Sermon Tone Analysis

As we have looked at the reasons for why we are here on earth, we have seen very clearly that we are here to give a full testimony to the power and grace of God.

We have seen that we are here to be stewards of Gods gifts for the purpose of making the Kingdom of God known.

And as Jason Shared last week – we are here to be Disciples and disciple makers of the Lord Jesus.

So, as we continue today in this series asking the question “What on Earth Are we Here for?” – we are going to see that we are here to worship.

Worship.

That is what we are here for.

So let me ask you a question – what if our ideas, or our beliefs about what true biblical worship is; is only partly correct?

We need to get this:

You and I have a Father in heaven who has done all that was ever needed to not only stand before us face to face, but to do so much more and to penetrate our very hearts so that He and He alone could be our King, our Lord, and our Savior.

And because He has done these things, He demands our worship to build the relationship with Him.

Hear what Paul told the church in Corinth, and at Pleasant Hill, about true worship when he said

“For Christs love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.

And He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for Him who died for them and was raised again.”

().

So, I ask again - what if our understanding of worship – is not what the Bible teaches us about worship?

(PAUSE)

Let me share a few events with you from my personal past so that you can see my concern about our understanding of what True Biblical Worship is.

*I once was invited to be the guest speaker at a church service – and a man who has pastored for 30 years, a man I respect, stood before the congregation and said to them “leave all your worries and all your troubles “out there” (pointing outside) and come in, and worship.

*And time and again I have heard pastors and church leaders speak of the time of singing as the “time of worship” but never hear of worship spoken about any other time.

*I once taught Bible classes at the local Christian school, and I asked the 9th thru 12th grades – how many of you when you go to church on Sunday feel like you have messed up to many times to be able to worship?

Almost every hand went up.

(is that not guilt and condemnation that prevents true worship?).

*And the most troubling, and most common, of all my personal experiences is the many times that I have had discussions with people who haven’t been to a Sunday service for a period of time, and when I ask them if there is a particular reason for their absence, they something that goes kinda like this:

“Pastor, I can’t go to church right now because I have some things going on.

I have some issues in my life that I need to work out, and some problems that I need to attend to.

And after that – when things are better – I will try and make it to church then. . .

“ In other words – my life is to messy to be in worship right now.

(PAUSE)

So to address the real purpose or the real meaning of what Biblical worship is, I am going to use several passages of Scripture and we will not have time to turn to all of them – so I ask you to take the handout today, and use it in your study time this week and see that Biblical worship is much more than what many of us believe it to be.

Because our worship, or our lack of worship, tells us and the world, what it is that we really think about God.

Open your Bibles if you will to Genesis chapter 22.

As you turn there, I want to share with you the definition of worship.

Merriam Webster defines worship as:

“An act of paying reverence or honor to a Divine being or supernatural power.”

“To Idolize.”

“To express reverence, or admiration, or devotion to.”

In other words, worship is the act of coming before an authority or higher power and acknowledging who, or what they are, by presenting your stuff or yourself before them.

And in the Christian faith, that One Higher power is God.

Yahweh.

Jesus Christ, God in the flesh who paid the penalty for our sins and now reigns at the right hand of the Father in heaven, and in our hearts by way of the Holy Spirit.

Would you agree with that?

Good.

Listen carefully and hear and see what I did not hear for the first 42 years of my life, with 10 of them as a student of God’s Word.

(READ )

You know the event.

Abraham is an old man.

He has his son Isaac and he is on his way to sacrifice him as a burnt offering to the Lord.

For 3 days and 40 miles Abraham has played it over and over in his mind that his son, the one he loves, is getting ever closer to being killed, dissected, arranged on the altar, and sacrificed!

And in v 5 Abraham tells his servant “Stay here with the donkey; because me and the boy are going over there, in those mountains, and we are going to wordship God!

I remember the day I was in my office and those words hit me in my heart.

And I remember that as I began to cry, sitting at my desk, asking the Lord to help me understand what I had just read, and I heard the Lord speak to me and take me to Job chapter 1.

Turn in your Bibles to Job Chapter 1 with me.

You know the event.

The devil has been wandering around the earth and he tells God “You know Your servant Job is only faithful because You gave him all his stuff.”

So, God tells the devil, “You can do anything you want to all that Job has” and we learn in the following versus that a servant comes and tells Job “All of your oxen and all of your donkeys were taken by the Sabeans and all your servants were killed.”

While Job is listening to this man another walks in and says, “The fire of God has fallen from the sky and all of your sheep and all of your servants were burned up.”

And while he is still speaking, another comes in and tells Job that “The Chaldeans have come and stolen all of your camels and killed your servants.

And still another walks in and says to Job, “Job, a great wind has blown down your oldest sons house and every one of your 10 children are dead!”

Job has lost 10 kids – 7000 sheep – 3000 camels – 1000 ox – 500 donkeys – and many, many, servants.

And vs 20 tells us - Job fell to the ground in Worship.

Let that sink in for a moment.

Do you hear what has taken place in the life of Abraham and Job?

And do you see where we find them?

Now, I believe that there are people who will hear this message and they will console themselves and remain in their excuses of being separated from worship, or avoiding worshipping the Lord, because they look at the life of Job, or the life of Abraham, and they say “Preacher, you don’t understand.

Job didn’t do anything wrong!

Abraham didn’t fail like I have failed!

And so, I have to get myself and my act together before I can come to worship or be in worship.

(Pause)

Well, let’s look at David’s life in 2 Samuel chapter 12.

You know the event – David has slept with Bathsheba and murdered her husband to protect himself when she became pregnant.

And in vs 14 we read where the prophet Nathan delivers God’s judgement

READ

14Nevertheless, because by this deed you have treated the LORD with utter contempt,b the son born to you will surely die.”

The child soon dies – because of David’s ill doings – but look at what happens in vs 20

READ

“Then David got up from the ground.

After he had washed, put on lotions and changed his clothes, he went into the house of the LORD and worshiped.”

Let me ask with great concern - how do we who remove ourselves from worship, because of our failures, justify ourselves now?

PAUSE

Now as I pondered these things I got to thinking about the people of the New Testament; Because I want to justify my feelings for keeping from worship when I fail.

And I tell myself that the Old Testament men don’t matter – not because I believe that – but because I find that I need for my excuses / my feelings to be valid.

And since you and I are an awful lot alike – I wondered what did the people did that met Jesus face to face?

How did they approach Him, and under what circumstances?

Let me tell you about the Greek word Proskuneo.

The word Pros means to “move towards” or to “interface with”; the literal meaning is “to move towards a goal or destination.”

The word Kon-eh means to “fall to the ground prostate, to kiss the ground before a superior in worship.”

So this word means to worship or to revere, or to pay homage to a greater authority by bowing down prostate.

And this is what it looks like:

(Get down on knees, put forehead on ground reaching outward)

In the King James the word Proskuneo is translated “worshipped.”

In the NIV the word is translated “Knelt”.

So knowing what we know - I want you to see what True Biblical worship looks like by seeing how those in Scripture come to Jesus.

Turn with me to Matthew Chapter 9.

In v 18 we learn of a ruler; a man of high position and stature in his community.

In other words, he is a somebody and his reputation is on the line - and look at what he does.

Look at where we find him when his life gets hard.

He kneels down, he worships, Jesus and he pleads with Jesus.

“My daughter is dying.

She is dead.

Come and touch her because I know you will give her life!

This man of position pleads with all his heart – my child, the one I love, is lost in darkness – she has no life – please come and touch her!