XV. "WORSHIP . . . DELIGHT SUPREME"
Walter H. Werner (1893- 1987) Classic Sermons on Worship pg 117 Joshua 15:13-15
A. Worship is not easily defined. It is so interwoven with prayer and Bible study that it is
not easy to tell where worship ends and prayer and Bible study begin. Worship may take place again and again in the midst of prayer, of Bible study and simple child-like obedience. Worship is not prayer, not Bible study, nor obedience in commission. These are rather the outflow of worship. Joshua prayed, he listened, and he obeyed because he first worshiped.
Keep in mind, Joshua is a mighty general himself.
B. Worship prepares the heart and makes prayer, Bible study, and obedience a great privilege
and joy, a real delight instead of a duty.
C. Worship is estimating God aright, putting Him in His proper place, where He is ALL to us, and putting ourselves in our proper place, where we are nothing in ourselves. When God is ALL, there is no room for others or self. As Joshua worshiped the Captain of the Lord's host, he himself was leveled to the ground, nothing.
D. Worship is in process when we adore our God, when we admire, exalt, and honor Him. It
is done in truth and in Spirit, as we whisper or shout or sing our praises to Him, all
others excluded. It is doing private business with our Savior and Lord, in secret, as
we love Him freely as He loves us. Only those who so worship the Lord, in secret,
alone with Him, do ever worship Him in public. But as they do so daily in secret, it is
bound to break out on them in public in the congregation.
E. Preparation for Worship.
1. Regeneration --- "Ye must be born again." Jn 3:3, 5, 7 A dead man can't worship.
Once the birth from above has taken place, worship has begun.
2. Attitude of Gratitude
When thou prayest, rather let thy heart be without words, than thy words be without heart. John Bunyan
The maintenance of a grateful attitude toward the Lord continually demands the utmost care and cultivation.
We just get used to things and therefore take them for granted.
It is human nature it seems.
3. Dedication
A submission of the whole man--body, soul, and spirit--to the Lord. As Joshua
cast himself before the Captain of the Lord's host, he withheld nothing. To do
that meant the giving up of his own will for good and forever, for the will of
Another. What takes place in such an act of surrender and yieldedness, is the
establishing of a firm purpose, never to be altered, of hating sin and loving holiness.
4. Fountain of Joy
True devotion springs only from a glad heart.
F. How to worship
The Holy Spirit does not violate a believer’s personality, but rather uses it to express praise to God. No two Christians have the identical worship experience even though they participate in the same service, at the same time, in the same sanctuary. WW p 25
Attempting to tell a believer how to worship the Lord he loves is a little like undertaking to prescribe for a young man how to admire, adore, and make his love known to his sweetheart.
Do you really love the Lord like that sweetheart?
If so, lovers love to be alone.
G. Classes of Worshipers
On earth there are just two classes of worshipers, the true and the false. In heaven,
there is just one class, the true--both angels and people.
H. Results of Worship
Joshua never stood taller in the presence of the Lord than when he lay prostrate at
His feet on Jericho's plain. There, he was wholly submissive to his God. No saint
ever rises above that, though he grows and grows.
XVI. TRANSFORMATION
Real Worship W.W. pg 29
A. Why do we worship God?
1. Because He is worthy.
2. Because He has commanded us to worship Him.
B. True worship is a transforming experience.
C. Every Christian is either a "conformer" or a "transformer." We are either fashioning our lives by pressure from without, or we are transforming our lives by power from within. The difference is--- worship.
Read Romans 12:1-2 KJV
Romans 12:1-2 Amplified Version
(v. 1) "I appeal to you therefore, brethren, and beg of you in view of [all] the mercies of God, to make a decisive dedication of your bodies--presenting all your members and faculties--as a living sacrifice, holy (devoted, consecrated) and well pleasing to God, which is your reasonable (rational, intelligent) service and spiritual worship.”
(v. 2) “Do not be conformed to this world--this age, fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs. But be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind--by its new ideals and its new attitude--so that you may prove [for yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His sight for you].”
The "transformer" lives by power from within, but the "conformer" lives by pressure without.
D. A Call to Transformation
Why would any Christian believer not want this kind of worship experience?
1. This kind of experience demands devotion and discipline, and many believers
are not interested in discipline.
2. The consequences may be dangerous.
It is my feeling that many Christians do not want a transforming experience
of worship. So, when a transformed believer shows up among them, they are
immediately threatened by his/her presence--and this can lead some difficult
situations in homes and churches.
E. Transformers
1. Transformers do not create problems; they reveal them.
2. Transformers are participants, but most Christians want to be spectators.
Most Christians are content to attend church, give their money, and allow
a professional staff to "lead in worship" and provide religious entertainment
Sunday by Sunday.
3. Transformers patiently wait for the Spirit to change them and make them more like
the Savior, but most church members want immediate results that can be
categorized and computed. The transformer looks for fruit while the conformer calculates results.
4. Transformers quietly resist the "celebrityism" that marks the church today, while
many professed believers are so taken up with "famous Christians" that their
dedication to them almost becomes cultic. A believer with a renewed mind is
happy to hear God's Word from any sincere servant of God, known or unknown; but other Christians insist on listening to the "leading expositors of the day," are often media superstars.
5. Transformers trust God to work as they worship, pray and sow the seed of the
Word, but conformers run from seminar to seminar, seeking to discover new
techniques for getting God's work done in this world.
6. Transformers have a different set of values from that of their conforming friends.
They are not impressed by budgets and buildings, but they look for fruit that
glorifies God.
7. Transformers are not concerned about getting the approval of the world or being
popular with the world's leaders. They are content to live to please the Lord
and serve others. If they are noticed, they get embarrassed; if they are unnoticed, they rejoice. So-called Christian celebrities do not interest them, particularly those of the "Hollywood" variety who sing in nightclubs on Saturday night and then in a church service on Sunday morning.
F. The Most Dangerous Thing We Can Do READ pg 37 -39 Real Worship W. W.
XVII. AFTER WORSHIP
Real Worship W. W. pgs. 77 - 81
A. Isaiah 6 is the locus classicus for the study of worship.
We are not for sure where Isaiah had this transcendent vision of Jesus Christ
enthroned in heaven. Perhaps he was in the temple; we do not know.
B. Isaiah had a fourfold experience of worship; and in this sense, his experience relates
to us today.
1. Isaiah saw something. v. 1 --- "the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up"
(Christ in glory. Jn. 12:41)
The invisible became visible and the spiritual became real.
2. Isaiah heard something. v. 3 --- "Holy, Holy, Holy"
(Heavenly praise.)
The prophet immediately sensed his own sinfulness and openly confessed it.
It is not enough in our worship to only see the Lord; for if we truly see Him
as He is, we will also see ourselves as we are.
3. Isaiah felt something. v. 7 --- the live coal to his lips, his " iniquity is taken away,
and your sin is purged."
It is not enough to see the throne; we must also see the altar, the place of sacrifice for sins. A throne without an altar would mean conviction and condemnation, not cleansing.
It is unfortunate that we have minimized the importance of feelings in our experience of worship. We preach about presenting our bodies a living sacrifice, but then we want to anesthetize our nervous system and eliminate normal emotional responses. Our churches are filled with icy people like Michal, David's wife, who criticized her husband because he was too fervent in his worship (II Sam. 6:20). While we certainly want to avoid shallow emotionalism, we dare not grieve the Holy Spirit in our desire to be "proper." I want to feel something within as I worship God--a sense of glorious wonder, a joyful acceptance, a brokenness for sin, an empowering of His Spirit, a release from burdens and shackles--whatever it is He has for me as I come before His holy throne.
4. Isaiah did something. v. 8 --- He volunteered for difficult service.
"Here am I; send me."
If Isaiah's experience stopped here, it would not be true spiritual worship. The prophet went on, however, to do something: he surrendered himself to God for His special service. His experience began with sight--he saw the Lord. It led to insight-- he saw himself as a defiled sinner. But the end result was vision--he saw the need and volunteered to do the work God wanted him to do. Worship led to service, as true worship must always do.
ENTER TO WORSHIP
DEPART TO SERVE
