Purpose of the Church: Worship
Part 2 Matt. 22:34-40 & Matt. 28:18-20
Today we’re going to begin to look at the Five Purposes of the Church that Jesus outlines for us in primarily two verses….
1. Luke 10:27 He answered: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’ ; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ” AND
2. Matt. 28:19-20 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
THE FIVE PURPOSES ARE –
1. WORSHIP 2. MINISTRY 3. EVANGELISM
4. BAPTISM, BECOMING A MEMBER OF THE FAMILY AND 5. DISCIPLESHIP
TODAY WE ARE GOING TO FOCUS ON WORSHIP
I. WHY IS WORSHIP SO IMPORTANT?
Worship has always been the main thing for the church to be involved in….Actually this began long before Jesus came on the scene…Worship was central to the lives of the folks in the Old Testament…and most of our understanding of worship comes from them…
Orginally worship was a relationship with God as the two humans, Adam and Eve, walked with God in the Garden…PERFECT RELATIONSHIP WAS POSSIBLE BECAUSE THERE WAS THE ABSENCE OF SIN
HOWEVER, after the fall…after sin entered, in things changed…now worship became a thing of sacrafice to cleanse us so we might can enter into the presence of God
YOU SEE THE MAIN THING THAT WAS LOST IN THE FALL WAS OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD…THE REST OF THE O.T. IS THE STORY OF HOW GOD WAS WORKING TOWARD RESTORATION OF RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM….
IT IS IN WORSHIP THAT WE ENTER INTO GOD’S PRESENCE….IT’S WHAT MAKES A RELATIONSHIP POSSIBLE…WORSHIP IS THE KEY
2. WHAT IS WORSHIP?
Worship isn’t just something we do at church…it should encompass our whole lives putting God at the center of our lives. We do this as submit to Jesus’ Lordship…WHEN WE DO THIS WE ARE WORSHIPPING GOD
WORSHIP isn’t just following an order in a bulletin or being a watcher of the leadership…IT IS ENTERING INTO THE PRESENCE OF GOD…hopefully those things we do usher you into God’s presence
WORSHIP YOU SEE ISN’T A CEREBRAL EXERCISE…IT’S EXPERIENCING THE VERY PRESENCE OF GOD
Matt. 15:8-9 “ ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.’ ”
JESUS WAS TALKING ABOUT THE WORSHIP HAPPENING THE “RIGHT WAY”…THAT IS THE RIGHT WORDS, THE RIGHT ORDER…BUT IT WAS EMPTY…WHAT THEY WERE LACKING WAS REAL LIFE…THE SPIRIT OF GOD WASN’T EXPECTED BECAUSE THEY HAD IT ALL DOWN PAT
But isn’t this what it becomes so many times…just another Sunday…another service….we leave the same way we came in…
II. Worship magnifies God
Do you remember what Mary said after learning she was going to be carrying the Son of God?
Luke 1:46-50 And Mary said: “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me — holy is his name. His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation.
The Psalmist said… Ps. 34:3 O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together.
To magnify means to make larger or greater…to Magnify God doesn’t mean we make Him any bigger than He already is…EXCEPT IN OUR LIVES…AND BEFORE OTHERS!!
THE WORD MAGNIFY HERE TALKS OF NAME AND REPUTATION, IT IS OUR JOB, OUR JOY, TO LET OTHERS KNOW OF HIS GREATNESS IN OUR LIVES…THAT’S HOW WE MAGNIFY HIM
III. GOD IS LOOKING FOR REAL WORSHIPPERS!
John 4:2224 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.Yet 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. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.”
WHAT JESUS WAS TELLING THE WOMAN WAS “YOU KNOW WHO TO WORSHIP, BUT YOU DON’T KNOW HIM!”
Think about your greatest hero (someone you don’t personally know) you can know all about them, without knowing them
The same thing happens with God, we can know all about Him without having a relationship
LOOK WHAT JESUS TELLS US TRUE WORSHIPPERS ARE GOING TO HAVE TO DO…
John 4:24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.”
1. WE ARE TO WORSHIP IN SPIRIT, this word in Greek is PNUEMATI..which refers to a human’s regenerated spirit so to be a true worshipper we must
a. Be in a relationship with God…
b. our mind, our will, our emotions are used to express ourselves…you know that’s one of the main reasons God gave them to us
2. WE ARE TO WORSHIP IN TRUTH… John 17:17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.
TRUTH MEANS –
a. knowing what God requires and do it
b. having a revelation of who God is and making it part of our lives
c. living in a way that becomes the truth for others
we are to worship according to the Word, the scriptures..it is to be God centered..centered in on Jesus and what he had done for u
3. WE ARE TO WORSHIP IN FREEDOM!
John 8:32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
John 8:36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
I THINK ONE OF THE THINGS THAT HAS HURT US AS METHODIST IS WHEN WE GOT DIGNIFIED
Now I like order and we are to worship in order…but sometimes our notion of order is to be as boring as we can possibly be
Sometimes that orderliness just runs God right out of the mix of our worship
Next week I’m going to go over the word in the OT for Praise…I did that a long time ago, but it fits in this series…all the words for praise is about a movement of our bodies in the worship of God…
We need to be free to express ourselves without fear of what someone else might be thinking
I HOPE YOU CAN SEE THAT WORSHIP IS ONE OF THE PURPOSES GOD HAS ORDAINED THE CHURCH TO BE PART OF…THAT IT’S MORE THAN JUST SHOWING UP AND FOLLOWING THE ORDER IN THE BULLETIN, BUT IT FOLLOWS US OUT OF HERE AND INTO OUR DAY TO DAY LIVES IN THE WORLD…FOR WORSHIP IS THAT THING THAT THE CHURCH HAS BEEN CALLED TO DO…AND TO BECOME…LET’S WORSHIP THE LORD OUR GOD
