Worship in Truth
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
We live in an age of relativism.
What relativism means is that nothing matters, anything goes, and how we feel gets to determine what is true.
We’ve reduced our worship of God, we have reduced the church worship service, and we have reduced the value of our life based on feelings.
The major problem with this is that feelings do not determine reality.
That’s not to mean people’s feelings don’t matter, it’s not to say that feelings cannot indicate truth. If you’re standing in the road and you feel fear because you are about to get run over, that is a feeling that points to reality.
However, when we allow our feelings to determine truth instead of using feelings to indicate what is true, then we end up in a big mess.
Ellie and Her Floaties
I remember when Ellie first started getting comfortable swimming in the pool, and she started like every other kid starts…with floaties.
She didn’t have the triangle shaped blow up floaties your mom had to slobber all over that cut your arms when you slid them on, and didn’t really help because just your biceps were floating if your parents bought the right size!
She had the coast guard approved life jacket with the penguin on the front and the head rest incase she flipped backwards!
To this point, she really wanted me with her while she got in the water even though its basically impossible to drown with that life jacket on…until she got brave enough to get in without me for the first time…she just kinda slid in, and was making her way around the wall of the pool…until her little fingers slipped and let go…and out into the middle of the shallow end she went!
“Daaadddy!!!” she cried! Her eyes said, “If my daddy doesn’t come and rescue me I am going to die!”
Her feelings were very real, her heart rate was increased, but she was never in any danger of drowning because she was wearing those floaties.
Feelings are real, but they don’t always equal truth.
Well, when it comes to worshipping God, we don’t worship based on feelings. We don’t sing to make you feel good, I don’t preach to make you feel good.
How do we worship?
We worship is spirit and in truth. Therefore, everything that we do, whether it is singing or preaching, it must be done in spirit and in truth.
God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
What does it mean to worship in Spirit and in Truth?
To worship in spirit means to worship God with our entire person. Our mind, our heart and will, so much so that it causes us to move physically.
To worship God in truth means to worship Him according to His word, not according to our feelings.
Today we are beginning the story of Cain and Abel, and from these two men, we will learn that when it comes to worshipping in spirit and in truth, there is the Method, Motive, Measure.
A. The Method
A. The Method
We like our little church cleche’s. We like to say things like, “It doesn’t really matter how it’s done, the only thing that matters is if you do it with the right intentions.”
A man who physically abuses his child with the intent to make him a well-behaved member of society doesn’t justify that child’s black eye.
A woman who is convinced that she is aborting her baby with the intentions of sparing them from the pains of this life doesn’t justify the taking of an innocent life.
It’s not always about intention, method matters.
And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord.
Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat.
1. Cain’s Method
1. Cain’s Method
The method that Cain used was an inappropriate method. Cain was a farmer, and he took his best produce and he gave it to God as a sacrifice.
You can read behind different people and get different answers on this, but the bottom line is that God required a blood sacrifice for people to be accepted by Him.
“Dylan, I don’t know about that…I mean…that just doesn’t feel right to me. As long as Cain did it based on his conscience, why does it matter?” - It matters because sin requires a blood payment.
Without shedding of blood there is no remission [of sin].
That’s exactly why Jesus died on the cross. That’s exactly why we talk about the precious blood of Jesus. It was by His blood, spilled on the cross that we are accepted by God…and I am thankful that Jesus died with the proper method so that I could be saved.
Cain used an inappropriate method and we are going to see that his offering was rejected by God.
2. Abel’s Method
2. Abel’s Method
The Bible says that Abel didn’t bring fruits and vegetables, but that he brought the “firstborn of his flock and of their fat.” - He brought a blood sacrifice. A spotless lamb.
And Abel spilled the blood of that lamb and prayed, “God, this lamb I have brought before you so that you might be satisfied with this payment for my sin.” He had the proper method, and we are going to see that his offering was accepted.
How could either one of them have known what the proper method was?
Their parents, Adam and Eve, were the first two people ever created, and they sinned, and in order that their sin by covered and paid for…what did God do? - Genesis 3:21
Also for Adam and his wife the Lord God made tunics of skin, and clothed them.
God the Father gave them the method of appropriate worship there in the garden of Eden…and Adam and Eve passed this method down to their children, Cain and Abel.
This was the original picture of a five-dollar Bible word, propitiation.
And [Jesus] Himself is the propitiation for our sins.
Propitiation means to satisfy an offense.
When we sin, we offend God. Not that He runs away crying because we called Him a name, but that we broke a law and have committed a capital offense against Him…against His holiness, something that must be paid for with life.
That’s why we say that Jesus is our propitiation for sin. He was our payment for sin. By His blood He satisfied the requirement of God and paid, for every capital offense we ever committed.
When we worship God, when we come before God, it’s more than just about feelings and intentions, we must worship Him in truth, and that means worshipping with the correct method.
B. The Motive
B. The Motive
Once we have determined the appropriate method of doing things, then we can talk about the motivations or intentions.
Not only did Cain use the incorrect method, he did it with an improper motive.
Whenever Abel sacrificed that firstborn of his flock, he did it with a humble heart of adoration.
When Cain sacrificed the fruit of the field, he did it in pride, in arrogance, and in an expectation of recognition.
How do we know?
And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord.
Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the Lord respected Abel and his offering,
but He did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell.
Do you know what Cain should have been doing instead of being angry? He should have asked,
“Lord, why didn’t you accept my offering? Will you show me how I can be accepted?”
But Cain wasn’t concerned with God’s approval. Cain was concerned with comparing himself to others.
He looked over at Abel’s sacrifice, and he scoffed, and he thought his was going to make the cut…and when it didn’t instead of humbly asking God why his offering wasn’t accepted, he internalized deep resentment and anger.
Cain was not interested in satisfying God. Cain was interested in satisfying himself. When that satisfaction was taken from him, evil and hatred filled his life.
But the story goes deeper than that.
Instead of being concerned with his own lack of worship, Cain hyper-fixated on the worship of Abel.
Abel and his heart for God became the obsession of Cain’s life, and Cain began to vilify Abel…just like we can do so many times in our life.
Every time Abel did something, here comes Cain, “He’s really not that good. Anyone can do what he does. I’m better than he is.”
And systematically, through the process of criticism, Cain devalued Able so much that Abel’s life was worthless in the eyes of Cain.
Truth: We cannot worship God with the proper motive if we are always comparing ourself to someone else.
1. How do we compare?
1. How do we compare?
1. By Thinking We’re Better than Others
1. By Thinking We’re Better than Others
We get so focused on the bad traits of others that in our delusion we think that we think that we are close to God.
But friend, a Godly person doesn’t look at others, a Godly person considers their own relationship to God independent of the behavior of others.
The Two Men that Pray Luke 18:10-14
Jesus tells a story of two men that are at the temple praying. One was a religious leader. The other was a tax collector and obvious sinner.
The religious leader prayed like this, “God, I thank You that I am not like other men - extortioners, unjust, adulterer, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, I gives tithes of all that I possess, I thank God that I am better than others.”
The tax collector, the obvious sinner says, “God, be merciful to me a sinner!”
Jesus says, “the religious leader will not be accepted by God, but the tax collector.
While the Pharisee was looking at the tax collector, the tax collector was looking to God.
Don’t think better of yourself because you consider yourself closer to God. This Pharisee might have had the better method in the world’s eyes, but he did not have the better motivation.
Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
2. By Thinking We’ll Never be as Good as Others
2. By Thinking We’ll Never be as Good as Others
You’re a Christian, and Satan has put in your mind that you’ll never be as spiritual or as good as other Christians so there’s no use in trying.
Acceptance from God is not based on feelings, it is based on truth.
Answer these questions in your mind:
Do you believe Jesus is the Son of God and the Savior of the world?
Have you placed your trust in Him as your savior, as your propitiation for sin?
Do you have an earnest desire to be obedient to God?
being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;
The Bible says that God will not give up on you. The Bible says that you have all of God that you want. The Bible says that you are accepted by Him, not based on your performance, but based on your trust that Jesus is the Son of God and the payment for sin.
C. The Measure
C. The Measure
When we employ the right method, and have the right motivation, we will always measure up.
God is not interested in your perfection, He knows that you cannot be perfect and that’s why He sent Jesus.
God is not interested in what you can give to Him, He has it all.
God is primarily interested in how and why you love Him.
Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments.
He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him.
He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.
How do you know that you are measuring up?
Learning to Play the Guitar
Let’s say you’re learning to play the guitar.
Step #1: Get a guitar
Step #2: Learn to tune it
Step #3: Get more familiar with the notes.
Step #4: Make the notes work together so you can create a song.
Simple?
In theory…but practically, you could get a guitar easily; you can tune it with a tuner and it will show you if it’s in tune or out of tune…
but when it comes playing,
1. It takes some work to get your fingers to make the right shape on the neck of the guitar to hit the right notes.
2. It takes some work to figure out how to count and make sure you’re on beat.
3. It takes work to get together with other people and be on the same page as them through the whole song.
But if you don’t give up…if you play with the right methods (proper form, proper counting, etc), and you play without comparing yourself to others, eventually you will measure up as a guitar player.
Not only will you measure up…pretty soon you won’t even have to think about how to shape your fingers it will come natural.
You won’t have to guess if it’s out of tune, you’ll be able to hear it because you are so familiar with the right notes.
And you won’t have to think so hard to count and to stay on beat, because you will move with the rhythm of every song that’s being played.
It’s the same way in your Christian life.
Step #1: Trust in Jesus Christ
Step #2: Tune Your Life to His Word
Step #3: Become more familiar with His Word through study and prayer
Step #4: Pattern your life after His to create a beautiful song.
It may seem impossible now, but if you will live according to God’s word which reveals the correct method, if you will strive to make pleasing God your motive , you’ll eventually find that you are something that you never thought possible.
Pretty soon, you won’t have to think so hard about the proper method, it will come natural.
Pretty soon, you’ll get good at operating with the proper motive.
Pretty soon, you’ll discover that you’re living life to God’s glory every day.
You’re going to miss some notes, you’re going to get off beat, but as long as you retune and get back on track, the Bible says that God’s grace is sufficient for you.
Conclusion
Conclusion
