Why Are We Here? (2)

Doxology:

This is my Bible. It is God’s Holy Word. It is a lamp unto my feet, a light unto my path, and I will hide its words within my heart, that I might not sin against God. Amen!

Scripture Reference: 1 Corinthians 3:9-17

Context

Good morning, Church family!

We are going to be back 1 Cor 3 this morning, if you want to be finding that in your Bibles.

We have been looking at this idea of “Working On A Building!”

We have been looking at this idea of the church building. We started by asking the question, “What is this place?” We talked about this building and how it exists for the glory of God.

We then moved to the question, “Why are we here?” Why do we come here multiple times a week? What is the significance of it? We gave the initial answer to why we come here as “To see souls saved.” The sharing of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is and should be central to everything we do. God has called us to reach the world with the Gospel, and that is the primary goal and function of the church.

But it is not by any means the only function of the church. There are others… but before we get into that, let’s look at our base text for this series, and then we will press on.

1 Corinthians 3:9–17 NKJV

9 For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building. 10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. 11 For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. 14 If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. 16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? 17 If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.

1 Corinthians 3:10 NKJV

10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it.

So we are “Working On A Building!” Paul says, I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. Notice the idea here of the building that is taking place. This building is done for the purpose of finishing what has been started. It is done in the sense of adding to what has already been done. The idea here is growth.

Paul says, I got it started. I did the tedious part. I laid the foundation, which is Jesus Christ, but now I need you to continue building upon that foundation. So as we go through this series, we are going to see multiple things that God has called the church to do. We are going to call them the “Biblical Functions of the Church.”

These Biblical functions serve as a spiritual thermometer, if you will, for the church. If we are doing these functions well, then we would say that the church is healthy. If we are not doing these things well, then we would say that the church is not healthy. Our goal is to be a healthy church, which is also to say that we are a church that is biblically fulfilling all of the functions that God designed the church to accomplish.

That is why Paul ended that verse by saying, “But let each one take heed how he builds on it.” As we seek to accomplish all of these things that God has prescribed to the church, it is imperative that we never lose focus of the foundation of Christ. The goal is not to grow the church and reach a ton of people. The goal is not to reach certain people groups. The goal is not to have a ton of programs for all ages. All of these things are great things, but the main goal that must be kept in front of us, is to bring God as much glory as we can by simply being faithful to what He has called us to do. Our main goal is to be a healthy church.

And what do healthy churches do? Well they share the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They evangelize their community. We looked at that last week. But what else do they do? Why are we here?

The next function of the church that we want to discuss is that of “Praise and Worship!”

Colossians 3:12–17 NKJV

12 Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; 13 bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. 14 But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. 15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. 17 And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

Let’s Pray!

Content

To start with, let’s ask the obvious question, “What exactly is Praise and Worship?”

We use those words today, almost as if they are interchangeable. We talk about singing praises to God and then call it a time of worship.

But these two words are not exactly the same thing. Their purpose is very similar, but their posture is very different. In fact, in all of Scripture, these two words are only found together in the same verse 4 times, and all of those in the OT. Not one single time in the NT do you see these two words used together.

So what exactly is the difference?

Praise

Praise is accomplished by exalting the Lord through singing, giving thanks, sharing what God has done in our lives, raising our hands to the Father, and various other means, but the heart behind praise is to lift up, and to exalt.

Let me give you some examples from Scripture:

Luke 1:64 NKJV

64 Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, praising God.

This is when Zacharias could not speak. They asked him what their son was to be named, he took a writing tablet and wrote, “His name is John.” When he did this, “immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, praising God.”

Luke 2:13–14 NKJV

13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: 14 “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”

We see here that the angels were praising God with their words, just as Zacharias had done.

Luke 19:37 NKJV

37 Then, as He was now drawing near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen,

This is what we commonly refer to as the Triumphant entry. It is when Jesus takes His last ride into the city of Jerusalem. It was at this time, that a great crowd gathered. They rejoiced and gave praise to God with a loud voice.

Hebrews 13:15 NKJV

15 Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.

Here we are told that one facet of praise is when we use our mouths to give Him thanks. It even calls it “the sacrifice of praise to God.”

Hebrews 2:12 NKJV

12 saying: “I will declare Your name to My brethren; In the midst of the assembly I will sing praise to You.”

In this verse, we see that they are giving praise to God through singing. Also notice the context of the verse. It says “In the midst of the assembly I will sing to You.”

Why do we come together and sing songs, giving praise to God, because that is the example of Scripture.

Psalm 150 NKJV

1 Praise the Lord! Praise God in His sanctuary; Praise Him in His mighty firmament! 2 Praise Him for His mighty acts; Praise Him according to His excellent greatness! 3 Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet; Praise Him with the lute and harp! 4 Praise Him with the timbrel and dance; Praise Him with stringed instruments and flutes! 5 Praise Him with loud cymbals; Praise Him with clashing cymbals! 6 Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!

He tells us here to use all the instruments we have to give Him praise. We are to do so loudly it says. These instruments are not quiet. We are not to put on a show, but we are to do praise Him unashamedly… and proudly, for He is worthy of our praise.

In Acts 2:47, we see that this is what the early church did on a regular basis:

Acts 2:46–47 NKJV

46 So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.

They came together daily, it says, and part of what they did when they came together, was that of giving praise to God.

Giving God praise from the fruit of our lips is not just a suggestion, but a necessity. As we give God praise, we not only correct the posture of our own hearts, but we encourage others to do the same.

In this life, we are surrounded with evil and sin, and if you really want to, you can find reason to be angry, bitter, and upset every second of every day. We all know people like this. They dwell on the negative. They rarely smile. The ones they love the most are the ones that take the brunt of their attitude. Everyone around them walks on eggshells because they are afraid to say the wrong thing, make the wrong gesture, or look the wrong the way.

These people, and I used to be one of them, need to see and hear of the goodness of God. They need to be shown or reminded just how worthy of our praise He really is. And when we tune our hearts to give Him proper praise, the worries and strife of this life just kind of melt away in that moment. It reassures us that everything is going to be ok. It reaffirms what we already know to be true: That God is Holy, righteous, and perfect; That He gave His only Son to die in our place so that we could be saved, forgiven, and set free; That if we choose to do so, there is so much in this life to be thankful for and to give God praise for.

Ephesians 5:18–21 NKJV

18 And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, 20 giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21 submitting to one another in the fear of God.

He tells us here that we are to encourage one another in our praise. We are to remind one another of how blessed we are. We are to remind one another of how good God is, and how worthy of our praise He is. Praising God is medicine to the soul!

Psalm 147:1 NKJV

1 Praise the Lord! For it is good to sing praises to our God; For it is pleasant, and praise is beautiful.

Some of you need to hear this. Some bad experience in your past, or some traumatic event took place, and ever since, you simply don’t smile like you used to. Whatever it was that happened has robbed you of the joy and peace that once filled your heart.

Right here, God tells us that “it is good to sing praises to our God.”

This is the antidote that you have been looking for. You just need to acknowledge God for all of his goodness. You need to give the King of Kings and Lord of Lords some praise.

And the best part about it is, you can praise God from anywhere at anytime.

Psalm 113:3 NKJV

3 From the rising of the sun to its going down The Lord’s name is to be praised.

Psalm 134:2 NKJV

2 Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, And bless the Lord.

So when we come together, why do we give God praise? Because He tells us to. Because its beneficial to us. Because it corrects the posture of our hearts and prepares us to receive the Word of God.

So moving forward, take the time we have of praise seriously. Use that time to let the words sink into your heart. Respond properly by giving God some praise for how good He is. He is worthy of our praise.

So why we are here? We are here to praise the Lord… But we are also here to worship the Lord.

Worship

Praise… is all about making God big, but worship is about making us small. We are giving God praise when we are making much of Him. We are worshipping God when we are making little of ourselves.

Matthew 2:11 NKJV

11 And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

Matthew 4:9–10 NKJV

9 And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.” 10 Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ”

Matthew 28:9 NKJV

9 And as they went to tell His disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, “Rejoice!” So they came and held Him by the feet and worshiped Him.

Mark 15:19 NKJV

19 Then they struck Him on the head with a reed and spat on Him; and bowing the knee, they worshiped Him.

Acts 10:25 NKJV

25 As Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshiped him.

Revelation 5:14 NKJV

14 Then the four living creatures said, “Amen!” And the twenty-four elders fell down and worshiped Him who lives forever and ever.

See worship is this idea of bowing down before the Lord. It is a posture of submission. It is to make ourselves lower than His feet. If you think about a throne, usually they sit atop a set of stairs, which places the throne at an elevated position. But most often it didn’t sit really high. So in order to place oneself completely under the one of the throne, they would have to bow, signifying undying loyalty and complete obedience.

This is true posture of worship. It is to come before the Lord bowed low. It is to make much of Him by making little of yourself. It is to be removed of all pride and completely trust in Him. It is to surrender whole-heartedly to him.

When we begin our services, we normally do so by giving God praise. But when we end our services, we do so with a time of worship. It is a time for each of us to come up here before the Father and bow before Him. Over the years, the altar has been turned into a symbol of salvation, so many times people today fear coming up here because they are afraid that others might think they are getting saved, or that there is some major issue in their life.

But this altar is not a symbol of salvation, though you can and many do get saved on an altar. The altar is a symbol of worship, and because the devil has done a great job at twisting the meaning of that, so many people miss out on giving God proper worship. We don’t mind at all to stand tall and give Him some praise, but when it comes to bowing low and giving Him some proper worship, we say, “I’ll pass.”

You want to know why the altars of yesteryear were full and the altars today are empty? It is because they understood the true meaning of coming to the altar, and many of those people couldn’t even think of missing out on an opportunity to bow before the Lord and worship His Holy name.

Philippians 2:9–11 NKJV

9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Bowing before Christ is nothing to be ashamed of. It is rather something to be admired. As children of God, we get to bow before the greatest King that has ever existed. And then we get to rise and serve within the greatest kingdom that has ever existed. What is there about that to be ashamed of.

Bowing before the Lord is a sign of humbleness, and it is a sign of maturity. When we are still babes in Christ, we like to make excuses for not going to the altar, but when one matures in Christ, he does not run from the altar, but to it. He embraces the fact that everyone has issues, that everyone needs God’s help, and that everyone should be on the altar confessing their sins to God and making little of themselves.

Ephesians 3:14–19 NKJV

14 For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, 16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, 17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— 19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

We need the blessings of God, the providence of God, the overwatch of God, the favor of God, the mercy of God, the grace of God, the strength of God, and most importantly the Spirit of God every single day of our lives. Paul said, it was for this very reason that he bowed to his knees. So that he could pray for their spiritual well-being.

Someone might say, “But brother Thomas, you just don’t understand. I can’t bow to my knees anymore. My body won’t let me do that. Listen to this verse:

Hebrews 11:21 NKJV

21 By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff.

Jacob couldn’t get on his knees any more either, but he went as far as he could… he leaned on his staff.

Like anything else, true worship is a matter of the heart. If you can’t physically get into the floor anymore, then do what you can. God knows your heart. But He is worthy of your worship.

Commitment

So praise is when we lift Him up, and worship is when we bow down. We have been called to do both. Both are necessary components of the Christian life. Both have great spiritual significance.

2 Chronicles 29:30 NKJV

30 Moreover King Hezekiah and the leaders commanded the Levites to sing praise to the Lord with the words of David and of Asaph the seer. So they sang praises with gladness, and they bowed their heads and worshiped.