Authentic Worship

Introduction

JUNIOR CHURCH DISMISSED

It’s been an amazing week as I’ve been able to start the planning process for our next year of ministry here in Bristol. I’m looking forward to all the things God is going to do in and through Liberty Baptist in the years to come.

This morning I’m excited about bringing this message to you and pray that it will have an impact on not only your understanding of worship but the way in which you worship.

When we think of the word worship we may think of a number of different things. Some may think of monks in a monestary worshipping by performing silent duties for their deity. Others may think of meditation or self realization.

Still others will think of an emotional experience caused by music that invokes responsive feelings.

But what is authentic worship? How does God define worship? How does He instruct us to offer it to Him?

Psalm 95:1–6 KJV 1900

O come, let us sing unto the Lord: Let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, And make a joyful noise unto him with psalms. For the Lord is a great God, And a great King above all gods. In his hand are the deep places of the earth: The strength of the hills is his also. The sea is his, and he made it: And his hands formed the dry land. O come, let us worship and bow down: Let us kneel before the Lord our maker.

You see, authentic worship is an act performed from a heart that has reverence for the Lord.

The word worship comes from the words “worth” and “ship” meaning worship is the way we ascribe worth toward another.

Worship literally means “to prostrate oneself in homage, to do reverence to, to adore.”

You see, we worship what we believe is worthy. The Wise men in did this by delivering gifts to Christ.

Worship is an attitude of our heart that is expressed in actions.

Worshipping God is so much more than singing songs to and about Him on Sunday mornings. It is about recognizing who He is and with a desire to express our feelings of adoration to Him we show it in a practical way.

People worship many things and have been for a long time.

Golden Calve’s, false God’s, rock stars, sports athletes, and superheroes have all been lavished with worship.

During the upcoming holiday season bookstores report that the most frequently types of books purchased are cook books and diet books.

One to tell you how to prepare the food and the other to tell you not to eat any of it.

Unfortunately, we approach worship in the same way. Double minded.

Our hearts are made for worship, so they worship something. but our hearts are desperately wicked and who can know it. So we instinctively misdirect our worship.

The Bible teaches us that God is the only one worth of worship and adoration.

Revelation 4:11 KJV 1900

Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.

Authentic worship comes from heart that has been transformed by the gospel and finds an outlet in actions to express love for Jesus Christ.

Follow along as I read

1 Peter 2:1–5 KJV 1900

Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious. To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.

PRAY

The text this morning spells out specifics regarding how we should express our worship.

Notice first with me the people of worship.

I. The people of worship

Without an understanding of the gospel and faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior our worship is directed at the wrong entities. However as Christians we can know and rejoice in the privilege to worship Jesus Christ.

Peter gives two titles to believers that point out the importance of our worship being directed to Jesus.

A. The Lively Stones

Our Savior is descirbed as the chief cornerstone in . Being called a lively stone or a living stone helps further our understanding that we make up the spiritual house of the church.

1 Corinthians 6:19 KJV 1900

What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

The Spirit of God no longer resides in the temple in the holy of holies, He is no longer confined to a building, to a methodology, or a specific area. He lives in us after salvation.

We are connected to our chief cornerstone through salvation and to one another as the church.

As the Spiritual building we are the pillar and ground of the truth. Responsible to lift the truth high for all to see.

Peter also describes us as believer priests.

B. The Believer Priests

Lively stones and an holy priesthood. We have Jesus as our high priest tempted as we are but without sin. We are believer priests, having direct access to the Father to offer spiritual sacrifices and worship.

What does all of this mean for us in regard to worship though?

Based upon this passage and the understanding we now have, we can see that the church is a living organism made up of lively stones connected to Christ. As we gather together as believer priests, we all offer the sacrifice of worship.

It’s those that are new to the faith or have a misunderstanding of Christianity that identify worship as what happens on the platform on Sunday mornings. In reality, all of us are to be people of worship.

It’s no just the platform presence that is involved in worship, it is to be every member of the church, all of us, who are a part of the spiritual house, who worships the Lord.

As Christians that are meant to worship the Lord we have to understand the priority of Worship.

II. The Priority of Worship

Turn in your Bibles over to the reference there, .

This passage is about Jesus’ encounter with the woman at the well. It’s through their conversation we see Jesus give two priorities that must be in place if authentic worship is to be offered.

To give you some background to what’s happening in this passage let me give you the context of the conversation. It’s Midday and Jesus has arrived at a well weary from His travels and thirsty.

It’s at the well he meets a woman. We commonly refer to her as the woman at the well.

This well is located in Palestine and because of the heat there most woman did not collect water at mid day. Her presence at this time of day indicates she was an outcast.

Jesus who is known to have compassion on all people asked her for a drink. She expresses her shock that Jesus would ask her for water. Jesus is a Jew and she was a Samaritan. These two people groups did not get along.

Nonetheless, Jesus goes on to tell her that if she knew who He was, she would be asking Him for living water.

Then in the following minutes of conversation Jesus presents truth to her. She realized He knew her personal life- she had been married five time and was now living with a man who was not her husband- she said “Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.”

This sparked the conversation about priorities in worship.

John 4:20–24 KJV 1900

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. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

After this conversation the woman had put her faith in Christ and went to tell others about Him.

Go back with me though to verse 24 where Jesus said “God is a spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.

These are the two priorities for authentic worship

A. Worship in the Spirit

Our Spirit is the par of us that has the ability to have fellowship with God. It’s the part that’s brought to life through salvation. When we are worshipping God in the spirit, we are worshipping God with our Spirit which the Holy Spirit has enabled.

John 3:6–7 KJV 1900

That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.

It’s when we are saved and trust Jesus as our savior that the Holy Spirit of God takes up residence in our hearts.

2 Corinthians 1:21–22 KJV 1900

Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.

It’s the Holy Spirit of God that stirs in our hearts the very desire to worship God in truth.

B. Worship in the truth

Worshipping in truth means accepting truth. When jesus and the woman at the well were talking, she tried to divert the conversation to a place of worship and talking about a location.

People will still do this today. If you speak to them about Christ they say “Well, I go to Saint Mark’s” or “I’m a Lutheran.” But authentic worship is not about a place, it is about a person - Jesus.

His statement about salvation being of the Jews, He was referring to himself as the messiah and Lord. Anyone who teaches something different or that there are mutliple ways to Heaven is not teaching biblical truth.

Authentic worship centers around this truth. Jesus is the Christ, the son of the Living God.

Sure a group can have a “worship service” where they sing, give light incnense, or teach. But if they are lifting up Jesus in Turth, they cannot have biblical worship.

We said earlier some might say that worship is an emotional experience based upon the music and singing of a sunday morning time together.

But worship is not about a feeling. It’s about Jesus- The Truth. True, Spirit filled worship will include emotion but emotion is not the center - Jesus is the center. The emotion is simple a heart-level response to the truth.

When Jesus spoke with the woman at the well He didn’t budge from the truth. He didn’t say “You know, you worship at Mount Gerizim, and I worship in Jerusalem. At least we both worship somewhere. As long as you worship, that’s the most important thing. Sorry I bothered you.” No, he firmly and lovingly told her she must believe the truth.

One Pastor said “it is better to be divided by truth than to be united in error. It is better to stand alone with truth than to be wrong with a multitude. it is better to ultimately succeed with truth than to temporarily succeed with a lie.”

The tendency in our society today is to compromise on the truth so we do not appear harsh or judgmental. But when we know the teuth and we try to make people feel comfortable, we are wrong. It’s an unkind practice and also an ungodly one.

The truht about Christ and salvation through Him alone is a truth that must be told in it’s entirety for in this truth rests the salvation of people’s souls. If we will compromise on any part of the gospel we are ceasing to be an authentic church and authentic worshippers of Christ.

We are not bestowing worth to Him and his truth, we are giving more worth to our image in the eyes of men.

To simple worship is not enough. We must worship in Spirit and in truth.

John 6:63 KJV 1900

It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

In we saw God’s plan for the entire church to worship Him- that it’s a personal hear-response to Him, not just a platform event. And we have seen in that authentic worship only takes palce when it is performed in spirit and in truth.

Now please turn back over to to learn specifically how we are to worship Christ.

III. The Practice of Worship

How does God instruct us to ascribe worth to Him?

A. Hold up the truth

We are lively stones who are built up a spiritual house. The church of the living God the pillar and ground of the truth.

John MacAruther said “Listen, the only time the church has made any spiritual impact on the world is when the church has stood firm, uncompromising, unwavering, and BOLDLY proclaimed the truth into the face of the enemy.

Think about it ladies and gentlemen, if the church doesn’t uphold Jesus and proclaim His truth…who will? Public schools? The White House? Corporate America? NO! It must be the church.

The central part of worship is the truth of Jesus Christ. And the truth of Jesus Christ is found in the Word of God.

One author said it this way

Word and worship belong indissolubly to each other. All worship is an intelligent and loving response to the revelation of God, because it is the adoration of His name. Therefore, acceptable worship is impossible without preaching. For preaching is making known the name of the Lord, and worship is praising the name of the Lord.

Authentic Worship proclaims truth to those who have trusted in Jesus as their savior and those who have not.

Of course, when this truth is being lifted up, we have an obligation to obey it.

I once read about two men that were talking, and the one said “I’m getting really concerned for my wife. I’ve noticed she talks to herself alot lately.” The other man said “Really? My wife does too, only she doesn’t know it - she thinks I’m listening.”

We should ask ourselves “Is our worship primarily about God listening to us? or us listening to God?” If it’s about us listening to God (and it is), we should be quick to hear and eager to obey.

It’s easy for us to see how worship holds up the truth to the saved through preaching adn teaching, but how does your worship hold up outside these walls?

1 Corinthians 14:24–25 KJV 1900

But if all prophesy, and there come in one that believeth not, or one unlearned, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all: And thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest; and so falling down on his face he will worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth.

Paul is telling the church at Corinth that their worship should be so clearly lifting up Christ that someone who doesn’t know Jesus would come under conviction of the truth and would worship the same God.

Adam Clarke said

If an unbeliever or one who knows nothing of the sacred language, comes in and hears things just suited to his own state, he is convicted by all, and he is judged by all

If there is no biblical preaching in our worship and it is only filled with emotional ecstasy pumped by music or a charismatic personality, would anyones live be affected by the gospel?

Probably not. It’s why I’ve told our worship team that the most important things that happens on Sunday mornings is not the song service. It is the preaching. It’s through preaching we are explained the truths of scripture and change our lives based upon what God has said.

When we hold up the truth and obey the truth we can then Honor Christ with Sacrifice.

B. Honor Christ with Sacrifice

As Believer Priests we offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.

Hebrews 9:14 KJV 1900

How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

Since Jesus shed His blood for us, shouldn’t we willingly serve Him?

The Greek word for serve in this verse means “to render religious service or homage, to worship, to perform sacred services, to offer gifts.”

Worship involves a heart attitude and an outward expression.

There are four types of sacrifices that we can bring to God- Four ways we can express worship to Him.

1. The sacrifice of our person

Romans 12:1 KJV 1900

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

The most reasonable sacrifice we can make and offer to the Lord is that of our own lives. Not in the sense of martyrdom or Jihad. Christ dies for us so that we could live for Him. Not so that we should die for him. Although that may happen, it’s still in living for Him if we are being obedient to the Word of God.

Oswald Chambers described this sacrifice as

Giving up my right to myself.

It’s abandoning our will for God’s.

That doesn’t just mean in giving up all your posessions and becoming a missioanry or a full time pastor.

It’s in your daily life.

It’s in the decisions you make and the way you respond to life. You give up your will and your desire in your response to the situations that come your way.

Giving up the right to yourself is giving up the right to live your own way. It’s abandoning your will for His.

2. The sacrifice of praise

Hebrews 13:15 KJV 1900

By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.

Thi isn’t one we simple offer on Sundays. It is a sacrifice we offer continualy. Throuhgout each day and week we should praise the Lord for His goodness. We praise Him as we directly give Him thanks. We praise Him as we tell others- saved and unsaved- what he has done in our lives.

3. The sacrifice of prayer

Revelation 5:8 KJV 1900

And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints.

I preached last week about authentic prayer so I won’t spend much time here but see in that verse in revelations where our prayers are like a sweet incense before Him, acknowledging our weakness and calling for His intervention in our lives.

4. The sacrifice of possessions

When Paul wrote to the church at Philippi he thanked them for their support and told them that God saw their gifts as an expression of worship.

Philippians 4:15–19 KJV 1900

Now ye Philippians know also, that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church communicated with me as concerning giving and receiving, but ye only. For even in Thessalonica ye sent once and again unto my necessity. Not because I desire a gift: but I desire fruit that may abound to your account. But I have all, and abound: I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, wellpleasing to God. But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

There is something in people’s hearts that knows giving is part of worship.

How much should we, who know we are worshipping the One Who shed His blood for us willingly give to Him?

Giving of your possessions, of your finances, is not just a program of the church. It is an opportunity to offer a tangible expression of worship. It is a privilege.

When you are giving to God through the local church, specifically this ministry, I want you to know a few things.

First, your giving should not be determined by the percieved needs of the church. Yes, there are needs, and yes having more financial resources would be great, but your motivation for giving should not be a mortgage pay off, a remodelling campaign, or a desire to place a memorial plaque somewhere. Not that any of those are bad by nature.

But if your purpose in giving is to complete those things, you are giving for the wrong reasons.

Our giving should be an act of worship based upon God’s love for us and our love for Him. It should be for the purpose of seeing Jesus glorified and souls saved. Whether there is a mortgage on the property, a remodelling project, or something of that nature going on or not, our giving should not be motivated by those things. It should be for the purposes of seeing God’s work carried out.

Secondly, if we are

Secondly, if you give to this ministry, you are welcome to copies of the financial records of the ministry. You have every right to know how I am deciding to spend the money.

Now don’t walk away from this thinking only about giving. Remember giving is a form of worship and you should be giving as an act of worship but you should also be living a lifestyle that is glorifying to Christ.

I believe the tithe, which means tenth, yes 10% of our increases, should go to the Lord. Not because we are under the law. Because we are NOT under the law.

Why? Because authentic worship isn’t about the songs on Sunday, its about how you live everyday.

It’s because we are saved by grace and through faith that I believe we should use the

Conclusion

How is your lifestyle? How is your prayer life? How is your giving? Are they reflections of your understanding of the gospel? Are they acts of worship to Jesus or things you do because you feel you have to?

Do you know Jesus? Have you ever heard the good news of the gospel?

As we transition into a time of response to the message I’d like to ask you to bow your hands and close your eyes.

There could be someone here today that doesn’t know the love of God, the sacrifice of Jesus, and why we worship Him. You may be here and not know that you can have a personal relationship with Jesus.

Knowing Jesus means knowing you are going to Heaven. It means knowing He is the son of God and died for you.

Is there anyone here today that would confess “I don’t know Jesus. I don’t know if I’m going to heaven?”

KJV 1900For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

​ KJV 1900For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

​ KJV 1900For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

​ KJV 1900For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.

​ KJV 1900That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

If you just trusted Jesus as your savior would you raise your hand and let me rejoice with you?

Christians, is your worship authentic worship like the Bible teaches? Is it centered on Christ and not done out of obligation?

Is there anyone here who could say “I need to work on my worship to Christ? There’s areas of my life that are not glorifying to Him?

Thank you.

PRAY

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