This sermon was preached by Scotty L Killingsworth at Evergreen Church on Sunday morning November 3, 2002.
Moving Worship Psalms 23
God is on the move. He is dynamic not static.
God who is one day old and ancient of days is and will always be on the move. He never goes on vacation, sleeps or takes a day off. He is on duty 24-7.
John 5:17 Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at work to this very day, and I, too, am working.”
In Genesis 1 He moved into a void and created a universe
In Genesis 1:2 He tells us that in our immeasurably vast universe he picked out, at least, one planet and moved upon it bringing order and life where there had been chaos and emptiness.
In Genesis 1:26 He was moved to create human-beings to live on the planet to care for it.
In Genesis 3:8ff we see that God had entered into relationship with human beings.
Taking a chance to love something is risky and we walked away from the love of God for the love of self. God was moved to deepest sorrow.
God would not allow the situation to stay where it was and He moved to set into motion a plan of redemption. It would take a long time to complete, but God was moving to build a bridge to restore Him to us.
Any human who wanted to cross the bridge back to God could do so. It is a walk of faith, but it has never failed.
The bridge involved a lot of human history. God moved to establish a line of people where in he could re-enter human life. He found a man named Abraham and moved him by faith to a new place. He became connected to this family by a covenant.
The covenant family became a nation whose journey back across the bridge was filled with twists and turns. But it was working and God was moving.
The Exodus is an example of God moving his people out of a bad place and the conquest of Palestine is a grand example of God moving his people into a good place. The bridge was taking shape and men were crossing and were finding their eternal destiny on the other side.
God was still moving in history. He led the sons of Abraham through his Word and presence to establish a nation.
He gave Judges which were replaced by Kings and God moved closer
He sent prophets who began to paint a combined picture of a coming king.
We felt the hot breath of God as he drew nearer and nearer.
He was moving. He wanted a new home and was building one in the hearts of a covenant people.
Ezekiel saw God moving as a wheel within a wheel. The lesson here was that God was not just God in Palestine. He was God of Babylon too. He wanted to move his people back to their homeland. He had something he wanted to do.
Daniel saw God moving in the history of the kingdoms of earth. He moves and eventually will wear the ultimate crown and all nations will bow to him as King.
Amos saw God moving men to be aware of the social condition of men. God was not happy that the rich were oppressing the poor. God was moving in every area of life.
Isaiah gave our theology a jolt when he prophesied that the Messiah would be a suffering servant – born of a virgin – a god/man who would take away the sins of the world. He said he would be beaten and rejected by men - a man of sorrows.
The covenant people were puzzled, but that didn’t keep God from moving
He moved over a virgin and conceived a supernatural child that was born in Bethlehem
He moved from a much celebrated birth to an infamous death to seal the contract with the Father whereby our sins are marked paid in full.
He moved from death to life so that we might have the hope of resurrection.
He moved from heaven into the hearts of men to move men to God
He is moving to build a mighty church for which He will one day return and claim as His own forever.
He is moving those who have chosen Him to our eternal destiny of being captivated by his presence for ever
God is on the move. Don’t try to stop him. You will not distract him from his purposes. You will not delay him from his appointed time schedule. He is God and God is on the move.
God is here this morning. He wants to move here. He wants to move in our worship so that our worship can affect our lives which can affect the lives of others.
Why settle for worship as usual? Who wants static worship? Not me! The dynamic creator is here to dynamically create you fresh and new this morning. Let Him have at it. Don’t box him in. Don’t force him into some preconceived form and manner.
When God moves in our worship his movement is dynamic in our lives. When God moves in our worship we are moved toward our spiritual destiny.
Burden: What keeps God from moving in worship? We do! We are in a free partnership with him in these things. He knocks, and we can open up or ignore him.
There are various levels of worship. Human beings have seasons in life where sometimes worship is natural and easy. Other times it is perfunctory and stiff. There are times when in worship God has moved so mightily it is like trying to drink from a fire hydrant, and other times it is radically otherwise and dry.
No two worship experiences will ever the alike. Why? Because God is dynamic and we are always at different points on our life journey. But, God can be met in all seasons of life in the arena of worship.
I try not to put God in a box. I choose to release and to let go of my expectations so I can be amazed and even shocked at His presence. I don’t want a God in my image. I don’t want to worship God in a static way. I want God to be God and my worship of Him to be fresh and new. I want nothing less for me and for this congregation than to move each time we meet into genuine worship.
Here is what happens when we move into genuine worship
We are moved from greed to grace The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
How many of you here have an over active want-er? Raise your hands. You purchase a new pair of shoes, which calls for a matching purse, and then there comes accessories. Men you get a new fishing pole but you’re not happy until you have a tackle box full of lures and a boat to carry them around and a new truck to haul all of it to the lake.
The world system is set up on greed. Jesus has called us to a new system based on grace. In genuine worship this condition finds a fix.
A west coast psychologist is famous for a question he asks his clients. He asks, “What do you want?” He pairs them up and has them ask each other this question over and over. Have you ever really asked yourself that question? What do you really want? When in our worship we touch the hem of His garment we discover He is all we want.
In the song Turn your eyes upon Jesus it says, “And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.”
Philip Parham has an article in Our Daily Bread, May 18, 1999. In it he tells the story of a rich industrialist who was disturbed to find a fisherman sitting lazily beside his boat. “Why aren’t you out there fishing?” he asked.” Because I’ve caught enough fish for today,” said the fisherman. “Why don’t you catch more fish than you need?’ the rich man asked, “What would I do with them?” “You could earn more money,” came the impatient reply, “and buy a better boat so you could go deeper and catch more fish. You could purchase nylon nets, catch even more fish, and make more money. Soon you’d have a fleet of boats and be rich like me. ”The fisherman asked, “Then what would I do?” “You could sit down and enjoy life,” said the industrialist. “What do you think I’m doing now?” the fisherman replied as he looked placidly out to sea.
Philippians 4:11 Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.
Benjamin Franklin said, “Content makes poor men rich; discontent makes rich men poor.”
Psalm 37:16 A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked.
Genesis 33:9-11 9But Esau said, “I already have plenty, my brother. Keep what you have for yourself.” 10“No, please!” said Jacob. “If I have found favor in your eyes, accept this gift from me. For to see your face is like seeing the face of God, now that you have received me favorably. 11Please accept the present that was brought to you, for God has been gracious to me and I have all I need.”
Ecclesiastes 2:24 There is nothing better for a man, than that he should eat and drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labour. This also I saw, that it was from the hand of God.
Move the focus of your discipleship toward worship because there you will find the power to change.
The secret to being content is to make your wants the same as God’s wants. This is only possible when we are more interested in our death-style than we are in our life-style. Mark Buchanan in his book Things Unseen shines the light of eternity into our daily life with this death-style thought.
As Simeon said as he saw the Christ, “You may now dismiss your servant in peace”, for my eyes have seen Your salvation.” (Translation mine). He had lived his entire life for that moment. What are you living for? You will never find this answer until you discover the joy of worship
Worship reorients our hearts heavenward. Worship also brings added blessings we may have not even expected
We are moved from rush to rest
2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. 3 He restoreth my soul:
Nothing in all your life experience restores the soul as does worship. A month-long vacation can’t compare to one hour of sweet worship.
Did any of you feel a little rushed this week? Sometimes I get the feeling that the earth is spinning faster than it did before. Like a skater who pulls in her arms to increase the speed of the spin. Sometimes I feel the earth is getting smaller and increasing the speed of time.
Wouldn’t it be great to have time to lie down in green pastures, or to sit beside a still body of water long enough for our soul to be restored? Our entire culture is dehydrated and starved for a deep spiritual refreshment.
A cowboy in the old west came upon an Indian sitting beside the road. He asked him, “What are you doing just sitting there?” The Indian said, “Waiting for my spirit to catch up. I have been traveling for two days and it can’t keep up.”
One day you will retire. You will be setting on the front porch some bright morning reading a good book when suddenly you will feel this spiritual impact. Kaboom! Don’t be alarmed. It will just be your spirit finally catching up with you after years of rushing to raise families and seeing to careers. When it catches up please give it a few months to rest before you start running again.
God has designed a way to keep his sheep rested and restored. It is called worship. In worship we truly lie down in the green grass and take our shoes off spiritually. In worship we find the time to peer deeply into the still water and even see a reflection of ourselves as we really are.
Worship is the slowing-down-time that is vital to our spiritual health. The earth life-pattern is hurry, produce more, and rest less.
In worship we slow down. In worship we’re on heaven’s time.
Worship isn’t hurried because it is not on earth time. It may last an hour by earth clocks, but it is eternal in its best sense. Worship is not chronological! It begins and flows at God’s speed and not ours.
God is not in a hurry as are we. We are constantly short on time. He is one day old and ancient of days. He is beginning and the end in one.
Shakespeare said “Time is the fire in which we burn.” Worship transcends time and connects to the eternal. We don’t feel the burn of time in genuine worship.
Read again with me the words in verse 2-3. Who is leading? He is leading. Who leads us into worship? He does.
Spiritual truth: When we follow the Good Shepherd there will be ample times of spiritual refreshment. When we strike out on our own and never answer His call to worship we find ourselves burning in the fire of time and living at a breathless pace.
The peerless Isaiah wrote in 40:11 He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.
God is a gentle shepherd. Earthly time is not a gentle shepherd. We can’t avoid living in a time continuum, but we can come away daily and corporately to worship God and drink deeply of the water of rest.
You owe it to your spiritual development to spend quality time each day in personal worship. There is nothing that will slow down the burn of time otherwise. In daily personal worship we learn to number our days and to invest them not just for here but for later in eternity.
Personal daily worship is not enough. It never has been and it never will be enough for the spirit. There must be the coming together of spirits corporately seeking and reaching out to a higher level of being. In the community of worship founded on person daily worship we discover that our lives take on the eternal pace and come in out of the burn of time.
In worship we find contentment not in our life-style, but in our death-style. We also find the source of everlasting rest and restoration. Worship is a God-gift to his people. Use it often.
There is another benefit derived from worship which greatly increases the quality of life.
In worship We are moved from occasional to continual He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
Paths speak of a well worn and clearly marked thoroughfare. Worship should become a life-habit that sustains us for the long haul. Even occasional worship is of towering benefit to the worshipper, but continual worship cuts a path in our lives that is deep and dynamic.
Last March my brother Lonnie, his two sons Freddy and Chad started north on the Appalachian Trail. The trail originally had been carved by the animals who found the easiest way through the wilderness. It was further developed by the American Indians to later lived there. Today it is a well-marked trail that is deeply cut and easily followed.
The journey toward God should become a path of righteousness. Daily worship and consistent corporate worship cut the path deep in our souls.
These deeply cut paths are easy for others to follow as well.
These deeply cut paths are more than religious activity. They transcend liturgy, and sacrifice. They are sweeter than votive candle smoke and anointing oil. They are more beautiful than hymn or chorus. They are warmer than the hand-shaking time in a Baptist church. They care not whether the participant is in robes or cut-offs or if the experience happens in an open field or majestic cathedral. These paths are not defined by intelligence or exposed by the artists brush. They exist and that is all that matters. Worship is not religion. It is much better.
It is not easy to accept the path of righteousness in a human heart. The door we open to it has a strong spring that shuts itself automatically each time we open it.
It will not stay open on its own.
The door must be opened all the way or worship does not occur. Remember Jesus said that he stands at the door knocking and to come in the door has to be opened.
In worship we are open to change because we are made terrifyingly aware of our sin.
Standing in the presence of the Holy One amplifies our un-holiness. One hour in God’s presence however transfuses us with the reality that to God we really do matter.
Isaiah in private worship opened the door and received a vision of God. The first thing he became aware of in God’s presence was his self. He was pounded with his sin like storm-driven waves hitting a shore. He was unclean and it had never been so obvious to him before. Worship had revealed the best picture of his heart ever, and it destroyed him. His resistance to righteous was broken and he received the touch of God on his lips.
The design of discipleship is to lead us to discover the depths of His righteousness. A heart that is content with nominal levels of righteousness is a heart that has not been in the blazing presence of the Most High.
David moved in the righteous paths of God on several occasions. When the Ark of God came into Jerusalem David was unaware of anything but God. He danced in God’s presence because nothing mattered to him but God. Later in his life after he had probably lost the intensity of worship and fell into sin he was restored in private worship and confession of sin.
Daniel had been so developed by private worship that he would not give it up at the risk of death.
Application:
If personal and corporate worship are merely an occasional part of your spiritual journey you are robbing yourself of the power it can provide.
Cut a deep path of righteous in your life by coming into the presence of God in worship.
Here is what I want you to know. Worship is the door and the path to the abundant life.
Here is what I want you to do. Come into his presence often and find the joy of worship.
