How Will We Worship In Heaven 3-8-2020

HEAVEN - SEEING THE UNSEEN HOW WILL WE WORSHIP IN HEAVEN? Sunday March 8, 2016 Scripture Reference: Revelation 5:6-14 Then I saw a Lamb that looked as if it had been slaughtered, but it was now standing between the throne and the four living beings and among the twenty-four elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which represent the sevenfold Spirit of God that is sent out into every part of the earth. 7 He stepped forward and took the scroll from the right hand of the one sitting on the throne. 8 And when he took the scroll, the four living beings and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp, and they held gold bowls filled with incense, which are the prayers of God's people. 9 And they sang a new song with these words: "You are worthy to take the scroll and break its seals and open it. For you were slaughtered, and your blood has ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. 10 And you have caused them to become a Kingdom of priests for our God. And they will reign on the earth." 11 Then I looked again, and I heard the voices of thousands and millions of angels around the throne and of the living beings and the elders. 12 And they sang in a mighty chorus: "Worthy is the Lamb who was slaughtered- to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing." 13 And then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea. They sang: "Blessing and honor and glory and power belong to the one sitting on the throne and to the Lamb forever and ever." 14 And the four living beings said, "Amen!" And the twenty-four elders fell down and worshiped the Lamb. Revelation 5:6-14 (NLT) Intro. A. Last week we finished talking about the wonderful reality of someday seeing God and what an amazing and exciting thing this that will be. The other day I was at the police department and was speaking with one of the officers that played Santa on the sleigh that they take around the city. He was telling me what a delight it was for him to play that role and to see the reaction on the faces of the children when they saw him. The wonder in their eyes that they were seeing Santa Claus. Then he said, "You know that will probably be how it will be for us when we see God." We will be struck with awe and wonder when we see the face of God. As Job said "I am overwhelmed at the thought." 1. Today I want us to consider what our worship will be like when we get to Heaven. B. Have you ever had one of those times when you experienced the Presence of God is a powerful and unusual way? Some of you probably had that expere4ince when you first accepted Christ into our heart. [] I had one of these experiences when I was in Bible college. (Share the experience.) 1. That was a wonderful encounter and Divine encounter. Sadly though as wonderful as these experiences are they are usually as quickly gone as they came. We all have responsibilities and obligations that we have to tend to that distract us away from these special moments with God. What will it be like though to never have any of these distractions again? What would it be like if we didn't have lesser things like family, jobs, or other tasks to distract us from the Presence of God? 2. Now you might say, "Well I don't see family as a lesser thing." Well I would remind you of something Jesus said, "If you love your father or mother more than you love me, you are not worthy of being mine; or if you love your son or daughter more than me, you are not worthy of being mine. 38 If you refuse to take up your cross and follow me, you are not worthy of being mine. 39 If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for me, you will find it." Matthew 10:37-39 (NLT) I am certainly not telling you to neglect your family, but I do ask you to consider this. If we are supposed to be living now like we were in Heaven can you imagine yourself saying when the opportunity was given to worship God, "Oh I am sorry I can't make the worship service I have some family obligations?" I understand that I might be stepping on some toes right now, but I only ask you to consider this, if you were in Heaven today what would your priorities be? Again we can respond by says, "Well things will be different when we reach Heaven." I might suggest that this is one of the things hurting Christianity today. We seem to be telling God that we are putting off our complete allegiance to Him until we reach Heaven, but I see nowhere in the words of Jesus we just read where he said we could live as we chose now, but in Heaven things will be different. C. Now some have the idea that Heaven will be an endless and perpetual worship service. I don't believe that, but here is what I do believe. If it was would that not be enough for us? 1. Sadly I think there are those that think that endless worship of God would be monotonous and boring after a while. If you think this way can I suggest that you visit our Facebook page a read an article I posted entitled "If Christianity bores you then you haven't met Jesus." If you are not a computer person I have printed copied of this article and put them on the Welcome cart. I want to share with you just a small portion of that article. "A life in Christ brings purpose, restoration, grace and eternal identity. The adventure that awaits a follower of Jesus is one this world simply cannot match, let alone keep anywhere near to. Every day is a new experience, a new facet of God's glory and another opportunity to deepen one's personal relationship with The Creator. There is always room for growth, which means there is always room for adventure. So, if you think Christianity is boring, then you haven't met Jesus." Seeing God is not something that is static, it is something that is dynamic. If this life in Christ now is an adventure, then I think none of us can possibly imagine the adventure that is in store for us when all the roadblocks of sin have been forever removed! I don't think any of has the capacity right now to realize what it will be like to explore the fathomless mysteries of God one we reach Heaven. This is anything but boring. 2. In Heaven we will finally be home with the God we love and the God who loves us. Tell me this, do lovers ever get bored with each other? If they do I would suggest it is only because they stopped being lovers. People who love God will never get bored being in His Presence. **Now let me say this again and I will repeat this several times today. We should be living NOW as if we were in Heaven. Yes I understand that we still have the issues of temptation and sin to deal with. We do have those responsibilities and obligations I spoke of earlier so I know this won't be perfect, but here is the BIG problem I see. What I see happening are Christians who are adjusting the things of God around this life instead of adjusting the things of this life around God. In other words we are trying to make God fit into our lives instead of fitting into His life for us. Now let me just tell you this. God does not adjust well. I am being facetious of course, what I really mean is that God does not adjust to us at all. Trans. Well that was my introduction. Sorry I hate to scare you. Let's talk about what worship will be like in Heaven. I. HEAVENLY WORSHIP. A. Experiencing True Worship. 1. We know we will be worshiping in Heaven, but I think few of us and include myself in this, understand what that worship will be like. Whether we like it or not in this fallen world in which we live we need some help in our worship. We use lighting, video, and other types of technologies to assist us in our worship. These things are part of the results of what I mentioned earlier about all the distractions we have in this life. We are so easily distracted that often times we need help to be drawn into God's Presence. But imagine this; joining countless multitudes from every nation, every tribe, every language in the praise of God. The bible gives us a little hint of what this will be like, let's see. "Then I heard again what sounded like the shout of a vast crowd or the roar of mighty ocean waves or the crash of loud thunder: "Praise the LORD! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns. 7 Let us be glad and rejoice, and let us give honor to him. For the time has come for the wedding feast of the Lamb, and his bride has prepared herself." Revelation 19:6-7 (NLT) 2. Have you ever been to a gathering of believers that numbered in the 1000s? Maybe something like the Harvest crusade or a Billy Graham crusade. If you have then imagine what it would be like if that group was 100 or 1000 fold larger. It might sound like a crashing wave or the crash of thunder. Let's look at Revelation 5:13 again. "And then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea. They sang: "Blessing and honor and glory and power belong to the one sitting on the throne and to the Lamb forever and ever." Revelation 5:13 (NLT) Lets just try for a moment to imagine what it will be like to be overwhelmed in the Presence of our God. I can imagine these same words being uttered from our mouths. 3. In this world people are always looking for a reason to celebrate or have a party. Sadly because of the lack of a good reason many chose a lesser reason. As followers of Christ we have a real reason to celebrate. We have a relationship with God through Jesus and the promise of Heaven. "I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, "Look, God's home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them." Revelation 21:3 (NLT) Do those words excite you? Do they cause you to long for Heaven? If not then I would refer you back to that article I spoke of earlier. Perhaps you only know of Jesus but you to not know Him in the sense of having a personal relationship with him. Trans. Now let's look at this big question. B. Will Heaven Be An Endless Worship Service? 1. Let go back to that discussion I began in my introduction. Here is what I propose is happening when we ask the question "Will Heaven be an endless worship service?" What we are really asking is "Will Heaven be an endless church service?" and I will tell you this, there is a BIG difference! 2. The sad reality is that the words church and boring have become synonymous for far too many people and might I suggest that we as the church, the Body of Christ bear some responsibility for this? OK here I go, probably going to offend someone when I say this, but if the main attraction of church is not meeting with God then we have missed the mark. *Now please hear what I am about to say because this is not just a "big" church issue as some wish to believe, but if the main attraction to church is the great star performance or the awesome programs or the celebrity status of the preacher then Shame On Us! I wish I didn't have to reiterate this but I sure I must. YES we must make our facilities as nice and as well maintained as possible. We should do our best with the music we offer and we should try to offer the best youth, children's and other programs we possibly can, but if the simple yet profound meeting with God is not more important than all these other things then we have missed the mark. And let me add this, I am addressing those who call themselves Christ followers right now. I do not expect a non-believer to have the attitude about worship that someone who says they are following Christ should. 3. If meeting with God is not more important than a trip to the golf course, the lake or the beach. Or if we can't be in church because it's Super Bowl Sunday or because of some other supposedly pressing event then we have missed it!!! Now let me offer you this. Even if we see Church as boring know this, there will be no church services in Heaven. There will be no announcements and no offering will be taken (I am sure some of you are very excited about that and so am I). It will be just the church, which of course is us. Gathered together with all those others who will be lost in awe, wonder and praise of God! 4. Now the question again, "Will we be engaged in an endless worship service?" This answer you will love because the answer is "Yes" and "No". The reason I say this is because sadly most of us have a very limited understanding of worship. For most of us worship is relegated to an hour or so on a Sunday morning, but I would suggest that if this is all worship is to us then we really do not know what it means to worship. Let me share a quote with you from a man named Cornelius Venema. "No legitimate activity of life-whether in marriage, family, business, play, friendship, education, politics, etc.-escapes the claims of Christ's kingship. . . . Certainly those who live and reign with Christ forever will find the diversity and complexity of their worship of God not less, but richer, in the life to come. Every legitimate activity of new creaturely life will be included within the life of worship of God's people." Cornelius Venema 5. Now will we always be on our faces before God? Will we always be singing songs whether those are hymns of choruses? Will we always be shouting praises to God? NO, but that is not all that worship is. I will speak to this later on in a future message, but there will be a lot of things we will be doing throughout eternity in Heaven, but we desperately need to begin to see the things we do now in this life as acts of worship. In fact by doing so we will transform a lot of what we are now doing. a) Folks most of us will go to work tomorrow somewhere. We desperately need to worship God at work, but you will not do that if worship is just praying or singing, or listening to a sermon. We need to worship when we change a dirty diaper, or vacuum a floor or put dishes in the dish washer. We need to worship when we go shopping or play sports. Here is what the Bible says, "So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." 1 Corinthians 10:31 (NLT) 6. In 2003 when the allied forces marched into Bagdad you might recall the people who were tearing down the statue of Saddam Husean. A TV commentator said this as it was happening, "These people are used to coming out in the streets to praise Saddam. If they didn't they were punished. He had a policy or compulsory adulation." John 4 tells us that God is seeking worshipers, He does not have a policy of compulsory worship. When we see Him there will be no need for compulsion. We will be overflowing with gratitude and praise. We were created to worship God and when we are finally removed from this sin cursed world with all its distractions we will want nothing else. Let me finish today with these thoughts. C. Why Worship Can Never be Boring. 1. The fact is that in this life some things grow less interesting over time. Everything in this life is finite, it has a beginning and an end, but not God. The deeper we probe God the more there is to know. We will never lose our fascination with God because the better we know Him the more of Him we will still want to know. 2. Do you want to know why we feel church is boring? It is because the enemy of our souls determines to make it so. Think about this, if Satan can get us to believe that church is boring and a waste of time then he will also succeed in getting us to believe that Heaven will be this way and then why would we want to go? He is the one that is behind telling us "Hey don't worry about missing church, family is more important, you have been going for a whole month you deserve a day off." Once again I say to you, would you do this in Heaven and if not then why do we think it is OK to do so now? 3. You may have known someone that you felt you could never get enough of, but after a while you had your fill. But who could ever get their fill of God? There is no end to what He knows and no end to what he can do, and no end to who He is. He will perpetually fascinate us. Here is a quote from a man named J.I. Packer, "Hearts on earth may say in the course of a joyful experience, "I don't want this ever to end." But invariably it does. The hearts of those in heaven say, "I want this to go on forever." And it will. There is no better news than this." J. I. Packer Conclusion: A. Let me read to you again that wonder encounter the prophet Isaiah had with God. "It was in the year King Uzziah died that I saw the Lord. He was sitting on a lofty throne, and the train of his robe filled the Temple. 2 Attending him were mighty seraphim, each having six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. 3 They were calling out to each other, "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of Heaven's Armies! The whole earth is filled with his glory!" 4 Their voices shook the Temple to its foundations, and the entire building was filled with smoke. 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." Isaiah 6:1-5 (NLT) 1. It was the holiness of God that engrossed Isaiah. The Bible tells us in Hebrews 12:14 that without holiness we will not see God. A man named R.C. Ryles said, "Without holiness on earth, we shall never be prepared to enjoy heaven. Heaven is a holy place, the Lord of heaven is a holy being, the angels are holy creatures. Holiness is written on everything in heaven. . . . How shall we ever be at home and happy in heaven if we die unholy?" R.C. Ryles How then do we find this holiness that fits us for Heaven? Again the Bible holds the answer. "So also Jesus suffered and died outside the city gates to make his people holy by means of his own blood. 13 So let us go out to him, outside the camp, and bear the disgrace he bore. 14 For this world is not our permanent home; we are looking forward to a home yet to come." Hebrews 13:12-14 (NLT) B. It is the blood of Jesus that saves us and it is the blood of Jesus that sanctifies us and makes us holy and fit for Heaven. Some call this a second work of grace some call it the higher life of the deeper life. I don't really care what you call it I only care if you know it in your own heart today? Have you come to Jesus for the sanctifying of your heart? If not today is the day. 8