Worshiping God on His terms

Introduction

What is worship?

It is to esteem something or someone as greater than yourself. It is to make much of that person or thing. To treat it as being weighty. To exalt them or it to the highest place of importance.

The philosophical and theological idea that "everyone worships something" suggests that humans naturally devote their time, energy, and deepest affections to whatever holds ultimate value in their lives. While traditional worship focuses on a deity, secular interpretations argue that people center their lives on concepts like money, success, self, or relationships

Who decides how God should be worshipped?

It may seem like this question has an obvious answer. God decides. In reality, though, we often approach God on our terms, not His. We take the parts of religion that are convenient, like Gods kindness, his forgiveness and his grace, and we leave out the hard truths of repentance, submission, obedience, the Lordship of Christ in the lives of his people etc.

Danger - by approaching God our way, we tend to make him seem like a light thing, or trivial. We treat him as though His is insignificant.

To say that God determines how he should be worshipped is a statement with massive implications.

You will remember, no doubt, in the OT that God lays out many laws that prescribe how the Jews were to worship him through animal sacrifice, through feasts, and festivals of rememberance. Yet, even if the Jews followed those procedures to the letter, they still missed the true worship of God.

Psalm 40:6–7 “In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted, but you have given me an open ear. Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required. Then I said, “Behold, I have come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me:”

Psalm 51:16–17 “For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”

There is an underlying attitude of the heart that the Lord delights in. An attitude of humility, self-sacrifice, of total dependance and reliance upon the Lord. One that exalts Him to the place of highest honour, of greatest significance in our lives. It treats him as weighty, as glorious, as worthy beyond measure, as beautiful beyong comprehension.

“You are beautiful beyond description Too marvellous for words Too wonderful for comprehension Like nothing ever seen or heard Who can grasp Your infinite wisdom Who can fathom the depth of Your love You are beautiful beyond description Majesty enthroned aboveAnd I stand I stand in awe of You I stand I stand in awe of You Holy God to whom all praise is due I stand in awe of You”

Mark Altrogge

It is one thing to wax lyrical about the worship of God and to understand God’s expectations of us in theory. But what is the outworking of this in our lives. If God is exalted to the place of highest importance in the hearts of His people, what does that look like?

Compare OT worship with the interaction between Jesus and the woman of Samaria:

John 4:19–23 “The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.”

Two implications of this:

Corporate worship - God is not worshipped in one place. He does not dwell in tents made by human hands. Acts 7:48 “Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands, as the prophet says,” Acts 17:24–25 “The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.” The Lord dwells with his people. The church is made up of the people of God, not brick and mortar.

Individual worship - The Lord determines how individual Christians should worship him. It is this issue of individual/personal worship that our text helps us understand.

Philippians 4:4–9 ESV

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

The Christian Mind

Comment on verses 4 - 7 and the outworking of this on the Christian mind. Similar to the idea of contentment in 4:11.

What is the proper function of the mind if the peace of God is ruling over or in it?

What does he mean when he says that the peace of God “surpasses all understanding?”

It goes beyond what the mind is capable of doing.

It is supernatural - it is produced in us by the Spirit of God, not created by us and our doing.

The peace of God results in certain kind of thinking and a certain kind of doing.

It does not leave the Christian heart of mind empty or passive. If we have the peace of God in our hearts, what are the kinds of things that Christians think about and do?

Principle that governs this: Belief affects behaviour.

Think:

Philippians 4:8 “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”

Comment on Whatever stated repeatedly (6 times). Implies comprehensiveness. There are so many good things to fill your mind with - things that accord with Godliness - do it. Fill your mind with it.

Not just talking about spirtual issues or realities. Could be talking about excellence in music, literature, art, science and math, in sport etc.

Categories of assessment. Paul is not telling us exactly what to think - he is telling us how we should think. Each one dove tails off the ones that go before. He gives us 6 categories of assesment and then two summary statements.

Using Puppy mince as an example of that which is ugly and gagg at.

Truth - untrue things should not be embraced by the Christian. We do not savour or delight in false truths, or fake news. Think about this in terms of gossip, or inflated stories about people you know or institutions your work in. This is a call to sift through all of the truth claims that come your way and to discard all that is false, and embrace all that is true. Christians have an allergy to all that is fake or false.

Honorable - held in high regard or to have a high regard for something or someone. Could be translated as praise worthy. Christians distance themselves from all that is dishonorable, or ignoble. Ignoble is an adjective that describes something characterized by baseness, dishonor, or a lack of moral principle. It speaks of avoiding things that will bring shame upon you, or those things that will make you feel ashamed. Honorable things are morally good and right as determined by the Lord. Think about marriage, children etc.

Just - A mind that cares deeply about justice. Will not savour things that are not right or morally wrong. Lovers of righteousness. Christian Anger - powerful motivating emotion. Ephesians 4:26 “Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger.”

Pure - Lots of people care about justice - but care little for purity. Think about sexual or marital purity. Hebrews 13:3–5 “Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body. Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous. Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”” Lots of people love justice, but do not think about purity.

Lovely - Beauty. Do not give yourself over to that which is loathesome, ugly, grotesque. Think about the cosmetic industry and the pursuit of beauty at all costs. Steps out of the beautiful and into the ugly. 1 Peter 3:3–4 “Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious.”

Commendable - deserving of praise, approval, admiration. Paul commends the example of Christ and voluntary self-sacrifice in Chapter 2. He also commends Timothy and Ephroditus in Chapter 2. His own example in Chapter 3.

Summary:

Excellence -

Worthy of praise -

Practise

Philippians 4:9 “What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.”

John 14:21 “Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.””

Fellowship with the God of peace is conditional on our thinking and on our behaviour.

Matthew 7:15–20 ESV

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.

It is not us who originates Christian behaviour. This is not something we think up or discover. It is something that we receive, learn, here, and see in others. Christian behaviour is caught and taught. Our behaviour is rooted in objective reality outside of ourselves. Different to the world saying - your feelings determine what is true. Figure it out for yourself. No, God determines what is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable and I ought to behave in accordance with these. We are dependant on God’s revelation.

Learned: Paul is not the author of Christian behaviour either. See Philippians 4:11–13 “Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned, in whatever situation I am, to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”

Received: Something that is passed down from person to person. 1 Corinthians 15:1–3 “Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures,”

Heard and seen: Personal experience with Paul. The Philippians had actually seen Paul and heard from Paul. Philippians 1:29–30 “For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake, engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have.” Paul asks them to walk in accordance with his example and not the example of those whose minds are set on earthly things. 1 Corinthians 2:15–16 “The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.”

Application:

Peace of God vs. God of peace.

Bad company corrupts good morals. 1 Corinthians 15:33 “Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.””

The value of the church in example setting and immitating Jesus and Paul. Be careful little eyes what you see, little ears what you hear, little feet where you go etc.

Having the God of peace - conditional on our thinking and on our acting. See John 14:21 “Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.””

Pursue excellence to the glory of God - science, math, art, music, sport. Whatever it is - do it well.