Worship
Notes
Transcript
Intro
Intro
What do you think worship is? What comes to mind?
It’s not the singing part of church. Some people get confused when we call what Dylan did this morning “worship leading”, but it is the
We’re working through a short topical series on the Gospel Shaped Life
It’s a refresher on some of the normal parts of the Christian life that we sometimes take for granted. It’s so easy to default to worldly perspectives on these topics, because the world is relentlessly trying to train us to think like them.
Last week we looked at Work - being a worker like God works, and working for his Glory, in future weeks we’re going to look at Gospel generosity and rest.
As per usual, we can only skim the surface in these overviews, so send through your questions!
Made to Worship YHWH
Made to Worship YHWH
As usual with these big biblical topics, it starts at the begining of the world.
God created us, and he made us to be worshipers! It’s built into us. He made us in His image, we are refelecters of God - either giving a good reflection and honouring Him, or a bad reflection and demeaning him.
One of the evidences of being made to worship is the way that every society has their own worship structures. There is no truly irreligeous culture.
Even in our most novel humanistic and athesitic corners of humanity, they still end up with ritual, standards of blasphemy and idols. Back to the beginning:
The first man & woman were put in a garden temple!
They were Given Service to do.
In the beginning we are not told about how people should worship, perhaps God gave them some instructions that were not recorded down. But we are told that they did worship, in fact the second generation of humanity had a story about worship.
In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell.
Two blokes, two offerings. One was pleasing and accepted, and one was rejected.
Instead of correcting the problem with his worship, Cain nurses his anger and jelousy ending in murduring his brother.
So we are made to worship, but worship is only acceptable to God if it is done well, the way he wants. And the answer to bad worship is not to justify our actions, or double down on our own bad choices.
We’ve all had those gifts before, the ones that are astonishingly bad. You have a family member or friend who buys you a gift. They give it to you with excitement, and they watch eagerly while you unwrap it. You think “man this must be great, they’re so excited!”
You tear off the paper and inspect the gift. And it’s a terrible gift. It’s ungly and not at all something that brings you joy. You look up at the gift giver, trying to put on a face of thankfulness and appreciation, but you know your eyes betray you.
You wonder “DO they even know me? Why would they give this to me as a gift? It does not show any real affection or respect to me.”
So it is when we come to worship God. We are worshipers by nature, made to worship God, but there’s no point giving him gifts that he doesn’t want. It is not loving at all to say “here have this ugly gift that you don’t want”. We need to give God worship that he desires.
So...
How do we Worship YHWH?
How do we Worship YHWH?
What is worship? How do we see it unfold in scripture?
When we move on from the beginning, It is quite telling that the Torah is full of stuff about worship.
Creation narrative is one chapter. How many chapters are devoted to tabernacle design and arrangements and sacrifices and what not?
Why is God so interested in communication about how to worship, and less interested in telling us the ins and outs of the creation process?
A bunch of different words and concepts that are overlapping. It is about honoring and dedicating worth to God.
Worship comes from people goes to God.
I have broken it down into three rough categories:
a. Service
a. Service
Bowing down, homage, service,
The rights and forms that honor God - it is the giving of loyalty and calling on him.
Nadab & Abihu throught they could make up service.
Saul thought he could co-opt the service.
Uzzah touched the ark
And when they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah, and God struck him down there because of his error, and he died there beside the ark of God.
God is the same yesterday today and forever. We can’t invent new forms to worship God, we should serve him as he has called us to.
b. Sacrifice & Offering
b. Sacrifice & Offering
This is one of the most well known acts of worship - sacrificing something for God.
We know how to “pay” for things - give for a mutual return. Sacrifice is like saying belonging to you is the most valuable thing ever, so I will “pay” you for no specific return.
Not like your February gym subscription! Paying without any regard for it.
Sacrifices are to be the first & best, to give the good stuff to God. The first fruits, the best animals.
Noah worshiped through sacrifice as he left the ark.
c. Praise & Honour
c. Praise & Honour
Worshiping God through praise! Worship is not just things we do, or sacrifices we make, it is the orientation of our hearts and it is expressed in words:
Exalt the Lord our God, and worship at his holy mountain; for the Lord our God is holy!
So worship to God is reverent Service, Sacrifice and Praise.
Failure to Worship YHWH
Failure to Worship YHWH
Worship has been messed up through the years!
1 Samuel 15:22 (ESV)
And Samuel said, “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.
In fact,
Proverbs 15:8 (ESV)
The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, but the prayer of the upright is acceptable to him.
Jeremiah reminded us that Israel refused to be loyal, giving worship only to YHWH, but instead worshiped other Gods.
In some sense all the problems of humanity can be traced to bad worship.
So worship to God is reverent Service, Sacrifice and Praise and we have failed to give it properly.
Gospel Shaped Worship
Gospel Shaped Worship
In light of what Jesus has done we worship with our whole lives. Let remind ourselves what Jesus has done:
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
How do we respond? We rejoice! We Worship, we serve, sacrifice and praise.
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.
Service - All of life, but
Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord.
Sacrifice & offering - Jesus is our sacrifice, but we are also called to give other sacrifices.
As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.
Praise! - Sacrifice of praise Through Jesus
Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.
When we start to put together all these things, and we try to obey all the commands for how we are to serve God, and we see the pattern of the scriptures you end up with a church service.
So worship to God is reverent Service, Sacrifice and Praise, through Jesus we can give acceptable worship.
Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.
Who will you Worship?
Who will you Worship?
revelation has lots of talk about worship. In the end, that’s where everything is headed - either worship of God or of false gods.
In rev the unfolding picture sets up scenes where there are beasts, backed by Satan who try to dominate the world, and there are the Godly faithful ones who are loyal to God. And it comes down to which side you’re on:
There is the Dragon & his beast who take worship to themselves:
And they worshiped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?” And the beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for forty-two months. It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling, that is, those who dwell in heaven.
There is the call to worship God:
Then I saw another angel flying directly overhead, with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people. And he said with a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come, and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water.”
And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name.”
The Beast or the Lamb?
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.
So worship to God is reverent Service, Sacrifice and Praise.
