What Makes A Worshipper? | Deuteronomy 26:1-11

Opening Remarks: Great time at CR, appreciate the accommodations, hospitality, great spirit, music today.

Love your Pastor and his family.

Love you staff.

ARBC is blessed.

I hope you take time often to thank God for what you have.

Which kind of leads to our text this morning.

Turn to Deuteronomy 26.

We’re going to be dealing with a subject that isn’t talked about much, but it probably ought to be. We’re going to deal with the subject of worship.

We talk about worship often. This is most likely labeled a worship service. When people ask where you go to church, they are curious about where you worship.

So I’d like to spend some time dealing with this thought today: What Makes A Worshipper?

READ

“What Makes A Worshipper?”

PRAY

Introduction: Have you ever come across someone that has clearly lost the love for what they’re doing?

Last fall I was at Pike’s Place in Seattle ordering some food with a friend, and the guy at the counter of this clam chowder place obviously stopped loving his job about 20 years ago. He was rude, he was short with people, he didn’t care at all about perceptions or Yelp reviews. It was awkward.

So we got up to the counter, ordered our clam chowder, and I thought we had made it out unscathed until the guy asked my friend, “How many spoons do you need?” And my friend said, “Four or five.”

As soon as he said it, I knew it was a mistake. The guy busted my friends chops immediately. “So how many is it? Four? Five? Make up your mind, buddy!”

It was awkward. Seattle is definitely not Texas friendly. The guy had lost sight of the fact that his job was to serve customers. Without them, he didn’t have a job.

It’s sad when we lose sight of why we’re doing what we do.

But let’s think about what we’re doing today. Is it possible for us to lose sight of that when it comes to worship?

Our purpose is to meet with God. To worship the Lord. But if we’ve been doing this for any length of time, we all know how easy it is to lose sight of the purpose and just go through the motions. I’m afraid there are a lot of church attenders but not nearly as many genuine worshippers.

Deuteronomy 26 is written to Israel as they prepared to enter into the Promised Land. This book is built on three discourses – in the first few chapters he reminds them of their past. The message is this – “Look Back.” In the second discourse, the bulk of the book, he says, “Look Up. Don’t forget that you serve a holy God who has expectations of you as His people.” The final few chapters make up the third discourse and the message there is “Look Forward.” God wanted to do great things for Israel if they would simply obey. He wanted to bless them. But if they refused to obey, they wouldn’t be blessed. They would miss out on all the great things He had planned for them.

Today’s text fits into the “Look Up” section. The majority of Deuteronomy is a reminder that their first responsibility is to God. And a major piece of that is worship. Look at Vs. 10. It’s clear that Moses is trying to teach them about proper worship, and in doing so, we find him describing the marks of a genuine worshipper.

I don’t know about you, but if I’m going to spend a significant portion of my life worshipping the Lord, I want to do it genuinely. That’s the value of a text like this. We don’t do things the same way as Israel, but there are some principles here that apply to us as well, because God doesn’t change. He is who He’s always been. I’d like to start with the baseline for worship. Look at vs. 5.

Vs. 5 – The term “Syrian” refers to Jacob, or Israel. He spent 20 years in Syria and married Syrian wives. All of his children were born in Syria except for Benjamin, thus the reference to Syria here.

But notice how Moses instructed the worshipper to recall his history. God had taken Jacob from Canaan into Egypt with around 70 people, but when they left Egypt, Israel numbered in the millions.

Vs. 6-8 – The worshipper is to say, “We were slaves in Egypt suffering greatly with no hope in sight, but when we cried to the Lord, He heard our voice and saw our affliction and brought us out of Egypt with His mighty hand.”

Notice the language, “Us, us, us, we, our, our, our, our, us…” This man went through this himself. He was speaking by experience. He himself had been brought out of Egypt. Here’s the key to becoming a Genuine Worshipper:

I. A Worshipper Has Been Redeemed (5-8)

A. Like the children of Israel brought out of Egypt, God has brought believers out of the bondage of sin.

1. We were hopeless. We were miserable. We were slaves to sin.

2. And just like Israel, we cried out to the Lord, “For whosoever shall call upon…”(Rom 10:13)

3. We have just as much to be thankful for as Israel after the Exodus.

B. We could read verse 8 like this, “The Lord brought me forth out of sin with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, into the glorious freedom found in Jesus Christ.”

1. We’ve been redeemed like this worshipper. This person had been inside a home where the blood of a lamb had been painted on the door jamb.

2. He knew what it was like to be redeemed by the blood of a lamb. And so do you, if you are a child of God.

3. Worship can only be genuine in the life of someone who has truly been redeemed.

C. I don’t know how someone who’s been redeemed struggles to worship:

1. We know the difference between what we were and what we are now. If we had no other reason, that’s enough to worship.

2. If you have no desire to worship, have you been redeemed? Redeemed means you’ve been delivered because of a payment (like a ransom).

3. Jesus Christ paid for your sins on the cross. You’re a sinner…deserved to pay the consequence…Jesus paid instead…offers eternal life…you must repent of your sin and place your faith in His finished work on the cross. At that point, you are made free from the penalty of sin. Maybe you need to experience redemption this morning.

4. Jesus Christ went to those lengths for us. We owe Him everything. How we grow complacent about worshipping THAT GOD, I’ll never understand.

D. 1 Peter 1:18-19, “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot”

1. He says a few verses later in 1 Peter 2:5 that ye “…offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.”

2. It’s only right to worship the One who redeemed you. In fact, it’s a shame if you don’t.

3. When you recognize the depth of your sin, you can’t help but be grateful for the free gift of salvation.

4. Where would you be without the redeeming work of Jesus Christ? Let that drive you to say, “I’m done just showing up for church. I must go to meet with the Savior who has redeemed me.”

But Moses gives more marks of a genuine worshipper:

II. A Worshipper Has Been Blessed By God

A. Vs. 1 – This Israelite has been guided by God to a specific place.

1. Moses says, “When thou art come in unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.”

2. This person had clearly been guided by God through the wilderness.

3. He’d literally followed the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night.

4. God had made sure he had enough manna to eat. That his clothes and shoes wouldn’t wear out.

5. That there’d be enough water to drink, even when it was coming out of a rock.

6. This worshipper had crossed Jordan and was now living in the place God had promised them hundreds of years before.

B. Vs. 2 – The worshipper would have fruit as evidence of God’s blessing in his life.

1. Not only would God bring them to a place of inheritance and let them possess their land, He would make it fruitful.

2. So the people were to take what they had been blessed with and give it back to God.

C. I hope you see the parallels.

1. As a child of God, you’ve have been blessed.

2. God has guided you with His own care and attention. He has provided for you at every turn. He’s a personal Shepherd.

3. For many people in here, God has brought us through a wilderness.

4. The only right response to that kind of care and attention is to bring an offering of thanks.

D. Paul wrote in Eph 1:3 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:”

1. Paul then goes through a list of incredible blessings that we have because of our Heavenly Father.

2. He chooses us, He enables us to be holy, He loves us, we’ve been adopted, He’s shown us grace, we are accepted in the beloved, we have redemption through His blood, We are forgiven, He abounds with wisdom toward us, and one day we’ll be gathered to Him in Heaven.

3. We don’t come to worship in order to be blessed. We come to worship because we are blessed.

4. Too many come to church saying, “Bless me. Let’s see what you got.”

5. If you’re a truly redeemed and blessed and guided child of God, you should come because you’ve been blessed.

6. Singing shouldn’t be a struggle, because you know how much He’s done for you.

7. Serving shouldn’t be like pulling teeth, because you remember what you were.

8. Giving shouldn’t be a chore, because you know what you’d have without God.

9. One mark of a genuine worshipper is they’ve been blessed and they know it.

10. Illustration: Craig Chambers “Better than I deserve”

Genuine worshippers have been Redeemed…Blessed

III. A Genuine Worshipper Is Thankful

A. Vs. 2 – This Israelite is to take his offering and go to the priest and give credit where credit is due.

1. He doesn’t say, “I’m a good farmer. Look at my crop.”

2. No, he says, “This is from the Lord. It’s because of Him that I have this fruit.”

3. “Put it in a basket” sounds flippant, but they would select the best fruit and deliberately arrange it in a basket. They would take wheat, or olives, or dates, or pomegranates, or figs or grapes and arrange it with thought, then walk all the way to the place the Lord would choose for worship to take place.

4. So just imagine: A huge throng of people walking up to Jerusalem with their baskets full saying, “The Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad!” (Psalm 126:3)

5. It’s a beautiful picture of gratitude.

B. God is looking for thankful people.

1. We live in such an entitled culture. “Gimme, gimme, gimme.”

2. And that spills over into our churches. Rather than coming to show gratitude to the Lord for His many blessings and gifts, there is now a spirit that says, “What’s in it for me?”

3. “Where are the programs we like? What activities do you have for our kids? Why don’t we have more Bible studies?”

4. And we make what should be worship about Him all about us. That’s not a biblical approach to worship.

5. The culture has enough of this entitled approach to life that says, “Everything must be to my liking or you’re canceled.” No, no, no.

6. True worshippers give God their first fruits – the best of what they have. And they’re willing to do it on God’s terms, even if it means putting in great effort to get there.

7. Let’s not make it about us. Let’s make it about the God who has blessed us.

C. Illustration: A little girl who brought mother much joy. She came in one day and sat on a chair while her mother ironed clothes. Her mother asked, “What can I get for you sweetie?” She said, “Nothing, I just want to sit here and watch you and love you.”

1. That’s a pretty good way to approach the Lord in worship.

2. Instead of coming to get more, come to simply watch Him and love Him, and you might find you get more out of it that way than if you were to come with the mindset to get as much as you can.

Redeemed, Blessed, Thankful…

IV. A Worshipper Is A Giver (10-11)

A. Notice: Not once in Moses’ instructions for worship does the worshipper ask for anything.

1. AP Gibbs says, “He does not come with a petition on his lips, but with a present in his hand.”

2. You might say, “Yes, but He simply brought what God had already given him.”

3. True, but isn’t it true of all us? We’d have nothing if God hadn’t given it to us.

4. James 1:17, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights”

5. All we have came from God. But isn’t it amazing that all God requires is for us to bring back a portion of what He’s already given us. A small portion, at that.

6. Illustration: There were plenty of times when my kids were little that they would bring me a present on my birthday or Christmas and I know that I’m the one that supplied the money to buy it. Do I begrudge that? No way. It means the world to me that they love me enough to bring me something.

B. When David was transitioning to Solomon in I Chronicles 29:14 he said these words, “But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? for all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee”

1. David knew anything He gave God came from God. So who are we? Nobodies. But God desires our worship.

2. He wants nobodies to adore and admire and just watch and love Him. Not asking for anything. He’s not a vending machine. No, thanking Him for what we have.

3. The blessings. The grace. Redemption. His love. Adoption.

C. You might say, “I don’t have much to give, so I’m not sure what He wants from me.”

1. Notice how Moses didn’t clarify how big the fruit basket had to be.

2. Meaning, He wasn’t interesting in comparisons or in quantity. He simply asked them to bring their best.

3. You don’t have to give as much as the next person. God simply wants you to do your best.

D. God freely and without hesitation gave His best. He gave His Son.

1. Does He not deserve our best in return?

2. Does He not deserve genuine worshippers?

3. Has He not earned it for us to simply come and watch and love Him, without demanding something in return?

4. Is it unreasonable for Him to ask for us to put in some effort to worship?

5. No, He gave His best in sending His Son Jesus Christ. He continues to give His best.

6. And we should give our best in return.

That’s the heart of worship.

We don’t worship in order to be blessed. We worship because of how much we’ve been blessed.

Have you lost sight of what God has done for you?

It wouldn’t be hard to worship if you’ve been redeemed.

It shouldn’t be hard to worship God when you consider what He’s done for you.

It shouldn’t take twisting our arm to bring an offering, because God gave His best for us.

We say we’re worshippers, but are we? Really?

God help us as His people to return to Biblical Worship.

Conclusion:

But before we close, I need to say this…

You don’t have to be a Genuine Worshipper.” What I mean is…

If you’ve never been redeemed, you don’t have to worship.

If you’ve never been blessed by God, it’s okay, don’t worship.

If you have nothing to be thankful for, don’t worship.

If you have nothing to give, don’t worship.

If that’s the case, you’re not obligated, so don’t worry about it.

I hope you sense the irony. Because of redemptions, and blessings, and gratitude, and God’s provision, worship should be more than just going through the motions every Sunday morning, Sunday night and Wednesday. It should mean something.

So what does it mean if we have to coerced to participate in singing?

Or there has to be some big emotional plea to respond to the preaching?

Maybe we’ve lost sight of what God has done for us and what He deserves from us. He deserves our best because He gave His best.

When’s the last time you gave your best to God in singing?

In worship?

In passionate participation?

When’s the last time you came to worship not because the Pastor or your family expected you, but because of what God has done for you?

Let’s not come to worship in order to be blessed. Let’s worship because of how much we’ve been blessed.