Give Thanks: Worship
Notes
Transcript
Good Morning and welcome again to Horeb Baptist Church. We thank you for joining us here in person and online. If everyone can turn their bibles to 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, our core verses for this Mini series called Give Thanks. Last week Nohan dove deep into what is gratitude or thankfulness and how it developed theologically through scripture, with an amazing deep dive into Psalm 126 Where Nohan reminded us that Thanksgiving is a grateful remembrance of what Jesus did on the cross.
This week we will be jumping around quite a bit since this series is more on the topical side than fully expository. We are going to be looking at worship as an act of thanksgiving and the different things that encompasses. Lets take a look at our core verse for this series.
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
What is Worship
What is Worship
One of the questions that was answered last week was “What is thanksgiving or gratitude?” At its essence it is the act of giving thanks; grateful acknowledgment of benefits or favors, especially to God. This is our baseline now. So what does it mean to worship? Before becoming a worship leader and deep diving into what that meant, my understanding of worship was a style of music that’s played at church. In the circle I run in that basically meant some anthemic rock ballad that spoke about Jesus. Something else I thought was that worship was limited to just a portion of service where we would sing and clap, and for some of us throw a bit of that two-step in it. As I came to learn and be challenged in was that worship wasn’t less than that, but it was more than that.
Worship is a modern word that comes from an old english word worthship which means to proclaim and give worth to something you consider precious and supremely valuable. So with this as our baseline for worship, are there more ways to do this than just music? Short answer, yes. Ling answer, prayer, confession, reading God’s word, hearing god’s word, giving a financial offering, baptizing and watching those get baptized and really the pinnacle of worship and thanksgiving celebrated in communion. These are all expressions of worship. And if we think about it, Like worship, gratitude or thanksgiving is started personally or privately, but lived out and expressed corporately. We see this structure through all of God’s word, “this is what I’ve done for you, this is who you are, now live this way for my glory and the good of others.” We learned this over the last few weeks in our Series in James.
From The Temple, To The World
From The Temple, To The World
As a reminder, when we look at the OT church we start to see in Leviticus that there is an official offering for thanksgiving established by God as an outward expression of that gratefulness that was started in their own lives. This was to be done in the temple in the sight of those in the temple, not in secret not in the quiet. What I love about it is that it pointed to our ultimate thanksgiving Jesus Christ. But the question is, did it stay there?
Jesus points to this new reality in
Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
Jesus is pointing at the realities of the new covenant where worship is no longer attached to the temple in Jerusalem, but to the temple of the believers.
But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses.
And these are corporate realities. and by corporate I mean something that is shared by a whole group, not just one member. A beautiful expression is this:
As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Brothers and sisters, though we are temples of the Spirit as believers, we cannot forget that our relationship with God is fulfilled and expressed as a body of believers, we are but stones in church, we are but parts of whole that is the bride of christ. there is no more beautiful expression of this than the gathered church worshipping God the Father, through Christ the son, in God the Spirit.
But sometimes I have experienced the church at large rallying behind other things than what God has set before us. Meaning this, Sometimes I have experienced others, sometimes it’s been me, but ultimately, why has it become more acceptable for us to yell and cheer at a sporting event or concert, or to boil it down more, why is more acceptable to express joy and thanksgiving in those places for those teams or artists than it is to do so here and for our God?
I have a few coworkers that are huge LAFC fans and they are season ticket holders, and obviously were super excited that their team won the MLS Cup. One of them came up to me and asked me if I was going to start going to games with them next season, and as a joke I said, “I already go to church.” And he asked what I meant by that and I repeated myself then added. “You gather in a place, sing songs, raise your hands, dance and bang drums for a team. I do the same thing on sundays.” And he responded pensively, “you right.” I don’t know if it was confusion or realization, but even though I was messing around with him It really clicked for both of us. There is this saying that comes to mind, “There is a sliver of truth in every joke.” And it sent me on a spiral of thought.
Someone had mentioned that the World Cup trophy was on tour and I told priscilla that I wouldn’t go cause there is no value in a piece of Gold to me. now if you told me I would get to meet the team and spend time interviewing them and such, then I would say thats worth the time. For the teams that compete, the worth is given to this trophy because of the effort they put in to overcoming adversity and numerous other things to win.
I told her that I’m def becoming a curmudgeon.
Though these things aren’t inherently bad, as humans we the tendency to ascribe a greater worth and greater expression of that worth to things other than God even as believers.
The point.
The point.
so what’s the point to all of this?
Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.
We have a greater reason to be thankful. Where supporters of a team ascribe worth because the team has won games, leagues and trophies, Where a team ascribes worth to win or trophy cause their own efforts, we ascribe worth to our God because he has won eternity for us, no because of our own efforts, but because of his. I’m not trying to Jesus juke you, but that is huge. Eternity is like, forever, as they say in the valley. So what does worship look like as new covenant believers?
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Worship is sacrificial in that we give our selves over to serving each other, learning, listening, discerning, praying, singing, clapping, dancing, submitting to one another and doing all these things in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Worship is expressed differently but these are those core principals of worthship. God in his word has prescribed where and how the full vision of worship is carried out as mentioned earlier.
A wise baller once said, “football is life, but football is also death.”
Well I submit to you that worship is all of life, even after death.
Thanksgiving is not just the awkward season when MAriah Carey thaws off between halloween and christmas, Thanksgiving is all of life.
Jesus gave his life for us personally and now we get to express our gratitude corporately in song, prayer, confession, service, Baptism, communion and the reading and listening of God’s word. To the glory of God the Father who has called us his own, through Christ the son, our mediator and perfecter, in God the Spirit our inspiration and our strength.
“O MY GOD,
Thou fairest, greatest, first of all objects,
my heart admires, adores, loves thee,
for my little vessel is as full as it can be,
and I would pour out all that fullness before thee in ceaseless flow.
When I think upon and converse with thee
ten thousand delightful thoughts spring up,
ten thousand sources of pleasure are unsealed,
ten thousand refreshing joys spread over my heart,
crowding into every moment of happiness.
I bless thee for the soul thou hast created,
for adorning it, sanctifying it,
though it is fixed in barren soil;
for the body thou hast given me,
for preserving its strength and vigour,
for providing senses to enjoy delights,
for the ease and freedom of my limbs,
for hands, eyes, ears that do thy bidding;
for thy royal bounty providing my daily support,
for a full table and overflowing cup,
for appetite, taste, sweetness,
for social joys of relatives and friends,
for ability to serve others,
for a heart that feels sorrows and necessities,
for a mind to care for my fellow-men,”
for opportunities of spreading happiness around,
for loved ones in the joys of heaven,
for my own expectation of seeing thee clearly.
I love thee above the powers of language to express,
for what thou art to thy creatures.
Increase my love, O my God, through time and eternity.”