“The Word on Worship: The Great Engagement Party”
Leviticus 9:1-14 & Isaiah 6:1-8
During my sophomore year in college I learned that worship – which was instituted, commanded, and ordained by God – could be a real battle ground. Stunned as I was, it was good preparation for the ministry! Now, over 40 years later, it is even more evident than ever before. In fact, we’ve given the conflicts a title: we call them ‘Worship Wars.’ Indeed, we battle over many elements of worship. Should the Pastor wear a robe, or not? Should worshipers dress up, or not? Should we use the creeds and Lord’s Prayer more, or not? Should we use only organ, only piano, or both? Should we use other instruments, even drums and guitars? Should we have a choir, or not? A Worship Team, or not? Or both? Should we sing only hymns in the hymnbook (and if so, what hymnbook?) or include more recent worship hymns and songs? Should the organists and pianists play classical music, favorite hymns, or gospel music? Should drama or dance or videos be part of worship, or not? Is applause appropriate during worship? Is the raising of hands during singing okay, or not? Are spontaneous ‘Amens’ acceptable, or not? Does worship need to be limited to an hour, or not? It reminds me of an older lady, who had no affinity for con-temporary worship, who was complaining about a particular song used in the worship service at her church. A fellow worshipper responded, “Why, that is not a new song — it is a very old song! David sang that song to Saul.” The older lady replied, “Well now, for the first time, I understand why Saul threw the javelin at him when he sang.” I think you get the idea. Most every one of us has engaged in the battle.
So we need to hear the Word – God’s Word – on worship. In our current series we are looking at the principles and guidelines for worship, from which such divisive issues can be addressed. So this morning we begin with fundamentals. It is important to build a biblical foundation for worship. From our two passages, which are representative of many others in Scripture, we find at least three foundational principles.
First, we discover THE PRIMACY OF WORSHIP. As early as Genesis we find God’s people at worship. God has created us in such a way that our wholeness and health are strongly tied to worship of God. WE ARE CREATED TO WORSHIP; IT IS OUR VERY NATURE. God made us to be worshippers. One of life’s main purposes is to worship. To worship God is the deepest desire of the human spirit. And God yearns to be in a strong, healthy relationship with us; His heart is charged with deep love for us. So passionate is His love that He gave His only Son to draw us to Himself.
In worship we come, like Isaiah, into the presence of this holy, majestic, loving God. To understand the primacy of worship is to recognize that WORSHIP IS ALWAYS AN ACT OF SUBMISSION. We come in submission to an authority greater than ourselves, in adoration of a love more powerful and pure than ours. We come to bless the Lord. To worship, in fact, is to bow down and acknowledge the worth of God. Perhaps this is why true worship upsets many people – we do not like to submit, to give up our perceived independence. Worship is best understood and appreciated by those who desire authority and proper relationships. Consider the book of Leviticus – it is filled with sacrifice, bowing, acts of humility and dependence. True worship is to surrender completely to our Superior – to the loving, holy, God who has saved us. That’s why the many Psalms of worship are addressed to the sovereign God who is in total control of His world. They go on to celebrate His activity. Total submission to the ways and will of God. That is worship.
We are created to worship; therefore worship is an act of submission and, second, ANY OTHER MOTIVE IS SIN. If we come to worship with any other motive, we sin. If we’re here out of habit, or under orders from a loved one, or here for the music, to get a good feeling, to feel better, to see how the worship leaders and tech people do, or because we like to touch base with friends – if we come to critique the service – we sin. If we come with any other motive we have the potential for being disappointed; if we come to submit to God, we can never be disappointed. As Bob Sorge wrote, “If we understand that the main purpose of worship is to bless and glorify the Lord, then why are we upset when the worship doesn’t seem to bless us? The question is not whether the worship service blessed me; the question is, did it bless God? It is not what I thought of the worship that matters – it is what God thought of it...Was He pleased with our ‘sacrifice of praise?’”
We are created to worship, to submit; any other motive is sin. Therefore, thirdly, WORSHIP INVOLVES CONFESSION OF SIN. Did you catch all the various sacrifices God prescribed for the Israelites? Whatever the sin, there was a sacrifice to cover it. Before Isaiah could hear the message of God he had to confess his and the people’s sins and be cleansed. Before we can truly worship this holy God we, too, must confess. Our praise of God, and God’s words to us, are blocked until we are cleansed - not through any sacrifice of ours, but through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The focus is always on Him. The primacy of worship – we can never be who we are meant to be until we truly worship God.
A second foundational principle of biblical worship concerns the PROMOTER OF WORSHIP. Jesus said (Jn. 4:23): “...true worshippers worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for anyone who will worship him that way.” God is seeking us to worship Him. GOD INITIATES WORSHIP! God has determined worship is the heart of maintaining our relationship with Him. Why all the rituals in Leviticus? So His people would not fall out of relationship with Him. Worship begins with remembering who God is, what He has done, how He has sought us ought, and what He is doing, and what He promises yet to do. (That means, by the way, that my awareness of God during the week is crucial for worship on Sunday. One of the best ways to prepare for worship is to spend Saturday reviewing God’s activity in our lives throughout the past week.)
God initiates worship. THEREFORE, WORSHIP IS RESPONSE TO GOD. Worship is our response to His seeking of us, His saving of us, His involvement with us, and His love for us. Worship is our expression of gratitude and praise; it is showing and giving honor to God. Worship is expressing our love to Christ; it involves acts, words, and symbols which tell God how much we love Him. Worship is our renewing of our vows to Christ; we reaffirm our loyalty and give God permission to do His work and will in our lives. Worship can never be just ritual; it must always be a passionate expression of a grateful, committed heart.
And since worship is response to God, WORSHIP CAN NEVER BE GEARED PRIMARILY FOR THE NON-CHRISTIAN. By its very nature worship is an act of the community of God’s people. This doesn’t mean it’s discriminatory; it’s just that it’s purpose and language and symbolism do not register with one outside the community of faith. How many of us, for example, could gain much from sitting in a meeting where everyone spoke a language we did not understand? So it is with worship; since it’s a response to God’s great love, those who have not experienced that love cannot be expected to understand. That doesn’t mean we are insensitive to non-believers, or that we ignore them or run rough shod over them. We should be very sensitive to them. It does mean that we do not sacrifice the core of true worship in an effort the make worship something they can understand. For any unbelievers who are here today, I hope and pray you have felt a sense of welcome, of our love for you, of our pleasure in your presence. I also hope and pray, however, that you have felt some discomfort at not knowing or understanding all we do – for it shows we are maintaining the core of worship, which is responding to God in our language and forms. I pray you will sense the awe, magnificence, and joy of what we do so your thirst for a relationship with Jesus Christ will drive you to drink of Him. You, and all of us, need to know we are here today because God has sought us out, through Jesus Christ. He is the promoter of worship.
The third foundational principle of biblical worship concerns the PURPOSE OF WORSHIP. Since we are created to worship and since God is the initiator of worship, we recognize that God wants us in continual relationship with him. In worship we celebrate the fact that WE ARE ENGAGED WITH GOD. Worship is one great engagement party! That was part of the significance of the Temple for the Israelites; it was the prescribed place for worship because there God would engage them, would appear to them and speak to them. And throughout Leviticus worship was never an end in itself; it always pointed towards engagement with God, getting into a right relationship with Him so He could pronounce His judgment and share His will, and could demonstrate His love. We do not, for example, go to a wedding for the sake of the ceremony itself; we go to enhance the relationship, to engage in and enrich relationships. So we worship to engage God. Why was Isaiah in the Temple? Because He had gone to engage God! And God spoke powerfully to Him. As someone has said, we are invited onto the Father’s lap where we can hear the heartbeat of Jesus.
Since we are engaged with God, WORSHIP IS NOT A PERFORMANCE, BUT A DIVINE DRAMA. To borrow from a report of the Christian Reformed Church: “Worship is not first of all a matter of how good the sermon was or how moving the praise band of choir was. Worship is not a performance to be evaluated. Worship is a living drama in which Christians are active participants, a meeting of God and his people, of heaven and earth. A person is either “in” the drama or not. Hockey and football thrive on spectators. Not so with worship.” So – why are you here today – to ‘spectate’ or participate?
Second, since we are engaged with God, WORSHIP IS NOT ABOUT OUR FEELINGS, BUT OUR RELATIONSHIP TO GOD. Worship is about God, not me – not you. If we came because we felt like it, what about next week when we don’t feel like it? The Bible wastes very little time on the way we feel. Some things we do because God tells us to do them. They are independent of feeling. WORSHIP IS AN ACT WHICH EXPRESSES DEVOTION TO GOD, NOT AN ACT WHICH SEEKS RESPONSE FROM GOD. Researcher George Barna reported that the true motivation behind many American Christians’ attendance at worship services is to "satisfy or please them, not to honor or please God." But worship has always been and will always be about God - whether we recognize it or not. For in the end "at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Phil. 2:10-11).
If we came this morning expecting our needs to be met, we might go away pleased. But we will not go away filled. God is under no obligation to do anything more for us – after all, He’s already given His Son to die for us. If I entered into my marriage relationship with Barb primarily to get my needs met, we would both have suffered immeasurably. It is the same in our relationship with God. The main purpose of worship is to build and express a relationship. The main purpose is not even to praise, to hear the sermon, to be moved by the liturgy, to hear the Law – although all of these are important parts of worship. The main purpose is to strengthen our relationship with God through Jesus Christ. It is, in fact, the primary way of doing so. That’s why I’m deeply saddened by the decline in the number of hours people spend in worship. Each generation spends less that the previous one. And the less we worship the more out of touch with God we become. And the more out of touch we are, the more we become like the world. WORSHIP IS A GIFT – IT IS A GOD GIVEN OPPORTUNITY TO DRAW CLOSE TO THE HEART OF OUR BLESSED SAVIOR, JESUS CHRIST. We neglect worship at our own peril, for we neglect our relationship with Christ.
So true ‘meaningful’ worship is not dependent upon the preacher, the choir, the worship team, the worship leader, the tech volunteers, or even the liturgy; nor is it even dependent on God. It depends on you. As James Stewart wrote, “When I come to church expectantly, it does not matter if the room is poorly ventilated, if the choir is flat, or even if the sermon is (out of touch). If I have an encounter with the living Christ, I have worshiped. To worship is to meet Him.” WORSHIP, PRIMARILY, IS NOT ABOUT GETTING SOMETHING FROM CHRIST – ALTHOUGH WE OFTEN DO; IT’S ABOUT OFFERING SOMETHING TO CHRIST. We evaluate worship not by asking “What did Christ give me or do for me?” but by asking “What did I give Jesus? What did I leave at the foot of His throne”?
The thrust of worship has never changed – and it never will. Leviticus: “Fire blazed forth from the Lord’s presence and consumed the burnt offering and the fat on the altar. When the people saw all this, they shouted with joy and fell face down on the ground..... Revelation: “And they sang ‘Worthy is the Lamb...to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing’...And the twenty-four elders fell down and worshiped God and the Lamb.” Could that be our worship? It’s up to us!
