The Heart of Worship

Introduction

I am going to begin a series messages on worship. There are two solid reasons why we will study about worship.

One is that worship is what we were created for. Imagine, there are things we’re doing as God’s people today, but won’t be necessary in the Kingdom of God. For example, when the new Kingdom is accomplished and we stand in the presence of our God and Jesus, then mission, evangelism, or bible studies won’t be necessary. Preachers won’t be needed. The only thing that we will be doing is WORSHIP.

The other reason is that, last year in November, when leadership gathered every Friday mornings for about a month to pray, to set a sermon calendar for 2018, and to decide on the direction of our ministry, we felt the strong need to set a clear, and a common vision of what worship should look like on Sundays and also in our daily lives.

So for the next several weeks, we will be learning from the Bible about what worship is, why we worship, and how to worship, and I hope and pray for us to find biblical answers and see the changes of our hearts and perspectives towards worship as individuals and ultimately as church.

[Sources of books] A Taste of Heaven by R.C Sproul, Worship by John Macarthur, Worship by A.W Tozer, Christ-Centered Worship by Bryan Chapell, A better Way by Michael Horton, Expository Exultation by John Piper, Preaching and Preachers by Dr. Lloyd Jones, New Dictionary of Biblical Theology: Worship Section, Systematic Theology by John Macarthur and another Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem.

[Building foundations]

Before we move onto the topic, I want to set a clear mark here about our relationship with God. When we approach to understand our relationship with God on the topic of worship, we must remember that it is not two-sided, but clearly one-sided.

It is not somehow we worship God, then God will worship us back as a response. It doesn’t work that way. We do not earn God’s favor through worship, but we express His greatness, magnificence, and sovereignty in our worship to God which He deserves - because all of humanity is a mere creation when standing before God; whereas God is infinitely greater and sovereign over all creation as the Creator.

Scripture is clear, that all of humanity is completely dependent upon God from its very existence.

We may be healthy, wealthy, and have life here, but if God wills, there could be no tomorrow anymore for all of us.

Therefore, worship is first and foremost to stand before God as finite creatures with humility to give thanks to God, and to encounter the One who is ultimately glorious and sovereign.

Therefore, worship must be truly theocentric - God must be the center of our worship. Worship must be about God, for God, and He must be the one and the ONLY one to receive all of our praises, all of our attention, hearts, love, desire, and affection. And in doing so, we, as God’s people, are to reflect God’s glory and resemble His images more.

[False Worship Exists]

And because worship should be about God and Him alone, in our weakness we create a false worship. And God clearly states that He despises those false worships and false worshipers.

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In , God denounces the people of Israel for their false worship. God said, “You are defiling my my altar by offering polluted food.” Because they were offering blind, lame, and sick animals instead of brining the best they had, they were violating the seriousness of worship. So God says to them in verse 10, I have no pleasure in you….and I will not accept an offering from your hand. (1:10) God rejected to accept their worship, because their attitude was not right.

Let me give you one more example.

In , we can see the intensity of God’s hatred of worship with the wrong attitude.

(ESV) 21 “I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. 22 Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them. 23 Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen.

The entire prophecies regarding Israel and Judah’s destruction are closely related to the fact that they did not worship God with the proper attitude.

[Exhortation]

Right now, you may be present here physically. You could be singing some songs, praying a bit, and listening to sermon trying not to fall asleep with the best ability you can, but without the proper attitude, your worship, our worship could be seen as abominable and disgusting noise before God.

And that’s why it’s crucial to have a firm foundation of what worship is. And what the Bible teaches and emphasizes, so that we can put that in our heart is that the only acceptable worship is a worship that starts with faith in God and Him alone. Of all the worship services you have attended, and will attend in your life, the only acceptable worship is the worship from a heart that is trusting in God and Him alone. That is to be the heart, the center, of our worship.

[To start off, what is worship?]

The most common word for worship in the New Testament is λατρια(latria). This word can be better understood if we understand the concept of worship in the Old Testament era.

In the Jewish nation, there were about three basic components of this concept of latria, three components of worship. They were offering of praise to God, the offering of prayer to God, and the offering of sacrifice to God.

Simply put, worship in Israel was considered in terms of praise, prayer, and the offering of sacrifices. And of the three, the offering of sacrifices was the most central to Old Testament worship. We could even reduce the Old Testament worship to about going to the tabernacle or to the temple to offer sacrifices. In one sense, even praise and prayer were spiritual forms of sacrifice.

And that was why in the temple, God ordained that there should be an altar of incense where prayers of the believers were symbolically offered up to God as sacrifices.

But today, in the New Testament era, we don’t go to church with sheep, goat, or anything else to offer as burnt offerings to the Lord, because we know that the sacrifice that Christ Jesus offered as our High Priest, the offering of Himself fulfilled all the symbolism and ritual of the Old Testament worship.

But as R.C Sproul shared his concern along with John Macarthur on modern day church worship, because we don’t offer sacrifices the way the Old Testament people did, there is a danger of losing sight of the central, essential dimension of what worship is about.

So in our remaining time, my plan for us is to go to our passage and see what God looks for in worship in the first place, and get take-aways from God’s perspective and apply to our lives of worship.

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is the first picture in which worship actually takes place. It doesn’t necessarily use the word ‘worship’, but as we know the tradition of latria of Jewish nation, the offerings of two men’s sacrifices should be considered as worship.

In this passage, we find an acceptable worship to God, but we also find an unacceptable worship to God. Based on this passage, and throughout the Bible, there isn’t much talk about these two men. What we know is that they are brothers, and Cain is the older brother, the firstborn of the family.

But that’s very important from a Jewish perspective. Starting from Adam and Eve, the firstborn son meant so much more than being older than the other. The firstborn son was the one to inherit the birthright and to receive the office of honor and distinction in the home.

Here because the firstborn was Cain, the glory and honor went to Cain by birth.

Verse 2 reveals that Abel was a keeper of sheep. Abel was a shepherd. And Cain was a worker of the ground. In the ancient culture, Abel’s role was of a lower significance. In fact, being a shepherd was considered untrustworthy, that they weren’t allowed to enter to court nor to give any testimony. In the society, shepherds were only a little better treated than slaves. By status, some shepherds were actually considered as slaves.

Yet, being a worker of the ground, Cain was given the responsibility to sow the seed for the harvest, and the entire family would look up to him as the provider of the family, and he would be treated as the leader of the household who would deserve respect, dignity, and higher status in the society.

In verse 3, when time came for worship, both Abel and Cain brought different kinds of offerings for their sacrifices to God. Verse 3 says that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel brought the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions to the Lord in verse 4.

And for some reason, though Cain was the firstborn son and had more respect, honor, status, second part of verse 4 says that “the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering.”

Then in verse 5, “but for Cain and his offering He[God] had no regard.”

[Possible Reasons]

Why?, we don’t have the answer because the Bible isn’t explicit as to why God chose Abel’s offering over Cain’s. Some argue, actually many argue that it’s because God required a lamb in the Old Testament, and it’s because Abel offered the firstborn of the flock and of the fat portions.

But there are exceptions in the Bible. One example I learned is in . When Mary and Joseph first presented Jesus at the temple, Mary gave an offering, but not of a lamb but of two pigeons. In Leviticus, the Jewish law clearly stated the alternative for people in poverty. Though offering of a lamb was usual, still God doesn’t really distinguish someone’s offering had to be the firstfruits of the flock.

Then Martin Luther said that maybe it wasn’t what Abel offered that was pleasing to God. maybe it was how Abel offered it to God that made the difference. In the same way, maybe it was how Cain offered that wasn’t pleasing to God.

Now then, we see quite a bit of biblical support on that. It’s not WHAT you bring to offer, but it’s HOW you offer to God that makes the difference. In the Old Testament, one’s posture and the attitude in making the sacrifice was significantly emphasized. We looked at some prophets, God hated the false worship with wrong attitude.

In , Jesus sat down the other side of the treasury and watched the people putting their money into the offering box. The rich people put so much, some said it was about $10,000 worth. But then there was a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, considered as a penny.

Yet Jesus affirmed her offering and said the poor widow put in more than the rich ones did.then Jesus said in verse 44, (ESV) 44 For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”

Jesus said that the rich ones put out of abundance, but the poor widow put in everything she had. Jesus does not mention how much they put, but the disposition of the heart.

[Proclamation]

What God looks for in our worship, therefore, is not what we put. It’s HOW we put what we have. Is it out of sincere heart, love, and thanksgiving to God? Or is it out of obligations?

[Illustration]

Imagine that it’s Sunday afternoon. After lunch, it’s about 1:30. Finally, your praise leader asks you to stand and recite the Apostles Creed as church, and suppose we’re thinking, “here we go again with this boring time.”

Would it be an acceptable worship in the eyes of God?

(ESV) 4 By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks.

What made the difference in the eyes of God, and in the heart of Abel and Cain in their offering of the sacrifices was FAITH in God.

But notice in . Scripture doesn’t say it was an acceptable sacrifice. It says, Abel’s was MORE acceptable than Cain. What does that tell us about Cain? When Cain brought his offerings to God, he wasn’t a unbeliever. He did have faith, but his was not whole. He was double-hearted. He believed in God, but Cain also relied on something else at the same time.

What was it that Cain could have relied on as he relied on God? It’s his status of being the firstborn son. It’s not just about Cain. it’s throughout the history of Israel and has a lot to do with the failure of Israel to acknowledge their long-awaited Messiah, Christ Jesus. It’s the idea of being chosen, we call it elitism.

It is the view that led many to say to themselves: “I am the chosen one, our ancestor is Abraham, so my future rests in my status.” I will offer the sacrifices and do the rituals because I believe in God, but really, I’m the firstborn son. Period.”

To this mindset, God rejected to take Cain’s worship.

(ESV) 16 For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

It was probably the heart of Abel’s worship. “I am only a shepherd. No one sees me. I am just a second son. I am no one, but God, here is my offering to you. You are the only one I put my hope in.” It was the kind of worship God accepted.

In , When God rejected Cain’s offering, the second part says Cain was very angry, and his face fell. This is probably the vivid proof that Cain’s heart was in a wrong position.

[Exhortation]

Guys, when we are in the sanctuary, during worship time, it’s almost impossible to tell who is really offering the true worship to God. But it is best revealed after the service, how you respond to God’s Word.

Today, when God rejected Cain’s worship, Cain became very angry and his face fell.

One of the crucial attributes to understand is His righteousness. God is righteous at all times. He is righteous in His anger, in His judgment, and even in His rejection! He’s not like your teacher or boss who sometimes misjudges you without knowing your efforts.

When God rejects to accept Cain’s worship, when God convicts our hearts for things we thought to be okay, God is not being unfair to you. A true worshiper’s response will not be anger. If right now, you find yourself convicted by the Word of God, let’s be a true worshiper and make a repentance to God. “Lord, I am sorry for being unfaithful to You. Create in me a clean heart to truly worship you and you alone with faith.”

I want for us to remember the words of Jesus towards those religious teachers. Jesus called them hypocrites. “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me…” ( ESV)

I want to leave you with a question, and lead you into a time of prayer. I want us to reflect on the heart of Cain and Abel and reflect our heart on worship.

Do we worship like Cain, so we believe in God, yet we put the other foot on something else, or do we worship like Abel, that we come in the presence of God in worship with humility and depend nothing but the blood of Jesus and stand before Him in confidence by faith?

Is it only your physical body that is here, or is it all of your heart that is here to worship God in faith?