Sermon Central
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True Worship: The How? The Who? The Why? Series
Contributed by Joel Jacob on Mar 3, 2021 (message contributor)
Summary: True worship is defined by the priority we place on who God is in our lives and where God is on our list of priorities. True worship is a matter of the heart expressed through a lifestyle of holiness.
1. Worship: How do we approach it?
Years ago when the billionaire Howard Hughes died, his company’s public relations director asked the casinos in Las Vegas, where Hughes owned multiple casinos, to show him respect by giving him a minute of silence. For an uncomfortable sixty seconds, the casinos fell eerily silent. Then a pit boss looked at his watch, leaned forward, and whispered, “Okay, roll the dice. He’s had his minute.”
Can’t help but wonder if sometimes we treat God as those gamblers in Las Vegas treated Howard Hughes. We interrupt our busy schedules once a week, rush into the church, give God “His hour,” and then forget about Him and get back to what we’d rather be doing.
Worship is not the slow song that the choir sings. Worship is not the amount you place in the offering basket. Worship is not volunteering in church activity. Yes, these may be acts or expressions of worship, but they do not define what true worship really is. There are numerous definitions of the word worship. True worship, in other words, is defined by the priority we place on who God is in our lives and where God is on our list of priorities. True worship is a matter of the heart expressed through a lifestyle of holiness. Thus, if your lifestyle does not express the beauty of holiness through an extravagant or exaggerated love for God, and you do not live in extreme or excessive submission to God, then make worship a non-negotiable priority in your life.
“Worship is not an event, it’s a lifestyle”
When we say we are true worshippers, our lives must show it. Our character shows our true worship. What happens on stage is an overflow of what happens in our lives. And when we encourage people to worship God, how true are we to ourselves? Are we in the right place to say it, when our lives don’t have true worship? If I don’t truly worship, how can I help somebody else in worship? When I’m not in the right relationship with God, how can I tell somebody else to love God? When I’m not praising him with my life, how can I tell somebody else to praise God?
It all starts from within. The revival that you want to see in others, begins from you.
“How can I lead the path, when I myself are lost?”
God is seeking worshipers who will bring Him glory, not just for an hour on Sunday, but every day through all their activities. We can’t properly worship God on Sundays if we’re not worshiping Him throughout the week. Since God is seeking true worshipers who worship Him in spirit and truth, we should make it our priority to become such worshipers.
The responsibility of those who lead the corporate worship is huge. We are accountable to both people and more important to God who called you. When we are not in a right place with God, we are not being true to ourselves and to God.
And when we make a choice to be strongly rooted in the word, to throw away all the sinful nature of our heart and to focus on God and live our lives in complete dedication to the one who called us, that is when true worship emanates from your life, that is when you can lead the congregation into true worship, that is when revival begins, that is when you become a true worshipper.
If that is the case, ask ourselves, am I a true worshipper? If the answer is not in your favor, then it's time to make some changes, because you are accountable to those who chose you to be in this position and more importantly you are accountable to God who found you worthy.
Let’s live a life pleasing to God and blameless before men.
Wherever we are, can we take a moment to ask God to help us become true worshippers? To give us the grace to carry out our responsibilities and to efficiently use our talents in a way that will bring glory to God and blessing to men. Commit our lives for true worship.
2. Worship: Who do we do it with?
We worship the same God. We celebrate the same Saviour. We sing the same song. But we’re all different, we come from different upbringings, different social setups, different cultural backgrounds, different religious understandings and we all come together to worship the same God. The God we worship doesn’t see us like that, we are all equally loved by God.
And when we are called by this God into a union, we must also be like Jesus who showed us the model of how to love each other and to take care of one another. Loving one another is a command by Jesus. When we love one another there’s the true worship that happens. How can you worship God when you don’t love your neighbor? How can you lead others into worship when you are bitter about your fellow brother or sister? How can you encourage the congregation to worship when you’re jealous of a fellow believer's life? How can you bring heaven down when you have grudge against the one sitting next to you? Wake up each day and let love take you over. When love takes you over, you become a true worshipper.
