VALUING GOD THROUGH WORSHIP

INTRODUCTION

-Back in 2011, there was a rare gold coin that was placed up for sale. It was a Brasher gold doubloon from 1787. It was worth $15 when it was minted, was the size of about a half-dollar and was made of 26.66 grams of gold, the value of the gold itself today would be about $1500. But do you know how much that coin sold for? It sold for $7.4 million.

-Why in the world would a little coin worth $1500 in gold sell for $7.4 million? It had numerous distinctive features to it and was original and unique in many ways. It could be said that it was one of a kind, and because of its rarity, those in the coin world placed a whole lot of value in it. The value wasn’t only in the gold, but all that made it unique. The buyer saw the value and gave an offering corresponding to the value.

-You and I have something of so much more value than a rare gold coin. We have the Living God who sent a wonderful Savior. You cannot get more unique than that. He truly is one of a kind, for there is no one or nothing that comes close to His kind. He is the One and Only God, Creator of the universe. Through Christ, we belong to Him and He is ours.

-And just like those in the coin world, we give and make sacrificial offerings through worship according to what we believe the value of our God is. My question to you is of how much worth and value do you believe God to be? How much are you willing to sacrifice and offer God according to how much you value Him?

-If you see God of little value, you will offer Him little. If you see God as having eternal value, you will offer Him that which is of eternal value.

-I think many of us talk big about our devotion to God and how much He is worth to us, yet our actions show we think this world and our comforts and our ambitions and our plans and our desires and our very lives are much more valuable than He is.

-So where does the problem lie? Is the problem with God’s worth? Or is the problem with our personal assessment of His worth?

-What I want us to realize today is that what we offer God in worship and service reflects how much we truly value Him; and I am hoping and praying that we would come to highly value God and that His value would be reflected in our actions, attitudes, and decisions.

-And this is so important for where we are right now in our present circumstances. Next week we will hopefully be able to meet back together as a congregation and demonstrate this value and worth together. And I am hoping that our time apart has caused some reflection on our part of how worthy God is and that we have a strong desire to demonstrate that worth more than we ever have before.

~We do NOT want to return to the same ole some ole. We do NOT want to return to the status quo. We do NOT want to return to empty ritual. We do NOT want to return to going through motions. We want to return with an overflowing heart that will demonstrate through our worship and service that we value God over everything else.

-And King David, I think, understood this. To give you some background:

-Where we find today’s passage in the story of redemption is toward the end of King David’s life. He decided that he wanted to do a census of all his military force throughout Israel. But by doing so, he showed he was relying on human might and strength instead of trusting in God. This brought the judgment of God down upon the people, and a plague broke out at the hand of the angel of the Lord. God in essence told David that to stop the plague before it reached Jerusalem, he needed to go out of the city to a nearby mountain and erect an altar on a certain person’s threshing floor and offer sacrifice to God and see if God’s anger would be appeased. And this is where we pick up the story.

1 Chronicles 21:18–27 ESV

18 Now the angel of the Lord had commanded Gad to say to David that David should go up and raise an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. 19 So David went up at Gad’s word, which he had spoken in the name of the Lord. 20 Now Ornan was threshing wheat. He turned and saw the angel, and his four sons who were with him hid themselves. 21 As David came to Ornan, Ornan looked and saw David and went out from the threshing floor and paid homage to David with his face to the ground. 22 And David said to Ornan, “Give me the site of the threshing floor that I may build on it an altar to the Lord—give it to me at its full price—that the plague may be averted from the people.” 23 Then Ornan said to David, “Take it, and let my lord the king do what seems good to him. See, I give the oxen for burnt offerings and the threshing sledges for the wood and the wheat for a grain offering; I give it all.” 24 But King David said to Ornan, “No, but I will buy them for the full price. I will not take for the Lord what is yours, nor offer burnt offerings that cost me nothing.” 25 So David paid Ornan 600 shekels of gold by weight for the site. 26 And David built there an altar to the Lord and presented burnt offerings and peace offerings and called on the Lord, and the Lord answered him with fire from heaven upon the altar of burnt offering. 27 Then the Lord commanded the angel, and he put his sword back into its sheath.

Using v. 24, I want us to consider 3 marks of worship (which is as much as through service and lifestyle, not only singing and praising) that show how much we truly value God

I) If I value God, I offer Him COMPLETE WORSHIP

-David said: I will buy them for the full price—as far as David was concerned, there was no discount to what he would give God to worship Him—there’s no 30% off sale, no ½ price deals, when it came to worshipping God, David gave it everything he had; it was complete

-This means that what David offered to God was not half-hearted==there was no nonchalant just go thru the motions kind of worship==there was no “make my appearance, do just enough to get by and let God know I haven’t forgotten Him” kind of worship

-David made sure he paid the full price—he didn’t cut corners…skimp when it came to God—it was all or nothing, because if you don’t give God your all then you have given Him nothing of value==David’s worship was complete

-Why is this so important to consider? It is important because we need to remember that God didn’t hold anything back when it came to our salvation, it was a complete salvation, so what would make us think it OK to hold back on Him

-God couldn’t spare any expense when it came to His justice against sin; it needed to be fully paid for salvation to be perfect and holy; yet His love also wanted satisfaction, so since He is love He couldn’t ration out His love like they rationed food and materials in WWII==so what God gave at the cross, was it halfhearted? Was it casual and nonchalant? Did God give just the bear minimum or try to get by with the least amount He could give?

-NO, as Jesus Himself cried from the cross: IT IS FINISHED/PAID IN FULL—Jesus paid it all, the full price, the complete price

-The other day I was considering that when Jesus was on that cross, not only did He endure the nails…the physical and emotional trauma of crucifixion…taunts and mocking of the crowd; Jesus had to endure to wrath of His own Father for sins He never committed----for every man, woman and child

-Do you know how much anguish both Father and Son had to endure at that moment? But the Father did not spare the Son in any way, even though the Son did no wrong

Romans 8:32 (ESV)

32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

-God poured it all out----I was thinking from a human perspective how tempting it might have been (if I were God) to lighten up on Jesus a little bit because He is the Son—in my thinking, well the Son Himself didn’t do anything wrong, so I’ll go a little easy on Him==== that is not what God thought at all—Jesus endured the wrath of the Father until the last drop was poured out, then and only then was it paid in full

-So, considering all that, do you think it is acceptable to give God the bare minimum—here God, here’s a bone for you==I came to church once and endured the sermon so that’s got to be good, huh? Sure, the rest of my week was all filled up with me, me, me, me—but I gave up sleeping in on Sunday just for you God! I know you want 10% of my money, God, but I’d rather spend the money on temporary earthly stuff, so here’s a buck or two. That ought to do ya! I know there’s hurting starving ppl out there, but I seriously want this new video game God!

-Do you know how hollow that sounds? Seriously, we value ourselves more and think we are of more worth than God because that is reflected all over our lives

-If we valued God, we would give Him complete worship—our whole heart and whole mind and whole body would be behind it:

Mark 12:30 (ESV)

30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’

II) If I value God, I offer Him PERSONAL WORSHIP

-David said to Ornan: I will not take for the LORD what is yours----David recognized that it was his personal responsibility to make an offering to the Lord and nobody else could do it for him

-David didn’t think that it was somebody else’s job to worship the Lord, believe the Lord, or serve the Lord—he stepped up and knew that he had to do what nobody else could

-For us that means that we can’t ride on anybody else’s coattail when it comes to our service to the Lord----this is true in the ministry of the church=God commissioned the church to be His arms, legs, hands, feet, mouth to the world; but it only functions when all the parts of the body are working----sure the church corporately might be doing a lot of good work in the name of Christ, but if you’re not lifting a finger, how can you truly say you have any part in it----do you think just attending counts for something==NO, God is going to be looking at what you do thru the church==you have to personally take responsibility for acting out your faith, don’t ride on everybody else’s coattails

-But what is worse than that are those coming to church without their own personal faith in Jesus Christ, instead they are riding the coattails of family members or spouses or the church, which is a path that leads to destruction

-What I mean by that is that salvation and worship are personal, something no one else can do for you—if you think you are going to heaven because your mommy or your daddy were Christians you’re not saved—if you think that just because your granddaddy was a preacher that your saved…--if you think that just because you are watching this video…

-Are you understanding me when I say that if you truly knew God and His value, what you offer Him is personal, it comes from your own heart, it is not something you get from someone else

-The great preacher Harry Ironside was riding a train reading his bible, and a lady across from him said, “I’m glad to see there is at least one religious person on this train beside myself.”

Dr. Ironside, “That’s interesting, tell me more.”

She went on to tell him that her two uncles are ministers, and their father before them, so religion runs in her family.

Here is his reply; he said, “Let’s assume that your kinsmen are born-again believers through faith in Christ. You don’t want to go to Heaven hanging on their coattails, do you? Salvation is a personal matter. One must individually accept Christ as one’s only hope of eternal life and a home in Heaven. Isn’t it interesting that the Savior Himself said to a devoutly religious man, ‘Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God’”? (John 3:3)

The woman was puzzled, she said, “Don’t you understand that religion runs in my family.” and sadly, she left the train at her destination holding on to family religion but lost as can be.

-You personally must be saved, and only you personally can demonstrate God’s value through true worship—no one can do it for you

III) If I value God, I offer Him COSTLY WORSHIP

-David said that he would not offer burnt offerings that cost him nothing

-See, God doesn’t accept a sacrifice that is no sacrifice at all—it is to be complete, personal, and it costs, not just a little, but it costs everything

Romans 12:1 (ESV)

1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

-if you are to present your bodies, you can’t give just half, it costs everything

-I can’t help but think of the story of the widow’s mite:

Luke 21:1–4 (ESV)

1 Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box,

2 and he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins.

3 And he said, “Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them.

4 For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”

-All them rich religious folks didn’t sacrifice for God; what they put in really cost them nothing in the grand scheme of their wealth, so that truly reflected what they thought of God=that God is worth a small portion, but not the whole

-But the widow gave God everything she had—why? Because that’s how much she loved God…she trusted God…she valued God…she thought God was worthy of EVERYTHING==it cost her something

-Do you think God is worth having His way in every area of your life? A big portion? A small portion? No portion?----what you offer to Him in worship and service will reflect that

-Imagine if the only presents I ever gave my wife were only the things that I could get for free or at a seriously reduced price. What would she, or any of you for that matter, think about my offerings to her? Would she feel loved or valued if the only time I expressed my devotion to her was when I got something free or real cheap? Wouldn’t I be telling her that all I think she is worth really is nothing: she isn’t worth spending time or money or anything. How do you think that would go over?

-Yet, how many of you are telling God the same thing because you only give God offerings or serve God when it doesn’t really cost you anything.—Your actions are screaming out: GOD, YOU ARE NOT WORTH MY TIME…EFFORT …MONEY {EVEN THOUGH IT ALL CAME FROM YOU ANYWAY}; ALL IN ALL GOD, YOU’RE NOT WORTH MUCH TO ME

-After what He gave for you, is that the value you place on Him? I pray that this is not what we return to when we can start meeting again.

CONCLUSION

-I want you to think of your life, take a real assessment of your worship offerings to God What does your life, giving, ministry say about how valuable God is to you? Does it show that you believe God is of little value, or infinite worth? Today, why don’t you commit to Him complete, personal, costly worship—give Him your all, stop holding back

-But there are some listening who have not seen Jesus as valuable enough to trust Him with their eternal life—there are some riding on the coattails of others…believe their good outweighing the bad somehow makes their sin OK in God’s sight…some sort of generalized spirituality or religion will save their souls—if you believe that, you are heading to a place where God’s wrath falls upon you for eternity—but Jesus paid that price, but you must repent and believe…