Last week we began to discover that worship is a total way of life of loving our Lord that will stand up under the scrutiny of God himself:
If God were asked to strip all the excess away:
• our status in the community,
• our promotion at work,
• the car/SUV in our driveway
• the success of our parties
• our grades at school
• the hominess of our house,
• the beauty of our garden
• the accomplishments of our children
• the padding of our bank account
• the stories of our troubles past . . . AND present
• even, even our service FOR God IN the Church
would we love him? Would it show? If God shined the spotlight on our:
• inner self
• on our relationships away from the stage of the church building and small groups
• on our daily activities when no one is lookin
• even on our inner heart—our motives when we gather for worship together,
would it find a solid love and devotion for Him, or a shadowy mist that vanishes under the intense light of God’s scrutiny?
Such were the thoughts of David in the 26th Psalm. In fact as we read, we will discover that David is CONFIDENT that the Lord will find in Him a servant who really and truly loves him. He even INVITES the Lord to test him, to examine even his most private self, to discover what he is made of.
Read Ps 26: 1-12
BIG IDEA: True worship is a total way of life of loving our Lord that will stand up under the scrutiny of God himself—and in spite of our circumstances:
The reason we are looking at worship is that many consider it one of the disciplines that a Christian can practice to mature in the lord.
Reminder:
“disciplines,” especially spiritual disciplines, or habits, are NOT “works righteousness.” They are NOT ways we attain the Lords favor. They are tools he gives us to grow and love in ever increasing ways.
What makes them beneficial for us are the habits and positive influence and expression they give to our spiritual and redeemed bodies, hearts, and relationships.
As such, they are USELESS unless accompanied with Love. If we just DO them, but don’t have love as our motive, they will profit us nothing. But as we engage in them, we will ALSO be enabled to grow in our love.
How is it possible to live a life of love for our Lord—to worship him—in such a way that will stand up to His Scrutiny? Let us look at several elements
Last week we looked at the fundamental, the supreme, the first element of “total worship” that stands up under God’s scrutiny is:
1. He has chosen to love us—in spite of our weakness
His love will always be greater than our love for Him.
And when he looks at us, he sees Jesus, and His sacrifice for us.
This means that in the end, it is not so much the weight of our love that stands, it is really His love for us that allows us to be in his presence.
But while God’s love for us saves us from our sins, there is no room for us to become couch potato Christians—to think we can sit back and enjoy our salvation with no responsibilities.
To paraphrase Dallas Willard in his book ‘The Spirit of the Disciplines’ : Worship, as a discipline, is “our part” of expressing our love for Him, to see him as worthy, and to honor him with everything we have.
Transition: we become true worshippers when our worship moves beyond the four walls of the church—and into our daily lives.
1. True Worship Moves Beyond the Four Walls of the “Church” and into our Daily Lives
Have you ever thought “I can’t wait to get to the house of the Lord to worship?” “I just love getting my batteries recharged “at church!”?” Well, there is some truth in those statements.
But the danger is that we segment our life in ways that are unscriptural. We wall off our lives in ways God never intended. We end up separating our “church lives” from our “real lives.”
If we do that, we deny the Bible, its perspective, its authority, and its power for ‘round the clock, disciplined and powerful living.
Romans 12:1, expresses worship as a continuous act beyond the four walls:
Ro 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.
It doesn’t say
• “wait till 10:30” until you can really offer God worship”, or
• If you are really spiritual, plug in a point of Grace CD on your way home from work
It says: “offer your BODIES as LIVING sacrifices, HOLY and PLEASING to God—this is your spiritual act of worship!!!
This little verse is a good “corrective” for many of us that want to compartmentalize our lives. . . To keep from thinking we have done our duty of worship if we have engaged one or two hours in song and prayer to the Lord.
1a. WE NEED TO SEE WORSHIP AS A DAILY, CONTINUOUS, WAY OF LIFE.
That verse is in the New Testament, written after Jesus lived on earth, but the concept was around long before, as we see in our Psalm:
Ps 26:1 Vindicate me, y O LORD,
for I have led (have walked) a blameless life (in his integrity) I have trusted a in the LORD
without wavering. b
v.3 and I walk continually f in your truth. g
Ps 26:11 But I lead (shall walk) a blameless life;
Ps 26:12 My feet stand on level ground; t
He has chosen to live His life completely for the Lord—an act of total worship of love!
• Has walked
• Still walks
• WILL walk
In ways that please the Lord, and proclaim how WORTHY He is to have everything about us be oriented toward (and from) Him.
(God) wants our bodies as living sacrifices, not corpses.
Vance Havner, from The Vance Havner Quote Book/On This Rock I Stand.
Well how DO we worship the Lord with our lives? Does this mean that:
• We all have to sell our houses and become missionaries to Tibet or Zambia? (no, but it may mean that!)
• We have to memorize 4,293 hymns and praise songs—or at least download them on our iPod/mp3 player—and humm them all day long? NO! (but we could do that, if it came from the heart.)
1B. WORSHIP IS EXPRESSED IN HOW WE LIVE.
First and foremost, from our Psalm, we see that David was concerned with having his daily life—wherever his feet took him, and in whatever he did—reflect, with integrity, his relationship with the Lord.
Watchman Nee (real name!) sums it up pretty well:
To what are we to be consecrated? Not to Christian work, but to the will of God, to be and to do whatever he requires.
Watchman Nee, Leadership, Vol. 9, no. 1.
Does your life match up with what you profess?
Does your life match up with God’s will?
Is there anywhere: work, home, freetime, driving, in relationships, where you don’t match up with the type of life that you KNOW God wants you to live (not to mention what you still may need to learn about God?)
Imagine this: if an impressionable little 4 year old from church was assigned to follow you around, would you have to alter anything in your routine? Would you be ashamed of anything?
Probably most of us would—unless we were completely jaded or totally ignorant of the Lord—and we might feel pretty low right now: we feel we can’t say we have been “blameless” as our Psalmist has. . .
What we have to remember first is what Christ has done for us:
Colossians 1:21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation
So it is Christ’s physical body that presents us “without blemish.” And yet, as mentioned, we are not without responsibility:
Now there are some scriptures that speak more to this repsonbility. Peter reminds us that because Jesus is coming again,and God has a plan to make new the heavens and the earth That:
2 Peter 2:11 Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives 12 as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. 13 But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.
14 So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him.
Paul says that our attitude can affect our lifestyle and standing before God:
Philippians 2:14 Do everything without complaining or arguing, 15 so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe 16 as you hold out the word of life—in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing.
A little earlier, we have a verse that blends our working with Jesus work:
Philippians 1:8 God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.
9 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10 so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.
On this matter, the author of our 1 Thess. Study, Gary Collier says: “Walking your talk is not about human perfection, but about thoughtful, considered, determined DIRECTION.” It is about aligning ourselves with the one who has made us perfect and to do so under his power.
It is JESUS and his cross that change everything for us. Not only is it a symbol that we are free from our sin—it is the very foundation and a present power that frees us from sin, AND it also is the daily focus and metaphor for those who are in Christ: because of the Cross, we carry our own crosses, living a life of obedience and extreme love toward others because of the love that comes from the Father and lives in us.
Because of the cross:
• We make the hard choice to live morally—we don’t compromise our lifestyle, how we live, who we hang out with, what we do at work: we live for Jesus! This shows that we honor and love—that we worship—God above anything else.
• We make the daily decision to love others with the love of God:
o The Lincoln CC conference showed us 3 how the cross is a major reason why we choose to love our brothers and sisters in Christ, even with all their faults. That is how God loved us! In the cross there is forgiveness BECAUSE of our imperfections/annoyances/bad habits/hard hearts/foolish choices/slacking off of responsibilities, etc. And because that was shown to us, we show the same
Brothers and sisters who have been slacking off
Teachers in the church
Newcomers
Our spouses, children, parents
o Walking blamelessly means treating others how God treats us
There is no area of our lives that is to be off limits to the Lord, and when we engage our lives FOR him, we in fact WORSHIP him.
1C. DAILY WORSHIP IS MADE POSSIBLE AND REAL BY KEEPING BEFORE US WHAT GOD HAS DONE.
David says:
Ps 26:3 for your love is ever before me,
Ps 26:8 I love the house where you live, O LORD,
the place where your glory dwells.
Do we see, as David does, the things that God has done, and is doing for us? Do we meditate on his love for us?
John Ortberg tells about his daughter Mallory, and her “Dee Dah Day” dance.
John says that often, he observes his tendency to be preoccupied and bored with life. He quotes Walker Percy’s definition of boredom being “the self stuffed with the self.” Totally preoccupied. Missing out on all the myriad of small gifts God offers each day
Dan’s Saturday morning: kids all around, sardined in my bed, little sleep, etc etc. and I thought: WOW, I could complain (which I did—just can’t help myself—and my wifed noticed) but there is a lot MORE to be thankful for—which I was, but I didn’t voice it out loud: I have 4 beautiful kids, wonderful smiles, loving etc etc.
John O. was having a preoccupied day, trying to dry off his little girl as she got out of her bath, and all he could think of was that she wasn’t cooperating. She, on the other hand, completely missed her dad’s annoyance, and just
Ran around in circles singing over and over again, “Dee dah day, dee dah day!”
In his frustration, he chewed her out, commanded her to stop, and to HURRY! To which she “asked a profound question:” Why?
Her little “dee dah day dance” is a bit of the attitude we need to devewlope and carry around with us. It is not just about doing the will of the Lord, but ENJOYING him regardless of what we are doing.
• When you are mowing the huge lawn around the church, or even trying JUST to get your mower started: Love the Lord for his mercy, for his nature, for your physical body
• When you are slaving away at the stove or doing the dishes, be thankful to God for the abundance you have, and the family to keep you from being alone
• When you are in the midst of an argument—STOP—(but if you can’t do that,) be thankful that God has giving you the tools, know how, friends, and Spirit to have hope beyond your conflict, to see it as a doorway to being closer, to see how God teaches us that all conflict can be over come and risen above in some way or another.
Conclusion:
We are not done with Psalm 26, but I hope and pray that we are beginning to see that worship is not just something we do within 4 walls, or when we sing out loud: but it is certainly that.
Commit yourself this week to
Remember, it seems quite possible that others and outside pressures are suggesting he is not living the right way—they are bringing charges against him. Charges that David believes are false. Tesh thinks that no charges have been brought, it is just a man who wants God’s affirmation that he is on the right track. Perhaps (Tesh) he has been meditating on Psalm 1, which has some parallels. Regardless, the vindication sought here, according to EBC, is not for God to step in and take revenge on the bad boys (this Psalm really doesn’t suggest that) but it is more a desire for God to give a word of reassurance.
A sacrifice is an offering placed before the Lord so that he can make something of it. Once offered it is in God’s hand to do with what he will. It is no longer in your hands to improve a little more. ... His will is to work with offerings, not your perfections or your press clippings. Just leave it. You have lived your day; now leave it on the altar, an offering.
Eugene Peterson in Answering God. Christianity Today, Vol. 35, no. 4.
