FBC Morning Light – September 9, 2023

Obstacles to Real Worship

Good Saturday morning, people of faith! Tomorrow is the Lord's Day, and as you prepare your heart, perhaps even as early as today for the Lord's Day, I want to take a little bit of time and look in Isaiah chapter 5, just the first verse.

We're going to be talking about worship, and before we go there, I want to give you three obstacles to real worship, and then we'll talk about Isaiah chapter 25 and verse 1. First of all, if you think you are going to be able to come to church, or any church, anywhere, any place, walking in a known sin, where you are actively rebelling inside against what God has prescribed for your life, then you are sadly mistaken, and you will need to repent before real worship will ever happen.

What do I mean? Let me give you an example. When I was in college, across the hall from me was a student whose girlfriend moved into the dorm with him, and they were living together, and I talked with her individually one day, and she was convinced that she had this vibrant relationship with Jesus Christ while living with her boyfriend, and sorry, but no, you don't.

You cannot, you cannot serve two masters in that regard. You will love the one and hate the other, or vice versa, and you will not be able to have real worship. You may have substitute feelings for that worship, but you will not have real worship if you are walking in known sin and rebellion against God.

Doctrinal Discernment as a Barrier to Worship

Number two, if when you come to worship you are analyzing everything for its doctrinal purity, you will miss out on worship as well. If you have to wait to the end of the song to see who wrote the song, to see that they were doctrinally right in every jot and tittle of every major doctrine, you're gonna miss out on worship as well, right?

You cannot, the paralysis of analysis, if you're so busy wondering whether or not the song that you're singing is doctrinally pure, then you are not actually trying to worship the God about whom the song is written.

Okay? That doesn't mean that there aren't good and bad songs, that's not what I'm saying, but if all you do is spend your time in analysis with that, that's a bad spot to be in, okay? And then finally, number three, if you're in a situation where you are singing bad songs.

Now, I don't mean like necessarily the style of music. What I'm talking about is songs that are designed to be well-written musically, but theologically shallow or theologically off even. I remember having a discussion over one of those types of songs with a group of Christians, believers, and I was railing against a bit this particular song that talked about God's love being reckless, and the people on the other side of the argument were saying, well, God just loved me so much that nothing else mattered until he established that relationship with me.

Well, that's fine, and it's good to look at God's love being such an insurmountable force in your life. However, it's not good to have to reinterpret what the actual meaning of words is in your worship.

I think back to like when you're a young person, really, really into your music, and I'll give you an example. When I was younger, I really liked the song by Kansas called Dust in the Wind, and you can take elements of that song and try and Christianize them, but the song at its heart is not a Christian song, and so when you try and rework it, eventually, can you worship through it?

I would suggest no. It's not a doctrinally accurate song, and so if you're in church and where they're singing a doctrinally inaccurate song, it's going to hinder your worship. It's going to be a barricade to true worship.

Worshiping God for Who He Is and What He Has Done

So with those three thoughts in mind, let's read Isaiah chapter 25 and verse 1, and we'll talk about what true worship should do. Oh Lord, you are my God. I will exalt you. I will praise your name, for you have done wonderful things.

Your counsels of old are faithfulness and true. First of all, you are my God. True worship should have a proper place of who God is, that God has the position of all authority, all power. He is completely sovereign over everything.

I will exalt you. That means my words will give testimony to who you are. Understand this when you exalt God, that you are totally and completely incapable of giving a true picture of who God is, because he is such an infinite being.

His attributes being infinite and us being finite, we only understand in part, but God still accepts that. I will praise your name. It is right to give our praise to God. If our worship is not establishing who God is and our place beneath him, he is completely other in our relationship.

He is not like a man. He does not think like a man. God is above us. We should also praise God for he has done wonderful things. We should praise God and worship God for what he has done, what he's capable of doing, and what he will continue to do in our lives.

I don't mean like a make-me-happy kind of thing, but he is going to see us through to the exact ends that he wants to accomplish, because he is God. And finally, your counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.

This is his Word. His Word, the Word of God, is faithfulness and truth, and that should be incorporated with our worship as well. Let's take this time the rest of today to ponder these things so that we are prepared to come before our Lord together as a congregation to worship.

Prayer and Benediction

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you so much for your Word. Thank you for who you are. Thank you for what you have done. Thank you for what you can do and will continue to do in our lives. Help us to bend the knee before you and not before anything or anyone else.

It's in your Son's name, Jesus, we pray. Amen. Have an excellent day, people of faith.