“Come and Worship”
(Part Two)
Psalm 95:1-7
“Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song. For the Lord is the great God, the great King above all gods. In his hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to him. The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land.
Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker;
for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care.”
Psalm 96:8-9
“Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; bring an offering and come into his courts. Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness; tremble before him, all the earth.”
Psalm 29:2
“Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness.”
John 4:20-24
“Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”
“Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
Last week we began our study of ‘worship’. We said it was a subject and a term that is quite familiar with most people. Most of us have been doing it all our lives – or think we have. We concluded that just because you go to a church on Sunday or Saturday doesn’t mean you worship. Just because you call yourself a Christian doesn’t mean you are a worshipper. We have just sort of taken this very important act for granted and most of us haven’t even given it a lot of thought. We will remedy that today. Hopefully we will all become better at worshipping our God and Savior.
Last week said, 1. Worship is a Command; 2. Worship is a Choice; 3. Worship is in a Certain Place and Time; 4. Worship Comes from a Pure Heart; and 5. Worship Begins with Gratitude and Gladness. This morning I want to, first, do an 1. Analysis of Worship; discover the 2. Attitude of Worship and thirdly, look at the 3. Act of Worship.
First, let’s do a little analysis of worship. What is worship? How would you define it? This is how Wikipedia defines it,
“Worship is an act of religious devotion usually directed towards a deity. An act of worship may be performed individually, in an informal or formal group, or by a designated leader. Such acts may involve honoring.” - Wikipedia
The modern Webster dictionary defines it, “the act of showing respect and love for a god especially by praying with other people who believe in the same god.”
The 1828 Noah Webster dictionary defines worship like this, “Chiefly and eminently, the act of paying divine honors to the Supreme Being; or the reverence and homage paid to him in religious exercises, consisting in adoration, confession, prayer, thanksgiving and the like. The worship of God is an eminent part of religion. Prayer is a chief part of religious worship.”
I think Noah Webster was speaking from personal experience more than just academia. Worship includes honor, reverence and adoration. There needs to be a sense of awe and perhaps even fear – or a deep, deep respect for our Supreme Being and Creator. We sing the song “Heart of Worship” frequently in our church and certainly the ‘heart’ of worship is respect and love and self-sacrifice. One line of that song says, “Though I'm weak and poor, all I have is Yours, every single breath!”
The song discovers that God does not require a song – but our hearts. In the analysis of worship we need to understand that the acts and attitude needs to be much deeper than a mere song. The biblical definition of worship, in my opinion, is found in Romans 12:1. It says,
“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.”
Before anything else – we need to surrender all to God. We need to be entirely sanctified for our acts of worship to have any meaning. Jesus said we need to worship in spirit and in truth. Without it we are just going through the motions. True worship involves the heart; true worship involves the will; true worship involves the spirit. Anything less will not do.
Secondly, we need to have 2. An Attitude of Worship. The Bible says,
““The multitude of your sacrifices— what are they to me?” says the Lord.
“I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals; I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats. When you come to appear before me, who has asked this of you, this trampling of my courts?
Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me.
New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations— I cannot bear your worthless assemblies. Your New Moon feasts and your appointed festivals I hate with all my being. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands in prayer, I hide my eyes from you; even when you offer many prayers, I am not listening. Your hands are full of blood!
Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight;
stop doing wrong.” Isaiah 1:11-16
Do you see what these people were doing wrong? They were doing all the right things; they were doing the acts of worship – but the attitude was wrong. They were rebelling in their heart while their actions were ones of worship. Because the attitude was wrong the acts were more than meaningless - they were detestable to God. God looks at the heart. God looks on the thoughts and the intents of a person. If you are in rebellion with God; if you are living in disobedience to God – your worship is more than meaningless – it is detestable. First get the heart right. Jesus said,
“Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.” Matthew 5:23-24
When we come to God we need to come with pure hearts. When we take Communion – we need to come with pure hearts or it is more than meaningless – it is detestable to God. Attitude is everything.
“The Lord says: “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught.” Isaiah 9:13
Attitude is everything. Talk is cheap. These people talked the talk but didn’t walk the walk. With their mouth and lips they honored God but their hearts were far from God. They had a list of ‘do’s and don’ts’ they followed, but their hearts were still devoted to themselves and not God. They were on the throne. Here is the right attitude for worship.
“Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe”
Hebrews 12:28
The right attitude is gratitude, reverence and awe. When we come to worship we need to come with thanksgiving and praise. We need to come reverently – with a sense of awe. I think the Church has lost that sense of awe for God when we come to worship. The way we come into the sanctuary; the way we dress; the way we speak should show respect for our God. It should reveal a sense of awe for Him.
Lastly, let’s talk about the 3. Act of Worship. What does it look like? There are many acts of worship that are meaningful with the right attitude and heart. Noah Webster mentioned prayer. Paul, mentoring the young pastor, says,
“Therefore I want the men everywhere to pray, lifting up holy hands without anger or disputing.” 1 Timothy 2:8
Notice the call to prayer is included with the right attitude – holiness. Worship must begin with purity. Listen to an example.
“When they had assembled their fellow Levites and consecrated themselves, they went in to purify the temple of the Lord, as the king had ordered, following the word of the Lord. The priests went into the sanctuary of the Lord to purify it.” 2 Chronicles 29:15-16
Notice that they consecrated themselves and purified the temple of the Lord. Worship is also in a particular place – the House of the Lord or a place dedicated to the Lord. I think this is a reason we have Churches or Houses of worship. Notice the acts of worship in this next Scripture.
“But you are to seek the place the Lord your God will choose from among all your tribes to put his Name there for his dwelling. To that place you must go; there bring your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, what you have vowed to give and your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks. There, in the presence of the Lord your God, you and your families shall eat and shall rejoice in everything you have put your hand to, because the Lord your God has blessed you.” Deuteronomy 12:5-7
“Offerings and sacrifices; tithes and special gifts; freewill offerings; the best of your increase or income”, it says. Then you shall rejoice and be thankful because of how the Lord blessed you. Here is another example.
“Hezekiah gave the order to sacrifice the burnt offering on the altar. As the offering began, singing to the Lord began also, accompanied by trumpets and the instruments of David king of Israel. The whole assembly bowed in worship, while the musicians played and the trumpets sounded. All this continued until the sacrifice of the burnt offering was completed.
When the offerings were finished, the king and everyone present with him knelt down and worshiped. King Hezekiah and his officials ordered the Levites to praise the Lord with the words of David and of Asaph the seer. So they sang praises with gladness and bowed down and worshiped.” 2 Chronicles 29:27-30
Under the Old Covenant, part of worship was to offer burnt sacrifices. They were looking forward to the Ultimate Sacrifice – Jesus’ death on the cross. We look back at that Supreme Event when we worship. We worship at the foot of the cross. Notice part of the worship was singing to the Lord, accompanied by musical instruments – with gladness. Bowing was also a part of worship as was kneeling and sometimes standing. Are you seeing those acts of worship? Prayer, singing, bowing, praise. The Word says,
“Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.” Psalm 100:1-2
“With my mouth I will greatly extol the Lord; in the great throng of worshipers I will praise him.” Psalm 109:30
I want you to notice that worship may include shouting for joy and singing joyful songs. We are to worship with gladness. The Psalmist said that “God inhabits the praise of His people (Psalm 22:3). Praise from a pure heart with others worshipping the Lord is pleasing to the Lord.
There is one more aspect of worship I want you to see. Listen,
“For God is not a God of disorder but of peace—as in all the congregations of the Lord’s people.” 1 Corinthians 14:33
Do you remember when Elijah had a duel with the prophets of Baal? You can read about it in 1 Kings, Chapter 18. Listen to what the Bible says the prophets of Baal did.
“they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed. Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention.” 1 Kings 18:28-29
Can you imagine such a sight? Shouting, frantic prophesying, even slashing themselves with swords until the blood flowed. They were serious! They were emotional! They were sacrificial! The results? No one answered. No one paid attention.
God does not delight in emotionalism – although you may get emotional as David did as he danced in the street. But God is a God of order – not confusion or frenzied emotionalism. He wants willful worship from the heart and mind. Let’s do that. Worship is a choice.
When Moses entered into the presence of the Lord, his face literally shined. I think that happens to us in a small way when we truly worship, too. Our faces shine; our hearts beat with joy; a song of praise is on our lips and it is good when we enter into worship with the right attitude and a pure heart.
I want you to know that you can worship the Lord individually and have sweet communion with Him – and you ought to. Sometimes just you and Jesus engaged in worship can be so sweet and wonderful. But His will is for us to unite our hearts and praise in joyful songs.
Let’s end our time together by doing just that.
