Worship That Is Real Series

John 4:24

Introduction – I opened my Email. What great wealth of knowledge would be arriving today? Along with the list of other things was an urgent message, forwarded to me by a well-meaning friend. “Beware of the new petition to remove religious broadcasting from the airways. Madeline O’Hair is at it again!” I sent back a note that Madeline O’Hair has been dead for several years now, and, with a little research, was able to track the history of the E-rumor and show why it was false.

There didn’t used to be E-rumors, only because there didn’t used to be Email. But, as soon as it was in use, so were the falsehoods.

With a little help from “TruthorFiction.com” I would like to relieve you of some worries today. Even though it was on the internet, these things just aren’t true:

• Liz Claiborne is not actually a Satanist who gives proceeds to Satanism.

• There is not a toilet paper shortage because of brush fires in California.

• Gel candles are not exploding and causing injuries.

• You don’t need to avoid sweets at bedtime because ants will invade your brain.

• There are no spy cameras inside digital TV converter boxes.

• Canadian Research has not proven that rubbing Vicks on the feet cures coughing.

• Cell phones have not caused explosions at gas stations.

• Listerine does not chase away mosquitoes (only people).

• Pepsi did not decide to remove the words "Under God" from a patriotic soft drink can.

• A new coin called the "Amero" Is not being minted as the future currency of the U.S.A

With the amassing and dispersion of information in our age, you have to be careful of phonies.

You know what? The Church has battled phony worship for centuries. It was once said that there were enough splinters from the cross to build 40 crosses! I was once on a short-term mission trip in Heiligenkreuz, Austria. Heiligenkreuz means “holy cross.” It’s named this because, in the 900 yr old monastery there is a relic of the cross, supposedly.

Martin Luther wrote, "What lies there are about relics! One claims to have a feather from the wing of the angel Gabriel, and the Bishop of Mainz has a flame from Moses' burning bush. And how does it happen that 18 apostles are buried in Germany when Christ had only 12?"

There's a search for a real worship experience out there.

Quote - A. W. Tozer, The Missing Jewel of the Evangelical Church - "Worship is the missing jewel in modern Evangelicalism. We're organized, we work, we have our agencies. We have almost everything, but there's one thing that the churches, even the gospel churches, do not have: that is the ability to worship. We are not cultivating the art of worship. It's the shining gem that is lost to the modern church, and I believe that we ought to search for this until we find it."

Ill – Back in 1978 Mario Rubio, rolling a burrito, notices skillet burns on a tortilla resembling the face of Jesus Christ. Shortly thereafter, 8,000 curious pilgrims trek to the Rubios' small stucco house in rural New Mexico to view the sacred icon. Mrs. Rubio leaves her house unlocked so that visitors may freely enter and examine “Jesus of the tortilla.”

2004, Fred Whan burns a fishstick making dinner, and what should appear but the face of Jesus? He hoped to auction it off and make some money. After all, it wasn’t long before that the face of the virgin Mary appeared on a grilled cheese sandwich, and its owner, Diana Duyser had bids as high as $22,000 on Ebay for it. – plenty of phony worship out there, isn’t there?

I have heard people say of a certain event they attended, "I just feel like I really worshiped! That's real worship!"

I'm very interested: What is real worship? I don't want a phony! I want the real thing. When have I really worshiped? What will happen if I do? How can I tell? What will it look like? I don't want to be hypocritical. I want to know what real worship is and how I can make sure it happens for me. So I want to make 3 comparisons today. The 3rd one is where we’ll spend most of our time.

Let's compare real worship with the fake...

I. Real Worship Comes From Me. Counterfeit Worship Only Happens to Me.

There are two main NT words that have to do with worship. One means "To kiss toward" or "to kiss the hand." The other means "to give honor to someone."

By its definition, worship is something you do, not something that's done to you. Worship has to be active, not passive. If you think you've worshiped, but you haven't involved yourself in giving something, what you're involved in is a counterfeit. It's possible to have the trappings of worship, but to miss the substance of it.