INTRODUCTION
Purpose Driven Church. What drives the church? Are we tradition driven? Are we personality driven? Financially driven? Program or building driven? Event driven? Seeker driver?
Explain the reason for having a purpose.
The starting point for every church should be the question, “Why do we exist?” Until we know what our church exists for, we have no foundation, no motivation, and no direction for ministry.
The Church needs to define its purpose; this must start from God’s word. We can look at what Jesus said, and the examples in the New Testament.
I believe that there are four basic questions that we have to answer as a church.
1. Why does the Church exist?
2. What are we to be as a church? (Who and what are we?)
3. What are we to do as a church? (What does God want done in the world?)
4. How are we to do it?
The way that we answer these questions will give a context from which to function from as a church.
If we do not answer these questions, we will just stumble around with no true purpose to what we do.
I want to use Acts 2:42-47 for the main text for these next five messages
In this passage, we can find the essential purposes of the church.
READ ACTS 2:42-47
The first Purpose of the church that I want to look at is Worship.
One of the purposes of the church is Worship.
ACT 2:42 They were continually devoting themselves to …..to the breaking of bread and to prayer……ACT 2:47 praising God
This passage gives us some of the elements of worship, some of the things that they did.
Let us look at the nuts and bolts of Worship.
SERMON
I. WHAT IS WORSHIP?
A. When you hear the word “Worship”, what images does it bring to mind? Singing, prayer, giving, works?
B. There are a lot of false views about what worship is. We think that it is coming to church, or singing songs, maybe sacrificing something.
C. These all may be a part of worship, but those actions miss the essence of what worship is.
D. READ MARK 12:28-30
E. This passage catches the essence of what it means to worship. We can do all the right things, but if we do not do this first, then what we are doing is not worship. Sunday morning is the time that people who love the Lord Jesus come together to express that love as a group.
F. EXO 20:3 “You shall have no other gods before Me. True worship happens when we put God first in our lives. TALK ABOUT OTHER GODS.
G. ROM 12:1 Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.
H. Rick Warren in his book “The Purpose Driven Church” states the following: Worshiping God is the Churches 1st purpose- Sometimes we get so busy working for God, we don’t have time to express our love for Him through worship.
I. Worship is not something that we can make people do, it is something that is a natural outflow of a live lived for Jesus.
Whatever is outward in worship must come as a direct result of what is inward-otherwise, it will be form without power.
J. MAT 4:10 Then Jesus said to him, “Go, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.’”
Notice in this passage that worship comes before serve!
ROM 1:25 For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. Notice worship before service.
God wants worshipers before workers; indeed the only acceptable workers are those who have learned the lost art of worship. . . . The very stones would praise him if the need arose and a thousand legions of angels would leap to do his will. A. W. Tozer (1897-1963)
READ MATTHEW 15:1-9
K. Worship happens when we surrender ourselves to God. When Jesus is worth enough to us to be put first in our lives, then we will be able to come together and praise Him together. Our lives will be a fragrant aroma to God.
L. READ ISAIAH 6:1-8 Recognize who God is and who we are, then serve.
II. WHAT IS THE OBJECTIVE OF WORSHIP?
A. The objective of our worship is to magnify God.
B. This is why worship cannot happen in a life that is not surrendered to God. We magnify either God or ourselves by the way we live our lives.
C. PSA 34:3 O magnify the Lord with me, And let us exalt His name together.
D. The things that we do in a “worship” service are intended to magnify God. The music, communion, prayer, preaching. Jesus told us that when we partake, we are to remember Him.
E. The actions that come from one who has not surrendered their lives to Jesus are not worship. Prayer, giving, singing, etc.
F. Matthew 6:1-ff. Pharisee’s wanted people to see them.
G. We want to bring glory honor and praise to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!
III. WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF WORSHIP?
A. What are some of the benefits of worship. This is the question that we always ask, “what is in it for me?”
1. One benefit is that the church grows stronger through worship. EXPLAIN. The focus is on God instead of us. We are looking to further God’s agenda and not our own personal one.
2. Worship gives us power to live on
a) When the T.V.A. system created Watauga Lake in 1948, it buried the old community of Butler, Tennessee. In 1983, the water had to be lowered to repair the dam. Thousands of people waded through the mud to see where their homes once stood and to relive memories of the past. Worship lets us relive memories of the past—not only our own personal past, but the collective past of all the believers who have gone before us. But worship is more than sentiment or nostalgia. Worship looks to the future to inspire us to better deeds and better lives.
Robert C. Shannon, 1000 Windows, (Cincinnati, Ohio: Standard Publishing Company,
3. We will experience personal growth.
Calvin Coolidge said, “It is only when men begin to worship that they begin to grow.”
4. We will experience fulfillment.
Worship is the highest and noblest act that any person can do. When men worship, God is satisfied! And when you worship, you are fulfilled! Think about this: why did Jesus Christ come? He came to make worshipers out of rebels. We who were once self-centered have to be completely changed so that we can shift our attention outside of ourselves and become able to worship him. Raymond C. Ortlund
5. We will be stimulated.
CONCLUSION
• Have you really thought about why we are here? Have you really given any thought to the purpose of the church?
• One of the purposes of the church is to worship.
• Worship will not happen unless we have placed Jesus first in our lives
• Worship is the outflow of a life that is lived for Jesus!
• Are you here today to worship?
• Does your worship seem empty to you? Are you looking for more?
• Many times it is not that we need to find something new to excite us, but we need to surrender ourselves to Jesus.
• If you find that you cannot worship, maybe you need to surrender more of yourself to Jesus.
• Today we give you that opportunity.
