Are We Clueless When is comes to Genuine Worship?
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This morning we are are going to evaluate are worship in order to see if it is pleasing to God or not but before we can I need to set the scene for you
As we all know Revelation was a vision that was given to the apostle John
and In Revelation 1:19 John was given an outline of what he would see
The things you hav seen
The things that are
The things that will take place
This morning we are going to begin by briefly looking at the 3rd section of this outline
John has been sentenced to a life of hard labor on the island of Patmos
and as we read I want you to keep in mind that in spirit h has just been ushered form the island of Patmos into the indescribable presence of God
at the end of verse 3 he just heard these words : “Behold I stand at the door”
Now as he hears the voice of Jesus and looks up he sees an open door
stand with me and let’s read about what he saw
After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne. And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald. Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clothed in white garments, with golden crowns on their heads. From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God, and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal.
And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight. And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say,
“Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty,
who was and is and is to come!”
And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying,
“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.”
Now I want you to understand that this is not an attempt by John to give us an accurate description of God
In scripture we are told that he father remains hidden
who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen.
Now to the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.
No one has ever seen God except for Jesus
Some might argue that we read in the Old Testament where some where lucky enough to see God himself
but I would argue that it was just a glimpse of his glory
and in Revelation 4 what John is describing is the un-matchless glory and worth of God
and if we understand what he is describing we should be overwhelmed by this vision
So the question then is
What did John see and Why did he see it?
What did John see and Why did he see it?
John saw the absolute awesomeness of God - in order that he could communicate to us that God alone is the center and source of all creation!
He wanted us to see that God and God alone deserves to be worshiped!
There is a lot of ideas out there about creation and the meaning of life but let me clear it up for you
Our Father is the center and source of all creation
Everything points to and revolves around him
He alone occupies the sovereign place of authority
He has unshakable authority over all things
So then the real question then is if this vision is not suppose to be an accurate depiction of God - why did John see what he saw?
God wanted us to see what authentic worship looks like.
and if he wanted us to what authentic worship look like then it only makes since that we should look at what John saw and them ask ourselves if in fact what we call worship lines up with what the father has in mind
So let’s spend some time unpacking what genuine worship look like
Our Response
Our Response
Authentic worship start with a response
It is all about our response to who God is and how we see God!
this effects everything about our worship
when we enter into his presence - which is exactly what we do or at least should be doing when we come in to this worship center
we should be in awe
the hairs on the back of out neck should stand up
Just like John we should be in utter awe
and when we are…………
- It will lead us into unwavering commitment
- It will lead us into a deep reverence for the eternal king
Let’s continue looking around the throne room of God with John - look at verse 4 - this is where John begins to describe what was going on - he is describing the worship service that is taking place
Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. In front of the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God. Also in front of the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal.
In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under its wings. Day and night they never stop saying:
“ ‘Holy, holy, holy
is the Lord God Almighty,’
who was, and is, and is to come.”
who are the 24 elders?
- the truth is we do not really know
And we are not given the answer so it is best not to speculate
what we do know is that they are wearing crowns of victory
crowns that they no doubt earned
crowns that suggest they have been redeemed
and the understand that even though they earned the crown in reality it was God working in them that made it possible - which definitely plays a role in our attitude towards God when we enter into worship
they show us what authentic worship looks like
Now John’s attention returns to God
- He hears thunder booming and lightning flashing from the throne of God - displaying the character and authority of God - all of which plays a huge role on how we see God
and How we see God affects how we worship - it effects our response
He then notices seven burning lamps and a sea of glass
we do not have time to really dive into all of that but just now that they are describing the character of God
and as we said above how we see God effects out response - it affects our worship
Now are attention is drawn to 4 living creatures
in order to better understand these creatures one has to study what us said about them in scripture
and while we do not have time to unpack all of that i would encourage you to do so latter
you can find references to these creatures in Isaiah and Ezekiel
what we conclude form these verses is that they are angelic beings who are called to lead all of creation on worship and that is what I want you to focus in on this morning
as we read Revelation 4:9-11
And when the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, to Him who lives forever and ever,
the twenty-four elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and will worship Him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne, saying,
“Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power, for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created.”
If you thing all of this was confusing think about how John must of felt
all of this blows our mind - and it should
but here is the thing - many man get so wrapped up in explaining all of the unknown in John’s vision - trying to read between the line and decipher what is being said - and they end up missing the whole point
Absolute Awe of God
Absolute Awe of God
the miss that fact that John is in absolute awe of God
if you do not get anything else from this message and form these verses
do not miss the fact that John was in absolute awe of God
that is where genuine worship begins
Are We Clueless When is comes to Genuine Worship?
Are We Clueless When is comes to Genuine Worship?
When describing worship Tozer described it as the “the missing jewel of the modern church”
In other words he said most of us when it comes to real worship are clueless
We are so clueless that we are left asking ourselves
- do I have to hold my hands up in order to worship
- do i have to close my eyes are leave them open
- is it some special kind of felling
Swindoll says his great concern is that we tend to play the game church
We learn how to……
- dress
- sit
- what words to say
- How we should look
- We even learn the words to all the songs while missing the real reason we sing them in the first place
Take a song like how great is out God
we should be focusing in on how great God really is
but instead we are to busy worrying about
what are neighbor wore to church and the fact that he is out of key
about what is for lunch
did I turn my head lights off
All of these things run thorough are head and we do not skip a beat we keep singing
but don’t you see that is not worship
that is playing church
Because Worship is ascribing worth to someone or something
When we are worshiping God - I mean truly worshiping him then we will turn all our attention towards HIm
All of our affection and adoration will be directed towards Him
to often what is going on horizontally - distracts us form what God is trying to do vertically
Let’s have a moment of honesty
Let’s have a moment of honesty
We will surrender everything for our work
But when it comes to worship we barley make time to show up on Sundays and an occasional Wednesday
Is that you - think about it
I want draw your attention back to the 24 elders and the 4 living creatures
God alone is the center of their world
They praise him for who he is and what he has done
They are not distracted by each other
They are not distracted the furniture in the throne room
Their thoughts are not wandering
Their eyes and ears are focused on the one who is worthy of all praise
What is response to God this morning?
It is time for some personal reflection
Do you see him as the one worthy of all praise - do not give the sunday school answer here - really search your heart here
When it comes to worship - are you in the spirit of worship are are you distracted?
How can you refocus yourself
- some find it helpful to wake up early on Sunday morning and prepare their hearts and minds for worship
Maybe you need to sit up here on the front row so nothing distracts you
Maybe you need to rid yourself of something that is not pleasing to God so you can boldly approach the throne room
We need to restore the missing jewel of worship back to our church!