Beyond Sunday: The HEART as WORSHIP

Let me share with you the message I’ve heard from Ptr. Joey Bonifacio through the Victory podcast.

Isaiah 6:1-8

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple.

Above him were seraphs, 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 Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”

At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.

“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! 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.”

Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar.

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 am I. Send me!”

            When we worship, we whenever we speak and communicate with the Lord, it is the Lord who listens and scrutinizes our heart. It is our heart that speaks our desires, our awe and our worship. This is the reason why we must be sure that our heart speaks of the right words, that desires the right things and worships in a right way. In the scriptures, Isaiah exemplifies what true worship is, which is worshipping by heart beyond the Sabbath day, in every second of his life.

Who is Isaiah? Isaiah is an established prophet, who lived 2700 years ago and died in 739 BC. If we scrutinize the scriptures, we will see he is an intellectual person, rich and influential. Isaiah is a man of outstanding moral character, integrity and character. And above all, he is one of the few who had an encounter with God.  In the scripture above, it is clear He sees God whenever he comes to the temple. And he describes God in three (3) metaphors:

1. seated on the throne
2. high and exalted
3. train of his robe filled the temple

Note the third metaphor. In the early times kings are symbolized and are seen in garments and robes. Clearly, these things equate to authority. The more power you have, the glorious your robe is. The longer the train, the more influence and power. And as Isaiah describes it, the train of God’s robe filled the temple. We cannot imagine how long it is! Now this gives us a clear message: God is absolutely sovereign, beyond any mind can comprehend.

²Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying.

³And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”

⁴At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.

It is also interesting to note at 2-4, Isaiah mentioned for the first time the word Seraph and described these beings as burning with fire ,bright and glorious. When the people heard of this, they couldn’t imagine what these seraphs look like for they have never encountered such. These seraphs stay with God all the time, soaking up in God’s glory. To continue, Isaiah vividly narrated the encounter, there was shaking, smoke, and the seraphs were singing to calling to one another proclaiming how Holy God is. In the Hebrew culture, in order to emphasize, they repeat the words. That is why ‘Holy, holy, holy’ is such a heavy phrase. No one can fathom the holiness the seraphs are singing about. It is superb, extreme and its beauty is something that takes one breath away. Unfortunately, the term ‘holy’ nowadays gives a negative connotation and is often used in cursing. That’s why sometimes it is hard for us to really digest the true meaning of holiness, of how holy God is- the whole earth full of his glory, where all beauty on earth put together.

The question now arises of how Isaiah responded when he saw how the beauty of God  was unveiled right before his eyes. In verse 5, his response is

“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! 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.”

It is the first term that he spoke of a prophecy to himself. And clearly in this verse , this prophecy is the prophecy of woe which speaks of judgment and cursing (contrary to the prophecy of weal which speaks of blessing). As the brilliant communicator in his time in the history of the world, his lips considered his best asset. But when he saw God, he saw his lips as the worst he has. This speaks of the doctrine of human depravity: people think that they’re a mixture of good and bad, well mostly good, some feel more good than bad.  Humans think that the more we unravel what’s in the center of man’s heart, which is pure, unadulterated good. Religions are designed for this, that they recognize that there is something ‘wrong’ and then they provide a guide to goodness, a teacher. The bible teaches us the contrary. The bible tells us that the more we strip the layer, the more we unravel what’s in the core of our hearts, of our very being, we are pure, unadulterated evil and the only reason we don’t see ourselves like that is because of God’s mercy protecting us. A teacher or a guide wouldn’t really matter because we would not do what it says anyway, we couldn’t. That’s when reality comes in view, we needed a savior, someone who will lift us, who will carry us. Isaiah in one momen t , got strip off, and he saw the core of his being.  

In verse 6 he saw fire and fire always means judgment. In the old testament(Leviticus 9-10)  whenever a fire is seen in the altar,the fire came and burnt whoever is near it. Isaiah expected he’s gonna be burnt to a crisp. But what happened? In verse 7 it says there, in one instantaneous act, his sin is atoned. And his response? He saw the magnitude of his debt. He saw how much he needed a savior and he saw the gravity of God’s mercy who was willing to forgive him in an instant. This is true worship, recognizing our sins , how deep our sins really were. The problem with people who do not experience God is this, they do not recognize their sins.  And lastly in verse 8, when God asked for someone to be sent , he didn’t even stop to think about it. He gave a free response and presented himself. The result? He was murdered and sawn into two, declaring the prophecies and proclaiming the holiness of God. 

The heart of worship is a response to the beauty, glory and holiness of God. It is  natural response: when we see Him, we worship. We shall never forget that the quality of worship depends on how we see God to be. When we feel like we don’t worship enough, then it could be that we don’t see enough. That’s why when we want to increase our worship, we need to increase God’s revelation to us by reading His word. The fact that Isaiah had seen the most beautiful encounter was more than justifying for him to pay at any price. For he knew, he will pay. He died serving the Lord but it didn’t matter. This is the heart of worship. This is true worship by heart, beyond Sunday.