What is Worship?
Notes
Transcript
Sometimes Worship God looks like pushing away idols
Sometimes Worship God looks like pushing away idols
Therefore at that time certain Chaldeans came forward and maliciously accused the Jews. They declared to King Nebuchadnezzar, “O king, live forever! You, O king, have made a decree, that every man who hears the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, shall fall down and worship the golden image. And whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast into a burning fiery furnace. There are certain Jews whom you have appointed over the affairs of the province of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men, O king, pay no attention to you; they do not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”
Then Nebuchadnezzar in furious rage commanded that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be brought. So they brought these men before the king. Nebuchadnezzar answered and said to them, “Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image that I have set up? Now if you are ready when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, to fall down and worship the image that I have made, well and good. But if you do not worship, you shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace. And who is the god who will deliver you out of my hands?”
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”
Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with fury, and the expression of his face was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He ordered the furnace heated seven times more than it was usually heated. And he ordered some of the mighty men of his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace. Then these men were bound in their cloaks, their tunics, their hats, and their other garments, and they were thrown into the burning fiery furnace. Because the king’s order was urgent and the furnace overheated, the flame of the fire killed those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell bound into the burning fiery furnace.
Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up in haste. He declared to his counselors, “Did we not cast three men bound into the fire?” They answered and said to the king, “True, O king.” He answered and said, “But I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods.”
Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the door of the burning fiery furnace; he declared, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out, and come here!” Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out from the fire. And the satraps, the prefects, the governors, and the king’s counselors gathered together and saw that the fire had not had any power over the bodies of those men. The hair of their heads was not singed, their cloaks were not harmed, and no smell of fire had come upon them. Nebuchadnezzar answered and said, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants, who trusted in him, and set aside the king’s command, and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any god except their own God. Therefore I make a decree: Any people, nation, or language that speaks anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be torn limb from limb, and their houses laid in ruins, for there is no other god who is able to rescue in this way.” Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon.
King Nebuchadnezzar to all peoples, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth: Peace be multiplied to you! It has seemed good to me to show the signs and wonders that the Most High God has done for me.
How great are his signs,
how mighty his wonders!
His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
and his dominion endures from generation to generation.
Exalting Jesus in Daniel It Is Good to Honor Our Great and Sovereign God for Sorrow that Leads to Repentance (Daniel 4:1–3)
It Is Good to Honor Our Great and Sovereign God for Sorrow That Leads to Repentance
DANIEL 4:1–3
Before his downfall a person’s heart is proud, but humility comes before honor.
Proverbs 18:12
Do you wish people to think well of you? Don’t speak well of yourself.
Blaise Pascal, Pensées, 1670
Chapter 4 begins like chapter 3 ends: with a kingly decree. It is also similar to chapter 2, with the king having a dream and needing an interpretation from Daniel. Once again, his magicians, enchanters, Chaldeans, and astrologers cannot deliver the goods (v. 7). They are as impotent in chapter 4 as they were in chapter 2. However, this decree in chapter 4 is cut from a different cloth. It is a personal testimony, a gospel tract, and a deposition before a judge and jury all wrapped up in one amazing story. In making this decree, Nebuchadnezzar wishes to honor the Most High God for what he did to lead him (or drive him!) to a sorrow that led to repentance.
He begins by noting the universal, even missional, nature of what he is about to share by addressing “every people, nation, and language, who live on the whole earth” (v. 1). If Nebuchadnezzar were alive today, he would have called a prime-time news conference for TV and radio. He would have used Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. He wanted as many people as possible to know what God did.
In language steeped in biblical terminology—perhaps an indication that Daniel assisted him in composing this global proclamation—the king begins with a blessing: “May your prosperity increase.” This does not sound like the Nebuchadnezzar of chapters 1–3, where he threatens to separate heads from bodies and throws teenagers into a fiery furnace. What changed him? Nebuchadnezzar knows what God did, and he wants the whole world to know: “I am pleased to tell you about the miracles and wonders the Most High God has done for me” (v. 2). He wants to tell of the amazing things the amazing God has done in his life.
Verse 3 is likened to a short hymn of praise or a doxology that, along with the doxology in verse 37, brackets the chapter. The words recall Psalm 145:13. Two parallel affirmations make up the doxology: “How great are [God’s] miracles, and how mighty his wonders! His kingdom is an eternal kingdom, and his dominion is from generation to generation.” No God is like this God in what he does. And no God is like this God in what he has.
Nebuchadnezzar’s worldview and spiritual perspective had been turned on their heads. Because of God’s work of bringing great sorrow that led to repentance, he was a new man. C. S. Lewis once more provides a really good insight: “A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you” (Mere Christianity, 124). Nebuchadnezzar had been looking down, but he is now looking up and he glorifies the God he sees.
Intro
Intro
Good morning guys I am so excited to be teaching for you guys today. So today we will not be in a series but today we will be doing a separate lesson on Worship. so before we hop in lets open our time in a word of prayer.
PRAY
I have a question for you guys how do you worship?
What is the purpose of Worship?
Today we are going to dive into each of these questions and how we can worship God with a true heart of worship. but first we are going to need a definition of worship.
WORSHIP: Any act that praises glorifies or uplifts God in any way shape or form.
Word
Word
we are going to be in the book of Daniel today and fair warning but the passage we are going to read is not going to seem like a passage about worship but trust me we will tie it back to the topic of what is worship.
READ Daniel 3:8-30
Therefore at that time certain Chaldeans came forward and maliciously accused the Jews. They declared to King Nebuchadnezzar, “O king, live forever! You, O king, have made a decree, that every man who hears the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, shall fall down and worship the golden image. And whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast into a burning fiery furnace. There are certain Jews whom you have appointed over the affairs of the province of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men, O king, pay no attention to you; they do not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”
Then Nebuchadnezzar in furious rage commanded that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be brought. So they brought these men before the king. Nebuchadnezzar answered and said to them, “Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image that I have set up? Now if you are ready when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, to fall down and worship the image that I have made, well and good. But if you do not worship, you shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace. And who is the god who will deliver you out of my hands?”
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”
Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with fury, and the expression of his face was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He ordered the furnace heated seven times more than it was usually heated. And he ordered some of the mighty men of his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace. Then these men were bound in their cloaks, their tunics, their hats, and their other garments, and they were thrown into the burning fiery furnace. Because the king’s order was urgent and the furnace overheated, the flame of the fire killed those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell bound into the burning fiery furnace.
Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up in haste. He declared to his counselors, “Did we not cast three men bound into the fire?” They answered and said to the king, “True, O king.” He answered and said, “But I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods.”
Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the door of the burning fiery furnace; he declared, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out, and come here!” Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out from the fire. And the satraps, the prefects, the governors, and the king’s counselors gathered together and saw that the fire had not had any power over the bodies of those men. The hair of their heads was not singed, their cloaks were not harmed, and no smell of fire had come upon them. Nebuchadnezzar answered and said, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants, who trusted in him, and set aside the king’s command, and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any god except their own God. Therefore I make a decree: Any people, nation, or language that speaks anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be torn limb from limb, and their houses laid in ruins, for there is no other god who is able to rescue in this way.” Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon.
READ Daniel 4:1-3
King Nebuchadnezzar to all peoples, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth: Peace be multiplied to you! It has seemed good to me to show the signs and wonders that the Most High God has done for me.
How great are his signs,
how mighty his wonders!
His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
and his dominion endures from generation to generation.
Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
“Worthy are you, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they existed and were created.”
But you shall seek the place that the Lord your God will choose out of all your tribes to put his name and make his habitation there. There you shall go, and there you shall bring your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the contribution that you present, your vow offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock. And there you shall eat before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your households, in all that you undertake, in which the Lord your God has blessed you.
These passages all point to the fact that worship is so important we see that it is woven through the bible whether old or new testament but now the question is Why? I think it is very clear that their is multiple reasons for this
this should be our response to the fact that God is our creator
This is also a response to who God is and Why he is so Awesome
we are commanded to worship our God
So now that we have walked through why the passages are so important to the heart of worship we need to think through what are some practical ways we worship because after all we all have different ways of worshiping
Application
Application
Their are a few practical ways that i have found that we can worship God some of these we may be doing on a weekly basis others we may not
Worship through Song
Worship through Prayer
Worship through Journaling
Worship through works
These are just a few ways that we can worship God but I really want to leave you guys with this and that is that no matter what form of worship you are doing we need to be doing it wholeheartedly and we need to mean it
I want to finish with a passage that has been near to my hear these last few weeks and that is Psalm 29:3-9
The voice of the Lord is over the waters;
the God of glory thunders,
the Lord, over many waters.
The voice of the Lord is powerful;
the voice of the Lord is full of majesty.
The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars;
the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon.
He makes Lebanon to skip like a calf,
and Sirion like a young wild ox.
The voice of the Lord flashes forth flames of fire.
The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness;
the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.
The voice of the Lord makes the deer give birth
and strips the forests bare,
and in his temple all cry, “Glory!”
Guys God is so good let that cause us to want to worship him in all the ways we can with a heart that cries out to him in praise.