SWPOIRRSIHTITPRHUITMH

February 4, 2007
Fifth Sunday After Epiphany
from Isaiah 6:1-8 and John 4:4-26

“The hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth...” -- John 4:23

“The seraph touched my mouth and said: ‘Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.’” – Isaiah 6:7


My sermon outline:

..W..O..R..S..H..I..P..H..I..M
SWPOIRRSIHTITPRHUITMH
S..P..I..R..I..T..T..R..U..T..H

"Worship Him" in "Spirit" & "Truth"

• John 4:23. What is worship? Devotion, attribution of worth, ascribe glory and honor. Picture from Isaiah 6, Isaiah has vision of the Lord on His throne with seraphs – 6-winged angels – attending to Him, singing Holy Holy Holy is the Lord of Hosts, the earth is full of his glory. A similar picture of worship comes from Revelation 4:8... winged creatures eternally singing Holy is the Lord... Worship is about glory, and it ain’t yours.

• That’s why we dress up. To ascribe honor and glory. Yet it’s a matter of the heart:
But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7

“And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts.”
1 Chronicles 28:9


• Jesus knew that just because you look good doesn’t mean you’re right on the inside:
Luke 11:39-42
Then Jesus said, ‘Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. You fools! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? So give for alms those things that are within; and see, everything will be clean for you.
‘But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and herbs of all kinds, and neglect justice and the love of God; it is these you ought to have practiced, without neglecting the others.

• “The true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth”
But the time is coming—it has, in fact, come—when what you're called will not matter and where you go to worship will not matter.
"It's who you are and the way you live that count before God. Your worship must engage your spirit in the pursuit of truth. That's the kind of people the Father is out looking for: those who are simply and honestly themselves before him in their worship. God is sheer being itself—Spirit. Those who worship him must do it out of their very being, their spirits, their true selves, in adoration." (John 4:23-24 The Message)

• It doesn’t matter where. (summer in sanctuary or FH or SS?)

• Worship is attitude plus action.

• Isaiah knew he was unclean, the seraph sacramentally purified him – I say sacramentally because a sacrament is an outward sign of an inward grace. His outer lips were purified, causing a change within Isaiah. And he responded with action: Here I am, send me!

• The woman at the well experienced a change in attitude and she took action: you’ll remember that many in her village believed because she told them about Jesus.

• SO let our worship be in spirit and in truth, in attitude and in action. That’s why I so often pray that our actions would show who we are. And let us give ourselves in worship, and be sacramentally fed.


- Pastor Kerry
This Sunday: 61 in worship. Communion Sunday. Souper Bowl of Caring. Luncheon. Very cold.