Sermon Tone Analysis

I) INTRODUCTION

There is no where in all the Bible where worship is actually defined.

Like faith which is defined for us in

there is no where in the Bible we are told Worship is

there is no where in the Bible we are told Worship is

yet worship is the key concept in all the bible

yet worship is the key concept in all the bible….some

form of worship is found in almost every page of the bible.

Worship is seen as people sang to God, raised their hands, fell prostrate on the ground…..raised their children, read the scriptures, served others in whatever capacity they were in, gave money to the poor, fellowshipped together….that is worship in all its different varieties…..but nowhere is worship actually defined…..but as we collect all the data of the Bible we come to an understanding of what worship is…..it is the reverential response to the all encompassing magnificence of God…..worship is both an attitude and an act…..True worship, in other words, is defined by the priority we place on who God is in our lives and where God is on our list of priorities.

True worship is a matter of the heart expressed through a lifestyle of holiness.

now because of the time that I have let me jump here real quick….people

approach worship from different angles…..from different attitudes and acts…i will mention 3 brief ways people come to God in worship…

some form of worship is found in almost every page of the bible.

Worship is seen as people sang to God,

raised their hands, fell prostrate on the ground…..

raised their children, read the scriptures,

served others in whatever capacity they were in,

gave money to the poor, fellowshipped together

that is worship in all its different varieties

but nowhere is worship actually defined

but as we collect all the data of the Bible we come to an understanding of what worship is

IT IS THE REVERENTIAL RESPONSE TO THE ALL ENCOMPASSING MAGNIFICENCE OF GOD.

WORSHIP IS BOTH AN ATTITUDE AND AN ACT.

IT IS DEFINED BY THE PRIORITY WE PLACE ON WHO GOD IS IN OUR LIVES AND WHERE GOD IS ON OUR LIST OF PRIORITIES.

it is the reverential response to the all encompassing magnificence of God…..worship is both an attitude and an act…..True worship, in other words, is defined by the priority we place on who God is in our lives and where God is on our list of priorities True worship is a matter of the heart expressed through a lifestyle of holiness.

now because of the time that I have let me jump here real quick….people

approach worship from different angles…..from different attitudes and acts…i will mention 3 brief ways people come to God in worship…

True worship is a matter of the heart expressed through a lifestyle of holiness.

True worship is a matter of the heart expressed through a lifestyle of holiness.

II) THE DIFFERENT ANGLES OF WORSHIP

now because of the time that I have let me jump here real quick….

people approach worship from different angles…..

from different attitudes and acts…I will mention 3 brief ways people come to God in worship

A) CONTRACT WORSHIP

There is contract worship: here is where we worship God for what we can get out of God

we in a way tell God….I will sign here to worship you and you sign here that you will do ABC for me

we in a way tell God….I will sign here to worship you and you sign here that you will do ABC for me……Im cool with you GOD as long as at the end of the day you get me to where I want to go….that is contract worship…..worship is a means to an end…my end…!

I’m cool with you GOD as long as at the end of the day you get me to where I want to go….

that is contract worship…..worship is a means to an end…my end…!

ILLUSTRATION

I remember one night in Stockton, Calif, … I was preaching about the coming of Jesus.

As I was in prayer I was conscious of a woman getting up and going out, for in those days the skirts would swish whenever a lady walked.

It seemed to me that this lady must have gone out in a hurry.

When I finished my prayer and went to greet the friends at the door, I found a woman pacing back and forth in the lobby.

The moment I came, she said to me, “How would you dare to pray like that—“Come Lord Jesus?”

I don’t want him to come.

It would break in on all my plans.

How dare you!”

I said, “My dear young woman, Jesus is coming whether you like it or not.”

Oh, if you know Him and love Him, surely your heart says, “Come, Lord Jesus!

Paul Lee Tan, Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations: Signs of the Times (Garland, TX: Bible Communications, Inc., 1996), 1638

B) RITUAL WORSHIP

The second way some people worship God is Ritual worship

Ritual worship is fake it to make it

just going through the motions, going through the formality and form of worship but there is no communion or fellowship with God

there is an act of worship but no attitude of worship.

God in the OT hated that kind of worship

even though he had prescribed the act of worship

bring the calves, burnt offerings, and all that, it was never to be an act alone

it had to have an accompanying lifestyle that recognized the magnificence of God.

; : -

God is saying acts of worship, without a corresponding life that magnifies me are meaningless!!

God is saying acts of worship, without a corresponding life that magnifies me are meaningless!!

No matter how sublime,

No matter how sublime, how cute, how organized that worship maybe

how cute,

how organized that worship maybe

C) RELATIONSHIP WORSHIP

Lastly there is relationship worship- this is the worship the Lord is looking for

a worship that grows out of a right relationship with him—- a relationship that is an ever increasing falling in love with Jesus

ILLUSTRATION

in we know about the samaritan woman that Jesus met and as she talks with him she tries to pull him into a theological debate regarding worship

she asks him our fathers worshipped on this mountain, but you Jews say the place of worship is Jerusalem

to which Jesus replies that the time has come, when the place is not important.

but the worshipper is important….and

God is seeking those who will worship him in spirit and truth

that is those who worship God are in a relationship with him….and for us..that is falling in love with Jesus

Jesus is the centerpiece of everything God is doing…..he is the chief cornerstone…he is the beginning and end of all the plans of God..the mystery revealed of all that that God is doing

He was the beginner of creation he will be the one to end history

and the HOLY SPIRIT loves loves when we worship Jesus….

he actually comes to enhance that worship when we worship Jesus

JESUS is the loveliest, the most beautiful….the

most wonderful..the most glorious

he is the rose of Sharon, the lily of the valley….the

bright and morning star…the king of kings, the rider on the white horse….the

lamb that Was slain before the foundation of the world

JESUS!!

The center of our worship

listen to the psalmist as he says psalms 73:25;

listen to him again in psalms 42:1-2that is relationship worship

the one the father and his son seek and the one the HOLY SPIRIT came to enable us to do

CONCLUSION

There is the story of a pastor who asked someone to read a psalm and immediately a young man stood and quoted the psalm

the Lord is my shepherd I shall not want, he makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside the still waters, he restores my soul.

He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake….after the young man had finished quoting the psalm the church stood up and gave him a standing ovation.

some time later another man stood up and quoted the same psalm …..the Lord is my shepherd…..and he quoted it….yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for you are with me, your rod and your staff they comfort me; you prepare a table before me In the presence of my enemies, you anoint my head with oil my cup overflows, surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

When this elderly man finished, he sat down…..and there was a deafening silence in the church…..the pastor came reverently to the pulpit and said…..the young man knows about the shepherd…this elder here knows the shepherd…that is relationship worship…..