Worship – It’s What We Do
Ted Malone was a radio personality in the western part of the United States. He started his career by reading poetry over the airways. Later he hosted variety shows and quiz shows. During World War II he became a war correspondent – providing human interest soldier stories for the listeners back home. Ted was born in 1908 and died in 1989.
During his broadcast years – Ted once got a letter from a shepherd in Idaho with an unusual request. The shepherd wrote, "Will you, on your broadcast, strike the note ’A’ for me on a piano for me? I’m a sheepherder way out here on a ranch, far away from a piano. The only comfort I have is my old violin. It’s all out of tune. Would you strike the note ’A’ so that I might get in tune?" Ted honored the shepherd’s request. Later Ted received a thank you note from the shepherd who said, "Now I’m in tune."
The purpose of worship is to enable us to keep tuned to the Good Shepherd.
Someone has said – that a church grows:
Clearer by Worship
Closer by Fellowship
Purer by Discipleship
Stronger by Ministry
Larger by Outreach
This is true of a church as well as an individual Christian. As we worship God – as we get in tune with God – our purpose in life should become clearer.
I believe that every church as well as every Christian should have a purpose statement. You should know why you are here – and be able to express it clearly. A great purpose statement is:
Love GOD, Love PEOPLE
This Purpose Statement comes from the Great Commandment which says:
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ’You shall love your
neighbor as yourself.” Matthew 22:37-39 (NKJV)
A purpose statement answers the question: Why am I here? I am here to love God and to love People. My vision statement explains how I am to show both my love to God and my love to people. It explains the question: What I am to do? My vision statement is:
Bring them in, Build them up, Train them up, Send them out.
That is exactly what Jesus did with His disciples. He brought them in. He built them up. He trained them up and He sent them out. This concept is based on the life of Christ but it is also found in the Great Commission – which says:
“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Matthew 28:19-20 (NKJV)
As we bring people into the fellowship, as we build people up through discipleship, as we train people to use their gifts, talents and personality in service to God through ministry and as we send people to witness to non-Christians we express our love for God and for people by our words and actions. Through our actions we become worshipers of God – because we are carrying out God’s commandments. Jesus said:
"If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” John 14:15 (NASV)
You see worshiping God – is to involve every aspect of our lives. Our words and our works. Our attitudes and our actions. Our positions and our possessions. We are worshipers – it is our character – it is our nature – it is our purpose. We are to express our love to God in everything we do. We are to share His love with others and in so doing – we are worshiping God. Today I want to look at four affects worship should have on the worshiper. The first affect is:
I. Worship adjusts my ATTITUDE toward God
Look with me at Psalm ninety five:
“O Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; Let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation.
Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms.
For the LORD is a great God, And a great King above all gods,
In whose hand are the depths of the earth; The peaks of the mountains are His also.
The sea is His, for it was He who made it; And His hands formed the dry land.
Come, let us worship and bow down; Let us kneel before the LORD our Maker.
For He is our God, And we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand.” Psalm 95:1-7 (NASV)
Folks – this Psalm is about attitude adjustment. When life comes crashing down – it is our tendency to emphasize the bad over the good. When this happens we need to learn from the Psalmist – that when life comes crashing down – we can come before God with a song of joy in our hearts and a shout of joy on our lips. God is our God and we are His people. He is the rock of our salvation. He is the alpha and the omega – He is the beginning and the end. He is our strength – our hope and our salvation. Praise God for who He is and who we are in Him. I am not worthless – valueless – a piece of trash. I have a purpose and the God of the universe loves me. He has said, “You are the people of my pasture – and you are the sheep in my hand.”
Folks we can all get down at time – but we must remember that God values us more than we sometimes value ourselves. How valuable are you? You are so valuable that God sent His only begotten son – Jesus – to die for you. That is how valuable you are.
The Psalmist realized that when you come into the presence of God there is fullness of joy! There is an adjustment of attitude. Instead of clinging to bitterness and anger there needed to be an attitude adjustment – saying that his God was bigger than anything that life can dish out. Faith is saying that God IS in control – no matter what you are going through. Worship should move us in that direction. Worship replaces resentment – fear or anger with joy as we worship the God of the universe
Some of you may be thinking – “Worship does not do that for me.” Look closer at Psalm ninety five – I want you to notice something here. Look at the main verbs in this passage. It tells us to “Come – sing – shout. All of these verbs are in the present tense. That means that we are to constantly be coming before the Lord – singing songs of praise and offering up shouts of joy. Worship is to be a way of life – not a once a week activity. We are to constantly rejoice in the presence of God – in our lives. The problem for some of us is that we limit our pursuit of God to Sunday morning worship. We’ve come to believe that this weekly experience was meant to infuse us with a joy that will sustain us for the rest of the week.
This reminds me of a little boy who lived out in the country in the 1880s. He had never seen a traveling circus, and one was coming to his town the next weekend. When he asked his father for permission to go, his dad said he could – provided that his chores were done.
Saturday morning came around. His work was finished so the little boy asked his father for some money so he could go to the circus. His dad reached down in his overalls and pulled out a dollar bill – the most money the boy had ever seen at one time. Off the little wide-eyed fellow went. As he approached the town, he saw people lining the streets. Peering through the crowd – the boy got his first glimpse of the circus. There were animals in cages, performers and a marching band. At the end of the procession a clown was seen bringing up the rear. The little boy was so excited that when the clown passed, he reached in his pocket and handed him the precious dollar bill. The boy had thought that he had seen the circus – where in fact he had only seen the circus parade.
Isn’t it sad that some people approach worship like the little boy. They come with the intent to worship God, but all they experience is the music, the singing, the prayers, and the preaching. They peer through the pews at all the activity and then turn to go home at 12:00 noon; thinking they have been to God’s house, but yet they missed the main event – a personal encounter with Jesus Christ!" Worship should adjust my attitude toward God – because it is an encounter with God.
II. Worship causes me to WALK closer to God
How many of you remember the story of Thomas in the New Testament? Thomas has also come to be known as doubting Thomas.
Do you remember why? Because when Jesus first appeared to the disciples – Thomas was not there – and he refused to believe them. The other disciples said, "We have seen the Lord!" But he said to them, "Unless I shall see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe." (John 20:25)
Do you remember what happened eight days later? Jesus showed up again and this time He said to Thomas, "Reach here your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand, and put it into My side; and be not unbelieving, but believing."
Do you remember response? Thomas answered and said to Him, "My Lord and my God!" (John 20:28)
From that point on the scripture never mentions that Thomas doubted again. In fact it even says that Thomas had to reach out his hand and touch at all. He saw – he encounter – he believed.
Folks – whenever we encounter Jesus – it should cause a closer walk with God. You see – worship is to be a life changing encounter with God.
III. Worship causes me to seek CLEANSING from God
One of the affects of worship is that it purifies us. Whenever we catch a glimpse of God’s holiness we are confronted with our own sinfulness. Why? Because God is so much different than we are. There is no sin, there is no impurity, there is no deceit, there is no dishonor, there is no shadow or false motives with God. He is totally pure. He is totally Holy. Look at what Isaiah tells us:
“In the year of King Uzziah’s death, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings; with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called out to another and said, "Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory." And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke. Then I said, "Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts." Then one of the seraphim flew to me, with a burning coal in his hand which he had taken from the altar with tongs. And he touched my mouth with it and said, "Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away, and your sin is forgiven." Isaiah 6:1-7 (NASV)
Isaiah as he encountered God is consumed by the Holiness of God. "Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory." But notice what happens to him – being exposed to the holiness of God – reveals his un-holiness. He cries out, "Woe to me! I am ruined. For I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty." And do you see what God does? God cleans him up! He fixes him up! He patches him up! That is what God does! He takes that which is broken and mends it. He takes that which is shattered and puts it back together. He takes that which is bent and straights it out. God is in the life change business. He takes that which is impure – and he makes it pure.
IV. Worship accesses the POWER of God
Look at what Jesus said:
"Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing.” John 15:4-5 (NASV)
Folks – Jesus says plainly – “apart from Me you can do nothing.” In God we have our strength. In God we have our power. In God we find our purpose. We must maintain a relationship with God in order to have His power in our lives. Acts chapter seventeen verse twenty eight says, “In Him we live and move and exist.” The King James version says it this way, “For in him we live, and move, and have our being.” In God we have our strength. In God we have our power. In God we find our purpose and the way to experiencing that power and strength is through the worship of God. We must maintain a close relationship with God in order to experience His power.
Have you ever tried to drive a car without gasoline? Have you ever tried to use a microwave without plugging it in? Have you ever tried to use a flashlight that has no batteries? Folks if there is no power – there is no power. You can’t fake it. The same is true of your spiritual life. If you are not connected to the vine – you have no source of life. Every branch that is disconnected – will die.
How does the branch bear fruit? Not by incessant effort for sunshine and air – nor by vain struggles for rain. It abides in the vine. In silent and undisturbed union with the vine it gains its strength. Blossoms and fruit appear as if it were spontaneous growth.
How then shall a Christian bear fruit? How then shall a Christian have strength? How then shall a Christian have power? By being connected to the One who gives all strength. By being connected to the one who is all powerful. By being connected to the one who is the giver of life. This connection comes through worship of a holy God. He is the vine and we are the branches – and unless we are connected to the vine – we have no power. Worship Him Today.
(I want to thank Kerry Bauman for his sermon The Accomplishments of Worship – which inspired this sermon.)
