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How to Worship
This sermon is part of the Frequently Asked Questions series. In it, Pastor Floyd uses examines Isaiah chapter six to show what genuine worship should entail.
$6.00 — $12.00
What does God think of America? What does God think of our lives? Did you know that in the 1st 5 chapters of the book Isaiah God shares a few things that He believes about us, and even a few things He believes about our nation, called America?
Oh now let me set this in order today, textually we’re not mentioned; He’s speaking to Judah. He’s speaking to Jerusalem. He is speaking to the people of God in Isaiah’s day. But without question, even though textually, our names are not there, the practicality of that text is really talking so much about us today.
In the book of Jeremiah, it is very interesting to see what happened in the book of Jeremiah. In the book of Jeremiah, the very first moment of the book He talks about the calling of the prophet, Jeremiah. Whereas in the book of Isaiah, God doesn’t do it that way; in Isaiah for 5 chapters He lays, if you may, the lay of the spiritual land, showing us that there was a great need for a prophet. And of course that prophet, that was end up being called was the man named Isaiah.
It is quite interesting when you look in the first 5 chapters of the book and you think about America, and you think about our lives, and you think about the condition of Judah and Jerusalem, and you think about the people of God in Isaiah’s day, we find so many similarities. I’ll let you decide which ones are similar, and which ones are not, but you let’s just take the text for what it says.
In fact, we read about their rebellion towards God. We read about how they had forsaken God, and they were now so estranged from Him. We read about how they were like Sodom and Gomorrah in relationship to the sins being committed, and the people of God were guilty of offering vain offerings and prayers that never reached above the ceiling because they were filled with such emptiness. That moves into a moment where real captivation goes on because He talks about how they were filled with pride. And all of sudden they begin to be wise in their own eyes. Does that not sound a little bit more like us?
In fact, then one of the real denotations in the scripture really captivates my attention. They begin to call evil good, and they begin to call good evil. With all of that, we read how they were right for the judgment of God. But then a loving, merciful, kind, benevolent God begins to call a prophet, a man that He made a prophet, named Isaiah.
Isaiah’s message in simplicity was as follows: Repent. Turn from your ways. Come back to God or God will judge you over your spiritual condition presently. Yet the meaning of Isaiah’s name really was the heartbeat of the message of Isaiah, and the message of God as given to this prophet of God. For the name Isaiah means: “The Lord is salvation.” The Lord is salvation.
In other words, the answer to your spiritual condition is not found in anything other than the Lord, and ladies and gentlemen, teenagers, He is still the only answer today. We learn historically and biblically that Isaiah, he prophesied during the reign of 4 kings. In the very year God called him, later on that year evidently, King Uzziah died because he noted in chapter 6 the year that King Uzziah died. From King Uzziah he prophesied during the reign of King Jotham, and then King Ahaz, and then of course, King Hezekiah.
Isaiah was directly quoted in the New Testament over 65 times, more than any other prophet. And Isaiah’s name was mentioned over 20 times in the New Testament. This prophet was a profound man, a man who was transgenerational. The book of Isaiah is much like the book that I hold in my hand today called the Bible. This book called the Bible has 66 chapters, really 66 books would it not be? There’s an Old Testament that’s composed, or comprised of 39 of these books, and then there is the New Testament comprised of 27 of them. The book of Isaiah that we’re going to study over the next 13 weeks, we learn that there are 66 chapters in one book. It’s a very long book. And we also learn in this book that it’s much like the Bible because there is part of it that is in those first 39 chapters very much like this, and then over here in the last 27 chapters, it’s very much like this. Just like the Bible. That’s why some scholars would say there is book 1 of Isaiah through the first 39 chapters, then there is book 2 of Isaiah, the last 27.
Well in this phenomenal book, most scholars believe that Isaiah prophesied all the way from 740 B.C. until about 680 B.C. Notice how it runs because we’re going toward the birth of Christ, not from the birth of Christ. So it all started 740 years before the Lord came, and he prophesied for a period of 60 years all the way to about 680 B.C.
I want you to read with me from the scripture about how it all began in Isaiah’s life because this morning that’s where we’re going to begin. I want you to stand with me in honor of the scripture; we’re going to be looking at the 6th chapter of the book of Isaiah. I want to urge you, always bring a copy of the scripture with you, please. When you bring a copy of the scripture, I want to urge you today if you do not have a copy of the scripture, talk to one of our pastors, and when you talk to one of them we will make sure you get one if you cannot afford one.
But I want you to look with me to Isaiah 6. I’m going to read from the English Standard Version beginning in verse number 1. I hope you have a pen with you because with this pen, I want you to note just a few things in the scripture.
“In the year that King Uzziah died,” that’s a worthy thing to note in the scripture, it’s very significant, he said, “I saw the Lord,” oh ladies and gentlemen you need to put that phrase into parenthesis, “I saw the Lord.” “…sitting upon the throne,” that is significant also, “high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him,” circle those 2 words, “stood the seraphim.” Ahh, seraphim, circle that word. “Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one,” meaning of the seraphim, “called out to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.” And then notice there’s a transition, “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,” look at this, “have seen the Lord, have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” Amen. “Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs,” notice this, “from the alter. And he touched my mouth and he said: “Behold, this has touched your lips;” what a profound statement is made then, “your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.” Notice the next transition, “And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for,” what? “…us?” Then I said,” Isaiah said, “Here I am! Send me.”
“Here am I! Send me.” Oh Father I pray today in the name above all names, the name of Jesus that you will speak profoundly to our lives today. Use the word to impact us into being spiritual champions for the Lord. And we pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.
God appeared to Isaiah, and the Bible says He called him in the day that King Uzziah died. In the year that King Uzziah died. We learn from the scripture that King Uzziah had been marvelously helped by the Lord that is significant, until he began to see himself as being strong. Marvelously helped by the Lord until he had seen himself to be strong!
2 Chronicles even speaks to is when it talks about Uzziah’s life. It says in chapter 26, verse 16 the following words: “But when he,” that is Uzziah, “was strong, he grew proud, to his destruction.” What a profound word in the scripture.
In other words even though he was helped marvelously by the Lord, there came a point in King Uzziah’s life that he got puffed up with pride. We all have to be careful of that. And when he became puffed up with pride, listen to what he did, he began to take privileges that kings do not even have. He walked into the temple, and he began to offer sacrifices, and to burn various matters before the Lord, the priest walked in and said, “You can’t do that! You stop that King Uzziah!” King Uzziah became defiant. He became angry, and the moment he became angry you know what God did? God zapped him with leprosy. King Uzziah’s life ended living very lonely, all by himself. And while his legacy could have been that he had been helped marvelously by the Lord, his pride turned his legacy into one thing, a leper. The legacy of being a leper.
In a day that was filled with empty worship and vain prayers, God so loved His people, and God so loved Judah and Jerusalem, that God took a 20-year-old young man, are you listening students? A 20-year-old man and He called him to be the spokesman to the entire area of the world. This 20-year-old man, his name was Isaiah.
Isaiah was called miraculously by God, and the very first thing God did in the calling was that He taught him about worship. In fact, is that not one of the most frequently asked questions in our culture today? What is worship? How do you worship? Over the next weeks that we’re going to have together, I’m going to talking from the book of Isaiah on the theme, “Frequently Asked Questions.” Now today we’re going to begin with the first of those questions, “How to Worship?” Because you see we learn in the book of Isaiah something that we need to learn here today in our culture, and in our generation, and that is really, what does scripture say about how to worship?
In 1995, I went on a 40-day journey with God in prayer and fasting. In that very first journey of that length God used a lot of passages in the scripture to speak to my life profoundly. And one of the texts that God used to so rivet my heart was this Isaiah 6 passage. And I really felt the Lord gave to me a biblical definition of what real, genuine worship is! I’ve shared it some through the years, and today I share it simply as a backdrop because it’s so represents this passage today.
Worship is an encounter with Christ that results in lifestyle change.
That’s what worship is all about. That’s exactly what happened to Isaiah. Isaiah encountered the living Christ! You see I believe firmly that Isaiah had in the scripture what we could theologically a theophany, an appearance of God, and he saw Christ that day because so much of Isaiah he gives to us words about who Jesus is. Again, and again, and again he saw the Lord! And you know what? When he saw the Lord, ladies and gentlemen, his life was never, never the same.
Listen friends; do not get caught up in what I call fluffy worship today. Now what do I mean by fluffy worship? Most people today in the church world equate genuine worship with various outward practices like clapping. That makes me a real worshipper. Or raising my hands to God, or standing when a song begins to be sung, or real worship is a long series of songs put together, or it’s the use of video, or drama in some capacity. Oh no, real worship is when you close your eyes, or even when you sing a certain style of music, that’s what real worship is all about. Oh I tell you what, we better be careful. Those things, I believe in every one of them and I have practiced every one of them, but that’s not what real worship is about. If we think that’s what real worship is about, then arrogance will take over our hearts, and we will think that we’re the only generation that has ever understood what real worship is about!
One of my great concerns is how so many church leaders today are standing declaring I’ve never known how to worship, the church of the past generation has never known how to worship, you watch me, I now know how to worship, and I’ll teach you how! I want to tell you something that is wrong, wrong, wrong! The church is the foundation in the New Testament has always known how to worship God! It is not a new secret that someone has now discovered. And we need to be real careful, very, very careful. If we do it this way then no one else has ever really done it that is fluffy worship!
Genuine worship, listen to me today, is an encounter with Christ! And when we encounter Christ, then our lives changed more into the likeness of Christ. Some things begin to be altered in our lives like never before! The key questions that we must ask ourselves as we leave various worship services that take place across the world, our listen, our private time with God every day, which is really what needs to happen. Those are moments of worship, are they not? They should be. And the questions that we need to ask ourselves is, “Did Christ reveal Himself to me today? And if so, how did He reveal Himself to me?” “What did He say to me?” “How is this going to impact my life?” “What has altered about my life because of what I have heard, and God has said to me today?”
For if there has not been some altering of a lifestyle we have to ask ourselves in a very transparent way, and authentic manner, “Have we truly worshipped?” It appears to me that every time we really encounter God in the scripture, change takes place. Would you not agree?
You see there are some components of worship that happened in Isaiah’s life that teach us what real genuine worship is. There are three of these components I want you to notice in the scripture today: first of all:
- Worship begins by looking upward.
Worship begins by looking upward. Remember? It was the year that King
Uzziah had died, and then he says, “I saw the Lord.” In the Hebrew it is the word, “donay,” meaning that he saw “the sovereign” Lord. When we are looking upward to God in worship, we will see God as God revealed Himself to Isaiah.
How did God reveal Himself? Break down the text, the text will tell you everything you need to know. He saw:
1) God is sovereign. That’s the first thing we need to note. God is
sovereign. What does that mean? It means that He is over all; He is in all, and He is through all! He is sovereign over all affairs. How do we know God is sovereign from Isaiah 6? I’ll tell you how today. He was sitting on the throne. Sitting where kings sit, that’s where God sits. Sovereignty is only held by God Himself, not anyone else on this planet, or ever in the history of the world. God is sovereign.
And Isaiah saw something that we all need to see today, and that is that when all of life can be in a turmoil, and life gets in a turmoil, we need to be able to remember what we see when we read the scripture. And what we see when we read the scripture; He’s sitting there on the throne! And while our lives might be upset from time to time, and we’re not sure how it’s going to end up, we need to remember folks we’re here to worship a God who is sovereign over all of those things in life. So God is sovereign.
But he also saw:
2) God is majestic. Majestic. Majesty surrounded Jesus on the throne. How do we note the majesty that is there? The train, just the train of His robe was so big that it filled the temple. Wow! That’s big. I mean that’s some kind of train of the robe! I want to tell you today ladies and gentlemen He is majestic! I believe that one of the missing ingredients in worship today in church life is us worshipping about the majesty of God! God is majestic! He is majestic.
But:
3) God is also holy. He talks about how God is holy. A moment ago if you circled that word, “seraphim” he talks about the seraphim in verse number 2. Notice what the Bible says, the seraphim, they were standing in his honor. And they were serving Him with blazing speed because their purpose for being created was to burn with worship. But who were the seraphim? They were heavenly beings. They were the highest order of angels, and they were called the seraphim.
The Bible says each one of those seraphim had 6 wings. With 2 of those wings they covered their faces. Why? With 2 of those wings they covered their feet. Why? And with 2 of those wings they flew throughout heaven, all around the throne of God. Why? Listen, they covered their faces, why? Reverence towards God. Where is the reverence toward God in our generation? With 2 they covered their feet. In humility. Where is the humility in today’s church world? And with 2 he flew in service to God! To do whatever God was telling him to do. He was called to serve the Holy One! And as the Great One on the throne would, would say the commands, the seraphim would come and they would execute the commands of the Holy One, the Lord God Himself.
The seraphim became so taken aback by what they saw, one seraphim called out to another, “Holy!” And the other one called out over to this other one, “Holy!” And the other one called out, “Holy is the Lord God of Hosts!” And all of them said, “The whole earth is full of His glory.” It was done, we know, an antiphonal manner. One was standing, and one was flying, and one was there with all of their being, “Holy,” and over here another one would cry, “Holy!” and over here another would cry, “Holy!” Holiness was everywhere.
Why was the repetition important in the Hebrew language? When a repetition occurs, holy, holy, holy, it is there because it results in what would call the superlative, meaning that God is super holy! There is no one holy like God. He is holy, holy, holy, not just holy, holy, holy, holy. So what does holiness mean? Holiness means separateness. Separateness. He is separate from you and me. He is different than you and me. We are fallen, God is holy, and has never fallen. Little gods on this earth can self-proclaim themselves to be god, but none of them are like Him. He is holy and there is none like Him! Holiness is His glory and presence, and His glory and presence is holy.
I want you to know today that God is sovereign. God is majestic. God is holy! But also, he saw:
4) God is powerful. Powerful. He voice shakes the very foundation of everything including your life. And His presence fills the house of God like it wants to fill your life. I love to be around water. I don’t like to get in the ocean, but I love to sit by the ocean, walk by the ocean, with a book in my hand, because the Bible says the sound of the oceans are like the voice of God. Powerful. Always speaking, ever flowing. The Bible here says that His voice, His name, His voice, shook the very foundation of everything.
Oh my dear friend when we worship genuinely, when we preach, and we sing, when we are before God on this earth, we must be about declaring the reality of the truths like God is sovereign! God is majestic! God is holy! And God is powerful! You see today the tragedy in worship today is this: It is more about us and our preferences than it is about God and who He is. That’s what it’s about. It’s more about us. It’s more about our preferences than it is about God and who He is. When Isaiah saw the Lord, guess what we see? Ourselves. When Isaiah looked upon God, you know where we look? At our inward needs, our inward preferences, that’s why we say, “Well my need is…” Well I prefer we just sing this kind of song and I can’t sing another, I just don’t go along with the other.
Our preferences. Hey, you know what? Music is nothing more than a snapshot in the course of time. That’s all it is, just a snapshot of representation of somebody’s worship to God. That’s what it is. And every now and then God so gives us great music that transcends all the course of time and generations, and there are moments, it doesn’t matter whether it’s a hymn, or rather it’s a chorus, or if it’s a brand new song God has put in someone’s heart, if it gets us to the point of seeing God like we need to see, leading us to a point of letting God change us inwardly, and outwardly, then obviously we can understand and grow through what God gives us to sing.
You see, there is a casual nature of worship today that we need to be very, very cautious about. Reverence. Humility. Service. Sovereignty. Majestic. Holy. Powerful. Worship begins by looking upward. It doesn’t stop there though.
2. Worship continues by looking inward. That’s what happened to Isaiah. Remember here he is seeing the Lord. If you got a little case of dementia today, he saw Him, remember, as majestic? Sovereign? Holy and powerful? And when He did guess what he says then? Notice the transition in verse 5, “And I said: “Woe is me!” Meaning what? Meaning I am unworthy to see the Lord. I am unworthy to worship the Lord. That’s what he is saying. Woe is me. Judgment is upon me. He states these words: He says I’m lost, meaning I am ruined. I am different from the holiness of God. God is holy and I’ve seen His…I’m a sinner! That’s what he is saying.
Then he says, “My lips are unclean.” I can’t join the seraphim in their worship, my lips are unclean. My lips do not speak of God’s greatness, God’s holiness. I’m unworthy to join in praise and worship for I; I have seen with my own eyes, I’ve seen the Lord of Hosts, the King! I’ve seen Him, and He is almighty! And He is awesome! Ladies and gentlemen listen. We use the word awesome to so many things! Be careful! There’s only one thing awesome in life – God! He is almighty and He is awesome! And I saw Him, he said, and now ever since I’ve seen Him, I see myself as miserable and I see myself as unworthy.
Until one of these seraphim, God commanded them to come, and He took a burning coal from the alter, and He touched my lips and my mouth with that burning coal. And He pronounced to me, Isaiah, your guilt is taken away, and Isaiah, you are no longer unworthy. And Isaiah your sin has been atoned for and been cleansed! Wow!
May I remind every one of us biblically, and theologically, of something we have no comprehension of, the Bible says that from the foundation of the world Jesus was slain. That was not some blood of an animal that came and covered the heart of Isaiah; it was the blood of a Lord Jesus Christ who had been slain from the foundation of the world. And what he was touched by was not simply a burning coal, but he was touched by Calvary itself, which my friend today, our alter is not in anything other than in the gift of Jesus on the cross for our sin! Calvary is our alter! For it was at Calvary that the perfect offering was given, and was sacrificed, and now that blood covers our lives. And miraculously makes us worthy to worship the Lord, and worthy to sing praise and honor to God.
WE don’t have to walk around any longer and say I’m so unworthy to give my testimony. I’m so unworthy to sing songs about Jesus. Oh no. If you have been to the Lord, and the Lord has touched your life, and if the Lord has forgiven you of your sin, I want to tell you today, the blood of Jesus has made you more than worthy! And that blood still constantly makes you more than worthy to join the seraphim, and all of heaven, and even all the earth. Now listen, if we don’t worship the Lord, even the rocks will cry out! Worthy is the heaven.
Worship begins by looking upward. Worship continues by looking inward.
3. And worship, genuine worship, always leads to looking outward. Worship leads to looking outward. WE see the Lord as He is, and we see ourselves as we really are, very important, then and only then will we hear the voice of the Lord. Look at what verse 8 says, key phrase, “And I heard the voice of the Lord.” The voice of the Lord. May I remind you he could hear because now he has seen the Lord? As revealed in the word he saw the living word. We have the written word. We have the full revelation, what more do we need?
And then he saw himself as he is before God without the blood, with the blood, and when he saw himself as with the blood and forgiven, and his sin had been atoned for, even from the foundation of the world, he heard God say, “Whom will I send?” Who will I send? And who will go for us? Very important, us. I believe and others believe this is a word about the trinity, that God is one but He appears in three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit is saying, “Who will go for us?” Who will go to this people with deaf ears, and hard hearts? Who will go and prophesy judgment upon them? Who will go and offer hope for them if they repent? Who will go? That’s what He was asking Isaiah. Who will go? And Isaiah heard Him! Because he has seen Him, and now he understood who He was, and guess what happened? He said something like this: Here am I. Send me.
Here am I. Send me Lord. After he saw God as Himself, and after he saw Himself as he was before God, forgiven and cleansed, notice what he said: “Here am I.” Notice his availability. “Send me.” Notice his willingness. I ask you today, how available are you to God? How wiling are you to God? That means send me anywhere. Send me whenever you want to send me. Send me whatever you want me to do. Just send me! In other words Isaiah, he volunteers God I’ll go and I’m not talking about the Tennessee Volunteers! I’m talking about before God he volunteered and said God here I am! Send me! Send me!
All across this church, just like most churches in the world, needs exist, cries go out. Help – you can do this or you can do that. Hey, maybe if we spent a little more time on teaching people what it means to genuinely worship, there will not have to be those kinds of pleas, but we are more than willing to volunteer when God grabs our heart, and He changes us more into His likeness.
Genuine worship will result in us looking outward. It is not just about us gazing in the clouds, hoping that we will see somebody that looks like God, and it’s certainly not about us gazing at our navels because our needs are before anything else. Oh no it’s not about our preferences; it’s all about Him my friend! It’s about Him! That’s why we have to answer some very tough questions.
Questions like:
How available are you to God?
How available are you to God today? I ask you that. How available are you? I ask you today:
How willing are you to go and do what God says?
How willing are you? You have to settle that my dear friends. How willing are you to go and do what God says?
I’ll tell you how we can answer those questions. It all depends on one thing, and one thing alone, are we involved privately, and are we involved publicly in genuinely worshipping the Lord? Because if there’s genuine worship going on, “Here am I. Send me.” “Here I am Lord, willing and available, and whatever the question the answer is, yes, yes, that’s the answer.”
Upward. Inward. Outward. Now just think about it. It all started, it all started with Isaiah, when he received a special touch from the alter. It all started when his life was changed, and God called him to a lifestyle of constant and continual worship. That’s when it all took place. So I ask you this morning, look at the depths of your heart, have you ever been touched by Calvary? Has the blood of Jesus ever taken away your sin? Has the blood of Jesus ever forgiven you of your sin? Because in reality can a lost person really worship, a person that does not know Christ personally? No! Worship is about those of us who have been bought by the blood of the Savior, and now we’re ready to worship! Now we’re able to worship! Now we are worthy to worship the Lord. Is that not correct?
It reminds me of words that come from a snapshot. A few years ago, as expressed I was shackled by a heavy burden. Remember? Beneath a load of guilt and shame, then the hand of Jesus touched me, and now I am no longer the same. He touched me.
I ask you today, has He ever touched you? Has He? Oh my friend I beg you today, I plead with you today, if you have never let the Savior touch you, let Him touch you today. Let Him forgive you of all of your sins. Let Him take you, like He’s done many of us in this room, found us in an unworthy state, and He made us worthy by His precious blood. Calvary’s touch changes your life, and Calvary’s touch changes your destiny.
I ask you also this morning are you willing, and available to do whatever God wants you to do in your life? Are you? I want to ask you also this morning, how many of us need to be a part of a church that will help us look upward? We really can’t do a lot to help you look inward, that’s between you and God, but I tell you what, we’re not perfect, no church is perfect, we want to do what we can to help you look upward. TO see God as Isaiah saw Him, sovereign, majestic, holy, and powerful, because when that happens, there’s an atmosphere that occurs where there’s all of a sudden an authentic transparency that occurs, where I’ve got to get before God, and once I get before God, I mean, whatever you need me to do Lord. I want to go do because I’ve been given such a gift of forgiveness, how in the world would I not want to share what has taken place in my life, cleansed and forgiven by a perfect, loving God who’s extended His mercy toward me?
He touched me. Has He touched you? How many of you need a fresh touch? The fresh touch doesn’t mean that you’re saved again, but the fresh touch means that you realize, maybe in a brand new way, who God really is. And He ushers, just as He filled the temple with His glory, He fills your heart once again with the glory of God. Oh God may that happen in each one of our lives.
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