Worship Matters
1 Chronicles 16:7-36
Mary Louise Rowland asks, “Why do we come here to worship, Sunday after Sunday, 52 Sundays a year for 5, 10, 30 years or even a whole lifetime? Getting up early Sunday morning, getting ready, getting the children dressed, driving to chuch in all sorts of weather, sometimes not feeling too well ourselves, angry at the government, worried about our health and financial problems, dressed in our best and on our best behavior, walking into the building, greeting friends, singing hymns, praying prayers, reading Scripture, listening to sermons, bringing our offering, taking the bread and the cup…We call it the worship, but why do we do this?”
There are five reasons why we worship and why it matters. First, God is worthy of praise and worship. God is worthy because He is the creator of the Universe, He created the fish in the sea and the birds in the air. He hung the stars of the sky and designed every strand of DNA in your body. He is the Savior of the World and provider of all your needs. He has committed to love you unconditionally and He gave His only Son to die on the cross for the sake of your sins. He is worthy of all praise and thanksgiving from every tribe, people and tongue. He is a worthy God who deserves all praise and glory for who He is, what He has done and continues to do in our lives and what He has promised to do.
Every time we get a glimpse of heaven in the Scriptures, we see the angels and heavenly host worshiping God and offering up praise. In Revelation 5:12: “In a loud verse they sang, ‘Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!” And then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the sea and on the sea and all that’s them singing to Him who sits on the throne: ‘Be praise and honor and glory and power forever and ever!’” All because He is a worthy God.
When you come into the presence of God, you cannot help but be moved to worship because we see not only the power, majesty and authority of God but as Isaiah also sees in reflection who he is and more importantly who he is not. If our lives are consumed with just the way the world sees then we’re going to miss out on the ultimate reality of the presence of God around us and where worship of God is meant to be the center of our lives. When you die and go to heaven, worship becomes the center of your life. It has always been that way and it will always be that way. If you want to make that part of your life and heaven’s values a part of your life today then it starts with recognizing who God is and how awesome and Holy He really is. That alone makes Him worthy of your praise. Psalm 145 reminds us that worship is not about us. It’s about God and His greatness for He alone is worthy, the Creator and Redeemer of the heavens and all the earth.
Second, worship helps us fulfill our life purpose. You were made to worship. And that’s why worship should become so important in your life. Sometimes we think we become a Christian and then we become a worshiper. But the truth is, every one of us is made to worship and we were worshiping long before we placed our faith in Jesus Christ. There is something inside of us that longs for and searches for something of meaning and significance to give ourselves to. You were wired to say with your words and life: “You are worthy to me. You matter to me. You are of ultimate significance to me.” You and I will determine with our lives how we spend and invest our time, our resources and our attention. Where we invest ourselves the most is the thing or person which matters most to me. And then our lives become centered around that one thing.
Everybody is worshiping and everybody is building their life around someone or something. You are going to worship someone or something with your life because that’s the way you were made. Bob Dylan put it this way, “You may serve the devil or you may serve the Lord, but you gotta serve somebody.” Who you serve is who you worship. You may worship the God of Creation and the Redeemer of all humanity or you’re going to worship money, material possessions, yourself, your family or something else. But you’re going to worship something because that’s who you are. And that’s why worship matters to you. You were created for worship rather than just drudging your way through life. Our lives were given to fulfill a destiny to worship Him and when we abandon God, we abandon our destiny and instantly, our lives become about something less than God himself. Worship matters not only because you are a worshiper but because you were created to be in relationship to your Creator and Redeemer and worship Him and Him alone.
Third, there is a war over your worship. Listen, you need to know this. Remember when Jesus went into the wilderness after His baptism. He fasted and was tested for 40 days and 40 nights. The last temptation reads, “Again the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. And then he said, ‘All this I will give to you if you bow down and worship me.’” There are two things we learn from this passage. First, Satan has some dominion or power over this earth. He doesn’t have complete control but he still has some influence. And he says to Jesus, “I will give you control over all that I have if you bow down and worship me.” Satan was competing for Jesus’ worship.
And second, if there is a spiritual battle over Jesus’ worship, you better bet there is one over yours too. Every word, every action and every decision is a choice to worship God or someone or something else. Job encountered that battle. Remember, the enemy challenges God that if Job is so faithful and such a great worshiper of God then he shall remain with God but if amidst all of the trials placed upon him, he falls short and turns his back on God, Satan wins Job and the battle. Satan says to God, “He will curse you to your face if everything wasn’t so great. And that’s the only reason he loves you. The moment things start to go bad, he will turn his back on you.” Job 1:11 And God says, “Oh no, he loves me and I’m going to prove it to you.” So God told Satan you can do anything to Job you want but you cannot kill him. And so he did. Now you can wrestle with that theologically and say, “I can believe God did that.” But he did. One thing we know is that God’s glory was on the line and there was a war going on over Job’s worship and he didn’t know it. He just thought he was having a run of bad luck, having lost his career, his home, his family, his wealth, his health and seemingly, even His friends. So let me pose a question to you, “When you’re having a very bad week with things going against your way and you’re totally innocent of the events happening in your life, is it possible that there’s a war going on over your worship? Is it possible that Satan is testing your resolve to worship God? At the end of the day when Job had complained his heart out to God, he said to God, “I’ve got nothing to say, because you alone are God and I am not.” In the midst of your darkness and the challenges and trials before you, you need to say: “You alone are God.” You may not like what you’re going through but you say, “You’re God and you’re in charge and your son promised that you would never give me more than I can handle. I love you.” There are serious heaven sized ramifications over who and what you are going to worship. Guard your worship. Don’t let anyone or any job, any pleasure, any accomplishment, any accolade, any possession or any person get in the way of your worship of God and keep you from your purpose and your destiny. And don’t let it rob God of the praise that alone is.
What and who you worship makes a difference in your life and in heaven. Satan’s greatest thing isn’t that he gets us to run away from God but to distract our attention and allegiance, neutralizing our voice from the chorus of heaven praising and worshiping God. Let me ask you a very personal question: “What blow would the enemy strike in your life to attack your worship, divert your attention, weaken your loyalty or maybe, just maybe, get you to worship something else in your life and ignore the Creator and Redeemer of the Universe? There’s a war over your worship and the sooner we realize it, the more we can guard against it and the more important our worship will become to each of us.
The fourth reason our worship matters is that we become what we worship. Poet Ralph Emerson Waldo 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 the secret dark recesses of his heart but it will come out. That which dominates will determine his life and his character. Therefore, it behooves us to be careful what we worship, for we are worshiping what we are becoming.” Whatever you value most eventually ends up consuming you. It can be a new relationship, a new car, or a new job. It will consume your time, your energy, your thoughts, your passion and ultimately, your whole life. We were made in the image of God and we are to focus on God, celebrating His character, His attributes, His heart, His acts of love and salvation. In the process of that, it changes our character into His character and our heart into His heart. When you worship God, you begin to value God more. And as you do, He begins to consume you more which then begins to influence and eventually determine the path and destiny of your whole life. Psalm 115:1 says, “Those who make them (referring to the making of idols) will be like them and so will all who trust in them.” What you worship, you become.
If you get the God part wrong, you get the ‘you’ part wrong too. If you get the object of your worship wrong, you get your heart wrong. If you get the wrong god, it’s very possible that you can become blind and deaf to God’s voice and His movement in your life. At that moment, you are dead spiritually. O you’re still with us on earth, but you’re as good as dead because You become money, status, material belongings and whatever it is which matters most to you. Whatever you value the most, consumes you in the end. And whatever consumes you, like a fire, it forges you and conforms you and whatever conforms you determines your destiny.
Fifth, worship is fuel for the soul. We’ve talked about what worship does for God (remember, worship is not about us!), but worship also does something for us. Praise and worship is fuel for the soul. Six things worship does in us. First, it brings anew perspective. When we really worship God, we see things differently. We move from a worldly perspective to an eternal perspective on life and circumstances. Second, it increases our desire to obey God. The more we worship God, the better we get to know Him. The more we know Him, the deeper our relationship becomes and the greater our desire to please Him. Third, it helps us to see God’s sovereignty, to see that God is in control. There are times in our life when we feel everything is spinning out of control and it is in those times when we most need to be reminded that God’s in control. Fourth, it gives us physical, emotional and spiritual rest. True worship brings peace to our spirit and heart and gives us the rest we need from a world-weary heart. Fifth, worship gives us power. It empowers God’s people when we life Him up. When we really worship and have that power, it gives us conviction and direction. It delivers us from the circumstances or malaise which consumes us and instead gives us a sensitivity to His voice, an eternal perspective on life and a deepening commitment to follow and worship Him. Sixth, it creates a greater hunger in us for God. Tommy Tenney writes, “God whispered this to me during a life-changing Sunday morning service. It was a divine encounter that forever imprinted itself with indelible ink on the pages of my memory: “You know Tommy,” God said, “Your favorite worship services and my favorite worship services are not the same. You leave your services full and satisfied, but when you leave, I’m still hungry.’ There were tears in my eyes when I whispered to my wife: ‘I don’t think I’ve ever been this close to Him before. I wish I knew then what I have discerned since- that God will leave our meetings full and satisfied only when we begin to leave them feeling hungrier for Him than when we first came.”
