Appropriate Worship
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· 7 viewsOur corporate worship is vital to us being on mission with God
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Introduction
For decades the American church has been in some phase of worship wars.
The intensity of the war comes and goes but at the very least it is always on the back burner.
The questions that are fought over are many.
Should we sing hymns or contemporary? My answer is yes.
Should we use video or not? Yep.
Does the preacher preach too long? Will his sermons get any shorter? My answer is yes and God still does perform miracles. We have to wait and see.
Honestly, we have taken our attitudes about worship as a consumer of a product.
That is unbiblical!
Worship is not about your style or preference. It is not about what makes you feel good.
Worship is not about you being satisfied. It is about you, and us as a church, satisfying God.
We can do worship through the singing of hymns and contemporary praise.
We can do worship through the use of just a piano, or the addition of more instruments, or taking out all the instruments.
We can do worship through a short sermon or a long winded sermon.
We can do worship with the offering at the beginning of the service, in the middle of the service, or at the end of the service.
The important thing is this. Is our worship God honoring and biblically appropriate.
Are we worshipping appropriately?
Today I want us to look at appropriate worship.
19 Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus,
20 by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh,
21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God,
22 let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful;
24 and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds,
25 not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.
1. Our worship is to be focused appropriately.
Notice that the focus of worship in this passage is on Jesus and God.
We must remember that this world centers around God.
God invites us to enjoy His glory.
It is imperative that we, as his redeemed children, cultivate a high view of God.
As we cultivate a high view of God, we humble ourselves before our King, Our Lord, Our Savior.
The writer of Hebrews is driving home the important message that ....
We come together in worship with God the Father and Jesus the Son as our primary focus.
Jesus Himself gives us these words in
8 Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.’ ”
Our worship is not to entertain us.
The primary goal of worship is not to make us feel better about ourselves. It can be a by product.
The goal of worship is to give glory and honor to our Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus.
If our focus in worship is about anything else it is not appropriate.
2. Our worship is to be driven appropriately.
The driving force of our worship is the truth that is found in God’s Word.
It is through the Bible that we understand correctly
Who God is.
Who we are.
How much God loves us.
Our appropriate response to God.
God’s ultimate revelation is found through Jesus Christ and told through the Bible.
Have you noticed a lot of churches have the pulpit in the center of the stage of the church. Do you know why?
It is not because the preacher or music minister is to be the center of attention. It is because the Word of God is to be exalted, taught, and responded to in worship.
True worship is us giving God His due praise, Him speaking to us through His Word and the work of the Holy Spirit, and then us responding appropriately in faith to His Words.
8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I. Send me!”
He speaks through His Word, through the music, through prayers, through circumstances and we respond to Him.
Our Worship is driven by God’s Word to us.
Worship is thus a dialogue of God speaking and us responding.
3. Our worship is to be saturated appropriately.
3. Our worship is to be saturated appropriately.
This year we are kinda understanding the word saturated. Many years we can say that is a foreign concept.
If something is saturated it is full. It is full so much that it drips, or oozes out.
Our worship should be so full of the Gospel that when we are exposed to it, we can’t keep it in.
What is the Gospel?
It is the story of God loving us even when we don’t deserve it. His love is demonstrated in the person and ministry of Jesus. The Gospel call is for us to repent of sin and put our full faith and trust in Jesus as Savior and Lord.
As we saturate our worship with the Gospel, it thus should freely come out of us into the world in which we live.
Our worship should help us to recall where we were, what has been done for us, where we are today, what we should be doing today, and where we are going.
4. Our worship is to be connected appropriately.
In verse 22 the Hebrew writer calls us to draw near with a “sincere heart” with “hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscious and our bodies washed with pure water.”
When we connect with a holy God we should not be the same.
A lot of times we can come in here and we become actors; we aren’t sincere or real.
We aren’t sincere, because we know if we get real, we have to deal with stuff we don’t want to deal with.
We do not want to be honest with ourselves.
Our worship calls us to be sincere with ourselves and with God.
5 Then I said, “It’s all over! I am doomed, for I am a sinful man. I have filthy lips, and I live among a people with filthy lips. Yet I have seen the King, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.”
If we don’t first realize where we are, God cannot do anything with us.
His desire is to do something in You. His desire is to do something here at this church. But it requires us to be honest with ourselves.
Honest with our sufferings.
Honest with our sin.
Honest with our salvation.
5. Our worship is to be relationally appropriate.
We must understand that this is our time as Calvary Baptist to come
together to worship our God.
Notice again verse 25
25 not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.
Worship is not just an individual experience.
It is not just an individual experience; it is a family of faith experience.
Worship is a family of faith, a church, experience.
We are called to worship together.
We are warned not to forsake this time together.
We can’t build each other up unless we are together.
Our faith is not only shown by our actions outside these church walls, but also us coming together as a church family.
6. Our worship is to be energized appropriately.
As we worship or Lord and Savior, know that He gives back a double portion to us if we worship appropriately.
Our worship should energize us to live the life that God has set before us a congregation and as an individual.
Our worship is a time of instruction.
Our worship is a time of practicing obedience.
Our worship is a time of receiving encouragement to continue on in our journey of faith.
Our worship is a time of bandaging up the wounds that this world gives us.
Our worship is a time of dusting ourselves off and then getting back into the battle.
That is why our coming together in worship is so important for us.
Remember this from
26 Well, my brothers and sisters, let’s summarize. When you meet together, one will sing, another will teach, another will tell some special revelation God has given, one will speak in tongues, and another will interpret what is said. But everything that is done must strengthen all of you.
1
As we worship appropriately, God will strengthen us to continue to be the witnesses that we are called to be.
I believe that we also need to keep in mind
8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
Isn’t it encouraging to know that God is near us especially when we come together in worship?
8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
Isn’t it encouraging to know that God is near us.
That no matter what battle we go into we have the Almighty King of King and Lord or Lords not just standing behind us.
No, our King and our Lord is just not standing beside us.
No our King and our Lord is standing before us as our shield.
He is holding us up as our Rock.
He sustains us as our Strength.
He is our ever present help in times of trouble.
That is our King. That is our God! That is our Lord! That is our Daddy!
Does He not deserve our worship for who He is?
Does He not deserve our worship for what He has done?
Does He not deserve our lives of worship for what He is going to do and where He is going to lead us?
I confidently say, “Yes! He does!”
Conclusion
As our last act of worship this morning will you rise and sing this song of invitation.
Do you need to go another step in your worship this morning and respond in faith to Him as His Spirit knocks on your heart?
Let’s stand and let’s worship our King!
For those that God is calling out, let us respond to our King!
Then as we conclude, let us go out into this world and be our King’s ambassador!