Why do we Worship sermon

K,

Last week we heard who God Is and this week is part 2 or a continuation of that sermon. This week we are going to find out what worship is and why are we supposed to do it.

When you heard that we were going to explore together today the word worship many of you perhaps are saying: "What do you think we have been doing all morning?" Our bulletin even calls this time "Morning Worship Service." We have indeed been worshipping, but what may appear as worship to us, visibly successful in the eyes of men, may not be worship in the eyes of God. He sees and hears much more than we do.

Let me read to you a description of God's reaction to a worship service held some years ago. It is recorded in the first chapter of Isaiah, Verses 12 through 17. There God says:

Isaiah 1:12-17

  "When you come to appear before me,
    who has asked this of you,
    this trampling of my courts?

  Stop bringing meaningless offerings!
    their incense is detestable to me.
  New Moons, Sabbaths, and convocations --
    I cannot bear your evil assemblies.

  Your New Moon festivals and your appointed feasts
    my soul hates,
  They have become a burden to me;
    I am weary of bearing them.

  When you spread out your hands in prayer,
    I will hide my eyes from you,
  even if you offer many prayers,
    I will not listen.

  Your hands are full of blood;
    wash and make yourselves clean.
  Take your evil deeds out of my sight!

  Stop doing wrong,
    learn to do right!
  Seek justice,
    encourage the oppressed.
  Defend the cause of the fatherless,
    plead the case of the widow."

Surely these words indicate that God looks at a worship service differently than we do because he reads our hearts. These words reveal that worship is not something we do. Worship does not deal with what we make our bodies do, (either singing, kneeling, or praying), but worship consists of who we are, what our heart is feeling. This is the aspect of worship I want to explore with you.

It is startling to realize that everyone worships! Everybody! Everywhere! Worship is the fundamental drive of life. Atheists worship. Infidels worship. Skeptics worship. Even Republicans and Democrats worship. Lawyers, insurance agents, and even Internal Revenue Service agents worship! All people worship, for worship is the fundamental difference between humans and animals. Animals do not worship. They have no sense of the beyond.

Ecclesiastes 3:11

11     He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart, yet so that man  will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end.

But God has placed eternity in man's heart, as the book of Ecclesiastes tells us {Eccl 3:11}. This urge causes men everywhere to worship. If they are not worshipping the true God, they are worshipping a god of their own composition. Worship, therefore, is a universal phenomenon.

  So what is worship?????

Romans 12:1-2

1     Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to  present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.

     2     And do not  be conformed to  this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may  prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

As we realize all that God has done for us in His Son, only then do we find out that offering ourselves to God as a living breathing sacrifice is a very reasonable act of worship.

In Romans Paul encourages us to live our entire Christian lives as an act of worship, Not just on Sunday in church, but every day every moment of the day.

 says to be transformed meaning: what is required is nothing less than a total transformation from the world. No longer are we to look at life as the world does, We are to look at life from the heavenly realm which we belong, the realm ruled by righteousness, life and the spirit, living in the world not of the world.

John 17:15-16

 15     I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one.

     16     “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

  Many Christians look at worship in many different ways , Some say prayer is the best way, and some even say singing is the best way, still others say talking with God all day long is Good, even fasting is a great way many say, And even though all of those are great ways to worship God are they the best ways?

   Before we get deep into this I want to look at the word worship  which comes from 2 old English words, the 1st is weorth  which is worth, the other is scipe or ship: quality—we see the word ship at the end of many words today such as friendship or sportsmanship, the quality of being a friend or a good sport.

     So worth-ship is the quality of having worth. So when we worship we are saying that God has worth, or that He is worthy. In biblical terms, we speak or sing about how good and powerful God is.

Worship is the purpose for which we were created for:

1 Peter 2:9

   9     But you are a chosen race, a royal  priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;

proclaim the excellencies: How do we proclaim His excellencies we worship Him, we praise Him, we tell the world about Him.

    We are called for the purpose of praising God, worshiping God. That is one of the job descriptions of a Christian. We are to declare or proclaim that God is worthy, worth more than anything else put together.

In the Greek and Hebrew there are 2 major kinds of words for worship.

1st is to bow down, to kneel, to put ones face down as an act of respect and submission. Our body language is saying,” I will do whatever you want me to”, I’m ready to listen to your instruction and I’m willing to obey.

 2ND word means to serve. Which is an act of doing ( a verb).

The idea is doing something for God making a sacrifice or carrying out His will or instructions.

  In order to worship we need to know 3 things:

Worship is:

1.      Speaking

2.      Listening

3.      Doing

 There is a worship that expresses the heart, and worship that involves the mind, and a worship that involves the body. There is a worship that is giving praise upward, a worship that is receiving instructions from above, and a worship that carries out instruction in the world around us.

We need all three types of worship. Some people focus primarily on speaking or singing praise to God. Praise is good, but if all we do is praise God, without ever listening to what he says, we have to ask whether we believe the words we are saying. If he is really all wise and all loving, then we need to listen to what he is telling us, because he is worth listening to.

       All talk and no action, does not show God the respect he deserves. Actions speak louder than words, and if our behavior isn’t changed by God, then our actions are saying that God isn’t important — he’s a nice idea, but not relevant to our day-to-day lives. When we really believe that God is worthy of every praise, then we will be willing to listen and to change the way we live in response to such a worthy God. We will trust him and seek him and want to please him as much as we can. Worship should affect our behavior.

        Another point is that worship is a response to God. We can’t know God’s worth, much less declare it, unless God reveals himself to us. So God initiates worship by revealing himself to us. Then we respond, and the proper response is worship. The more we grasp his greatness, his power, his love, his character, the more we understand his worthiness, the better we can declare his worth – the better we can worship.

Both Old Testament and New Testament tell us that our relationship with God should involve our heart, mind, soul, and strength. It involves all that we are. Worship involves heart, mind, soul and strength, too.

The fact that we believe God says something about his worthiness. The fact that we trust him and love him declares that he is worthy of love and trust. The fact that we obey him also says that he has worth. Our words complete the picture by saying that God has worth. In the words we say to one another, in the prayers we say to God, in the songs we sing, we can declare that God is worth more than all other gods, worth more than all other things.

We can worship God all by ourselves. But it is also something we do together. God has revealed himself not just to me, but to many people. God puts us in a community, he reveals himself to a community and through a community, and the community together responds to him in worship, in declaring that he is worth all honor and praise.

Moreover, God promises that whenever we gather in Jesus’ name, he will be there. We gather in his presence, and because of his promise, we expect him to be with us. He is the One who calls us together, who reveals himself to us, who initiates the worship and is the object of our worship.  

 Matthew 18:20

20     “For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.”

 So why do we worship? To form a relationship with God, so He can start to revel Himself to us.

 Why do worship as a group? So we can fellowship with God 1st and then each other.

John 4:24

     24     “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

As I close I want you to ask your self 3 things

1.       Does your life glorify God? That is one major purpose of worship.

1. Does your life build up the body of Christ? That is another major purpose.

3.       And third, does it help us be what God wants us to be in the world? Does it have practical results in our lives?

As we sing if you feel  God pressing on your heart to get to know Him step out of your seat and let me pray with you to receive Christ into your life, or come pray at the alter, come up and praise His name. If your looking for a church home, well look no further, I’m sure these wonderful Godly people will love you and would love to worship with you. If you just have a prayer request you come. So what ever the reason you come today. Don’t let the most important decision of your life pass you by. Come today.