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Holy Trinity Anglican Orthodox Church
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It's All About God |
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Isaiah
55:4 Second
Sunday in Advent December
7, 2008 Any true understanding of Christianity leads us to the fact that the Christian faith is not about us, it’s about God. It starts and ends with God. You have heard me say many times that worship is not about us, it is about God. It is not aimed at making us feel good, it is not about a style of worship that pleases us, or about having “my kind of music.” It is certainly not about changing the church to make it more appealing to secular people. Worship is about God from start to finish. One of the things I like most about Advent is that our daily Bible readings take us into that Old Testament milestone; the Book of the Prophet Isaiah. One of the main lessons of Isaiah is, it’s all about God. Isaiah addresses the people of Judah. If you consult your notes from the Old Testament history study we just completed, you will see that the Prophet lived and worked in the era I have called the Divided Kingdom. Specifically it was the time of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezzekiah, which we know from our table of Hebrew kings, was the time between 783 and 687 BC. Judah was careening out of control. Her people were outwardly Jews. By that I mean they kept the ceremonial laws; the sacrifices, the feasts and fasts, and the Temple rituals. But inwardly they had strayed far from the ways of God. That is in why chapter one God says, “To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord” (Is 1:11). The Jews had begun to think their religion was all about them. They thought God had chosen them simply to do something for them. They looked at God as a consumable commodity, something to help them enjoy life, live their best life now, be a better, happier, more well-adjusted person, make them healthy, wealthy, and wise. Or they looked at God as big buddy in the sky; someone to keep them from being lonely, someone to joke around with, the kind of guy you could sit down with and have few beers. I was once at a service when a young man came to the podium to lead prayer. He was dressed in the youth “uniform” and he slouched to the podium with his hands in his pockets, and still slouching, still with hands in pockets, said, “Hi, God,” as if he were addressing one of his school buddies. God, to him, was a big pal in the sky. The same was true of the Jews. There was no reverence in their sacrifices, no fear of God in their worship. They were casual and contemporary thousands of years before it became popular in America. God called their sacrifices, “vain oblations” (Is. 1:13) and said of their services, “I am weary to bear them” (Is. 1:14). Other Jews thought of God and His services as a great emotional experience, a good feeling. I remember when kids used to say they were “high on Jesus.” They meant they did not use drugs, they got their joy from serving Christ. But this usually degenerated into a feeling oriented faith. It was evident in their music and worship that they really were out to get a high that was no different from that which came from drugs. They were looking for thrills and adrenaline, and feelings, and they ordered their “worship” to produce such things for them. You can see this same thing being done by professionals in most of the TV and radio preacher shows today. And, may I say with all the love and good intentions I can muster, you can see it in most of the churches in America today. Well they aren’t the first to do it. There were many in the Old Testament era who did the same. There were many in the New Testament. The Bible calls them false prophets, and wolves in sheep’s clothing. The Jews of Isaiah’s time did this by twisting the Temple services and sacrifices into feelingfests, that left God out. Most of what they did was so far from the true worship of God that it could have been done in any temple to any god in any religion. In fact, the Jews often incorporated other religions into their worship, even bringing idols into the very heart of the Temple of God. They did this because their worship was not about God, it was about them. Today we have ministers changing what their churches teach in order to make Christianity more “relevant” to “unchurched” people. We have people in the pews who reject the Bible as their authority so they can pick and choose what they believe and do, according to their own tastes and whims. How different this is from the experience of Isaiah who saw the Lord high and lifted up and was moved with fear and a deep sense of unworthiness. “Woe is me, for I am a man of unclean lips.” There is dread in those words. The prophet is saying he has seen the terrible majesty and perfection of God, and it was like a searchlight that revealed all the faults and evils and sins in Isaiah. He has seen perfect cleanness, and has realized that he is but filthy rags. “Woe is me,” he cries. “I am undone.” I am without hope. I will perish in the presence of God, for such perfection cannot bear the presence of a creature as full of sin as I am. In that moment Isaiah realized that being a Jew was not about getting blessings from God. It was about existing for God. It was not about what God does for Isaiah. It was about Isaiah’s duty to love God with all his heart and soul and mind regardless of the cost. Isaiah realized he existed for the glory of God. It’s all about God. Our reading for this morning contains no references to God as a commodity to enhance our lives, or as an oversized pal, or as a spiritual high or thrill. Instead it uses words like, “leader” and “commander.” Leader means ruler. Commander means the one with authority to issue commandments. So Isaiah is talking here about the One who will come to sit on the throne of David who will be the Ruler of His people with the authority to command. He is not talking about someone who will give Ten Suggestions, or be a pal. He is saying that the Living God, whom he saw high and exalted in the Temple, whose Throne is Heaven and whose footstool is earth, will Himself come to rule and command His people by putting all things in order under His own power. In that day, those who are His will forsake their wicked ways and unrighteous thoughts. They will turn to Him, unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon them. In other words, for those who are truly His through faith in Christ, who have been rescued and converted by the cross of Christ, it will all be about God, not about us. We begin, and end, with God. The Rev. Dr. R. Dennis Campbell, Vicar, Holy Trinity Anglican Church,
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