August 17, 2008
Morning Worship
Text: John 4: 22-24
Subject: Worship
Title: Unchained to Worship
There are many worship styles in the church world. Some churches draw comfort in a worship services that never changes – the same style, the same method, the same routine week after week. I’m not saying there is anything wrong with that - it’s just not for me. There are a variety of responses in worship as well. Some sit, some stand, some raise their hands, others sit on their hands to keep them from raising, some shout, others remain silent. None of these re exclusively right and none are inherently wrong. They are just different. This much I do know. We are not tied down to any particular style or form of worship. The Bible is full of records of how different people worshiped the Lord in different ways. The Patriarchs built altars to worship every time God did something significant in their lives. Moses met with God in the Tent of Meeting. David danced before the Lord. The prophets fell on their faces as dead. Which one is right? All of them!
So if it doesn’t matter how you worship why am I preaching about worship? I don’t want to tell you today how to worship. I want to show you what frame of mind we need to be in when we worship and what we can expect to happen when we worship.
God has done great things for us that we can’t even begin to understand. The very creation which we are a part of, the intimate contact we can have with Him every day because of the wonderful gift of salvation He has given us, and the power He has poured out on us by the Holy Spirit all point to the fact that God loves us. So how do we respond to that? By worshipping Him! We give praise and thanksgiving, glory and honor to the living God.
I want to begin with a passage from John 4 today if you would turn there. This is the story of Jesus having a conversation with a woman at a well in Samaria. This is what He tells her about worship. 22You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.”
I want you to open your hearts today to hear what the scriptures say about worship and then prepare yourselves to worship the Father in Spirit and in truth.
Lord open my eyes to see and my ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to the church…
I. FREEDOM TO WORSHIP 2 Corinthians 3:17, Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. Let’s break that down and make it as clear as we can. The Lord is Spirit – The Holy Spirit is God, just like Jesus and the Father are God. – where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. In Exodus 34 it says, 29When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord… 33When Moses finished speaking to them, he put a veil over his face. 34But whenever he entered the LORD’S presence to speak with him, he removed the veil until he came out. And when he came out and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, 35they saw that his face was radiant. Then Moses would put the veil back over his face until he went in to speak with the LORD. When Moses was speaking to his fellow Israelites he felt compelled to cover his face with a veil so they couldn’t see that the glory was fading. But whenever he was in God’s presence the veil came off. At that point Moses did not have anything to hide. If Jesus said that we will worship the Father in Spirit and in truth that includes freedom to be ourselves and not hold anything back. The word translated “Freedom” comes from a root word that means, “unrestrained, to go at your own pleasure as a citizen and not a slave, to be exempt from obligation or liability.” If you are going to worship God in Spirit you are not bound to anyone’s interpretation of what freedom is. Those in the church who are rather outgoing in their worship cannot make you worship as they do. In the same way, those who are subdued in their worship cannot hold you back. In the Book of Revelation John said that He was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day. What does it mean to be in the Spirit? Here is my explanation. When you are focusing on who God is and all the marvelous things He has done you can get to the point where everything in the natural realm becomes just the opposite – it seems unreal or surreal. It is at that point that people begin to see visions. It is then that the Holy Spirit begins to pour out revelation and prophecy and knowledge. When that happens you now have the freedom to be yourself in the presence of God. It is at that place where God has you right where He wants you – in His presence – focused totally on Him. And when we see Him like that we worship! Maybe we’ll fall down. Maybe we bow or tremble in His presence. Maybe we shout. It doesn’t matter – there is freedom. Psalm 100, 1 Make a joyful shout to the LORD, all you lands! 2Serve the LORD with gladness; Come before His presence with singing. 3 Know that the LORD, He is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.4 Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. 5 For the LORD is good; His mercy is everlasting, And His truth endures to all generations. Worship the Lord in Spirit and in truth.
II. FREEDOM FROM THE WORLD. We know that the work of the cross was for our salvation and eternal life. Jesus set us free from the bondage of sin. Galatians 5:1, It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. This specifically talks about living in bondage to the law, which brings death. This applies to worship as well. We are not bound to any certain form of worship. We are set free to worship as we choose. Christ set us free from bondage so we can have freedom. Let me go off on a tangent for just a little while here. Not everything we see happening in church is specifically mentioned in the Bible. The idea of someone laying hands on another followed by their falling to the ground is not mentioned. The principle is there because when people encountered the power of God they often fell down. But just because something is not specifically mentioned in the Bible, i.e., being slain in the Spirit, doesn’t mean it is not from God. To judge if it is from God we have to look at the fruit of what has happened. Is the person edified? Is the church built up because of it? I have to believe that when someone is slain in the Spirit in the church many others receive the benefit from it. Does it change the life of the one to whom it has happened? Let’s look at worship the same way. If someone is shouting praises to the Lord are others built up? Is the individual edified? Is God glorified? The death and resurrection of Jesus has set us free and who ever the Son sets free is free indeed. Free to worship standing, sitting kneeling, or bowing. Free to shout, pray in the Spirit, cry or laugh. Free to sing in tongues or with understanding. We are not bound to any form of music or any style of worship. We are not bound by time limits or by location. We only become slaves when we fail to enter into God’s presence. Romans 6:16, 16Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey our culture changes. Music changes. What appeals to each generation changes. Does that mean hymns are irrelevant? Not irrelevant but maybe not as appealing to a younger generation! You’ve heard me say this before and you’ll probably hear me say it again – If the style of music determines whether you can worship God in Spirit and in truth or not, the problem isn’t the music. You need to just open your mouth and worship Him. Those outside the church still think we are a bunch of holy rollers. Praise God! We are not bound by what the world thinks. We’re bound by our relationship with Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit.
III. FREEDOM TO KNOW YOUR GOD. The psalmist wrote that God inhabits the praises of His people. If that is so, then we go back to our first point, “Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom.” If we worship in Spirit and in truth and God inhabits the praises of His people then when we worship we are creating an intimate atmosphere between God and us so that we can come to know him better. The more we worship the more He reveals Himself to us. 1 Corinthians 2:9-14, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him”— 10but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. When I teach about receiving the Baptism in the Holy Spirit one of the first things I tell people is to not pray in English when you are praying or worshiping. You see when you worship or pray with your native tongue human wisdom is involved, but when you are inwardly just groaning for the spirit to move and worshiping God from deep within the Spirit takes over. When you decide to allow Him to use your mouth, your lips, your tongue and your vocal chords Holy Ghost power will begin to flow within you and out of you. Daniel 11:32 in the NKJV says, The people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits. The word translated “know” has a variety of meanings in the Hebrew. “to acknowledge, to be acquainted with, to be aware, to be diligent, pay close attention to this last one. “to be endued with” Remember what Jesus said to His disciples back in Luke 24? 49I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed (endued) with power from on high.” Knowing God in His mighty power and living in that power is the greatest form of worship because that worship does not stop when you leave the church. It goes with you everywhere you go so that people take notice. A great example of this occurs in Acts 4:13 when John and Peter stood before the Jewish council. 13When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. Somebody say Amen!
You have the freedom to worship as you choose. What you choose is determined by the depth of your relationship with Him and your personality. If you don’t know Jesus you aren’t going to worship Him. If your relationship is not close you will be limited in your worship. But when you know Him the way he wants you to your worship experience will be everything you want it to be and more.
You have freedom from the world. You are not bound by the things of the natural realm. You can and should worship God by simply trusting what you know He can do. You are not bound to the natural realm. If you know Jesus you are a spiritual person. The Spirit man can tell the natural man, Get out of the way. I’m going to worship my God in Spirit and in truth.”
You have the freedom to know your God. The Bible is full of invitations from God to come closer to Him. Matthew 11,28“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Isaiah55, “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. John 6, 35Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.
Revelation 15:4, 4 Who will not fear you, O Lord,
and bring glory to your name?
For you alone are holy.
All nations will come
and worship before you,
for your righteous acts have been revealed.”
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.
You are free indeed.
