Spiritual Disciplines: Worship

Good morning and welcome to another week of worship here at the Bridge. I am so glad that we can be here together and worship together.

Worship now that is a hot button issues. Bring up the idea of worship today and you may end up in a argument within the church that often ends in hurt feelings. One of the biggest reasons for this is that when we think of worship we often think of Songs. I always love that when we reference worship commonly in the church is we automatically go to the idea of music. We can sit here and get into that debate here this morning but if that is what you are looking for you unfortunately will be greatly disappointed. In fact I doubt we will talk much about music after this part of the sermon. The truth is that worship is not defined exclusively by music or singing sons. Worship is a much more complex response in our lives. Worship though is an important spiritual discipline that we must seek to practice as Christians.

What is True Worship?

This is the question that we need to ask this morning. How do we understand what worship is and how we do it.

The simple definition of worship would be “expressing praise, thanksgiving, or adoration to a deity”.

Yes, this is a big part of our understanding of what worship is. This is a basic definition that we can look at and apply to our relationship with God. If we worship God we do owe him praise, thanksgiving, and adoration. Yet, how do we do that. what are the ways that we live that out. That is the challenge we face when we look to express what Worship is.

Paul begins to help us understand what our true worship is and how we are to live it out.

Romans 12:1–2 NIV

1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

For Paul true and proper worship requires us to give our ourselves in light of God’s mercy as a living sacrifice. This had me thinking about how we can see worship in different ways.

One way to think about it is this.

One person Praises the Lord because he is Mighty and he is afraid.

One person praises the Lord because God does good things for them

Than there is the person who praises God simply because God is good and is worthy of praise.

Now i am sure you could come up with some different categories or views but these are probably the most common reasons that people will worship God. For some people we look at why we worship and they do it because they worry that if they don’t do it they will not be honoring God. They fear the wrath of God and the punishment that might happen if they aren’t worshiping God. This is not a proper form of worship.

The second person who chooses to worship God is the person who does so because God has done good by them. This doesn’t mean that we can’t be thankful when things are going good. This is the person who is quick to blame God and flee when life become difficult and they can’t figure out why. It is always easier for this person to be willing to honor God when it is going their way. God’s good as long as i am having it good. This is a difficult problem because it place the idea of worship as conditional. This is not a proper form of worship and is something to be avoided.

The last attitude of worship is the position that we need to take as Christians.

We worship simply because we know that God is good.

Think of this statement and finish it if you know it.

God is good, All the time

all the time, God is good

If we are to embody the idea of Romans 12:1-2. We recognize that the most important thing that we can do is to be ready to worship God because of God’s Mercy. Because of God’s grace we have the joy of being able to worship him. It is through the forgiveness of sins and the recognition that we know that our life would not be one of meaning without him in it. It is in the grace of God that we come to recognize that no matter what is going on in our lives we need to be living lives that seek to honor him. We seek God first and not anything for ourselves or because we are afraid of him but because we are thankful for the gift of his mercy in our lives.

How than do we live this out? What does this true worship look like? Jesus helps us with this.

Mark 12:29–31 NIV

29 “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

The Greatest commands

The greatest commandments are the very definition of worship for us as Christians. We are called to love God first. To work to honor him. To live life in step with who God is and his commandments. It is important to note that this command does not mean the law is not to be followed but it is the summary of the law and how we need to view the instructions of the Bible. The second command is a reminder that we are called to live a life that is in pursuit of taking care and serving our neighbor. This is not an invitation for people to be able to do whatever they want without consequence.

This is an important distinction that we need to make right now. Loving your neighbor is not just accepting every truth that they present to us. Sometimes the love of ones fellow human requires difficult conversations and challenges. This is done not expel or to push away but to be done with love, compassion, and kindness. Loving our neighbor is our second command it is the expression of our worship to God.

Worship for us today

We hear these passages and we listen to this message that the idea of worship is built around the idea of honoring God. WE are called to live our lives in such a way that every act of our lives is worship of God. It is done because we want to love God with all we are. It had me thinking about church and what we are doing here this morning. Do we define what happens here on Sunday mornings as worship. Absolutely. this is a time set apart that we specifically come together to build each other to sing songs of adoration and praise and to seek God’s presence. It is needed in our lives so that we can be healthy Christians. However, we need to look at the reasons we are doing this. Do we simply come because it is what we do or is it because we recognize that this is a time we reserve for our relationship with God.

Charles Spurgeon once said this

300 Quotations for Preachers from the Modern Church Go to God, Not Just Church

My friends, it is one thing to go to church or chapel; it is quite another thing to go to God.

This is the sruggle we face. Is church important? Is Sunday morning Worship important? Absolutely! However, worship, true worship doesn’t stop there. This morning is just the beginning of what we do as worship. We are to go to God each and every day throughout our day so that we can be not seen as of this world or shaped by this world but instead of God and shaped by God. We are Called to live this out.

Romans 12:1–2 NIV

1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Worship is our act. Worship is how we live. Worship is the movement of God in our lives and our expression of what he has done in our lives.

Let us pray.