Sermon – Isaiah 6:1-8 - Worship

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

Sermon – Isaiah 6:1-8 - Worship

Pitts Creek and Beaver Dam Churches

Trinity

June 3, 2012

This morning we have gathered for worship. From time to time it is appropriate for us to pause for a moment and think about what worship is. Why do we worship? Whom do we worship? How do we worship? What is worship all about? Worship is an inner need that all of us have because we were created to worship. God made us a worshiping people. To not worship is a sign of great evil preventing us from doing what we were designed to do. So worship is as natural as eating or breathing.

As Presbyterians we have always valued our freedom to worship as we choose within biblical parameters. We reject any attempt by government or the denomination to tell us how to worship, what prayers to say, what songs to sing, what scripture to read. We believe that all of these choices are the work of the Holy Spirit acting though us bringing us to meaningful worship of our creator. But our freedom to worship as we choose is limited by what scripture teaches about worship. The Bible talks a lot about what it means to worship God. And they key text upon which we model worship comes from the sixth chapter of the Book of Isaiah. We will get to this, but first let's pray.

“Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen.” (John Calvin)

^NIV Isaiah 6:1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. ² Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. ³ And they were calling to one another: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory." ⁴ At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. ⁵ "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty." ⁶ Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. ⁷ With it he touched my mouth and said, "See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for." ⁸ Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!"

Isaiah's vision of heavenly worship begins with the death of a king. This is important. King Uzziah had been an extremely popular king. His 52 year reign coincided with the period of greatest prosperity and longest peace for the Kingdom of Judah. People had amassed great wealth. There were good reasons why the people of Judah might want to worship their dead king. But Isaiah saw a different picture of worship in his vision. The object of worship in heaven is not of an earthly king. Isaiah did not see King Uzziah sitting on the heavenly throne. In fact King Uzziah was nowhere in sight. The person sitting on the throne and the object of our worship is not the king, but God. Any other object of worship besides God will one day die, cease to exist. Only God, the creator of the world, can be our object of worship for eternity. Our understanding is that worship occurs whenever we come into the presence of God. Whenever we come for worship here at church we need to be prepared to be lifted spiritually into God's presence at the foot of his throne.

As Isaiah approached God's throne he heard the heavenly choirs singing “Holy Holy Holy”. Why would they sing “Holy” three times? Our understanding of this is that heavenly choirs are singing to the three persons who constitute our triune God. We have one God, in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And so the heavenly choirs are singing “Holy” for each person of the trinity. Whenever we worship we join our voices with the heavenly choirs singing praises to God. We praise God silently during our prelude, we listen as our choir sings praises to God, we speak praises to God responsively in our Bible song, and we sing our praises to God in our opening hymn. God hears our praises and accepts us into worship.

When Isaiah realized that he had come into the presence of God he knew he had a problem. God is holy and he was not. It is not permissible for sinners to come into the presence of God. Somehow we must first be cleansed of our sin. Isaiah realized that he was unworthy to come into God presence. And so he did the only thing he could do at that point. He admitted his faults, and confessed his sins to God. Whenever we come into God's presence in worship and join our voices with choirs of angels we must also examine ourselves to see if we are worthy to be there. If we are honest we must conclude that we are not worthy to be in God's presence and are taking a great risk to be there. So we do the only thing we can do and that is to confess our sins and ask for forgiveness.

God granted Isaiah's prayer for forgiveness and God purged his sin away with a hot coal. Likewise when we confess our sins we too are forgiven and our sin is purged away by the blood of Jesus Christ. So in worship we are made holy by God and made worthy to be in His presence.

Once Isaiah received the gift of forgiveness and was made holy he started to hear God speaking. This happens to us too. After we have confessed our sins we begin to hear God's voice speaking though the word of God read, sung, and proclaimed. Through our scripture reading and my sermon you hear God's voice communicated to you by the Holy Spirit. Listening to God's voice in worship is transformative. It leads us to new life. We will never be the same after hearing God speak. That's why it is crucial for us to be in worship every Sunday. Worship is not entertainment which you can take or leave, come and go as you like. Rather worship is a gift from God that transforms you into what you were created to be. But this doesn't happen all at once. Transformation takes place step by step for a lifetime. Each time you come to worship God you make a stitch in the fabric that will become your life. It will be tempting this Summer to miss worship as you enjoy camping and vacations. Resist this temptation. Make sure you go to church wherever you are. And if you stay here in Pocomoke don't miss worship this Summer.

As Isaiah listened to God's voice he must have been surprised by what he heard. God wasn't talking about the mysteries of creation or revealing the future. What God was doing was recruiting people to do His work in the world. You see God needs people who will pray for others. God needs people who will contribute financially to support church workers. God needs people to go into the world to proclaim the good news. So in worship God recruits the people he needs. This means that we are the people God is recruiting today. God wants us to pray. God wants us to tithe. God wants us in the world proclaiming the good news. So in worship we have time to pray, an opportunity to give and are prepared to be sent into the world to do God's work. These are all appropriate ways to respond to God's voice in worship.

When Isaiah heard God recruiting people for his mission on earth he quickly and enthusiastically spoke up. “Here I am. Send me.” Will this by our response today? Will we hear God's call in worship and respond in a life changing way? The answer is yes, if you have been in worship because there is no other response. When our creator asks us to do something how could we refuse?

So today we have gathered around the Word of God in praise. We have confessed our sins and have been forgiven. We have heard the Word of God read, sung and proclaimed revealing God's claim on our lives. And we have responded to this claim by confessing our faith, praying for others, and giving our tithes. And we are prepared to go into the world as God's own people do His will. This is what we were created to do. This is worship.

Father in heaven we thank you for allowing us to approach your throne of grace. We have joined our voices with the choirs of angels to sing your praises. We have confessed our sinfulness and received your forgiveness. We have heard your voice through the work of God read, sung and proclaimed. And we are now ready to go into the world as your people to pray, give to those in need and proclaim the good news of your kingdom. This we pray to the Holy Father, the Holy Son and the Holy Spirit, Holy Holy Holy. Amen.