a The "Worship and Action" Variation	3Back to Home

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Let's be more specific. We can follow an individual through an experience of worship and see how it made him a "man of action." The individual is Isaiah. He remembers the experience very well, for it took place "in the year that King Uzziah died" ( Isa. 6: 1). He was worshiping in the Temple, and he realized as he never had before that God was there. He realized that his first obligation was to worship and adore God, to affirm with the very angels themselves, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory" (v. 3). He realized that God is, indeed, "holy," apart from men, and that before such a God men must always bow in reverence. As Isaiah became aware of the majesty of God, he became aware that by contrast he was evil and impure, as were the people among whom he dwelt. Before such a God he could only cry out, "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" (v. 5). This is a genuine reaction when God confronts men: God is worthy and I am unworthy; God is pure and I am impure; God is holy and I am debased. If that were all, we could think of God as an evil tyrant, concerned only to condemn people. But that was not all. Isaiah went on in a very vivid way to point out that God did not leave him impure and sinful. His lips were unclean so his lips were cleansed. His sin was forgiven. Even that was not the end. For then came the part of the experience that showed how intimately worship and action are related. For Isaiah heard the voice of God, calling for a messenger: "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" (v. 8). And Isaiah replied, "Here am I; send me." It was because of his experience of worship that Isaiah was prepared for his strenuous activity as a prophet. His intimate confrontation with God made it imperative that he go forth and confront his fellow men. Because he had worshiped, he was now ready to "act." This is the authentic Biblical note. This does not mean that worship is only a device or "gimmick" to make people do a more "effective" job of social action. There is a real sense in which worship is an "end in itself," something we do simply because we are created to praise and worship God, and this is our highest activity as human beings. We worship God because he is "worshipful," not because it makes us better citizens. However, when worship is real, it is not an "escape from the world," but thrusts us back into the middle of that world more firmly than ever. In the Biblical view there is no real difference between "worship" and "action." They are simply parts of the same total experience of living all life as "under God." To pray for a sick neighbor and to help out in the sickroom are parts of the same fundamental concern. True worship does not leave us "wallowing in our own piety," but pushes us into those areas where the will of God needs to be done. God conquers death God gives us the power to conquer The Only Real "Answer" A Question You Can't Avoid Some Current Answers -- a Dime a Dozen The First Part of the Biblical Answer What Is the "Image of God"? Some Consequences The Second Part of the Biblical Answer What Sin Is Supplying Some Documentation What Sin Is Not Getting Straightened Out How Can I Be Changed? The Third Part of the Biblical Answer The First Step After the First Step The Heart of the Matter Not Once and for All Some Hints for Growing -- Tried and Tested A Final Warning Why Isn't "Individual Religion" Enough? The Case Against the Church -a Bagful of Objections When Did the Church Get Started? Just What Is a "Covenant"? The "New Covenant" Becomes a Possibility Those Words of Jesus to Peter Those "Upsetters of the World" A Rebuttal of the Case Against the Church Why the Church? Last Judgment? Second Coming? What Do They Mean? The Inescapability of Eschatology The Point of Biblical Eschatology: History Is Going Somewhere The Dangers of Literalism Exploring New Testament Eschatology The Kingdom of God A Few Bits of Help The Gift of God Schatology and "What I Do Today" What Happens When I Die? Sheol -- Where God Is Not Present The Community of the Resurrection Paul's Attempt to Describe the Christian Fact A "Spiritual Body" The Facts of the Case I Try to Live a Good Life. Why Isn't That Enough? The "Micah" Variation The "Worship and Action" Variation The "Therefore" Variation The Biblical faith that God is the Creator