What Are You Worshipping Series

A Ukulele, a songbook, a Frisbee, a toothbrush, a deck of playing cards, a guitar, bongo drums and a bible. Kind of a strange collection, but they all have one thing in common. They were luxury items that contestants from early episodes of survivor were allowed to take with them into the competition. They don’t get luxury items now, but from the looks of the contestants each week I have a sneaking suspicion that someone is sneaking grooming aids onto the island.

So during the early days of survivor each of the contestants had to a certain degree decide what one thing they couldn’t do without for thirty nine days.

What would it be for you, pictures of your family? Something to amuse yourself with? A musical instrument? Or maybe you’d be like the gentlemen who took his bible with him. Although it wouldn’t be fair to ask you here in church what you’d take with you. I’m sure we’d all be taking our bibles. Kind of like the little boy in Sunday School Class, the teacher asked “What’s grey, lives in a tree has a bushy tail and gathers nuts?” the boy thought for a minute and said “It sure sounds like a squirrel but I’m betting the answer is Jesus.” So you are thinking “I know what I’d like to take but this morning I’m betting the answer is my Bible.”

There are many ways to determine what it is that is the most important thing in our life, for those who had to make a decision about what one thing they couldn’t or wouldn’t do without it was fairly obvious. For some it was family so they took a picture of their kids with them. For others it was recreation, a Frisbee a deck of playing cards or an instrument. In at least one case it was a bible. For that person, he was publicly declaring that the one thing he couldn’t or wouldn’t do with out was his connection to God.

Last week we began our, “40 Days of Purpose” campaign. And we started by talking about God’s motive for creating you: You were created to be loved by God. That is ultimately what on earth you’re here for... God is love, and He loves you.

But beyond that, God has five purposes for your life. And today, we’re going to look at the first of those five purposes. Revelation 4:11b “You (God) created everything, and it is for your pleasure that they exist and were created.” And so the first reason we are here, our first purpose if you will, is: We Were Created For God’s Pleasure.

In the scripture that Mike read earlier Jesus was asked by a man what was required for eternal life, and this was his answer: Mark 12:29-30 Jesus replied, “The most important commandment is this: ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’ Which coincidently is also our memory verse for this week.

Jesus said that is the most important commandment, if you can only do one, this is it. This is the one that you don’t want to miss. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength. So we were created to be loved by God and the first purpose in our lives is to love him back. He should be the most important thing in our life. If we had to pick the one item that we couldn’t or wouldn’t do without it has to be God.

And there is a word for what we do when we love God that way and that is “Worship”. We worship God. Goes all the way back to the first book in the Bible, Genesis 4:26 When Seth grew up, he had a son and named him Enosh. It was during his lifetime that people first began to worship the LORD.

If we go all the way back to the beginning of the story you realize that Adam and Eve were created to be in fellowship with God. There was a direct connection and they deliberately rebelled and walked away from the relationship. And after they were banished from the Garden of Eden we have no idea what type of relationship they had with their creator. But it’s not very long into history that we read those words about their grandson Enosh, it was during his lifetime that people said “We need to have that relationship with the one who created us.” And they began to worship God. But what does that mean?

Does it mean that they started having church and part of that was the “Worship” service? Did they have drums and guitars and keyboards and sang songs by Matt Redman and Chris Tomlin, or did they have an organ and piano and sing hymns? Was it contemporary worship or more traditional worship?