The way of a worshiper
We worship through Music – Psalm 110:2
We worship through Prayer - Luke 2:36-37
We worship through sacrifice - Isa 19:21
We worship through serving - Luke 4:8
We worship through obedience – Romans 12:1
Slide
Intro
Last week we spoke of the Way of Worship, What exactly God is looking for when we worship Him.
We saw that we need to worship
in Spirit,
in Truth and
by choice.
When we are doing all of those things, it glorifies the Lord and we are truly worshiping.
This week, though I want to talk about
how we express that worship to Him.
Practically, what does worshiping in spirit and truth look like.
How do we show love for someone.
Find out what they like, not what we like.
As we talk about these things, we need to keep in mind that
the acts themselves are not worship
the acts are only ways of expressing true worship.
if these acts are not in spirit and truth, they are not even expressing worship.
This is where the Jews got tripped up.
They did some of the right things, but they were just acts done by men.
Matthew 15:7-9
7 You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:
8 "’These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
9 They worship me in vain;
their teachings are but rules taught by men.’"
(from New International Version)
Now it is important that we know what the Bible has to say about how worshiping in Spirit and truth manifests itself so that God is glorified, but we need to be cautious that we don’t just start doing the actions of worship without the heart and mind involved.
So, even as we discuss these things, we need to keep that in mind.
Today, we are not going to just be looking at one passage of Scripture, but looking throughout the Bible as to how the people of the Bible expressed worship to the Lord, so that we might also learn to express ourselves in a way that honors and glorifies the Lord.
One of the major ways we express our worship to the Lord is when
We Worship through Music
Slide
But is that a biblical way of expressing worship?
Actually it is.
Psalm 100:2 says
Slide
Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.
Throughout the Scriptures we see music and song used to worship the Lord.
In fact the many of the psalms are the lyrics of songs of worship to the Lord.
We see God
praised for who He is.
Praised for what He has done.
We see God acknowledged as the true God
We see God relied on as the only hope
Those are expressions of worship that glorify the Lord.
We find those same expressions in many hymns.
But the same is true of many contemporary songs today.
It is not the style of music that makes something worship,
it is the lyrics that make it worship.
What do the lyrics have to say?
Is God the object of the Song?
Does it give Him honor and glory?
Does it acknowledge Him as God?
Does it praise Him for His works?
Those are the types of things we need to ask about the music we sing.
These are the types of things expressed in the singing and songs we see throughout Scripture when the people worshiped with music.
Moses and the Israelites – Red Sea
When Moses and the Israelites crossed the Red Sea on dry ground and God destroyed the Egyptians, they worshiped with song
Exodus 14:29-15:2 (p. 50)
29 But the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. 30 That day the LORD saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore. 31 And when the Israelites saw the great power the LORD displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant.
15:1 Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the LORD:
"I will sing to the LORD,
for he is highly exalted.
The horse and its rider
he has hurled into the sea.
2 The LORD is my strength and my song;
he has become my salvation.
He is my God, and I will praise him,
my father’s God, and I will exalt him.
(from New International Version)
Hezekiah becomes King
When Hezekiah became King they returned to worshiping the Lord God, and they worshiped with music,
2 Chronicles 29:27-30 (p. 327)
27 Hezekiah gave the order to sacrifice the burnt offering on the altar. As the offering began, singing to the LORD began also, accompanied by trumpets and the instruments of David king of Israel. 28 The whole assembly bowed in worship, while the singers sang and the trumpeters played. All this continued until the sacrifice of the burnt offering was completed.
29 When the offerings were finished, the king and everyone present with him knelt down and worshiped. 30 King Hezekiah and his officials ordered the Levites to praise the LORD with the words of David and of Asaph the seer. So they sang praises with gladness and bowed their heads and worshiped.
(from New International Version)
Worshiping with Music has been one way throughout history that people have expressed their worship to the Lord.
There is something about words set to a tune that allows us to express our worship with words and emotions in a way that just words alone sometimes does not allow us to do.
While this is a good and biblical way to worship, this is far from the only way we need to express ourselves in worship.
This has been the problem with many people and with many churches.
They only worship through music.
While we want to continue to worship through music, let’s not confuse worship with only music.
Music is only one way that we express our worship.
What other ways we need to express worship to the Lord if not through music?
Another way is when
We Worship through Prayer
Slide
Luke 2:36-37
There was also a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, 37 and then was a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying.
When we pray we are worshiping the Lord also.
When we pray, basically, we are saying,
Lord, You are the one who has the ability to help.
You are the One who is powerful enough.
There is no other place to turn that could provide the help that only You can give.
We are acknowledging
His power and
His love
In the psalms, if it is not a song of worship, it is a prayer of worship.
It is calling out to God for help and acknowledging that He is the only One who can.
So we are worshiping when we pray.
Another way we express worship is when
We worship through Sacrifice
Slide
Isaiah 19:21
So the LORD will make himself known to the Egyptians, and in that day they will acknowledge the LORD. They will worship with sacrifices and grain offerings
We worship with Sacrifices.
When we make sacrifice to the Lord, we are worshiping Him with that action.
If you look in our bulletin, you will see an outline of our worship service.
Notice that one of those lines says we worship through giving or our sacrifices.
As you give back a portion to the Lord, it should be worship.
How do you know if it is worship or not?
What is in your mind and heart as you give?
“Gee, why do I have to give so much?”
“Why does this church take up an offering, don’t they trust the Lord to provide?”
Or is it,
“Thank you Lord for your incredible blessings. I am delighted to give back a portion to you.”
That is worshiping through sacrifice.
Cain and Abel
We see even all the way back to Genesis 4 that our sacrifices and offerings could either be
an act of true worship or
something that was truly worthless.
Genesis 4:3-5
3 In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD. 4 But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, 5 but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.
It says that Cain brought Some fruit.
He did not bring the best part.
He just brought any old fruit that was lying around.
That is not an act of worship.
That is something that is done grudgingly and because he feels he has to.
We see that Abel brought fat portions (the best part) from the first born.
He did not give leftovers, but the best of the first parts he received.
It was an act of worship,
because he was saying by his act that He trusted the Lord to provide all that he needed.
He could freely give the first and best portion to God because he trusted Him.
That is worship.
Application
Are you worshiping the Lord by your sacrifice and giving?
Are you giving grudgingly?
Are you giving based on what you have left at the end of a week or month?
Or
Are you giving with a glad heart?
Are you giving sacrificially, trusting the Lord to provide for you?
Are you giving a tithe of the first fruits of your income?
We worship the Lord when we give sacrificially.
We worship the Lord as we give from the heart.
We worship the Lord when we trust Him to provide for us and not our money.
I want you to ask yourself, are my sacrifices and offerings worship.
If you can’t answer yes,
My advice then is to give in such a way,
That you are sacrificing and giving of the first fruits which is saying that I am trusting you Lord to provide for my needs and see how the Lord provides!
Then you will be worshiping through sacrifice.
Another way
We Worship through Service
Slide
Luke 4:8
’Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’"
We express our worship through our service.
Service and worship go hand in hand.
We saw last week that there are Greek and Hebrew words that can be translated as either serve or worship.
Are you serving the Lord?
If you are not, you are not fully worshiping the Lord.
Serving can be in a variety of ways, but they all involve serving others.
We serve God by serving others.
You can serve here at church
You can serve your neighbors.
You can serve those you work with.
But take a step of service so that you can fully be worshiping the Lord.
Finally, the last thing way we worship that I want to talk about goes with serving.
It is when
We Worship through Obedience
Slide
Romans 12:1
1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God-this is your spiritual act of worship.
That offering of your body is giving yourself completely to God to do what He wants. That is obedience.
That is worship.
When we do the things that God wants us to do even when they may be hard to do, we are saying we trust the Lord even if we don’t understand. That is worship.
Abraham is a good example of worshiping through obedience.
God had promised Abraham that through Isaac all the promises that God gave him would be fulfilled.
But then God told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac.
Genesis 22:3-5
3 Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5 He said to his servants, "Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you."
We will worship, he said. We will obey the Lord. We trust in Him even if I don’t understand.
Do you worship the Lord through your obedience?
Or do you do what the Lord wants
only if you want.
only if you think it will be fun
only if you think it will make you happy.
The truth of the matter is that sometimes obedience will be very hard, but in the long run it will always bring joy. Always.
Worship the Lord through your obedience so you can experience the joy of the Lord.
Conclusion
In the end, we see that there are many ways that we express worship to the Lord.
But ultimately we worship the Lord by living each day for Him.
When everything we do is about Him, we are worshiping.
We work unto the Lord
We eat unto the Lord
We have relationships unto the Lord.
Yes, we benefit from each of those things as well, but when our heart is focused on the Lord in all of our living, that is when we are truly worshiping.
We are going to be closing in a song, Heart of worship.
Simon come up.
Make this your prayer to the Lord so that you can keep your whole life “all about Him”
But maybe, you are here today and have never completely put your trust in Jesus Christ as your Savior.
It is impossible to truly be a worshiper of God without Trusting in His Son.
John 5:23
He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father
If you truly want to worship God Almighty, then start by honoring the Son by receiving Him as your personal Savior.
How do you do that?
Recognize your sin.
Acknowledge Jesus as the Savior.
Know that He died for your sins and
Rose again from the dead after 3 days.
And tell God that you believe in Him for the salvation of you soul.
If you want to become a worshiper of the one true God, then pray with me now.
Pray.
Let’s stand and sing and make this your prayer as well.
Sing.
