Worship is a Direction...
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Introduction:
Introduction:
Adapted from a message preached by Pastor Jack Lezza II of Independent Baptist Church in Bolingbrook, IL.
What is worship?
Going to church
Singing songs
Praying
Reading the Bible
In the Hebrew & Greek, the word means to bow down, to do reverence
Our English Word is a combining of the word worth and the word ship. In other words, worship, in its simplest sense, to ascribe worth to someone or something.
What is it that you deme “worthy” of your time, of your attention, of your energies, of your finances? What has “worth” in your life?
In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said,
Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts:
The whole earth is full of his glory.
And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged. Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me. And he said, Go, and tell this people,
Hear ye indeed, but understand not;
And see ye indeed, but perceive not.
Make the heart of this people fat,
And make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes;
Lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears,
And understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.
Isaiah 6:1-10
Going to church
Singing songs
Praying
Reading the Bible
In the Hebrew & Greek, the word means to bow down, to do reverence
Our English Word is a combining of the word worth and the word ship. In other words, worship, in its simplest sense, to ascribe worth to someone or something.
What is it that you deme “worthy” of your time, of your attention, of your energies, of your finances? What has “worth” in your life?
Becoming What You Worship
Becoming What You Worship
#1 — People are shaped by what they value
Wherefore should the heathen say,
Where is now their God?
But our God is in the heavens:
He hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.
Their idols are silver and gold,
The work of men’s hands.
They have mouths, but they speak not:
Eyes have they, but they see not:
They have ears, but they hear not:
Noses have they, but they smell not:
They have hands, but they handle not:
Feet have they, but they walk not:
Neither speak they through their throat.
They that make them are like unto them;
So is every one that trusteth in them.
“They that make them are like unto them”
Statement — This reminds us of the condemnation in , Israel was becoming what they worshipped
And he said, Go, and tell this people,
Hear ye indeed, but understand not;
And see ye indeed, but perceive not.
Make the heart of this people fat,
And make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes;
Lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears,
And understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.
Isaiah 6
(People are shaped by what they value)
#2 — You become what you worship
For the Lord will judge his people,
And he will repent himself concerning his servants.
The idols of the heathen are silver and gold,
The work of men’s hands.
They have mouths, but they speak not;
Eyes have they, but they see not;
They have ears, but they hear not;
Neither is there any breath in their mouths.
They that make them are like unto them:
So is every one that trusteth in them.
For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty,
And upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low:
#3 — Isaiah becomes the visible representative of the invisible God, whom he worshipped
In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said,
Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts:
The whole earth is full of his glory.
And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged. Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.
Statement — God sanctified Isaiah’s mouth, to be God’s messenger.
How worshipping God affected Isaiah:
How worshipping God affected Isaiah:
He had a view of the Sovereign
He recognized God’s majesty (high)
He recognized God’s might (lifted up)
He recognized holiness (holy, holy, holy)
He recognized God’s glory (earth is full of his glory)
He witnessed God’s presence (smoke)
Isaiah sees God’s throne and comes to the realization that there is nothing else worth worshipping!
He had a view of self
He despaired (woe is me)
His ego was destroyed (undone)
He realized his sin (unclean lips)
He recognized his place (here am I)
You will desire to spend time in that which you worship. You will be present with what you worship. What do you ascribe worth to with your time and your presence?
He had a vision of the sentence
And he said, Go, and tell this people,
Hear ye indeed, but understand not;
And see ye indeed, but perceive not.
Make the heart of this people fat,
And make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes;
Lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears,
And understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.
Statement — This judgment is simply God giving the people over to what they worshipped. Their idols were deaf, blind, and impotent. Now, Israel would be spiritually deaf, blind, and impotent.
Statement — This is a universal principle, that God delivers people over to what they worship.
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:
For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:
And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
In Greek, “gave them up” means to hand over, to give up, and in this verse, to abandon them to impurity.
Statement — the moment God gives you up, sin takes over.
OBJECT LESSON — Gravity
Statement — What are you worshipping? What if God abandoned you to that which you worship? What would you become?
Blessings for True Worshippers
Blessings for True Worshippers
#1 — God is seeking true worshippers
The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
The location is not the issue
True worship is done in spirit and in truth
#2 — The process and product of worship
But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
Statement — Do you approach your time in God’s word with the prayerful attitude of “God, I need to see you today?”
Seeing God changed Isaiah
Seeing God changed Moses
Are you changed day to day by being in God’s presence?
Seeing Christ
14x the psalmist asks God to “teach him”
HE.
Teach me, O Lord, the way of thy statutes;
And I shall keep it unto the end.
King James Version Psalm 119
Teach me, O LORD, the way of thy statutes;
And I shall keep it unto the end.
Teach me, O Lord, the way of thy statutes;
Statement — When you focus your worship on the Lord, it directs you to become like Him.
Statement — We always move in the direction of our focus
ILLUSTRATION — mowing straight rows
Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.
Statement — Worship is a direction with a destiny — we will be like Him one day
Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.
Do you show the spiritual vital signs of becoming like your Saviour?
Moses:
And Moses returned unto the Lord, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin—; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written.
Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin—; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written. And the Lord said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book.
King James Version Chapter 32
And Moses returned unto the LORD, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. 32 Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin—; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written.
Statement — Moses had spent so much time with God, that he was beginning to foster the ideas of God
And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;
Abraham is a story of a man who became a man of faith by worshipping God. He did not start out that way
Statement — We should be showing the signs of becoming like the One True God we worship.
Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Statement — Are you becoming like Christ? Or are you being pulled away toward something else?
STATEMENT — Worship is a direction, which direction are you heading in?
And I shall keep it unto the end.
The Holy Bible: King James Version. (2009). (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., Ps 119:33). Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.