Title: God-Centered Worship
Content saiah 29:13-16
The masters seminary is a very conservative place.
- inerrancy and the inspiration of the Bible.
- affirm all orthodox doctrines,
o from literal 6-day creation
o to cessationism
o to the independence view of the synoptic gospels
Our conservative position is shown in other ways as well. Namely, the new library dress code. Some of us aren't as excited as others are but I don't think it's bad at all.
- last seminary: didn't have a dress code
- in a very hot area
- shorts and t-shirts and flip-flops
- Some of them even wore something like wife-beaters. Even in chapel.
- can't really call that sinful but something just doesn't seem right about that.
- Can you imagine going to chapel in wife-beaters when Dr. MacArthur's preaching?
We don't have any problems with that here because we dress up for school. We may be dressed formally but we may be worshiping casually.
- serious.
- Dressing casually not necessarily sinful
- worshiping casually is.
- Casual worship is a man-centered worship.
- Designed to serve oneself rather than God.
- caters to man.
- hypocritical
- geared toward what is convenient for me.
And that was the sin that Judah was guilty of in Isa 29.
Turn to Isa 29 with me.
- 1-39 events leading up to the captivity.
- 40-66 beyond the captivity.
- 28-31 e arnings against trusting in foreign alliances. And our text falls into this section.
Read
2 guidelines you must follow so that
your worship will be God-centered.
1.Worship God with a God-fearing heart (13-14)
thirteen
- Physical organs mouth, lips
- left the real organ made for worship
- But God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in? John 4:24
- Externalism.
- all outward,
- superficial, artificial.
- They were putting on a show.
- They were pretenders, without any substance.
- hypocritical just like the Pharisees when Jesus quotes this verse in Matt 15:8.
- This is hypocrisy: Saying one thing and meaning another.
Illustration not listening to Will
- The other day we were driving somewhere
- Will started talking about something
- wasn't really interested in.
- Yeah. Uh huh. O really??(acted as if I was listening)
- Will was like, to what you do think??
- I was like, Umm?I think it's good.?
- I was acting like I was with him with my mouth but my heart was somewhere else.
We do this in worship.
- When we sing hymns,
- pray privately or publicly
- say things without meaning what we are saying.
- That's lip-service! We are just like the Israelites!
Don't be hasty with words when you come to worship God.
Ecc 5:1-2, 1, Guard your steps as you go to the house of God and draw near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools; for they do not know they are doing evil. 2, Do not be hasty in word or impulsive in thought to bring up a matter in the presence of God. For God is in heaven and you are on the earth; therefore let your words be few.
Do you know why the Israelites lacked God-centered worship?
- their definition of fearing God following man-made rules.
o Don't skip chapel
o dress up
o sing at the graduation
o park across the wash
fear of me?= practice of religion
- The phrase, Their reverence for me?
- Literally, their fear of me?
- Isaiah is mocking them in a sense.
- Their fear of the Lord was nothing but a man-made religion. (2 Kings 17:32-33)
- A false religion.
- It wasn't the real fear of the Lord
- They were going through the motions.
Don't replace God's rules with man's rules!
- Don't think that just because you are well dressed for worship that your worship will be God-centered.
- Affirm the five points of Calvinism?
- Bring your heart, not formalism.
- Fear the Lord and come worship with your heart.
For You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it; You are not pleased with burnt offering. 17:The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise. Psalm 51:16-17
To give God his proper place in worship, you must worship with a God-fearing heart.
14: Judgment for false worship
- result of their ritualistic worship
- take away their wisdom.
- They became fools.
To be God-centered in your worship?
2 Worship God with a God-conscious life (15-16)
If your heart is God-centered, your life will be God-centered too, right?
fifteen
They were depending on Egypt to fight the Assyrians.
- a logical consequence here.
- The Israelites hid their plans
- practiced evil in secret.
- on-going pattern of their national security.
- Denying God's omniscience.
o Who sees us??
o Who knows us??
Your sin will find you out
As a seminary student,
- temptation to hide behind your title.
- once you have a degree.
- hide behind your degree.
- Your achievements,
- reputation,
- recommendations.
- Everyone knows I am a seminary student!? They know Iam a holy man of God. They knlw l never find out who I really am.
How are you worshiping God in the way you live your life? Are you God-conscious? Do you acknowledge that he is omniscient and that you can't hide anything from him?
Illustration man in the Navy
- A Christian young man,
- in the Navy.
- happily married to a lovely wife.
- temporarily stationed in Japan, known for immorality,
- determined to stay strong.
- eventually gave in
- had a relationship with a prostitute.
- After he got back, he got together with his wife and they had a baby.
- baby was born blind.
- had contracted a sexually transmitted disease.
Jesus confronted the Pharisees about their hypocrisy in Luke 12:2-5 "There is nothing covered up that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known. 3 "Accordingly, whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in the inner rooms will be proclaimed upon the housetops.
Are you cultivating a secret sin?
- May be no one knows about it
- your pastor,
- your friends,
- even your wife
But if you think you could hide it from God, you will be judged!
Woe to those who deeply hide their plans from the Lord?
and it doesn't have to be a major sin!
sixteen
He is the potter. We are the clay.
o inanimate. lifeless.
o ontologically different than the potter.
o The potter is a human and the clay is dirt.
o No brain.
o It can't even think!
So what Isaiah is saying amounts to Absurdity.
o unthinkable and impossible that a piece of dirt would say these things.
What kinds of things are you saying when no one is around? (watching, doing)
If you think you could hide your sins from God, you are like that clay. You are saying that equal to God.?And you are denying that you were created by God. And you are saying, God has no understanding.? He can't see me.?He doesn't know.?And you are calling God a fool.
Let't not worship God by remembering that God knows everything about us. That he is God!
Worship God with a God-centered heart
Worship God with a God-conscious life
So that your worship will be God-centered.