Sermon: Created To Worship
Main Idea: The reason we exist is to allow our lives be an offering of Worship to God.
The Question: Why were we created?
Series Intro: Today we are beginning a new series of messages from the Bible regarding a very controversial issue. The way in which people worship has been a hot topic since the beginning of time. Since creation there has been a continual effort of humankind to worship the creator.
The methods and acts of worship have been as diverse as the people who have thought them up. Worshipping the sun, the moon, the heavenly entities. Worship of the trees and rocks and animals. The worship of a multitude of god’s almost too hard to count.
But the challenge of proper worship is not just an issue of ancient history. It is also an issue for us today as we struggle to know what and how worship is to take place.
A.W. Tozer wrote, back in the 1940’s before we had worship teams and theater lights, and cushioned pews the following:
“It is certainly true that hardly anything is missing from our churches these days – except the most important thing. We are missing genuine and sacred offering of ourselves and our worship to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
In the next 6 weeks we are going to move back and forth from the classroom to the lab. We are going to learn and put into practice, principles from the Scriptures that will teach us what God wants from us in the way of worship.
Intro: Have you ever seen the Antique Road show where they ask people to name the use of some antique tool? I thought we might see how good you folks are this morning.
What was this tool created for? Well, it could be used for …
But what did its designer have in mind when he or she created it?
It is always best to use a tool for the job it was created for. It is possible to use any tool for other applications, but the best use, the most gratifying, most efficient use is found in applying the tool to the task it was designed for.
The same is true for us!
Unfortunately what we see too often today is that people aren’t exactly clear on what they were created for.
Why were you and I created?
So why? What is God’s reason for creating you and me? Why did He create Neil Olcott? Put your name in that question. Why did He create ?
I. We Are Created To Be First And Foremost, Worshippers.
A. Humanity was created to worship. (Rev. 4:9-11)
1. We know from Scripture that we are not accidents.
a) God knew us in our mother’s womb.
b) He knew us before we were conceived.
c) We have been and continue to be part of God’s plan for all eternity.
d) God created you and me and all of us with great planning and forethought.
2. We know from the Bible that we are different from all the rest of creation in that we are created in God’s image.
a) Not physically because the Bible says God is Spirit.
b) We are created in God’s image in that we have the ability to reason and think complex thoughts and we have the ability to worship God! No other of God’s creation can worship as we can.
3. As a matter of fact, we see in the book of Revelation that life here and now is in preparation for an eternity of worship.
a) Worship is to bring Glory to God and our task for eternity is to worship God.
b) Another way to express that is to give glory to God.
Revelation 4:9-11 (NIV)
9 Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever,
10 the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne, and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say:
11 "You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being."
4. So if that is to be our eternal emphasis, then it makes sense that we would learn to do it well here.
a) But does that mean we practice for an hour on Sunday?
b) Is worship that brings glory to God something that we participate in at a practice session each Sunday?
5. Interestingly, the Bible tells us that God desires that every aspect of our lives be done so as to be an act of worship to Him in giving Him glory. (I Corinthians 10: 31)
a) In this verse God is saying that even the most menial, routine, everyday things we do without even giving it much thought, must be done so as to glorify God.
b) b) We are to bring Glory to God in everything.
6. That is what we were created for!
7. If Adam and Eve had not fallen in the garden then worship would have been the most natural thing to humans in the world because that is why God made us.
a) Worship is unnatural only in the sense that so few people really know how to worship.
b) Worship is what God meant us to do, to worship Him and enjoy Him forever.
c) Like those tools we looked at earlier, we were carefully designed and crafted by God to be first and foremost worshippers.
B. God is seeking worshipers. (John 4: 23, II Chronicles 16: 9)
1. In John 4:23 we find Jesus speaking with the woman at the well.
a) She asks the Lord, the creator of heaven and Earth, the sustainer of all things a question about worship.
b) Our Lord answers her that a worshipper that the Father seeks is one that worships in Spirit and truth!
c) We will look at what it means to worship in Spirit and truth in future messages, but for today, just focus your thoughts on the fact that The heavenly Father seeks worshippers!
2. How could it be that God would seek anything?
a) He created all things and owns all things and yet there is one thing He seeks after!
b) Yours and my worship!
c) The owner of all that exists wants our worship to such an extent that he seeks it!
3. Another passage that speaks of God’s looking for those who will rightly worship Him is found in 2 Chron. 16:9.
2 Chronicles 16:9 (NIV)
9 For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him."
a) In other words, God is on the hunt.
b) He is looking and seeking those who will be true worshipers of Him.
Trans: But He not only has created us to be worshippers, and seeks us out, we also see from Scripture that He calls us to worship Him.
C. God calls us to worship. (Psalm 29: 2, Psalm 95: 6 – 7)
Psalms 29:1-2 (NIV)
1 Ascribe to the LORD, O mighty ones, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.
2 Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness.
Psalms 29:2 (NKJV)
2 Give unto the Lord the glory due to His name; Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.
1. God calls to us and invites us to come and worship Him.
a) He doesn’t need our worship to be God.
b) But He delights in our worship because He is worthy of it and our worship demonstrates our acknowledgement of just who HE is.
c) Our communion with God is made complete and perfect in our act of worship.
2. The moment you and I truly, sincerely enter into God honoring, God glorifying worship, we are suddenly given the best possible view of who God is and what He desires for us.
a) It is not in our service to Him, although serving in the name of Jesus is important.
b) Jesus didn’t redeem us to make us workers, He redeemed us to make us worshipers.
c) And then out of the blazing worship of our hearts springs our work.
d) It is not in our evangelistic efforts, although God delights to see a person far from God come into new life with Him.
e) No, the one thing that transfigures us into the closest ideal of what we are meant to be in the context of a living God is found in those unfortunately rare but wonderful moments of true worship.
3. Another passage that demonstrates God’s invitation to come worship Him is found in Psalm 95:6-7
Psalms 95:6-7 (NIV)
6 Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker; 7 for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care.
a) Perfection of the order of how things are meant to be is found in our worship.
b) He is our God, our maker, we are His people…it is just and proper that we would be worshippers of Him.
4. If everything hadn’t gone wrong in the garden, then God’s invitation to come worship Him wouldn’t be necessary, but because of the Fall we must be reminded of how things should be.
a) We should be active, vibrant, participating worshippers!
b) This is to be the very definition of who we are.
Trans: So we see that we were created to worship. So why is it so hard for us to do. Why do we find it a struggle to worship? Perhaps we should begin at the beginning with a definition of worship.
II. We Can Only Be True Worshipers Of God as We Know What God Intended Worship To Be.
A. There are many false ideas of what worship is. (Acts 16:23-26)
1. These wrong ideas are often influenced by our sinful nature and our cultural influences.
a) We tend to equate worship with our other experiences in life.
b) So, worship is held up along side our experiences of similar activities.
c) Sometimes we mistakenly borrow from the theater and come expecting to be entertained by the folks up on the platform.
d) Or we compare worship to some event we go to that engages us at some level and we find ourselves emotionally invested. The result is we think that our worship should always be emotional.
e) Or we compartmentalize worship and it is only for one hour on Sundays.
2. We approach worship with the same attitude we approach many things in life.
a) With a “wait and see what’s in it for me?”
b) And as a result we find people feeling let down and bored in worship because it doesn’t meet their errant expectations.
ILL. Another great quote from Tozer is: “If worship bores you, you are not ready for heaven.”
3. The truth is that, yes, some worship services are more inspiring than others.
a) Some can seem more like a funeral than a celebration of who God is.
b) Some can seem so chaotic and bombastic that you can’t hear yourself think.
4. But ultimately, we who are made to worship, can and should be able to worship almost anywhere at any time.
a) We have the seed of worship in each of us and we choose to let it take root in us or not.
b) We can choose to worship in any situation.
5. One worship service in the Bible that is rarely mentioned took place in the most difficult of places.
a) Surely, the place of worship didn’t have a fragrance of fine incense but instead reeked of human excrement.
b) The worshippers were not provided nice comfy pews with cushions.
c) The music wasn’t with fine instruments.
d) The worship wasn’t finely programmed to end at the one hour mark but rather went on long into the night.
e) We find the worshippers shackled together in a prison cell with a future as bleak as can be.
Acts 16:23-26 (NIV)
23 After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully.
24 Upon receiving such orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.
25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.
26 Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everybody’s chains came loose.
6. Part of our problem in being able to worship is our wrong understanding of what worship is supposed to be and instead of going from church to church looking for the best show in town, we need to seek a better definition of worship!
B. The English word – worship – is from the word worth.
1. Worship means to accord God (the only one worthy of worship) proper recognition of His greatness and value (or worth).
2. The main Hebrew word for worship shahah means to bow down, to prostrate oneself in order to do homage to God.
3. The Greek word proskuneo means to kiss toward or to kiss the hand of. – like blowing a kiss.
4. Putting it all together.
a) Worship involves all that we are – our attitudes, emotions, actions, mind and will.
b) Worship is to be our priority for life.
c) It is the total adoring response of all that man is to all that the one eternal God is and does.
d) In worship we recognize and adore God, revealed in the person of Jesus Christ, and seek by the power of His Spirit to give God the glory, honor, praise, submission and service which He deserves.
ILL. Author John Piper wrote: There are two great passions in the universe: God’s passion to be glorified and man’s passion to be satisfied. However, these two do not need to conflict. They can come to simultaneous fulfillment through worship, because God is most glorified in me when I am most satisfied in Him alone.
5. In worship we are occupied with God.
a) In prayer we are occupied with our needs and the needs of others.
b) In thanksgiving we are occupied with our blessings.
c) In worship we are occupied with Him.
6. Worship could be considered “a continual pre-occupation with God.”
a) During the day we commune with God and there is always the potential of our constant communion with Him into the preoccupation of worship.
b) Sunday Morning is preoccupation.
c) During the week we need to multi-task and live our lives, but when we worship, it is mono-tasking – a pre-occupation with God and Him alone.
III. The Results Of Biblical Worship Is Total Satisfaction.
A. The Father Is Satisfied. (John 4: 23, Proverbs 15: 8, Psalm 141: 2)
1. When there is true worship the Father is satisfied.
2. God has found what He seeks.
Proverbs 15:8 (NIV)
8 The LORD detests the sacrifice of the wicked, but the prayer of the upright pleases him.
Psalms 141:2 (NIV)
2 May my prayer be set before you like incense; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice.
a) We have seen that God is pleased with our sincere prayer and worship.
b) He enjoys our worship like a fine fragrance.
B. The worshiper is satisfied. (Psalm 42: 1 – 2, Psalm 27: 4, Psalm 21: 6, Psalm 16: 11, Psalm 65: 4, I Peter 1: 8, Acts 2: 25 – 28, Psalm 73)
1. Our highest joy is found in worship.
a) When we take a serious look at our greatest needs we realize that we are people who are seeking.
b) The Psalmist knew of this seeking and he knew what would bring satisfaction.
Psalms 42:1-2 (NIV)
1 As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?
2. This hunger for satisfaction with life is only truly realized and satisfied in communion, in worship with God.
Psalms 27:4 (NIV)
4 One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.
3. Being in the presence of God through worship is what satisfies our deepest desires.
Psalms 16:11 (NIV)
11 You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
4. When we worship properly we are transformed into the likeness of God. (Our complete transformation will take place at the end of the age when we will see Jesus face to face.)
Conclusion:
We have this very interesting clothes rack at our house. It does a fabulous job of holding clothes. It can hold a lot of clothes. What is really neat is that it also has a dual purpose. It can also be used as a tread mill! Who ever came up with the idea and design of a clothes rack that also can be plugged in and used as a treadmill …. Genius!
As we look around this room, as we look in the mirror, we may see an instrument that can do many things. Sometimes we can even do several things at the same time! But I want to encourage us today to not be like my clothes rack at home.
My treadmill became more appropriately called a clothes rack because that is what it does more than being a treadmill.
Let me ask us today to consider what we are. Because of what we spend most of our time doing, are we something other than what God designed us for?
We mustn’t allow ourselves to be twisted and changed into a purpose other than the one we were primarily intended to be.
1. So we have learned today from the Bible that we were carefully designed and created to worship!
2. We also have learned that there is absolutely no point in this life that you and I can come any closer to perfection, total sanctification than when we are worshipping with a sincere heart. In those moments when we are pre-occupied with God and all the outside distractions are pushed aside and it’s just us and God. That is when we are nearest, this side of heaven, to being exactly what God wants us to be!
That is why it is so important for you and me to get this right!
NEXT STEPS:
I pledge myself today to be an active student of worship.
I commit myself today to improve that which I was created for – worship.
I will be in prayer for our church as we work through this series on worship.
