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We are a local church family on the North Coast of Northern Ireland, committed to growing CLOSER, going DEEPER and reaching FURTHER with the love of Jesus.
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Hello everyone and you're very welcome to the podcast. All of these recordings are taken from our January equipped tracks And in this series, we're looking at worship. The what, the why, and the how. It's our hope and prayer that this will equip us well as we seek to be true worshippers of our father in heaven.
Speaker 2:There we go. Welcome back. You. Yes. Welcome back.
Speaker 2:Third week of equip. And as we sang together, I hope the message of Christ dwells among us virtually. I hope that we turned our eyes upwards. Singing has this amazing power to take our eyes off ourselves and to turn them up. And we step into the salvation story from across the centuries, sung by the church, century after century after century, and Christ's message dwells among us.
Speaker 2:I hope that's what happened. Did you come to church this morning and choose to worship the Lord and let his message dwell among you richly as we teach and admonish one another? It's sometimes a very difficult thing to do, but it requires us to just kinda get over ourselves sometimes and to look to him. Music is a beautiful gift and it's a joy to worship the Lord with music and singing and I am very glad that He has taught our hearts to do that. I was going to talk today about music itself.
Speaker 2:I was going to talk about how it's baked into creation, how God himself is actually a singer. But in preparation, I felt that information actually fit better into another week. So if anyone saw the sort of list of what we were going do on the first week and kind of had your notes prepared, Sorry. I've just racked up, but you'll live. In week one, we'll get to what we're talking about this week.
Speaker 2:Basically, we're in Isaiah six. We're in the throne room. It'll make sense. In week one, we read Romans twelve one, and Paul exhorts us in view of God's mercy to us as fallen sinners, redeemed by his grace, he exhorts us to offer our bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God. And we can't do this ourselves, but Jesus took our sin on the cross and he made us clean, so now our bodies are holy and pleasing to God because we're justified freely by his grace.
Speaker 2:There's the summary, if anyone's ever died. It's very, very important to root ourselves in this truth before we do anything else. Because salvation itself is not the end. It's the glorious beginning of the Christian life. But we're not here to sit and scroll our eyes away on Instagram.
Speaker 2:We're not here to waste our lives. We're not called to continue living a life of willful sin and claiming that it's all okay because we're repenting. We have a much higher and greater calling than this. This is what we're talking about this week. And make no mistake.
Speaker 2:I am not preaching a works based salvation. We are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, that's upstairs. Our sins are taken away as far as the East is from the West. There's no condemnation for those who are in Christ. We have to get that clear before we do anything else today.
Speaker 2:Clear? Yes. Excellent. Cool. When I was four, thereabouts, I asked Jesus into my heart.
Speaker 2:And I remember My mom explained to me how that works, and then for some reason I decided that I wanted to put some music on while I prayed the prayer. We could read into that, but not today. So I went to my room and I pressed play on a CD player with whatever disc was already in it. And to the soundtrack of the Twenties, I gave my life to Jesus, and I asked God to forgive me. Believe it or not, it's true.
Speaker 2:For the next portion of my life, I did my very best to be a good boy. I went to Sunday school and I sang in church and I tried not to hit my brother and I tried not to shout at people and not to get angry. Basically, I memorised the 10 Commandments and I was like, well, as long as I don't do any of them, I'll be fine. Early days in the faith and I completely missed the point. The desire to do good works was good, but it wasn't coming as a response to grace at that point.
Speaker 2:Instead, I was desperately trying to make sure I didn't disqualify myself from salvation. And in my head, forgiveness was basically a safety net. Forgiveness was there for if I mocked it up. A lot of the time whenever we talk about good works, that's how we can see it. We can see it as a sort of a proof that we're saved.
Speaker 2:I'm a Christian, and therefore, because I'm taking that name, I must behave this way, must avoid that place, mustn't say that word, mustn't watch that thing on my phone, mustn't do that thing with my girlfriends. And the heart behind that is very good. We are told to resist temptation, to throw off the sin that so easily entangles, but when the lens says I'm a Christian, therefore I need to make sure I don't do X, this can end up being a chore. And doing good things ends up feeling like we have to prove our worthiness to God, And this is not what the Gospel is. The Gospel is not about fixing ourselves up.
Speaker 2:Galatians five:one says, It's for freedom that Christ set us free. Stand firm then and do not let yourselves be burdened again by the yoke of slavery. And the order of that is really important. We are set free, therefore we stand firm in our freedom. We refuse to be held captive.
Speaker 2:The whole theme of Galatians is that as Christians, we're no longer under the law. We should not allow sin to hold us captive. But if we spend all of our energy trying to avoid sin and don't replace it with something good, then we spend our lives constantly watching ourselves fail because we're fighting in our own strength. And this isn't the freedom we're saved for. So what are we called to instead?
Speaker 2:To answer that question, we are gonna look at two scriptures. This is where we are today. Ephesians two ten and Isaiah six:one-eight. So we are going start in Ephesians two ten. It says, for we are God's handiwork.
Speaker 2:This is talking about us once we have been saved, once we have been forgiven of sin. We are God's handiwork created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God has prepared in advance for us to do. The key point here is that we are not saved by accident. We're saved for a purpose. It's noble Sunday school phrase and it can lose its meaning and become a cliche, but God has a plan for your life.
Speaker 2:Before we were saved, before we were born, God knew we would be his children. Before I ever walked this earth, God knew my character, my strengths, my weaknesses, my life experiences, my skills, and he knew this because he's the one who made me. And like a wonderful father, he prepared good things for me to do, which will bring life and joy and salvation to others in Jesus name. And this is true for everyone who has been saved. You're no longer a slave to sin, but you're God's handiwork.
Speaker 2:He's created you to do the good works that he has prepared in advance for you to do. In his providence, he set it up so that you will encounter those opportunities to do those good works. And that, living like that, that is a life of worship dedicated to serving the Lord and the others. With me? There's quite a lot of mental gymnastics in that one.
Speaker 2:Okay? So how do we do that once we know that we are saved to do the good works he's given us? How do we do that? Please turn to Isaiah six. This is where we're going spend the majority of our time today.
Speaker 2:It's a really, really well known passage. I read it all the time. It's using calls to worship all the time. It's great. It's easy to skip over it because we've heard it all before a lot of times, but we're gonna do a bit of a deep dive.
Speaker 2:Susan, context on this, Isaiah was born. He was a prophet in Jerusalem from around about seven hundred years before Jesus was born. His name that truly means Yahweh saves, it's Yahweh, the personal name of God. His prophecy was crucial in setting the stage for the suffering servant king, the Messiah. Isaiah served God faithfully over a forty year ministry, which was at times humiliating and dangerous.
Speaker 2:And chapter six describes his commissioning. So as we read, don't just listen to the words, but step into Isaiah's shoes and imagine the scene. It's very, very visual. This is the throne room of heaven. So Isaiah chapter six opens.
Speaker 2: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. 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. And they were calling to one another, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. The whole earth is full of his glory.
Speaker 2:At the sound of their voices, the doorposts and thresholds shook, and the temple was filled with smoke. Woe is me, I cried. I am ruined for I am a man of unclean lips. I live among a people of unclean lips and my eyes have seen the king, the Lord Almighty. Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar.
Speaker 2:With it, he touched my mouth and said, see, this has touched your lips. Your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for. Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, whom shall I send and who will go for us? And I said, here I am, Send me. There is a lot in this passage, so let's not rush.
Speaker 2:We wanna make sure we see the details. In the year that king Uzziah died, Isaiah is given a vision. He had the privilege of being lifted up to the throne room of heaven and gazing upon the beauty of the Lord. And everything he sees communicates one key message, God is king. He is set apart from all others.
Speaker 2:Isaiah sees the train of his robe filling the temple, and this is a really confusing image. But in those times, the hem of a robe or a garment represented authority. If there were two kings fighting a battle, then the winner would cut off a section of the loser's robe to represent that their authority was taken away. That's what David does to Saul. Yahweh wears a robe which fills the entire temple.
Speaker 2:The king of kings and the lord of lords never failing a battle, never overtaken by another. A rope which fills the temple means the wearer has supreme authority. God has supreme authority. Above the lord god almighty who is seated on the throne are Seraphim. These are angels.
Speaker 2:The only time in the whole Bible that the name Seraphim is used is this verse. The literal translation is the burning ones. So surrounding the throne of God are angels who are on fire. They have six wings each. With four, they cover themselves, faces and feet.
Speaker 2:In the presence of a holy God, even sinless angels cannot look. And in reverence and fear, they hide themselves. With the other two wings, they fly. Some have said this symbolises their readiness. They aren't lazy.
Speaker 2:They're ready to go wherever God tells them to go. These burning angels, they are on fire. They are awe inspiring. They're mighty. They're terrifying, but they are totally humbled next to the king of kings.
Speaker 2:They don't demand attention. They divert attention. In verse three, they were calling to one another, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. The whole earth is filled with his glory. The angels don't want praise themselves, and they don't demand that sinful humans bow before them.
Speaker 2:In the presence of God, even they themselves are worshippers. The next verse, at the sound of their voices, the doorposts and thresholds shook, and the temple was filled with smoke. These aren't powerless creatures. Their voices cause the room to shake, and smoke enters the room. I don't even know why.
Speaker 2:We're dealing with heaven. Some of the mysteries are too glorious for us to comprehend. But Isaiah's response is completely understandable. He pags. Can you imagine for a second, you are standing as a mere human and you're looking up at six winged angels which are on fire?
Speaker 2:Can you imagine the heat coming off them? Can you imagine that each of them are covering their faces in reverence for the pure holiness of the one sitting on the throne in the middle of them? The one that you are directly staring at, and they're worshiping him alone. And then can you imagine realizing that you're standing there as a sinner and mere moments ago you were engaged in activity and speech and thought processes that you'd be ashamed that they were made public? How do you react in that situation faced with such holiness?
Speaker 2:Isaiah says, woe is me, I am ruined for I am a man of unclean lips. I live among a people of unclean lips and my eyes have seen the king, the Lord Almighty. In the presence of a mighty God, Isaiah becomes quickly and totally aware of his sin. We don't know what sin he's talking about specifically, but he's aware that he's a sinful man with no right to stand before Holy God, and his assumption is he's about to die. He knows that not even Moses was permitted to see God's face because of sin, and even the sinless Seraphim are hiding their faces from God.
Speaker 2:Isaiah assumes he's gonna he's gonna die. He assumes he's getting smited down. To come to the realization of sin in that way, to have our eyes opened to our own uncleanliness is terrifying. To know guilt is to be human. Opening our eyes to salvation involves God showing us that we're helpless because we're riddled with sin.
Speaker 2:Seeing our sin is terrifying, ugly, and unholy. Adam and Eve clothed themselves with leaves and hid from God in the garden. Moses murdered a man and fled, and at the burning bush, he covered his face because he was afraid to look at God. That's Exodus three. David pleaded, wash away all my iniquity.
Speaker 2:Cleanse me from my sin for I know my transgressions, my sins always before me. Simon Peter fell at Jesus' feet and says, go away from me, Lord. I'm a sinful man. Peter cry or Paul cried, what a wretched man that I am. But this is not where it ends.
Speaker 2:They're brought to that point of utter humiliation before God. But Isaiah does not die. Instead, something bizarre and beautiful happens. In verse six, one of the Seraphim flew to me with a lye of coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. Remember, these are the burning ones.
Speaker 2:A coal of God's refining fire. It's burning hot enough that even the burning one himself has to use tongs to grab it, and it's touched Isaiah's life. We don't hear mention of pain or suffering for Isaiah. We just hear the Seraphim say, this has touched your lips. Your guilt is taken away.
Speaker 2:Your sin atone for. The lips, which are the very thing Isaiah was worried about. I live among a people of unclean lips. The lips are touched. That which was unholy, God made holy.
Speaker 2:And that which the enemy meant for evil, God will use for good. God's holiness does burn Isaiah, and this bit is really important. It's not to condemn him. It's to purify him. Isaiah is forgiven.
Speaker 2:His guilt is burned away, he is allowed to stand in God's presence as a free man. So what next? Isaiah doesn't stop there. It's only now that we finally hear the voice from the throne. The King of Kings and Lord of Lords asks, who shall I send and who shall go for us?
Speaker 2:And Isaiah simply answers, here am I, send me. He's no idea what the task is, but he's seen the Lord. He doesn't know where he's being sent, but he stood face to face with the one who's sending him. Luther wrote, I know not the way God leads me, but well do I know my guide. And the more we come to know the guide, God, the more we will be willing to follow him.
Speaker 2:For Isaiah, he spent the rest of his life on earth using the lips which he once called unclean to speak the words of God to the nation, and nearly three thousand years later, we're still edified by them. The Lord took what the enemy meant for evil, Unclean lips became the tool that God used to herald the good news of salvation. And we're back in Ephesians two now. Isaiah, God's handiwork, a new creation. There do the good works which God prepared in advance for them to do.
Speaker 2:In his case, he's to prophesy to the people who will spend decades ignoring him. He will spend time as an outcast, a weirdo, completely hidden by those he's desperate to save, but he won't do it alone because he'll do it as a man in communion with mighty God. He's an ambassador for the King of Kings. He has the privilege of declaring the word of the Lord. And if doing that is not unlifely done in worship, then I don't know what is.
Speaker 2:Remember the definition from week one to worship God is to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to Him. We do that because we're cleansed by the blood of Christ. So, where is God sending you? I am going to keep banging the drum forever. Worship is not over when the last song finishes.
Speaker 2:Singing is a gift given to edify us. And after today, the rest of these sessions will be talking about music worship. But we have to remember that definition from Romans one. Worship, true and proper worship, is to offer our bodies as the living sacrifice, holy and pleasing. So what does it look like?
Speaker 2:To love God is to obey him. Jesus tells us this plainly. John 14, Jesus says, if you love me, you'll obey my commandments. And what does he say is the greatest commandment? Somebody shout it.
Speaker 2:Your God. That was a very quiet shout. What was that? Love the Lord with all your heart. Mhmm.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Love the Lord with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment, and the second is like it. Love your neighbor as yourself. All the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments.
Speaker 2:That's Matthew twenty two thirty seven. Like Isaiah, we've been granted access to the throne room of heaven because we're made clean by the blood of Jesus. And as we have the great privilege of gazing upon the beauty of the Lord, he asks us, whom shall I stand, and who will go for us? Who will go and be the light of the world as I've called them to be? Who will go and bind up the brokenhearted?
Speaker 2:Who will go and bring good news to the captives? And to sum it up, who will fulfil the Great Commission? The greatest act of worship that we can do is to give our lives to the ministry of making disciples. That's what Jesus modeled while he was on earth. He proclaimed the good news, the kingdom of heaven was at hand.
Speaker 2:For the son of man did not come to serve, but to be serve woah. The son of man did not come to be served, but to serve. That was nearly some heresy. Wow. Johnny's in the room.
Speaker 2:The son of man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. And on the cross, as he hung there with the full weight of sin on his shoulders, nails driven through his wrists of his feet, blood dripping down his forehead where the thorns had pierced him. He hung there pouring out his life, offering his body as a living sacrifice. Holy and pleasing to God, He went where the Lord sent him. To love God and to love our neighbors is our worship.
Speaker 2:If we stand here on Sunday and we sing empty songs, then the warning of Amos five comes back. The Lord will say away with the noise of your songs. I will not listen to the music of your harps. But he says, let justice roll like a river, righteousness like an ever failing stream. As he ascended to heaven, Jesus told us exactly what to do.
Speaker 2:And with this I close. He said, go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age. Where is he sending you? Who is he putting in your path?
Speaker 2:Who are the non Christians you can witness to? Who are the Christians that you can mentor? Who are the ones in the church you can love as family members? Who are the ones who need encouragement? Who are the ones who need prayer?
Speaker 2:What are the good works he has prepared in advance for you to do? Will you stand before a holy God and offer your life to him and say, here I am. Send me. Let's stand together. We're gonna sing.
Speaker 2:All that flows from the picture of the third room. In order to be equipped to live a life like that, we have to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus because only he will fill us with the power to do that. And when we see the Lord in his full splendor, that is what foretells us. We're gonna sing Holy Holy Holy. I can remember what key to sing.
Speaker 2:Let's try it, Ephraim. Lord, I ask that you would give us a glimpse of your holiness. Fix our eyes on you so that we may live the life you call us to. We ask it in your name. Amen.