IT’S NOT ABOUT ME!
Hebrews 13.15-16
S: Worship
Th: His power, His work – in us!
Pr: POWERFULLY EXPRESS GOD’S GREATNESS!
?: How? How do we do it?
KW: Actions
TS: We will find in our study of Hebrews 13.15-16 two actions that demonstrate how we can powerfully express God’s greatness.
Type: Propositional
The ____ action is…
I. PROCLAIMING
II. DOING
PA: How is the change to be observed?
• Worship persistently every day (continual – don’t stop!)
• Give costly praise (sacrifice)
• Communicate graciously so to make sense.
• Allow God’s greatness to transform your heart.
• Prove God’s Presence by showing love.
• Demonstrate God’s goodness.
Version: ESV
RMBC 07 October 07 AM
Powerpoint available...
INTRODUCTION:
Over 4,000…
This is what I estimate to be the amount of worship services that I have gone to since I was a baby.
And if I eliminate the times that I was in the nursery, junior church, or I was teaching junior church, then I probably have listened to over 3,500 sermons.
Some of you who that have some years on me will have higher numbers.
And so I ask the question…
1. Has worship ever done you any good?
I like to think that out of all the services that I have been to, that some of them might have done me some good.
Now, I don’t know if I should ask your opinion in that, because I am afraid of what you might say about whether they did me any good.
But I will say this…
If you think I am bad now, you should have seen me before!
So, has going to worship services done you any good?
It is a good question.
There is, however, a better question…
2. More importantly, has your worship been pleasing to God?
When we consider the worship that we find in the Old Testament, there was a prescribed system that the Israelites were asked to adhere to.
It was a system whose goal was to engender heartfelt worship.
But much of the time, that was not the result.
In fact, God complains that they would come to the altar, participate in the sacrifices, but they would leave unchallenged and unchanged.
The liturgy became important to them, but it was more a matter of appearance as opposed to the heart.
And every time they went through the motions, it was evidence of spiritual immaturity…
ILL Worship (H)
It reminds me of an older sister was sitting next to her younger brother in church one Sunday morning and she was unsuccessfully trying to keep him still and quiet. Finally she said, “I wish you would calm down.”
“I can’t”, he said, “it’s just so boring.”
With that his sister turned and said, “Now shush, it’s supposed to be boring.”
Worship is not supposed to be boring.
But neither is to be entertainment.
At its core, worship is to be a deep respect for the holiness, majesty, and power of God in our midst.
When we come to worship, it is time for and about God.
So then…
3. Over and over again, I need to be reminded that worship is not about me.
It’s not about me!!!
Sometimes we may be tempted to come out of a service and say, “I didn’t get anything out of church.”
But here is the real question, “What did you give God?”
And, “How was your heart prepared to give?”
If you come away from church having scrutinized the choir, the worship team, the organist, the sound, the ushers, and the message, you miss the point of being here, or any service of worship.
We are here to give God glory, not to get some feeling and blessing.
But here is the truth that corresponds to it…
When we give God glory, that this is really what is on our heart, God will bless us in response to our worship of Him.
We will recognize His presence as we have recognized the truth about Him and ourselves.
Let’s get our worship right.
Because it is not about me and you…
It is about our Lord and Savior…
It is about God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.
So, we have a responsibility.
It is to…
4. POWERFULLY EXPRESS GOD’S GREATNESS!
Powerfully express God’s greatness!
We are not to offer wimpy expressions.
They are to be powerful.
We are not to say in some kind of milquetoast approach, “Oh, how great God is…” [say this blandly]
This is exciting news.
We have a great God!
We have a fantastic Savior!
We have a tremendous Lord!
We need to express this powerfully and not allow ourselves to be distracted.
But this is the very thing that has happened to us as a church.
One of the things that we have discovered in our survey is all this emphasis about worship styles and preferences has gotten us off track.
It has become a distraction.
We have lost track of why we are here.
We have come into this room with the goal of being blessed, when it should be on our heart to bless God.
In anyway I have misled you in this, I offer my sincerest apologies.
It was not my intention for us to end up feeling so divided in our worship.
In fact, it was my hope that we would be united in our approach.
Instead, we have ended up distracted about why we are here.
We have been distracted from powerfully expressing God’s greatness.
But we need give attention to this assignment of powerfully expressing God’s greatness.
We need to be constantly communicating about the wonders of God.
5. Why? God wants more (John 4.23).
Jesus explains this in the gospel of John when He says…
But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.
God wants more worshippers.
God wants more people knowing Him and the blessing of being in relationship with Him.
God wants more people in His kingdom.
He is not willing that any perish.
So please see this…
If we really want to worship and honor God, we will seek out more worshippers.
We won’t settle for what we have.
We will seek for more to come.
We will let go of our preoccupation with forms because they are making us forget what God really wants.
He wants more.
We will powerfully express God’s greatness so that more people will participate in the worship of Him.
Now we come to our study and we will find in Hebrews 13.15-16 two actions that demonstrate how we can powerfully express God’s greatness.
OUR STUDY:
Here is the text…
Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.
I. The first action is PROCLAIMING.
We are to…
6. Worship persistently every day.
We are to continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God.
Don’t stop!
It is to be a steady, never ending stream.
It is like Niagara Falls.
There are millions of gallons that rush over those cataracts every day.
Yet, for every drop that falls another is waiting to take its place.
It just keeps coming!
But when it comes to our worship, it is not water going down, it is our praises rising up.
We are to continually yield up an offering of praise.
Now, here is the thing that we need to understand at this point.
If we only worship on Sunday, we are in trouble.
We cannot be powerfully expressing God’s greatness if we only do it on Sunday.
If it is to be continual, it is also to be Monday through Saturday.
It is everyday.
It is anywhere.
We are to have lives that worship persistently and continually.
The implications of this are profound.
For if our personal focus on worship is primarily the Sunday morning service (what we are doing right now), we will struggle to live out our faith throughout the week.
Our relationship with God and our worship of Him is to be a constant – it is always to be there – so that as we come together, we will have the right perspective of what we are about as a church.
ILL Worship (S)
John Fisher in In Search of Experience expresses this well..
It’s our life, not a worship service, that will make us worshippers. We don’t go to church to worship; we go to church because we are already worshippers. And if someone is a true worshipper, which means their whole life is an act of worship, then what happens for thirty minutes of music once a week is a small thing indeed.
Again, worship is not about me.
It is not about the way I prefer to worship God.
Worship is about a heart that gives to God.
It is about the fellowship of believers giving unity of voice.
It is about being one powerful expression of how great God is and the great things He continues to do.
It is about desiring more worshippers of Jesus and seeing that we do all that we can to see more come into the kingdom.
But note this, for this to happen, we must…
7. Give costly praise.
The text tells us that we are to offer a sacrifice of praise.
In other words, it is to cost us something.
It sounds like a nice phrase to us, but I don’t think we understand the full import of those words.
ILL Cost (H)
As an insurance agent, Don Calvin found that young drivers were one of the most dif¬ficult groups to insure because of the high cost. Recently a 19-year-old who had just gotten an expensive new car came into the office to apply for cover¬age. After filling out the necessary paper work, he cringed as he told her it would cost "twelve seventy-five."
When the young woman replied, "I don’t have any checks, but I do have cash," he was stunned that she would have $1,275 on her person. She then handed him a $20 bill.
I am sure it was a wakeup call to her when she discovered that she had not counted the cost correctly.
We need to acknowledge what God has done for us.
But it is more than acknowledging it, it is telling the good news.
He is worthy of praise.
It must be told here (church)
It must be reinforced at home.
It must be proclaimed on the street.
It is to be a sacrifice of praise.
But there is more, for we are to…
8. Communicate graciously so to make sense (Psalm 96.3; I Corinthians 14.23-25).
Note what the Psalmist says…
Declare his glory among the nations, His marvelous works among all the peoples!
The Israelites were not to be satisfied to celebrate God just within the covenant community.
God wanted His glory and goodness and greatness to be declared to all nations.
In other words, we are to powerfully express God’s greatness to those that do not know about it.
Paul was concerned about that in the church in Corinth as there were believers using the spiritual gift of tongues (in other words, speaking in another language) indiscriminately.
It was causing confusion.
If, therefore, the whole church comes together and all speak in tongues, and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are out of your minds? But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all, the secrets of his heart are disclosed, and so, falling on his face, he will worship God and declare that God is really among you.
According to Paul, when believers get together, it was to make sense to those that were hearing, and especially to those that did not believe.
Why?
Because the Father is seeking worshippers, right?
We are to make sense in this room because we are to be eager for unbelievers to be drawn into a genuine worship of God.
This is practical, folks.
Those on the inside must care about those on the outside and strive to include them.
We need to be aware of seekers in our midst.
They are looking for solutions to life.
We need to pay attention to the experience of our guests, and make sure, that as we powerfully express God’s greatness, that it makes sense – that it reaches into their hearts.
We don’t give up on the truth of Scripture.
We don’t give up on our doctrinal statement.
But we do work to make these things understandable and accessible.
Let’s worship with joy!
Because we do our mission an injustice if we do not do it joyfully.
Unbelievers watch us worship.
They observe the joy that we feel.
They see how we value God’s Word and how we respond to it.
They hear how the Bible answers the problems and questions of life.
They notice how worship encourages, strengthens and changes us.
They sense when God is supernaturally moving in a service, even though they don’t know how to explain it.
Let’s do something extremely practical at this every moment.
Let’s powerfully express God’s greatness by singing, “Holy! Holy! Holy!”
[sing hymn]
9. What happens when you sing “Holy! Holy! Holy!”?
For many of you this is a favorite hymn.
Why?
Why do you sing it with such energy?
[come down and get some response]
We need to understand that worship is an essential part of God’s strategy for building His kingdom and drawing others to it.
So we come to the second action that enables us to powerfully express God’s greatness…
II. The second action is DOING.
Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.
Worship is everything we do in life.
It is not even closely limited to just what we do in church.
The way we treat people is an act of worship.
The way we talk is an act of worship.
So to get this right, we need to allow…
10. Allow God’s greatness to transform your heart (Romans 12.1-2).
Note the language of worship in what Paul writes in his letter to the Romans…
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
When we become convinced of God’s greatness and His love penetrates into our soul, our motivation changes.
We no longer live for self.
No, we offer ourselves as a living sacrifice.
We live to serve.
It is a life of worship.
So…
11. Prove God’s Presence by showing love.
God’s presence is not wrapped up in a physical building that is made up of brick and mortar.
It is a personal building.
It is you and me.
And we powerfully express God’s greatness when we love each other…
When we love our neighbor…
Even when we love our enemies…
When we love, it communicates God’s greatness.
When an unbeliever experiences an act of love from a Christian, it is a powerful expression of God’s greatness.
And as he/she turns to the Lord, the Lord opens the spiritual ears that have previously been unable to hear, which includes the ability to hear God saying, "I love you!"
It happens, because a believer, like you and me, has dared to worship God by communicating His greatness through love.
Finally…
12. Demonstrate God’s goodness.
When we act with kindness…
When we act with compassion…
When we act with generosity….
When we give of ourselves…
We powerfully express the greatness of God.
ILL Giving (S)
Winston Churchill once said…
“You make a living by what you get...you make a life by what you give.”
If you want you to make the most of your God-given life, give it back to God, and powerfully express His greatness in worship, by proclaiming it and doing it.
FOR FURTHER STUDY: Psalm 34.1-4; Isaiah 6.1-8; Acts 2.42-47; I Corinthians 6.19; Colossians 3.17; I Thessalonians 5.17
BENEDICTION:
We have just had the opportunity to powerfully express God’s greatness as we have sung “Holy! Holy! Holy!” and taken an offering.
They have been opportunities for us to respond to how great God is.
But it is not good enough.
Our worship is not complete unless we do it outside these walls as well.
So proclaim His greatness – it is an act of worship;
And demonstrate His greatness – by loving and sharing – for these too are acts of worship.
Then we will truly be loving God with all our heart, soul and mind.
After the service is concluded and the postlude is finished, I will return to the platform.
If you have any need of prayer, I will be available to you.
Perhaps, you would like to know what it is to live a life of faith…
Or perhaps, you know that you have not been living your faith as you should, and you would appreciate prayer…
Or perhaps you have some other prayer need – physical or spiritual, please feel free to come up.
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
COMMUNION:
READ PSALM 51
Those of us that know Jesus are invited to share in the elements of the table.
You do not have to be a member of this church to partake, but we do ask that you have a relationship with Jesus.
If you do not know Jesus, that is, you have not received Him as your Savior and Lord, you do not trust Him with your life, that is, you have not been changed by the message, just let the elements pass by.
Please wait until the time comes when you do have that personal relationship with the Lord Jesus.
We practice “communion” because we are to remember the death of the Lord Jesus.
We take the bread to remind us that it was by the body of our Savior that our salvation came.
He died in our place.
He became our substitute.
Being led in prayer by ____, let us take a moment and thank Him for being our sacrifice.
(Prayer)
The apostle Paul writes, "The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me."
Let’s partake together.
We take the cup to remind us that it was by the blood of our Savior that our salvation came.
He died for our sins.
He became our sacrifice.
It is here we rejoice in the forgiveness we have received.
____ will now come and lead us in prayer.
Again, the apostle Paul writes, "In the same way, after supper he took the cup saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me."
Let’s partake together.
II Peter 3:18
Now…grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.
RESOURCES:
SermonCentral:
Anselmi, Jeffery What Do I Get Out of Worship?
Branham, Glenn Continuous Praise
Decker, Paul Worship: The Privilege of Perspective
Patrick, Leland Improve Your Life through Worship
Smith, Joseph The Changing Church and the Changeless Christ
Snyder, Eric A Sacrifice of Praise
Stacy, Rick Why Do We Sing?
Other Sources:
MacArthur, John F. "The Other Six Days of the Week." Moody, February 1987, 62-66.
Pipes, Keith, and Carol Pipes. Three Suggestions for Evangelistic Worship. 2005. Accessed 23 Aug 2005. Available from http://www.pastors.com/RWMT/?ID=216&artid=8452&expand=1.
Roberts, Mark D. "Should Worship Be Seeker-Sensitive?" Worship Leader, September/October 2001, 36-39.
Warren, Rick. The Evangelistic Power of Worship. 2003. Accessed 23 April 2003. Available from http://www.pastors.com/RWMT/?ID=99&artid=3983&expand=1.
Wiersbe, Warren W. "There’s No Substitute for Worship." Moody, February 1987, 63-67.
Wilson, Kent R. "Monday Morning Worship." Discipleship Journal1992, 26-29.
