8/1/21 Isaiah 1:1, 10-20 “167 Hours”

30 Jul 8/1/21 Isaiah 1:1, 10-20 “167 Hours”

8/1/21    Isaiah 1:1, 10-20        “167 Hours”

If there is one thing that any person who has lived here for more than a year will notice, it is that we have 4 definite seasons in this area.  Let’s see now, we have the hunting season, the season where it is too cold for anything, flood season, road construction season, and a couple of weeks of summer.  Now this might be just a bit of exaggeration but summers usually seem rather short.  But this summer has been pretty long due to the high temperatures and no rain. And if you press me a little, I would have to admit that we do have fall, winter and spring also.  Some of us do not like to admit it but we kind of like our four distinct seasons.  All of us have many names that we use for the various seasons and some of them may be the ones I just mentioned.  And this is sort of like what Isaiah is talking about today as he tells us about worship.  We have many different ways to worship in our modern world and they all might be ok.  Let’s take a look at what Isaiah is telling the ancients and us about worship and see if we are in worship mode when we are here.

I would like to begin with a true story from Jordan LeBlanc about a man named Mark Zuckerberg.  In 2004 Mark Zuckerberg created a social networking tool for Harvard students that he called Facebook.  At first it was only available to Harvard students but it soon expanded to where it is today and it is now available to everyone in the world over the age of 13.  I would imagine that there are ways around this age barrier and I personally have little trust for most restrictions that come over the internet.

Anyway, this network has become a huge success and it is a success for people of all ages.  Not only does it help us to be in contact with people we know but it is also a tool for learning and playing games.  There are millions and millions of users throughout the world and it has been banned in several countries.  Employers often block access to Facebook because they find that their employees waste company time on it.

And the reason for all of this success is that it allows us to connect with each other.  This is something that we have been looking for since the beginning of time.  We like to connect with other people.  Personally I don’t think that there is any better way to connect than by face to face contact or a telephone call.  But this can be expensive and Facebook allows us to connect with people far away at a pretty cheap price.  It’s free.  I use it to post my sermons every week and my daily devotions.  I have a little over 900 friends.  That number will keep growing as I keep hearing from people from my past.  I also don’t believe that they have the right to censor things that they disagree with.  It’s ok to censor pornography and things like that but not our opinions.  That is a step too far.  That would be too much like communism!

Facebook allows us to connect with people, talk with people and be intimate with people.  This is something that all of us desire.  We like friends.  We desire this almost as much as everyone desires to be close to God.  I think that all people desire to be close to God whether they know it or not.  Many people will disagree with me on this but I think that there are so many who don’t really know who they are seeking when Jesus is the answer to everything, absolutely everything.  Plus, He is always very near!  And one of the ways that we can be close to God and Jesus is through worship.

First we need to look at a quick history of Isaiah as he was a prophet in the times before the exile of the South.  He lived in Judah and they had not been conquer yet.  Isaiah is chosen by God to warn the people of what will happen if they continue not to follow the ways of God.  Scholars pretty much agree that the book of Isaiah was written by Isaiah and his followers because it spans far more than the lifetime of a single person.  There are many fascinating aspects of this wonderful book that are worthy of our attention but what I want us to know today is that Isaiah uses tough language to get his message across.

I would like us also to remember that there were 2 kingdoms.  We had Israel in the north and Judah in the south.  About 20 years into the time that Isaiah is a prophet, the northern kingdom, Israel, falls.  It will be over 130 years before the south, Judah, falls but Isaiah is there to warn them that this will happen.  However, being the north hasn’t fallen at the beginning of this book, this message may be for both kingdoms.  Notice how Isaiah begins by telling the people and their rulers that they are from Sodom and Gomorrah.  Now he has their attention!  His listeners know that these were terrible places and that God destroyed them.  As a little sidebar, in our world today where we think that we have all the answers, we still don’t know where these two cities were located.

So Isaiah gets his readers attention by telling them that they are no different than the cities that God has already destroyed.  Of course the question now becomes, “Are we any better than the people of these 2 cities?”  The only people who were saved there were Lot’s family.  All others were destroyed and if you want further details of this you can read about it in Genesis 19.  There were a lot of bad things happening here but in the midst of it all, God saves the people who are for Him.  This will be the same thing that happens when Jesus finally returns in the second coming.  The faithful will be saved.  We live in such a turbulent, violent, vice filled society that we sometimes over look this vital piece.  Many of you are faithful followers and you will be saved during this time.  However, we also know many who will not be with us when we join Jesus.  Let us continue to look at Isaiah and see what he is saying about our worship.

He begins by telling them that the sacrifices that they are offering to Him are worthless.  This may seem to us to be quite a trivial matter in our modern world.  After all, we cannot even imagine bringing animals to church to be sacrificed to the Lord.  But in these ancient times this was huge.  At the time this was the only way that they knew of to get rid of their sin debt.  And we all know what it is like to carry around a sin debt of guilt due to wrong actions or wrong thoughts.  After Jesus died on the cross and was resurrected, we only have to go to Him in prayer and ask for forgiveness.  God has made it so easy for modern people to be with Him.  But the ancient people only knew about sacrifices.  This was the only way they knew to get rid of their terrible burdens and here is God telling them that all these sacrifices are worthless.  It would be like today saying that all modern worship gimmicks are worthless.

I also want you to remember that this is taking place hundreds of years before Jesus shows up.  God is putting these people on notice that their sacrifices are not good enough because their hearts are not into it.  Even at this early time, these people are just going through the motions of sacrifice.  This had become a ritual for them and they are not at all repentant or sorry for their sins against God.

As I continue to study the Bible, I cannot get over just how patient God is with His people.  God will give his people Jesus, hundreds of years after this writing.  At that time they still didn’t get it right so He sent Jesus to them to make it easier to repent and follow.  Now it is 2000 years later again and we still don’t know how to repent and follow.  But Jesus still wants you and me to go out and tell everyone we know that He is still waiting and wanting them to follow.  The love and patience that Jesus has for us is amazing.  It is not humanly possible to be this patient and we should be praising the Lord for this.

So we have the ancient worship being worthless.  How is our worship today?  Are we worshipping God or are we stuck in rituals?  Is our heart into worship or are we just going through the motions?  Not too long ago, I was reading an email or a Facebook item about a subject that we have all heard before; a reason for not going to church.  The reason was that they believed in God but not in going to church.  I’m sure many of you have heard this or similar things.  My only response to something like this is that I don’t think that they believe in God at all.  They believe, instead, in some sort of god that they made up!  I don’t think that they actually have any idea of who God really is.   If they knew God, then they would try their best to find a place where they could worship in a community.

The reason that people think like this is because they think that to come to church we all have to be perfect.  They think that we are all hypocrites because we confess that we know and love Jesus and yet we still sin.  We all know that this is life.  This is the way that everyone is or should be.  Church is a place where we can come and worship and unload all of our sin debt onto Jesus.  People who use this excuse for not coming to church have absolutely no idea what they are talking about.  So when you hear this, invite them to come to church.

The reason that you can be inviting is worship.  God is telling us and the ancients in these verses that worship does not come from the sacrifices.  It does not come from the praise band or the choir or any other kind of musical gimmick.  It doesn’t come from a pastor who might be very dynamic.  It doesn’t come from a huge ornate building.  True worship comes from only one place and that is your heart.  All these things that we do can help worship but it ultimately comes from the heart.

When I talk of this I think of Holy Communion.  Sometimes we have people who don’t take communion when they normally do take communion.  The reason, I would guess, is that they feel that their heart is not in the right place that day to take it.  There could be a hundred different reasons for this and they are all ok.  I respect people when this happens.  But I cannot respect anyone who tells us that they believe in god but not in coming to church.

Another big hang up we have in modern worship is music.  I have heard many times that people cannot worship with modern guitar music.  They cannot worship with these new songs.  This is also ok.  Then try to find a service where they play what you like, what it takes for you to worship.  I used to try to keep our services at our churches the way that they had always been because I think that this is probably the way that they worship best.  This is great.  But when I started a new service, it was different because we are trying to reach a new audience.

And we can have all these differences and still get along because worship begins with you.  We have talked of this before and Isaiah is telling us again that we are not to come to worship in order that we get something out of it.  If you come here expecting that you will feel better, then you will probably be disappointed.  It won’t happen unless you put your heart into it.  You will get out of our Sunday service exactly what you put into it.  This is how God works.  If you come here and sit to be entertained, you will get nothing.  I’m not that entertaining.  However, if you come here and put your heart into worshipping our wondrous, loving God, then you will get a lot from this service.  Many people don’t understand this and therefore criticize us.  You will get out of this service what you first put into it.

Now I love the last few verses here where Isaiah gives us the good news.  He has really been down on these people and us but then he shifts gears a little.  If you decide, and I know that many of you already do this, to follow Jesus, if you decide to have a prayer life or decide to put yourselves into worship or decide to read your Bibles regularly, then you can have the great life that God has planned for you.  If you decide to take your sins to Jesus on a regular basis, then He will forgive you of all your sins and make you white as snow.  If you are willing to bow down and be obedient to God, then you will have a life of full freedom, true freedom and happiness.  This is the kind of life that you are supposed to have.  God wants you to have all these things.

It all begins with you investing one hour a week in worship where you do the worshipping.  What you will get in return is 167 hours of the week where God will be with you at all times.  I think that the only fault that Christianity has is that it is so simple.  Trust in God, believe in God and follow God.  That is it.  God made this so simple so that everyone in the world will be able to follow Him.  And this is great news for all of us.

Now let’s go back to Facebook for a minute.  Here is a place where many, many of your friends who don’t know Jesus congregate on a daily basis.  If you have a Facebook account, then post something every day about the love that Jesus has for us, all of us.  Most things that I read on Facebook are trivial at best.  Let’s see if we can put a little substance on the pages of this modern vehicle of communication.  Let’s see if we can help people get connected to God.  If and when you do this, then these lost people can really begin their lives with a purpose.

God loves you so much that He will use Facebook to reach out to others.  He loves you so much that He hugs you every time you come to church.  This love that you find in worship, in prayer, in your daily life is the love that you are to share with everyone.  Let’s see what you can do.  Jesus first loved us so that we can love others.  Thank you Jesus for first loving us.  Let’s pray.