Worshipping in Spirit and Truth

Worship… from the minute you waken.

Intro...

Pray

Denzel Washington:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxY_eJLBflk

What is worship?

What do you think it is and what is it personally to you?

What do you think it is and what is it personally to you?

What is worship? What do you think it is and what is it personally to you?

Get some answers out there…

Expressing praise, adoration, thanks, and love!

(Through… Prayer, music, bringing glory to God by your life and the choices you make, serving others in Jesus’ name.)

The two Greek words used for worship in the Bible are proskuneo and latreuo … Proskuneo means to bow down or pay homage, acknowledging the worthiness of God or kings, and latreuo, means to serve or to offer sacred services or gifts or prayers to God.

To me, worship is a natural response of feeling God’s presence or needing to feel his touch on my life. As I have experienced more tough situations going through life, I am more likely now to respond with prayer or singing through the sadness to feel God is near. Also when I am super happy, I’ll find myself singing worship songs or just thanking Jesus for the goodness in my life. I also like to try to make a point of dedicating acts of service to God as worship, and that can be as simple as doing the dishes or cleaning the house for my family or going out of my way to feed people in the hospital at my job. Any way you can be a blessing to others can be dedicated as an act of service to God.

Why do Christians worship? Why would it be appropriate to worship God?

Get some answers…

The ones I came up with are these:

He is the only God. The Creator and Maker of all of us.

He is perfect! Perfect love, righteousness, the perfect executor of justice and the perfect gift-giver.

He made everything in the universe, and it is all awesome!

He has done amazing things throughout history to display his glory and power.

He went to the Cross to restore us to Himself and make us whole and new, and make the world whole and new.

What is the difference between true worship and false worship?

Get some answers… What is true worship? What would false worship look or feel like?

[True worship]

“But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such to worship Him.”

Let’s dissect this verse … Think about close and reliable friendships and marriages come about. First, there is an extent of vulnerability, of offering your trust to that person, and over time getting familiar and comfortable with them because we have invited them to be part of our lives, or in marriage, given them our whole lives. Second, we get to know them as trustworthy and honest through learning about them, and through periods of time where they prove themselves to us. So there’s connection, and then knowledge, which leads us to a place where we can point out their good qualities. Everyone in this room, I’m sure, knows of some relationship they’ve had in their life where internally at one point you’ve realized someone was putting selfish matters ahead of your relationship. When it comes to our relationship with God, our hearts need to be free of putting other things before God. We can’t fully engage in our relationship with Jesus without giving our lives over to Him, or else we won’t notice the depth of relationship that is possible. Then, without knowledge of His goodness and integrity, we won’t find reason to praise Him. So I encourage you, get to know him even deeper than before, and your most natural response will be to worship him!

True worship...

Vulnerable

Connected

Engaged

Informed

Dedicated

Directed by the Holy Spirit

[False worship]

“This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me.”

… Worship that is just “lip-service” – done without the heart involved – is pointless to Jesus. It is not out of duty that we properly worship or honour God. False worship can also be worship that is conducted in disobedience to God, done without humility and reverence, or done insincerely or in ignorance of who God truly is.

False worship...

“Lip-service”

Disobedient

Disrespectful

Insincere

Ignorant or Uninformed

(Last Sunday the pastor told us a joke and it was this:

True worship is valuing and treasuring God above all things – the most natural response to knowing about God, realizing how worthy he is of praise, and recognizing the prize we have in being adopted into God’s family. The great thing is that God wants you to worship him in spirit and truth – he wants desperately for you to have this kind of closeness with Him!

Listen to this summary.

“Through [Christ], then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.” The second part of that command is: “Do not neglect to do good and share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.”

How to prepare ourselves for the “in Spirit” part of worship…

God’s worthiness and holiness...Acknowledge the chasm between God’s perfection and our imperfections

Acknowledge

God’s grace and forgiveness...Recognize that Jesus bridges us to the Father

God’s love and generosity...Realize that God pours out immeasurable blessings and upon you

God’s presence...Know that God is with you all the time and invite the Holy Spirit in to magnify your relationship with God

These are just some ways I can center myself in preparing to worship in singing or prayer or in daily life. I remember a time where I felt self-conscious about singing, lifting my hands to God in worship or prayer, and even saying the name “Jesus” among non-Christian company. I can remember sometimes I even took a prayerful stance to outwardly convey godliness or spirituality, while I was a complete mess on the inside. There was a time, though, between ages of 17 and 19, that whenever there was some opportunity to draw closer to Him by worshipping openly or by talking to someone about Jesus, I felt my heart beating really fast and was super nervous about taking that next step, and I just did nothing about it. I didn’t want to be seen as weird or different or as “holier than thou” among my circles of friends.

But… There is a specific promise that I have kept with me that covers a lot of ground for helping me to trust God not just with my life, but also with my relationship with Him.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you; plans to give you HOPE and a FUTURE.”

“For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you; plans to give you HOPE and a FUTURE.”

So, we know that God would never bring shame to his children, who are those who have been adopted into God’s family through Christ. We don’t ever need to be embarrassed or shy about giving God credit or praise.

There are some things I counted as selfish which used to get, and sometimes which continue to get in the way of my worshipping God. A few of them are shyness, being unwilling to be singled out or embarrassed, putting on face in certain company, laziness, ignorance to what kind of God I serve, and “just not feeling it” when it comes to worship in service and in song.

Small Group time: “Put away selfish ambition”

Put together Phillipians 2:3-4 and . See how Paul and Jesus encourage us to be humble and willing to lay down our lives for the sake of the Kingdom. What does “trying to save our lives” look like in today’s culture?

Phillipians 2:3-4 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?”

[Return to group for two minutes of personal journal time.]

I want you to take some time to answer the next two questions on your own. You don’t have to share your answers, but just meditate on them in your heart or journal about it if you prefer to write things down.

a) What “selfish ambition” is a constant struggle in your life right now? What, if anything, threatens to have you “forfeit your soul”?

b) If you could put aside all “selfish ambition”, what would taking up your cross look like?

What are you self-conscious about when it comes to demonstrating or sharing your faith? Is it…

Singing worship, lifting my hands in prayer or in song, praying out loud

Getting up in front of a crowd, speaking out when I have something to say

Standing up for God and Christ when others dishonour His name… cursing, making fun of Christ, etc.

Bible verses, quotes, or feelings shared on social media

Feeling like I don’t know enough about Christianity or even other religions to defend my case

Laziness to do the things I know God wants me to do to help others or grow in my relationship with Him

Or something else?

I discovered some years after coming to Camp that feeling self-conscious about worship, about telling people about Jesus, and our experience with God, is where the enemy wants us to stay, because then we can’t be used to expand God’s kingdom and be the hands and feet of Jesus. It’s an awesome feeling when you get to participate in giving others the kind of peace that only faith in Jesus can give! Wow! I remember on Easter morning, when I was singing with the band at my church, and an older Chinese lady came to the altar, just weeping and asking to be prayed for by the pastors. It was a beautiful thing to get to sing over her experience as she came to kneel in God’s presence and be prayed over. This past Christmas, I also experienced the honour of being able to pray for my aunt on behalf of my whole family, when she told us she was diagnosed with ALS, which has a 2 to 5 year average life expectancy. No one else stepped up to pray, but through small preparations up to that point, I felt brave enough to pray for her healing and peace. I could hardly sleep that night because I was both sad for her future, but absolutely elated that I did what God had asked me to do bringing Christ into the situation, since nothing else could have helped in that moment. It took me years of praying for the Holy Spirit to take over my actions and my heart to feel confident and comfortable with praying, singing, and sharing my faith, and even now I know I still have a TON of work to do in those areas.

My humble advice to you is to get confident about Christ! Whether you want to express your own faith, or extend your reach to those who need God’s touch on their lives… Pray, with a humble heart, without selfish ambition, and make your desire to see people be in relationship with Him, and he will NOT disappoint you.

How to prepare ourselves for the “in truth” part of worship…

The early followers of Jehovah God needed to consecrate themselves and prepare in various ways before they experienced God’s presence. What a blessing it is that through Jesus, we have direct access to God the Father! However, that doesn’t mean we get to be casual about Him.

How do we prepare ourselves to worship God in truth?

With knowledge of who He is, and with what we meditate on, what we preoccupy our thoughts with, so that…

…With knowledge of who He is, and with what we meditate on, what we preoccupy our thoughts with, so that…

1. We know we are worshipping a worthy God.

2. We don’t forget to follow through with our commitments.

3. We can experience peace that passes beyond understanding.

… the result of which is that we will have a deeper and more real relationship with Him!

KNOWLEDGE: We have thought on your steadfast love, O God, in the midst of your temple. As your name, God, so your praise reaches to the ends of the earth. Your right hand is filled with righteousness.

- God’s love for us, the great rescue provided by the Cross is a wonderful reason why he should be praised!

ACTION: The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

- Suppose that: Out of what you treasure and think upon, you will live your life and act

- Suppose that: Out of what you treasure and think upon, you will speak and live your life and act

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like.

- God warns his people many, many times to not forget that He is their God, and not to forget His instruction! Holy smokes, do I ever need those same reminders. So many things in my life threaten to take the place of God, or at least crowd out that time and energy.

PEACE: Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is honourable, whatever is pure, whatever is just, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things, and the God of peace will be with you.

- We will have God’s peace through any situation!

Small Group time:

“Things that make it hard to worship God with my thoughts are…”

“Things that make it hard to worship God with my thoughts are…”

The “rat race”, the “daily grind”

Worldly mindless distractions

TV shows and movies that have sinful themes

Sinful desires – current temptations or shame about my past

Others testing my patience or resolve to live a godly life

Small Group time:

“I find it easy for me to flush out or DETOX from the worldly stuff that dishonours God or has nothing to do with living righteously… when I…”

Pray for others

Sing worship songs

Do something for my spouse

Meditate on the beauty of my eternal life to come

Walk in nature, grounded

Have Scripture memorized for in-the-moment use

Read the Bible

We can bring ourselves into close relationship… close proximity! …with the God of the universe when we THINK about pure and honourable things, and when we choose to honestly get to know Him.

If you’re wondering about…

The history of Jesus… Read or watch: Case for Christ

The history of Creation… Watch: Is Genesis History?

The existence of God… Read: Case for God

How to defend Christ in a fallen world… Watch: God’s Not Dead 1, 2, and 3!

How to share your faith… Watch: Youtube videos on sharing the Gospel

Anything… Read your Bible!

Set an intention to worship God in Spirit and in truth…

What does it mean to do something with “intention”?

Get some answers…

My thoughts were that… Worshipping with intention means worshipping God with determination, planning, and attention

Intentional vocal worship...

How do we stay intentional in our prayer and worship?

On praying:

Practice makes perfect! Starting to pray out loud is always awkward. Think of a baby learning to talk. Nothing is perfect at the start, but the learning process is amazing.

My favourite time to pray is before anyone has woken up in the house, just as Jesus was often found awake in the early hours of morning to retreat away from everyone to pray to his Father. Start with just five minutes in the mornings of intentional prayer and quiet time – a sit spot, if you will, with Jesus – ask him anything you want! I promise that the more you get to know Him, the more you will want to get to know Him.

On singing:

Set your heart in the right place! Be determined to thank God for all He has made, and all that he has secured for you as His beloved child.

Intentional service...

How do we stay intentional in our everyday living and giving?

On living and giving:

Keep accountable to your actions with a trusted friend or family member or mentor. Set aside your “firstfruits” – your first 10 percent of your paycheck to charity, your first burst of energy in the day to do something to make a friend or stranger’s life easier, your first priorities of the week or month to bring Him the honour, or your first thoughts about a situation to be through the lens of eternity. Don’t resort to giving God your “leftovers” – often, they end up being used up before you even get to give them away!

My final thoughts…

Being “on the fence” or having a wispy opinion of spirituality is pretty common these days, and is almost encouraged. Fence-sitters do not change the world, and what’s more, fence-sitters between two opposing forces are simply unfortunate casualties.

You can search up a beautiful interview of Jim Caviezel on Catholic Inside USA for a deeper dive into that topic.

Let’s take a quote from C.S. Lewis, writer of the Chronicles of Narnia and many other treasured stories and scripts.

“Jesus Christ did not say, ‘Go into all the world and tell the world that it is quite right’.” - C.S. Lewis

“Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important.” - C.S. Lewis

My hope and prayer for you is that upon taking those quotes to heart, that you would recognize just how incredible is that a Holy and perfect Creator, whose mind created and loved into being the entire universe, sizing from the tiniest atom to the largest of galaxies, and from the simplest designs in nature to the most complex creatures on the Earth, would die for you. Jesus is really, truly worth it, and I hope that with the proof history provides, and the faith that the Holy Spirit gives, you will know Him as a close friend for your entire lives.

Let’s pray…

(Journal time)

Songs: Control – Tenth Avenue North