What Exactly is Worship? Part 1

Pastor Mike will be speaking on What Exactly is Worship? Part 1. He will be reading out of Isaiah 1:11-20.

It seems to me that so many Christians have quit thinking, and here God says, I don’t want you to check out your brain when you come to assemble as corporately as believers, but he says, I want you to reason with me. Hello, this is Pastor Mike Sanders, and I am your host today with Hope Worth Having radio program, and we look forward to sharing the hope that is found in Jesus Christ as we explore the Bible today. I want you to grab your Bible today and join me in Isaiah chapter one, and we’re continuing our study in the book of Isaiah, and today we’re asking the question, what exactly is worship? What is true, authentic worship? So I want you to join me as we study together.

If you have your Bible this morning, I want you to join me in the book of Isaiah. And just a few weeks ago, we began this journey, this long journey through the book of Isaiah. We’re still in chapter one, and I’m not sure if we’ll make it even if we enter into the millennial to be able to finish this great book.

The question before us is, what exactly is worship? You might say, well, pastor, isn’t that what we’re doing this morning? And you’re right. In some sort of a way, we are, yes. This is a worship service, and I’ve often taught you, church, from top to bottom, we’re worshiping God.

It’s not just the music, grateful for it, but it’s as we are serving, we’re worshiping. As we are praying, we’re worshiping. As we give, we are worshiping.

As we fellowship, we are worshiping. Every aspect of the service is an act of worship unto God. And so, we are truly worshiping.

But we must remember that God may not see worship the same way as we do. We sometimes see it as a function or perhaps of something that we do. But when we come to Isaiah chapter 1, we have a deeper look at worship.

And I want you to see that as we pick up in verse 11 and note what the scripture says, as the prophet, under the inspiration of God, has given us these words, to what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to me, says the Lord. I’ve had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed cattle. I do not delight in the blood of bulls or of lambs or goats.

When you come to appear before me, who has required this from your hand to trample my courts? Bring no more futile sacrifices. Incense is an abomination to me. The new moons, the Sabbaths, and the calling of assemblies, I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting.

Your new moons and your appointed feasts, my soul hates. They are a trouble to me. I am weary of bearing them.

When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you, even though you make many prayers. I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood.

Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean. Put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes. Cease to do evil, learn to do good, seek justice, rebuke the oppressor, defend the fatherless, plead for the widow.

Yeah, God doesn’t consider worship like we do. I think that’s something that we can conclude from just reading this. When we think about the word worship and this question that is before us, what exactly is worship? It’s an old English word that means worth, ship.

And so it’s the idea of adding value to someone or something. In essence, when we worship God, we are giving him worth, we are giving him value. Worshiping God involves reflecting on who he is and reflecting and adoring and giving worth to his beauty, his character.

We often say that God is worthy. You know the song, is he worthy? Yes, our God is worth our praise. He is worth our worship.

That is what true worship really is. And it’s essential that we see it beyond a function, beyond some kind of different religious offering that we may give to God, not to limit it or even to downplay our worship to God and the worship service. But my goal here, and I think what the prophet wants us to see, is a greater connection and a deeper view of worship.

You remember when we were together on Isaiah 1, verse 1 through 10, that the prophet was lamenting the nation’s condition. The nation had abandoned the way of the Lord and was living in open sin and idolatry. And so he comes out very strong, and in verse 10, he addresses the people and the leaders sarcastically.

Look at verse 10 of chapter 1 of Isaiah. He says, hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom. Now he’s speaking to the nation of Judah, but sarcastically, he calls them the rulers of Sodom.

Give ear to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah. So he not only addresses the leaders, but he addresses the people. And many of you know the story of Sodom, Gomorrah, how God rained down judgment upon a people whose lifestyle was contrary to the word of God, that they had indulged themselves with homosexuality, and abusing, and flaunting, and perverting their life, not living in accordance to the word of God or even some kind of an accountability to God.

But here, the prophet brings it home when he shares with the people of God and the rulers that they are just like Sodom and Gomorrah. And it’s easy for us to say, well, that’s hard to believe because as we do a little historical study, we see that really, as far as we can tell, the people of Jerusalem had not dived that deep, but what God was looking was deeper, not just in actions, but in their heart. And so where does he begin in verse 11? As he has already addressed the sinful nation, he now is getting right to the heart of the matter.

And what is it that is the outgrowth of a nation that has turned its back upon God? It is a people, God’s people, who no longer worship him in alignment with his truth. And what we see in verse 11 through 17 is an outward religion or an outward expression of worship that has nothing to do with the heart. And so God recognizes they haven’t abandoned their religion.

They were faithful to assemble. They were faithful to follow the law of Moses and offer up their sacrifices and to follow through in great detail of the rituals. But over and over again, we see in the text that God says in verse 11, I have had enough.

And then we see in verse 11, I do not delight. And then he says in verse 13, bring no more futile or vain, or we could put the word empty sacrifices. And then again in verse 13, he says, I cannot endure the iniquity and the sacred meeting.

It’s not that they quit going to church. It’s not that they quit assembling together. It’s not that they weren’t gathering to worship God or that they weren’t even doing the functions of worship.

It’s that their heart was far from God. They had not moved forward in their faith. The Hebrew writer reminds us in Hebrews 6, 1, therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith towards God.

And his whole point is that the people of God are to keep growing and to keep maturing and to keep moving forward in their walk with God and their commitment to the Lord. And, you know, what happens is that we get involved in the elements of worship and the function of worship and the process of worship, but our heart is not tracking together with God. And so, as was already stated, we kind of go through the motions of worship, and we walk out of here no different.

We’re the same. We have not changed deep within our hearts. The Lord would sooner that we suspend our religious worship than to indulge in some kind of a hypocritical worship to him.

He would rather us to just abandon this foolishness of pretending and this facade that happens so often in our life is that we just put up the facade, and it looks good, but the heart is distant from God. The psalmist said in Psalm 51, 17, the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart. Oh, God, you will not despise.

Yes, even in the Old Testament, they were taught that it’s more than just a sacrifice. It’s more than just the animal. It’s more than just the action.

It’s the heart. What God is looking for is a surrendered heart. He is looking for a heart that is contrite, humble before him, that is broken, a heart that is genuine, authentic before him.

But what was God receiving? Empty formalism, empty worship. And so their attempts at worship during their assemblies was basically unacceptable to God. And why was it so unacceptable? Not just the fact that their heart was far from God, but because their lives were stained by sin.

So, yes, they came in. They did the performance. They did the show of worship.

But then they went out, and there was no genuine devotion to God in how they treated others. At the crux of this message is this point. And if you get nothing, I need you to get this today.

And before you fall asleep in Pastor Mike’s sermon, I need you to get this, and that is this, that you cannot be right with God and wrong with others. You can’t treat people in your life with sin, or you’re mistreating them, or you are attempting to take advantage of them, or to abuse them emotionally, physically. You just cannot be right with God if you’re wrong with everybody else.

It’s impossible. That’s why Peter said to the believers that the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayers, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil. And he’s not talking about unbelievers, he’s talking about believers.

And this is what Isaiah the prophet is saying when he says to them in verse 15, you spread out your hands, they’re lifting their hands unto God, great, wonderful, but he says, I’ll hide my eyes from you. Even though you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood.

That could refer to the blood of the sacrifices, or it could be symbolism of how they treat other people. Either way, the point is clear, that God will not hear the prayers of his people if our life is not aligning with the word of God, and that it is hypocritical to come into the house of the Lord and worship God when we are walking in sin. So, 3 John tells us, beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good.

He that doeth good is of God, but he that doeth evil has not seen God. See, people watch our lives, don’t they? They see how we act and react, and how we handle circumstances. And they are seeing whether we worship God in our daily activities, that all that we do is for his glory, and not for our selfish ambitions, or our own agendas, but rather everything is about God.

And so, they look at us, and John is saying, you need to do what is right or what is good, because that’s what God’s good work is in you. That’s how he is glorified through you. So, we come down to verse 16 and 17, and there’s a call to repentance.

Look at it again. Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean, put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes. Cease to do evil, learn to do good, seek justice, rebuke the oppressor, defend the fatherless, and plead for the widow.

So, the prophet is not trying to tell us to work our way to heaven. He’s trying to say, show yourself as being a person who has been touched by heaven. That God has done his good work in you, that you are to be a person who promotes justice.

You’re to be a person who learns to do good, that you speak up and step up against those who are oppressing others. This is a reflection of our heart. This is a reflection of who we are as we worship God.

We are worshipers of God, and we worship him in spirit and in truth. And the Bible tells us to worship him in spirit, which means that it needs to be authentic. He’s not talking about the Holy Spirit.

Certainly, the Spirit of God leads and guides all of our worship. That’s a known factor. But in the idea of this word, in the original language, he’s talking about being real in your worship, being true to God in your worship.

And then, not only are you true to God in your heart, but you are guided by the truth. Worship God in spirit and truth. The truth shapes our worship, and it shapes how we live.

And as we are out there interacting with others and operating as believers and true worshipers of God, people are seeing whether our life is glorifying God, reflecting God, then they know that there is a God, and that God can change a heart, and God can transform a person. James put it like this in James 1, pure religion, undefiled before God, and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and the widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. Now, again, sometimes people like to make these the marks of salvation, but that’s not the point.

The point is that these are the marks of someone who’s truly been saved. These are the marks of true worshipers who are genuine before God in their walk with him. And so, Isaiah continues on after this call of repentance, after he acknowledges in verse 11 through 15, he points out the failure of outward religion and outward worship going through the motion, and then a call to repentance in verse 16 and 17.

Then we come to an incredible invitation in verse 18 through 20. Let’s read it. Come now and let us reason together, says the Lord.

Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land.

But if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. What beautiful sets of words, amen? Because, see, that’s what I love about God is that God doesn’t just say, hey, Mike, this is your problem. But he says, I want to show you a path to deal with it.

He helps me and restores me and renews me. He brings me back. He shows me the path.

We like to refer to it like this, that it is redemptive discipline. Redemptive discipline. When we came many years ago, we believed it was important to establish redemptive discipline in the Christian school because we believed that redemptive discipline is the way of the Lord.

And so it is in our walk with Jesus Christ this morning is that God is not cutting you off because you came just dragging in and going through the motions. And though he may have been disappointed that your heart was not really there and all in with worship this morning, God is saying, hey, I want to restore you. I want to renew you.

And he says, here’s the way. And he gives us an invitation. Let’s look at first the tone.

It’s a tone of reason rather than demanding. He says at the outset, let us reason together. I love this because one of the things that I think is so essential in the 21st century in the American church is this skill set to think or to discern.

It seems to me that so many Christians have quit thinking. There is no discernment in the body of Christ and that whatever is the razzle-dazzle and whatever moves the heart and the emotion, whatever makes the foot tap, it must be from God. And if it came down from heaven, or at least I should say it says heaven or Jesus on it, it must be true.

But you see, the Bible tells us that the devil appears as an angel of light, doesn’t he? And we’re called to test all things, to prove all things. And here, God says, I don’t want you to check out your brain when you come to the gathering. I don’t want you to check out your brain when you are coming to assemble as corporately as believers.

But he says, I want you to reason with me. I want us to reason. Use your noggin.

And so it is that God is not only a righteous judge, but he’s a loving father. And his tone towards us is, let’s think about this. Let’s just think about what you’re doing, why you’re doing it.

And his tone is one that he certainly has great sorrow over his children. We jump back to verse 5 and 6. He said, why should you be stricken again? You will revolt more and more. The whole head is sick and the whole heart faints.

Verse 6, the sole of the foot, even to the head, there is no soundness in it, but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores. They have not been closed or bound up or soothed with ointment. He is saying, you’re sick.

And I care about you. And I care enough about you to intervene, to be intentional, not to just leave you in your sickness and to lay in your spiritual bed and let you deteriorate spiritually and drift from God. He says, I want to get your attention.

So God, out of great love, gives this great invitation. And that he gives it in a heart that cares. We remember our Savior in Luke 13, who said, oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her.

How often I wanted to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing. Our empty worship breaks the heart of God. Our hearts that have drifted break the heart of God.

He cares. It does matter. It is important to him.

So what an amazing thing that God reasons with us when we stray. How incredible that the Lord Jesus knocks at our door, even though we have become lukewarm in our faith. You remember the words of Jesus, behold, I stand at the door and knock.

And if anyone hears me, my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and dine or fellowship with him and he with me. This is the tone that God has this morning to each of our hearts. It is a desire that we would open the door and that we would reconnect with God and have that fellowship with him at a deeper level.

That our Bible reading would be more than just, I checked that off. That our prayers would be more than, yep, got that done. So I don’t have to worry about pastor getting on to me about that.

But that we would want to fellowship him at a deeper level. That we’re not worried about a checklist, but we are passionate about spending time with Jesus every day. Let’s talk about the terms of this invitation.

Stepping from his bench, the judge offers the accused a full pardon. Both wool and snow are white by nature. And the Lord is offering to give each of us, his people, a new heart and a new nature.

It’s like the words of John when he said, if you walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another. And the blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanses us from all of our sin. You see, friends, when we respond to God, he takes the initial step.

He reaches out. He’s the one that is searching, looking, and being intentional. But when we respond to his great work in our hearts, what does he do? The Bible teaches us that he cleanses us, he washes us, and he makes us brand new, gives us a fresh start in the Lord Jesus Christ.

And what I want you to know in 1 John 1, 7, is that there’s a connection here. Again, what I’ve already taught you, that you can’t be wrong with others and be right with God. And you can’t be wrong with God and be right with others.

It’s just an impossibility. It’s something that we have to keep in the forefront of our hearts. And so, John says, we have fellowship one with another.

You see, you may drift. God hasn’t kicked you out of the family, but the fellowship’s not as sweet, right? You’ve been to those Thanksgiving dinners when it was awkward. Maybe a brother and sister aren’t getting along.

Maybe a mom is upset with a son. Maybe a dad is disappointed in his children. And yet, we all tried to do the Thanksgiving dinner because we’ve always done the Thanksgiving dinner.

And we kind of just showed up, and we ate the turkey, and we ate the cranberry sauce, and then we were trying to figure out how to get out of there because we can’t stand some of these people, amen? But here’s what God does. He comes in and wipes all those offenses away. All those issues away.

And he brings us back into sweet fellowship with him. And he brings us back in sweet fellowship with others. It wasn’t the sacrifice of animals.

It wasn’t the rituals that was going to make it right. It had to be getting right with God in their hearts. That was essential.

You know in Isaiah 53, verse 1 and 2, I want you to, real quickly, just jump over there. Will you do that for me? Because it becomes such a thread throughout this whole book and even the Bible that it’s hard for us to ignore this great passage in Isaiah 53, in which we are reminded, who has believed our report and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant. And this is a prophecy about Jesus.

And as a root out of dry ground, he has no form or comeliness. And when we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.

And we hid, as it were, our faces from him. He was despised and we did not esteem him. And look at verse 4. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.

Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted, but he was wounded for our transgressions. We know that in chapter 1, verses 1 through 10, that the prophet has been lamenting the condition of the nation, and he feels and sees the nation abandoning the way of the Lord and living in open sin and idolatry. So it also gets back to their worship, where it’s insincere and they are just kind of going through the rituals.

So he’s calling God’s people back to authentic worship. And that’s where we need to be in our own spiritual life, is making sure that we are truly worshiping the Lord, not just in our gathering together as believers, but in our personal lives. As we live our lives, we’re worshiping God and that it’s coming from our heart, that we’re not just stuck in this ritual of doing things because we’ve always done it that way, but that we truly have a love in our heart for Jesus Christ.

I want to remind you about our website. That’s hopeworthhaving.com. A lot of things going on on the website. We mentioned podcasts.

There are also some blogs and things that you can see and learn. A lot of information out there. Take advantage of it.

Let it be a help to you as you’re growing in your faith, and I pray that it’ll be a tool that’ll help you to become firm in your faith. This is Pastor Mike Sanders reminding you that in Christ, there is hope worth having.