Now is the Time to Worship!

21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

I want us to do a little exercise this morning. Look to the person on your left and say, HALLELUJAH. Now, look to the person on your right and say, GLORY. Now, raise your hands look up towards heaven and say THANK YOU JESUS FOR SAVING ME!

Now that we have proven that worship can take place in a Baptist Church without natural calamity or us being struck down dead, I want us focus the time we have together today on a simple topic. Now is the time to WORSHIP.

So, what is worship? Pastor Lou Giglio defines it this way “Worship is our response to what we value most. That’s why worship is that thing we all do. It’s what we’re all about on any given day. Worship is about saying, “This person, this thing, this experience (this whatever) is what matters most to me … it’s the thing of highest value in my life.” That “thing” might be a relationship. A dream. A position. Status. Something you own. A name. A job. Some kind of pleasure. Whatever name you put on it, this “thing” is what you’ve concluded in your heart is worth most to you. And whatever is worth most to you is—you guessed it—what you worship. Worship, in essence, is declaring what we value most. As a result, worship fuels our actions, becoming the driving force of all we do. And we’re not just talking about the religious crowd. The Christian. The churchgoer among us. We’re talking about everybody on planet earth. A multitude of souls proclaiming with every breath what is worthy of their affection, their attention, their allegiance. Proclaiming with every step what it is they worship. Some of us attend the church on the corner, professing to worship the living God above all. Others, who rarely darken the church doors, would say worship isn’t a part of their lives because they aren’t “religious.” But everybody has an altar. And every altar has a throne. So how do you know where and what you worship? It’s easy: You simply follow the trail of your time, your affection, your energy, your money, and your allegiance. At the end of that trail you’ll find a throne, and whatever, or whoever, is on that throne is what’s of highest value to you. On that throne is what you worship. Sure, not too many of us walk around saying; “I worship my stuff. I worship my job. I worship this pleasure. I worship her. I worship my body. I worship me!” But the trail never lies. We may say we value this thing or that thing more than any other, but the volume of our actions speaks louder than our words.”

Have you ever wondered why there is so many different thoughts on what worship is? Depending on what church we may walk into, we may see different songs, different reactions, different orders of service. In Scripture the word worship is used to denote both an overall way of life and a specific activity, but today we use it in the sense of a specific activity, which is usually the set church services or maybe a special event. We more often think of worship as the outward expression than inward expression of what God has done for us. We sometimes neglect the more broad way we glorify God - by giving Him the honor due to him by living a life of worship.

Ephesians 4:1 ESV

1 I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called,

As we walk worthy of the calling, we should have a feeling of worship constantly in our lives

We were CREATED to worship our Creator.

Isaiah 43:7 ESV

7 everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”

In worship, human beings recognize God for his attributes and express this through adoration, praise, thanksgiving, service, and living holy lives. Worship constitutes the primary calling of humans.

Ed Smither in his book “Worship in the Life of the Church.” speaks of worship in this manner “From Adam, serving the Lord in a pre‐Fall Eden (Gen 2:15), to the redeemed, worshiping God in the New Jerusalem (Rev 22), worship is a central theme of Scripture. Throughout the Old Testament, God admonished his people to turn from worshiping idols (often punishing them for their idolatry) to worship him alone. The first half of the Ten Commandments instructs believers on how to love God with all of their heart, mind, and soul. The longest book in Scripture (the Psalms) is a collection of worship songs that functioned as Israel’s hymnbook.

In the New Testament, Christ is recognized as the divine Son of God and worshiped by his followers. Following the birth of the church, believers gathered regularly for worship.

In the New Testament and early church, worship can be observed in a number of forms. Following a period of instruction, new believers identified with Christ’s ‘ death, burial, and resurrection through baptism. The Lord also commanded his followers to observe the Lord’s Supper on a regular basis. A sacred space for believers to experience Christ’s nourishing presence, the Lord’s Supper also served as a dramatic retelling of Christ’s saving work. In addition to these two sacraments, the assembled congregation worshiped through the reading and teaching of Scripture, singing “psalms and hymns and spiritual songs” (Eph 5:19 ESV), praying corporately, giving tithes and offerings, showing hospitality and sharing communal meals, and serving the church and community.

As God’s people enjoy the presence of the Lord, the worshiping church naturally becomes the church on mission. Following evangelism, discipleship, and church planting, new believers become devoted worshipers. Worship, then, is the beginning and end of mission.”

The Lexham Theological Wordbook defines worship as “the awed response to the saving acts and praiseworthy character of God”.

If we look closely at the book of Psalms, we will find a man, a king, David, who defines what worship (both inward and outward) looks like in the life of a believer. We find examples of David dancing in the streets, singing to the Lord, he praises God, he WORSHIPS God in his spirit inwardly and outwardly. Why?

Psalm 29:2 ESV

2 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness.

Worship is part of the honor and glory due to the Lord! Our whole countenance and our heart and mind should change the moment we enter the doors to church.

Psalm 100:2 ESV

2 Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing!

In all that we do, in all that we say, in all that we ARE, we should praise and worship OUR Lord and Savior! The first step in doing so is to worship what we know.

Worship What You Know

John 4:21–22 ESV

If we go back and look at the previous description of “worship” from pastor Giglio, we worship what we put the most emphasis on. If we were to take account of where we place the hours in our days, where would our priorities lie? Would we be found praising God in our heart, our mind, and our soul? Bringing these verses into context, we find Jesus at Jacob’s well with a Samaritan woman. Around noon, Jesus was tired and sat on the well. When the woman came to the well, Jesus asked her for a drink. Now, most of the time we will find people coming to the well in early morning - preparing for the day. Or late in the evening, when the animals needed water or water was being drawn for household purposes during the night. Noon would have been a miserable time, part of the hottest part of the day when everyone else would be lounging in the shade. Why would one intentionally come to the well at noon? To avoid other people!! Maybe she had been made fun of, maybe other people ostracized her, for whatever reason she did not want to be seen. Yet Jesus was there, waiting for this woman, meeting her at her time of need. You see, a Jew would not have been seen speaking to a Samaritan. They were an intermarried race whose faith differed from that of the Jews causing conflict. Jesus saw the need for salvation, but he goes on to discuss worship. He emphasized that human form of worship - the things we may think are important - aren’t. You see, when Christ died, was resurrected, and the Holy Spirit released to humankind, there was no need for a temple or for a mountain because God’s presence now resides in each and every believer giving us the ability and the HONOR to worship Him every day, and all day long. We worship Him in SPIRIT! But we have to be careful about what it is we place emphasis on in our worship. It’s not the THINGS that occur during a worship service, but the PERSON in whom we worship - the Father, God Himself. Identifying yourself as a Christian just because you come to church is like saying you are a mechanic simply because you are standing in a garage. It is ONLY when we know our subject with true competency that matters.

Jesus was more worried about the Samaritan woman’s salvation than her situation. Now, notice He used her situation to point to her NEED of salvation. Jesus pointed that Jews were God’s chosen people, but in searching the earth for righteous people who would love Him supremely and give Him their first priority, he could not find any. He could fine no one righteous, no not one.

Romans 1:21–23 ESV

21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

Because of this, God had to send someone to earth to change this. A new people, a new nation would be established from this one man.

1 Timothy 2:5–6 ESV

5 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.

He sent His own son so that the world might be saved. And that is the reason in which we TRULY can worship today! As believers, we have the promise of spiritual transformation, being born again, and inheriting life in heaven with Christ where our whole purpose will be to praise and worship Him eternally! We become TRUE worshipers!

True Worshipers

John 4:23–24 ESV

23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

You see, when we come to know Christ as our personal Savior, it changes our worship! The hour is now here - Christ changed our worship and we now worship Him in spirit and in truth. We are to worship the Father in spirit and truth, because He created us in body, in soul, and also in spirit. Our spirit, at the moment we are saved, can worship with the very Spirit of God Himself! We are like no other creature God created. He spoke everything into existence, with the exception of humans. He formed Adam from clay…into His image and likeness…and breathed His own breath, the pneumos, His Spirit into his body bringing forth life. We have a REASON to worship Him, as He is WORTHY of our worship!

Revelation 4:11 ESV

11 “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”

We were created by God, formed by His hands, and contain His breath of life. We are not only a living, breathing soul made for this earth, but we are also spirit; an immortal being made to live with God eternally.

We are to worship God in our spirit, the spirit He breathed into us, with all our soul - seeking out fellowship with God. We are to worship God in truth - through His Son Jesus Christ, and with sincere intentionality.

Why are we to worship? Because the Father desires our worship of Him. He created us to worship and fellowship with Him and we will worship Him for eternity.

Revelation 22:3 ESV

3 No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him.

We might as well get practice while we are here! But you see, the truth is this. We are sinful flesh, incapable of knowing the full sense of worship while we are here on this earth. But the spirit which lives in us is not physical nor is it material. The spirit is the innermost part of being, the very core and heart of life and it is through the SPIRIT that we can truthfully worship God.

Closing

Worship is deeply rooted in each and every one of us, it is reflected in our outward actions. The songs, the fellowship, the preaching, all lead our hearts and mind into worship God, giving Him all the honor, glory, and praise.

Revelation 7:11–12 ESV

11 And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”

If we go back a few chapters we will see what eternal praise and worship looks like:

Revelation 4:8 (ESV)

8 And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say,

Repeat this phrase:

“Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!”

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