Summary: THe first in a series that looks at what worship really is. This sermon goes to the beginning when God and man walked in harmony.

Worship and Our Identity (part 1)

JCC 31.01.10 am

The first in a series on worship

This is the second of the 4 pillars we are to build in this church

Worship is a broad term we use in Church

We say it but don’t really understand the full meaning behind it

Some have said that it defies explanation

Illustration: Merriam-Webster defines worship as, “to honour or reverence as a divine being or supernatural power” or “to regard with great or extravagant respect, honour, or devotion”

Ill: William Temples says, “Worship is the submission of all our nature to God. It is the quickening of conscience by his holiness; the nourishment of mind with his truth; the purifying of imagination by his beauty; the opening of the heart to his love; the surrender of will to his purpose -- and all of this gathered up in adoration, the most selfless emotion of which our nature is capable and therefore the chief remedy for that self-centeredness which is our original sin and the source of all actual sin.”

Since I started searching the word about worship, I realise how little I know

What’s more frightening is the little I know of His presence

There have been intimate times which I cherish, but not enough

Times when I could tangibly touch Him

In the beginning:

God’s creation was very good

The human heart was in perfect harmony with God and all creation

The object of man’s desire was the Lord

Satan knew the powerful relationship that God had with man

After all he was said to be the worshipper before man or anything on earth was created

Read: Ez 28:13-17

The deepest desire of Satan after his fall was to ruin man’s relationship with the Lord

He understood what worshipping God really meant

After all, didn’t he also try and tempt Jesus to bow down and worship him?

We have no idea of the effect on our lives because of the fall of man

Many of us have forgotten the real purpose of our creation from God’s point of view

Whatever was created, was for Him

Rev 4:11 "You are worthy, O Lord, To receive glory and honour and power; For You created all things, And by Your will they exist and were created."

Tozer put it this way:

“God stood the first man on his feet and said, ‘Look around, this is all yours, and look at me, I am yours, and I’ll look at you and I’ll see in your face the reflection of my own glory. That is your end, that is why you were created, that you might worship me and enjoy me and glorify me and have me as yours forever’”

Do you realise Adam and Eve had something none of us have ever experienced?

Sinlessness

True intimacy with the creator, because nothing stood between them and Him

A deep awareness of who He is

An understanding of the mind of God

Freedom to partake with Him and just enjoy Him

They were perfectly beautiful in every way

Image a world where sin does not exist

Where the Lord doesn’t have to veil His face

Where He is your all in all

God came and walked among them

He came to them daily. Why? For the time of worship

We don’t read that God had this same relationship with the trees, or animals; just man and woman

Only Adam and Eve were able to give God what He desired=worship

Then it was lost in a moment of time

Adam and Eve lost the most precious thing there was

They spiritually died which meant they lost fellowship with the Lord

They grew old and ugly as sin took hold of them

They experienced pain, breakdown in family life, a son murdered, then physical death

By them seeing themselves and making coverings of fig leaves they started religion

And we still have the same problem today where man tries to cover his sinful nature

Fig leave religion where man relies on his own ways to cover himself and tries to please a God they cannot see, let alone hear

The foundation of true worship is to bring God pleasure and man in the sinful nature can never do that no matter how hard he may try

People say because of this one tragic event we now see the diseases and poverty, the hate and violence of men, the depravity of sinfulness in sexual perversion

But the real tragedy is that the purpose for being created was gone

Why do we now exist?

Man has no purpose without the Lord

There is nothing to live for without the Lord in your life

For eternity doesn’t start when we die and depart this earth, but it starts as soon as we find Him again

Or in reality, when He finds us

He seeks after His creation like there in the garden

When He finds us, He covers us

He covered Adam and Eve by killing the first animal

The first blood offering as a sign of what God now expected to cover sin

That blood covering is now our through the sacrifice of Christ, the Lamb of God

Image how they felt, having everything, and then having nothing

What was their biggest lose?

It wasn’t the garden, or the authority they had there

Many will say that we need to take back the authority they lost

But how many say we need to regain the relationship

The most important thing they lost was Him!

Losing Him means losing who you are

Illustration: A man wakes in hospital to find he has no recollection of who he is; all his identity is gone. He learns he was beaten and robbed and everything he had was taken from him. No one knows who he is or where he is from

This is what Satan did to the human race

He stole the identity that gave purpose

People walk around in a spiritual coma

They have no real idea who they are and why they exist

People search for the answers to their existence

They look in many places

They look into everything to try and satisfy that purpose and identity

Until Jesus enters the heart, there is the God shaped hole in every human being

Nothing can fill it, but Him

We have heard it so many times, but it is still true today

Again this is where religion steps in to try and fill the gap

All religion ever does is address the external condition but can never change the internal condition which is the root problem

Satan will offer and provide everything to prevent you from finding the true source of your identity

Your identity is in Christ, love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and body

The word of God calls us back to worship

The Holy Spirit calls out to us

Read: John 16:13-15

Verses like:

Ps 45:11 So the King will greatly desire your beauty; Because He is your Lord, worship Him

Ps 95:6 Oh come, let us worship and bow down; Let us kneel before the LORD our Maker

Is 6:3 And one cried to another and said: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!"

Constant worship filled the temple of God

Compare this to the church today

There is a love for everything but this

But you might say, ‘I love worshipping the lord’

Almost everything in our churches today passes for worship, yet we have to discern if it reflects the mind and nature of God

Does it please God?

There are rituals and routines, but a passion for Him and His presence is missing

I said last Thursday at the churches together meeting, 30 people turned out to the cinema they started at St. Mary’s, but only 5 of us turned up for the revival prayer meeting

Where are our priorities?

People will fill places like Vineyard and go for the music, the after service bar (which I’m sure William Booth would turn in his grave at)

Most people are looking for emotionalism

The next spiritual fix like a junky

Following after the next outpouring

Travelling miles even across the world to get it

When all the time, it should be within you

Is it a different Lord, a different Jesus?

Can Jesus not be found in the solitary places and the quiet places too?

Is the Holy Spirit only moving where there is noise and hype?

Is that your desire to get a ‘spiritual fix’

The prophets of Baal on Mt Carmel worked themselves into a frenzy

The religious people who served foreign gods had noisy orgies

I’m not saying we have to be quiet

I’m not saying we cannot make a joyful noise to the Lord

But let’s get the foundation right

Get back to God, not external things

True revival of worship will lead to an intensified manifestation of the presence and glory of God

I want that in my own life and in the life of this church

I don’t want religious rituals and observances

I’m not content with a glimpse of Him

I want everything Adam had in the beginning

And don’t tell me I can’t have it, because God says I can through Christ

I am spiritually alive to Him

I have purpose and identity in Him

I am a new creation

Redeemed by the blood of the lamb

Holy and acceptable in His sight

I can enter into His presence and into His courts with praise and worship

And so can you!

Don’t be robbed any longer

Don’t settle for second best when you have the best already

Anything other than spontaneous worship to the Lord is superficial and artificial

The day of Pentecost saw the out-pouring of the Spirit which was worshipping God

This is what turned the hearts of the people to ask, ‘what is this?’

It stirred up something within them they were searching for

And that was the reality and presence of the Lord in their heart

There was no worship leader other than the Spirit of God

No music, no planning

It restored the purpose of being a worshipper

Jesus said that the stones would cry out and worship if we didn’t

All creation is groaning and waiting for the true worshippers

The women at the well was faced with her religion in light of true worship

People have no idea where they are going, who they are, or where they have been

She said, ‘come see a man who told me everything I ever did’

She saw her identity was in Him

Her purpose was in Him

Not in the mountain, not in the religion she grew up in

Her religion did nothing to change her innermost being

The bible is filled with prophets, apostles and people testifying to the purpose of man is to sing His praises

Come and unashamedly enter His presence and worship Him

God placed a new song in your heart, an instrument that plays a symphony to Him

Can you hear it deep in your soul?

Isaac Watts wrote these words of a hymn: (1674-1748)

“I’ll praise my maker while I’ve breath;

And when my voice is lost in death,

Praise shall employ my nobler powers;

My days of praise shall ne’er be past,

While life, and thought, and being last,

Or immortality endures,”