1 CO 6:12 "Everything is allowable for me"--but not everything is useful. "Everything is acceptable for me"--but I will not be enslaved by anything.” “You may say, ‘I am allowed to do anything.’ But I reply, ‘Not everything is good for you.’ And even though ‘I am allowed to do anything,’ I must not become a slave to anything.” “Someone may say, ‘I’m allowed to do anything,’ but not everything is helpful. I’m allowed to do anything, but I won’t allow anything to gain control over my life.” We live in an “anything goes” world, and sometimes it seems as if everything has gone! Occasionally we need the Bible to jerk us back to reality, biblical reality. It is the same for the child of God as it was for you as a child of your parents. Remember how sometimes they told you no? Anything didn’t go, and it still doesn’t. If God says clearly that something is wrong, then it is wrong. There’s no use asking because the answer is no. Then there are all the other things, the ones the Bible neither says are neither wrong nor right. We usually call these “gray areas.” Paul gives us two important things to remember. First, even if something may be allowed, ask yourself if it is beneficial for you. Some things can be like the weights mentioned in Hebrews 12:1 “let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. They are not wrong, but they don’t help. Second, don’t let anything control you. Paul teaches us that we are to be controlled by the Spirit—nothing else. We can be controlled not only by addictive substances but by addictive activities. Habits, compulsions, foods and so much more can control a person. Paul says to us by his example and teaching that we must “not be enslaved by anything.” This verse gives us two tests to use in deciding what we will do or not do. In any area that Scripture does not clearly address, ask yourself these questions: Is it beneficial? Will it control me?
Psalm 100 WHY SHOULD WE WORSHIP GOD?
We come to Sunday School, but have we worshipped? We come to church, but have we worshipped? We come to Prayer Meeting, but have we worshipped? Our minds are easily distracted. My tongue can easily mouth words of hymns that I give little or no thought to. So when we worship we need to set our minds on God. Psalm 29:2”Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.” We get little out of church because we put little into it. We haven’t really learned to give the Lord “the glory due unto His name” because we haven’t truly learned to worship Him in the beauty of holiness. So what is worship? In the Old Testament, the primary word translated “worship” means to “bow down”. When we bow down before something or someone, we are submitting ourselves. In the New Testament, according to Warren Wiersbe worship, “It conveys the idea of showing reverence or doing obeisance to God, humans, or even Satan. When we consider all the words used for worship in both the Old and New Testaments, and when we put their meanings together, we find that worship involves both attitudes and actions.” Everyone of us worships something or someone. Turn to Psalm 100 and learn what it tells us about worship. This is going to hurt some of you who believe in silence for worship but I am just showing what His Word says. Psalm 100:1 - Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. To make a joyful noise is to “shout joyfully”. There should be joy in our hearts and on our lips when we worship God. Church should not resemble a morgue! There should be joy in church! There should be no lack of reverence for God, but there should also be no lack happiness. There are times to be solemn, to be sorrowful, to mourn over sin, to be serious in prayer. But when we worship privately or publicly there should be great joy! Raise a hand, jump for joy, shout Amen. How do you make a joyful noise? Vs. 2 – Worship the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing. Whatever we do, we should do as an act of worship to our God. We should see worship as a service to our God, and we should be glad to serve our God. If we are glad to serve our God, we will be glad to worship our God. I would venture to say many are not glad to worship because they do not like to serve. We are to come before his presence with singing. Whether we worship privately our publicly, music is to be a great part of the worship of our God. 30:4Sing to the LORD, you saints of his; praise his holy name. Eph 5:18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to wickedness. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. 19 Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, 6Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.
Why should we go through all this “trouble” to worship God? Psalm 100 gives us reasons for worshipping our God.
WE SHOULD WORSHIP GOD BECAUSE OF WHO HE IS Vs.3 - Acknowledge that the Lord is God! The word “LORD” here refers to the word Jehovah, the self existent one, and the great “I AM”. When I truly “know” something, I have a heart-felt conviction that I know it. If I know that the Lord is God, I am thoroughly convinced in my heart, and wouldn’t dare worship anyone or anything but Him. So I would ask you who is God to you?
WE SHOULD WORSHIP GOD BECAUSE OF WHAT HE HAS DONE “He made us, and we are his.” You wouldn’t be here if God hadn’t created you. Nothing would be here if God hadn’t created it. If we had no other reason to worship God, and there are many other reasons, we are obligated to worship Him, because we are creatures, we are creations, but HE IS CREATOR! Do you have some one else in mind that you would want to be your creator? Boy with a football injury has to wait three weeks for one part of his knee to heal before he can have surgery on the part that needs repaired.
WE SHOULD WORSHIP GOD BECAUSE OF WHO WE ARE we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Not everyone can worship God for these reasons. Everyone one can worship God as creator. Not everyone can worship God because they are His people and sheep. When this psalm was written the Children of Israel were the people of God. Today it is for those who have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. God’s people are those people who God will receive into Heaven once this life is over. Jesus tells us that God’s people must be born again! If you have truly trusted Jesus as your Savior, you have been born again into the Family of God. John 1:12Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God-- 13children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
Jesus is the Good Shepherd. Jesus tells us in John 10:27My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. 29My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. 30I and the Father are one." The Lord Jesus is taking personal responsibility for you as one of His sheep, if you know Jesus as your Savior.
Psalm 23:1-6 If you honestly reflect on the 23rd Psalm, you will have to admit that we have every reason to worship!
WE SHOULD WORSHIP GOD BECAUSE OF WHAT WE ARE ABLE TO DO. 4Enter his gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and bless his name.
We choose to enter His gates, His house, and His presence. We choose to give thanksgiving to Him. Do you wake up each morning and start the day thinking God? We choose to give Him praise. We choose to bless His name. We also can choose to do nothing.
WE SHOULD WORSHIP GOD BECAUSE OF WHAT HE IS LIKE vs. 5 - For the Lord is good;
You have life because the Lord is good. You have eternal life, if you know Jesus as Savior, because the Lord is good. Your every day needs are met because the Lord is good. You have answers to prayer because the Lord is good. You have the beauty of creation because the Lord is good. There is truth and righteousness because the Lord is good. His mercy is everlasting; This word “mercy” means “love”. God’s love is eternal. It began before the foundation of the world. It will continue throughout all eternity.
Truth endures to all generations. God’s truth endures, because God’s word endures. God’s truth endures, because God’s Son endures.
WE SHOULD WORSHIP GOD BECAUSE of who He is, what he has done, who we are, what we are able to do and what he is like. Let us leave with worship on our minds and then it will become part of our actions.
