The JOY of Worship - What Others Get from your worship - Ps 96
Gladstone Baptist Church - 20/2/05 pm
Over the next 3 weeks we are beginning a series on "The JOY of Worship." This is the first of 5 series we will be undertaking during the year to unpack our mission statement.
Who knows our Mission Statement?
"Through our WORSHIP, WITNESS and WORKS OF SERVICE, we aim to reach people with the good news of Jesus and lead them to MATURITY in the FAMILY of God"
The five purposes are contained in this mission statement and every couple of months, we will be taking 4 services to unpack one of these purposes a bit more and try to figure out how it works itself out in the life of our church
The first purpose we see in our mission statement is WORSHIP and so this is the topic for us over the next 3 weeks.
We’ve entitled this series "The JOY of Worship" for a specific reason. The word JOY is often used in Christian circles as an Acronym for Jesus, Others & Yourself. Did you know that Jesus or God gets something when we worship? He does. Did you know that Other people get something when we worship? They do. Did you know that we also get something when we worship? You do.
So This is what we are going to be looking at over the next 3 weeks -
Tonight : The JOY of Worship - What Others get from your worship.
Next Sunday Morning : The JOY of Worship - What is Worship?
Sunday 6th March am : The JOY of Worship - What Jesus & God get from your worship.
Sunday 6th March pm : The JOY of Worship - What You get from your worship.
Sounds interesting doesn’t it - I hope that you’ll be able to be with us for all 4 messages and really begin to grasp the importance of worship and what it means to worship JOY-fully.
Pray:
Definition of Worship :
Before we launch into trying to figure out what Others get from your worship, we have to define some terms. Probably the key one is the term worship. What is worship?
Let us start by making a list of the ways we can worship God ...
I’d like to show you a video clip we made during the 40 Days of Purpose in which we asked many of the members of this congregation when they feel closest to God ...
Now just because I walk on the beach, doesn’t mean I am worshipping God, does it. No. So let’s make a list of key ingredients in worship ... What constitutes worship?
We are going to talk a lot more about this next Sunday morning, but for now, what I want you to understand is that worship is far more than just singing.
Rick Warren in our Purpose Driven Life Book defines Worship as Surrender. It is a life surrendered to God. Another definition is this “Worship: taking everything that we have and laying it at God’s feet.” The meaning of the Hebrew word for worship is to BOW DOWN or fall down before someone more worthy. If you are a servant with a life surrendered to someone, you serve them physically. With worship, surrendering to God is a choice we make, so that we serve not just with our bodies physically, we serve with our mind or attitudes. We choose to serve God so our heart’s attitude to God is one of surrender.
Worship can encompass our spiritual, our physical, our social and financial lives. We learnt during the 40 days of purpose that we should ““Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” Mark 12:30. Our love and the expression of this should be all encompassing. There shouldn’t be any boundaries to how we live out our surrendered lives.
Worshipping God is the act of living in surrender. It is a VERB - something we do. Unfortunately we have made it a NOUN. E.g. I attended worship today. No you didn’t. You may have gone to church, but you probably didn’t worship. Worship is not an event so much as an action. You do not go to church to worship, you take your worship to church. Don’t come to church to worship, bring your worship to church.
And how do we do this - You are limited by your imagination. Everything we do in life should be worship, because every part of life should be lived in surrender to God. What we do at home is worship. What we do at work is worship. How we spend our money should be worship. How we spend our free time should be worship. Even the time we spend during the sermon should be worship.
That is why we believe that worship is important for us as a church. That is why it appears first in our mission statement. It is the act of living lives that are surrendered to God which is of first and foremost importance.
So that is God’s definition of worship and that is what we are talking about in this series.
Now onto our question for tonight. What do Others get from your worship?
1) Benefit to your church family - They’ll be built up :
First let me talk about the benefits to other Christians. When you worship God, you BUILD OTHERS UP. That is what the word edify means.
Jesus said that the greatest commandment was to worship - “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” Mark 12:30
The second greatest is to “Love your neighbour as yourself” When we give our lives in surrender to God, we do what he wants us to do. We serve Him, we obey Him. What would God have us do? Love God and Love others. When we worship God, love for others naturally flows and that builds them up.
When you live a life of surrender to God, you bless others because
- you will put their needs before your own.
- You will encourage one another,
- You will care for one another.
- You will forgive one another.
- You will protect one another.
- You serve them
This is in essence what FELLOWSHIP and works of service (or MINISTRY) is all about. When you are a worshipping people, you actually fellowship and minister. You are led into 2 of our other purposes by simply worshipping God truely.
Lets face it, even by you being here each Sunday - you are encouraging others and building them up. Your presence at church or a prayer meeting or a home group tells them that God is important in your life and that they are too. When ever someone makes the effort to come to church or a prayer meeting even though they have just finished night shift, they are an encouragement to me. When ever someone makes the effort to come to church or a prayer meeting even though their spouse disapproves of it, they are an encouragement to me. By you just being here, you mininster to each other.
When we worship God, others in the church will benefit because real worship works its way out practically in our life and it impacts others in a positive way. It build up the body.
Are you upset with others in this church family? Are you refusing to forgive someone else in this building now? Are you refusing to serve members of this congregation because of some falling out you have had in the past? Are you refusing to live in community with them? If this is you, you are not building up othes in the church body and , I would suggest that you can’t be really worshipping God. To worship God, is to surrender your whole life to him. To worship God is to become his instrument of blessing to others. To worship God is to edify or build up His church through fellowship and ministry. .
2) Benefit to people outside the church - They’ll be brought in :
While our worship benefits those in our church family by building them up, it also has some benefits for those not in our church. If you have your Bibles there, open them up to Ps 96. This is a Psalm all about worship. It is about a psalm which mentions specifically worship in the form of singing, proclamation and giving offerings. We know that there are so many more ways to worship than that. Listen to it as I read it and see what the benefit of our worship is to those outside the church. I’ll give you a hint - The Psalmist uses the code word “nations” when he talks about those who were not a part of the believing community of the Israelites ...
Psalm 96
1 Sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth.
2 Sing to the LORD, praise his name; proclaim his salvation day after day.
3 Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples.
4 For great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; he is to be feared above all gods.
5 For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the LORD made the heavens.
6 Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and glory are in his sanctuary.
7 Ascribe to the LORD, O families of nations, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.
8 Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; bring an offering and come into his courts.
9 Worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness; tremble before him, all the earth.
10 Say among the nations, “The LORD reigns.”
The world is firmly established, it cannot be moved; he will judge the peoples with equity.
11 Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let the sea resound, and all that is in it;
12 let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them. Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy;
13 they will sing before the LORD, for he comes, he comes to judge the earth.
He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in his truth.
What is the benefit to the nations, to those who don’t believe in God when we worship; when we live our lives in surrender to God? They are BROUGHT IN. Brought into fellowship with God through reconciliation. Brought into the church family through repentance. Through our worship, they find out about God and his glory and his salvation and the fact that he is trustworthy. In short, they are brought into the family of God.
Does that surprise you? That Worship and Witness are linked? Worshipping people are always witnessing people. You can’t be one without the other.
Warren Wiersbe has said “When the church gathers to worship, it also gathers to witness.” I firmly believe that when ever you worship, you are bearing a testimony to those around about you.
The Psalmists knew this well.
Turn over to Ps 9:11 David says
“Sing praises to the LORD, enthroned in Zion; proclaim among the nations what he has done.
Turn over a couple of pages to Ps 18:49 David says that because God is a great God who delivers him from all his enemies
“Therefore I will praise you among the nations, O LORD; I will sing praises to your name.”
Now turn to Ps 145:8-12 David says this ...
8 The LORD is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love.
9 The LORD is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made.
10 All you have made will praise you, O LORD; your saints will extol you.
11 They will tell of the glory of your kingdom and speak of your might,
12 so that all men may know of your mighty acts and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.
We praise God and Extol Him so that all men may know about him and come to faith in Him.
Jesus linked Worship and Witness. Matt 5:14-16 ...
“You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.
In our Worship, we set ourselves apart for God’s service. We surrender our whole lives to Christ and live for Him. That is worship. It is not coming and singing a few songs. When we live sold out to God, we live lives that are radically different from those around about us. We stand out like white clothes in ultraviolet light. We can’t be missed because we are radiant. Jesus says - you are that way for a reason. Your lives of worship are meant to be like lights, ATTRACTING people towards it. They are meant to CHALLENGE those who are brought in from the dark. They are meant to LEAD THOSE PEOPLE into a relationship with God so that they might also praise His name.
What happens when you worship? Does some music come out of your mouth or are people attracted, challenged and led into relationship with God. True worship IMPACTS the world. Pretend worship is HIDDEN from the world.
How would you characterise your worship? Impacting or Hidden.
John Piper has said this and I was blown away by these words ...
“Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn’t. Worship is ultimate, not missions, because God is ultimate, not man. Missions is a temporary necessity but worship abides forever. Worship, therefore, is the fuel and goal of missions.
The most crucial issue in missions is the centrality of God in the life of the church. Where people are not stunned by the greatness of God, how can they be sent with the ringing message, "GREAT is the Lord and GREATLY to be praised; he is to be feared above all gods!" (Psalm 96:4)? Where passion for God is weak, zeal for missions will be weak. Churches that are not centered on the exaltation of the majesty and beauty of God will scarcely kindle a fervent desire to "declare his glory among the nations" (Psalm 96:3).”
I don’t believe that for an instant John Piper thinks we should abandon missionaries on the field or recall them or cease the work of spreading the gospel through our witness. What he is saying, is that we need missionaries and mission movements because we have failed to allow our worship to impact on the world. Do you grasp the gravity of that concept. We need missionaries and mission movements because we have failed to allow our worship to impact on the world. We have hidden our worship in church buildings rather than allowed it to shine brightly and impact the world. Because we are embarrassed by our worship; because our worship has become ineffective, so too has our witness. We have failed in our task of witnessing to others first and foremost because we have failed to worship God. That is why we need professional missionaries - because You and I are not worshipping in spirit and in truth.
John Piper says that worship is ultimate because God is ultimate. In our worship, we witness to others about the Greatness of God. Our worship should bring people to their knees in repentance.
Does it? Does your worship attract your work mates? Does it challenge your family members? Does it lead your friends into relationship with God?
If not, why not? Are you hiding your worship in a lamp or within the walls of this building. Our worship needs to break out of the shackles which we have placed on it. Worship is more than just singing some songs, it is living the life. The life of service, the life of surrender, the life of obedience. And if we are prepared to do this 24/7, then our worship will impact those around us. Those in the church will be built up and those outside the church will be brought in.
That is the O in the JOY of worship. Over the next 2 weeks, we are going to be looking at what God gets out of Worship and what We get out of worship. I hope that you will plan to be at each service and learn what it means to truly worship God.
