The Big Picture
Romans 12:1-2
David Yarborough writes, “Back in 1992 when the Dallas Cowboys were preparing to play the San Francisco 49ers
And then he writes, “Why did you come to worship today? Our primary reason for attending church should be to worship God, honor Him and to show Him how much we appreciate Him. Worship is more than just singing a few songs, performing a few rituals and enduring a sermon. We come to acknowledge his authority in our lives and to worship Him as our Creator.”
In this series, “Worship That Thing You Do”, we’re looking at what we do most in our lives, whether we realize it not. and I’m not just talking about what you do for one hour on Sunday morning. As we learned last week
The question is, “What or whom are you worshiping?” But what is worship?”
Worship is our response both personal and corporate to God for who He is and for what He has done expressed in and by the things we say and the way we live.
First, Worship is Action. The word worship is a verb and that means it’s something you do. Yet too often, we take the approach that worship is something that we watch, like
But worship at it’s very heart is not something you should watch but something you do. Listen to the Psalmist’s call to worship, “Clap your hands, sing for joy, serve the Lord with gladness, stand in awe of Him, kneel and bow down before him.” Psalm 47:1 All of these words describe the activity of worship.
What’s amazing is that we can get riled up for the Saints at the Dome or for the Tigers
so why are we so emotionless when we come into the presence of the Almighty God? We have forgotten that worship is something you do by giving yourself, all of yourself to Him in praise and thanksgiving
Second, worship is Response. Robert Weber, Professor of Worship at Candler School of Theology in Atlanta, writes, “We gather together in worship to be met by God Almighty, God the Creator of the Universe, the One who sustains our lives, our Redeemer and King, is present….He wants to communicate to us, to penetrate our inner self, to take up residence within us. And as we go through the experience of meeting with Him in this mystical moment of public worship, we are meant to respond.”
http://vimeo.com/23864881
We’ve allowed culture to steal much of the expression of worship.
But response is not just singing a hymn or a chorus, or saying a prayer or a creed. It is responding in both heart and mind, body and soul to the presence of God in our midst. Jesus said, “Wherever 2 or 3 are gathered, there will I be.” So when we gather, God initiates and we are called to respond. It’s not a matter of saying
It is a matter of God acting and moving in our midst and our lives and we not being able to hold ourselves back responding to that love and grace so freely given. It’s coming to understand not only who God is but what He has done
We respond because God has moved first. He reveals, we respond. Romans 12:1 says, “Therefore, I urge you brothers and sisters in view of God’s mercy to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable. This is your spiritual act of worship.” God demands much of us in worship. In fact he demands all of us in worship. Why?
Worship is about you giving all of yourself to Him in response to what He has done and is doing in our lives. According to Paul, this is the only right and true response to God. It is the only acceptable response to Jesus Christ. In view of God’s mercy we have received
In view of God’s mercy, our response is clear: everything I am and everything I have offered up to God in worship. It’s all of me given to all of Him
For those of us who do believe, I can’t help but wonder if the deadness, solemness and restraint of our worship isn’t reflective of the fact that we haven’t encountered God during the week. We haven’t provided the venue or means
Others of you are still negotiating with God to be the Lord of your life, and so you’ve experienced some grace, some power and some direction in your life but not all you could and so you have only a little to respond to. That’s not a knock on you because
But when you have received Jesus as your Lord and Savior and fully surrendered to Him, you start to experience in ways you could only imagine. And when Sunday comes, you race to worship
Some of you have experienced the profound and overwhelming love and grace of Jesus this week in your life and others of you need to leave this place with this prayer in your heart: “My eyes are dim to you God. My view of you is too small. God I need to see
Third, worship is Corporate and individual. When we speak about worship, we’re talking about encountering God. It’s not only experiencing the presence of God in a powerful and life-changing way but also receiving His love and grace anew in your life. You cannot give and experience great worship corporately on Sunday morning without having individually worshiped Him through the week.
Worship is not gathering with other believers. It’s also presenting yourself to God on your own, apart from the body of Christ throughout the week. It’s being intentional about entering into His presence and giving yourself to Him anew. The fact is we’re forgetful people. By Tuesday
And so every day, we need to wake up and pray, “God, I want to praise you today, I want to dwell with you, walk with you, think about you, live for you, honor and glorify you. I want to be living worship for you today.” And that starts with
Too often we’re dragging ourselves to worship and hoping to be moved and inspired so that we can face the world for another week. And sometimes that works but more often than not, it doesn’t. And the reality is that our corporate worship falls
When we take that approach, we make worship about us. Worship is not about me! Say it with me, “Worship is not about me!”
What if, just, what if instead of coming to be inspired, fed and filled in worship, we come already pumped up and excited because
Worship should be the synergy of the pent up joy and thanksgiving and individual worshipers coming together to worship and give themselves to a great and amazing God who has showered us with his love, strength, guidance and power. That, my brothers and sisters, would make for
Worship is Expressed in how we live. Paul calls us to “offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable. This is your spiritual act of worship.” Worship is not just what you do here on Sunday morning. Your entire life is meant to be your worship of God! How? If worship is giving all of yourself to God then everything you do is an opportunity to worship God by giving yourself to Him and offering Him praise and glory
Do you get it? Everything you do is an opportunity to worship God! Those things in and of themselves are not worship. But when you begin to look at every moment
Worship is expressed in and by the things you do, no matter what you do or what you face.
Father Pedro Arrupe on August 6, 1945 looked at the clock which had stopped at 8:10 AM frozen in time. It looked as if the hands were nailed down. In that moment, the bomb was dropped on Hiroshema. Before his eyes, Father Arrupe’s city and people were set ablaze and in an instant 75,000 were dead or dying, 200,000 in need of medical care and 150,000 fleeing for safety. The city and its buildings were leveled. Pedro and his fellow priests walked the streets
In that moment, when death was all around, Father Pedro knew what it meant to die for Christ, when he would have chosen to do anything else in the world except serve in the midst of death, suffering and destruction. But it was also in that moment that his actions and his words, he worshiped God in the aftermath of Hiroshima. The morning after the bomb, in the chapel
“Dominus vobiscum”, “The Lord be with you.” Father Pedro said, “I do not think I have ever said Mass with such devotion.” It was in that moment he learned that even in the midst of destruction that God can bring life. A young man
And the stories of his compassionate actions go on and on but the lesson is strikingly the same: In Hiroshima, as in outside Jerusalem, hands nailed down could still reach out and touch flesh and spirit in agony, to give life in the midst of dying and to worship God through the things we say and do, that God and His son Jesus Christ might be glorified. That is true worship with our lives. May that be how it is with us this day and always. Amen. http://www.sermonspice.com/product/39567/Change%20The%20World
