Called to Worship

Introduction

What is up guys?

As I was thinking about today, I was thinking about how ironic it was that we are not singing today and we are having a meal, because today we are talking about worship.

I wanted to start off and ask y’all a question.

What are some ways that we worship God?

If those are ways that we worship him, what is the definition of the word worship?

We say it all the time.

The Word worship is always in are Christian vocabulary.

but, generally I think when we talk about worship we are referring to music.

but the word worship is just a hard one to put your finger on.

There is some history on how we got this word, but I will not bore you with that.

but to break down the word: worship looks like worth-ship

worth - literally means worthy, like noble or with honor.

ship - means the state or condition of…

so worthship or worship is the condition of being worthy and ascribing worth.

so the definition in looking at God would be

Definition - To ascribe proper worth to God. To magnify His worthiness of praise as we approach Him.

so we are going to dive into this passage.

at the surface it can look scary because there are 5 points, but I promise it will not be! One of the points is only one verse and other point is only half of a verse, so we will get through it and be just fine.

Let’s pray and jump right in!

A Call to Worship, Part 1 (vv. 1-2)

Psalm 95:1–2 CSB

Come, let’s shout joyfully to the Lord, shout triumphantly to the rock of our salvation! Let’s enter his presence with thanksgiving; let’s shout triumphantly to him in song.

We see here that we are told we simply told to worship.

We are told to come.

We are told to shout to the Lord.

We are told to enter is presence.

Then we are told to come to him in song.

So we see two verses… and we are called to worship 5 times.

David here is being clear, we must worship

but what he is also saying is we must worship GOD.

because

Everyone puts something on a pedestal, we must put God on a pedestal.

He is the only thing that we should worship.

If we are honest with ourselves we can admit to putting other things first.

saying you are going to read your Bible at night, but then you get tired and doom scroll.

Some of us care more about our snapchat streaks than our streak in prayer or in the word.

maybe it is sports or band that you put over God at times.

and you might be saying but we are talking about worship

but when you prioritize things more than the things of God

it is hard for you to say man I am ascribing proper worth to God. I am magnifying him.

If you put sports before God, is God really worth that much to you.

If you cannot worship the Lord in the midst of your responsibilities on Monday, it is not very likely that you were worshiping on Sunday!

A. W. Tozer

and you may say, but how is that possible, I love singing songs, I love the music we sing, I sang really nice on Sunday.

“there was another in the fire”

but worship is not just singing.

So y’all said at the begining ways that we worship.

sings, reading, praying, serving.

There are so many things, but we need to be in the constant state of worship.

John 4:23–24 CSB

But an hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and in truth. Yes, the Father wants such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in Spirit and in truth.”

This is when Jesus is talking to the woman at the well and they get into this conversation about worship.

It is here that Jesus tells us how we should worship.

When we worship, it must be in Spirit and in Truth.

Now what does this mean?

First we have to have the Spirit.

To fully understand and give your all to God, you must believe that he is God.

1 Corinthians 2:11 “For who knows a person’s thoughts except his spirit within him? In the same way, no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.”

so because of this, unbelievers can do the same things that we do, but they truly cannot grasp the full force behind worship until they have surrendered their lives to Jesus.

This allows them to have an open heart and a repentant heart coming into worship!

Don Whitney once said

To worship God in spirit is to worship from the inside out.

Donald S. Whitney

This is what is means to worship in Spirit.

From the overflow of your heart.

But then we worship in Truth!

And what this simply means is be centered on God.

He is the ultimate truth.

I think the best way to put this is with music.

You have people who when you watch them it seems like a performance.

The classic stereotype of the fog machine and the fancy lights.

and really it comes down to their motive, but to some of these people these songs are more about themselves than God.

We have to be centered on the things of God because he is truth.

We talked about standing on truth and being in the word last week.

but things of this world can hinder us from God.

So we have to know that it is truth.

Yes we say music a lot, but that is not giving worship the fullness of what it is.

Worship is not about music, although music is often used by worshipers. True worship is about God.

I want us to get away from thinking music is how we worship!

We do not worship ONLY before Joel gets up and preaches because him preaching is worship.

He is honoring God, attributing worth to him!

When God is at the center, and you are lifting his name high, you are worshipping him.

Next let’s talk about…

Why we Worship, Part 1 (vv. 3-5)

Psalm 95:3–5 CSB

For the Lord is a great God, a great King above all gods. The depths of the earth are in his hand, and the mountain peaks are his. The sea is his; he made it. His hands formed the dry land.

We saw that there was the call, but why is it important?

It all comes down to who God is.

If you pick up your Bible and you truly believe these words in this book you know how important he is.

When you believe he split the red sea,

when you believe he gave David the strength to kill Goliath.

when you believe he created the entire world.

When you know he sent Jesus for us.

that we do not have to sacrafice animals anymore

because you believe that he was perfect

that he never sinned

that he did all the things he said he did

and finally believe that he conquered death.

when you believe these things and know there is no one more powerful than God.

Who else do we worship.

When you truly believe, who else is there to worship?

Buddha is dead.

Muhammad is dead.

but Jesus is alive.

And this is what the passage says, it goes why should we worship?

Because of how great he is!

That he is the big “G” God, above all Gods.

the he is the capital “K” King.

so anyone else out there is a fraud.

No one can compare, no one has the power that God does.

So because of this great power we have to worship him!

He created the world,

The seas, the mountains, the sun, the moon…

but he also created you.

On top of just creating, he sent his Son to save you.

He created you and gave you the opportunity to be with him forever.

He is not just the creator of the world, but he is the Owner of the world.

God is over all.

It says the mountains are his,

the sea is his

One might say that the kids song is correct.

He has the whole world in his hands.

Look at this quote…

There is not one inch in the entire area of our human life about which Christ, who is Sovereign of all, does not cry out, “Mine!”

Abraham Kuyper (Theologian and Politician)

He is in control.

God has never left the throne.

and because of his power, he is worthy.

So to go back and ask the question why do we worship God?

We worship God because of our great love for what he has done and because he is worthy of praise.

So now is the weird part of the sermon.

Have you ever been doing something, then something else comes up and you just like forget that you were in the middle of something?

Then you know like an hour later you are like oh I forgot about that?

For me I grew up with my bedroom being upstairs so I would be downstairs and realize I needed to go to my room for something, so I would get up there then be like oh what did I come up here for.

So then I would go back to what I was doing then it would hit me later.

This is what David does here…

He talks about the call to worship, then why we should worship, then he does oh wait… I forgot a verse for each one!

so we have…

A Call to Worship, Part 2 (v. 6)

Psalm 95:6 CSB

Come, let’s worship and bow down; let’s kneel before the Lord our Maker.

So he goes oh wait come back in.

Let’s get back to worship!

But basically all David is pointing out is…

We have to approach the Lord with the right posture.

Both on the inside and out.

Why do you think when we have invitation time upstairs people come and get down on their knees!

It is because God tells us that this is how we should approach him.

When you get down on your knees you are showing that you are lower than the person who you are bowing to.

They are elevated and you are honoring them by this posture.

Just like a person back in their time would have bowed before the King.

We are told to bow before God.

To have their hearts prepared and to be ready.

So he went back and added that verse in like we talked about.

Now he does ope lets God back to why we worship, because I have half a verse I did not put in the first time.

Why we Worship, Part 2 (v. 7a)

Psalm 95:7a CSB

For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, the sheep under his care.

We are the sheep, and he is the Shepard.

what this means is if you are a believer, he has got you.

in the good and the bad, God is watching over you.

God loves his people, he saves his people.

Just like a Shepard will not let anything happen to his sheep.

He will leave the 99 to go and seek out you.

God promises to protect us.

Just like a Father who wants nothing bad to happen to his Kids,

God wants to keep us safe.

Just like we talked about on Sunday, we might go through a trial, but it has a purpose.

Finally.

We Must Approach God with a Softened Heart (vv. 7b-11)

Psalm 95:7–11 CSB

Today, if you hear his voice: Do not harden your hearts as at Meribah, as on that day at Massah in the wilderness where your ancestors tested me; they tried me, though they had seen what I did. For forty years I was disgusted with that generation; I said, “They are a people whose hearts go astray; they do not know my ways.” So I swore in my anger, “They will not enter my rest.”

If anyone knows or the first person to answer, what event David is talking about gets a $5 Andy’s gift card.

It gives you a hint in the passage, that it was before they wondered for 40 years in the wilderness.

So this is after they crossed the Red sea, they are now in the desert, and they run out of water.

They get upset saying how could God deliver us and then do this to us.

So Exodus 17:1-7 is where we get this from.

So they had not water.

God tells Moses to go and take his staff and strike a rock and water will flow out from it.

He did and water came out.

But after the water came out Moses named the place Massah and Meribah.

He did this after two Hebrew words:

Massah - means testing

Meribah - means quarreling or strife.

This is what was going on.

they were quarreling and testing the Lord, but God provided anyways.

But they kept falling back, they kept questioning, they kept disobeying.

When we constantly disobey, we are opening the door to the hardening of our hearts.

because this is what happened to them.

As they wondered away from the Lord, the Lord let them wonder into the wilderness.

So for 40 years God let the Israelites roam in the desert before he let them go to the promise land.

We are to trust God, knowing that he has a plan.

We have to keep seeking after the Lord when times get tough.

We have to keep worshiping him even in the fire.

“The same sun that melts the wax hardens the clay.” If your heart is not melted in faith, it will be hardened in unbelief.

John F. MacArthur

It is the same God, but some blame him, and some trust him.

Ultimately we have two choices.

We can follow God and worship him.

Or we can harden our hearts and reject him.

Jesus has died on the cross and he want to give you this free gift.

Y’all salvation is free!

If I give you a ticket to the chiefs game and you show up and they say why should I let you in, what would you say?

You would say because I have a ticket!

If they asked did you pay for that ticket what would you say?

No it was a gift.

Guys that is the same with Jesus! He wants to give you this free ticket to eternal life.

He just asks is that you abide in him and worship him!

Any thoughts comments questions concerns, stones for hersey?