1. There is an old French proverb that says, "A good meal ought to begin with hunger." It is hard to enjoy a good meal when you are not hungry, but when you are starving anything tastes good! The same is true with worship. When we approach worship with a hunger for God, starving for a spiritual connection with Him we will always be fulfilled and satisfied. On the other hand, if we enter into worship with little or no appetite for God, then we will leave with having never tasted of Hs majesty and goodness. In Matthew 5.6 Jesus gives as one of the beatitudes, "Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled." This hunger is a need for God, a deep inner longing for Him.
2. Another aspect of our vision and mission is to glorify God in worship
3. John 17.1-5
When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, 2 since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. 3 And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. 4 I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.
4. Worship’ (Old English ‘weorthscipe’=‘worth-ship’) originally referred to the action of human beings in expressing homage to God because he is worthy of it. It covers such activities as adoration, thanksgiving, prayers of all kinds, the offering of sacrifice and the making of vows.
a. He is worthy, we are needy
b. It is our response to a gracious God
5. Revelation 4.8-11
8 And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say,
“Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty,
who was and is and is to come!”
9 And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying,
11 “Worthy are you, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they existed and were created.”
I. Worship is not
A. A Matter of Extremes
1. Ceremonial-Casual – Mix of Awe and Family (GOD and Our Father)
2. Intellect – Emotion (Deuteronomy 6.4 – heart = emotion and mind)
Worship without Understanding
There was a woman who spent some months serving as a missionary in South Africa. On her final visit to a remote township she attended a medical clinic. As the Zulu women there began to sing together, she found herself deeply moved by their hauntingly beautiful harmonies. She wanted to always remember this moment and try to share it with friends when she arrived home. With tears flowing down her cheeks, she turned to her friend and asked, "Can you please tell me the translation of the words to this song?"
Her friend looked at her and solemnly replied . . . "If you boil the water, you won't get dysentery."
How many times have we been guilty of the same thing in a worship service? No, not of singing that particular song, but of singing (and perhaps even being moved emotionally) without being aware of the meaning of the words we were singing.
Paul said, "I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with the understanding. I will sing with the spirit, and I will also sing with the understanding." (I Corinthians 14:15).
The melody may be beautiful, but it is the lyrics which give our songs meaning. Pay careful attention to what is being said.
B. Ritual or Superstition (Matthew 6.7-13 –praying)
1. Do Exactly the Right Things
2. Say Exactly the Right Words (magic words)
Hocus Pocus "In all probability those common juggling words of hocus pocus are nothing else but a corruption of hoc est corpus, by way of ridiculous imitation of the priests of the Church of Rome in their trick of Transubstantiation."
C. Accidental – It is Intentional – Romans 12.1
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
D. Limited to a Time and Place
1. John had an individual worship experience – Revelation 1.10a 10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day,
2. Community experiences – Acts 2.42-47
II. Worship IS
A. Seeking God –– John 17.1 When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, (Psalms of Ascents 120-134)
Psalm 121.1-2 A Song of Ascents. I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.
Psalm 123.1 A Song of Ascents. To you I lift up my eyes, O you who are enthroned in the heavens!
B. Knowing God – John 17.25-26
1. “Father” – Our Father vs. MY Father of Jesus
• Holy Father (17.11)
• Righteous Father (17.25)
2. His Name – Identity; Character; Reputation [Benedict Arnold]; Fullness of who He is; Significance of Names in Bible – Ichabod; “Let Judah go up first;”
Psalm 91. 14-16
14 “Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him;
I will protect him, because he knows my name.
15 When he calls to me, I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble;
I will rescue him and honor him.
16 With long life I will satisfy him
and show him my salvation.”
C. About God’s Glory – Revelation 4.10; 5.14; 7.11; 13.1-5; 22.8-9
1. Glory is something seen
2. Glory is given repeatedly –
GIVING IT BACK ONE MORE TIME
Years ago the Crown Prince of India gave to Queen Victoria the most precious thing he had. He was a child prince and he gave to the Queen of England, the "Koh-I-Noor Diamond". The coroner diamond is perhaps the most famous diamond of all history. Do you know how big it was when the prince gave it to the queen? One hundred and eighty-six carats, an almost flawless diamond. Can you imagine a diamond about as big as your fist? This diamond was given to the Queen. It was put with the crown jewels in the Tower of London.
Later on when that young prince became a man, that Indian prince he went to London. He went to the tower of London and he said, "Would you please place that diamond in my hand?" They placed it in his hand. Then he said to the Queen, "Here, I want to give it back to you one more time." He said, "When I gave it to you the first time, he said I did not fully understand all that I was doing. I gave it to you with the heart and mind of a child. But, now with the heart and mind of a man I want to give it back to you one more time with a deeper fuller meaning than I had the first time."
That's what worship is: the more we know and the more we grow, we want to keep doing it all over and over again.
A shepherd once attempted to keep an orphaned lamb alive by putting it with a ewe whose own lamb had died. But the ewe rejected the stranger and would not feed the offspring of another. In desperation, the shepherd skinned the dead lamb and laced its fleece over the starving orphan. Immediately upon recognizing the infant as her own, the ewe exercised the role of mother, giving new life to the orphan. Because of what the dead lamb had been to the mother, the stranger who deserved nothing was adopted and made a member of the family with all appropriate privileges.
God sees Christ’s blood on us and because of that substitutionary atonement, we are loved by the righteous Father through the Son. Our response is worship and adoration. He is worthy, we are needy.
Opening Reading – Psalm 117.1-2
Final Reading Romans 12.1-2
