Attitude Reflections
Psa 139:7, Mat 18:20, Psa 27:4-5, Isa 6:1, Mark 12:30, Psa 100:1-5
October 21, 2002
I. Introduction.
A. This morning I want to remind you of something that I feel is very important.
B. And it is something that I am afraid that we are losing in our churches.
1. I may be wrong, and I hope that I am, but just in case let’s talk about worship.
C. What is worship?
1. When we say we worship what does that mean? What does it mean to you?
II. Worship is the human response to the presence of God.
A. When Moses met God at the burning bush, he worshiped.
B. When the Israelites were delivered from bondage in Egypt, they worshiped.
C. When King David was walking with God, he worshiped.
D. When the Israelites were brought out of exile in Persia, they worshiped.
E. When Joseph and Mary were told, they would be the parents of Jesus they worshiped.
F. When the Shepherds came to the manger, they worshiped!
G. When Jesus was taken to the temple to be dedicated Simeon, worshiped.
H. WORSHIP IS SUPPOSED TO BE OUR REACTION TO COMING INTO THE PRESENCE OF GOD!
III. And, worship helps us in experiencing the reality of the presence of God.
A. One thing that we must understand is that true worship is encounter, encounter with a Holy God.
B. God is everywhere. David realized this and he wrote (Psa 139:7 NIV) Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?
C. But, just because God is there, it doesn’t mean that we always experience the reality of His presence, but when we begin to praise and worship the Lord, the Holy Spirit begins to work within our hearts and we become more aware of the presence of the Lord.
D. If we truly want to sense the presence of God in this place, we need to truly worship Him.
E. He is here. He is everywhere. Jesus promised that when two or three believers gather in His name that He would be there with them (Mat 18:20 NIV) "For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them."
F. But, for us to experience the reality of His presence, we need to worship Him, we need to draw close to Him through our worship, because the bible says that God inhabits the praise of his People.
G. When we worship God draws closer to us and we experience him in ways that we can at no other time.
IV. Worship also helps us by raising us above our problems.
A. How many times do we drag into the house of God, drag through the worship service, and drag out the door at the end of the service and then complain that we didn’t get anything out of it?
B. Maybe we didn’t get anything out of it, because we didn’t put anything into it.
C. Or maybe we didn’t get anything out of it because, we were to busy thinking about other things or trying to make sure that we do it right.
D. Sometimes when I stand up here leading worship I mess up and it is usually because I get so into it I forget where I am in a song.
E. I am not up here to perform, I am up here to worship God, and if you are here to see a performance then you came to the wrong place, because worship is not a spectator’s sport.
F. If those of us who are up here to lead worship are worried about how well we perform or how much we are heard then we might be more of a hindrance than we are a help.
G. If we are not willing to worship, then we are not going to get very much out of it.
H. One of the reasons why our problems sometimes look so big is because we stand underneath them. When we worship the Lord, God lifts us up to His level and we can then look down on them and see that they are not as large as first seemed.
(Psa 27:4 NIV) One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.
I. David says here that he wants to stay in the house of the Lord. What do you do in the house of the Lord, you worship? David was a worshiper. His life was characterized by worship.
1. David desired to see the beauty of the Lord! That’s an God encounter! David wanted to know God!
2. David wanted to be with God, and have the presence of God be a reality in his life!
(Psa 27:5 NIV) For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle and set me high upon a rock.
J. As he worshiped in the house of God, David said that the Lord sets him up upon a rock. David uses the Hebrew word ~WR rum which means to rise up, be high, be lofty, be exalted, to be lifted up. David says that God hides him in the tabernacle, the place of worship, and lifts him up, and elevates him above his troubles.
K. Today a lot of you are burdened down with your troubles and problems. You need an encounter with a holy God, you need to be lifted up above your troubles, you need to be set on a rock that is higher than you are. But, that will only happen as you praise the Lord, and bring him close enough to Him that he can raise you above the things that you face.
L. If we truly worship God, if we will focus our thoughts and our energy on letting God know how much he means to us, and how much we appreciate him and what he means to our lives! We can draw closer to God and be transformed to a higher place where we are lifted above the struggles that we face in life, to a place that will take us above our problems.
V. Worship Also helps us by energizing us to receive the promises of God.
A. The story is told of about the Italian poet Dante Alighieri who was deeply immersed in meditation during a church service, so much so that he failed to kneel at the appropriate time. His enemies hurried to the bishop and demanded that Dante be punished for his sacrilege. Dante defended himself by saying, "If those who accuse me had their eyes and minds on God, as I had, they too would have failed to notice events around them, and they most certainly would not have noticed what I was doing."
B. When we come to worship, we don’t need to worry about what other people are doing, we need to worry about whether or not we are doing what ti takes to let God know how much we adore him.
C. Paul and Silas were in prison at the midnight hour and they worshiped and God delivered. Our worship should focus us so much on God that we are not caught up in the things that go on around us.
D. When we truly worship, we realize that we encounter Someone or something greater than ourselves Who is able. Who is able to do exceeding and abundantly above all that we ask or think.
E. Not only does it require faith to worship regardless of our circumstances, but worship will energize the faith that you have. As you focus on the Lord, other things will grow strangely dim as the song says. Isaiah saw the Lord high and lifted up, sitting upon the throne (Isa 6:1 NIV) In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple.
F. True worship comes from a heart overflowing with love. God honors a heart of love.
G. Remember the story of Mary, who after the crucifixion, came to the tomb to mourn and anoint the body of Jesus. She didn’t come expecting Him to be alive, she came because she had a heart of love and worship that overflowed for the One who had changed her life.
H. Her faith had to be low but her love wasn’t. When she found the tomb empty, she turned around and saw Jesus, not really recognizing Him. She asked if He had carried away the body of the Lord. Her heart was filled with love, so much that she came seeking her Savior, even if He was dead.
I. Jesus recognized her love and worshipful attitude and just said one word, He called her by name, and through her loving and worshiping heart, her faith was energized and she recognized her Lord. God will honor your loving, sincere worship too.
J. I heard some statistics the other day that are scary. Of those surveyed who said they are born again Christians, those who said they have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, 70% of them said they have never experienced the presence of God. That is one of the saddest things I have ever heard.
K. It makes you wonder what are people doing when they come to church. Every Sunday morning we are called to enter into a time of worship.
L. We are given the opportunity, to through our worship enter into the presence of God. But some of us this morning and every Sunday morning are liars before God. We sing songs like "His name is wonderful"; "Oh how I love Jesus" Show me You Glory, Open the Eyes of My Heart".
M. But many times we sing songs and don’t mean a word of what we say to a God who is always listening.
N. Worship is not about singing songs. It is about opening ourselves up to God. It is about laying our lives on God’s altar and expressing our love for him.
O. It is about spending time with Jesus, getting to know him and expressing our love to him, like Mary did. It IS about working for the Lord, but doing things for Him must always come second to knowing the one that we are doing them for.
P. The bible says that God inhabits the praise of his people, so "Don’t be inhibited when your inhabited." Open yourself up to worship God and experience his presence in your life.
Q. And I know that some of you might think when I talk about being open to worship God, or lifting up our hands or at the least saying amen above a whisper do I worry about the church becoming charismatic?
R. Well I agree with Adrian Rogers he says "It’s easier to cool down a zealot then it is to warm up a corpse."
S. Contrary to how we sometimes think, worshiping God is far from being a spectator sport. We need to realize that when we assemble here every week for worship we are, in a sense, approaching the very "gates of heaven," in other words, what we do here together should by all means be a taste of heaven here on earth.
T. Now be honest and ask yourselves; has my worship experience lately been spiritually full-filling?
1. Do I experience a sense of joy, adoration, and communion with the Lord?
2. When I come here, do I allow myself to truly feel God’s presence am I awestruck by His Glory and Majesty?
3. Or is my worship a mole hill experience instead of a mountain top experience?
4. Are you just going through the motions without ever really feeling like you are a part of truly worshiping Jesus?
5. Do you find yourself leaving here in about the same spiritual condition in which you came?
U. Well, if you feel that your worship experience is not spiritually preparing you for heaven . . . you’re not alone.
V. Some obey the command to worship for the same reason we obey the laws of the land--because they’re expected to and because they fear punishment if they don’t.
W. Many people come to church week after week simply because they think that this is what they are supposed to do and that it somehow makes them a better Christian.
X. Does simply showing up for church make us better Christians? About as much as living in a garage makes us a car. I can go to the gym religiously every single day of the week, I can buy the most expensive work-out clothes and shoes, hire the best fitness experts in the world, but until I actually take an active part in what’s going on at the gym, I’ll never benefit from it.
Y. In the same way, people come to church and don’t allow themselves to participate and then don’t understand why they are not seeing results and why they’re not getting spiritually stronger. That is simply not the mind set that we need to approach the gates of heaven with!
VI. The first thing we need to look at when we think about improving our worship is "how we approach worship." The 42nd Psalm has this to say; " These things I remember as I pour out my soul: how I used to go with the multitude, leading the procession to the house of God, with shouts of JOY and thanksgiving among the festive throng."
A. Here we picture a parade an excited parade of sorts-- a parade of people who are excited about getting to church so they can worship the Almighty and All-Merciful God of the universe!
B. So, our attitude that we approach worship with, our eagerness to come into this special presence of God, has a lot to do with the "quality" of our worship once we get here . . . But sadly, just judging from what time most of us get here every week, God can tell that we are not that terribly eager.
C. Oh, we can get to our jobs, get our kids to school and even make it to the football on time, but somehow we just can’t get motivated to be at church on time, that is if we decide to come at all.
D. And if you were late today I am not picking on you, most people do it you just picked the wrong week.
E. What I am saying is something that applies to all of us, we don’t have the attitude that we should when we come here.
F. What are we missing? Aren’t we serving good wholesome spiritual food here? Aren’t we teaching the truth of the gospel here? Aren’t we providing a place to worship here?
G. We are, and the food is good but the atmosphere is inadequate. And what it is lacking is our whole- hearted participation.
H. This may not be remembered as the "feel-good" sermon of the year but we will never be able overcome spiritual handicaps unless God reveals to us the fact that we have them.
I. And if we approach the throne of the Most High God without a sacrifice of praise, that is a hindrance to our worship and an obstacle between us and God.
J. If we want to get the most out of our worship and our relationship with the Lord, then we need worship God with everything we have.
K. (Mark 12:30 NIV) says Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’
L. Doesn’t it make sense that we should worship Him in the same way? ....with all our heart, with all our mind and at our strength?
M. Charles Stanely once said that he believed that most Christians in most churches have never worshiped God. We go to church, but we don’t worship. We sing songs, but we don’t worship. We listen to sermons, but we don’t worship. All of these things are elements of worship but they are not worship in and of themselves which means that you can do all of them and fail to truly worship God. We Christians often mistake the means of worship for worship itself.
N. I am not telling you that you have to worship in a certain way, but what I am saying is that when we come here we should come TO worship, and to do that we have to participate, we have to work on our relationship all week.
O. We have to come with an attitude that has at it’s very core that we are here to worship God.
VII. I believe that worship is a part of a life cycle that makes us better than we are and makes us closer to God than we are.
A. When we truly worship, we are brought into the presence of God, and that energizes us and empowers us. It makes us excited about being a Christian, and then we can go out into the world that we live in week to week, with a feeling that we have something exciting to share.
B. And with that feeling we are going to look for opportunities to tell people about this wonderful thing that we have, and we will see God working in our lives, and that will give us more to be excited about, and more to come back to worship him for, which will just bring us into His presence all the more which will send us out with more excitement and will make us feel that there is more to tell about, which will let us see God work more in our lives, which will bring us back here with more to worship him for, and so and so on, and circles just get bigger and bigger, and God becomes more a part of our lives, and the lives of people around us are changed, and we are changed and this thing that we call being a Christian, becomes what God intended it to be, and life becomes a Joy, because we can have a part of what heaven is right here, right now.
C. Listen to what Psa 100 says, (Psa 100:1-5 NIV) A psalm. For giving thanks. Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his ; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.
D. Let’s try it how bout it?
