"A Heart for Worship"
Exodus 15:1-19
Exodus 15:1 Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the LORD, saying, "I will sing to the LORD, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.
2 The LORD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father's God, and I will exalt him.
Introduction: There is nothing in the church world today that elicits more discussion than the subject of worship. More articles, blogs and books have been written on this subject in the last few years than at any point in my ministry. There is even a book written by Thomas Long entitled "Beyond the Worship Wars" that seeks to define and describe what is going on in the church world today. The impetus for this is due in large part to the many changes that are happening in churches all across the denominational spectrum. We are seeing sweeping changes in the American church that are creating conflict, confusion and concern. I have to ask myself, "What is behind these changes?" What are people searching for? Why is there so much movement in evangelical circles where worship is concerned? I do not pretend to have all the answers but I believe that we can look into the Scriptures and find some answers concerning what constitutes true biblical worship. To start this study I would like us to look at our text.
I. The Responsive Nature of Worship
Notice that the first word in our text is the word, "...then..." which indicates that what follows is a respond to something in particular. Worship is a response, a reaction to what God has done and who God is and I also believe it needs to be understood that worship is what all Christians should be doing; that it is natural and normal for us to worship. A Christian who doesn't worship is a contradiction, a misnomer. We were created by God for worship.
ILL -- "Christ followers who don't put their hearts into worship are like roosters who won't crow at sunrise. They're simply not doing what God programmed them to do!" Peter Langerman
ILL -"Worship should matter to us simply because it matters to God. Worship doesn't begin with us. Worship begins and ends with God. And God is worthy of all praise, from all people, for all time." Louie Giglio
To learn what a heart for worship is let's notice:
a. The setting for worship
If you read chapter 14 you have no trouble visualizing the setting for this narrative. Moses has led the children of Israel to the shores of the Red Sea with Pharaoh's army in hot pursuit. The Lord protects them with a pillar of cloud by day and fire by night. Moses lifts the rod of Aaron and God parts the sea and they go across on dry ground. Then the enemy enters the dry sea bed only to be drowned by the rush of a wall of water released by God that completely destroys Israel's pursuers. At this point we begin chapter 15 with a spontaneous worship service on the eastern shore of the sea. Moses is the "worship leader" and we could call this time of worship, "Singing by the Sea." Now this might not be the ideal setting or even a setting you would feel comfortable with personally but the truth is worship is not dependent on the setting or the singing or anything else that we might feel is important. There is an outpouring of praise led by Moses and joined by the people. Can you imagine over a million voices lifted up to God? Most scholars think that the song of Moses as it is called was a round or a responsive song. Moses would sing a line and the people would repeat it. This goes on for some time and then it is joined by Miriam and the other women in verse 20.
If I learned anything from my experience in Cuba it is that the setting for worship is not as big a factor as we make it out to be in the American church. I worshipped at the Seminary auditorium with about 500 Cuban believers, I worshipped at 10 o'clock one night in an upstairs apartment with about a dozen in what they call a house of prayer, I worshipped in a small village in 2 different homes that were considered missions points with about 15-18 in each and a cow that was not 20 feet from the front door of one of the homes. We also visited a church in another home where the pastor was raising pigs not 20 feet from where the pews were set up for worship on Sunday with 40-60 believers. The point is if we have a heart for worship it will not matter what the building looks like or whether it is AC or not or if they have padded pews or not. The most important thing about the setting in worship is my next point and that is:
b. The Sovereign to worship
Notice that this time of worship is twice referred to as "...unto the Lord..." The very word "worship" means condition of being worthy, dignity, glory, distinction, honor, renown," from weorð "worthy" (see worth) + -scipe (see -ship) Online Etymology Dictionary
ILL - Count Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf the leader of the Moravians writes: "I have but one passion; it is He, He only."
ILL - A.W. Tozer said, "We are called to an everlasting preoccupation with God." God is worthy of our worship. One of the ways that you can be reasonably assured of your salvation is your desire to worship. Knowing the true God, and recognizing idols that would take His rightful place are marks of a true Christian.
Look around you dear friend. How many people do you know who are pressing, striving, seeking, driving, leaning, bending, yearning to know more of God, to know have more of Him? How many are consumed with knowing Him more clearly, more truly? Paul prayed "...to know Him and the power of His resurrection, the fellowship of His sufferings..." "Or, do you see thousands fighting graduate school sins with grammar school knowledge of God." Why is this? The answer is they don't know God. John Piper.
We may know theology, we may have the Scriptures memorized, we may serve, give our money, teach a class, sing a song, preach a sermon and a whole host of other things but if we don't know God and worship him we are just lying to ourselves. Who cares about knowing God the way the devil knows God. The devil knows God but he hates God and everything about Him. The devil tried to murder Jesus. The devil tried to temp Jesus to renounce God. The devil knows far more about God that you and I will ever know but he doesn't know God the way that a small child can know God, he doesn't know God that way that Paul knew God. "Jesus I know, and Paul I know but who are you?" Thousands attend church every Sunday but they don't know that God is infinitely powerful, infinitely wise, infinitely satisfying. There are more pleasures at His right hand, more joys in His presence that we can find if we lived a thousand lifetimes without Him. If you know these things then this world will lose its allurement, sin will lose its dominion and power, the flesh will be tamed and tempered and our eyes will be focused on the eternal.
c. The sincerity in worship
G. Campbell Morgan, Preaching, says, "There is a tale told of that great English actor Macready. An eminent preacher once said to him: "I wish you would explain to me something." "Well, what is it? I don't know that I can explain anything to a preacher." "What is the reason for the difference between you and me? You are appearing before crowds night after night with fiction, and the crowds come wherever you go. I am preaching the essential and unchangeable truth, and I am not getting any crowd at all." Macready's answer was this: "This is quite simple. I can tell you the difference between us. I present my fiction as though it were truth; you present your truth as though it were fiction."
II. The Revelatory Nature of Worship
Ultimately, worship is a response to revelation. Think about it. Israel had been in Egypt for 400 hundred years with its exposure to the polytheism of this nation. The stories about Abraham, Isaac and Jacob meant very little to many of the Israelites. Even Moses who would have been introduced to Jehovah by his parents would have had a very underdeveloped concept of who God is and what he is like. This revealing is the subject of Exodus. Jehovah reveals himself to Moses, to the Israelites, to Pharaoh, the Egyptian people and to the world. What are some specific things that God reveals to us as it relates to worship?
a. That worship should reverential
Do you know why you worship like you do? You ought to know, all of us should. It heard a story about a man long ago:
KNOW WHY YOU WORSHIP AS YOU DO
Why would some people buy a cat and tie it to the bedpost to show their reverence to God?
Many years ago, a very poor holy man lived in a remote part of China. Every day before his time of meditation, in order to show his devotion, he put a dish of butter up on the window sill as an offering to God, since food was so scarce. One day his cat came in and ate the butter. To remedy this, he began tying the cat to the bedpost each day before the quiet time. This man was so respected for his piety that others joined him as disciples and worshipped as he did. Generations later, long after the holy man was dead, his followers placed an offering of butter on the window sill during their time of prayer and meditation. Furthermore, each one bought a cat and tied it to the bedpost.
Often our worship becomes so mechanical that we do things just because we have always done it that way or because we have become complacent or comfortable. At that point we are no better than the Pharisees who valued religion more than relationship and ritual more than the "redeemer of Israel!"
Exodus 3:5 Then he said, "Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground."
Not everything we do in the name of worship is reverential. If I could identify the one element that is missing from modern worship it would be this. Just because it feels good to us doesn't mean that God is reverenced in it. The attitude of the heart is far more important to God than the attitude of the body! Call me old fashioned if you want to but I just cannot associate the word casual with the God of the universe. It seems irreverent and smacks of an effort to make Him a lesser God than He is.
THE RIGHT PERSPECTIVE
ILL - A man was walking through an art gallery when he came upon a picture of the Lord Jesus dying upon the cross. He stopped and looked at the beautiful portrait of Calvary's love. As he stared into the face of Christ, so full of agony the gallery guard tapped him on the shoulder. "Lower," the guard said. "The artist painted this picture to be appreciated from a lower position."
So the man bent down. And from this lower position he observed new beauties in the picture not previously shown. "Lower," said the guard. "Lower still." The man knelt down on one knee and looked up into the face of Christ. The new vantage point yielded new beauties to behold and appreciate.
But motioning with his torch toward the ground, the guard said, "Lower. You've got to go lower." The man now dropped down to two knees and looked up. Only then as he looked up at the painting from such a low posture could he realize the artist's intended perspective. Only then could he see the full beauty of the cross.
Is the same not true in worship? Only as we position ourselves lower and lower in humble submission can we behold more fully the glories of our wonderful Lord.
From David Moore's Sermon "In and Around Heaven
b. That worship is redemptive
Moses declares that Lord (Jehovah) has "...become my salvation..." A redeemed people should be a worshipping people. It is impossible to separate the two principles. When we truly worship the "resurrection power" of Christ is released in us. Once you and I have truly worshipped the God of heaven we will never be satisfied with lesser Gods. Once we have experienced the deliverance that is in Christ we will never by the same again. The breath of heaven will be on us and
c. That worship is relational
Moses speaks of my strength, my song, my salvation and declares "...this is my God..." Our worship should be intensely personal. It is not about Moses but about his God. It is not about the preacher or the worship leader or the choir or the special singers or the order of service or the building or the time or anything else but God. Moses had just led 1 million souls out of Egypt and from the worlds perspective he deserved some praise but there is not one note of praise for the servant of God in this entire song, it is all about God. We have made preachers, worship leaders, singers and musicians into celebrities and robbed God of something that belongs to Him and Him alone.
III. The Redemptive Nature to Worship
a. It is a transformational experience
True worship is life changing. The problem is that many Christians never experience true, biblical worship. Jesus declared that the "...Father...was seeking worshippers and the woman who talked with Jesus in John 4 said that men "...ought..." to worship but Jesus said that men "...must..." worship Him in spirit and in truth because of the fundamental truth that God is Spirit!
Life Examples: Isaiah: A Life-Changing Encounter (Isaiah 6:1-7)
Isaiah's whole life changed when he saw the majestic Lord seated on His heavenly throne. His awesome vision of God pierced him to cry out, "I am a man of unclean lips...For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts" (Isaiah 6:5). You will never deal effectively with your sin without first realizing who God is. When you study His Word and begin to grasp His holiness, a deep reverence for Him grows in your heart. You, like Isaiah, are humbled before Him and realize that you fall far short of His holiness. Yet before discouragement can creep in, you also realize that God loves you deeply. Through Jesus' death on the cross, God takes away your sins and shows you His amazing love. The crucifixion and resurrection are the beautiful visions God gives you of His awesome holiness and majesty.
-The Charles F. Stanley Life Principles Bible
b. It is a teachable experience
ILL - "Worship does not satisfy our hunger for God--it whets our appetite. Our need for God is not taken care of by engaging in worship--it deepens. It overflows the hour and permeates the week." -Eugene Peterson
True worship teaches us that we are needy, that we need to not only develop as worshippers but to also deepen our worship experience. I want to remind you that just three days after this great worship service on the sea shore these same people had forgotten the great deliverance they had experienced and at the end of this very same chapter we read:
Exodus 15:22 So Moses brought Israel from the Red sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water.
23 And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter: therefore the name of it was called Marah.
24 And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink?
We must keep worshipping, it must be the goal for which we strive. We must not only come to worship we must come worshipping.
c. It is a transcendent experience
To worship God, truly worship Him is the greatest experience that a human being can know. To spiritually connect to the God of the Universe is transcendent. To coin a phrase from a TV commercial, "It doesn't get any better than this!" It is the highest realization of our existence, to be intimate with our Creator.
ILL - I used to be the chaplain for the Astros and the Oilers when I was in Houston, Texas. After I'd do a chapel, they'd give me tickets. One time in the Astrodome I watched Earl Campbell run over everybody, his own men included, to get to the goal line. When he got to the goal line, he put the ball down. The place went crazy. People were giving high fives and jumping around. The scoreboard went off.
The same thing happened when the Astros hit a home run. It was a ringing shout, because their man scored a touchdown. I'm not saying that when you come to church you need to give each other high fives or do cartwheels down the aisle, but worship is a time of anticipation and expectation. We come together because all week God has been knocking home runs and scoring touchdowns in our lives.
Worship is a time to celebrate what God has done for us.
[Worship Is a Time to Celebrate, Citation: Rod Cooper, "Worship or Worry?"Preaching Today, Tape No. 108.]
