Worship Preparation Guide for Sunday, August 28

Worship Preparation Guide for Sunday, August 28

Sermon Text:  Isaiah 39

Parallel Text: 2 Chronicles 32:20-31

Ray Ortland writes, "Some Christians live too long.  It's better to die prematurely and honorably than to live long enough to betray the cause of God in our generation." (Isaiah, God Saves Sinners, p. 227)    

King Hezekiah would have been better off if his story had ended in Isaiah chapter 38.  But it didn't, and we should be thankful for Isaiah 39 and the lessons we can learn from Hezekiah's faults and failure.

The Hezekiah we see in Isaiah 39 is the same one who has seen God move in amazing, miraculous, powerful, gracious ways.  Hezekiah saw God move on behalf of his country and he saw God move on his personal behalf.  Yet in the end Hezekiah's faith failed and the consequences were devastating and long lasting.

There are places in our world where Christians face constant opposition and persecution from enemies that oppose them with force and violence.  In our culture Satan’s primary strategy is seduction.  Satan might savage us, but usually he will flatter us.  Seduction and pride brought down Hezekiah, and if we will not learn from his example we will also fail and fall. 

Worship is a primary weapon against pride; and God’s word on our ears and in our hearts will drown out the world’s seductive song.  Having Jesus as our eternal treasure will help us recognize the world’s acclaim and reward as shallow, troublesome and temporary.

When Isaiah saw the Lord high and lifted up in all His holiness and glory he was crushed and undone:

In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim.  Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.  And one called to another and said:

     “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!”

And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.  And I said: “Woe is me!  For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”    (Isaiah 6:1-5)

Pride in ourselves and praise to God cannot co-exist.  

As you prepare for worship this Sunday I encourage you to pray that the Lord will give us the vision to see him in all his glory through fellowship of God’s people, the songs we sing, the Word we read and the teaching we hear.  

Pray that the words of John the Baptist would be at the center of each of our hearts:  He must increase, but I must decrease.” (John 3:30)

We will sing this hymn on Sunday.  Let it be the prayer of our hearts as we prepare for worship:

Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in his wonderful face,

and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.