INTRODUCTION: Last month I opened the door for us to discuss True Worship during our sermon on building a spiritual house. If you recall, I said there were three things needed to make a church a spiritual house:
True Worship
Effective Praise
Presence of God
No one can make that first point better than our Lord Jesus did at Jacob’s well. Listen as I read our Scripture Passage for today. READ JOHN 4:21-24
TEXTUAL IDEA: God wants us to worship Him in spirit and in truth.
SERMON IDEA: Four Components of True Worship
NEED: To be a spiritual house our church services must include these necessary ingredients.
DIVISION 1: Praise
Explain: Ascribing worth to either the person or work of God.
In many languages worship and praise are interchangeable ideas. In our own culture the terms carry different meanings and are so often misused that I fear we are loosing the true meanings behind them.
One clear deviation from the true meaning of praise happens in our Christian music. The term "praise music" is very misleading. I am as guilty as anyone of misusing this term. Because of our misuse of this term people have come to believe that certain music styles, chord progressions, or rhythms are praise and others are not. There is absolutely no truth in that concept. That is not say that those musical characteristics do not reflect specific attitudes of the heart. But music is a gift from God’s heart and any form of music can be used to speak highly of what God has done or who He is. I encourage you to look carefully at the music you bring into your life.
Questions to Ask:
1. Do these words speak of me or God? A song designed to make me feel good about being a Christian has value. But it is not praise and should not be used as such. There is a place within a worship service for both. The challenge is to put things in their proper place, so our hearts are in the proper place.
2. Is this song about what God has done? It is better that we say "You did" rather than "I lift You up". But musically that is not always possible. When you evaluate a praise song, look closely at the words to see if they repeatedly speak of how I am praising God or are they truly praising His works. By the way, that same model goes for all we do as Christians. Are we exalting what we do or what God is doing?
3. Is this song about who God is? These are my favorite praises. The psalms are full of praises for who God is. Imagine the worst situation you can get yourself in. Now start reminding yourself who God is with praise. There is no place we can get ourselves into that praise can’t get us out of - Paul and Silas in prison. That is not say that by praising God the circumstances you created will go away. But you will be released from the bondage of sin that put you there.
4. Does this song contain Scripture? Many of the psalms were God’s praises put to music. Not all songs that include Scripture verses specifically praise either the person or work of God. However, God is exalted when His Word is read or sung. I must confess that I cannot think of a Scripture verse that doesn’t exalt God. But we must use a discerning spirit whenever we handle the Word of God... in song is no different.
DIVISION 2: Prayer
1 Timothy 2
1. Supplications:
Glorify Him because we trust Him for our needs.
Ways your salvation prayer is the best example of a prayer of supplication:
a. expresses who/where God is and who/where you are
b. expresses only God can move you to who/where He is
(1) you can’t make it on your own
(2) you need God
c. expresses that you trust His care
2. Intercessions:
Going boldly, or with confidence before the Lord
meaning of praying in Jesus’ name - praying consistently with God’s will
A. Matt 18 concerns church discipline not a promise to answer prayers
(1)whatever you bind = do not permit
(2)whatever you loose = permit
B. "agreeing on earth" (Matt 18) and "ask anything in My name" (John 14) Jesus is talking about glorifying God through obedience and trusting that He will work through you even after He has returned to heaven.
You must pray consistently with God’s will - God does not make decisions based on how the things work out down here.
Illustraton:
Prayer is poured out of heaven, fills our vessels, overflows onto this world and returns to heaven when its mission is accomplished - Demonstrate by pouring a gallon pitcher of clear water into an 6 oz glass of dirty water sitting in a bowl with a towel under it to absorb the overflow. Notice too how much clearer our vessels are after prayer!
3. Prayer:
Reflects an attitude of adoration;
"Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name" - Don’t start asking for things as soon as you start praying, or try to fake confidence in your prayer life. On a daily basis you better get to this point very quickly. Otherwise what you are saying and what you are communicating are two different things. Most often it means we are either talking to hear ourselves or the only reason we’re talking to God is because we want something.
Humor - I love my wife’s answer to that last one. I gave her a framed poster a couple of Mother’s Days ago that said "Raising kids is like being pecked to death by a chicken." Kids go through that stage where it seems like everything that comes out of there mouth has something to do with mom doing something for them. It’s great to be needed, but some of their request can be ridiculous. Mom I want, Mom I need, Mom, Mooom, Mommm!
At first, you lovingly try to teach them to do things for themselves. After 15 years of it, Beth doesn’t even react anymore - Talk to the hand. I like to use this illustration about how we treat our moms because most of us truly adore our moms no matter how bad we treated them.
Your prayer life is supposed to reflect an even greater adoration for God. Quite frankly He has done more for you than she. She brought you into this world, but He created you. No matter how much you love your mother, she is a different person than you, although I hope most of reflect their character. Through a relationship with Jesus, God is part of you, part of your character.
4. Thanksgiving:
A. specifically praising God for His works
B. builds your trust in His provisions
C. reminds you that God knows what you need
D. reminds that He is thinking about you
E. builds your satisfaction in spiritual matters
DIVISION 3: Preaching
The only way preaching can be part of true worship is if it is the proclamation of God’s Word. There are many preaching styles. There are many goals pastors have when they step into the pulpit.
Examples:
1. Communicate clearly to all
2. Increase understanding of God
3. Teach Bible history
4. Be interesting
5. Help people apply truth to their lives - relevancy
It is popular today to speak of being relevant from the pulpit. I don’t have a problem with that concept. The Bible tells us all Scripture is relevant. True worship requires worshipping in truth. I’m not going to tell you truth is relative, it is not. What is true is true for all. Rightly dividing the Word of God keeps us faithful to what is true.
How I prepare sermons:
1. Textual Idea (what the passage is about)
2. Needs of congregation (what God is doing)
3. Sermon Idea (reflects the main points of the passage and needs of the people)
4. Divisions (expository, exhortative) Explain, Illustrate, Apply
DIVISION 4: Presence of God
True worship requires the presence of God. The story of Solomon dedicating the temple shows us that even after the temple was built and all its preparations finished it was not complete without the presence of God. At the dedication of the temple Solomon stood before the ark and before the people to exalt God and to ask for His presence.
Read 2 Chron 6:17 - 19
Chapter 7 shows what happened next:
Read 2 Chron 7:1-3
They worshipped and praised in the presence of the Lord.
CONCLUSION: What other choice do we have than to truely worship in the presence of our Lord.
