The Wholeness of Worship Part 1

Pastor Mike will be speaking on The Wholeness of Worship Part 1. He will be reading out of Isaiah 6:1-8.

What is it that the Lord does as we are in his presence, overwhelmed by his greatness and his righteousness and his glory and holiness, and our sinfulness is fully exposed? The Lord meets us at our point of need by purifying us. Hello, this is Pastor Mike Sanders and I want to welcome you to the Hope Worth Having radio program all the way from Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. I serve as the senior pastor of the Open Door Church, and we are excited to be able to share God’s word with you today.

We’re going to be in Isaiah chapter six. That’s a classic chapter and one that a lot of Christians are familiar with. But let’s begin to dig into it and learn about the wholeness of worship.

I want you to take your Bible this morning to Isaiah chapter six, Isaiah chapter six. We’ve been tracking through the book of Isaiah, and when we look at chapters one through five, we can see that as kind of a prologue of the book as a whole, meaning that in these first five chapters that we’ve already covered, there have been some great themes that Isaiah has brought to our attention that he’ll continue to bring to our attention through all 66 chapters. We come to chapter six and we have an account of Isaiah’s initial prophetic commissioning, meaning that this is the moment in which Isaiah had a true encounter with God and he surrenders his life to be all in and fulfilling the call of God upon his life.

As you are reading through chapters one through five, remember that I had taught you already that there’s going to be this bouncing back and forth in the book of Isaiah, that there are times that Isaiah is talking about that future. He’s talking about in that day. He uses that phrase consistently throughout the book of Isaiah.

And then there are moments that he’s talking about the present and he is revealing to Judah and Jerusalem, the people of God, exactly some of the judgment that is upon them. The judgment is upon them because they have not honored God in their life. He is not first.

Everything else is first in their life, even accumulating wealth, as we saw in chapter five, is more important than their worship of God, their love of God, and their service for the Lord Jesus. And so they have put God on the back burner. So when we come to chapter six, it seems so unusual that Isaiah would then transition from all the different woes that we read about in chapter five.

And there were six different woes and they were heavy lifts as Isaiah was drilling down on the people of God and where they had strayed from their walk with God. But we come to chapter six and now he’s taking us to the past. Why is Isaiah doing this? I think that as we understand the prophet, I think he has a heart for the people and I think he recognizes that they’re overwhelmed with the weight of their sin.

And he is, in a sense, illustrating to them that he has been there. He understands what it is to have a sense of unworthiness and uncleanliness. He recognizes that as they are encountering all of the words of God that are saying, hey, woe unto you, woe unto you, woe unto you, that it can be crippling and crumbling to the heart of the people of God.

And it reminds us that Isaiah was a man who not only was pointing the finger to the people, but he was pointing it at himself. And he recognizes the words that the Apostle Paul had truly taught the young pastor Timothy in 1 Timothy 4, 16, when he said to take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this, you will save both yourself and those who hear you.

He’s not talking about salvation in the sense that he was saved from his sins, but he’s talking about the victorious Christian life. He’s talking about overcoming temptations and overcoming the challenges of the devil trying to distract us and draw us away from God. And so, the apostle reminds the young pastor, take heed to yourself, give attention to your own spiritual life.

Make sure that you are constantly keeping your heart in check with the Lord. I think that’s what we see in Isaiah 6, is Isaiah saying to the people, yes, I have this responsibility to give you the words of God, and they’re not always comfortable and they’re not always delightful, necessary, but hard to receive. And so, he takes them to chapter 6 and says, I want to illustrate how God is working on me, too.

We were taught in Bible college that long before you stand up on Sunday to preach the word, you have to let the word preach to you as a pastor every day. You guys only have to endure it for a few minutes, maybe 30, 40, 50. I know I’ve been known to go a little bit longer, but the pastor endures it every day.

As he’s in the word and God is preaching to him, taking heed to yourself, and this will help save you and those who hear you, that they may live victoriously. So, we pick up in chapter 6 of Isaiah in verse 1, and again, we’re going back into the past, and he’s reminding of this encounter he had with God. Verse 1, 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.

Above it stood seraphim, each one had six wings. With two, he covered his face, and with two, he covered his feet, and with two, he flew. And one cried to another and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.

The whole earth is full of his glory. And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke. So, I said, woe is me.

Now, I want you to stop for a second. I want you to see the connection again. Remember in chapter 5, he kept telling the men of Judah, the people of God, woe is them.

In order that they not be overwhelmed with the weight of their sin, he is now saying to them, I’m right there with you, woe is me. Woe is me, for I am 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.

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. And he touched my mouth with it and said, behold, this has touched your lips. Your iniquity is taken away, and your sin is purged.

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. Such a rich text, so much that you have probably already heard about this text if you are a student of the Bible in your own personal study with the Lord, and certainly other teachers of God’s word have expounded on this passage because it’s one of those classic passages. But this morning, I want to bring our attention upon the wholeness of worship.

The wholeness of worship. Here, Isaiah has this incredible moment of worship with God and to God. What is unique about it is that what we see here, it is in a time of tragedy for Isaiah.

He is taking the people back, and he is saying, I’ve been there. I have struggled. I have been overwhelmed.

I have been hurt. I have been touched with disappointment and tragedy. And he says in verse 1, in the year that King Uzziah died.

And I know what you’re saying to me, what’s that got to do with anything? In that Isaiah was a friend of the king, a close companion of the king. And he ministered to the king. And this friendship was deep.

And so, in the year of the death of Uzziah the king, in the year that my dear friend, King Uzziah died, it was in that moment, in that circumstance, in that tragedy, in that crisis, I saw the Lord. I know you don’t want to hear this, but some of the best times for worship and encountering God are in the middle of a crisis or even a disappointment in your life. Amid the crisis of King Uzziah’s death, Isaiah learned something about the impact of worship and the impact of God’s holiness on his heart.

He recognizes that there is something here that God has done effectually or effectively in his heart. And so, he reminds the people of God what this was like for him. It is a personal testimony.

It is a illustration of encouragement because if you’ve been hearing the woes of chapter five, then you are going to appreciate the woe of Isaiah. And the first thing when we think about the wholeness of worship that I want you to learn this morning is our ungodliness is exposed by our worship to God. That our ungodliness and our own shortcomings are bared, exposed, right before God as we are worshiping him.

Isaiah sees this, what is often referred to as a theophany. Whenever they say that they see the Lord or they saw God in the Old Testament, it is referred to an appearance of the likeness of God or something in the form of God presenting himself to this particular person. Moses said no one has seen God.

John the Apostle said no one has seen God as well. And so, how do we square this? How do we reconcile this? No one has seen God in his complete fullness. No one has seen God in his full glory.

As a matter of fact, Moses had to kind of hide his face as the glory of God on the mountain of God was being revealed to him in the book of Exodus. Moses, no one has truly seen but just a glimpse of God. But no one has seen the fullness of God, but yet here Isaiah says, I saw the Lord.

This theophany, this manifestation of God has been presented to Isaiah. It is a vision of God’s throne. And as he sees this vision, he states that he saw the Lord sitting on a throne, verse 1 of chapter 6, high and lifted up.

The train of his robe filled the temple. Above it stood seraphims. These are angelic beings who were circulating the throne of God.

He tells us that they had six wings and two of them covered his face and two of the wings covered the feet of the angels and then two were used to fly. The angel in the presence of a holy God, the angel in the presence of a God who is glorious, wonderful, awesome, and great was so moved by the greatness of God that they covered their face, they covered their feet as they circulated the throne of God. And one cried, one angel, one seraphim angel cried to the other saying, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of hosts.

The whole earth is full of his glory. It is this vision, this manifestation that when Isaiah sees it, he immediately sees his own unworthiness and sinfulness. As he describes the vision, then we come down to verse 5. What is his response to this vision? It is, woe is me.

I am undone. It’s the idea of, the word is the idea of coming apart. I’m falling apart at the seams.

And so Isaiah is saying every part of me is coming apart as I am in the presence of God and I am overwhelmed by his holiness and I am overwhelmed by his glory. What is it that initiates Isaiah’s thoughts in the presence of God to be so aware of his sinfulness is that he recognizes that he’s unclean, that he has many imperfections. This is what is unique about worshiping God, that is our attention is brought upon the greatness and the holiness and the worthiness of God and the transcendency of God that we cannot help but see in the midst of this great light of who God is that our own sinfulness is exposed.

Why is it that some people do not want to come to church worship service? Why would they rather stay home because they do not want their sins exposed? We see an illustration of this in Genesis 18 with Abraham in verse 27, the Bible says that Abraham answered and said, Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes. It’s not that Isaiah and Abraham struggled with self-esteem. It’s that they were in the presence of God and there was such a reverence.

There was such a awe of God that their sinfulness was clearly seen in contrast to the righteousness of God. And I want you to remember this as a believer, as you are striving to be more like Christ in your life, that we will never see our sinfulness until we contrast ourselves to the majesty of Jesus Christ. The mistake that many believers make today is they are comparing themselves or even contrasting themselves to other believers and other people and they say, Well, I’m as good as Fred and Ethel and I’m as good as them.

And so I’m doing pretty good. And when you compare yourselves to others, you might be doing good. But when you come into the presence of a holy God.

And you begin to measure your life into the majesty of Jesus Christ. The authentic believer is humbled and is seeking God’s grace. We see an example of this in the gospel of Luke chapter five.

Would you take a moment to turn their church in Luke chapter five? I want you to witness this. I think it’s important for you as a believer when you’re researching and studying the scriptures that you are not only looking for commands to obey, but patterns to follow. Because it’s easy to be sucked up into some false theology where people claim that they have seen God and that they have witnessed God and yet they’re so prideful about it and they are arrogant about it and they boast about it and there’s no humility in their life.

And yet that is not what I have witnessed as a pattern in scripture. Whether it was Moses, Daniel or Isaiah and even the apostle Peter. I’m in Luke chapter five in verse four.

When he had stopped speaking, he said to Simon, launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch. But Simon answered and said to him, master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing. Nevertheless, at your word, I will let down the net.

And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish and their net was breaking. So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats so that they began to sink.

Isn’t that the way God works? I mean, he not only fills our boat and our cup, but he fills the other boats and cups. Amen? What is Simon’s response? He knows that in the real circumstance, he’s a fisherman. He’s skilled at his job.

He knows that this was a true work of God. What is his response? In verse eight, when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’s knees saying, depart from me for I am a sinful man, oh Lord. That’s what I say to you that our ungodliness and unrighteousness is exposed by our worship to God.

How essential it is that you and I understand this as we come into the presence of God, whether it is in our personal time with the Lord or our corporate time together as followers of Christ. But I don’t want to leave you discouraged. I don’t want you to feel overwhelmed.

This is what Isaiah is saying. You understand because as he is proclaiming the word in chapter five, declaring all the woes, he’s now illustrating to them, this is what God did for me, that as I came into his presence and he exposed my ungodliness and he exposed my unrighteousness, this is what happened. Look at verse six.

Then one of the seraphims, those angels that were crying out, holy, holy, flew to me, having in his hand a live coal, which he had taken with the tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth with it and said, behold, this has touched your lips. Your iniquity is taken away and your sin purged.

What is it that the Lord does as we are in his presence, overwhelmed by his greatness and his righteousness and his glory and holiness and our sinfulness is fully exposed? The Lord meets us at our point of need by purifying us. God sent an angel in this case of hot coal to touch Isaiah’s point of unworthiness, which was his lips. Surely had it been his hands that were unclean, the Lord would have touched his hands.

The fire of the coal brought regeneration and forgiveness and grace to the place of impurity in Isaiah’s life that he was most sensitive to. For you, as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, you understand that the scripture says in 1 Thessalonians 4.3, for this is the will of God, your sanctification, that God is bringing the fire of worship to your point of uncleanliness, to the point of your need, to the point where you are struggling in his presence. And it is through the work of Christ on the cross that the blood of Jesus Christ is ministering to your heart as you stand in his presence and you are unworthy and unclean.

And as you cry out to God for grace and forgiveness, he does not just sit on his throne, but he flies to your heart and he flies to your point of need. And he brings regeneration, forgiveness, and grace to you. What is the fire of worship? Hear me, write this down, in that he refines us.

It is God who burns out the residue of what is unworthy in our heart. For what we find that as we as believers are being sanctified because it is the will of God, your sanctification is his will. Your purification is his desire that God is using people, circumstances, and events in your life to bring you to that point where he is refining you.

He is refining your heart. He is burning away all the residue of what is unworthy and what is not glorifying and what is not honorable to the Lord Jesus Christ. But this fire of worship is also consuming us because it takes the bondage out of our lives and burns it up.

If we find ourselves in the bondage of addiction, if we find ourselves in the bondage of some habitual sin that is dragging us down as believers, if we find ourselves so weighted down by the things of this world and the sin that so easily besets us, it is in the fire, in the crucible of worship that God is consuming us and he is releasing us from that bondage. The fire of worship is that he is melting us. He is melting us.

There’s no doubt that the circumstances and the trials of life can harden the heart. There’s no doubt that our hearts are in need of softening. It is in the moment of worship personally and corporately that God is making your heart soft again to him.

As you walk through the dusty roads of life and your heart builds walls and defenses because of the offenses of relationships and circumstances, it’s God who brings you back and melts your heart to be tender and soft towards him again. It is not only in the fire of worship that he is refining me, consuming me, and melting me. He is warming me.

He is warming us as believers as we come and gather this morning and we encounter God and we see him high and lifted up as we sing praises to God, as we pray and worship the Lord in our prayers, and as we read the scriptures and worship the Lord, as we fellowship together and worship to God. It is God who in this fire of worship is warming our hearts. He is warming those cold hearts that are in so desperate need to be thawed.

You thought that just inviting someone to the church was about reaching some kind of a number, but it’s about bringing people into the fire of worship that warms their heart towards Jesus Christ. The fire of worship also ignites us when we are turned off of God, life, problems. He turns us back on for Christ.

This is the refining work of God. This is what Isaiah is trying to communicate to his people. Do not be overwhelmed by all the woes.

Do not be overwhelmed because as we come into the presence of God and we have a great reverential all for God, that there is a God who either sends a messenger or sends an angel or sends himself to fly to you. I want you to underscore that in verse 6, that he flew to me, Isaiah says. God did not abandon me in my uncleanliness.

He did not abandon me in my becoming undone and coming apart at the seams. He did not abandon me as I heard the woes of his righteousness and his holiness and his glory, but he sent down one of those angels who touched the very lips of my heart and he cleansed me, refined me, and he warmed me to the Lord Jesus Christ. What is the point of your greatest weakness? In chapters 1 through 5, it’s kind of like a prologue to the book of Isaiah as we’re learning about key principles in these different chapters.

But now we come to chapter 6, and this is kind of a commissioning, if you will, a preparation of the prophet Isaiah. He displays before us an incredible experience that he had in worshiping the Lord in a time of great discouragement in his life. And so we want to look into that wholeness of worship and make sure that as we are worshiping the Lord, we are honoring him and we are seeking his glory in every area of our life.

And so I hope this vision of Isaiah, of God on the throne, gives us a great sense of God’s glory, but also a clear picture of our own sinfulness and how much we need God’s forgiveness in our life. I want to thank you for being a part of our radio program. And I want you to know that you can go to our website and learn more about the Hopeworth Having ministry.

And it is a ministry that we are broadcasting and advancing the gospel of Jesus Christ through radio, television, internet, social media. And we want to let everybody know that we can around the world that Jesus Christ died on the cross, rose again, and is alive today, sitting at the right hand of the Father, interceding on our behalf. And we pray that you will come to know Jesus Christ as your Savior.

This is Pastor Mike Sanders reminding you that in Christ there is hope worth having.