Let us Worship the King through Praise and Adoration

Believers are to worship God in Spirit and in truth ()

Explanation: During His encounter with the woman at the well, Jesus discussed proper methods of worship. In her attempts to sidetrack Jesus, the woman tried to tie worship to a geographic location. Jesus not only pointed out her error, He enlarged our understanding of true worship as well. Jesus emphasized the spiritual nature of God as opposed to anything in the material realm. Jesus clearly sets forth parameters for acceptable worship. By implication, this means we can be guilty of unacceptable worship. We must have clarity for what it means to worship in spirit and in truth.

Definition

Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary Worship

WORSHIP Term used to refer to the act or action associated with attributing honor, reverence, or worth to that which is considered to be divine by religious adherents. Christian worship is often defined as the ascription of worth or honor to the triune God. Worship is more fully understood as an interrelation between divine action and human response: worship is the human response to the self-revelation of the triune God

Argument: Modern Christians are sometimes guilty of limiting worship to what takes place in the church buildings on Sunday. We have a mistaken tendency to divide the sacred and the secular. The reality is this division is false. All of human history belongs to God and all of creation belongs to Him. True worship is a way of live, and is not limited to one hour on Sunday.

Application: Worship is a verb; it is a response to a Holy God who has revealed Himself to His people. If you do not respond to who you have experienced, you haven’t truly worshiped

When we worship, we are not to limit God in any way ()

Believers are not to limit God in any fashion ()

Believers are not to limit God in any fashion ()

Explanation: In the encounter at Sinai, God gave His people the 10 Commandments. The commandments of the first table reflect the vertical relationship between God and man, while the commandments of the 2nd table reflect the horizontal relationships between individuals. The arrangement is deliberate and reflects the priority. If we do not get the first part correct, we will never master the second.

Believers are not to limit God in any fashion ()

Illustrate: we place limits on things in an effort to control them. We have speed limits for safety, we have circuit breakers and trip valves to prevent electric overloads. In each situation, there is more available, but we harness and limit it for a perceived benefit.

Argument: The Creator God of the Universes is limitless. He is Transcendent and totally outside the box. We cannot limit Him, and we are forbidden to even try. The first 2 commandments speak to this reality: God is Alone in His being, He has no rivals or counterparts; and in His being He is irreducible.

Application: To give Him worship that is true is to respect who He is. He is NOT the “man upstairs,” or “the big guy,” or some “wise old man with a beard in a big chair.” He is the one who “dwells in unapproachable light” () and He is the One who receives continual praise from the angelic beings ()

As mortal humans, we are to come into His presence with reverence and awe and we are called to worship Him in the beauty of His holiness.

Believers can and should worship God through Praise and Exaltation (Ps 145:1-9)

Explanation: While there are several suitable methods for worship in the gathering of the church, Praise and Exaltation are to have a prominent position. God is the Eternal Creator, the Holy One who inhabits Eternity, the Alpha and Omega, the One who calls that which is not into being. Nothing that exists, does not have its source and origin in Him. We owe Him our worship. He alone is worthy of our praise.

Illustrate: in a negative fashion, when we see or hear of one person bowing down to another, calling him or her master, and fawning and flattering with heaps of adjectives and titles, we feel unsettled. We think it is too much, too inappropriate, and wrong. (Tarzan, John Carter, refusing to kneel)

Argument: When we worship God through praise we focus on the objective nature of of God. That is to say, the focus is to be on who He is, not what He has don for us personally, which is subjective. (Contrast A Mighty Fortress is our God with He walks with Me)

Application:

We can bless God every single day. We can brag on God to others outside of the church building. (vv. 1-3). In this manner, blessing means “to speak words of excellence about.”

We can tell others what our Great God has done for us. We can share our story of His glory with others (vv. 4-7)

We can reflect and be thankful for God’s qualities of mercy and grace. We reflect on who we once were and where we were headed (we were rebels on the way to hell) and we praise Him for His power to transform. We worship Him