WorshipNow 7/26/2025 Worship as Sacrifice
The Worship Initiative • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 27:06
0 ratings
· 13 viewsWorshipNow July 26, 2025
Files
Notes
Transcript
1 Oh sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth!
2 Sing to the Lord, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day.
3 Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples!
4 For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; he is to be feared above all gods.
5 For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols, but the Lord made the heavens.
6 Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.
7 Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength!
8 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; bring an offering, and come into his courts!
9 Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness; tremble before him, all the earth!
10 Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns! Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved; he will judge the peoples with equity.”
11 Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all that fills it;
12 let the field exult, and everything in it! Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy
13 before the Lord, for he comes, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness, and the peoples in his faithfulness.
Before you take the stage and try to lead others in worship, you need to check your heart.
Worship should be a sacrifice of praise.
Worship should be a sacrifice of praise.
8 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; bring an offering, and come into his courts!
9 Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness; tremble before him, all the earth!
The Psalmist pictures worship as a sacrificial offering given in the temple to God.
Other passages in Scripture use this imagery too.
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.
23 The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me; to one who orders his way rightly I will show the salvation of God!”
In fact, even in the Old Testament, God desired worship more than actual sacrifices.
6 “With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?
7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”
8 He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
6 For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.
Worship should be costly.
Worship should be costly.
8 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; bring an offering, and come into his courts!
Worship is telling others how great something is, ascribing worth to it.
How do you show the value of a car? By how much you’re willing to pay for it, right?
In the same way, our worship should cost us something.
When David needed to make a sacrifice to God in I Chronicles, a man named Ornan offered to give King David the oxen, the wood, and the wheat that David needed for the sacrifice.
23 Then Ornan said to David, “Take it, and let my lord the king do what seems good to him. See, I give the oxen for burnt offerings and the threshing sledges for the wood and the wheat for a grain offering; I give it all.”
But David refused to accept it for free and insisted on paying for it. Why?
24 But King David said to Ornan, “No, but I will buy them for the full price. I will not take for the Lord what is yours, nor offer burnt offerings that cost me nothing.”
What would it have meant if David had just accepted Ornan’s possessions and offered them as his own sacrifice? Well, that wouldn’t be a sacrifice, would it? It wouldn’t have cost David anything.
If you’re going to lead worship, your worship should be costly.
Leading in worship will cost you some of your time.
Leading in worship will cost you some of your time.
Worship leaders have to rehearse and practice. That usually has to happen outside of normal “church hours.” The goal is not to be polished and perfect—this isn’t a performance—but it needs to be smooth enough that we don’t distract people from worshipping. This is going to cost you some time.
I have good friends who serve in the worship team at Second Baptist Church in Greenbrier. It’s a big church, and they have two worship services, one at 9am and one at 10:30. Because of that, they have to get to church pretty early—by 7am on Sunday mornings—and they serve during both services and don’t leave until after noon. And then, because they’ve missed the Sunday School hours, they have to pick a small group meeting time on Sunday evening or another weeknight. They don’t get paid. It’s a sacrifice of their time, but you won’t hear them complaining because God is worth their time. That’s what worship means—he’s worth it. If you can’t sacrifice some of your time, then you don’t need to be a worship leader. If someone is going to get on stage and lead others in saying “God is worth it,” they need to be willing to live that outside of the normal worship hour.
Leading worship will cost you your comfort.
Leading worship will cost you your comfort.
Most people who lead worship are nervous on stage. But, when we push through that nervousness because God is worth it, God is worshipped.
Paul struggled with a lot of difficulties in his ministry and he suffered a lot. But this is what he said:
7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.
The weaker we are, the more he is glorified through us when we serve him.
But, knowing how great our God is, we also should always be trying to do better. We practice and study to improve not to impress others but as a reflection of how great God is and how worthy he is.
2 Give thanks to the Lord with the lyre; make melody to him with the harp of ten strings! 3 Sing to him a new song; play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts.
When David was preparing for his son Solomon to build the temple, he organized groups of musicians to minister in the future temple. But, he didn’t just pick anyone.
1 David and the chiefs of the service also set apart for the service the sons of Asaph, and of Heman, and of Jeduthun, who prophesied with lyres, with harps, and with cymbals...
7 The number of them along with their brothers, who were trained in singing to the Lord, all who were skillful, was 288. 8 And they cast lots for their duties, small and great, teacher and pupil alike.
So, we’re always trying to offer God our best, and that means always learning. We don’t get to say, “This is as good as I’ll ever be, take it or leave it God!”
Now, right now, you may not be very good at your instrument. That’s ok! Look at that last verse—there were teachers, and there were students (pupils). The important part is that you do your best and you keep learning and keep getting better.
When we get comfortable and stop trying to do better, we send a message: “Worship doesn’t require any more effort from me.”
What is important is not the sound you make, but the effort you make.
Some of you guys learning guitar are going to have some sore fingers. The vocalists may have sore throats. The pianists may have tired hands. The people in the sound booth may get a headache from the stress or from looking at screens.
But whatever sacrifices we make in worship honor God, as long as we make them with a heart that wants to honor and worship God.
8 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; bring an offering, and come into his courts!
2 Let my prayer be counted as incense before you, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice!
