OPEN: A few years ago, Scott (our Family Minister) and I heard that a church building over by High School was for sale and Scott thought it would be a great place for a youth outreach program (Scott’s a genius at lining up grants for things like that). Obviously, we didn’t purchase it … but we did go for tour. And, as I was opening the closet door just off stage something surprised me: There on the floor of the closet was A SMOKE MACHINE! And on the shelf above it was a DISCO BALL.
Why on earth would a church own a smoke machine and a disco ball? Well, because some churches like to enhance worship experience of their members - and so, they have fog machines and disco balls. And some churches work hard to develop lighting effects and have special props on stage that emphasize the sermon series they’re preaching. What they’re doing is trying to create an “atmosphere” so people will feel they’ve REALLY WORSHIPPED on Sunday. And so they add a lot of bells and whistles to how they worship.
Now, I’m not sure God is necessarily bothered by these things. But I do wonder if these activities can become distractions. Because all that stuff really ISN’T worship!
The real problem with enhancing worship & creating an atmosphere, is that a lot of churches do that to please their audience. They believe that the more impressive and awe-inspiring the service, the more people are likely to come and then come back again.
ILLUS: But that kind of thinking can be deceptive. It’s kind of like the preacher that asked his daughter: “How many kids would come to your birthday party if all we offered was cake. No games, no entertainment. They could come to the house to spend time with you and bring gifts because they like you. But that’s all we’d offer. How many of your friends do you think would show up?” She thought for a minute and said “Maybe just a couple.” Then he asked her: “How many would come if I rented out a big arcade and let them have unlimited tokens, food and prizes?” She laughed and said that if they did that, in that case, the whole SCHOOL would show up.
Then the preacher addressed his audience and said: “Imagine if I pulled her aside during that big party at that huge arcade, and I put my arm around her and said, “Look at all the people who came to be with you!” Would she actually believe those people were there because they loved her and wanted to spend time with her? Or would she realize they weren’t there for her - because most of those kids were there just to be entertained. We’ve learned that we can fill church buildings if we bring in the right speaker or the right band - if we make things exciting enough - people will come. And then we say, “Oh Father, look how many people are coming because they love being with You!” Do you really think God is fooled by that? (Francis Chan “Letters To The Church”)
You see, that’s the problem with relying on bells and whistles. A church can grow that way, but they often grow without really worshipping because too often people come because they want to be entertained.
Jesus defined worship this way: “True worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” John 4:23-24
In other words - HOW we worship IS important to God. You see, God is seeking for people who will WORSHIP HIM the way He WANTS to be worshipped. True worship is NOT about disco balls, or smoke machines, or special light shows. It’s really about worshiping in SPIRIT AND IN TRUTH.
So the question is: how can I know if I’m worshipping in Spirit and Truth?
Well, let’s just start with that word… “WORSHIP”. What does it mean to “Worship”? Here in John 4, The Greek word that Jesus used was “proskuneo” – “to kiss the hand…, in a token of reverence”. The same source noted that… Part of that Greek word (kuneo) meant “to kiss, like a dog licking his master’s hand” (Strong’s Greek Lexicon)
Now, a Question: WHO IS WORSHIP FOR? It’s for God isn’t it? His is the master’s hand! I’ve come here to worship GOD! In worship I declare that God is God… and I’m not! I owe Him my worship; I owe Him my allegiance; I owe Him my very life and my salvation.
The problem for too many church goers is that they don’t think like that. They think worship is all about THEM. Francis Chan once told of hearing a person say “I really didn’t like worship today.” To which he replied: “That’s OK. We weren’t worshipping you.”
We are here to worship God because worship is what we do FOR God. My worship of Him is a declaration that I love God, and that I acknowledge that He owns me! And that is what Worship means – I have come here to worship God. Worship is about GOD - it’s NOT about ME!
Now that brings us to what Jesus says REAL Worship is. “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in SPIRIT and TRUTH.” Now, a lot of churches don’t think that way. If you ask many churches what worship is… they’ll say “singing”! They even have “WORSHIP TEAMS”. What’s a Worship Team? It’s a group of people who lead singing. And the idea that worship teams lead singing, pretty much sums up what many folks think REAL worship is.
I was researching the internet on the topic of worship, and one of the first articles I ran across started out this way: “Are you ready to worship?” And the people … scream, “yeah!” And everyone claps their hands and … together we sing.” What that article was saying was this: Worship is singing.
Another website discussed worship - and it focused entirely on singing. “Our worship must be rooted in and tethered to the realities of biblical revelation. God forbid that we should ever sing heresy…. I heard one evangelical preacher say, “I often wish that we wouldn’t sing or have music, but that I could simply see and say the words or the lyrics that express biblical truth.” Again - that article was built around the idea that worship is singing.
I even heard of one church where they’d sing, and sing, and sing - and if they had time they might even have a sermon; and they might even have communion. But if they run out of time… those things aren’t as important as singing and they just wouldn’t DO those things.
Now, I have nothing against singing. I love to sing. I love to sing hymns, choruses, modern songs, old gospel songs, and campfire songs. You name it, I like to sing it. And I believe singing is a powerful way to express our worship & praise God. But I really have a problem with this idea that WORSHIP IS SINGING and that everything else we do on Sundays is kind of secondary to singing.
In the book of Acts (which gives the history of the early church) we’re given a short description of what they did in worship. In Acts 2:42 tells us that in the early Church “They devoted themselves to 1. the apostles’ teaching and 2. the fellowship, 3. to the breaking of bread and 4.the prayers.”
These things are not worship. And neither is singing. These are the tools we use to worship. Imagine sitting down at the table to eat and on the table you have a plate and utensils. Those utensils and plate are not the meal - they are merely the tools you use to eat your meal with. In the same way, singing, communion, praying, fellowship - they aren't "worship", they are the tools we use TO worship with.
Now notice, there’s no mention there of them singing in worship. Now, I’m sure they did sing, but that was NOT what they focused on in worship. So their worship included: fellowship, communion (breaking of bread), and prayers. BUT, the first order of business for those early Christians was to ground themselves in TRUTH – the Apostles’ teaching.
Now, it’s not that fellowship and communion and prayers were unimportant, it’s just that God felt it important to remind us that the church was built on the foundation of what the Apostles taught about Jesus. Without that foundation of truth… everything else would collapse.
Jesus said “Those who worship must worship in Spirit and in TRUTH. But where am I going to find TRUTH? (BIBLE) In John 17:17 Jesus prayed to the Father “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is TRUTH.”
The Bible is the truth of God. Everything you know about Jesus comes from the Bible; Everything you know about God and heaven and hell comes from Bible; Everything you know about how to become a Christian comes from Bible; Everything we know about anything that matters to God… comes from Bible.
If we don’t read the Bible… we’re not going to know anything about anything because GOD’S WORD (the Bible) IS TRUTH. We need to remember that because the Bible was where the early Church began in its worship. No Bible – no worship. It doesn’t matter how much we sing - if the Bible isn’t our foundation our worship will eventually become empty.
One last thing: Jesus said those who worship must worship in SPIRIT (and in Truth). What does it mean to worship in the Spirit? In Philippians 3:3 Paul writes: “We … WORSHIP BY THE SPIRIT OF GOD and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh…” No confidence in the flesh?
What Paul was saying was this - when he worshipped in the Spirit of God, he considered all of his righteousness, and all of his accomplishments, and all of his things he was once proud of … to be like rubbish.
There’s an old song that says: “Let’s forget about ourselves and magnify His name and worship Him. Let’s forget about ourselves and magnify His name and worship Him. Let’s forget about ourselves and magnify His name
and worship Christ the Lord. Worship Him, Christ the Lord.” (We Have Come Into His House)
Forget about yourself. Forget about how righteous YOU THINK you are. Forget about how important YOU THINK that you are. And when you stand in the presence of an almighty God MAGNIFY HIS NAME AND WORSHIP HIM!
In Revelation 4 - there’s this intriguing picture of what worship is like in heaven. "Around the throne (of God) were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clothed in white garments, with golden crowns on their heads. From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God." Revelation 4:4-5
THEN it says “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, "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." Revelation 4:10-11
That passage described those who were worshipping “in the Spirit”. And these mighty Elders cast their crowns before the throne. Those crowns were the symbols of their power and majesty and those crowns were ALL surrendered to God. And the 1st words out of their mouths are “WORTHY ARE YOU to receive glory and honor and power.”
(PAUSE) Let’s forget about ourselves and magnify His name… and WORSHIP HIM!
Now, there’s a flip side of that. When you come into the presence of God to worship Him you need to forget about what OTHER PEOPLE think of you. You might think – no one else likes me/ no one thinks I’m worth much but when you come into the presence of God to worship, you’ve come into the presence of a God who loves you. He loves you just as you are, but He loves you too much to let you stay that way.
As you worship God… He changes you. Romans 12:1-2 says you should “present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
Worship TRANSFORMS US… it RENEWS our minds. So, we should worship God in SPIRIT, and we should worship Him in truth. And, when we do that, our singing/communion/prayers and our fellowship will even change the world around us.
“About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s bonds were unfastened. When the jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul cried with a loud voice, 'Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.' And the jailer called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear, he fell down before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them out and said, ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’ And (Paul and Silas) said, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household." And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds; and he was baptized at once, he and all his family.” Acts 16:25-33
True worship transforms us… and it touches the lives of others around us. And that should be our goal.
INVITATION
