Worship

Discovering Worship

Worship

Instruction

Fellowship

Evangelism

 

 

 

Worship

Worship has sometimes been hard to define and confusing to many, the source of much of the heat in the so-called "Worship Wars". The confusion arises for the same reason that there is confusion over worldviews: individuals are so immersed in their worldview that they cannot see it.  Like a fish in water, we may not be aware of the effect our worldview has on everything we perceive.

"I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else." - C. S. Lewis

When a person becomes a Christian they receive a whole new worldview. 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away, and look, new things have come.

Paul writes of the effect of this whole new worldview. Romans 12:1 "Therefore, I urge you brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship."  2 Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.

 

Our worldview has changed because we have now entered into a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. God, who created us, has entered our world, and has entered our lives.  Because God has entered into a personal relationship with you, worship is the fundamental component of the Christian life. 

Psalm 95:6 "Come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord our God our maker." Jesus reemphasized the Old Testament command "Worship the Lord your God" (Matt 4:10). The Ten Commandments emphasise the need for worship. Exodus 20:2-6;

2 I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery.  3 Do not have other gods besides Me.  4 Do not make an idol for yourself, whether in the shape of anything in the heavens above or on the earth below or in the waters under the earth. 5 You must not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the fathers' sin, to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6 but showing faithful love to a thousand generations of those who love Me and keep My commands.

 

Modern Christians like to think all worship is acceptable.  Israel in the Old Testament did not get worship right all the time.  They sought to worship God as they pleased in the form of a golden-calf, and not as he had commanded them. The penalty for many of them was death. How can we avoid worshipping God in vain?

 

Worship is…. _____________ __ and Responding to God

One might define worship as focusing on and responding to God as he has revealed himself in scripture. It is not simply singing. We often think of worship as a music style, but reading, praying, singing, listening and responding to God's word, all of these are acts of biblical worship. In John 20:28 Jesus appears to Thomas and shows him his hands and side. Worship is what happens when Thomas exclaims, "My Lord and my God!"

 

In Revelation 4 we read of the great throne, and the four creatures around the throne worshipping God day and night without ceasing. "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come."

 

In the same chapter the 24 elders around the throne are said to worship him by casting their crowns at His feet, falling down before Him, and proclaiming, "You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being." Then in Rev. 5 we see the culmination as thousands and thousands of angels, elders, and living creatures cry out, "Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise."

 

To worship God is to ascribe the proper worth to God, to magnify his worthiness of praise, or to approach and address God as He is worthy.

How has God revealed Himself to us that we might focus on Him?

 

He has revealed Himself to us through ___________  (Psalm 19, Rom. 1:20).

 

He has revealed Himself to us through His Word, the Bible, and His Word in flesh, Jesus Christ. We will understand and respond to what God is like for, "Jesus has made him known." (Jn 1:18). Bible reading and preaching are central in public worship because they are the cleanest, most direct, most extensive presentation of God in the meeting.

Worship is…. Done in_______ and in _____________

In John 4:23-24 Jesus says, "Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in sprit and truth."

Of course to worship in this manner presumes we must have the "spirit of truth" within us, the Holy Spirit himself. We're reminded in 1 Corinthians 12:3 that, "no one can say, 'Jesus is Lord' except by the Holy Spirit." It is he who replaces cold, dead hearts with vibrant, passionate hearts toward God. Yet having the Holy Spirit doesn't ensure that we will always worship in spirit and in truth, it simply means we can. To worship God in spirit is to worship "from the inside out". It means complete sincerity and passion toward God in Christ. 

 

"Where feelings for God are dead, worship is dead." –John Piper

 

But emotion and passion are not enough, there must also be Truth! Worship is not about what I get from it, but rather what God wants from me. God does care about the content of our worship as well as its spirit.

We can be very sincere, and yet sincerely wrong if we offer worship to God that is not in truth as revealed in scripture.

We are to worship in response to truth..

Biblical worship is worship in sprit and truth, heart and head, emotions and thought.

They are complementary. Meditation on truth will kindle a right passion for God, and a proper spirit of worship will desire to be guided by truth

Worship is…. Expected Both _____________ and______________

Hebrews "Let us not give-up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing." (Heb. 10:25) The first exercise in worship is to develop the habit of faithfully assembling with other believers for the purpose of worshipping God. There is no such thing as individual Christianity. Christianity is not an isolationist religion. The New Testament describes the church as a body (1 Cor. 12:12), a building (Eph. 2:21), a household (Eph 2:19), a flock. To be a Christian is to be a part of, and involved in, this corporate body. When the author of Hebrews called those to meet together it was to worship!

Public worship can be fulfilling and should be faithful. Jesus, while faithful in temple

worship and teaching, regularly withdrew to lonely places and prayed. Public worship does not excuse private worship. Can we expect the flames of our worship of God to burn brightly in public on the Lord's Day when they barely flicker for him in secret on other days?

 

Worship is…. A ____________ to be Cultivated

Will you commit yourself to the Discipline of daily worship?

 

Will you put actual worship into your acts of worship? Allow scripture, meditation, prayer and relationships with other Christians to aid us in our worship. For when we put worship into our worship, religion will become not merely a set of doctrines, but a way of living.

"Worship is the central concern of the Christian." –John Calvin