Worship that Pleases God
Purpose Driven Life #13
Montreal/Cornwall
November 8, 2003
God wants all of you. He wants you to present yourself- your whole self- as a living sacrifice to Him and in your doing of this, you will be offering the worship to God that He made you to offer Him. He has brought each one of us to Himself and is working with each of us to deepen our personal relationship with Him. He has added us to His family, and He has created us in specific and special ways with no two of us being the same. This has to bring us to what the author of Hebrews declared:
Hebrews 12.28- let us serve him with thankful hearts. Let our full hearts bring us to Him to worship him in each of our days, all day long, in everything we are doing. This has been the focus of several messages and I’m hoping that you are feeling your relationship with God rising to a new level as you allow transformation of yourself to occur.
Jesus once met a woman at a well. They had a discussion in which she wondered about where and how worship should occur- there were violent differences between how the Jews and the Samaritans did this. Jesus made an important observation and declaration, which comes to us today:
John 4.21-24- it doesn’t have to do with a time or place. It doesn’t have to do with particulars. It has to do with whether you, and I, are allowing ourselves to be channels for the movement of the Holy Spirit from us toward God. Where you worship is not as important as why you worship and how much of yourself you offer to God when you worship. Worship must be based on the truth of the scriptures, for sure, and it must be authentic, too- ‘in spirit’. This doesn’t refer to the Holy Spirit but to ‘your’ spirit. You are made in God’s image, and you are a spirit that resides in a body, and God designed your spirit to communicate with him. Worship is your spirit responding to God’s Spirit. The question is, “How should you do that?” The reality is that each of us will do it a little different and it’s important that no one of us feel that there is one way that is the ‘only, one and only true way’. God wired each of us different, and it is important for us to understand this and, understanding this, to appreciate what is important to us- to me- and be true to that.
Gary Thomas wrote a book entitled “Sacred Pathways”. This is a new book- published in 2002. He wrote of how different people come close to God in different ways. Sacred pathways are like doors that open into a room where we can feel particularly close to God. The way you get closer to God is not the way your spouse does, or the way I might, or the way someone beside you might. For your worship to please God, you need to understand how you get closer to God. I want to outline just a few of these and hope this will help you to offer to God more ‘worship that pleases God’.
Matt.22.37f- to do this, you need to think about how you best and most can come to God.
1. Some people are very relational and simply don’t so very well alone. For these people, to go off for ‘solitude’ is like being in solitary confinement and can seem to depress them and make them edgy and uncomfortable. These people like to do bible study with others and like to be surrounded by others in worship events, rather than to go somewhere alone, where they don’t know anyone. These people- maybe you- can feel a kind of spiritual dullness when you try to walk with God alone. But, where there are relationships involved, watch these people come alive and thrive spiritually. When they pray with a group of people, they can almost feel the presence of God physically. When they study the Bible with a group of Christ followers, they come away enriched and impassioned. When they work together in a team, serving is one of their greatest joys in life. When they praise God publicly with other believers, their worship becomes twice as meaningful.
These people are very relational and this is their primary pathway to God. I wonder if James and John, disciples of Jesus, might have been this way, maybe even in concert with Jesus- because we see the three of them named together often. Particularly, we see James and John named together. Jesus did have some of this in himself; notice what he said to the disciples on his last night:
Matt.26.38
Also, notice what he said when instituting the Lord’s Supper- Lk.22.14, 15- this meal is not a meal to be taken alone, and Jesus wanted the relationship at this time. There is no question that Jesus was relational.
2. Others follow more of the intellectual pathway. Someone who meets God here needs his mind to be fully engaged before they can make significant spiritual progress. When these people are in a service or place where people are passionately describing God’s amazing activity in their lives, they can find themselves wondering, “Where’s the beef? These heart-warming stories are al well and good, but where’ the substance? Where’ the theological data? I need something to chew on. I’m dying here!”
These people do their morning devotionals with commentaries and Bible dictionaries open beside them, along with several translations of the Bible, and they are always reading books, attending classes and seminars and special events that challenge their thinking, too. Why? Because they know their hearts will never fully engage until their minds are filled with truth. But when that happens, there is no stopping these people. When Martin Luther realized the truth of the gospel, see what happened- the Protestant Reformation occurred. John Calvin’s impact on Christianity has been immense. Chuck Colson has established a ministry to men in prison. For people wired this way, once their minds are fully convinced, their hearts and will quickly follow and their convictions are rock solid.
Possibly the apostle Paul was this way.
Ro.12.2- he speaks of the transformation of the world depending on the ‘renewing of our minds’. Paul was quick to appeal to the rational side of humans, seemingly believing that once a person’s mind belonged to God, everything else would follow. If this is you, make sure your spiritual development plan focuses on development of your mind. Love God with all your ‘mind’ and watch what happens to your daily relationship with him.
3. Some people can’t seem to feel consistently close to God unless they’re involved in serving- theirs is the serving pathway. These are the doers. They read their Bibles, pray, and attend worship services like the rest of us, but if you ask them when they feel closest to God or when they feel most centered, joyful, and alive in Christ, they won’t answer about their times of prayer or study or singing, but ‘when I’m serving or volunteering in ministry and when I’m helping to accomplish the work of God.’
I believe there’s a biblical example of someone like this-
Acts 4.32-37. This man was a servant and was recognized as such. Ananias and Sapphira wanted the glory (Acts 5) for this but weren’t wired in this way and didn’t come close to God, as the result, of course. You can read the rest of the story about them.
If you’re someone who feels closest to God when you are doing something for him, then lean into the serving pathway and put together a spiritual development plan that centres on serving. I guarantee you that your awareness of God’s presence will increase dramatically.
4. Throughout all of church history, there have always been people who seemed to be ‘marching to a different drummer’s tune’. These have been people who guard their schedules and who seem to avoid all the busyness they see around themselves. These people are actually drained by relationships and activities, but they can spend almost unlimited time in solitude. Give them a Bible, some good literature, a poem, and a journal, and they can disappear for days.
These people are on the contemplative pathway. For them, just being alone with God is enough. They spend hours reflecting on the goodness of God and have an incredible capacity for prayer and private worship. Here’s where we find such individuals as Brother Lawrence, whom I referred to a couple of weeks back. Here’s where we find some of the more mystical authors from the Catholic tradition. For some people, this is the pathway to God. It might be a pathway many of us can learn something from and can practice a bit more, as I’ve encouraged, but it may not be ours. However, it is the pathway for some in our midst.
On the downside, sometimes those who are on this pathway feel out of step with the rest of the Christian community. They might take seriously things other Christians don’t understand. They don’t understand how the rest of us can just walk past incredible beauty without seeming to see it or comment on it. These might be the conscience of the community- they might be the ones who are more idealistic, and who help us focus on what kingdom life is supposed to be like. Many of us could think that contemplatives are just wasting time when it’s time to ‘take the mountain’, but we have to understand their need to protect their thought life and to spend considerable time outside the mainstream. From such have come very deep and meaningful writings, for instance, that really inform and challenge the rest of Christianity. From these might come a wonderful commentary or a book that goes deep into a subject. I don’t know whether William Barclay was such but his small book on “The Lord’s Supper” has had a great impact on my thinking.
If you find that your pathway to God is through this contemplative route, give yourself permission to spend the long hours you need in quiet reflection, even if others view it as strange or inappropriate, because that’s the door that opens the presence of God to you. Remember that Jesus, who, I believe embodied all possible pathways for worship, spent several long periods of time completely alone with God. His example affirms your need, if that is your need.
5. Then there are those who are very activist, who are happiest when things are really moving. They revel in challenges and being ‘on the edge’ with God. These individuals might appear to ‘bite off more than they can chew’ sometimes, but these people lead and get a lot of things done. God has hard-wired some people this way and he made no mistake in that.
Outstanding examples include John Wesley, George Whitefield, and D.L. Moody. Whitefield, in particular, almost preached himself into death. When God got a hold of him, he ran full speed till the end of his life, and, in the course of this, helped thousands to God.
Such people- maybe including the apostle Peter, are at their best when they are wrung out and dripping from using every ounce of their emotional, physical and spiritual power for a kingdom cause.
If this is you, then let yourself be going and we WILL support you and, hopefully, go some of the places you go.
6. Some are at their best out in creation. We all enjoy it sometimes, but some have to have it and when they do, they connect with God in an incredible manner. They see the lessons of God in creation- the rock solid dependence and faithfulness, or the unchanging character of God.
If we ask people with a strong creation pathway when they feel closest to God, or where they would prefer to have their times of devotion with God, or where they would most enjoy being with their Christian brothers and sisters and, without hesitation, they’ll respond that it’s ‘close to nature.’
This seems very expected to me. God created Adam and Eve and put them in a garden. So, for some of their descendants to be at their closest to God in a garden or in nature seems completely expected. Some people like this need to adjust where they live and need to increase the amount of time they have available to be out in creation. Imagine, if they do this, the spiritual fuel that they will have. They need to include creation in their vacation plans, as well as their worship plans. Through this, they will experience the presence of God with ever increasing awareness.
7. Then there’s the worship pathway. I want to share a story with you about this and its impact on one person’s life.
There was a man who attended the same church most of his adult life, in one American state, but the entire 20-year experience had left him feeling empty. He’d grown in knowledge from the teaching at his church, but despite having a full head he had an empty heart. One Sunday a friend invited him to visit a church on the other side of town. The friend’s church was one that worshiped ‘in the spirit.’ They worshiped with a lot of spirit. This man- a businessman- experienced a strange phenomenon at that church. For the first several weeks he bawled like a baby throughout the entire worship service. He had no clue what was happening to him. He thought maybe he was going through a midlife crisis of some sort. But eventually it started to make sense to him. He concluded that his heart had been so starved for God-honoring worship that when he finally experienced it, it was like a dam broke inside him and a new wave of the Holy Spirit’s activity flooded his life. Eventually he joined a church like that one he visited with his friend- he had to. He has learned that he’s wired to experience God deepest and best in song and with music.
I believe David, the author of many of the Psalms, was someone whose primary pathway to God was worship. He wrote some wonderful things:
Psa.103.1-5, 20,21; 150.1- among others, of course. David seems to have felt closest to God and most fully alive when he was worshiping.
I believe that I’ve found that this is an important pathway for me- not quite like that man I spoke of, but with some similarities.
Conclusions
David writes, about himself and about each of us:
Psa.139.13-18. God has made you in a special way and to be a special child of his. You don’t experience him quite like I do, or quite like anyone else in the congregation. It’s important for you to understand yourself so you can be closest to God. Discover what your pathway to God is. You need to worship God with all you are. You need to know ‘how’ you are so you can do this. This is the challenge for this next week. Please take time to consider this, and then to think about how to provide for yourself to be closest to God. In our public worship, we’re going to try to provide, over time, for all types of you. But through the week, you need to provide for you. Do you need to get out in creation more? Do you need to be involved in a good cause? Do you need time away and alone? Do you need to increase your collection of worship music CDs? Do you need to go buy some books containing deep theology? Whatever it is, do it, and worship God more fully and, in that, become more of what he designed you to be.
