What it means to Worship
Romans 12:1-2
I want to introduce you to a mythical church member that I am going to call Kenny. When we first meet Kenny he is attending services at First Church but he left because the services were too formal, every one on the platform wore a tie. He and his family then wandered over to Grace Church because they had a great choir. But before long, we hear they are happy at the Christian Worship Center. But before long they move their membership to the Community Church because of the great bible teaching. After that the youth program at New Hope catches their eye. Now at least for the moment, they are at the church uptown, at least until something else catching their roving eye.
Why do you suppose that there are close to 100 million church members in America yet they are not making more of a moral and spiritual impact?
Why is that on Sunday morning thousands of churches have more empty pews than full?
Why is it that the average Sunday School in America has less than 66 in attendance and that the average worship service has 84?
Why is it that only 50% of the number on any church membership roll can be expected to attend?
If Christians really believe in a real heaven and a real Hell, how can we be so silent? . . .
The answer to all of these questions is tragically simple! God’s people have made a decision about Jesus but have never truly worship Him.
Worship is not what is taking place around you: It’s what is taking place within you.
Worship is not a time and a place you attend, it’s how we live our life all the time.
Worship is a living testimony, of God in your life.
Rom 12:1-2 NIV
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 conform any longer 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.
--- William Temple wrote: about worship
"To quicken the conscience by the holiness of God,
to feed the mind with the truth of God,
to purge the imagination with the beauty of God,
to give the heart to the love of God,
to devote the will to the purpose of God."
INTRODUCTION:
It seems that very few Christians know much about true worship. Christians in most churches have never worshipped God.
We go to church, but we don’t worship.
We sing songs, but we don’t worship.
We listen to sermons, but we don’t worship.
All of these things are elements of worship but they are not worship in and of themselves which means that you can do all of them and yet have failed to truly worship God.
We Christians often mistake the means of worship for worship itself.
When our minds are else were, not centered on God. This is not worship
When we have not fully surrendered we are not worshipping.
When we are dragging our feet, we are not worshipping God
Worship is what we bring to our service. They should reflect our relationship with our father
Worship is communion with God
Worship is experiencing God in everything
Worship is celebrating God in all circumstances.
Ps 95:1-6 NIV
Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD;
let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.
2 Let us come before him with thanksgiving
and extol him with music and song.
3 For the LORD is the great God,
the great King above all gods.
4 In his hand are the depths of the earth,
and the mountain peaks belong to him.
5 The sea is his, for he made it,
and his hands formed the dry land.
6 Come, let us bow down in worship,
let us kneel before the LORD our Maker;
The 95th Psalm, is an inviting and warranted call to worship God.
Ever mindful of the covenant God had made with his people, the psalmist was summoning one and all to celebrate with him the grace and guidance they were continuing to receive each day.
Verses 1 and 2 of the psalm voice a festive call to join in celebrative song in God’s honor, and verses 3 through 5 are a reminding, well-stated reason for it all.
Verse 6, my text, reminds us of the humble spirit in which worship is best done.
We become like what we worship. If we:
a. Worship possessions, become a materialistic person.
b. Worship money, become a greedy person.
c. Worship Sex, become a lustful person.
d. Worship Power, become a corrupt person.
e. Worship Jesus, become a Christ like person
Worship is a life style
Worship is beyond Location: Paul & Silas
Worship is beyond Circumstance:
Job (thankful in every event), Habakkuk (Living by faith)
Worship is beyond Comfort: Paul
Acceptable only when the best is given: Cain & Able
Experiencing God results in worship: Isaiah 6:1-6
Scripture: Isaiah 6:1-8 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above it stood seraphim. . . . And one cried to another and said: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory!" . . . So I said: "Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts." Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal that he had taken with the tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth with it, and said: "Behold, this has touched your lips; your iniquity is taken away, and your sin purged." Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" Then I said, "Here am I! Send me."
Introduction: The best times for worship are sometimes in the middle of crises or disappointments. Here, amid the crisis of King Uzziah’s death, Isaiah learns something about the impact of worship and holiness on our hearts.
Unholiness Is Revealed by Worship.
Isaiah’s vision of God’s throne gave him a horrible sense of his own unworthiness and sinfulness, and it does the same for us.
The Lord’s presence makes us aware of our sin. We feel "undone" and "unclean" like Isaiah. But the Lord meets us at our point of need by purifying us. God sent an angel with a hot coal to touch Isaiah’s perceived point of unworthiness his lips. Had he felt his hands were unclean, the Lord would have touched Isaiah’s hands. The fire of the coal brought regeneration to the place of impurity Isaiah was most sensitive to. The "fire" of worship:
A. Refines. It burns out the residue of whats unworthy.
B. Consumes. It takes the bondage out of our lives and burns it up.
C. Melts. Our hearts are made soft.
D. Warms. Our cold hearts are thawed.
E. Ignites. When we’ve turned off, He turns us back on.
What is the point of your greatest weakness? If we will come to God, in the midst of His holiness, His purifying fire will touch us at that point.
Holiness Is Activated by Worship.
Every time we hear praise going on around the throne of God, we hear, "Holy, holy, holy!" The focus is on God’s holiness.
We tend to think of holiness as the purity we are trying to achieve, and that God will reject us if we don’t. Even among people who genuinely love the Lord, there are those who draw back because they feel unholy, unworthy. There’s a natural inclination to avoid worship because of feelings of unworthiness.
But the Lord wants us to worship Him because it is there we will find wholeness. There is a root relationship between the words whole, healthy, wholeness, and holy.
When we talk about holiness, we are talking about wholeness. Holiness is God’s entirety entering my incompleteness. The only way for that to happen is to come into His presence.
Wholeness Is Restored by Worship.
The word "worth" comes from axios, which originally described a coin of full weight. In the ancient world, the coins were made of valuable metals which wore thin rapidly, causing the coin to lose some of its value. That¡¦s how Isaiah felt. But God calls us to worship in His presence in order that a transfer of His being into us may take place. Then the worth that has been worn off the coin of our lives.
His nature within us,begins to be restored through worship. Worship is the situation in which wholeness is restored. Because of God’s worth poured into us, we become worthy.
Mission Is Found in Worship.
The mission of our lives is also found in worship. After the angel purified Isaiah’s lips, the Lord gave him a mission. You can only find your direction and intended purpose in the context of worship.
Conclusion:
The workforce in America screams when unemployment reaches over 5%. Just think it reached 20% or higher.
The workforce in the church reaches 95% unemployment.
Spiritual worship involves using your gift in service to God.
