Last week we talked about how God desires our hearts – hearts that are redeemed, restored, and renewed. He desires them because He created them (us) for a relationship with Him – a living God. Today we are going to talk about how to keep our hearts right where God wants them and explore the fact that God also desires our worship. And when we worship him, we keep our hearts oriented with his. Now last week, I also began by talking about communication between husbands and wives, and I’m not going to get into all of that… ;-) Let me just say that when your spouse has your heart, it will be worship that keeps those hearts locked together. You worship her and she worships you. And at this point, it would be wise of me to define worship! ;-) I might add while we are on this topic, that I had my wife down on her hands and knees this week – she was saying, “Come out from under that bed and fight like a man.”
I want to define worship, and use for more background in today’s message, a passage close to where we were last week in the book of Deuteronomy. God told Moses to tell the people His own commandments, and the very first one was, “You shall have NO other gods before me.” And chapter 6, as they were exploring these further, he said in verse 5, “Love the Lord your God, with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” And again in verse 13, “Fear the Lord your God, serve Him only…” So we find that worship is reverent love, to give allegiance, honor, and service. Those of you who are married, if you would put this into practice, you cannot help but have hearts that are oriented to each other if you would give honor, service, reverent love to your spouse. And the fact that God created us and desires a relationship with us should give us pause to think about how we really worship him.
We know that God desires our worship, then, because first of all he has commanded it. He never asks us to do something that he doesn’t care about! If it was important enough to place it as his first priority, then we need to examine it closely. King David understood this and wrote often about it in the Psalms, and in Psalms 147:10 he says that, “His delight is in those who fear Him…”
So let’s look at some reasons why God desires our worship.
First of all, God desires our worship, because when we worship him, we honor Him as the One who is Sovereign.
In his sermon to the men of Athens, Paul told them the whole story of creation in just a few sentences. And he began by declaring that this “Unknown God” was sovereign. It was He who created the whole earth and everything in it and is Lord of heaven and earth. He does not need anything, for he gave mankind life and breath and everything else! Sovereign means the Ultimate Controller. Sovereign means there is nothing or no one that is higher or has more power. He is the supreme ruler.
When we truly worship – serve, love, live all out for Him, then we give him honor as being Sovereign. You know by now that I’m not talking just about Sunday morning and the way we sing or what we pray about. I’m talking about loving him with all our heart, soul, strength on Monday morning, Tuesday morning, Wednesday morning, and every day of the week. I understand that it really doesn’t feel like “worship” when that customer calls that is such a pain, or the kids are being rotten, or the pain in your back hurts so bad – but it really is loving and worshipping God when you respond with love, good attitudes, kindness, gentleness, and self-control.
In Romans 11:33-36, we find a Doxology written that gives more insight on the sovereignty of God. It reads like this in the NIV,
“33 Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments,and his paths beyond tracing out!
34 "Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?"
35 "Who has ever given to God,that God should repay him?"
36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.”
In THE MESSAGE, that same passage reads as follows:
“33 Have you ever come on anything quite like this extravagant generosity of God, this deep, deep wisdom? It’s way over our heads. We’ll never figure it out.
34 "Is there anyone around who can explain God? Anyone smart enough to tell him what to do?
35 Anyone who has done him such a huge favor that God has to ask his advice?"
36 Everything comes from him; Everything happens through him; Everything ends up in him. Always glory! Always praise! Yes. Yes. Yes.”
Secondly, God desires our worship, because when we worship Him, we admit that, by ourselves, we are powerless.
This is the flip side of the coin. It is the opposite of what we just talked about, because you cannot acknowledge the sovereign power of God, without admitting your own powerlessness.
God told the Israelites that when their houses were built and their tables were full and they had wealth and all was at peace, to then be careful lest they forget the One who gave them everything, and in so doing to think that somehow they had gotten all their wealth by themselves. Look at Deuteronomy 8:15-18.
“15 He led you through the vast and dreadful desert, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock. 16 He gave you manna to eat in the desert, something your fathers had never known, to humble and to test you so that in the end it might go well with you. 17 You may say to yourself, "My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me." 18 But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth,…”
When we truly worship him with all of our heart, soul and strength, then we humbly admit that we in and of ourselves are completely powerless. We show by the way we live, love, serve, give honor and allegiance that we are nothing without Christ. Do we understand that it is impossible to live like this and to worship him if we are stuck on our own ego, worship our own strength and independence, admire ourselves for our “good deeds” and strut before the mirror of our admiring friends?
Yes, it is hard to admit. We are powerless to even save ourselves. But when God changes our hearts, we can then come to understand that without Him we are powerless.
Thirdly, God desires our worship, because when we worship Him, we open the door for salvation.
In the previous 2 points, we have been talking about a general worship of God with our lives, but now we move to the more specific. Paul hints at this in verses 30 and 31, but explicitly in verse 27. You see, letting God into our lives to begin to change things around, or to help us out in our times of trouble all begins with our acknowledgement, or worship, of him. It is when he sees a change in the orientation of our heart, an indication that we understand that we are powerless and that He is sovereign that He then begins to work in and on our behalf. He is then duty-bound according to His Word to show Himself to us. He may do it before, and if so, that is called mercy. But he extends His grace to us when he sees a change in our hearts.
Where do we see this? Look at verse 27 of the passage in Acts that we just read. “God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.” And again in Psalms 50:23, we find that
“23 He who sacrifices thank offerings honors me, and he prepares the way so that I may show him the salvation of God.”
Friends, God desires your worship, and he loves you so much. He is longing for your heart, and longing to see your everyday, routine, commonplace duties and responsibilities reflect the attitude of your heart toward his. He desires not only your heart, but your worship.
Where is the door in your circumstances that you need opened, where is it that you need to see the salvation of the Lord? Worship Him and watch Him begin to work!
Quite often, when I find a particular song that I really like, it will not be uncommon for me to play that song over and over again. Back when we played cassette tapes and before that, (I’m dating myself here!) when we played 8 tracks, you remember how the tapes would stretch, and the music would get really warbly and the keys would change…. CD’s are so much better! Now you can actually wear grooves in the disk ;-) Not really, but as many times as I play songs I marvel that there are not grooves! This week my song has been one sung by the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir. I’ve probably listened to it fifty or sixty times – this week! It is sung by the choir from the perspective of Jesus, talking to us, the objects of His desire. The message of the song indicates God’s desire for his people. The words go like this:
How many times must I prove how much I love you?
How many ways must my love for you I show?
How many times must I rescue you from trouble;
For you to know just how much I love you?
Didn’t I wake you up this morning,
You were clothed and in your right mind.
When you walked up on a problem
Didn’t I step right in on time?
When there were hills along life’s journey
My angels carried you.
So you would know just how much I love you
How many days must I be a fence around you?
How many nights must I wipe your tears away?
How many storms must I bring you safely through,
For you to know just how much I really love you?
Didn’t I put food on your table,
Show up when the bills were due?
When the pains were wracking your body,
Didn’t I send healing down to you?
When you were lost in sin and sorrow,
I died to set you free,
So you would know just how much I loved you!
God desires our worship, and I am excited to honor Him as Sovereign! I know I am powerless without Him, and I want to open the door for His salvation. I am excited that this morning we get to celebrate together the memory of our Risen Lord, Christ Jesus, and worship Him together as we take communion. We are doing this in memory of Him.
