Worship

Good morning I am glad that we can gather to worship this morning. To gather together in his house and to praise God. That is an interesting saying and idea that we often have in church. Worship.

Worship is a powerful idea that it is important that we explore it and what it means for us to worship. For the next several weeks we will be looking at worship and what it means and how we do it and its various forms but let’s start a little by talking about some ideas of worship.

Hand signals of Worship

Have you ever been in church and been near the person who is very active with their hands. Or maybe you see them from across the room and you notice it. You know what I mean. The people who are committed to and deeply in worship. Did you know that there are levels of this.

Hand Signals of Worship

The rookie is the person who is still a little nervous about committing to this idea. They start with maybe the Elbow Flap. You know a little motion but the hands have to be in the pocket.

Then we have the Carry the TV. The person is starting to get a little bit braver and bolder and their hands have come out of the pockets but they aren’t ready to go to boldly.

Now Carry the TV has an upgrade to round out the Rookie level Hand signals for worship.

You can carry the normal TV but sometimes you have to go Big screen. Of course now days to go big screen you might need to get your hands really wide.

It is time to move on to the intermediate level though.

Hand Signals of Worship

In the Spirit of Jesus calling to be Fishers of men. We have the My fish was this big moment. The hands are up at chest level but there still is an element of keeping it low key.

Then we move on to the mom’s favorite. Turn the fish hands upward and you have Hold My baby. It is here that you can decided to get bolder and move up to the next level with the final intermediate level.

You have the Mufasa but please don’t start singing like you are in the lion king. It is not an appropriate response in church.

Hand Signals of Worship

Alright now we are getting serious about how we worship in church. Did i mention I will be taking notes each week of which category you fall in.

Alright for all you handy men out there. This one is for you to take your skills and show off your pro level worship experience with the “Dueling Light bulbs” Hands up and you have to turn the bulbs to unscrew them.

Football fans out there. This one is for you to take worship to the next level. I noticed something about this list. Man it fits us men really well. We can connect to a lot of these. Anyway the next one is The Goal posts. The Field goal is good. The Worship is good. Of course we can transition this one easily to another that happens a lot when you are watching football and eating the foods of football games. The “heartburn”

The Last one of the pro level is a three pack. You can adjust accordingly depending on your style. WE have the Pointer, the hatchet, and the School room. Get that hand up and raise it high as you transition to a higher form of worship. The real challenge would be to transition through all three.

Hand Signals of Worship

I have to admit i think that these three are reserved for the most powerful of moments of worship. These need to be used sparingly. Don’t abuse their power because you will endanger the worship experience of others.

“The Village People”— It’s Fun to stay at the Y.M.C.A. That first Y is so powerful but watch out if you are standing next to this person because you are in a danger zone.

“The Rocky”—This one is dangerous because if they go up closed fist you might punch your neighbor. This person may also start bouncing around like they are ready to take down Drago from Rocky 4. Please refrain from calling out for Adrian in worship as well.

And Finally we have “Touchdown” This is different from field goal because the arms are straight up. There is no doubt that you are sharing it is good. The ball has crossed the plan and the points have been scored.

Now if you don’t do any of these hand signals its okay i promise. These are not required to properly worship in church. However, they can help show your devotion to God and your commitment to worship.

Is this worship?

Is this really what it means to worship. We have to raise and lower our hands to the right positions?

Of course not but the truth is that there are a lot of misconceptions centered around worship in our world today.

For many of us when we hear the word worship in today’s modern church we think of music. In the right church you would even go further and think contemporary christian music. No those old hymns or gospel songs.

Contemporary Worship music is not worship. Before any of my hymns are superior people get excited Hymns aren’t exclusively worship either.

Both contemporary music and hymns are both a part of worship but they do not hold exclusively to the idea of worship. They are just a component but that is a sermon for another day.

Alright let’s get into this let’s look at a common definition of worship.

Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible Worship > Ww

Worship. Expression of reverence and adoration of God.

Eerdmans Bible Dictionary (WORSHIP)

WORSHIP—To pay homage to or, literally, to ascribe worth to some person or thing, hence, worship embraces the whole of the reverent life, including piety and liturgy.

Lexham Theological Wordbook (Worship)

Worship—Is the awed response to the saving acts and praiseworthy character of God.

Worship

I know that was a lot of different ideas or definitions that we have. Most of them hold to the same simple ideas though.

That we are called to praise and show God Adoration because of who He is.

Worship is our response to the work of God in our lives. It is due to him because we come to recognize the magnificence of God. Think of some of the passages in scriptures that help us point to that.

Isaiah 6:1–5 NIV

1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3 And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” 4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. 5 “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”

Exodus 15:11–13 NIV

11 Who among the gods is like you, Lord? Who is like you— majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders? 12 “You stretch out your right hand, and the earth swallows your enemies. 13 In your unfailing love you will lead the people you have redeemed. In your strength you will guide them to your holy dwelling.

Philippians 2:5–11 NIV

5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; 7 rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross! 9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Worship

It isn’t only the scriptures though that point us to the truth of that fact that we are to worship God. We can stand here and we can present to you stories about our lives that show how we worship our God. It is our response to him that is powerful and we testify to his works and because of this we worship. Let me provide for you an example.

A Testimony

There was a young man who grew up in the church. He grew up with good Christian parents. They taught him about Jesus. They taught him right from wrong. They got him to church. Yet, as a teenager he started to make his own choices. He still went to church but he started to live life in a way that made him feel good and fulfilled his own desires. Sin started to show up in his life. He was one way at church and another out in the world because why should he have to limit who he wanted to be. It is easier to just do what we want than to live up to the standards of the church.

This young man was pretty aimless and was struggling in life. He wasn’t really happy though. He was struggling with where he wanted to be and how he wanted to live his life. Because he was still a part of church he had the opportunity to go to teen camp the summer before he senior year. He decided to go.

He had no plans. No idea what he wanted for his future. He showed up to camp truly lost. The first night God showed up and got a hold of his heart. God showed him all the ways that he was living was not what God wanted for him. In this overwhelming moment he recognized that he needed to give his life to Christ again. That he had to confess his sins.

That night his life was changed. He was never the same again after that point. Not only did he return to a relationship with God but he was ready to give everything to him.

In his moment of recognizing that he didn’t know where he was going in life. He offered up his service to God. He asked God to show him what he was to do and he would pursue it. If you would ask him today he would joke with you that is a dangerous thing to offer to God.

Later that week. God worked again. While praying for some of his friends at the alter that week God showed up again. God spoke to him. God showed him what he wanted him to do.

I want you to be a Pastor.

Are you sure God.

I want you to be a Pastor.

It washed over him with an overwhelming sense of peace. The prayer time finished and it was an overwhelming experience for him. He got up and went and shared it with a friend who had come to camp with him. His friends face changed and looked at him and said.

I was praying earlier this week and God told me to affirm this when you would tell me. He told me to affirm what happened.

There was no doubt about it. The answer was there. This is the testimony of my life. This was the beginning of my journey as a Christian and a Pastor.

This isn’t to say that my life has been perfect or I have been a saint since then. It has been quite the journey. This moment forever changed who i am and how I view God. It made me recognize the worship that God deserves.

The complete and awed response to the saving acts of his Grace.

Worship

Worship is the response to our salvation. It is what is given to God not because we have to, but it is because we want to. it is the heart and attitude to change our lives to honor who God is.

It is the recognition that I am unworthy before him but his glory shines through all aspects of our lives. It is in him that we recognize that he is holy. He is powerful and we are to recognize that there are deep aspects of who we are that need to honor who he is.

He is worthy of this response because he is God.

Worship

This is just the first part of our understanding of worship and it is where we have to begin. We have to start with the recognition that if we profess to be believers we have to honor him. We have to give him glory.

The question that is more commonly debated and harder to understand is the How. This is what we will be looking at over the next several weeks.

Know though first and foremost he is called to be worshiped.