Worship

Week 11 Worship

I want us to begin today sermon by looking Back.

We are going through this believe series and the first 10 weeks we talked about Orthodoxy.

Orthodoxy might sound like a big word.

But we can break it down

Ortho –

Geometry – Orthogonal – something at a right angle

Orthodontics – Right or straight teeth

Orthopedics – Straight or correct bone structure

Doxy - “Opinion” or Teaching

The first 10 sessions were about having the right thoughts – or the right beliefs about things. This is where many “Christians” have stopped. They think that as long as their beliefs are good, that everything will take care of itself. Beliefs are simply the foundation.

Orthodoxy should always lead to orthopraxy. Right beliefs are essential, but they should lead to right practices.

In our youth ministry we call these things HABITS. Habits are our base level do this stuff to grow thing.***Offer a prize for a student who can name the habits***

Hanging Out With God – Accountability – Bible Study – Involvement in the Church – Tithing – Scripture Memorization

Over these next 10 weeks we will hit on those and some more.

Our first practice that we are going over today is “Worship”

The simple definition of worship is “attributing worth to someone or something.

Our definition of worship is:

Worship is an active obedient response to the known will of God

So as Christians in our worship, both together here on Sundays and throughout the week in personal worship, we are attributing and ascribing worth to God and God alone. We declare through methods like singing, speaking, or physical expression that we are esteeming him.

So here is the question for this week: “How do I honor God in the way he deserves?”

When we worship God we are practicing something based on our convitions.

1.) We believe in the Trinity and declare He is the one true God (Belief: God)

2.) We believe God is involved in and cares about our daily lives (Belief: Personal God)

3.) We believe God has provided a way for us to be made right with Him by his grace (Belief: Salvation)

4.) We agree that God’s word directs our beliefs and actions (Belief: The Bible)

5.) We believe that we have significance because of the position and worth God has given us ( Belief Identity in Christ)

6.) We recognize God as the Head of the church (Belief: Church)

7.) We believe God loves all people (Belief: Humanity)

8.) We desire to provide compassion to those in need because of who God is. (Belief: Compassion)

9.) We believe God is the owner of all things, including us. (Belief: Stewardship)

10.) We believe God has provided a way for us to live with him forever. (Belief: Eternity)

Worship is tied to this foundation.

Worship is the first practice of a Christ follower that helps the key beliefs move for our head to our heart.

So here is the key idea for this week:

Key Idea:

I worship God for who he is and what he has done for me.

Today I want us to turn in our Bibles to The Revelation of Jesus to John which is the last book of the New Testament. We will start with Chapter 4 and it’s quite a bit of reading, which is okay because revelation has a promise that we will be blessed by reading it aloud, and also hearing it.

Read Revelation Chapter 4

Revelation 4

John is receiving a vision about a heavenly worship service. And within it we hear that God is Holy!

Our God is a Holy God there is none like Him.

When we begin to think about the Holiness of our heavenly father I am taken back to the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, God established a proper way to worship and commune with God. Because of His holiness he had to be approached a certain way.

Lets take a look at the Tabernacle, it shows us the proper way to worship God.

(Find picture of the Tabernacle)

First People Passed Through The Gateway

Then there was a sacrifice for sin at the Bronze altar

Then the Priests were required to cleanse themselves by washing their hands and feet in the water from the Bronze Laver.

Only then were they able to enter the holy place

In the Holy place you have –

the table of showbread – where the bread of the presence is placed( only Priests could eat of it)

Across from it you have the Golden lampstand – it was required to burn continually and was the only source of light in the holy place.

Then you have the altar of incense – This would be burned daily. A special formula and it couldn’t be edited.

The holy of holies was where the presence of God was located, and it could only be entered once a year by one priest. And when he entered he would take two handfuls of incense along with coals in a censer past the veil that separated the Lord’s presence from everything and he would burn it there and the smoke from the incense represented the prayers of intercession for all of the people of Israel.

I show you all of that to show you how holy God was, and how serious it was to approach the presence of God.

But I also want to show you this today

When you think of the entrance to the tabernacle – Remember John 10:9

Jesus said “I am the gate, whoever enters through me will be saved.

When you think of the sacrifice for sin at the bronze altar – Hebrews 10:11-12

Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God.

When you think of the cleansing waters found in the Bronze Laver – 1 John 1:9

If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to purify us from all unrighteousness.

When you think of the showbread – remember John 6:35

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life”

When you think of the lampstand – remember John 8:12

Jesus said “I am the light of the world, he who follows me will not walk in the darkness but will have the Light of life.

When you think of the incense – remember Hebrews 7:24-25

but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.

When you think of the veil that separated the presence of God from the people of Israel remember what Matthew recorded happening when Jesus died for our sin.

Matthew 27:51

At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split

I tell you all of those things to tell you this,

Everything that was required for proper worship and communion with God, was provided through the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The presence of God, which we didn’t have access to, we now have full access to.

And in revelation chapter 4 we see all of heaven gathering in this worship service, and they are worshipping God.

Read Revelation Chapter 5

God is worthy of our praise! He is worthy of our worship.

People that haven’t experienced the grace of Jesus Christ don’t get this. I’ve heard it asked “What kind of almighty God is so egotistical that he needs people to worship him? Does he really need you to remind him how great he is.”

Worship isn’t about reminding God who He is. Worship is about reminding ourselves who God is.

I want us to look quickly at a passage of scripture that gives us a pattern of worship that I think if we can do this in our lives, God can change us.

Read Luke 18:9-14

1 – “Two men went up to the temple to pray.”

It is helpful to worship God corporately.

Together.

Yes we should worship in private, but there is something special that happens when we gather in the church to worship.

When we worship publicly

we make a public statement of our faith

we have the opportunity to unite our hearts in prayer

it refreshes us spiritually

2 – Two men went up to the temple to pray

It is helpful to have a goal in mind when we worship.

I believe in a God who sometimes when we come under wrong Goals he still meets us and changes us forever.

It shouldn’t only be about obligation –

It shouldn’t just be to hear a sermon –

It shouldn’t just be about being comforted

It should be about the confession of sin

It should be about asking God for mercy

3 – Two men went up to the temple to pray

Men, have you ever gone to the garage to get something only to forget what you needed?

It is helpful to keep your goal in mind when you worship

In the same way it is possible to come to worship with a purpose and forget that purpose on arrival. This man got so caught up in himself, and all that he had to offer, that he forgot his need for grace and mercy.

4.) When you come to church with a purpose,

Make sure you have done everything to accomplish the goal.

I’ve never heard a preacher preach a message that I couldn’t get something out of. It was always about my attitude.

“Worship means the most, when you feel it the least.”

“Remind yourself who God is by praising him.”

Worship is an active obedient response to the known will of God

“Our worship at home will always flow out of our worship together”