Worship

Bills Fans Stereotypes

If you have been in Buffalo for any amount of time, you have at a minimum heard of the Buffalo Bills and of their significance to many people in this area. You may have had the opportunity to go to a game, or maybe a party to watch a game. While you are attending such events you might observe several different types of fans watching the game.

The first type of fan we will call the casual fan. This fan is one who is very enthusiastic but has little understanding of the game of football. They will cheer when others cheer and be sad when others are sad, but they do not no why everyone is this way. On occasion this fan may get excited or upset when no one else is reacting because they have misunderstood what was taking place in the game.

The next type of fan we will call the fair weather fan. This fan goes to games and parties to watch because this is the thing to do during football season. They understand the game of football and have all the gear but they are not overly supportive of the team. They go mostly because its something to do rather than being devoted to the team and they are not effected much by the winning or losing of the team. They simply partake because that’s what people do.

The last fan is the true fan of the Buffalo Bills. They know the team. They know the sport. They know the players stats and even some about the opposing teams. They are emotionally invested in the team. Whether the Bills win or lose has an effect on them.

The True Worshiper

Jesus makes a statement about how people were worshipping God at that time and what the true worshipper would practice in the hour to come. In John 4:22-24

John 4:22–24 ESV

22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 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. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

Jesus says what the true worshipper will be like. They are one who worships God in spirit and in truth. This means that the person has been confronted with the truth of God’s Word and their heart has responded to the truth in faith. As John Piper puts it, they has come to a right understanding of God and so their heart has a right value of God. MacArthur describes it as having enthusiasm that is directed by the Word of God. Our spirit is invested, our heart is moved, because we have encountered the truth of who God is. This is the true worshipper.

The context of this verse is that Jesus is talking with a woman from Samaria. He has just made her an offer of living water, a well springing forth to eternal life. He then proceeds to tell her of her relationship past. She perceives that He is a prophet from God, and so asks about worship. The Samaritans are related to the Jews, but are considered a half breed because they intermarried with gentiles. The kingdom of Israel split in halves leaving the northern and southern kingdoms. The southern kingdom was centered around Jerusalem where God had the temple set up for worship. The northern kingdom set up their own place of worship on Mount Gerizim.

Jesus addresses this in His reply to her. He says that the Samaritans worship what they do not know. They could be compared to the casual fan. They are enthusiastic but in reality have no idea what about because they do not have the truth.

Jesus then says that the Jews worship what they know. Elsewhere in Scripture we see that God is not pleased with ritual acts when the heart is not moved, and this is what many Jews did. They had the Word of God to guide their worship but they did not believe. They could be compared to the fair weather fan who only does what he does because that’s what people do in this area. When it gets hard they bow out and make excuses.

How to be a true worshipper

Paul begins chapter 12 of Romans with therefore, so we should consider what has come before that he might be referring to. In the first eleven chapters of Paul’s letter to the believers at Rome he explains God’s plan of redemption.

He begins be explaining that all people have sinned, whether Jew or Gentile, which rightfully earns them condemnation before God. Every person who has ever lived has seen the glory of God in creation, but every person has chosen to dishonor God and glorify the things created rather than the Creator. So, every person has earned death, not just physical, but an eternal death separated from God.

Then Paul continues in His letter explaining that God did something on behalf of mankind. God the Son became a man who lived on the earth perfectly keeping God’s law. Then He did the unthinkable, Jesus the Messiah died in the place of sinners. Paul tells us that when Jesus died in our place, He was dying in the place of His very enemies. We are Gods enemy because have broken what He created. Yet, Jesus died for us and He rose again from the grave defeating the power of sin so that all who believe would have eternal life with God. Salvation is by faith.

Then Paul gives us the reason God did all this Romans 11:36 “36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.” God did all this so that He might be known to man, and through that knowledge He would be glorified. God saves people so that we might become worshippers.

Romans 12:1–2 ESV

1 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. 2 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.

Paul’s therefore is pointing to God’s act of salvation. He then says that it is by the mercies of God that He is appealing. The mercy of God is all things we have that we do not deserve, which in light of the rest of the book of Romans is everything. We only deserve to die, yet we have life, we have family, we have friends, we enjoy food, we have breath, we can walk, we can have relationship with God, we have the Holy Spirit. All things are from God, and are in fact a gift that we do not deserve.

Then Paul says that we should present our bodies as a living sacrifice. At this time, most would be familiar with the offering of dead animals to some sort of deity, so the idea of a living sacrifice may have been strange. The idea here is that the one who has faith in the truth that preceded this would offer all of their lives to God for His glory. This is our spiritual, or as some translate, reasonable worship. Offering our lives in totality is the rational response to the message of the gospel. Any other response will fall short, but there is hope because Christ has already offered Himself fully to God in our place. So our response is not one of trying to earn favor but it is one of complete gratitude. An act of thanks, of adoration, or reverence, of awe because God worked on my behalf when I was His enemy. Worship is an act of giving to God, not seeking to gain anything because the true worshipper understands they have recieved all they need. So, any time we come to worship God and we are seeking to get something from the experience, our heart is off. Worship is an act of giving to God. We give our voice, our time, our resources, because in reality it is all from Him. We are not giving God anything that is not rightfully His. He is deserving of all of us. Not just part of us.

Paul says that our worship should be holy and acceptable to God, and he explains in verse two that this happens by being transformed by God. We expose ourselves to God’s Word, follow the leading of the Holy Spirit, offer all we are to God in worship, and day by day our worship will become more pleasing to God. The act of worship is what will renew our minds and lead to transformation. It is a cycle of gospel and response that leads to deeper fellowship with God.

What sacrifice do we make?

Hebrews 13:15–16 ESV

15 Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. 16 Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

In the book of Hebrews we have a further explanation of what sacrifices we are to make. The first sacrifice we are to make is praise. Our words are to bring praise to God. Simply put, this means we are bragging on who God is and what He has done. This could look like journaling about an attribute of God, praying about His character, speaking to others about God, singing aloud about our Creator. We are to give our words to God as an offering of thanks and adoration.

Then the writer of Hebrews says that we are to do good and share what we have, as this sacrifice also pleases God. This kind of act of worship could be called service. In Romans 12, Ephesians 4, 1 Corinthians 12, and elsewhere there are lists of gifts given by the Holy Spirit that are to be used to build up the Body of Christ, the Church. As the apostle Peter put it, we should use the gifts given us that God would be glorified. As well as serving we are called to share our physical possessions with others and do so with a cheerful heart. Again, all we have is from God and it is to God for His glory.

As we reflect on what we have covered so far we must remember that worship is an act of the heart that moves outwards to our words and actions. If we just say the right things and do the rights things but are not worshiping in our hearts than the acts are meaningless. Matthew 15:7-9 gives us the example of Jesus accusing the Jews of giving lip service to God but their hearts are far from Him.

It is possible to do what God has asked but not have worshiped Him as He desires because our hearts are far from Him.

Worship is a genuine response to the truth of the gospel that leads to praising God with our words and serving others out of the abundance that God has given us for His glory.

Now that we have an understanding of what worship is, what should a worship service look like when the body of believers come together?

Communal Worship

As we come together to worship God, we must first have our hearts in the proper place. Once we have done this, we look to Scripture to see what communal worship looked like. Throughout the New Testament there is not much detail on what a service looked like, but we do get glimpses at what the main things were.

Acts 2:42 ESV

42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

Colossians 3:16 ESV

16 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.

The Word of God

The first thing we see is the apostles teaching, which we understand now to be the Word of God. They would read the Word and sit under the preaching of the Word of God. The Word of God is paramount to worship of any form because it is the truth. Without the Word of God we would be left to guess about who God is based off of our experiences and opinions. The entirety of a groups time in worship should be guided by and conform to the Scriptures.

Fellowship with believers

The believers would fellowship with one another as family would. They would spend time with one another sharing each other’s burdens and joys Romans 12:15 “15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.” This is crucial to worship as we the bride of Christ come together in unity to glorify our Lord. We are to have the same mind as we await His return.

The Lord’s Supper

They would share a meal together, most importantly partaking in the Lord’s Supper as Jesus said to partake as often as they took bread and cup. The importance of the Lord’s Supper is what it symbolizes. The bread and the cup represent the body and the blood of Christ, which is the foundation of the gospel. Without the death of Christ, our sin is still on our head, but because of Christ’s death and resurrection we have an eternal hope which is much of the reason we worship. God has acted on our behalf and every time we remember this it should cause our hearts to be thankful, to be in awe, to rejoice.

Praying with and for one another

They would pray as they met together. This aspect of worship can look different. At times it may look like prayers of praise, thanksgiving and adoration. Other times it may be asking God for wisdom or help as we acknowledge that He is in control and we are not. Our prayer must be informed by Scripture, and when it is, it will glorify the Lord and bring our hearts in line with His.

Singing to the Lord

We see that singing with one another was another part of the worship service of the early church. The singing consisted of singing Scripture, hymns, and spiritual songs. A hymn is a song of praise that communicates a doctrine or truth about God. A spiritual song would have been a more general song that had sacred subjects.

So, according to Scripture when believers gather together their meeting should contain the Word of God, fellowship, the Lord’s Supper, prayer, and singing to the Lord.

Worship results in missional living

As Alex said at the beginning of this series, the passage that we are centering on is

Matthew 28:18–20 ESV

18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

How does this verse relate to worship? If we think back to the passage in Hebrews where worship is described as a sacrifice of praise, doing good, and sharing what we have; all these acts communicate the gospel of Jesus Christ. If we praise God with our lips, those around us will hear the gospel proclaimed. If we share and sacrifice our time and resources for the good of others and the glory of God we are being living examples of the gospel. As we worship God for who He is from the depths of our hearts, the people around us will be confronted with truth just as we once were. They will have to respond to this truth, either in faith or in rejection. Those who respond in faith will likewise worship and the gospel message will continue to spread to the ends of the earth.

As we leave today, I want us to think about our own lives. What kind of worshiper are we? Are we casual, fair weather, or are we a true worshiper who brings glory to God? Many of us are passionate about sports, myself included, are we as passionate about God’s glory? May we be people who share the gospel through our words and actions as adoration overflows from our hearts. May we be transformed as we are confronted with truth and moved in response.