How Should I Behave In Worship? Series

(Main ideas in this message from Ed Young of Fellowship Church)

Today I am concluding this series of talks on worship. I thought about calling today’s message--www.godon-line.com. The www stands for the wonderful world of worship. Because this series has been about connecting with the Lord. God has given us all the opportunity to have a relationship with him through Christ and once we make that decision, once that cosmic transaction takes place, everything in our lives should be about worship.

So today as we wrap up this whole process, I want us to think about how to behave in worship. Now you might thought I was going to talk about how you’re suppose to behave when you come to church here. I Have a video clip that explains all that.

[Show Highway Video Clip—“Custom Church”]

I could tell you how to worship when you come to the service here—whether you should sing loud or soft—raise your hands or not—say Amen,shout halleujah or stay quiet. But I can’t tell you how to do that. You’d probably do the opposite of what I’d tell you anyway. My first thought in working on these series was to discuss specific behaviors in worship services here.

But as this thing has developed, I’ve been prompted to talk about how to live everyday life. If you’ve been here for this discussion on worship I’ve suggested that worship is the way we live everyday—that we do here on Sunday morning is only practice—it is only the warm-up to way life is to be lived in relationship with God and other people in the everyday world.

You’re thinking perhaps, “You mean everything that I do should be an act of worship, everything I think? You are telling me that worship should transcend every facet of my life?”

Yes. That is what the scripture tells us. If you make the choice to be a believer in Jesus Christ, to mirror the majesty of your relationship with Him in everything you do and say and touch, it will transform and revolutionize your life. In a real way, our lives are kind of like this replica cubbyhole unit which I have had made for you to see.

How many of you remember back in kindergarten and elementary school, when you had those little cubbyholes? It is where you had your stuff. It was your compartment. Well, I have designed some cubbyholes.

Most of us, without even realizing it, compartmentalize or cubbyhole our lives. We look at our existence like this setup. We say our activities are here, our finances are here, our career is in this section, and our relationships are over there. We love cubbyholes. And God is confined and defined in this little cubbyhole. I go to church and bow the knee and worship Him and when I jump in my automobile and leave, I leave God at church in this little compartment, in His cubbyhole.

Biblical worship, says that while God is active, real and alive at church He also should transcend every part of our lives. Worship is focus on God, i.e., becoming intensely passionate about the person of Jesus Christ. It is responding to God, i.e., mirroring the majesty of the maker in everything. So if we just do the cubbyhole thing, we are missing out on the transformation and the power of worship.

You see worship is constructive. Worship is also destructive.

This, my friends, is a chainsaw. Worship is not always pleasant. And if you make the call to truly mirror the majesty of your maker, everything you do and say is going to be constructive but also destructive.

Let’s just for a second have this chainsaw represent worship. Here is what worship does when we are serious about it. (Takes chainsaw and saws through all the dividing walls in the cubbyhole unit.) Worship goes and it flows and it takes out all of the compartments. It transcends everything we do and everything we say.

So I have got my activities, my financial world, my career, my relationships all free from their cubbyholes. Maybe as you look at this demonstration you are saying, whoa, that really pinpoints my life. That is really what I am about.

I have done the clearing in my relationships and career, but in the finances and activity area, I still have some walls up. I need to go ahead and take them out. I need to truly unwrap the gift of worship and clear all of the clutter away.

Did I just describe your life? Or, are you trying to cubbyhole God? You will never be what you are wired up to be until you understand that you are wired for worship and allow worship to transcend every aspect of your life.

This morning I want to show you several things that worship will do and thus, what behavior comprises a worshipful lifestyle. Yes, it is destructive but it is also constructive and once we make the decision to chainsaw our lives, let me tell you what will happen.