I recall hearing a preacher describe several comments he heard on a Sunday morning after services. The first was from a new Christian who enthusiastically said, "This is one of the greatest worship services I’ve ever attended!" Moments later, another member came up and snapped, "That music absolutely ruined worship for me this morning!" The preacher's comment was that it was hard to believe both people were in the same service!

Several years ago, newspapers reported a story of how a new Navy jet fighter shot itself down. That’s right. Flying at supersonic speed, it ran into cannon shells it had fired only a few seconds before. That’s fast!

It occurred to me that we get that way sometimes. Have you ever felt like you’re moving so fast that you’re running into your own cannon shells? Have you ever shot yourself down? More specifically, are you moving so rapidly that you don’t have time to worship God as you should? Maybe your engine is on fire, ignited by the shells that you yourself have fired.

I invite you, for the next 30 minutes or so, to let up on the throttle and slow down a bit and contemplate with me something that is very important to you and your God. I’m speaking of your worship.

Every Sunday millions of followers of Jesus Christ gather together for the purpose of worshiping God. They meet in many different kinds of circumstances: big churches, little churches, city churches, country churches. Some meet in multi-million dollar sanctuaries. Others meet in rented facilities. Some even meet in homes or out in the wide-open spaces. Some have loud, boisterous worship services. Others prefer a more quiet, contemplative, formal atmosphere. Some churches sing only traditional hymns. Others sing contemporary worship choruses or a mix of both.

No matter what kind of worship service, I believe I am safe in saying that, with few exceptions, most people want the same thing: they really want to worship God.

Of all those who worship God this Sunday, there will be many who experience true worship. There will also be many that simply go through the motions. They will return home empty, unfulfilled, and maybe even bored. Though they will have gathered together to worship God, they will have failed to do so.

Strangely, it isn't likely that the cause will be the size of the church or the style of music or the order of service. People will fail to worship and return home unfulfilled for reasons different from any of these. Yet amazingly, among those same people who experienced the same atmosphere, will be those who go home exhilarated, knowing that they have been in the presence of the living God.

I recall hearing a preacher describe several comments he heard on a Sunday morning after services. The first was from a new Christian who enthusiastically said, "This is one of the greatest worship services I’ve ever attended!" Moments later, another member came up and snapped, "That music absolutely ruined worship for me this morning!" The preacher's comment was that it was hard to believe both people were in the same service!

While much attention today is being given to such things as style and quality of music, order of services, atmosphere, lighting, sound systems, and the like, we must remember that the most important element of worship is the heart of the worshiper. Jesus said, "Those who worship the Father must worship Him in spirit and in truth."

The Bible says a lot about worship - particularly the attitude behind it. It says far more than we have time for here. Given our limitations of time, I want to consider a passage from the Old Testament. While we are not under the Mosaic covenant, the intent of both old and new testaments is the same - to establish and maintain a relationship between human beings and their Creator.

Please join me in Isaiah 6.

One thing a worshiper seeks to do is to consciously come into the presence of God. That is indeed what Isaiah had done in the event he describes here. His experience suggests four aspects of true worship that I want to point out to you.

See if you can take in the feeling of reverence that Isaiah had in what he described in verses 1-4:

Random House Dictionary says that to "revere" means "to regard with respect tinged with awe." Do you sense that in Isaiah's words? I picture him with eyes wide and mouth open as be contemplates the awesome presence of God in His temple.

There are two aspects of God's nature that seem to be opposite, yet they are both present in Him. One is what has been called His transcendence - that is, the fact that He is above and beyond anything earthly, natural, or finite. The other is His immanence - the fact that He is present in every part and moment of the created universe and intimately involved in the affairs of men. In short, He is high and exalted, yet He stoops to associate with the likes of us.

Both of these aspects are described in the same passage in Psalm

113:4-7:

God is high and holy, far above anything created yet He stoops to be concerned with the affairs of men.

Theology in this century has put far more emphasis on God's immanence than on his transcendence. Preachers and teachers have emphasized how He is our friend, our "personal" Savior. We sing songs like "He walks with me and talks with me and tells me I am His own."

These things are absolutely true and vitally important to us. Yet sometimes we forget the other end of the spectrum of God's nature. Maybe we don't speak as often as we should of His holiness, His awesome power, His majesty.

That is what Isaiah recognized when He saw the Lord as described in our text. He saw:

Worship begins with reverence - seeing God for Whom and What He is, recognizing His lofty position compared to man. He is not just "the big guy in the sky" or "the man upstairs" or some impersonal "higher power" or "sugar daddy." He is the Absolute God - absolute Holiness, absolute Love, absolute Power, absolute Judgement, absolute Mercy. He is worthy of all our praise and adoration! Praise God on High!

When you came in here this morning, did you have this in mind? Maybe at first you didn't. We assemble to worship and we also assembly to encourage one another - something that necessarily focuses us horizontally. So perhaps most of us came in talking and laughing and greeting one another. This is as it should be, and I, for one, am glad we are that way. I heard someone say the other day that "a cold church is like cold butter. It doesn’t spread very well."

At some point in our worship, though, we need to contemplate His exalted nature so that we have a proper attitude of reverence in our worship. It can happen when we pray. It can happen when we sing. It can happen during the Lord’s supper. It can happen when we listen to His word. But it needs to happen. We need a proper attitude of reverence in our worship.

Notice what happens next to Isaiah. After he is overcome with a sense of reverence for a holy God, he suddenly remembers his own unworthiness. His words to that effect lead us to a second aspect of worship.

Seeing the high and holy nature of God, Isaiah was at once stricken by the great contrast between God's perfection and his own sinfulness.

An off white color can appear pretty white until it is seen in the presence of white-white. Then it looks gray and dingy. When we ignore God's perfection, we can sometimes convince ourselves that we look pretty good, especially if the only thing we compare our selves with is ourselves or perhaps other imperfect humans.

Listen, Isaiah was no spiritual slouch! His level of dedication and concern for holiness would outstrip many today. Yet, one glimpse of the perfection of God and the extreme contrast caused him to say, "Woe is me, for 1 am ruined!"

In Luke 5 Jesus told Peter to put his net into the deep water. You know the story. Peter answered by saying that though they had worked all night and had caught nothing, "Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets." He wasn't very enthused. He was a fisherman by trade and knew that it was the wrong time of day and they were in the wrong kind of water. But, over the side went the nets anyway. You know what happened next. Luke 5:6 says, "they caught so many fish their nets were beginning to break." When they tried to bring them on board, there were so many that the boat began to sink! Suddenly, it dawned on Peter what was happening. He was in the presence of not just a man, but the living Christ! At that point he got down in the bottom of the boat at Jesus feet saying, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful Man, O Lord!" He got a glimpse of what he really was (and wasn't) in God's sight.

Something that happens when we realize we are in the presence of God is that suddenly we become aware of our own unworthiness. "Woe is me, for I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips."

Isaiah realized at least three things:

We call what Isaiah and Peter did in these two examples "owning up." It is confession. The word "confess" in Greek is a compound word, homologeo. Homo means "same" and logeo, "to speak."

Literally, it means "to speak or to say the same thing." Confession is an agreement with God. When we confess, we are saying the "same thing" about ourselves that God says: we're sinners in need of mercy and grace. Without God's intervention to save us, we are lost and will continue to be lost because of our sinful nature. We will never be capable of living apart from dependence upon Him.

It sounds pretty discouraging, doesn't it? It is discouraging, but it's true. Yet we must not stop here! To the one who has faced the truth about himself and his sin, God has a solution, which brings us to the third element of worship seen in Isaiah.

Worship is not something we can do on our own. We cannot worship without His help and participation. We cannot worship without His grace. Grace is undeserved mercy. It is seen here. When Isaiah admitted his own sinfulness the angel touched the coal to his tips. This suggests the thing Christ has done and continues to do for us if we are His people.

I John 1:9 says, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

Toward the end of Jesus' ministry He did an amazing thing for His disciples. As an expression of love He washed each of the disciples’ feet. He did this in the fashion of a slave serving his master. When He came to Peter, Peter balked saying, "You will never wash my feet!" Peter was incensed that his soon-to-be-king Master would stoop to such a level. Jesus answered, "Unless I wash you, you have no part with me." At that, Peter said, "Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!"

Peter learned a lesson about grace here: "Unless I wash you, you have no part with Me." The lesson was (and is) that we can only be made worthy by an act of God's grace. There is nothing we can do to earn or deserve His mercy. We can only receive it. Granted, there are things we must do to become recipients of His grace, but none of these is an act of merit. We must receive His grace if we want to have a relationship with Him.

The things we have been talking about so far - looking up, owning up, and looking back, should all be part of our worship.

Think of the things that we do when we come to worship. We sing. In some of the songs we declare to ourselves and one another the high and lofty position of our God and His mighty deeds. We pray, acknowledging His presence and position among us. We partake of the Lord’s supper. Here we do two things: First, we remember the extreme love and sacrifice of the Great and awesome God coming down to die the bitter death of a criminal (though He was totally innocent) on our behalf. Second, we examine ourselves. In essence, with a proper examination, we, with Isaiah, cry out in earnest, "We are people of unclean lips!" And, of course, in that condition, we become candidates for God's grace.

Yet it doesn't stop there. There is one more aspect in Isaiah's

account that is also vitally important for us. Worship is...

Worship is more than just singing a few songs, eating a bit of bread and grape juice, and listening to a sermon. Worship is also a lifestyle that goes forth from this place in a new commitment to serve God in gratitude.

When two people get married, they publicly vow to love, honor, and cherish one another until death parts them. The success of the marriage is dependent upon the couple's commitment to this vow. It doesn't matter how much money was spent on the ceremony. It doesn't matter what was the color of the bridesmaids’ dresses. It makes no difference how many people attended. These are all very nice, but irrelevant, really. The wedding ceremony is not the marriage. If the bride and groom aren't serous about the wedding vow, then the whole event is a charade and waste of time. A fancy wedding gown doesn't determine a good marriage. A good marriage is determined by the level of commitment the bride and groom have for one another as seen by the way they live the rest of their lives together!

In the same way, the music, the prayers, the scripture reading, the communion, and the brilliant sermons we hear (smile) are meaningless unless we leave here having readjusted our attitudes toward our Creator and recommitted ourselves to serve Him.

We refer to what we do here as our "worship service." Really, that is misnamed. In a real sense, our "worship service" begins when we leave this building to return to the world and serve Him.

I'm told that the wife of a well-known evangelist keeps a sign hanging above her kitchen sink that says, "Worship services held here three times a day." You see, each time we do service to others, even something as simple as cooking a meal, and do it well because of our love for Him, we worship. It is, therefore, a lifestyle. Seen in what Isaiah said, "Here am I, send me!"

Ted Malone, whose radio show came on early in the morning, told of an Idaho shepherd who wrote in and asked, "Will you, on your broadcast, strike the note ‘A’? I'm a sheepherder way out here on a ranch, far away from a piano. The only comfort I have is my old violin. It's all out of tune. Would you strike ‘A’ so that I might get in tune?"

Malone honored the request. Later he received a "thank you" note from the distant shepherd saying, "Now I'm in tune."

In case you haven’t figured it out yet, I have been trying as hard as I can to strike "A" for you. If the note has been clear and distinct (and true to the Bible), we should all strive to tune up our lives to its pitch.

So, as I strike "A" once again, based upon this classic passage of worship, see if your own worship is in tune.

Dave Redick is Minister of the Hwy 20 Church of Christ in Sweet Home, Oregon and Editor of The Preacher's Study. He may be reached at pstudysupport@comcast.net.

Copyright © 1996-2008 by The Preacher's Study. Permission is granted to subscribers to use this document in total or in sermon preparation in the context of the local congregation only. Publishing it in a book, on the Internet, or anyplace beyond the local congregation is prohibited.

All Scripture quotations and references are from the New American Standard Version unless otherwise stated.

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