The Heart of Worship
2. 3 Keys to Unlocking True Worship
Don Jaques
July 31/Aug 1, 2004
INTRODUCTION
Have you ever been underwhelmed? You know what I mean, you hear a huge buildup for some big event or some great place only to find out it’s not what everyone said it should be.
How many of you have ever been to Safeco Field? IF you haven’t been there let me tell you – it’s a great place to watch a ballgame (regardless of who wins!) I’ve heard it said it’s one of the best baseball stadiums in America.
So just imagine having heard all of this hype about what a great place it was, that you buy your tickets for a Mariners’ game, you drive down to Seattle, you park your car. But when you get there you find that what looked like a real stadium on TV was really just a façade. It’s really just a picture of a stadium painted on cardboard. Instead of neatly manicured grass, there is weeds and dirt. Instead of a huge sound system, there is a guy announcing the game with a megaphone. Instead of seeing the Mariners play you’re treated to a little league game.
You would be, to say the least, underwhelmed.
Let me ask you another question. Have you ever been underwhelmed by worship?
Last week…
Worship is declaring in word, thought, or action the greatness of God and your submission to Him.
Worship that is pleasing to him includes
1. Offering your life as a living sacrifice. (Rom 12:1)
2. Coming before him in spirit and truth (with your inner being in authenticity). (John 4:19-24)
But in doing this we hope to feel something. We hope to experience something. We want to be changed and to be inspired. If we’re not – let’s be honest – worship can be quite underwhelming.
Let me ask you a question: Are you satisfied with the level of worship happening in your life? Or are you perhaps hungry for a deeper level of experiences with God?
If so, I want to share with you 3 principles found in God’s word for how to unlock deeper experiences of worship in your life. 3 principles which you can apply TODAY whether you’re a spiritual seeker or a maturing Christian.
They are taken from 3 episodes in the life of a woman named Mary. In each of these episodes, you’ll see that Mary had a close friendship with Jesus, and a deep understanding that he was the Son of God. And in each of these 3 episodes, Mary demonstrates what it means to have the heart of a worshiper and experience deep times of worship.
BODY
1. Come to God just as you are. (John 11:20-36)
Paraphrase John 11:1-19
• Lazarus was sick
• Sisters sent word to Jesus that he was sick.
• By the time Jesus arrived, Lazarus had been in the tomb 4 days.
John 11:20-28
20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.
21 "Lord," Martha said to Jesus, "if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask."
23 Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again."
24 Martha answered, "I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day."
25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; 26 and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"
27 "Yes, Lord," she told him, "I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world."
28 And after she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. "The Teacher is here," she said, "and is asking for you."
Jesus met Martha as her needs required – rationally.
She comes and says “If you had been here my brother would not have died.” But the feeling we get is that she is subdued. She is holding onto faith that Jesus could even now do something about the death of her brother.
And Jesus talks to her. He answers her questions. He speaks to her in the manner she needs to truly communicate with her.
But now what about Mary?
John 11:29-36
29 When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. 31 When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there.
32 When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died."
33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. 34 "Where have you laid him?" he asked.
"Come and see, Lord," they replied.
35 Jesus wept.
36 Then the Jews said, "See how he loved him!"
Jesus meets Mary as her needs require - emotionally.
Mary’s words are exactly those of Martha’s but they evoke such a different response!
Jesus was “deeply moved in spirit and troubled” (v. 33)
Jesus meets us right where we are when we come to him honestly.
Whether we come with intellectual questions or emotional outbursts he welcomes our heartfelt cries to Him.
APPLICATION: You don’t have to be some different type of person than who God has made you in order to communicate with God. Some people are very emotional. Some people are less emotional and more intellectual. What I take away from this story is that Jesus is able to meet us right where we are. We don’t have to conjure up emotions to try and reach him. Neither do we have to cover up our emotions. He wants us just the way we are to just come and tell him what’s on our heart.
Clarify – in all this talk about worship I realize there are some here who are spiritual seekers. You’re not exactly sure who God is – I’ve got to say I’m glad you’re here! And God is glad you’re here. He welcomes you just as you are – with your doubts and fears and questions. Come to him and ask him to reveal himself to you. Tell him you want to know if he is for real.
ILLUS: Penny’s testimony where she was an atheist but her relationship with God began with that simple prayer.
TRANS: So if you want to develop the heart of a worshiper, the first step is to simply come to Jesus just as you are. When we turn to Luke 10 we learn the next principle of developing a heart of worship. It is to…
2. Spend time “sitting at His feet.” (Luke 10:38-42)
Luke 10:38-42
38 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. 40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, "Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!"
41 "Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."
Mary made a choice. She chose that the most important thing for her to do while Jesus was there was to sit down and listen to his words.
I’m sure there was plenty to do.
But she chose to BE with the Lord, and Jesus honors her decision.
Now let me tell you I can relate with Martha’s reaction. When we have guests I often find myself rushing around making sure everything looks perfect until finally I hear a still small voice saying “what’s more important – spending time with your guest or making your house look perfect while they are here?”
Notice that service without silence leads to a troubled heart. It is reprimanded by Jesus. (Is it bad to serve? No – someone needed to get the meal ready! And in the verses immediately preceding this he tells the parable of the good Samaritan, urging people to do acts of service and mercy towards anyone in need. Service is great – good works for the Lord are what God wants us to do – but if in being busy for God we neglect spending time WITH God we will find ourselves on the fast track to burnout in our spiritual lives.
ILLUS: Jesus promised living water to anyone who is thirsty.
John 4:13-14 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
But we have to come and drink it. Don’t be like the marathon runner who has the option of taking a nice long drink but always just grabs a cup and splashing it all over his face and drops half of it along the way.
The most important thing you can do is to spend time each day sitting at Jesus’ feet. Reading God’s word. Praying for the Holy Spirit to guide your thoughts and actions.
Yeah – we’ve got all sorts of jobs that need to be done if we are going to change the spiritual landscape of this community. It won’t be done by simply sitting around in times of worship. But what we learn from this passage of scripture is it won’t happen if we DON’T take time to slow down and listen to his words to us.
Missionary Stuart Sacks once wrote:
While I was serving in Paraguay, a Maka Indian named Rafael came to sit on my porch. I was eating and went out to see what he wanted. He responded, "Ham, henek met." Again I asked what I could do for him, but the answer was the same. I understood what he was saying but not its significance: "I don’t want anything; I have just come near."
I later shared the incident with a local veteran missionary. He explained that it was Rafael’s way of honoring me. He really didn’t want anything; he just wanted to sit on my porch. He found satisfaction and pleasure just being near me.
As you come to worship God, imagine the Lord asks, "What brings you here, my child?"
When was the last time your answer could have been "Ham, henek met." ("I don’t want anything; I have just come near.")
APPLICATION: Take time to be quiet with God.
TRANS: So Mary and Martha have taught us two principles for developing a heart of worship:
1. come to God just as you are
2. spend time sitting at his feet
The third and final principle is one that will take courage for each of us. If you want to develop the heart of a true worshiper, then you’ve got to follow this principle:
3. Don’t worry what others will think. (John 12:1-8)
John 12:1-8
1Six days before the Passover, Jesus arrived at Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. 2Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. 3Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.
4But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, 5"Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages. "6He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.
7"Leave her alone," Jesus replied. "It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. 8You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me."
Mary ignored what other people would think of her and worshipped as her heart led her to.
She had many reasons NOT to anoint Jesus with the perfume
1. It was against social custom for her to let her hair down – it would make people think she was impolite or perhaps even immodest.
2. It was against social custom to wipe someone’s feet with your hair. Others would think she was downright crazy!
3. The perfume was so valuable – it would be deemed too extravagant. (As Judas said, “We could have done something good with this by selling it and giving it to the poor.”
So why did she do it? She did it because she alone of all present seemed to understand that Jesus’ days were numbered, that he was on his way to his death, and this might be the last time she would get a chance to display her love for him.
It fascinates me that Jesus’ response is so different than mine would have been. Rather than siding with such rational and logical responses as Judas gave, he appreciated the gift given to Him as an act of worship (declaring the greatness of God and her submission to him).
He recognized the risk she took, the cost of the offering, and received it with a thankful heart.
Our application of this principle is simple:
APP: When it comes to declaring the greatness of God and your submission to him, don’t be afraid to look foolish.
- If you choose to spend time serving Jesus, someone will think you’re wasting your time. Serve anyway.
- If you choose to make small group ministry and attending worship services on the weekend a priority in your life, someone will think you’re missing out on other things. Do it anyway.
- If you choose to sing loud or kneel quietly, or dance for joy or raise your hands in the air as you worship someone will think you look or sound foolish. Worship anyway.
- If you give 10% or more of your income to the work of the Kingdom, someone will think you’re a fool. Do it anyway.
- If you choose to wake up early or go to bed later because you’ve committed to spending time with God everyday, some will say you’re a fool. Spend time with God anyway.
- If you choose NOT to watch TV or go to a movie because you don’t want to allow unclean images into your mind, some will call you a fool. Keep your mind pure anyway.
Mary teaches us that if we want to unlock true worship in our lives we need to quit worrying about what other people think of us and instead do what will honor our Lord the most.
CONCLUSION
Once again, are you satisfied with your worship of God?
If not, I encourage you to write down one way you will apply what we’ve learned today in the coming week. Bring it before the Lord as a vow to Him – and then do it!
These 3 snapshots of Mary’s life have shown us 3 keys to unlocking true worship in your life:
1. come to god just as you are.
2. Spend time sitting at His feet.
3. don’t worry what others will think.
If you will follow these 3 keys from the life of Mary I know that your experiences of worship will become something you enjoy more and more.
Let’s pray.
