The Heart of Worship
1. What is worship anyway?
July 24/25, 2004
Don Jaques
INTRO:
Kids say funny things sometimes when they are trying to master bigger words. Ryan loves animals and recently was telling me all about the “bohen nastrictor”.
Sometimes we say words without really knowing what they mean.
One of our 3 values as a church is worship. “We are devoted to worshiping God as a lifestyle.”
But what does it really mean to worship? We come here every week to ‘worship’. But what is it really? Is it singing songs? Is it listening to an explanation of God’s word? Is it drinking coffee? Well, yes, and no. Before I give you my definition of worship let me get some input from you. What do you think worship is?
Here are some other definitions:
Musician Louie Giglio in his book on worship entitled “The Air I Breathe” gives this excellent definition of worship.
Worship is our response, both personal and corporate,
to God – for who He is and what He has done,
expressed in and by things we say
and the way we live.
[Louie Giglio. The Air I Breathe. (Sisters:Oregon, Multnomah, 2003) p. 12]
Greek Proskuneo (translated worship):
1) to kiss the hand towards one, in token of reverence
2) among the Orientals, esp. the Persians, to fall upon the knees and touch the ground with the forehead as an expression of profound reverence
3) in the New Testament by kneeling or prostration to do homage (a show of reverence and respect) or make obeisance (a gesture of respect or deference) to express respect or to make supplication
Worship is declaring in word, thought, or action the greatness of God and your submission to Him.
THOUGHT: We’ve all seen this kissing of the hand in movies depicting earlier times. We also know that the outward sign of kissing the hand or bowing before a ruler often masks the true intentions of the person performing this worship.
God does not want this type of worship any more than the rulers of days gone by did. In fact he says he hates this type of worship.
Isaiah 1:10-15 Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom; listen to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah! 11"The multitude of your sacrifices-- what are they to me?" says the LORD. "I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals; I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats. 12 When you come to appear before me, who has asked this of you, this trampling of my courts? 13 Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations-- I cannot bear your evil assemblies. 14 Your New Moon festivals and your appointed feasts my soul hates. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. 15 When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you; even if you offer many prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood.
Wow! Strong words. God does not desire meaningless rituals from us. In fact he hates having people come before him and perform rituals without meaning.
TRANS: So we know what type of worship God hates. But what does he want from us? How can you know your worship is pleasing to Him?
1. Offer your body as a living sacrifice to God. (Rom. 12:1)
Rom. 12:1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God — this is your spiritual act of worship.
Throughout the OT we know that when the people of God came to worship – a main part of it was the offering of a sacrifice, usually some sort of animal, which would be slaughtered and then burned on the altar as an offering to God.
What the NT teaches is God doesn’t need the blood of animals to cover our sin anymore (Christ blood has paid for our sin once and for all) – but that we are to make our life a LIVING sacrifice for God’s use.
However, the problem with living sacrifices is that they keep wanting to crawl off the altar.
To offer myself as a living sacrifice means that I come before God and say “my life is yours – all of it”. It means that just like the sacrifices offered to God under the Jewish sacrificial system, we are offering ourselves to God for his pleasure. (The sacrifices are called “a pleasing aroma” throughout the Old Testament. Think BBQs!)
When we come to him and offer ourselves, not just a formal sign or outward activity – this brings pleasure to God just like the smell of a BBQ brings pleasure to us!
How do we DO this?
It begins with our attitudes. Humility before him. Submission to his greatness. Love and respect and faith.
Then it moves on to our words – proclaiming your allegiance and your love of God. We express our respect and reverence for God through written words, spoken prayers, even silent prayers, and music.
But then it moves into actions. To truly make ourselves on offering we show God we revere him and honor him by LIVING our lives in obedience to God’s Word. We love our neighbor as ourselves. We avoid sin. We introduce others to the good news of Jesus Christ.
Worship that is pleasing to God is NOT constrained to one place (a church building) or in any certain setting.
It is NOT constrained to any type of music or silence or spoken word.
It is NOT constrained to one type of physical expression.
It is anything we do that says to God “here I am – I give myself to you as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to you”.
TRANS: But there’s more we can learn today about what true worship really is and how we can engage in worship that we know is pleasing to God. If we want to worship in a way that is pleasing to God, Jesus taught that we must…
2. Worship in spirit and in truth. (John 4:19-24)
As you turn there let me give a bit of background. Here Jesus is talking to a Samaritan woman at mid day at a hot, dusty well in the village of Sychar. He speaks to her of the living water he can offer her that will quench her spiritual thirst once and for all. As the conversation continues, she begins talking to him about worship, and the differences between the ways and places Jews and Samaritans worship God.
John 4:19-24 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”
Jesus declared, “Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.”
So, Jesus says, God wants worshipers who worship him in SPIRIT and in TRUTH.
What does this mean? Let’s take it one word at a time.
What does Jesus mean when he says we must worship in “spirit”? First off – something it does not mean. It does not mean to worship God in THE Holy Spirit. The word “the” is missing in the Greek. Yes God wants us to be empowered by the Holy Spirit as we worship, but that’s not what Jesus is talking about here.
This word “spirit” is the same word used when Jesus died and he “gave up his spirit” (Mt. 27:50) and when Jesus raised a girl back to life and her “spirit returned” (Luke 8:55) To worship in spirit (Gk. Pneuma) is to worship with the essence of your inner being. It is the opposite of worshiping with your outer actions only.
Now, what about this word “truth”?
The word “truth” is found throughout the Gospel of John many times as Jesus repeatedly introduced his teaching with the words, “I tell you the truth…” He said it over and over again. When you heard him speak , you knew it would be true – you could trust him – it was authentic – you knew there was no falsehood in it.
I think this is the idea Jesus is getting at when he says to worship in truth. It is declaring God’s greatness and your submission to Him without falsehood, with authenticity.
Isaiah 29:13 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.”
So at the risk perhaps of making this too simple – I think what Jesus was saying when he said true worshipers worship in spirit and truth was this: It is declaring God’s greatness and your submission to him from your inner being with complete authenticity.
Remember the context: The Samaritan woman with whom Jesus is talking here is confused about what true worship is. She thinks in order for worship to be accepted by God the location must be right, and the form of worship must be right. But Jesus corrects her and says – neither the Samaritans’ spot of worship (Gerazim) or the Jews’ place of worship, the temple in Jerusalem is the most important thing. The place – and for that matter – all the external signs of worship – are not the most important thing. What matters is your heart. What matters is that you worship in SPIRIT and TRUTH.
To worship in SPIRIT and TRUTH means that your heart and mind and emotions are all connected with whatever external form of worship you are engaged in.
• It means if you’re singing a song – you’re agreeing with the truth of the words. You’re praying them to God as a reflection of what is going on inside your inner being.
• If you’re listening to a message, you’re authentically seeking to apply God’s word in your life – not just trying to “look spritual” by sitting and nodding or even saying “amen”.
• If you’re partaking of communion you’re engaging your mind and your emotions with the ritual of taking the bread and the juice.
• If you’re serving someone else in God’s name you’re doing it out of an authentic love of God and not for the approval of other people.
NOTE: Make sure I’m understood here. God can be equally pleased through liturgical worship with its formal rituals as through a more free worship style like ours. He can also be equally Unpleased with either one. It all depends on the heart of the person worshiping. Are they doing it with authenticity or simply going through the motions?
ILLUS: I have felt God presence sitting silently in a monastery chapel. I have experienced him while listening to contemporary worship music in my car. I have encountered unbeliievalbe joy while standing amidst a throng of worshipers in a loud concert setting. I have connected with God singing ancient hymns with a pipe organ. I have heard God speak to me through speakers both dynamic and not so dynamic.
The place and the forms of worship are not what determines if true worship happens. True worship happens when you declare the greatness of God and your submission to him with your inner being without any falseness.
CONCLUSION:
The amazing thing is that God wants us to come to him in spirit and truth. He wants us to offer ourselves as a living sacrifice. I know that sometimes coming to God in truth I have to say things like “I don’t really feel like praying right now.” “God I’m mad about this.” “I want to sing these words but my heart doesn’t seem to be in it for some reason.”
He would rather have this type of worship – worship that is authentic and real and coming from our heart – than external and false displays of religiosity.
And the great thing is that if you’re willing to enter into a relationship with God like this – that is authentic and based upon your surrender of your life to Him as a daily, living sacrfice – you’re the type of person God is looking for.
As Jesus said,
John 4:23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.
Imagine the playground scene – picking up teams for kickball. Who always got picked first? The strong and fast and athletic.
In the spiritual realm God is looking for players. And the type of players He is looking for are those who will offer themselves as a living sacrifice and will declare his greatness and their submission to him in a way that comes from their heart with authenticity.
As he searches, will God find such a person in you?
Let’s pray.
PRAYER
Search me O God and know my heart
Test me and know my anxious thoughts
See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.
Forgive us for putting on a show.
Forgive us for being concerned with externals when what you really care about it our hearts.
Make us real.
Amen.
Q and A
PS
In the coming 3 weeks we’ll be looking at how you can become such a person. The type of person God is seeking even right now.
2. Developing a Heart of a true worshipper
3. Overcoming obstacles to worship.
4. Developing a Lifestyle of Worship.
I hope you’ll be here each time and that you’ll invite friends!
