In Spirit and In Truth
A Series on Worship
#3: The Heart of the Worshiper
We are continuing our study of worship. Today we will be looking some at the heart of the worshiper. A lot of times when we talk about worship we focus on what we do. But when we look at the Bible, that was often the problem: people focused so much on the things they did that they didn’t think about what was on the inside.
Today we’ll talk about the heart of the worshiper. The first person mentioned in the Bible as worshiping God did it wrong. (My wife says that’s not very encouraging... but it’s true). Cain was the first to offer an offering to God, and it was unacceptable. His brother Able offered an acceptable offering. Cain became so upset that he ended up killing his brother. Some have claimed that Cain’s problem was that he didn’t offer the right thing that he was supposed to offer or that something was wrong with the ceremony that he did, but I think the Bible shows us that his problem was a problem of the heart. He didn’t have the heart of a worshiper! First off, the Bible emphasizes that Abel brought the best, while it merely says that Cain brought part of his harvest. Then when you look at this reaction, you know that that cannot be the heart of someone truly seeking God.
Let’s look at the heart of the worshiper.
1) The true worshiper worships from the inside out. What he does he does because of what is in his heart. Not the other way around.
A) He focuses on attitude, not actions. We can look at some passages in which God says what He does not want in worship so that we can understand what he does want. Isaiah 29:13 says: "The Lord says: “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men." Hosea 6:6 reads "For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings." We’ll see that in the Old Testament the people so often thought, "I’m offering this sacrifice and keeping this feast and doing all these things, so I must be right with God." And I’m afraid that we can do the same thing. We can think, "Hey, I’m doing all the right things. I must be right with God."
B) He worships cheerfully, not grudgingly. Malachi 1:10-13 reads:
10 “Oh, that one of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would not light useless fires on my altar! I am not pleased with you,” says the LORD Almighty, “and I will accept no offering from your hands. 11 My name will be great among the nations, from the rising to the setting of the sun. In every place incense and pure offerings will be brought to my name, because my name will be great among the nations,” says the LORD Almighty. 12 “But you profane it by saying of the Lord’s table, ‘It is defiled,’ and of its food, ‘It is contemptible.’ 13 And you say, ‘What a burden!’ and you sniff at it contemptuously,” says the LORD Almighty. “When you bring injured, crippled or diseased animals and offer them as sacrifices, should I accept them from your hands?” says the LORD.
God accuses the people of being contemptuous of Him. They were looking on worship as a burden. The true worshiper does not consider worship a burden. Do you ever have the feeling "It’s Sunday morning again. I’d like to sleep in, but I guess I’ll go to church."? It’s not a burden, it’s a privilege.
2) The true worshiper is the same outside the church as he is inside.
A) He uses his life to worship God. Let’s turn to Jeremiah 7. We see a whole sermon where Jeremiah went to the temple and accused the people of not worshiping God correctly. Verses 3 through 8 say:
3 This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Reform your ways and your actions, and I will let you live in this place. 4 Do not trust in deceptive words and say, “This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD!” 5 If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, 6 if you do not oppress the alien, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm, 7 then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your forefathers for ever and ever. 8 But look, you are trusting in deceptive words that are worthless.
He’s saying you can’t just come to the temple once a week and say "I’m all right with God." You’ve got to live it every day, helping the widows and the orphans, and not serving other gods. You’ve got to serve God seven days a week and not just one.
B) He doesn’t use the church as a “hideout.” Look at verses 9 through 11 of Jeremiah 7:
9 “‘Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal and follow other gods you have not known, 10 and then come and stand before me in this house, which bears my Name, and say, “We are safe”—safe to do all these detestable things? 11 Has this house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you? But I have been watching! declares the LORD.
He’s saying that the people were not following God, committing terrible offenses, yet coming to the temple of God and feeling safe. Like robbers in their cave. "Nobody can get us in here, because we’re serving God."
We can do the same. We can think, "I do a few things wrong, but I’m in church every Sunday. God will remember that." That’s not how it works.
3) The true worshiper gives God his best. Malachi 1:6-8 talks about this:
6 “A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If I am a father, where is the honor due me? If I am a master, where is the respect due me?” says the LORD Almighty. “It is you, O priests, who show contempt for my name. “But you ask, ‘How have we shown contempt for your name?’ 7 “You place defiled food on my altar. “But you ask, ‘How have we defiled you?’ “By saying that the LORD’s table is contemptible. 8 When you bring blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice crippled or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?” says the LORD Almighty.
God wants our best. You might say, "Well, that’s fine, Tim, but it’s been a long time since God asked me to bring an animal to sacrifice." But He does ask us to give of our time, our money, our talents. We can give Him what’s left over from the rest of the week, or we can give Him our best. Do you remember when we talked about the new moon festival? They celebrated a holy day at the new moon, thereby consecrating the rest of the month. We give God the first day of the week, thereby consecrating the rest of the week to Him. The Israelites gave “the first fruits,” thereby consecrating the rest of the harvest. I think that when we get paid, we ought to take out what we’re going to give to God first, then worry about everything else. By giving to Him first, we consecrate the rest. We give to Him first and we give Him the best.
4) The true worshiper seeks the approval of God, not the praise of men. In Matthew 6, Jesus talks about this:
1 “Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. 2 “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 5 “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
While I certainly don’t seek to offend, my goal is not to please men, but to please God.
He says that what we do, we do before God.
5) The true worshiper helps others worship as well.
A) We come together in unity. We sometimes read I Corinthians 11 in the Lord’s Supper. We have to remember that the problem they had then was that they weren’t united when they took the Lord’s Supper. That’s something we do together. We come together as one body.
B) Worship needs brotherly love. Look at what Jesus said in Matthew 5:
23 “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.
We don’t go to the altar with gifts, but we come together to worship. If I remember that my brother has something against me, I need to fix it to be able to worship God.
Here are some questions for us to consider.
1) Am I worshiping God from inside out? Do I think about what’s in my heart when I’m worshipping?
2) Am I the same person outside the church as in?
3) Do I give God my best?
4) Do I seek God’s approval or man’s praise?
5) Do I help others worship?
I want to read an article I found on the Internet. It came out in 1968 in a brotherhood publication:
"I recently read about a poll conducted among American Catholics. The most startling revelation of this poll was the fact that more than 60% of American Catholics feel that abstinence from meat on Friday is more important than Jesus’ admonition to ’love our neighbor as ourself.
"Rather shocking isn’t it? In fact, I would go so far as to say it is downright appalling and pitiful that so many could have such a warped concept of what Christianity is all about.
"Yet, before we get on our self-righteous high horse and start condemning the Catholics, let’s pause for a moment and ask ourselves how members of the Church of Christ would respond to a similar question. Suppose, for example, that the same pollster were to ask the stalwart members of our brotherhood the question, ’Which is more important, abstention from the use of musical instruments in the worship service or the command of Jesus to ’love your neighbor as yourself"?
"I have no doubt our response would be so overwhelmingly in favor of abstinence from musical instruments that we would make the Catholics look wishywashy in their preference for abstinence from meat.
"Similarly, I think I know what the response of our brethren would be if the same question were worded differently - "which is more important, regular church attendance, or love of neighbor?" or, "which is of greater importance, the systematic observance of the Lord’s Supper upon the first day of the week, or the love of one’s fellowman?" Again, I have no doubt that the love of man would finish a poor second among our brethren."
I think that, honestly, most of us would worry more about someone using musical instruments than we would someone not loving their neighbor. But what about what’s inside the heart? Now, I’m not speaking in favor of the use of musical instruments in worship. I’m saying, let’s look inside.
It’s been a problem a long time. It’s easier to teach people the WHAT. You could probably teach a monkey to go through the motions, but that wouldn’t make him a worshiper of God. The true worshiper of God worships with his heart.
We will continue talking about worship. But I would ask you, before we come back together, I would ask you to look at your heart.
If you have any public need, I would invite you to come while we stand and sing.
Resources:
"A Moment For Thought" by David R. Reagan
Mission Messenger, October 1968, p.158
http://www.mun.ca/rels/restmov/texts/wcketcherside/mm/mm30_10d.html
