Understanding Corporate Worship

SERIES: “LESSONS FROM THE EARLY CHURCH”

TEXT: ACTS 20:7-12

TITLE: “UNDERSTANDING CORPORATE WORSHIP”

INTRODUCTION: A. Worship is important
1. Back during the days when people would travel by sailing ship, a young boy
was traveling with his father. The boy was amazed at all of the activity and work it
took to sail one of those ships.
He watched everything the sailors did and he noticed every night that the
captain of the ship would stand on the deck and point a funny-looking instrument
at the sky. He asked his father what the captain was doing. His father said, “That
funny-looking instrument is called a sextant. With it, the captain can ‘shoot the
stars’ and then he will be able to take our bearings. The captain can then see
where we are and find out if we are going in the right direction.”

2. Sometimes in life we become confused and we lose our way
--We need the checkpoint of worship to touch base with the Lord to see where we
are and find out if we’re going in the right direction.

3. This concept is vividly illustrated in Isaiah Chapt. 6
a. We see a description of a vision in which Isaiah is carried into the presence of
God on His throne

b. Isaiah is overwhelmed at the sound of the heavenly worship of the angels and
he’s profoundly confronted with his own unworthiness

c. He also dramatically comes into contact with God’s mercy and grace as Isaiah
sees his sinfulness made clean

d. During this scene of worship, God issues a call for those who would serve Him
--Isaiah gratefully responds to God’s call because of his encounter with God in
worship

4. J.J. Von Allmen, Worship: It’s Theology and Practice, “Christian worship is the
most momentous, the most urgent, the most glorious action that can take place in
the human life.”

B. Last Sunday evening, we looked at idolatry, which is improper worship
--Idolatry is when the emphasis in our life and our faith is on the wrong thing
1. We learned our emphasis should be on Jesus Christ – with our eyes, mind, and