We can learn a great deal about worship from our brother Isaiah. He gives us a greater vision of God and the church. When we task ourselves with this idea of practicing genuine worship, we too can have an enlarged vision of the body. In Isaiah chapter 6, the prophet saw the absolute truth of God's perfect holiness. In this place, he was convicted of sins and he began worshiping. When he was captured by God's awesome presence, he heard God say, "Whom shall I send, and whom will go for us?"Then Isaiah responded by stating, "Here am I, send me." What an awesome display of obedience. In his time of worship, Isaiah saw the need to respond to God through service. Further, there is no commitment to tradition. He didn't commit to only serve here or there. He didn't say, "I will serve... but here are some exceptions." He didn't say, "Here am I, send me... but not to that church, with those people, with that style of music." Further, he didn't say, "I will serve you Lord, but only when it is convenient for me." His commitment wasn't to form, style, or time commitments. Isaiah's commitment to God rose above all else. His worship was lifted above all the things we label as worship! He didn't commit to a specific sermon style, order of worship, special music, offering, or anything that we choose to place in our worship services each week. Isaiah made a commitment to God alone. The greatest part of this commitment is that Isaiah saw that, in his commitment, he was called to obedient service. He saw his life, his family, his nation, even his ministry as a single entity. In that moment his vision of the church was enlarged!
How many times have you heard a "Christian" say, "I just can't worship with that style of music," "That is simply not my thing," or my personal favorite "That style of music (or musical instrument) has no place in the church." These fallacies are simply taking God out of the equation. We are in effect making our worship more about what we want and our preferences have become our God. In Psalm 150 it states that we are to praise God "... with the trumpet blast; Praise Him with the harp and lyre. Praise Him with tambourine and dance; Praise Him with the flute and strings. Praise Him with the resounding cymbals; Praise Him with the clashing cymbals." In order to see the greater vision of the church, we must focus our attention on Him. This will change our hearts and open our minds our service to Him. We cannot confine our worship to just one culture or one meeting place.
I have no doubt that some that read this will immediately think, "I need to go to a church where I can be fed, a church I 'like,' or a church that meets the needs of 'my' culture." Let's think about these statements for a moment. Jesus gave us the example that the more we minister to one another in our daily lives, the easier it will be to minister to each other as we gather together to worship Him. What is even more important is our attitude of service during the times when we gather. We don't meet to be served, but instead to serve (Matt. 20:28). In Isaiah's case, his culture, preferences, wants, desires, personal styles, or place of worship didn't define him - instead he allowed his service - to God - to define his worship. When we allow our preferences to define or capture our attention our worship becomes shallow and secular. However, when we allow God to capture our attention a new and exciting idea of worship will flow from His church. An idea of service, and an attitude of contrite hearts will all join together to lift one another in one spirit of worship.
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