HOOK:
Let me ask you a question: Why are you here tonight?
Several layers to the question:
Why are you here tonight?
Why are you here tonight?
Why are you here tonight?
Man is a religious being.
We live in a religious society.
For all that religion, society isn’t much different or changed.
To be effective, worship must have integrity. The worship in our churches will not reflect the presence of God until we worship Him “in spirit and in truth.” John 4
Worship can be defined as simply the truthful recognition of who God is. In talking about worship tonight, we will look at three aspects of who God is.
God …
(1) Deserves Reverence;
(2) Demands Responses; and
(3) Dispenses Rewards.
I. God Deserves Reverence.
Read Eccles. 5: 1 - 7
The main message of this passage is to “Fear God.” Solomon places this as an exclamation point at the end of this thought process. “Fear God.” This means a reverential respect for who God is. To worship with integrity we must acknowledge the truth of who God is.
“God is a spirit and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” John 4:24
A. verse 3 says “For God is in heaven …” This is a statement of God’s sovereignty, of His power and position as God.
Read Psalms 95 : 1 - 7.
B. Solomon presumes there will be worship. See verse 5: 1 - “when you go to the house of the Lord …”
Again, Solomon is going through the vanities of life and showing how doing things without emphasis on the way God has designed them is a source of nothing but emptiness.
Read Eccles. 3: 11 - 12.
God has designed us with the desire and need to worship. He has placed “eternity in their hearts.” Every person responds to fill that need with someone or something. That answers the question WHY we are here. We all have the desire to reach out to something meaningful or greater than us.
The converse also proves the point that God deserves reverence. The personal choice to refuse to worship God is devastating. The los of hope that occurs without knowing God is one that is so powerful it can drive the human heart. To be angry at God is a similar emotion. We all know someone who has this heart and it literally controls them in the negative as much as a heart for worship controls a believer.
The answer is clear to us when we look at it objectively. God is worthy of our reverence and worship and no other person or thing can take the place of God in our hearts.
II. God Demands Responses.
Read verse 4
We must recognize this about God in order to worship Him with integrity. If we acknowledge who God is - then we must respond to Him as HE DEMANDS.
This is the most misunderstood aspect of worship in our modern churches. Most everyone in church today would agree that God is God, but we just do not let that affect how we live our lives. We have lost the idea that worship is about God and not about us. We are:
• seeker sensitive
• we search for styles where we are comfortable
• we foist our tastes on others
• we think worship is an experience instead of a personal decision
• we judge others who do not worship the way we like to do
We do all of these things and are even mad about them and yet when Monday comes after Sunday we look just like everyone else. The statistics of divorce, pornography, bankruptcy, etc. look just like those who do not attend church for the most part. Why? Our worship is not a response to who God is. Moreover, when He speaks to us in church, we do not respond in repentance and brokenness. We do not follow through on our commitments of obedience. Our worship does not have integrity.
Patrick Morley has written:
“Cultural Christianity means to pursue the God we want instead of the God who is. It is the tendency to be shallow in our understanding of God, wanting Him to be more of a gentle grandfather type who spoils us and lets us have our own way. It is sensing a need for God, but on our own terms. It is wanting the God we have underlined in our Bibles without wanting the rest of Him, too. It is God relative instead of God absolute.”
Worship is not about us, it’s about God. It’s about acknowledging who He is. If we acknowledge Him, then we must also acknowledge His rules. You cannot - by definition - acknowledge God without acknowledging and following His rules for living.
Eccles. 3: 12 provides 2 ways in which we worship.
1. to rejoice
2. to do good
BOTH of these forms of worship are necessary.
Read Deut. 10:12-13; 11:1
A. Walk prudently.
This means understand what is happening. Do not just go to church, go through the motions and think you’ve done God a wild favor by coming to church.
B. Do not offer the sacrifice of fools.
A fool is someone who doesn’t fear God. One way this happened was to sacrifice without a repentant heart. Solomon built the Temple. He knew what was there.
When you walked through the Temple courtyard and into the Temple, you couldn’t walk very far without seeing an altar which reminded you of the existence of your sin and your need for repentance and atonement. We’ve lost that sense of brokenness and sorrow over our sin that is the beginning step in the process of coming to God in worship.
C. Do not be rash with your mouth or speak hastily.
Emotions are difficult to understand in the context of worship. Some people don’t show any emotion and others show too much. Much of the argument over worship style is really one about emotion. “I don’t feel right about this” “This bothers my spirit.” “That music only appeals to emotion.” “That is boring.”
We then make decisions, say Amen, etc. out of our comfort level. It hits us in a place where we are comfortable. We respond to what we like. This says we are doing something about us - not God.
Know and understand that when you tell God you are going to do something it is a serious matter. Do not “amen” when you know you do not believe it or intend to follow through. Do not sing loudly “I surrender all” when you have not. Do not commit during the invitation without understanding God expects you to be obedient to that commitment.
D. There must be a behavioral change.
Jesus said, “He it is who loves me who keeps my commandments.” Obedience is inextricably linked with worship. Worship includes service. This is why Solomon says that we are “to rejoice and to do good.”
III. God Dispenses Rewards.
Read Eccles. 5: 5 - 6
Solomon is clear that God will judge. All of scripture is clear that God will judge our actions. In fact, Solomon ends no only this passage reminding us that God will judge us, but he ends the entire book with this statement: “Fear God and keep His commandments’ for this is man’s all. For God will bring very work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or bad.” Eccles. 12:13-4
Tonight you entered a worship service. You were to come in prepared to hear, to learn. Now you have learned. You have learned that you are “on the hook” for what you have heard. God will dispense to you a reward for what you do with this information. This reward is determined by how you respond. Your response is a personal choice to reverence Him as God and therefore respond to Him or it will be a personal choice to reject His command or communication to you.
Why are you here tonight? Is it because you believe God has something for you? As we close with this final song, the question is simple: Are you going to worship with integrity?
