Worship
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First Sermon in the vision series on the structure of the Church.
We laid the foundation:
The Gospel
Biblical Authority
Submission to God
Come, let’s shout joyfully to the Lord, shout triumphantly to the rock of our salvation!
Let’s enter his presence with thanksgiving; let’s shout triumphantly to him in song.
For the Lord is a great God, a great King above all gods.
The depths of the earth are in his hand, and the mountain peaks are his.
The sea is his; he made it. His hands formed the dry land.
Come, let’s worship and bow down; let’s kneel before the Lord our Maker.
For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, the sheep under his care. Today, if you hear his voice:
Do not harden your hearts as at Meribah, as on that day at Massah in the wilderness
where your ancestors tested me; they tried me, though they had seen what I did.
For forty years I was disgusted with that generation; I said, “They are a people whose hearts go astray; they do not know my ways.”
So I swore in my anger, “They will not enter my rest.”
What is Worship?
What is Worship?
Worship in OT
Bringing an offering to God.
The first act of worship described in the bible is bringing an offering before God. Cain and Abel.
Bowing down before the Lord.
Lifting up or exalting God with Praise.
Celebrating God.
The word hallelujah derived from Hebrew phrase sounding the same meaning “praise Yahweh”
Worship in NT
Bow down as an act of worship.
Bow in reverence.
Give God Glory.
Praise and blessing God.
“Worship is the reverential response to the all-encompassing magnificence of God.”
We see in the idea of worship the idea of both humbling ourselves and bowing down before God and celebrating with joy the truth of who He is.
We should seek both things: even lowering ourselves even further before him and even higher praise of who he is.
The Reason for Worship (vs. 3-7)
The Reason for Worship (vs. 3-7)
God deserving of worship
He is LORD and king over all.
Supposed false Gods are not in the same realm as him.
God is mighty and far above all we can imagine.
Isaiah 55:8–9 (CSB)
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not my ways.” This is the Lord’s declaration.
“For as heaven is higher than earth, so my ways are higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
As Francis Chan said, “Isn’t it a comfort to worship a God we cannot exaggerate?
Creation is evidence of His Majesty
Lord, our Lord, how magnificent is your name throughout the earth! You have covered the heavens with your majesty.
, 3-4
When I observe your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you set in place,
what is a human being that you remember him, a son of man that you look after him?
All that God has done indicate and point to how wonderful He is.
He answered, “I tell you, if they were to keep silent, the stones would cry out.”
While entering Jerusalem during the triumphal entry, the disciples praised God. When
God is our Creator
We should respond in worship of Thanksgiving.
God is our Shepherd
Leads us and guides us.
Jesus said, “I am the Good Shepherd.” in John 10:11-18 s
He lays down his life for his sheep.
The Call To Worship (vs. 1-2)
The Call To Worship (vs. 1-2)
What should worship look like?
All the of the things expressed earlier.
It should be Sacrificial.
It should be Humble.
It should be Thankful.
It should be Glorifying.
It should be Triumphant and Celebratory.
Where and how should worship take place?
Corporate Worship
The gathering of believers to worship.
Created for relationship.
Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper corresponding to him.”
We are social creatures.
The effects on mental health from the Pandemic.
In this, God created us to gather and celebrate him together.
I remember this as I pour out my heart: how I walked with many, leading the festive procession to the house of God, with joyful and thankful shouts.
We should be joyful and thankful.
The idea of the soldiers returning from WW2.
Personal Worship
With this bigger idea of worship than just the gathering, worship should be a daily regular occurance.
In nature.
In Yosemite.
Many people fishing.
In the regular and the mundane, there is the glory of God.
Our Lives as Worship
Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship.
All that we think say and do should glorify God. Our lives should be a living sacrifice.
It means we give God our best.
It means we don’t participate in things that are not pleasing to God.
It means that our worship is constant.
The Heart of Worship (vs. 7d-11)
The Heart of Worship (vs. 7d-11)
This passage ends with a warning.
In the desert the people of Israel sought to impose their desires and wants on God, rather than submitting to and trusting Him.
Idolatry and worship.
The other issue they faced was idolatry.
They faced this over and over again through Scripture.
Worship is a matter that is primarily concerned with our heart.
It is not about the way we worship.
It is about the way we worship.
Back to Cain and Abel
One gave the best, the other did not.
All of the wrong things we make church about.
The Heart of Worship Song.
Silly things churches fight over from Thom Rainer:
Argument over the appropriate length of the worship pastor’s beard
Fight over whether or not to build a children’s playground or to use the land for a cemetery
A deacon accusing another deacon of sending an anonymous letter, and deciding to settle the matter in the parking lot
A church argument and vote to decide if a clock in the worship center should be removed
A 45-minute heated argument over the type of filing cabinet to purchase: black or brown; 2, 3, or 4 drawers
A fight over which picture of Jesus to put in the foyer
A petition to have all church staff clean shaven
A big church argument over the discovery that the church budget was off $0.10. Someone finally gave a dime to settle the issue
Business meeting arguments about whether the church should purchase a weed eater or not. It took two business meetings to resolve
Arguments over what type of green beans the church should serve
Two different churches reported fights over the type of coffee.
Major conflict when the youth borrowed a crockpot that had not been used for years
An argument on whether the church should allow deviled eggs at the church meal
An argument over who has the authority to buy postage stamps for the church
A disagreement over using the term “potluck” instead of “pot blessing”
A church member was chastised because she brought vanilla syrup to the coffee server. It looked too much like liquor.
An argument in church over who has access to the copy machine
Some church members left the church because one church member hid the vacuum cleaner from them. It resulted in a major fight and split
An argument over whether to have gluten-free communion bread or not
A dispute over whether the church should allow people to wear black t-shirts, since black is the color of the devil
A fight over whether or not to sing “Happy Birthday” each week
An argument over whether the fake, dusty plants should be removed from the podium
In reality the church should be about gathering together to worship God. We should do all we can to not let lesser things get in the way of that purpose.
In Closing.
Worship is what we will be doing in eternity.
A.W. Tozer said this,
“I can safely say, on the authority of all that is revealed in the Word of God, that any man or woman on this earth who is bored and turned off by worship is not ready for heaven.”
Do you worship the Lord? Are you in awe of who he is? Does your life reflect a life of worship?
If it doesn’t turn to him today.