Worship: Drawing Close To The Heart of God
Acts 9:42-47
Intro: Back in 1992 when the Dallas Cowboys were preparing to play the San Francisco 49rs for the NFC Championship in San Francisco the Cowboys had a pep-rally at Texas Stadium. The audience cheered wildly for each player when he was introduced. The fans carried banners. They painted their fans and proudly wore blue- and white outfits. They tried to get autographs. Not one fan walked away saying, “That event was a dud. It did nothing for me.” The event was a success, not because the performance was great (they didn’t play any football at all) or the players’ speeches weren’t inspiring (most of them weren’t’ very good speakers), but because everyone understood why they were there. The purpose was not to please the fans but to honor the team. The people walked away saying, “That was great! I hope the team understands how much we appreciate and support them!”
Why did you come to church today?
Our primary reason for attending church should be to worship God to honor Him and show Him how much we appreciate Him (Ps 95:6-7). Come let us bow down before the Lord.
Worship is more than just singing a few songs, performing a few rituals, and enduring a sermon. We come to experience the presence of God, to acknowledge His authority in our lives, and to worship him as our Creator. We come to experience the presence of God (Duet. 23:14).
We come to pledge our faith and obedience and to seek His honor. Even though this is obvious it’s often the missing ingredients in churches today.
Illustration: At Thanksgiving when Julie’s aunt cooked a chocolate pie and left out the sugar. The pie looked great, smelled great, but when my brother-in-law took a bit of the pie his face revealed it didn’t taste so great. After one bit he discovered he didn’t want anymore of that specific pie. When we don’t concern ourselves with making a connection with God in our church services people will soon loose interest in church.
THE WAY WE CONDUCT OUR LIVES AFFECTS OUR WORSHIP.
What we do in one hour of corporate worship each week is to be a reflection of what we as individuals are doing the other 167 hours a week. In fact, God despises corporate worship if the worshipers have hearts that are not right with Him.
21"I hate, I despise your religious feasts;
I cannot stand your assemblies.
22Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings,
I will not accept them.
Though you bring choice fellowship offerings,
I will have no regard for them.
23Away with the noise of your songs!
I will not listen to the music of your harps.
24But let justice roll on like a river,
righteousness like a never-failing stream!
Amos 5:21-24
Illustration: Jesus said we are to be the light of the world. During the week, we’re thousands of little lights trying to light the world. When we gather for corporate worship, we should create one giant light that honors God, and we should get recharged for the week ahead so we can return to being little lights for Him.
The most important aspect of church is to get connected to the heart of God. It’s not how interesting or entertaining the service was it’s how close it is to the heart of God. People come to church to get connected to God. Without sensing the presence of God people become frustrated and begin to drift away.
Acts 2:42-47
What Worship Is
Worship: to attribute worth to. (We give God His proper value). The Hebrew word means to bow down. (We acknowledge God’s sovereignty or his authority over us). The Greek word means to kiss toward. It the same word used for a dog licking the hand of its master (It’s showing proper respect). Worship is the submission of all of our nature to God.
1. In authentic worship there is always a sense of awe. (Acts 2:43)
The presence of God is awesome. He is so much more powerful and holy than we are. In Isaiah chapter six when Isaiah saw God in the temple he was filled with awe in the presence of God. Have you ever been awe-stuck by something or someone.
Illustration: When I was about six years old on Christmas Eve Santa Clause came to my house. When I answered the door I stumbled backwards all the way across our living room with my mouth wide open and my eyes all bugged out. When Santa Clause came into my house he was all I could see all I could think and nothing could’ve diverted my attention away from him.
Now I’m not saying that God is some kind of a spiritual Santa Clause who checking our list to see if we’ve been naughty or nice. In order to know what kind of gifts He’s going to bring us. But I am saying that when we understand who our God is then when we come into His presence to worship Him we will be awe-struck by His majesty.
2. We will have a sense of conviction.
Isaiah and Peter
Illustration: Paul Esheman, the man responsible for distributing millions of copies of the Jesus film around the world, tells bout the time that the film was shown at a refugee camp I Mozambique on the southeast coast of Africa. Although most of the people had never heard the gospel, they fell in love with Jesus through the film When he was arrested, beaten, an led away to be crucified, they began to weep and wail, and many rushed toward the screen. Their cries and the dust they stirred made it impossible to finish the film, so the projector was turned off. For more than thirty minutes, the townspeople were on their knees weeping and confessing their sins.
Each of the film crew members and counselors relayed how they would try to approach one of the villagers to pray with them, but the Spirit of God was so real that the counselors themselves were falling to their knees, confessing their own sins and glorifying God. “The sense of God’s presence-his power and his holiness-was so great,” the counselors told Eshleman, “that no one could do anything but confess sins.”
Paul Esheman said that eventually, after more than thirty minutes, the Jesus film crew turned the movie back on so the people could know the end of the story. You know the end. It does not end in death on a cross, but in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. When the townspeople saw how the story ended, Eshleman said, “The crowd exploded as if a dam had burst. Everyone began cheering and dancing and hugging one another and jumping up and down. When the invitation was given for people to accept Christ, nearly everyone in the crowd wanted to respond! The following Sunday five hundred new believers showed up at the forty-member church in the refugee camp.
3. We should also have an overwhelming sense of joy at God’s love and generosity. (V.46)
They were glad because they had a personal relationship with this awesome God. They grasped that He cared for them and were concerned about their daily lives. He wasn’t some distant being that was just looking for an opportunity to strike them with a plague or bully them into being His people. They were worshipping a faithful God who loved them and had saved them through the death of Jesus Christ. This God not only knew them by name but even had the hairs on their head numbered. He had given them a purpose in life and they were joyful as they worshiped.
Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.
2Worship the LORD with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.
3Know that the LORD is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
4Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
5For the LORD is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.
Ps 100
The failure to understand these two sides of worship and their corresponding musical styles is at the heart of much controversy in churches today. If you come from formal, liturgical background, you are used to an emphasis on the “reverence and awe” side of worship. When you visit a church where people are talking and laughing loudly when you enter, where they clap after a special song and some even raise their hands during the singing., you think it’s inappropriate and irreverent. But if you grew up in a more charismatic church, you’re accustomed to the emphasis on the joy of worship. A charismatic who visits a church that’s more liturgical thinks, This church is dead! Jesus Christ is alive! Come on, you all, get with it!
Illustration: It’s like the charismatic who visited a liturgical service and a man fell dead of a heart attack, he said the ushers carried out five people before they got the right one.
Some people don’t think drums have a place in the service ( I don’t like that “jungle beat”), some people don’t like the organ (it just makes it sound like a funeral, I didn’t come to church to go to a funeral). Some people don’t like clapping in church (oh, they clapped after the special music that just ruined it for me). When we clap in church we’re saying, “thank you” “I agree with you” we’re encouraging the one is leading us in worship.
When we worship God it edifies us.
God ordained worship not because He needs it, but because He has created us in such a way that we need to worship Him. There is something inspirational about singing in a group of people when others are signing. Haven’t you ever went to church before when you where down and something happened in the church service that lifted you up and you left out saying man I glad I went today.
4. Genuine worship is a testimony to the unsaved. (V. 47)
When people in the crowed see the congregation truly worship God I believe the Holy Spirit uses that to draw people to God for salvation.
32But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself."
John 12:32-33
When people come in and the church isn’t singing and people are dosing during the sermon it’s a turn off to them.
25About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. 26Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everybody’s chains came loose. 27The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. 28But Paul shouted, "Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!"
29The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. 30He then brought them out and asked, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"
Acts 16:25-30
If you invite someone to church because your concerned about them in someway and they come and you don’t worship, don’t expect them to come back.
There worship had cultivated the jailor’s heart so that he could receive the Word of God. Worship is the most powerful thing we have for satisfying famished souls. Saved and unsaved are starving for an extraordinary gimps of God. Worship is not just for the spiritually mature it is for the spiritually hungry.
How can we make worship more effective?
One key word is preparation. 5:1Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Go near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not know that they do wrong.
Eccl 5:1
Worship needs to be a priority in our life and not an afterthought. So develop some habits that help you prepare. Maybe it’s playing some spiritual music in your home or in your car on the way to church.
Another key word is participation. 23Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. John 4:22-23
Sing joyfully to the LORD, you righteous;
it is fitting for the upright to praise him.
2Praise the LORD with the harp;
make music to him on the ten-stringed lyre.
3Sing to him a new song;
play skillfully, and shout for joy
Ps 33:1-3
We are always going to be learning new choruses. Nine times in the Bible it says sing a new song. It should be so fresh and meaningful that you need to pay attention to the words. Be tolerant of other music. If you have extreme taste, if you like liver, you will need to be very tolerant. God loves variety, just look at the universe.
The Lord’s Supper is a participation of worship.
The offering is a time of participation of worship. An act of worship, you are giving of yourself.
Listening to preaching is participating in worship. Something spiritual happens when God’s Word is taught.
The song at the closing of the service we call the invitation is an act of worship. It isn’t just a time to gather up things and get ready to leave. It’s a time when some people want to make life changing decisions. It’s a time for you to participate with prayer, singing and reflection .
The most important point in worship is what you do when you leave. If you have a deep felt worship in here and then go out in the parking lot and you curse at someone, you abuse your family, you exploit people at your work place, you’re selfish and you’re greedy, and manipulative then you dishonored God. Jesus said these people draw close to me with their lips but their hearts are far from me. The best worship is living an obedient life when you leave.
We worship because we are Christian. In view of the gospel and how can you keep from worshipping?
