Sermon Tone Analysis

Expectations

As we move into the final three messages in our series on deconstruction we are going to be hitting some things that are going to be close to home for many people.

We are going to be challenging some of the things we have made into must haves.

We are going to be asking the question…what does it mean to be a church…what characteristics does a church have.

We are going to take each of those things that we think must be there and find out if that’s accurate.

To that end we are going to start with the concept of Worship.

What is Worship?

Worship:

reverent honor and homage paid to God or a sacred personage, or to any object regarded as sacred.

formal or ceremonious rendering of such honor and homage

That’s the formal definition of worship, but what is worship in the context of our tradition?

If we look at Old Testament worship there are several Hebrew words used in conjunction with it.

קָרַב, qārab

Bringing forward and offering to God.

חָוָה, ḥāwâ

Bowing down in the presence of God

רוּם (rûm)

Lifting up exalting with praise

there is

הָלַל (hālal)

The act of celebrating God the word hallelujah is derived from the phrase

יָהּ (halĕlû-yāh)

meaning Praise Yahweh

That praise can involve

זָמַר (zāmar,

Singing

But it also can involve

(עָבַד, ʿābad

Serving God

Pop over to the New Testament and many of these same concepts continue

προσκυνέω (proskyneō) means to bow down as an act of worship

κάμπτω (kamptō) signifies bending the knee or bowing in reverence to God

δοξάζω (doxazō), for the act of giving God glory

εὐλογέω (eulogeō), for praising or blessing God

We see all these words for worship and that’s great but what have we reduced our worship to what have we made the most important?

More importantly what really matters?

The Mechanics

Who we worship

You say come on Pastor Aaron of course we worship God that’s what we do here we sing songs before you preach we worship God.

But take into account all the different things that we have said so far about what worship is.

Worship has a cost

(drill down here.

Talk about the importance of not giving something with little to no meaning)

In the beginning of what worship was there was not really a specific place as time when on there was a tabernacle and a temple there were feasts and festivals that took place at set times, but those things began to become more important than the objects for worship became more important than the object of worship.

We find Jesus speaking to this.

What really matters

This is where the problems start.

The woman here was caught up in what worship was and where worship had to happen.

(drill down a bit)

The Way We Worship

This gives us what matters.

Worship is not Singing but it can include singing

Worship is not Giving but it can include giving’

Worship is not Serving but it can include serving

True worship is an attitude of the heart in presenting every part of our lives to God.

Worship should infect every part of our lives.

This is what worship is and yet we in the church have boxed and packaged it as a few songs before some guy gets up to preach.

We enjoy concerts of worship, it gives us the feels but worship is not just the feels we have it’s the honor, devotion and service we give.

This Week’s Challenge

Instead of doing what you always to to “worship” find a new way to honor God.