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Does God care how He is worshipped?
Have you ever really put any thought into that question?
I’m going to leave that question up there for a few minutes as we talk about it, because the answer to that question may or may not have a profound impact on you and me.
Does God care how He is worshipped, or is He just satisfied that He is worshipped?
For instance, when we gather together on a Sunday, does God care how we worship or is He satisfied with the fact that we are worshipping in some way?
Let’s take a moment and define worship.
I’ve learned in dealing with my friends from different denominations and religions that just because I define or use a word in a certain thing doesn’t everyone else does as well.
According to Psalm 29:2, worship is ascribing to the Lord the glory He is due.
Now we again have to take a step back and attempt to understand “the glory He is due.”
If you can’t understand the glory He is due, then how could you possibly ascribe to Him the glory He is due?
J. I. Packer said that “The word glory, when applied to God, is always a declaration of His greatness and an invitation to worship....
He is far above us in greatness, and therefore is to be adored.”
In His commentary on the book of Ezekiel, Warren Wiersbe said, “One thing that is lacking in the church today is a sincere reverence for the name and glory of the Lord.
At least a dozen times in the Book of Psalms, you find the psalmist praising God’s holy name.
In fact, God’s people are identified in Revelation 11 as those who reverence God’s name .
Associated with God’s name is God’s glory, for His name is a glorious name.
When God’s people glorify Him, they bring honor to His name, just as obedient children bring honor to their family name.
“Hallowed be thy name” is the first petition in the Model Prayer, and one of the reasons God answers prayer is that His name might be glorified.
The messages of the Prophet Ezekiel, which we’ve been studying on Wednesday evenings, focuses on the glory of God, the throne of God, and the honor of the name of God.
God is called “Lord God” over 400 times in the book, and you find the solemn phrase “I am the Lord” 59 times.
In all that God says and does in the book of Ezekiel, He has one purpose in mind: “So that you will know that I am the Lord.”
That phrase is repeated more than 60 times in some form or another.
The Bible tells us over and over again that God is serious about His name, His glory, and the worship that is due Him.
In Isaiah 48:11 God says...
God will not give His glory to another.
He will not share it, because it is His and His alone.
He alone is the eternal, immortal, creator and sustainer of all things, and He alone is worthy of our worship.
But not just worship in any manner we choose.
He must be worshipped rightly.
Several decades ago, A. W. Tozer wrote these words in relation to the condition of evangelical worship:
It is now commonplace in most Evangelical churches to offer the people, especially the young people, a maximum of entertainment and a minimum of serious instruction.
It is scarcely possible in most places to get anyone to attend a meeting where the only attraction is God.
One can only conclude that God’s professed children are bored with him, for they must be wooed to a meeting with a stick of striped candy in the form of religious movies, games, and refreshments.”
And to that list I would add lighting, sound, and gimmicks.
This has influenced the whole pattern of church life, and has restructured what is supposed to be a time of corporate worship into a time of performance and entertainment.
Kent Hughes put it this way: “the unspoken but increasingly common assumption of today’s Christendom is that worship is primarily for us—to meet our needs.
Such worship services are entertainment focused, and the worshipers are uncommitted spectators who were silently grading the performance.
From this perspective preaching becomes a homiletics of consensus—preaching to felt needs—man’s conscious agenda instead of God’s.
Such preaching is always topical and never textual.
Biblical information is minimized, and the sermons are short and full stories.
Anything and everything that is suspected of making the marginal attender uncomfortable is removed from the service… taken to the fullest extent, this philosophy instills a tragic self-centeredness.
That is, everything is judged by how it affects man.
This terribly corrupts one’s theology.”
And He’s right.
Worship done wrong negatively affects how we view God, and a lesser view of God negatively affects our worship.
So, again, let me ask: Does God care how he is worshipped?
Yes.
Most definitely.
Listen to Leviticus 10:1-3.
Nadab and Abihu were Aaron’s sons.
They were priests and they had every right to offer sacrifices to God in worship.
But they did what God had not commanded them to do.
They brought strange fire to the altar, and because of that they were consumed.
Clearly then, God does have an opinion about worship.
He is a jealous God— a God who loves us, but a God who also instructs and commands His people to worship Him rightly.
Scripture makes it clear that worship is something we do, not just something we attend.
It is not merely just an issue for the pastors, musicians, and others who plan the service.
Worship is an issue for the entire congregation.
Worship is something we do together, and it is our responsibility to worship God as He desires.
Fortunately, God doesn’t leave us guessing on how to worship Him.
He has given us a pattern for worship in His word, and that is the only place to which we can turn to find a proper pattern for worship.
In God’s word, from beginning to end, there is a normative pattern for worship.
It is Scripture itself which sets the terms of worship.
If you’re not already there, turn with me to Isaiah 6, and we will be reading verses 1-8, which for many of you will be a familiar passage.
The passage can be found on page 490 in the Bibles provided.
Follow along with me as I read, and then we will discuss the Marks of Authentic Worship.
The first mark of Authentic worship is that:
Authentic Worship Begins with a True Vision of the Living God
In Isaiah 6 we are given a picture of authentic worship, one that teaches us what God expects of his people when they worship him.
First of all, the prophet Isaiah experienced a vision of the true and living God.
And if we are to worship God as he would have us to worship, we must also see God as he is.
Right worship begins with a vision of the one true and living God.
Isaiah explains that he has a vision of the Lord sitting on the throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of his robe filling the temple.
The throne is a symbol of kingship and sovereignty, indicating that the one who sits upon it is both King and Judge.
It represents both power and righteousness.
But there’s even more, for the one whose train filled the temple is not alone.
Verse 2 tells us that above him stood the seraphim.
Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.
The six wings of the seraphim—which literally means burning ones—convey a great deal of symbolism.
The wings which cover their faces must certainly indicate humility, while covering of the feed represents purity.
The Seraphim knew in whose presence they were, and they dared not look into his face.
These wing creatures were not merely flying or hovering there in silence.
They call out to one another, saying, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of host.
The whole earth is full of his glory!
Those words—holy, holy, holy—are known as the trisagion, which means “thrice Holy.”
In the Hebrew language there is no adequate to express what is being conveyed by the seraphim, so repetition is used in this way in order to make a point.
This thrice repeated pattern occurs again in Revelation 4:8-11.
The early church saw in this pattern a reference to the Trinity, and looking backward with New Testament eyes, we can certainly understand that affirmation.
But the central point of this construction seems to be one of emphasis.
When the seraphim call out, holy, holy, holy, they’re declaring God’s essence, identity, and being in terms of an all-surpassing holiness.
The holiness of God refers to his separateness from all of creation.
He is what we are not.
We are finite; He is infinite.
In other words, God is transcendent, and his Holiness reveals the difference and the infinite contrast between his nature and ours.
J. Alec Moyter defines holiness as God’s total and unique moral majesty.
God’s moral majesty is complete and without rival.
Holiness includes all God’s attributes.
Holiness is what defines him.
I wonder if the vision of God held by so many to come to worship is anything like what the seraphim are telling us here.
Do we worship with the understanding that God is holy and that the whole earth is full of his glory?
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