Intro: We learned a few weeks ago that the chief business of the church is to worship God. I want to remind you that the main words used to speak of worship in the New and Old Testaments carry the idea of bowing down. Our lives as individuals and as a whole as a church body are to be bowed down to God daily. This bowing down to God is not an interruption of our regularly scheduled week. When we gather together as the church it is a continuation of what we do individually during the week.
If we believe that worship is the chief business of the church we need to make some things clear. Music is not the chief business of the church. However we worship God in song by putting our voices in harmony to sing of the excellences of our savior and master Jesus. Worship isn’t about the preaching but we gather to hear a man declare God’s living word and watch the Holy Spirit do miraculous things. Worship isn’t about serving but we come and serve each other and our community and it is how we show each other and the world the body of Christ.
Paul makes very clear what biblical worship is in Romans 12:1-2 (read) it is the bowing down of our physical, emotional, mental and spiritual life before God.
The passages we have seen have in the past few weeks have dealt directly with individual worship. This morning we look at worship of the whole local body. This church was receiving this letter because many of them were abandoning the meetings of the church. They had faced persecution and were being tempted to go back to the easier simpler way of temple worship.
So the writer of the Hebrews encourages them and us to worship the only one worthy of worship.
I. The foundation of our worship
A) Forgiveness of sins through the blood of Jesus
The reason we worship Jesus is because He alone is worthy to bow our lives before. When you read the entire Old Testament look for Jesus in the sacrifices. Every dove, bull, goat and lamb were sacrificed to point to the death of Jesus Christ for the sins of all mankind
Something that needs to be shared is John 3:16-17 God’s love is for the world. If you have not bowed your life to God you stand already condemned. It doesn’t matter how much God loves you if you don’t accept the free forgiveness purchased by Jesus.
When you receive His free gift and experience the lifting of the weight of condemnation worship is the result!
B) Fellowship with God through the new and living way
Read Matthew 27:45-53 this tearing of the veil represented the removal of the barrier of fellowship with God. There is so much desire to find practical teaching for the church today that we miss what will make us the most faithful. Fellowship with God drives us to become more like Jesus and breaks sins power over our daily decisions and actions. This is the most practical thing we can do as a church.
The only way to this fellowship with God is through the freshly slain and living way Jesus! I just read this week that someone was saying that we all worship the same God. You have to examine this statement. Hinduism leads to the nothingness of nirvana. Islam leads to a judgmental God. Various forms of earth worship lead us to a meaningless life. We could go on and on. Jesus through His death and resurrection lead us into a living relationships with God. This living relationship is why we bow and serve.
II. The unity of our worship
I want you to notice something very important in this passage. At least ten times we, us, our, is used in this passage. Worship was not meant to be done alone.
Worship is designed to get us focused on God and forget our pain and problems. When we worship together we realize God is bigger than all our combined problems. When we worship together we realize that we are to represent God together. When we worship together we realize we have a mission to share Jesus together.
It isn’t simply coming together that strengthens us. It is coming together to worship the living God.
A) We are united in full assurance
Full assurance means complete trust. When we worship in full assurance we walk prepared to do what God has said.
The story is told of a tightrope walker who liked to walk a wire across Niagara Falls-preferably with someone on his back. Many people on the bank expressed complete confidence in his ability to do it, but he always had a difficult time getting a volunteer to climb up on him.
Faith is not believing in spite of evidence it is obeying in spite of consequence. Faith is a matter of decisive obedient actions. Our full assurance and confidence comes from the ongoing ministry of Jesus in our lives as our High Priest.
B) We are united in clear conscience and clean living
The application of Jesus sacrificial death leads us to a cleansed internal life that results in a clean external life.
When Sgt. Ray Baarz of the Midvale, Utah, police department opened his wallet, he noticed his driver's license had expired. Embarrassed at having caught himself red-handed, he had no alternative. He calmly and deliberately pulled out his ticket book and wrote himself a citation. Then Baarz took the ticket to the city judge who fined him five dollars. "How could I give a ticket to anyone else for an expired license in the future if I didn't cite myself?" Baarz asked
C) We are united in confession
Holding fast to our confession is continuing in our relationship with Jesus. Confession is saying the same thing as. When we worship Jesus we are saying the same thing as God. When we present our bodies (lives) as a living sacrifice we are saying the same thing as God. When we help the poor, homeless, single mothers, orphans and widows. When we share the gospel we are saying the same thing as God. When we do it as a church we are united in holding fast our confession of hope. Jesus will come again. (Blood Moons)
III. The transformation of our worship
Possible statement about blood moons.
Psalm 135:18 this passage declares the greatness Yahweh and the foolishness of bowing and trusting idols. It contrasts the activity of God on behalf of His people with the dead hands of idols.
This reveals the importance of worship. We become like what we trust and bow before.
A) Worship should develop a concern for our brothers and sisters in Christ
Worship focused on God will free us of the me mentality. A gathering to worship together with loved ones needs never to be about our preferences. It instead needs to be about our God and concern for each other.
B) Worship should develop a craving to do love and good works
We encourage each other because of the discouraging world we live in.
C) Worship should develop a chance to encourage each other
The recipients of this letter had some changes to make. They needed to abandon the old temple sacrifices and rituals. God is calling Immanuel to abandon rituals for spiritual transformation. We must be willing to encourage each other to love and good deeds.
Conclusion: Worship of the living God revealed in Jesus Christ should make us more like Jesus.
So the question we have to ask ourselves is are we becoming more like Jesus?
