Worship – What is Necessary?
Various Scriptures
July 25, 2010
NOTE: THE ME/WE/GOD/YOU/WE FORMAT IS FROM ANDY STANLEY'S BOOK, "COMMUNICATING FOR A CHANGE."
Introduction
Today’s service is going to be a bit different. But I’m guessing you’ve already figured that one out.
The most obvious “different-ness” is the sanctuary. The crosses are gone, the pulpit and the rest of the sanctuary furnishings are gone.
If I could have removed the baptistery and piano I would have done that as well.
Even the format of the sermon portion will be a bit different.
I usually use an outline format that I think helps me to communicate to you, but today it’s going to be a dialog.
I’ll be sharing some things, but I’m going to ask you to participate as we not only read some Scriptures aloud, but as I ask you some questions and wait for responses.
We’re going to talk about worship, but more than that, my hope is that we will worship, and all the more intentionally as we go without some of the trappings of our normal service.
By the way, this set-up isn’t permanent, so I don’t want you to panic.
I like having the cross, and the pulpit, if for no other reason than that it gives me a place to put my Bible and notes, although I could just as easily do that with a table or music stand, and to be totally honest, I feel like the prayer railing separates us too much and gives the impression that the people on the platform are somehow special, which I don’t believe at all.
But I want us to see that worship is not in the external things, but it is essentially an internal thing.
Allow me to start by reading this from Pastor Wesley Bishop, pastor of a Wesleyan Church in North Carolina:
Worship is a broad term. Some have said that it defies explanation. Merriam-Webster defines worship as, “to honor or reverence as a divine being or supernatural power” or “to regard with great or extravagant respect, honor, or devotion” following up with “to perform or take part in worship or an act of worship.”
Three thesaurus entries for worship include: revere, adore and love. Rick Warren in The Purpose-Driven Life says, “Anything you do that brings pleasure to God is an act of worship.”
Ralph Martin states, “Worship is the dramatic celebration of God in his supreme worth in such a manner that his worthiness becomes the norm and inspiration of human living.”
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.” (Pastor Wesley Bishop, from Greenville Wesleyan Church in Greenville, NC, from his sermon, “What is Worship?”. Sermoncentral.com)
The purpose of our time together is not to define worship, although it’s helpful to see that there is no standard definition for it.
The purpose of our time together is show you that it’s possible to worship when we don’t have all the trappings we’re used to having around us.
Because for many people, it’s not worship unless they’ve got all this kind of stuff around. And as we’re about to see, if you need that stuff, then you need examine your heart regarding what worship is all about.
Let’s start by reading this aloud together:
Worship Scripture #1
Revelation 5:11-14 –
11 Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. 12 In a loud voice they sang:
"Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!"
13 Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing:
"To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!"
14 The four living creatures said, "Amen," and the elders fell down and worshiped.
In this passage there is no mention of “Church furnishings” like pulpit, prayer railing, communion table, cross, flags, chairs, pews, hymnals or overhead projection.
So here’s the first question I want to ask you today: what do you think is essential in a worship service?
Not just based on this passage from Revelation, but just in your thoughts. What is necessary for a worship service to be a worship service?
Please don’t be afraid to answer. No one will laugh or argue with you.
I think you’ll be surprised by what others think is necessary, and you may find that you have a number of people who agree with you.
Sermon. What if there is no one able or willing to speak (or listen)?
Bibles. What if you are in a place where there is little or no access to Scripture because either it’s illegal to possess a Bible, or it hasn’t yet been translated into their language?
Or a blind person who can’t read Braille?
Singing and instruments. What about the person who is born deaf and has never heard a song and doesn’t know what singing is? Can they still worship? Of course they can!
Or the mute person who can’t sing?
Oftentimes I hear that the singing portion of the service is the “worship time.” I disagree entirely with that. Worship can and should happen during every portion of the service.
We don’t need a building.
Remember, while the Old Testament refers to the temple as the house of God, the New Testament is very explicit that we as believers are the temple of God.
There is no such thing as “the house of God” in terms of a church building, in the New Testament.
If you are a believer in Jesus, the Bible says you are the house of God.
When Jesus came, died, rose again, and ascended to heaven, He sent His Spirit to live where – in a building? No – He came to live in His new house – you and me – the Church.
This building isn’t the Church. We are the Church, and God lives and moves in us.
I’m grateful for this building, don’t get me wrong. And its beauty has been enhanced lately because of all the work that has gone into repairing, painting, and updating.
But there are plenty of people worshiping this week who will walk for hours to come to a place where there is no building or any shelter of any kind.
They’ll sit in the rain and wind because they are there not to “go to church.” They are there to worship.
I think you’ll agree that there are millions of people who go to church but who don’t worship.
Maybe that’s you. I know it’s been me from time to time, even since becoming your pastor. Still love me?
When my heart – my spirit – isn’t right for one reason or another, then I’m not worshiping in spirit, even though I’m in the church service.
Technology. Obviously the church worshiped just fine for the better part of two centuries without projection equipment.
And as we proved last week, we can get along just fine without it if necessary.
Other people.
“I don’t need to go to church – I can just worship by myself out in nature or in my home. I don’t need to be around people.”
That’s true. Technically.
There are instances in Scripture where one person worshiped alone and in private.
But when someone tells me they don’t need to go to church, it’s not usually because they’re resting on a Scriptural principle.
It’s usually an excuse to not go to church service for one reason or another, and it usually has more to do with their comfort and convenience than anything else.
The other end of this concern usually appears something like this:
“But Pastor! What about that verse that says we should not give up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing?”
That’s Hebrews 10:25, and it’s not a worship service verse, it’s a fellowship/encouragement verse.
“What about that verse that says where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I with them?”
That’s Matthew 18:20, and that’s not a worship service verse, either. I mentioned two weeks ago that that’s a verse about church discipline and how Jesus confirms the decision of the church leadership in regards to disciplining a member who sins.
And there are no specific commands that I can find in Scripture that tells us we must worship in a group to truly worship.
What about the single missionary among people who don’t yet know Jesus? Is he unable to worship until at least one of those people comes to Christ?
I don’t think you’ll find any sort of support for that notion in Scripture.
However, I think you can find support in Scripture and just in human history that the act of worship is often a group event, and that “solo” worship is generally unheard of where other believers are in close proximity.
Okay, so we don’t need Bibles, music, technology, and even other people to worship.
All of these things can aid in our worship, but none of these are necessary to worship.
So what is actually necessary for worship to happen, for a worship service to happen?
The only thing really necessary is this: people who express their love, adoration, and commitment to serve the God of the Bible through Jesus Christ and enabled by the Holy Spirit.
Read these words of Jesus aloud with me:
Worship Scripture #2
John 4:23-24 –
23 “A time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.”
The key phrase here is “spirit and truth.”
Since God is spirit, we must worship Him in the power (or enablement) of His Spirit and in accordance with truth. (NIV Study Bible notes).
And where is truth found? Jesus said –
“I am…the truth.”
Truth around which base our worship is found in Jesus.
Anything that happens in a worship setting that is contradictory to the truth of Jesus is not appropriate.
Notice I didn’t say “contradictory to your personal preferences” or “contradictory to the style of worship you grew up with.”
I said, “contradictory to the truth of Jesus.” And that can be the case, no matter what the style of a service is.
A few months ago I came across an order of service for a church in some city that included Muslim and Hindu prayers and blessings – in what was supposedly a Christian church.
Sorry, folks, but while there may be some truth in some parts of those religions, the fact is that they are false religions because when it’s all said and done, they deny that Jesus is God and that He is the only way to heaven.
When a church comes together and they pray to anyone other than God, it is contrary to Scripture, and therefore not worshiping in truth.
I was re-reading the story of the golden calf a couple days ago, and there is something very interesting in that story.
You’re familiar with the story – Moses is up on the mountain talking with God, getting the Ten Commandments, and all that stuff.
And the people are getting bit tired of waiting, because Moses has been up there for 40 days, and they weren’t sure he was coming back.
So they pressured Aaron to make an idol for them, and he did it. And the people said this calf was the god who brought them out of Egypt.
But listen to this, in Exodus 32, verses 5-6 –
5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, "Tomorrow there will be a festival to the LORD." 6 So the next day the people rose early and sacrificed burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings. Afterward they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.
Aaron decided that as long as they were “worshiping” the Lord, then it was okay to have the calf around.
And the people went along with that idea, then got down to the business of partying.
It didn’t matter how Aaron and the rest dressed it up, they were still worshiping a cow. It was false worship.
Today, there are churches all over the place like the one I mentioned earlier where things that are anti-Scriptural, and anti-Jesus are brought into the “worship service” and they think it’s okay because they think they’re still worshiping God. But they’re not.
Folks, we are called to worship in spirit and in truth.
One of the ways we do that is to focus in Jesus.
Let’s do that now with some singing. After the message we’re going to sing some more, but I want us to take a moment right now and just sing this chorus, “The Heart of Worship.”
Sing – “Heart of Worship”
What happens during worship?
In my mind, and you might disagree or add to this, but in my mind, worship is mainly a time of proclamation.
When we worship we proclaim:
* Who He is.
One of the greatest things we can do is just tell God about Himself.
(What are some descriptions of God – congregation)
He is holy. He is just. He is loving. He is all-powerful. He’s the Creator and Sustainer of the universe.
He’s the Savior. He’s our perfect example, the author and perfecter of our faith.
He’s the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.
He is the Comforter, our Guide into all truth.
We can go on and on, just reading Scripture.
Jolene Harms will tell you that just learning the names of God will aid you in worship in describing who He is.
And we also proclaim…
* What He does – for His glory and our benefit.
Our God is an active God. He loves, He saves, He sustains, He fills, He empowers, He provides.
And then we proclaim
* Our response:
I think there are three main responses we can proclaim.
- Thankfulness
- Love
- Service
I’m not sure you can worship someone you’re not willing to serve.
We proclaim all that by singing, praying, preaching, serving, using our gifts, or whatever we do in response to who God is and what He’s done on our behalf, which leads me to this passage I’d ask you to read aloud with me as well:
Worship Scripture #3 –
Ephesians 3:20-21 –
20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
You: Don’t get so caught up in the form of worship that you forget the Focus – the Lord God Almighty.
The focus of worship is God, not our comfort and convenience.
And my hope is that you have been able to get past the look of the sanctuary and be able to focus on Him.
If not, then quite frankly, your focus is on the wrong thing, and that’s not worship. That’s selfishness because you’re focused on what makes you comfortable and happy rather than on what makes Him happy.
We’re not here for us – we’re here for Him.
Yes, I believe we should enjoy our worship, and find joy in it. But ultimately, our hope should be that HE enjoys our worship and finds joy in it.
I’m going pray, and then Lowell and the ladies are going to come up and lead us in a form of worship – singing, and then I’ll have one more passage of Scripture for us to read together.
Let’s pray.
Singing
Closing Worship Scripture:
Jude 1:24-25 –
24 To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy-- 25 to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.
