Our Worship Transformed
– Part 3
“The UNDONE and UNDIGNIFIED WORSHIPER.”
Recap:
Week 1 we ask the question – Why
are we here…Answer – TO worship Jesus Christ and him alone.
Week 2 – We looked at the aspect
of being an unquenchable worshiper. We
talked about the fact that..
“This world is
full of fragile lovers – love that abandons, love that fades, loves that divorces,
love that is self-seeking. But the
unquenchable worshiper is different.
From a heart so amazed by God and his wonders burns a love that will not
be extinguished. It survives any
situation and lives through any circumstance.
It will not allow itself to be quenched, for that would heap insult on
the love it live in response to.” We
were challenged to not be overcome and be quenched by our choices, (fixing our
eyes on God vs. our situation), or by Bitterness and anger with one another, or
by not spending adequate time in God’s word.
Now – Week 3
Turn in your bibles to Isaiah
6:1-5
6 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and
exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above
him were seraphim, 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.”
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!
(UNDONE)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.”
Isaiah was an undone worshiper. But what is an undone worshiper? Here are some words that
should help…DISCOMFORT…SOUL SEARCHING…NEVER THE SAME. Notice in the text…Isaiah knows he has seen
God, he has been challenged by God and he has seen the greatness of God…He was
discomforted…”I am undone, I am ruined.”
He was soul searching…”I am a man of unclean lips” …he knew the truth
about himself…but also he was never the same…”Here am I, Send me…”
When God begins to make you
UNDONE in your worship he begins to strip you apart, not to destroy you, but to
build you back together – stronger, purer and closer to him in all aspects of
your worship. To be undone as a worshiper is to be put under the spotlight of God’s holiness and allow him to
search the heart even more closely.
Isaiah realized this in his worship – HOW GREAT GOD IS and HOW SINFUL HE
WAS and he was broken. Psalm 51:17 My
sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart you,
God, will not despise.
Here is our first point:
1A] Genuine
worship will lead to UNDONE worship – EMBRACE it. Isaiah 6:1-5, 7
Sometimes the bible
illustrates this for us. Remember
Jonah? Ask to go somewhere for God and
preach repentance, Goes the other direction, Swallowed by a giant fish,
(UNDONE) for three days in the belly of the beast…Discomforted, Soul Searching,
Never the Same. What does he say?
“7When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, Lord, and my
prayer rose to you, to your holy temple.
8 “Those who cling to worthless idols turn away from God’s love for
them.
9 But I, with shouts of grateful praise,will sacrifice to you. What
I have vowed I will make good. I will say, ‘Salvation comes from the Lord.’”
10 And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry
land.
Sometimes we find ourselves
off course – straying a bit and God reaches in and shakes us up to get us back
to being on track. Have you been
there? Not sure? Maybe this helps…
5 ways to know your off track:
5)
Other things dominate your thought during the worship service
4)
Church has lost its value to you…fishing, hanging out, sleep are all more
important
3)
Being challenged from God’s Word makes you angry
2)
Canned Prayer times
1) Bible
Reading non-existent
? – DO you find yourself
there? God’s reaction – Brokenness! Take time to remember who God is…What he did
in saving you…refocus your commitments and make sure you are going in the right
directions.
Here is what I know –
SERVANTS of GOD – they come and go and he uses whomever he wills. WORSHIP leaders can be REPLACED and weekly
they are. That is not what God is
after. BUT think about this…as a CHILD
of GOD – you are indispensable. God’s
work in you when you are UNDONE might be short lived – if you are willing to
respond.
Psalm 30:4-5
Sing the
praises of the Lord, you his faithful people; praise his holy name.
5 For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.
5 For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.
Are you Discomforted
because of who God is and who you are?
Embrace it, Repent and be the undone worshiper God desires.!
2b] Genuine worship
will lead to UNDIGNIFIED worship – LIVE it Luke 15:20; 2 Samuel
6:21,22
Illustration: David’s Dance Story! David danced in an ephod at the return of the ark of the covenant. His wife was uber embarrassed by the act. How would David respond?
21 David
said to Michal, “It was before the Lord, who chose me rather than your father
or anyone from his house when he appointed me ruler over the Lord’s people
Israel—I will celebrate before the Lord. 22 I will become even
more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes. But by
these slave girls you spoke of, I will be held in honor.”
23 And Michal daughter of Saul had no children to the
day of her death.”
Before you think I gone off the deep end, let
me say that I am not advocating us becoming crazy dancers. But I want us not to forget, when we really
see who God is, when we really begin to get to know him, we must become not
just undone, but undignified worshipers.! What does that mean? 1) FORGETTING YOURSELF and 2)FORGETTING YOUR PRIDE. Our Heavenly father loves us with extravagant
abandon. Passionate, undignified worship
is our only reasonable response. Praise
is a word often used throughout the scriptures. Its root is in the Hebrew word
– “Hallal.” - It is where we get the
word Hallelujah from. It means, “to be
clamorously foolish or mad before the LORD.
Clamorously means to demand attention.
Again – We can’t whisper our praises.
It is saying, praising the Lord is me demanding, or wanting or asking
for the attention of God Almighty to tell him how Great He IS!
NOW – if anyone had
any reason to be passionate, excited, overjoyed, it’s the CHURCH! But, we are not!
? – Do you know how
passionate God is for you? Let look at
Luke 15.
11 Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two
sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me
my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.
13 “Not long after that, the younger son got together
all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in
wild living. 14 After he had spent everything, there was a
severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15 So
he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his
fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the
pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
17 “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of
my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death!
18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him:
Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am
no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired
servants.’ 20 So he got up and went to his father…
NOW THINK ABOUT THE RESPONSES HIS FATHER COULD SAY TO HIM:
1) "Close the Gates – put out the
lights, he’s not welcome here..."
2) "Kill him! I never want to see him
again!"
3) "Tell him I’m busy – come back
tomorrow and if I have time…"
4) "I’m not hiring servants today..."
Think about his reaction
“...But while he was still a
long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran
to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him...”
I even see it as even more
meaningful because of how he must have been treated when his son left.
1) He was embarrassed in
public by this boy and in front of his peers.
2) He was hurt privately by
the betrayal
3) Everyone sees this same
son back broke (Unwise, foolish son who squanders half his wealth)
4) This same son has made him
an emotional wreak
And in that moment he picks
up his robe and bolts to him. All those
who new the situation had to have been like:
“What the…”
Now, who is the boy in the
story? We are! Think of it…all the times we failed him…we
mocked him and ran from him…
If we are the son, who is the
Father – Right! God…Jesus…How does he respond.
HE is longing for us, looking for us, wanting us to come back home…
With that in mind…are you
measuring your praise? Illustration –
Nate raising his hands!
Listen, if your measuring your offerings of praise, you haven’t seen his
worth yet! Unquenchable worshipers are undone by God’s grace and undignified in there actions of
worship…where are you at?
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