Sermon Tone Analysis

The term “worship wars” describes the constant battle there seems to be over this thing we do every Sunday for about 30 minutes.

Like the man in this video, some go to war to resist worship.

Arms folded they glare at the Minister of Music daring him to make them sing if he thinks he’s man enough.

Believe me, I’ve led worship, I’ve seen these worship warriors!

They go to war to resist worship.

Others go to war over worship.

Churches, completely united over doctrine, may split over whether you use hymnbooks, play drums, or turn on an electric guitar.

Sometime ago a very well respected evangelical preacher was kicked off of a Christian radio network not because his preaching was watered down or his theology suspect.

No, it was much more serious!

The worship style which his church used, but which was never presented on the radio and which, by the way, was tamer than our own, was too “worldly.”

People fight over worship constantly.

I think that both of these approaches to worship sadly miss the point.

The church of Christ desperately needs to fight about worship today, but we do not need to go to war to resist it, nor go to war over it, we need to go to war with our worship.

What I mean is this: Worship is one of the greatest weapons in spiritual warfare, yet we don’t often see it that way.

We see worship as the thing we do that’s supposed to make us feel close to God, and, while it might do that many times, that is not its primary purpose.

Worship is warfare, and we desperately need it to be warfare.

NEED

Why?

Well, we need our worship to be warfare because our battle is spiritual.

You see, we spend much of our waking hours in one conflict or another.

We tend to think that our argument with our boss is his fault or our own, but behind every disagreement, there is a spiritual struggle.

We think that our financial stress is all about our wife’s lack of discipline, and part of it may, indeed, be, but behind every bounced check is a spiritual struggle.

Teenagers, we think that we argue with mom and dad because they’re just out of touch, and they may indeed be as weird as a polyester leisure suit, but behind every struggle for freedom you ever wage is a spiritual struggle.

The Bible says that we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against spiritual hosts of widkedness in heavenly places.

And if the battle is spiritual, then our weapons must be spiritual too.

Worship is one of those weapons.

We need our worship to be warfare because the battle is spiritual.

But we also need it to be warfare because our enemy is serious.

We are not in war games.

Our enemy seeks our destruction.

If he cannot touch our souls because we are saved by the grace of God, then he wants to neutralize our witness by silencing our testimony.

He is deadly serious about making us ineffective.

That’s why we need our worship to be warfare.

Our enemy is serious.

And we also need our worship to be warfare because our flesh is so weak.

In the comsic struggle with Satan, God wants to use us as his warriors but we have a fatal flaw in our armor: our own sinful nature.

What strengthens us to fight against the onslaught of Satan.

It is worship!

That is why our worship must be warfare!

BACKGROUND

So how does it happen?

How does worship become warfare?

Well, we read an unbelievable story in 2 Chron 20 that clearly shows us.

Jehoshaphat is the King.

He’s one of the good guys.

Though he’s had some bad moments, he’s tried to serve the Lord.

But the day comes when it looks like all his clean living and devotion to God is going down the tubes.

He is threatened by an invading army and his response to this threat demonstrates for us three avenues by which worship becomes warfare.

First, worship becomes warfare:

DIV 1; WHEN IT CONNECTS WITH GOD

In v 1 of that chapter it reads:

It happened after this that the people of Moab with the people of Ammon, and others with them besides the Ammonites, came to battle against Jehoshaphat.

2 Then some came and told Jehoshaphat, saying, “A great multitude is coming against you from beyond the sea, from Syria; and they are in Hazazon Tamar” (which is En Gedi). 3 And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.

4 So Judah gathered together to ask help from the Lord; and from all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord.

5 Then Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the Lord, before the new court, 6 and said: “O Lord God of our fathers, are You not God in heaven, and do You not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations, and in Your hand is there not power and might, so that no one is able to withstand You? 7 Are You not our God, who drove out the inhabitants of this land before Your people Israel, and gave it to the descendants of Abraham Your friend forever?

Tragedy and danger have a way of connecting you with what’s really important and Jehoshaphat was certainly in the middle of danger.

Jehoshaphat gets word that a “great multitude” of warriors are coming against him.

Like you and me, he’s scared.

He’s very frightened, so much so that he proclaims a fast throughout the land and the Bible says there in v 3 that he “sets himself to seek the Lord.”

Hey, he’s not mumbling half-hearted, “hope-they-make-it-to-heaven” prayers here!

He’s dead serious.

He’s seeking God!

And, as he begins to seek the living God, God does just like He promises to do with anyone who genuinely seeks Him.

He found that the promise God made to His people way back there in Deut 4 was true: But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul . . .

In the middle of his praying and his worship, Jehoshaphat connects with God.

You know that by the awareness he displays when he prays before the people in v 6,

“O Lord God of our fathers, are You not God in heaven, and do You not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations, and in Your hand is there not power and might, so that no one is able to withstand You? 7 Are You not our God, who drove out the inhabitants of this land before Your people Israel, and gave it to the descendants of Abraham Your friend forever?

Notice he mentions God’s sovereignty and power.

He says: O Lord God or our fathers, are You not God in heaven, and do You not rule over all the kingdoms of hte nations, and in Your hand is there not power and might, so that no one is able to withstand You?

In the middle of his fear and his worry, Jehoshaphat sets his heart to seek God and when he genuinely connects with that God, he is reminded of the awesome power that God has.

Yes there’s a great army poised to attack him, but he serves the God who rules over nations.

He serves the God in whose hand is power and might.

He serves the God whom no one is able to withstand.

But there’s something even more precious here.

In v 7, after he talks of God’s power, he makes it personal.

He says, “Are you not our God . .

.”

Now its one thing to know of a God who has power.

It’s another thing to call that God, your God!

Listen, Christian, the reason our worship is so wimpy is because it never connects.

We wade through choruses and hymns with no thought.

We daydream when someone leads in prayer and we sleep through the preaching of God’s word.

Then we leave God’s house and wonder why nothing ever changes in our lives.

I’ll tell you how to have life change.

Let God turn your worship into warfare.

Start genuinely connecting with Him!

ARGUMENTATION

And some might say right here: “Ooo, that sounds really spooky, Rusty.

What do you mean when you say, “connect” with Him.

Are you walking off the charismatic cliff, here?

You going to have us raising our hands and closing our eyes?

I hear people talking about “connecting” with God, but it seems like to me that they’re just deceiving themselves into some kind of emotional experience that isn’t real.

They may claim that something is happening to them and they may think that it’s real, but I can’t say I’ve ever experienced it.

I can’t say that anything “real” has happened in my heart during worship.”

Well, I understand what you’re saying.

I really do.

But I also know something about God.

God is here, and He is not silent.

Frederick Faber said:

There is hardly ever a complete silence in our soul.

God is whispering to us well-nigh incessantly.