1. Quotes on Worship:
Ralph Waldo Emerson hit the nail on the head when he said:
THE GODS we worship write their names on our faces, be sure of that. And a man will worship something —have no doubt about that, either. He may think that his tribute is paid in secret in the dark recesses of his heart—but it will out. That which dominates will determine his life and character. Therefore, it behooves us to be careful what we worship, for what we are worshipping we are becoming.
2. Worship Issues in the Church of Christ
a. Gender Roles
b. Communion – When? How?
c. Contemporary or Traditional
d. Four Part Harmony
e. Order of Worship
f. Praise Teams
g. Invitation Songs?
h. Instrumental Music
3. Worship is important:
a. It identifies our God
b. It transforms us into what/who we worship
4. Scriptures:
5Thus says God, the LORD,
who created the heavens and stretched them out,
who spread out the earth and what comes from it,
who gives breath to the people on it
and spirit to those who walk in it:
6"I am the LORD; I have called you in righteousness;
I will take you by the hand and keep you;
I will give you as a covenant for the people,
a light for the nations,
12Let them give glory to the LORD,
and declare his praise in the coastlands.
13 The LORD goes out like a mighty man,
like a man of war he stirs up his zeal;
he cries out, he shouts aloud,
he shows himself mighty against his foes.
17 They are turned back and utterly put to shame,
who trust in carved idols,
who say to metal images,
"You are our gods."
Isaiah 42.5-6; 12-13; 17
7 In that day man will look to his Maker, and his eyes will look on the Holy One of Israel. 8 He will not look to the altars, the work of his hands, and he will not look on what his own fingers have made, either the Asherim or the altars of incense. Isaiah 17.7-8
5. Worship was intended to Radical and Revolutionary to the world in which we live.
I. The IMPERATIVE of Worship
A. Worship Is Going to HAPPEN
1. It may be worship of God – Exodus 20; Isaiah 6; Revelation
2. It may be to false gods of our day
Modern gods:
Strange for us to think of idolatry as being something in the modern world but consider this:
There are actually people who worship crawling creatures: In a museum in Egypt there is a monument to the scarab beetle.
Today you find that there are 330 million gods of the Hindus, 8 gods for every person.
In Thailand there are 20,000 Buddhist temples. In one there is a 2 inch tooth supposedly saved from Buddha’s funeral.
In China a Buddhist statue actual fell on a man and the family sued the Buddhists in the temple and it was found guilty and it and 14 other statues were actually beheaded. IDOLATRY is rampant in our world.
Someone has said that the god of the last half of the 20th century is MATERIALISM. I can’t think of another generation that has spent more of their resources and time to accumulate more stuff than we do today. It is the reason many people go to school or choose the kind of work they do
B. Worship SHAPES Us
1. In what way depends upon what we worship
But they came to Baal-peor
and consecrated themselves to the thing of shame,
and became detestable like the thing they loved. Hosea 9.10c
2. False gods or YHWH? – No other gods. . .
II. The INADEQUACIES of Worship – Cultural Compromise
A. The HEBREWS and Their Gods
7Their land is filled with silver and gold,
and there is no end to their treasures;
their land is filled with horses,
and there is no end to their chariots.
8Their land is filled with idols;
they bow down to the work of their hands,
to what their own fingers have made.
9So man is humbled,
and each one is brought low—
do not forgive them! Isaiah 2.7-9
Baal worship led to:
Immorality Military and Political Power
Drunkenness Works of the Flesh
B. WE and Our Gods
They made kings, but not through me.
They set up princes, but I knew it not.
With their silver and gold they made idols
for their own destruction. Hosea 8.4
We tend to make compartments for our lives:
WORK – FAMILY – RECREATION -- CHURCH
I do what I want – “out there” as long as I get the actions right “in here.”
10Hear the word of the LORD,
you rulers of Sodom!
Give ear to the teaching of our God,
you people of Gomorrah!
11 "What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the LORD;
I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed beasts;
I do not delight in the blood of bulls,
or of lambs, or of goats.
12"When you come to appear before me,
who has required of you
this trampling of my courts?
13Bring no more vain offerings;
incense is an abomination to me.
New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations—
I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly.
14Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates;
they have become a burden to me;
I am weary of bearing them.
15When you spread out your hands,
I will hide my eyes from you;
even though you make many prayers,
I will not listen; your hands are full of blood.
16 Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;
remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil,
17learn to do good;
seek justice, correct oppression;
bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause. Isaiah 1.10-17
Dysentery
There was a woman who went on a short term missions trip to Kenya, helping the missionaries there. Before she left, she stopped at a remote village where she attended a medical clinic. As the native women outside the clinic began to sing together, she found herself deeply moved by their beautiful singing. The harmonies and rhythms seemed worshipful indeed.
She was so moved she began to cry. Since she wanted to capture the moment in her memories, she turned to her bi-lingual friend and queried, "Could you please translate the words to that absolutely beautiful song?"
Her friend stared at her and respectfully replied, "If you boil the water, you won’t get dysentery."
III. The IMPLICATIONS of Worship – Micah 6.6-8
[Paraphrase – God pleased with multiple worship services? Long services? Many a cappella songs? Giving more than 10%? Sending my first-born into the mission field?
A. Implication #1 – The COMMITMENT is to GOD, Not Self
1. Worship works inside – out
2. Purpose is to honor God, not get something – Health/Wealth/Heaven
B. Implication #2 – CONFORM to the God of Heaven, Not the gods of the World
1. Transformation – Romans 12.1-2
2. Become like Jesus – Galatians 4.19 “
in travail until Christ is formed in You”
3. More than rule-keeping to appease an angry God
1. A Different God – A Different Man
James Michener, writing in his book, The Source, tells the story of a man named Urbaal, who, was a farmer living about 2200 B.C. He worshiped two gods, one a god of death, the other a goddess of fertility.
One day, the temple priests tell Urbaal to bring his young son to the temple for sacrifice—if he wants good crops. Urbaal obeys, and on the appointed day drags his wife and boy to the scene of the boy’s “religious execution” by fire to the god of death.
After the sacrifice of Urbaal’s boy, and several others, the priests announce that one of the fathers will spend next week in the temple, with a new temple prostitute. Urbaal’s wife is stunned as she notices a desire written more intensely across his face than she had seen before, and she is overwhelmed to see him eagerly lunge forward when his name is called.
The ceremony over, she walks out of the temple with her head swimming, concluding that “if he had different gods, he would have been a different man.”
2. Who is your God? Whom do you worship?
3. 14 "Now therefore fear the LORD and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. 15 And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD." Joshua 24.14-15
4. Quick test – are you becoming more or less like Jesus? You become like your God.
a. Jesus came to do the will of his Father – Are you?
b. Jesus came to serve not to be served – Are you?
c. Jesus laid down his life – Are you?
