It’s been great to have Present Reality here in the service this morning, and they’re going to come back up in just a few minutes. So to that end, I’m not going to take very long this morning.
Over the past couple of weeks we’ve been talking about Worship and what some of the different elements of Worship are. We’ve talked about how Worship is being obedient to the Word of God and following the direction He gives to our lives. We’ve talked about how Worship is thankfulness and expressing gratitude to God for the variety of ways He blesses us. This morning we’re going to continue this series by talking about how Worship is Adoration. You can use the notes provided in your Sunrise Update this morning to follow along and fill in the blanks.
Worship is Adoration. When you get right to the very core of Worship, this is what you’ll find. Worship is first and foremost an expression of our love and adoration to a God who loved us first.
The author H.H. Rowley says;
“The first element in worship is adoration.”
~ H.H. Rowley
“Worship is pure adoration, the lifting up of the redeemed spirit toward God in contemplation of His holy perfection.”
~ Jerry Solomon
So over the next few minutes we’re going to talk about Worship as adoration, and we’ll look at why we should express adoration to God in the first place and some ideas on how we can do that.
Why Should I Express Adoration to God?
The reasons are many, but let me just give you a few…
1. Because of the many blessing of God.
What are some things that He has blessed you with?
PARTICIPATION
James 1:17 (NIV)
Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
As hard as life can be sometimes, the blessing of God are evident all around us if we’ll take the time to look.
2. Because He brings meaning and purpose to life.
Anyone catch 20/20 on ABC this past week? Barbara Walters had an interview with Angelina Jolie, and in the interview Barbara asked her about some of the self-destructive things Angelina Jolie has done in her life and why she did them. Angelina answered,
“I don’t know except that I didn’t have a sense of purpose. I felt so off-balance all the time. I remember one of the most upsetting times of my life was after I had maintained success, financial stability and I was in love, and I thought, ‘I have everything that they say you should have to be happy,’ and I’m not happy.”
~ Angelina Jolie
So now she’d adopted a child and she’s pouring herself into humanitarian efforts and all that’s good. But the fact is that our true meaning and purpose in life can only be discovered in the arms of our Creator. He brings meaning and purpose to our lives. And He has an incredible life planned out for each of us if we will come to Him, apologize for the many times we have hurt Him, and let Him know that we want to know Him and we’re going to trust the direction He gives to our lives.
Romans 8:28 (NLT)
And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.
God told the Israelites in the Old Testament:
Jeremiah 29:11 (NLT)
For I know the plans I have for you," says the LORD. "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.
And I believe He tells us the same thing today.
3. Because of His extreme love for me.
How extreme? Extreme enough to give His life for you. In many ways it’s a great mystery, but basically what it comes down to is this: We as a race had rebelled against God our Creator, and as a result we set ourselves on a course for death. But because of His great love for us, God became the man Jesus and gave His own life so that we could live. Let me tell you, that’s pretty extreme love. And when you realize what Jesus did for you and what He went through, how can you respond with any less than complete love and adoration?
Romans 5:6-9 (NLT)
When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. Now, no one is likely to die for a good person, though someone might be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s judgment.
How Do I Express Adoration to God?
A. Put God first in my life.
Whatever you love the most has first priority in your life.
Mark 12:30 (NLT)
And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.
“True worship can only take place when we agree to God sitting not only on His throne in the center of the universe, but on the throne that stands in the center of our heart.”
~ Robert Colman
Putting God first means that you form your values on the Word of God. It means that the decisions you make in life reflect His priorities. It means that your schedule allows time to spend speaking with Him and reading His Word. It means that above everything else you want to know Him more and more every day.
“In the end, worship can never be a performance, something you’re pretending or putting on. It’s got to be an overflow of your heart….. Worship is about getting personal with God, drawing close to God.”
~ Matt Redman
B. Do things that will make Him happy.
I mean, this is just common sense. If you love somebody, if you adore somebody, you’re not going to want to do things that hurt them. You’re going to do things that please them and make them happy. And this isn’t out of a sense of obligation, it’s out of a desire that you have to do whatever you can to please that person.
Last week was Thanksgiving. So we took off last Sunday afternoon to visit Shera’s family in Halifax. Did we have to go? No. Could we afford to go? Well, not really. But I knew how much Shera would enjoy visiting with her family and that it had been a while since she had that opportunity so we packed up and went. I suppose in a sense there’s an obligation for me to visit my in-laws, but that wasn’t the motivation. The motivation was to do something that would make my wife happy because I adore her. (Awwww.)
Jesus said:
John 14:15 (NLT)
“If you love me, obey my commandments.”
It’s not “if you’re afraid of me you will keep my commandments” or “if you feel a sense of duty you will keep my commandments.” It’s “If you love me…”
We’ve talked about this before: It’s not about a religion… it’s not about rules and regulations and a list of dos and don’ts… it’s about a relation that we can have with God and doing whatever we can to grow in that relationship.
C. Express my love freely and frequently.
If you love Jesus, don’t keep it a secret. Don’t be obnoxious about it, but don’t keep it a secret. Because you talk about people you love. My wife comes up in conversations all the time. She even pops up in sermons. You can’t help but talk about the people you love. And if you truly love God and adore Him, you’re going to want to talk about Him.
Hebrews 13:15 (NLT)
With Jesus’ help, let us continually offer our sacrifice of praise to God by proclaiming the glory of his name.
Luke 19:37-40 (NLT)
As they reached the place where the road started down from the Mount of Olives, all of his followers began to shout and sing as they walked along, praising God for all the wonderful miracles they had seen.
"Bless the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in highest heaven!"
But some of the Pharisees among the crowd said, "Teacher, rebuke your followers for saying things like that!"
He replied, "If they kept quiet, the stones along the road would burst into cheers!"
Don’t be outdone by a bunch of stones. Don’t let a rock group show you up. Express you love for God freely and frequently.
