thoughts, his ways, really his very being is so far higher than ours that we can’t even fathom who he is or what he is doing. He is above us and unreachable in every way.

Do you recognize that?

And so if God is transcendent... How could we even know God?

I read about this one time: There are ants that live underground, digging away in tunnels, making these elaborate paths, who don’t know we exist. Have you ever thought about that?

Yes, the ones in your backyard, they know what humans are, because you have stepped in their home. You have sprayed them or sprinkled them with chemicals, right? You made yourself known to the ants. If you didn’t, they would never know anything abou these complex creatures.

God is the same way!

If he had not made himself known, there would be no way for us to know him in the way that we do. If we know anything about God, it must have come from God himself!

Think about it… If you know things about God, they are from HIM!

So, how does God make these characteristics known about himself?Two ways...

a. He revealed it to us through his word.

In the Bible, we see the active word of God. It is in the Bible that we learn the attributes of God. He wanted us to know what he is like! This is not a guessing game or a “Who is God to you?” Or “What is your favorite God? Do you like vengeful God or Gracious God? Do you like loving God or just God? We don’t get to pick and choose the God we worship. The God we worship is who he has always been. And he will continue to be those things forever!

But God didn’t just reveal it to us in the Bible...

b. He revealed it to us through Jesus.

As I read last week, Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. Jesus shows all of humanity what their God is like by living a perfect life, displaying the very attributes of God throughout his lifetime!

In Jesus, God not only revealed his nature and person, he showed his love for mankind in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us! He reveals the nature of God and then invites us into a relationship with that God through his shed blood and his resurrection.

Today, you can trust in that same Jesus and begin to get to know the God who spoke everything into existence!

We would love tot talk with you about that during the last song coming up soon.

But let me ask you “How should we respond to such holiness?” What are sinful humans to do in the presence of an almighty God? We will talk some about that next week, but for now, remember what the seraphim are doing… Worshiping God for who he is!

There is no evidence that God has blessed the seraphim in anyway. There is no reason for us to believe that God gave them something that led to the worship. They simply got down!

Those who are Christians in the room… Are you waiting on a blessing from God to start worshiping? To start singing in our service. To start getting down for God? That is not the model we see here.

From Isiah 6, serve, worship, and praise God now! Don’t wait.