Pursuing True Worship

Intro

- Motorcycles- I love them- some people are so obsessed with them that people might say they worship them

o But there is a motorcycle in Chotila, India, a 350cc Royal Enfield Bullet, that is literally worshipped

o It has been turned into a shrine and encased in glass. If you go there today there will be incense burning, holy scarves, and people gathered around this motorcycle singing hymns of worship

o Over 30 years ago, a man riding this bike crashed and died near this spot. The police took the motorcycle to the station, but the next morning in mysteriously reappeared at the crash site.

o There could be only one explanation! The man soul had returned to the world of the living, had taken the form of the bike, and magically moved it to the crash site.

- It may seem odd, but for some, this has become an object of worship

o All over the world, objects, people, activities, and ideas are being worshipped

- What comes to our minds when we hear the word worship?

o Worship songs?

o Bowing down, burning incense, chanting, praying

- The reality is that we all worship someone or something

o We cannot just say, “I’m a Christian, so of course I worship God!”

o We do not become immune to the lure of false god’s and worldly idols just because we have placed our faith in Jesus

- So the question is, What do we worship in life?

o The first commandment says that we are not to worship any other gods

o The second commandment says that we can not make idols

§ idols are representations or symbols of objects of worship- objects of extreme devotion

- We would all agree that if we claim to be Christians, our worship should be directed toward God and him alone, but how do we do that? What does true worship look like?

o This is essential for us to understand

o It is our first core commitment- Worship God Passionately

- True worship rejects the adoration of anything else above the one true God and seeks to worship him reverently and actively knowing that in him alone we find lasting contentment and joy.

True Worship Requires Reverence

A. Why do we worship?

1. Understanding our motive for worship

2. Our view of God

a. He is not just a friend, “Jesus is my homeboy”

b. Even the accurate representation of God as our father is corrupted by our culture

(1) Many fathers today would rather be their kid’s friends- in television and movies they are depicted as fools not worthy of any respect or admiration

c. But to worship God in the right way, we must understand who he is

3. V.2 “for God is in heaven and you are on earth”

a. Just in case you forgot your place

b. Your God is too small- some of us have a small view of God and it is evident in the way that we worship him

B. How do we approach God?

1. Guard your steps

a. NLT- “As you enter the house of God, keep your ears open and your mouth shut.”

b. I might be quoting this verse to my kids- “keep your ears open and your mouth shut!”

(1) Could be useful in public- “Ecclesiastes 5:1 NLT or so help me!”

c. But the idea here is that when we enter God’s presence, we do so with an understanding of who he is, and who we are

2. Talking to God

a. Let your words be few- this does not mean that we shouldn’t pray often or that our prayers should be short

b. It is a reminder not to be hasty or insincere with our words

c. Prayer is coming before the throne of our great God, yet it is so easy to become flippant in our prayers

C. Fear of God

1. When we understand who God is, the way we talk to him, the way we talk about him, the way we sing in church, the way we act in private, all of that, should dramatically change!

2. Our Christian culture often lacks a reverence for our creator, and if that is true in our lives and in this church, we will never worship him the way we ought

- True worship requires reverence, but it also requires action

True Worship Requires Action

A. Identifying what we worship

1. How we spend our time and money

2. What captures our attention- what dominates our conversations?

3. What drives our ambition

B. Worship goes beyond Sunday morning inside this building

1. Sacrifices do not replace obedience (v. 1)

a. Solomon is exposing the practice of showing up in the temple, doing what you were expected to do, saying the right things, fulfilling my duty, and then checking off the “worship God” box

b. There is little to no heart involved

c. If we are not careful, this is what Sunday mornings can become for us- and God says, this is not true worship

2. We are to worship with our lives- Rom. 12:1-2

C. Worship and Money

1. The love of money

a. Doesn't satisfy- 5:10

b. Increases anxiety and worry- 5:12

c. Could be gone in an instant- 5:14

(1) The top 50 richest people have lost 563 billion dollars this year

d. Even if we keep it, we can't take it with us- 5:15

o So can money be used for good?

2. Worship through Giving

a. Malachi 3:8-10 “

(1) Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions. 9 You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. 10 Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.

(2) Robbing God

(3) So if there is no obligation of a tithe (10%) how do we know how much to give

b. Principles of Giving

(1) All that we have is a gift from God

(2) Jesus is enough

(a) Psalm 23:1- The Lord is my Shepherd. I shall not want.

(3) Give generously from the heart

(a) 2 Cor. 9:6-11 The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7 Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. 9 As it is written, “He has distributed freely, he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures forever.” 10 He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. 11 You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God.

(b) Matthew 6:21 “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

(4) Give sacrificially

(a) Firstfruits

(b) Prov. 3:9-10 Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your produce; then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine.

(c) Leftovers illustration

3. Money can be an object of worship in our lives, whether we have a lot of it or none at all, or it can be a means of true worship

a. It all depends on how we view it and how we use it

True Worship Provides Contentment and Joy

A. False worship brings emptiness, wanting, and worry

1. Illustration in chapter 6 of a man who has it all- wealth, lives 2,000 years, has 100 children, but never experiences happiness

B. God wants us to find satisfaction in what he has given us in this life- contentment

1. 6:9 Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the appetite

2. “A bird in the hand is worth 2 in the bush”- what you have is better than what you might get

C. Joy

1. John D. Rockefeller illustration

a. At age 33, he earned his first million dollars. At age 43, he controlled the biggest company in the world. At age 53, he was the richest man on earth and the world’s only billionaire.

b. He developed a sickness where his hair fell out, his eyelashes and eyebrows disappeared, and he was shrunken like a mummy. His was making one million dollars a week, but he ate only milk and crackers. He was so hated in Pennsylvania that he had to have bodyguards day and night. He could not sleep, stopped smiling, and enjoyed nothing in life.

c. The doctors predicted he would not live past another year. The newspaper had gleefully written his obituary in advance—for convenience in sudden use. Those sleepless nights set him thinking. He realized with a new light that he "could not take one dime into the next world." Money was not everything. God was displeased with his sinful life. Then and there he surrendered His life to Christ, repenting of his sins and pleading for God to change his heart.

d. The next morning he awoke a new man. He began to help churches with his amassed wealth; the poor and needy were not overlooked. He established the Rockefeller Foundation whose funding of medical researches led to the discovery of penicillin and other wonder drugs. John D. began to sleep well, eat and enjoy life. You could say he began to live life to the fullest!

e. The doctors had predicted he would not live over age 54. He lived to be 98 years old.

Conclusion

- True worship rejects the adoration of anything else above the one true God and seeks to worship him reverently and actively knowing that in him alone we find lasting contentment and joy.

So What

- What are you worshipping?

- How are you worshipping God?

- Is your money an object of worship or a means of true worship?

- Are you finding joy and contentment in your worship?