Love, Worship, Obedience, Service

Songs:
How Great is Our God, by Chris Tomlin
Glory to God Forever, by Steve Fee

Scripture: Isaiah 6:1-8 (NASB)
Isaiah's Vision
1In the year of King Uzziah's death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. 2Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3And one called out to another and said,

"Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts,
The whole earth is full of His glory."

4And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke. 5Then I said,

"Woe is me, for I am ruined!
Because I am a man of unclean lips,
And I live among a people of unclean lips;
For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts."

6Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs. 7He touched my mouth with it and said, "Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven."

Isaiah's Commission

8Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?" Then I said, "Here am I. Send me!"


My lessons from the Lord which had focused on obedience have now transitioned to include the aspect of service. I woke up this morning and as a part of my morning devotions read a Sunday School lesson from Isaiah 6. Part of that lesson differentiated between the experience and the expression of worship. So even before I got to church I was thinking on obedience, on loving God, on being so enamored and so in awe of Him that total obedience, submission, surrender and availability is given to Him in and as service.

In church today, one of the songs was “How Great is Our God.” That song is very special to me; I think of that song with the Lord as “our song.” I first heard it at a church in Florida while I was visiting my sister and her husband. When I got back home to Atlanta, I didn’t hear it anywhere. I didn’t have ready access to the internet just then, so I was going crazy thinking about that song, wondering what it was (as I could only remember a portion of the words), who did it, etc. When I finally heard it on the radio, I just broke down crying. I wanted to run straight out and get it – to be able to hear it, get lost in it whenever I wanted - but felt that that was not what the Lord would have me do. When I asked Him why, I understood the answer to be – given with a playful smile – that I would just sit around listening to the song, crying, and would not do anything else that needed to be done. I could only laugh, affirming that truth (“True dat”) as I acquiesced. Since then, whenever I am “allowed” to hear that song, my heart rejoices in being able to share that praise, and I am filled with gratitude for my Lord’s thoughts toward me. But I digress…

Love. Worship. Obedience. Service. More of a revelation of the connection between these was brought to my understanding during a women’s conference I attended a few years ago, at which Minister Patricia Ashley was the speaker. Although you really should hear this story from her (admittedly, it loses a lot in my translation), she shared about a time of worship she had with the Lord where her love and zeal for Him were poured out in a declaration that whatever He wanted she would do. He responded with an instruction for her to prepare her husband’s favorite meal for him (for Him). That God would ask us to do something for Him by doing something for someone else…a novel concept in my mind at that time, though it shouldn’t have been. Jesus remarked on this in Matthew 25:31-46 (NKJV):

The Son of Man Will Judge the Nations
31 “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. 33 And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: 35 for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; 36 I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’ 37 “Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? 38 When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? 39 Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ 40 And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’
41 “Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: 42 for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; 43 I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.’
44 “Then they also will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?’ 45 Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ 46 And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

I knew the story, but in connection with my ideas at that time of “doing good works” and not as an expression of worship. But during the time I was getting this lesson, the Lord had spoken into my spirit: “Worship is a lifestyle.” Then He took me to John 4:21-24 (NKJV):

21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. 24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

“Must worship.” “Those who worship Him must worship.” This was impressed, that if I am to truly worship, for me there is to be an element of compulsion stemming from the love. (2 Corinthians 5:14a: For the love of Christ compels us…) God knows all about me, including my limitations and weaknesses (Psalm 139.) He remembers that I am “just dust” (Psalm 103:14.) So once the choice is made to accept the invitation to be one who would worship Him, I must worship. There is no other option. And this worship which I give must be in/by/with/through “spirit and truth,” with obedience being a necessary part in my true worship just as it is integral in the expression of my true love. (1 John 5:3 This is love for God: to obey his commands.) Jesus said, in John 14 (NASB):

15"If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. …
21"He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him."
22Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, "Lord, what then has happened that You are going to disclose Yourself to us and not to the world?"
23Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.
24"He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father's who sent Me.

So to love, to worship, to obey, to serve – all part of my purpose.

Lord, thank You so much for Your faithfulness to work in me to will and to do Your good pleasure in accordance with Your divine will. Your patient longsuffering, Your humor, Your grace, Your mercy – all of the ways Your love is shown to me continues to humble me, and draw me closer to You. Thank You for loving me first, loving me best, loving me so that I would have something with which to love You back and share with others.

34But when the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered themselves together.
35One of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him,
36"Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?"
37And He said to him, " 'YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.'
38"This is the great and foremost commandment.
39"The second is like it, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.'
40"On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets."
Matthew 22:34-40 (NASB)

... and my journey with Him continues ...