“Wholly Worshipping”
by Joe Mack Cherry
I. Introduction
A. Preaching to the Choir
1. Dedication and love for God has you here today.
2. This lesson is not intended to be a beatdown for you .
3. It’s intention is to dissect a common misconception about worship and consider some ways to address the improper mindset on which people are placing their eternal future.
B. It seem the world has decided there is a better way to worship/commune with God.
1. People are trying to fit in God around their lives when they should be fitting their lives around God.
a. Man has become selfish with his time.
b. The rationalization that we can worship God anywhere is dangerous and far from anything that resembles the 1st century church. Back to this in a minute.
2. Life truly has become all about us, our desires, and our time.
a. Some don’t have time for the One who gave His life so that we might live.
b. God wants commitment.
c. Worship requires focus. We can’t multi-task earthly pleasure and heavenly adoration.
d. Consider the Lord’s Supper. Can we partake of it worthily if we are thinking about the football game that starts at noon or “what’s for lunch”?
3. We cannot do what was done at the end of Judges where we are told, everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
C. Back to the 1st Century Church
1. The book of Acts gives us numerous examples of Christians meeting in homes.
2. Scripture tells they gathered in one accord.
a. They were all of the same mind.
b. Their gatherings were focused on worshipping the true and living God and learning as much as they could about the “Way”.
D. Ex. 20:8 and several other verses tell us that God is a jealous God.
1. What is the first commandment? Ex. 20:3 “thou shall not have no other God’s before Me.
2. Mat. 6: 26 – “we cannot serve two masters.”
3. If God is our Master, then anything that becomes more important relegates God to a number two position. UNACCEPTABLE!
4. God isn’t gonna compete with man’s idea of worship!
II. Lesson
A. What is worship
1. Showing “worth” to something or someone.
2. There is a big difference in worshipping and acknowledgement.
3. Even the demons acknowledged Christ.
a. Mat. 8:29 – at tombs in the country of Gaderenes two men possessed of demons came out and asked Jesus was He there to torment them before their time.
b. Jas. 2:18-19 – the writer tells us that belief/faith must be accompanied by works.
c. To simply acknowledge is no great step for anyone.
d. Psa. 19:1 – “the heavens declare the glory of God and the skies proclaim His handy work.”
4. I am not saying that we should not praise God and thank Him for the beauty of this earth BUT God wants more than our adoration; He wants all of us.
B. Here’s how the early church worshipped.
1. They met together.
a. The early church was a community!
b. Yes, they met in people’s homes and in some hiding places but they weren’t concerned with their individual pleasure, they were hungry for Christ and the Way.
c. Heb. 10:23-25 Read
i. The early church met together and drew strength from each other.
ii. Why did they need it?
iii. They were facing deadly persecution.
iv. A big part of their worship was encouraging and fellowshipping with others.
v. Eccl 4:12 – “One person can be overtaken and two can defend. A cord of three strands is not easily broken.
vi. Church is a commitment, not only to God but to others.
d. Truthfully, I don’t think we’ve taught enough about “whole” worship.
i. Whole worship is not two songs, a prayer, a song, the Lord’s Supper, a song, a sermon, an invitation, and a closing prayer.
ii. True worship requires togetherness.
iii. Whole worship leaves no room for outside thoughts and distractions.
iv. They met in one accord as recorded in Acts 1.
2. They devoted themselves to learning.
a. Bible study is where we learn and discuss things.
b. It is a time to hear one another and share our thoughts without being ostracized.
c. These Christians were focused.
3. What about Communion?
a. I Cor. 11:26 – We partake of the emblems to remember His death.
b. Some would use the excuse that if they did it every week it would lose its meaning.
c. Two verses down Paul settles this matter. We need to be conscientiously prepared to partake of it or we sin.
d. Here is another place where people rationalize God’s word rather than obey it.
III. Closing
A. There is nothing inherently wrong with:
1. Playing golf – we can admire God’s creation
2. Boat riding – we can sing gospel songs
3. Hunting or Fishing – we can pray
4. Although each one of these mentioned is part of worship.
5. Each one by itself doesn’t represent “whole” worship.
B. Mere acknowledgement does not constitute true worship.
1. In the golfing world, a 100-year-old oak tree is God’s beautiful creation until it gets in the way of your next shot. The attention quickly turns from praise to befuddlement. It goes from “thank you, God” to how am going to approach this nest shot.
a. Even the devils believe in Christ and acknowledged Him in Mk 5:7
b. If the shot goes over the tree, then it still wasn’t that bad.
c. If the shot goes into the tree and drops at the bottom part of the trunk, God’s creation loses its luster.
d. Four things about golf
i. A golf course is a nice place but is not a place for a true worship assembly unless they shut the course down.
ii. There is never one accord because everybody is worried about his/her next shot, not what a wonderful Savior we have.
iii. Golf has never been nor will it ever be a vehicle for true worship and the same goes for anything else we put I in front of God.
iv. I’m a hacker not a golfer but I know that out there on the course you can’t study God’s word and size up a putt simultaneously. Our dedication to the Lord is more important than any eagle putt or hole in one.
2. God wants us to enjoy life and there is nothing wrong with a lot of things but we must remember that it can’t replace the “whole” worship we experience and the fellowship we share with like-minded people.
C. Circumstances vs Choices
1. At times, we all have not been able to make a service.
2. God understands without question and He knows our hearts.
3. God will forgive us even if we willingly miss but we cannot make a habit of rationalizing that we can do other things and “wholly” worship God.
4. According to Paul, we cannot continue in sin so that grace may abound.
5. We examples and reasons for acceptable worship and we have option to worship as we see fit. Which will you choose?”
