Worship - Romans 12:1

The Mission: Worship

PreComments:

Holy Holy Holy is the Lord God Almighty. The whole earth is full of his glory

This passages impact on me

Intro

The mission of our church is to glorify God, with a passion for Him, and a compassion for people.

The section on worship states: that we WORSHIP Through God-honoring music, expectant prayer, and relevant messages from the Bible

The key I would like to point out is that the music portion of our service is not the worship. It is a portion of worship. The entirety of the service is worship.

Worship Defined

But what is worship?

As I said before worship isn't music.

It isn't a feeling or experience

If we base our worship on the high of the emotional we will tend to falter when the emotion is gone.

Worship can be defined as many things

A time of worship can be corporate or personal. While the passages we will look at today will be applicable to either, we will focus primarily on corporate worship, or what we do when we gather as a body.

Corporate worship is

A time to glorify God

We see this described several times in scripture

It is a time to ascribe worth.

This is best seen from the old English word worth-ship which is where we get the word worship from.

It is a time of call and response

This is true and important. We see this in Isaiah 6 very clearly. It also shows that we don't call God here to be worshiped but he calls us before his throne that we may worship him.

So given all of these which are correct, what is the full biblical view of worship. I believe that the biblical definition of worship is: to draw near to communion with God through Christ by faith in the Spirit.

This is an amazing this. This is an amazing gift that we have. It is something unobtainable from the time of the fall until Christ rose from his grave. It is something that during the OT period God gave them a sacrificial system where through the death of animals that could in some way draw close. But where do we see this in the Scriptures. All throughout.

Worship in the Scripture

Romans 12:1

This is an important verse regarding worship. But what does it mean.

Worship before the fall was caring for the garden and being in immediate communion with the one true God and creator.

After the fall their was the need of a sacrifical system to immitate this, but it is a mere shadow.

Told to worship the one true God alone.

2 Kings 17:38-39

But it wasnt all difficulty and service. We have the book of Psalms which is a book of praise.

But even in this there is a move from lament to praise.

Worship was a constant service.

Romans 12:1-2

Worship is a service.

It was a time of sacrifice, it is a time of worship.

But here we have this amazing gift.

We are to live lives of living sacrifices.

In the OT Israelites had to present blemish-less sacrifices.

But does that mean we cannot participate in worship if we are blemished.

As Paul would say in this letter, by no means. Instead by Gods grace we get to come before the throne as a sacrifice worthy of worshiping the Lord. Death was required because the wage for sin is death, but Christ fulfilled this. Now we get to offer ourselves as a living sacrifice. How beautiful is this.

So what do we do as living Sacrifices. We are to draw near

Hebrews 10:19-25

This is one of my favorite passages in scripture and it is so important for worship.

This is how we see that we get to draw near to the holy God. We do so through Christ and his perfect sacrifice. The veil between the priests and the holy of holies, the dwelling place of God was torn when he gave up his spirit. Now he is the perfecting sacrifice which concluded the shadow of the OT sacrificial system.

Worship at MBC

What does this mean for us today?

We gather together

We do this in multiple services at different times

We come together in multiple forms

We worship with different commanded forms

Biblical music

prayer

Reading Scripture

expounding the Scriptures

Sent out

Our service structure

Is 6

We come together as servents of the almighty God. In doing this he makes us worthy sacrifices.

Conclusion

This is what we do as a group, but what does it mean for each of us individually as we come together?

Remember that our worship is through the mercy of God. In this way we get to participate in worship.

But we must see these are actions. Worship isnt something you come and witness, but to activly be a part of.

Let us present ourselves

Live a life of communion

avoid an empty lukewarm faith

Set right priorities

Trust in Christ

Speak with him

Listen to him

trust in him

Draw near with confidence

Confidence is by Christs sacrifice

confession of hope

Remember he is faithful

Stir one another up for good works.

Serve

Now let us not come together as dead sacrifices in a heartless service. Instead le us as a church to Draw near to communion with God as a living sacrifice through Christ by faith in the spirit.