Do I have to sing? Isaiah 6:1-8
Wednesday, August 9th, 2023, Amanda Mott
Intro:
– Good evening. I’m honored to be speaking. I know you are used to seeing me at the beginning of service. We are changing it up tonight.
– Before we begin, let’s pray
– I’m not leading Worship tonight. We are going to talk about Worship this evening. Specifically….Why do we worship God?
– Why, when we gather as the church do we sing songs? Why does it matter? – First we should define what Worship is: Praise and Worship is a time when we as a church praise and thank God. It is FOR God.
– But, why is this important?
– When it comes to struggling with Worship people generally fall into one of two camps: 1. Yay! Singing. I love singing, this is kind of cool. I don’t know if I want to sing every service forever. 2. Why are we singing? Oh no, am I really expected to sing? – Buddy the Elf story
– Like Buddy the Elf we might not understand the point of singing.
– We see the same building and we do it week after week.
– BUT What if? What if, while we were Worshiping we could see for a brief moment where our praise was really going and WHO that praise is for?
– -What if the small church in Auburn melted away to reveal a mighty courtroom of the living God? What if the carpet became a sea of glass? What if the wall disappeared and we were surrounded by a rainbow? What if instead of a stage, we saw the throne of heaven on high?
– -When we sing songs, what if we saw that you don’t sing alone but that you sing with saints that have gone before? That you sing alongside Paul, Luke, Moses, John? Countless saints throughout history. You sing with Luther, Spurgeon, Tinsdale? You sing along with angels whose mere appearance strikes fear in the heart of men? Angel armies who bow down in reverence.
– -That you sing along with the Bride of Christ who reaches through the walls of our building and extends to all people, all nations, all places on the earth. That we all sing in unison and at different times to give God glory almost continually.
– -What if we saw the doorways of heaven shake from the cry of praise lifted up? – That you sing to the one who created all things, and is too holy, beautiful, and majestic to even fully describe….other than to utter the word…holy
– How do you think it would impact your Worship to know that is what you do every time you enter church? How do you think it would impact your life to suddenly truly see and understand who you are actually singing too?
– This was the experience of Isaiah. He was a man of God. He followed everything God had told him to do. Then in a moment of national turmoil, Isaiah had a vision…
– Scripture: Isaiah 6:1-8 (NKJV)
– 6 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. 2 Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one cried to another and said:
– “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts;
The whole earth is full of His glory!”
– 4 And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke.
– 5 So I said:
– “Woe is me, for I am [a]undone!
Because 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.”
– 6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar. 7 And he touched my mouth with it, and said: – “Behold, this has touched your lips;
Your iniquity is taken away,
And your sin [b]purged.”
– 8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying:
– “Whom shall I send,
And who will go for Us?”
– Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.”
– Main point: Worship should matter to us because it matters to God.
– First point: Worship matters because the throne of heaven is real and we were made to worship before that throne.
– -Countless writers of the Bible spoke of seeing the throne of God; Moses, Daniel, Isaiah, John.
– -Many passages in the Bible speak about the throne of heaven: Exodus 24:9-11, Daniel 7:9, Acts 7:49, Revelation 4:1-6
– Probably most of us wouldn’t debate Scriptures. We would agree that the throne of heaven is real….but do we truly get that it’s a REAL place? Do we Worship like it?
– Cop with a ticket example. The ticket holds no power, nor the judge. Does the Word? Does the Lord?
– “As I live, says the LORD,
Every knee shall bow to Me,
And every tongue shall confess to God.” -Romans 14:11 (NKJV)
– “All the earth shall worship You
– And sing praises to You;
– They shall sing praises to Your name.” -Psalm 66:4
– When the sun and moon fail and the heavens are rolled back we will see who is truly incharge of all things. It won’t be like a Wizard of Oz moment. God’s much grander and greater than we could ever imagine. Everyone WILL worship but we get to worship Him now.
– When Isaiah saw the throne of heaven he experienced the fullness of heavenly worship. What could he bring to praise God? What could he give to God? – God doesn’t need our Worship, we need to Worship Him. We were created to bring Him honor and if we don’t praise Him, He isn’t missing anything. – This is why Deuteronomy says, “worship not other gods before me”, not “when you worship”. We will all worship something. The question is, will we worship the One who deserves praise?
– Second point: Worship matters because how we worship matters to God.
– Ok…we have decided that the throne of heaven is real and that God deserves worship. Now what? Do we now do whatever we want or think and call it worship? – NO!
– There are MANY examples of Worship that is not accepted in the Bible: – Leviticus 10:1-2
– 1 Samuel 6:7
– In Amos God literally says it:
– Take away from Me the noise of your songs,
– For I will not hear the melody of your stringed instruments. -Amos 5:23 (NKJV)
– Even hidden in our passage from Isaiah 6:
– Part of our scripture from Isaiah: In the year that King Uzziah died, -Isaiah 6:1 (NKJV)
Points to unholy worship….the whole reason King Uzziah died was because of unholy Worship offered to God. In 2 Chronicles 26:16. King Uzziah, who had been a good and faithful King up to this point, goes in and burns incense in the temple. This job was reserved for the Levites and Uzziah is stricken with leprosy.
– Isaiah himself in our passage knew he couldn’t stand before a holy God. – How then can we offer God acceptable worship?
– We can’t
– It is Jesus who advocates us:
– My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. -1 John 2:1 (NKJV)
– We, like Isaiah, would come before the throne of God and realize that we are in trouble. We can’t open our mouths and say, let alone, sing anything to such a holy God.
– We need our offering to be covered. For Isaiah it was the coal. For us, it is the blood of Christ.
– Is that it then? We are good to go? NO!
– There is still worship that is accepted and isn’t.
– I am going to give you a few guides:
-What are the standards today?
1. If we are worshiping God and willfully living in sin. This is not accepted Worship:
For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, -Hebrews 10:26 (NKJV)
Christ can’t advocate for you when you are outside His sacrifice.
2. The worship isn’t about Him or goes against His Word. This isn’t accepted:
God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” -John 4:24 (NKJV)
-We must worship with the Spirit but if there is no TRUTH in our Worship…what spirit is really in our Worship?
-I have heard many MANY popular Christian “Worship songs” that have confusing teachings mixed in, or downright lies or heresies about God. Our Worship must be grounded on the truth of God’s Word.
-Would you want to sing something to you that isn’t true?
-A kid singing their parents a song example.
-Our Worship must be to God:
My praise shall be of You in the great assembly;
I will pay My vows before those who fear Him. -Psalm 22:25 (NKJV) -If these things are not met. It’s NOT accepted Worship.
-Songs might be great songs. It’s ok to sing those songs, but it doesn’t mean they are appropriate worship songs for the congregation.
3. Worship comes from the heart:
speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, -Ephesians 5:19 (NKJV)
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. -Colosians 3:16 (NKJV)
– Simply…we mean it. We don’t always have to love to sing, raise our hands, or bow down. It does mean that we recognize that God is worthy and we should praise Him.
– We might not always feel like worshiping but we praise Him anyway. He is always worthy. It isn’t when we have to motivate ourselves but when we are putting on a show that it doesn’t come from the heart.
– Example of when I didn’t feel like Worshiping God
4. Worship must have an outward expression:
– It is said that the angels have 6 wings in Isaiah 6…two cover their feet, two cover their face, and one set to fly.
– This is a picture for us that we should be twice reverent and once active. – Though our hearts before God are the most important thing in holy worship faith without works is dead:
– For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. -James 2:26 (NKJV)
– We raise hands (Psalms 28:2)
– We bow down (Psalms 95:6-7)
– We sing (Psalm 96:1-2)
– We clap our hands (Psalm 47:1)
– We shout (Psalms 100:1-5)
– We even dance a little (Psalm 149:3)
– All of these are found in the Bible so we do them
– We don’t do other things because they aren’t found in the Bible – You aren’t required to do all these things all the time but if you are physically able, why not? Are you truly thankful? Is this about God or is it about you?
– Third point: Worship Matters because if it can shake the doors of heaven, what can it do here on earth? – And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke. -Isaiah 6:4
– -Isaiah goes from a man whose nation is in turmoil. Who probably feels pretty hopeless. A man who is terrified and can’t stand before this holy God. To a man who boldly declares that he will be a messenger of heaven!
– -This is the power of the Holy Spirit. We see this same power in Acts 2. The disciples go from scared men who sin and deny Jesus, to men ready to spread the gospel to the world.
– -When we Worship God from our hearts, in truth, and in our actions, the Holy Spirit starts to move in power.
– That being said, our Worship is completely and solely for God. He doesn’t owe us anything, and it is good for us to have this mindset.
– -Not every time we worship will there be this big or profound move of the Holy Spirit in our lives. The way we would think it should look.
– -There are times when we simply choose to bring Him an offering of praise and doing everything we know to do, we trust that God will receive it. – This doesn’t mean the Holy Spirit isn’t moving. Did you know there is actually a direct link between self focus and anxiety. There are scientific studies that link self focus with anxiety….it’s like the Bible knows what it’s talking about: – Why are you [d]cast down, O my soul?
– And why are you disquieted within me?
– Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him
– [e]For the help of His countenance. -Psalm 42:5 (NKJV)
– -Oh, magnify the LORD with me,
And let us exalt His name together.
– I sought the LORD, and He heard me,
And delivered me from all my fears. -Psalm 34:3-4 (NKJV)
– This being said, when a redeemed and holy people praise God, mighty things do happen:
– -We see God tearing down walls in Jericho In Joshua 6
– -We see God tearing down Paul and Silas prison walls in Acts 16 – -God does mighty things through the praises of His people
– God rallies us through praise. He raises up an army of men and women who remember that He is the commander of angel armies. We get our eyes off of ourselves and on to Him.
– -One of the greatest things He does is that He actually goes into the hearts and minds of people and changes them. He inhabits the praises of His people and where light is, the darkness must flee.
– -My salvation story
– -He breaks down mighty strongholds (wrong ideas people have in their minds) through our praise
– -It is a mighty weapon again the enemy:
– Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants
– You have [b]ordained strength,
– Because of Your enemies,
– That You may silence the enemy and the avenger. -Psalm 8:2 (NKJV) – Conclusion:
– -Let’s go back to the throne of God
– -What if every time we came into the House of God we remembered who sits on the throne of heaven? What if we pictured that throne?
– What if you remember that all your singing goes to God? That He deserves your praise.
– -What if we came and confessed our sins before that throne? What if we worshiped God alone with all our hearts?
– -What if we made a choice to make Worship about God and not how we felt? – -How would our worship look? How would our lives look? How would our church look? How would our city and nation look?
– -We saw what happened to Isaiah and he was one man.
– -Bring Him Holy Worship church and see how heaven’s throne responds. – -Let’s pray
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