The Pattern of Joyful Worship

Intro

Psalm 100 KJV 1900

A Psalm of praise. 1 Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. 2 Serve the Lord with gladness: Come before his presence with singing. 3 Know ye that the Lord he is God: It is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. 4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, And into his courts with praise: Be thankful unto him, and bless his name. 5 For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; And his truth endureth to all generations.

Question: Is your worship joyful?

While singing through those congregational hymns, did you do so in joy?

Not just because you liked the song, but because you sang it from your heart joyfully to God in adoration at who He is?

Did you think about the words? Do you remember any of the words you sang?

Did you give joyfully during offering time?

Did you give out of habit?

Did you give out of necessity?

Are you here to worship God together as a church family? Joyfully?

The word “worship” has been abused by satan...

The world makes “worship” to be some weird somber emotional dredge...

While solemnity has its place in worship to God, so does joy and happiness!

True worship is also not out of control, disorderly and self-serving like the pentecostal movement makes it to be...

Illustration:

One point growing up in church, a man came to church who always wore a pink shirt...

He sat at the very front, lifted his hands (nothing wrong with that), closed his eyes and almost loudly made it known he was “worshipping”...

My other junior high cousins and I called him “pink praiser.”

The problem: He was distracting and drawing attention to himself...

But could we not get excited about:

a hymn that speaks of Heaven?

or having the ability to give back to God in an offering?

Maybe listening to a sermon on solid doctrine like: the preeminence of Christ in our lives | justification, sanctification, glorification | the substitutionary atonement | Salvation | Baptism

Or how about just solid Bible preaching on:

Rooting out bitterness

Offering yourself as a living sacrifice to God

Fighting the battle for your mind

Separating from the world to Christ

Let me start by way of introduction helping you understand some Biblical examples of worship:

a.) Abraham’s form of worship was to build an alter and give a sacrifice

b.) Joshua’s form of worship was prayer to God (Joshua 5:14)

c.) Hannah and Elkanah’s form of worship was going to the temple (I Samuel 1)

d.) Giving glory to God and bringing an offering is a form of worship (I Chron. 16:29)

e.) Nehemiah and the people worshipped by praying to God with their faces to the ground (Nehemiah 8:6)

f.) Job fell down upon the ground and worshipped (Job 1:20)

“Worship is an act that develops feelings for God, not a feeling for God that is expressed in an act of worship.”—Eugene Peterson

“For worship is the submission of all our nature to God. It is the quickening of conscience by His holiness; the nourishment of mind with His truth; the purifying of imagination by His beauty; the opening of the heart to His love; the surrender of will to His purpose—and all of this gathered up in adoration, the most selfless emotion of which our nature is capable and therefore the chief remedy for that self-centeredness which is our original sin and the source of all actual sin.”—William Temple

At Christmas, we sing songs like “Joy to the World”

Not originally intended to be a Christmas song...

Written by Isaac Watts...

His father was a minister and he stated, “Better to have no public worship at all than such as must be performed in a cold and lifeless manner.”

He began to write new hymns...

Of which we are beneficiary to:

(examples)

We use words around the Christmas season like: joy, rejoice, gladness, merry and cheer

But do we actually experience any of those?

Question: is your worship to God joyful?

CH Spurgeon - “The first sign of decay in the Christian life is the loss of joy.”

Leonard Ravenhill - “A dead church will always have a quiet service.”

This morning, I simply want to show you the pattern of joyful worship...

This evening, I want to answer the question, “Why don’t I have joyful worship?”

> So what’s the pattern of joyful worship in the Bible?

Here it is and then we will look at several examples:

I. You hear of God II. You Believe God

III. You watch Him Work

IV. You have joyful worship to God

1. The Wise Men

Matthew 2:1–11 KJV 1900

1 Now when Jesus was born in Beth-lehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, 2 Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him. 3 When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born. 5 And they said unto him, In Beth-lehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet, 6 And thou Beth-lehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel. 7 Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, inquired of them diligently what time the star appeared. 8 And he sent them to Beth-lehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also. 9 When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was. 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. 11 And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.

The only reason the star had any significance among the thousands of other stars in the sky was because they:

They HEARD of the prophecy of Jesus

“...for thus it is written by the prophet.”

They BELIEVED the prophecy of Jesus

They came to Jerusalem, asked where Jesus was, they found the star, followed the star and found baby Jesus

They “rejoiced with exceeding great joy” BEFORE they ever saw Jesus Himself (they watched him work)

(10) “When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.”

- because they HEARD of the prophecy… and they BELIEVED the prophecy… they saw a representation of a fulfillment of that prophecy and REJOICED!

The star itself represented to much more than just another fireball in the sky...

The star represented something bigger… something better… pointing to someone greater...

In verse 2, the star is called “his star”

The star was talked about (verses 2, 7, 9 and 10)

In verse 9, we see the star behaved differently than every other star “...and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was.”

They hadn’t even seen Jesus yet and they were already “rejoicing with exceeding great joy.”

Hopefully even though you haven’t seen Jesus in the flesh, you would be able to point to certain things and see Jesus’ hand on it...

Then rejoice with exceeding great joy because you heard of Jesus, you believed what you heard and you watched him work...

They followed the star and once they saw Jesus, they worshipped Him

Hearing about what God will do (prophecy or promise) and watching Him do it (fulfillment of that prophecy or promise), should lead to joy and worship...

IF TIME OR HOLY SPIRIT WANTS ME TO:

If you see people falling away from the truth (II Thess. 2:3 & II Tim. 4:3-4), Loving themselves over God (II Tim. 3:1-5), Calling evil good and good evil, having a form of godliness with no actual power of God in their ministry...

These should drive you closer to God in joyful worship to Him...

Why?

Because you’ve heard this would happen through His Word in the end times...

You believed God’s Word

You watched it happen

Your redemption draweth nigh and Heaven is right around the corner!

Result: joyful worship to God to the end

2. Hannah

1 Samuel 1 KJV 1900

1 Now there was a certain man of Ramathaim-zophim, of mount Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephrathite: 2 And he had two wives; the name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other Peninnah: and Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children. 3 And this man went up out of his city yearly to worship and to sacrifice unto the Lord of hosts in Shiloh. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, the priests of the Lord, were there. 4 And when the time was that Elkanah offered, he gave to Peninnah his wife, and to all her sons and her daughters, portions: 5 But unto Hannah he gave a worthy portion; for he loved Hannah: but the Lord had shut up her womb. 6 And her adversary also provoked her sore, for to make her fret, because the Lord had shut up her womb. 7 And as he did so year by year, when she went up to the house of the Lord, so she provoked her; therefore she wept, and did not eat. 8 Then said Elkanah her husband to her, Hannah, why weepest thou? and why eatest thou not? and why is thy heart grieved? am not I better to thee than ten sons? 9 So Hannah rose up after they had eaten in Shiloh, and after they had drunk. Now Eli the priest sat upon a seat by a post of the temple of the Lord. 10 And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the Lord, and wept sore. 11 And she vowed a vow, and said, O Lord of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but wilt give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the Lord all the days of his life, and there shall no rasor come upon his head. 12 And it came to pass, as she continued praying before the Lord, that Eli marked her mouth. 13 Now Hannah, she spake in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard: therefore Eli thought she had been drunken. 14 And Eli said unto her, How long wilt thou be drunken? put away thy wine from thee. 15 And Hannah answered and said, No, my lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit: I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but have poured out my soul before the Lord. 16 Count not thine handmaid for a daughter of Belial: for out of the abundance of my complaint and grief have I spoken hitherto. 17 Then Eli answered and said, Go in peace: and the God of Israel grant thee thy petition that thou hast asked of him. 18 And she said, Let thine handmaid find grace in thy sight. So the woman went her way, and did eat, and her countenance was no more sad. 19 And they rose up in the morning early, and worshipped before the Lord, and returned, and came to their house to Ramah: and Elkanah knew Hannah his wife; and the Lord remembered her. 20 Wherefore it came to pass, when the time was come about after Hannah had conceived, that she bare a son, and called his name Samuel, saying, Because I have asked him of the Lord. 21 And the man Elkanah, and all his house, went up to offer unto the Lord the yearly sacrifice, and his vow. 22 But Hannah went not up; for she said unto her husband, I will not go up until the child be weaned, and then I will bring him, that he may appear before the Lord, and there abide for ever. 23 And Elkanah her husband said unto her, Do what seemeth thee good; tarry until thou have weaned him; only the Lord establish his word. So the woman abode, and gave her son suck until she weaned him. 24 And when she had weaned him, she took him up with her, with three bullocks, and one ephah of flour, and a bottle of wine, and brought him unto the house of the Lord in Shiloh: and the child was young. 25 And they slew a bullock, and brought the child to Eli. 26 And she said, Oh my lord, as thy soul liveth, my lord, I am the woman that stood by thee here, praying unto the Lord. 27 For this child I prayed; and the Lord hath given me my petition which I asked of him: 28 Therefore also I have lent him to the Lord; as long as he liveth he shall be lent to the Lord. And he worshipped the Lord there.

The result?

1 Samuel 2:1 KJV 1900

1 And Hannah prayed, and said, My heart rejoiceth in the Lord, Mine horn is exalted in the Lord: My mouth is enlarged over mine enemies; Because I rejoice in thy salvation.

Hannah HEARD of God’s coming help to give her a baby

Hannah BELIEVED this would happen

Hannah “worshipped” before she was ever with child

Hannah’s heart “...rejoiceth in the LORD...”

NOTE: Joyful worship can come before the prayer is answered simply because we have heard of the goodness of God and believe in the goodness of God...

So much so that we KNOW He will take care of us and we can trust Him...

Conclusion:

It was the church of Laodicea who was lukewarm...

They were going through the motions...

God said he “spewed them out of his mouth...”

Wouldn’t you love to:

Have joy over having the opportunity to come to church again?

Have joy over reading your Bible and praying again?

Have joy over tithing and giving to God?

Have joy over singing and hearing preaching from His Word?

Let’s get our joyful worship back...

We’ll sing about it enough during the Christmas season, we may as well be legitimate about it...

*The pattern of joyful worship:

You hear of God

You believe God

You watch Him Work

You have joyful worship to God