Spiritual Disciplines (5)

In last weeks message we began to look at the Spiritual Discipline of Worship. We discussed how Worship is, perhaps the most misunderstood of all the Spiritual Disciplines and we looked at the 2 ways we often misunderstand what worship is by limiting it to the activity of singing and to the location of church settings.

We looked at how worship changed the moment Jesus moved onto the scene and established His earthly ministry. Next Slide

During Jesus earthly ministry, worship was changing from an external conformity to ceremonies and rituals, into an internal move of the heart.

We looked at the fact that God seeks our worship and He wants us to worship Him in spirit and truth, for only in worshipping in spirit and truth do we really have authentic worship.

We closed out our time with Next Slides

3 things that are always present in authentic worship:

1. In authentic worship, there is always a sense of Awe towards God.

2. In authentic worship, there is always a sense of conviction.

3. In authentic worship, there is always a sense of Joy in God’s love and generosity.

I mentioned last week that we would take a closer look at why authentic worship always brings a sense of Awe towards God, and why authentic worship always brings a sense of conviction of sin. These are the 2 areas we will spend most of our time on this morning.

Now, perhaps you are wondering, why? Why are these two areas so key? To start with, I want to point out that the 2 of these are designed to fit together perfectly, one always precedes the other. A proper awe of God will always bring with it a sense of conviction of sin. We looked at that briefly last week, but we will look at it more closely this morning.

But let’s go back to your question of, why these 2 are so key to our worship of God. In order for me to do that, let me ask you a question. What type of worship does God seek from us? We saw this last week when we looked at His encounter with the Woman at the well.

God seeks those who will worship Him in spirit and in truth.

This brings me to the first thing I would like us to look at this morning, and that is: Next Slides

A Proper Perceptive of God Cultivates a Proper Awe of God.

For me, there are times I struggle worshipping God in spirit and truth, because I don’t have a proper sense of awe towards God. This generally happens because of the type of lens I view God through. Often times I view who God is, by the lens of my own experiences, the lens of what I am going through right now. The lens of my own personal struggles. The lens of my trials. Later, when I think back to what I am going through, to my personal struggles and the trials I am faced with, I realize, they didn’t come about because God let me down, they didn’t come about because God isn’t quite as awesome as I thought He was, not at all! They came about because of choices I made, the places I went, the people I chose to hang it with, the activities I chose to participate in, and I realized I was looking at God through the wrong lens. The lenses we choose, make all the difference in the world when it comes down to what we ultimately see.

Let me give you an example of what I mean. Hold up a jewelers loop

Anybody familiar with what this is? This is a jewelers loop. I’m not sure anybody here knew this, but I used to be a jeweler. I have probably looked at thousands of loose diamonds or rings through this jewelers loop. This is used to enable a jeweler to get a better look at diamonds. With the naked eye you can get an idea of the cut of a diamond, but you really can’t see the specific facets of the cut. Get Pam’s ring For instance, if Clay Chastain and his fiancé were here this morning, and I were to look at her engagement ring through my jewelers loop, I would likely see, that the way her ring is cut is a lot different than how this ring is cut. This is Pam’s ring, and the diamond in her ring was given to me by my parents and came from my great great grandmothers ring. Chances are, this diamond was cut right around 1890, making it about 129 years old. When a jeweler looks at this through jewelers loop, he can instantly see that the way a diamond is cut has changed a lot in the last 129 years, but you have to have a special lens to see how it is cut.

A very poor woman inherited a brooch from a distant relative who had passed away. She didn’t really know much about the brooch, or even the relative, for that matter, but it was obviously pretty old and truthfully, in her eyes, not very attractive. Decades had come and gone since she received the brooch, she’d never really worn it, you know, it just wasn’t her style.

On this particular day, which happened to be a Monday, she was at the point of being destitute, she was several months behind on her rent and about to be evicted, the cub-bards were bare, there was less than a pint of milk in the refrigerator, 3 pieces of bread and a half a stick of butter. It was midway through the afternoon and she still hadn’t eaten. She worked as a cashier at the local drug store, which was about 2 miles away. She walked to work every day. She recalled that about a mile or so past the drug store she worked at, there was a pawn shop. She remembered the brooch and thought to herself, “You know, If I could sell that brooch, perhaps I could get enough money for groceries and possibly a little extra to give my landlord to bye me some time.” She grabbed the brooch, her tattered and torn winter coat, and begin to walk through the winter air towards the pawn shop. As she got to the corner where her drug store was located, she looked down the street to her right and saw a brightly lighted sign. Curious, she walked towards the sign to get a better look. As she got closer, she noticed that the sign was advertising a special jewelry event at the jewelry store located right there, an event where they can give you the value of your jewelry and even buy it, if you would be interested in selling it. She had never been in that store before, I mean why walk into the store if there is absolutely nothing there you could ever afford! She decided to see what the brooch was worth. She pushed open the door, causing the bell at the top of the door to ring, letting the jewelers know a new customer had walked in. The manager of the store was seated next to the expert that had been brought in to provide an expert evaluation of the jewelry. They were looking over some paperwork, and both looked her way.

The second they laid eyes on her she regretted she had come in. Hopefully none of you have received that look, it was.........I’m not even sure how exactly to describe it.....it was like.....like what exactly are you doing in this store? This store isn’t for the likes of you, please do us a favor and walk right out the door......you know, that kinda look. She was just about to exit quietly when a young man approached her. He smiled a broad smile, put his hand gently on her shoulder, as if to stop her from leaving and said; “Ma'am, what can I do for you?”

“I’m sorry......I should leave.”

“Ma’am, don’t you worry about them, I am sure you came in here for a very good reason. I am here to help in any way I can.”

His smile, and his hand on her shoulder kind of disarmed her.

“Well......I do have an old brooch I inherited from a distant relative....I was hoping someone could look at it and tell me how much it’s worth.”

“I’d be happy to look at it for you.”

He took her by the hand and led her over to a low counter with a velvety chair right next to it.

Oh.....I couldn’t sit there......I’m really not dressed very well.”

“Ma’am, no need to worry about how you are dressed, just have a seat.”

Before sitting down, she reached into her pocket and pulled out the brooch and handed it to the young man.

He sat directly across from her on another chair. Pulled out his jewelers loop and began to examine the brooch. The brooch was shaped like an upside down sea shell, had gold around the edges, with a strip of gold going up through the center, which also went through the center of a crown, at the bottom, also in gold, there was a very elaborate bow. Inlaid behind the gold crown and underneath the strip of gold going up the center and between the gold on the outside edges, was a brilliant red center, almost leaf like. He examined it carefully, turned it over to look on the back side. Back there was an inscription, it was almost too to small to read with his jewelers loop, but he could just barely make it out. Unfortunately it was in another language. He called his manager over to take a look. His manager came over, looking down his nose at the older lady. Then he looked down at the brooch. He began to breath short rapid breaths. Looked it over, then flipped it over to look on the back side, almost as if he knew what to expect. Once he saw what he was looking for, He quickly motioned to the expert. By now the manager was literally sweeting. He wiped his brow as the expert came over. Before the expert even sat down, his countenance changed, as did his breathing. After examining the brooch, he too turned it over to look at the back side. After reading the inscription, he looked at the older lady and said; “Ma’am, where did you get this brooch?”

“I inherited it from a relative who had passed away.”

“Was your relative from the United States?”

“No, she was visiting the United States from Romania.”

He trembled as he looked it over again. The young man who had graciously helped her from the start then asked. What does the inscription on the back say?

The jeweler then read it aloud in ?English; “To my beloved, Queen Marie, thank you for faithfully standing by me through the Great War.

King Ferdinand”

It turns out that Queen Marie was the Queen of Romania through World War 1. Her husband, King Ferdinand was a weak willed man unsure of what to do and how to lead. She took the lead for him, while he was the spokesman, any close to the throne knew who was really in charge. In 1919, after the end of World War 1, before they headed to the Paris Peace Conference, King Ferdinand gave her the brooch, created by C. Faberge, to wear for formal occasions.

It’s value, somewhere between $750,000 and $850,000 depending on who you ask.

It turns out this poor destitute woman, had great wealth at her disposal for many decades. When examined through the lens of the jewelers loop, the brooches real value became known.

I mentioned earlier that the times I struggle with my worship of God are the times I choose to look at Him through the wrong lens. The lens of circumstances, the lens of troubles, of trials, of hardships.

Can I be honest with you for a moment? If you have put your faith and trust in the Lord, and still have times where you struggle with worship, I believe that you are just like the woman with the brooch in the story. You have at your disposal great wealth with which to worship God, but if you look through the wrong lens, that wealth is hidden in the back of a sock drawer.

You see, the lens we choose to view things through makes a significant difference in how we see things. Let’s look at a different type of lens now.

Show slide of the Hubble Telescope

Can anyone tell me about this lens? This is the Hubble Telescope, it was launched into orbit in 1990 and remains in operation. It has been sending us images of space ever since. Since launching the Hubble Telescope, Nasa has launched at least 4 other orbiting telescopes. Other nations have done the same thing and scientists have been sharing and combining their images ever since. By putting their images together, in much the same way we may put a puzzle together, they have made some significant discoveries as to the size and magnitude of the universe.

I’d like to give you a little demonstration this morning to illustrate a very small part of what they have discovered. Right from the top, I want to let you know I stole this from Francis Chan. He used this in 2003.

Scientist have determined that the Milky Way galaxy is shaped something like this. (Hold up pancake with a golf ball in the center)

Just for fun, let’s say that you have a good buddy that lives on the other side of the galaxy. So you live here point to somewhere on the outer edge and he lives over here. It’s been a while since the two of you have seen each other so you decide to jump in your rocket ship and go for a visit. You’re in luck, you happen to own the most advanced rocket ship ever made and it travels at the speed of light. (186,000 miles per second). Traveling at the speed of light, you know-186,000 miles per second, barring any mechanical problems, you will see your good friend face to face in only 100,000 years. That’s how big our galaxy is, and guess what, we aren’t the only galaxy. When Francis Chan did this illustration in 2003, scientists estimated there were about 300,000 other galaxy’s. You know what their estimate is now? They now estimate there may be more than 2 trillion other galaxies. Yet we read in Isaiah 40:12 Next Slide

Isaiah 40:12

Isaiah 40:12 ESV

12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance?

When we read He “marked off the heavens with a span” that is Scriptures was of saying God can hold all of the universe, all 2 trillions galaxies between the tip of His thumb and the tip of His pinky. Are you beginning to grasp how big our God is? Next Slide

In Psalm 147:4 we read:

Psalm 147:4

Psalm 147:4 ESV

4 He determines the number of the stars; he gives to all of them their names.

Did you pick that up? Not only does He know the exact # of stars, He has also given each star a name! There are somewhere between 100-400 billion stars in the Milky Way Galaxy alone, and we are one of 2 trillion galaxy’s, and he has numbered and named each and every star. A Proper Perceptive of God Cultivates a Proper Awe of God

The Bible also says in Luke 12:6-7

Luke 12:6-7

Luke 12:6–7 ESV

6 Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. 7 Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.

So the God of the universe, the God Who holds the entire Universe between the tip of His thumb and the tip of His pinky, places our value higher than all of the rest of creation.

I mentioned earlier that A Proper Perceptive of God Cultivates a Proper Awe of God.

So far this morning I have been trying to help all of us develop a proper perspective of God, but you know, we aren’t the only ones in history who have struggled with this.

Turn with me in your Bibles to Isaiah chapter 6

Isaiah 6-Page 726 in the Pew Bibles

Isaiah 6:1-8

As you’re turning, let me set the stage for you a little. This chapter historically takes place to usher in Isaiah as God’s chosen prophet. At this time Judah had become a very powerful nation as it had been led by King Uzziah all of Isaiah’s life. Isaiah had grown to love King Uzziah greatly, as he was a good and Godly King. Not only had he grown to love the King, he had also grown to depend on him and his strong leadership, and now Uzziah was dead.

So now the Godly King was dead and Isaiah began to worry. What would the future hold, for him and the nation of Judah. He knew enough of the history of the nation to know that the nation took on the faith, or lack there-of of whoever was king.

God’s plan for Isaiah as the prophet was significant, but he had to move Isaiah from his dependence upon the Godly King, to the God of the King.

As best as we can tell, shortly after the death of King Uzziah, Isaiah made his way to the temple in Jerusalem. It was there that the encounter in Isaiah 6 takes place.

I want you to picture what is taking place here. Isaiah is devastated at the death of the King. He can’t imagine Judah in the hands of anyone else and is worried about the future.

I get the impression that God has a very clear message here for Isaiah, a message that will last him for the rest of his life. The message is this, stop placing your trust on the King, a king who is finite in every way, and start placing it in Me!

Let’s look at the passage together.

Read Isaiah 6:1-8 from your Bible

I believe that what is at play here is that God wants Isaiah to have A Proper Perceptive of God because He knows that in order for Isaiah to be the great prophet he will become, Isaiah needed to Cultivates a Proper Awe of God.

By the way, did you notice what took place when Isaiah was in the presence of the Holiness of God in verse 5? He was made keenly aware of his own sin. We discussed this last Sunday when we noted that In authentic worship, there is always a sense of conviction.

This brings us to the last point we will look at this morning.

Next Slide

A Proper Awe of God Cultivates a Proper Perspective of Life’s Problems.

Our tendency is to be overwhelmed by life’s problems. By our trials, by our troubles, by losses in life, death in life, joblessness, tests, pain.....you can surely add to this list.

Can I tell you something I am learning. The more I grow in my devotion to the Spiritual Discipline of Worship,

the more I develop a Proper Perspective of God

which in turn Cultivates a Proper Awe of God, and as this takes place, the less I seem to struggle with Life’s Problems.

What I am discovering more and more each day is that:

Having a high view of God, is the solution to the vast majority of life’s problems.

So my challenge to you this morning, is to devote yourself to the Spiritual Discipline of Worship, not just through singing, and not just in church settings, but in every area of life, and watch and see if the troubles you face in life don’t seem to lessen in their significance as you have as proper Awe of God.