Comparing My Worship to Others

Moving from guest to disciple

The funnel

The 5 pillars

The 4 W’s

Overcoming Mediocre Christianity

God’s word is not a mediocre book, it’s a powerful book

God’s love is not a mediocre love, it’s a refining love

If God’s love is not mediocre, our worship should not be mediocre

Malachi 1:12–14 ESV

12 But you profane it when you say that the Lord’s table is polluted, and its fruit, that is, its food may be despised. 13 But you say, ‘What a weariness this is,’ and you snort at it, says the Lord of hosts. You bring what has been taken by violence or is lame or sick, and this you bring as your offering! Shall I accept that from your hand? says the Lord. 14 Cursed be the cheat who has a male in his flock, and vows it, and yet sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished. For I am a great King, says the Lord of hosts, and my name will be feared among the nations.

The greatness of God’s name - ; ;

; ;

When God’s name is no longer great, he calls us to consider our worship

There are times when we need to compare our worship with the worship of others in order to learn what we should strengthen and what we should change

If God did not want us to evaluate our worship against that of others he would not have given us a record of specific instances of worship by his people.

He does not want us to make comparisons so that we can judge others but so that we can search deep within ourselves and ask ourselves the hard questions

And so I call this: Pivotal events in the worship of God’s people

In each situation I want you to see that there is a BAD example and a GOOD example of worship

And so the goal of this message is to help you understand that God notices our worship and then to have you evaluate your worship and your heart for worship in comparison to those God considered worthy and unworthy worshipers

(1) Cain and Abel: Worshiping with

(1) Cain and Abel: Worshiping with Faith - ;

Genesis 4:1–7 ESV

1 Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord.” 2 And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground. 3 In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, 4 and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, 5 but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. 6 The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? 7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.”

Adam and Eve had several children. The writer Moses chose only to write about Cain and Abel

The are several different kinds of offerings in the bible - wine, grain, oil, incense, animals of different kinds

notice that the Lord “had regard” - God notices our worship

The greatest commentary on the bible is the bible; and the greatest commentary in the bible is

Hebrews 11:4 ESV

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.

He still speaks - learn from this. It is not just religious duty, it is not just trust God. Faith is trusting in the work of God in your life and the promises of God in his word to do a work in you according to his promises as you trust him and obey them. It is not faith or works. It is faith and works. Doing what is outwardly right while not dealing with what is truly in your heart is never right from God’s perspective because he sees the total picture.

Jude 11 ESV

Woe to them! For they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam’s error and perished in Korah’s rebellion.

1 John 3:12 ESV

We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous.

(2) David and Uzzah: Worshiping with

(2) David and Uzzah: Worshiping with Obedience - ; 10-15

(2) David and Uzzah: Worshiping with Obedience - ;

Does God prescribe how we should worship? Absolutely! - weekly (the Sabbath, not your day but God’s day), without chaos ()

Read 2 Samuel

(3) The Tax Collector and the Pharisee: Worshiping with

(3) The Tax Collector and the Pharisee: Worshiping with Repentance ()

Trusted in themselves, a self righteousness, a contempt - a judgmental religion of self worship

I compare myself to others in order to justify my sinfulness and apathy

I think that my acts of worship are more important than the act of faith and repentance

Everyone who exalts himself - lifting high the name of Jesus is the opposite. Humble adoration, worship as gratitude for what God has done.

(4) Abraham and Isaac: Worshiping with

Abraham and Isaac

(4) Abraham and Isaac: Worshiping with Testing ()

Not worshiping with faith, or worshiping with obedience, or worshiping with sacrifice even though these certainly apply

Will you say yes when God asks for what you love most? When you are going through a deep valley of unanswered prayer, unending difficulty and uncertain circumstances?

Jesus and the temple

When your heart is broken, when you don’t understand? God is there in the victory but is he there when you don’t understand, when you alone have to walk this path, when you feel like God is asking for more than you ever thought would be required of you?

tells us that by faith he believed in a resurrection

(5) The Widow and the Rich People: Worshiping with

(5) The Widow and the Rich People: Worshiping with Nothing ()

(5) The Widow and the Rich People: Worshiping with Nothing ()

When you have nothing, is it enough? When you are empty and you find yourself sitting in the worship service, what is God thinking? This passage tells us exactly what Jesus is thinking when we come to him with almost nothing and give him everything we have.

This does not condone giving God nothing and thinking just showing up is good enough

This does not condone giving a lot and thinking that’s all you have to do

This is total reliance, total trust, total dependence on God for the next day, the next meal, the next bill payment. This is moment by moment,

(6) The Woman and the Disciples: Worshiping in

The woman at the well

(6) The Woman and the Disciples: Worshiping in Spirit and Truth ()

Worship with Spirit - you have a body, a soul, and a spirit. Your soul is made of your mind, will and emotions. Your spirit is regenerated at salvation but your soul needs to be transformed, renewed, changed. To do this you need to allow your spirit to be directed by God’s Spirit as he impresses upon you God’s truth. It’s not spirit and truth it’s spirit and truth.

To worship in your spirit is to surrender yourself to the promptings of the Holy Spirit and the commands of the Holy Bible and then to have a courageous conversation with yourself where your spirit speaks to your soul.

God is telling me through his word to do this and even if I don’t feel like it that’s what I’m gong to do. I don’t wake up Sunday morning and say, do I feel like going to church, do I feel like being with God’s people, do I feel like being challenged, do I feel like singing God’s praises, do I feel like having people talk to me? God commands it and so that’s the way it is. That’s what I do as an adult, that’s what we do as a family. Yes there should be scheduled times of getting out of the Bay Area and spending time with family and friends. But even then God commands our participation in public worship. Never does God command that we do not invest in the weekly corporate worship of believers gathered in a Spirit filled, Bible teaching, Christ proclaiming church. You see the joy that occurs whenever we have guests from out of town choose to worship with us. Maybe God is calling you to be a blessing to another congregation when you are out of town.

Is the attitude of my mind for worship where God wants it to be? Do I fill my mind with the good things that God’s word provides

The woman at the well

Is the attitude of my mind for worship where God wants it to be? Do I Is my will to worship, my desire to worship where God wants it to be? Are my emotions for worship (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness

Is my will to worship, my desire to worship where God wants it to be? Do you spend time in prayer asking God to show you his face, show you his glory? Do you ask him to make you a worshiper who doesn’t just want to worship, but wants to worship correctly, and wants to worship passionately?

Are my emotions for worship being changed as God’s word through God’s Spirit speaks to your spirit? When I look at the emotions of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness I realize how I have failed so miserably at times and how far I am from what God wants me to feel.

Where is Jesus in this? Where is grace in this? Where is mercy in this? No matter where you are, Jesus wants to come alongside of you. He offers his grace to strengthen and change you. He gives his mercy and allows you to pick up the pieces and move on in repentance without guilt or shame. Jesus wants you to be successful.

The funnel

The 5 pillars

The 4 W’s