Worship by Design:
Introduction:
John 4:24 (KJV)
God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
4:20-24 The woman brought up a popular theological issue—the correct place to worship. But her question was a smoke screen to keep Jesus away from her deepest need. Jesus directed the conversation to a much more important point: the location of worship is not nearly as important as the attitude of the worshipers.
4:21-24 “God is spirit” means he is not a physical being limited to one place. He is present everywhere and he can be worshiped anywhere, at any time. It is not where we worship that counts, but how we worship. Is your worship genuine and true? Do you have the Holy Spirit’s help? How does the Holy Spirit help us worship? The Holy Spirit prays for us
Romans 8:26 (KJV)
Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
teaches us the words of Christ (John 14:26),
John 14:26
But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
and tells us we are loved (Romans 5:5).
Romans 5:5
And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
Worship is a verb. I have been preaching that worship is more than a song. I have been preaching about our Timeline and beginnings of our church dating back to 1880. I have stated that God mightily used men to proclaim his message. One of the men mightily used by God was William J. Seymour at the AZUSA Street revival. The purpose of this preaching has been to encourage you with me to rediscover the focus of our worship.
I want you to understand the focus of our worship. It’s not about us, it’s about him. It’s not just a human experience, worship is not entertainment, not a lecture, not entertainment, but it’s about the life, death, burial and resurrection of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ.
Worship is a verb. It is not something done to us or for us, but by us. In order for worship to become a verb, I am not suggesting that we deny our convictions or our roots. But I am suggesting that we recognize and realize that our Church of God way is not the only way. I am not suggesting that we use faddish methods or gimmicks. But I am suggesting that we open ourselves to the move of God in this present age.
Worship: It isn’t an entertaining showcase for a talented soprano or a lecture on textual criticism or a pleasant weekly reunion of friends and family. Instead, true worship is a joyous celebration of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And as we actively turn our hearts toward God in earnest praise of God’s great works, God in turn speaks to us and blesses us with a healing and renewing touch.
As we continue in our study on worship. I want to year with you three observation.
First, I have notice that much of our worship is dominated by the pastor, or our praise team and or a few selected participators.
Second, I notice that the congregation has become the audience and the preacher, the choir and the praise team is the performers. It is true we live in an “audience society.” We sit passively and are entertained by television or radio or stereo. As spectators, we listen and watch, but we seldom participate actively.
This same mood is often carried over into our church services. We simply transfer what we do at home in front of the television set to what we do in church and let the pastor become our entertainer.
Christian pep rallies and success services may fulfill the needs of some, but a congregation that wants to be led in worship is not an audience to be entertained by persuasive speeches or show business gimmicks.
Third, I began to sense that “free worship” is not necessarily free. I have a great deal of respect for the tradition of “free worship.” Originally, it was a reaction against cold, dead, and fixed liturgical forms.
The intention of its proponents was to introduce congregational participation and involvement into the church and create an atmosphere that was conducive to an inner and spontaneous response to God in worship. But I feel that somehow the pendulum has swung to the other extreme. In many of our churches, what was once free has now become a fixed form with little life and spontaneity.
Fourth, the mystery is gone. I can remember times in my life when I’ve experienced the mystery-the awe and reverence-of the woods, or of the desert, or of a snowcapped mountain far above the timber line, a sense of the creation “telling the glory of God” (Ps. 19:1). But, unfortunately, we so seldom experience awe and reverence in our churches.
All too often the atmosphere seems to work against reverence. Our churches are characterized by a feeling of over familiarity, inappropriateness in the approach to God.
