Please turn to PSALM 73:27, 28 as we read God’s Word.
‘Those who are far from You will perish; You destroy all who are unfaithful to You. But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge; I will tell of all Your deeds.’
I want to talk to you this morning about praise and worship. To do this, I am going to take you on a journey through the Bible, so get ready to start turning pages and making notes.
1. WHAT IS PRAISE & WORSHIP?
First of all, let me say that I think many of today’s Christians do not really understand just what praise and worship are, and that hinders everything they do in and out of the church. The Apostle Paul gives us a pretty good definition of what praise and worship really are in the book of ROMANS.
In ROMANS 12:1 he says –
‘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.’
Ralph Waldo Emerson hit the nail on the head when he said,
“The Gods we worship write their names on our faces – be sure of that. And a man will worship something – be sure of that, too. That which dominates his mind will determine his life and character. Therefore, it behooves us to be very careful what we worship, for what we worship, we become.’
‘What we worship, we become.’ That is a warning that every Christian in every church should really consider this morning. And, anytime there is worship involved, our natural instinct leads us to praise it, too. For instance, we all know people, who actually worship their material possessions, don’t we? What do these people praise in their life the most? They praise the “stuff” they have, don’t they? They are always talking about the “stuff” in their lives.
Mr. Emerson wrote that those things actually write their names on our faces. Can you imagine looking at someone else in church this morning and seeing a name written on their face? What if you had a name written on your face? You wouldn’t be able to see it, so you might think nobody else could, but every person who looked at you could see it.
Mr. Emerson meant that others very easily see our true character no matter how much we try to hide it or how much we think we are pulling the wool over somebody else’s eyes. We might think we are doing really well at hiding our true selves, but others can see the priorities in our lives just as if they had a spotlight and a microscope on
us. That should make each one of us shiver with embarrassment and fear, shouldn’t it?
If we go down to ROMANS 12:2, we see that Paul goes on to say,
‘Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is –His good, pleasing and perfect will.’
In JAMES 4:8, it says,
‘Come near to God and He will come near to you.’
God already started the process. He presented His Son to us as our sacrifice. Now, it is up to us to take the next step by reaching out to God. James says that if we do this, God will then reach back to us. Paul goes on in that same verse to say,
‘Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.’
‘Washing your hands’ refers to stop doing those things we do that are in the world, and ‘purify your minds’ means to turn away from worldly thoughts and focus on God Almighty.
The problem with true worship in today’s churches is that most Christians tend to worship their work, work at their play, and play at their worship. They bring their bodies to the house of God, but leave their souls at home. They say all the right words they have heard others say, but they do not say them in the spirit of Godly truth.
They are sticklers for keeping all of the traditions even though they do not understand the real meaning behind those traditions. Things like weekly communion or limiting the songs they want to sing to only those songs they are used to singing. These people are, for the most part, people who must have some kind of control over things around them or they cannot cope.
The problem is that when a person exhibits that need to be in control, they are proving that they do not care about the substance of praise and worship, they are only interested in the formality of praise and worship. And, there is no way they can truly have Jesus in their hearts when they need to be in control. See, when we really accept Jesus, we give up our satanic need for control and become submissive to His control. The sad part is that every person here knows someone close to them who are like that, and I think every church in America has at least one person who fits that description sitting in their pews each Sunday.
We might be very good at working for God, but that will not be our saving grace. God wants worshipers more than he wants workers. He wants to see us putting Him as the very first in our hearts; He wants to see us humbling ourselves to Him; exalting Him above everything else in existence. He wants us to truly worship Him.
A little boy attended his very first church service. After the service, someone asked how he liked it and he said that the music was really nice, but the commercial was way too long. I believe that there are many people in churches across this great country today that have the same mindset as that little boy.
There is the story in the Gospels of Lazarus and the rich man. The rich man had all the right people over for banquets and he really enjoyed being around the upper crust. You know what the upper crust is, don’t you? It is the place where all the crumbs hang out. But this rich man really loved the lifestyle that his wealth afforded him. He loved the power and control his wealth afforded him. His money had long since become his god – with a little ‘g’.
Lazarus, on the other hand, was a crippled beggar who sat at the gates of the rich man, and he would beg for bread crumbs from other people. He was so devastated that the Bible says even the dogs came and licked his sores.
Have we ever seen anyone in our lives that caused us to cringe when we just looked at them? Let me ask you a question, and I urge you to really think about this. What would you do if a person like that came into this church today and sat next to you?
The day came when the rich man who had all the wealth and worldly happiness it could bring died. Lazarus, who was the poorest of the poor also died. The rich man took his last breath and opened his eyes in Hell. Lazarus took his last breath and opened his eyes in Paradise. What was the difference? The difference was that the rich man was too full of self-love to humble his heart to God, while Lazarus’ heart was humbled and in love with God.
I asked you what praise and worship is. Praising is something we do. It is a task that we perform. When we praise something, we give it a title of prominence in our lives: A place of great importance. When we talk about worship, we understand that it is not something we do. It is not a task that we perform. It is a condition of our hearts. When we worship, we are exalting something to extent that it will actually have command over us. We must be aware of that so we can be very sure that the ‘something’ we worship is none other than God Almighty.
And, to do this, we must condition our hearts to look towards Him; to be filled with thoughts of Him; to reach out to Him. We cannot do this if we are entrenched in this sinful world. That is why Paul tells us to stop conforming ourselves to this world and be transformed by constantly renewing our mindset to be on God, through our Savior Jesus.
God rewards those who praise and worship Him. If the truth were known, do you think God would reward you for the worship you give to Him?
2. PRAISE & WORSHIP REQUIRE A HEART FULL OF LOVE
A young man was talking to his fiancé and he said that he didn’t have a yacht like Johnny Green, and he didn’t have a fancy home and car like Johnny Green, and he didn’t have near the money that Johnny Green had, but that he loved her with all of his heart. She asked if he could tell her a little more about this Johnny Green fellow.
Emotions play a very big part in our lives. When we go to work, we make sure that we are prepared emotionally for our work environment, and when we go a party, we can tell that our emotional mindset is set for entertainment, right? The same thing should hold true when we praise and worship our God.
Let me read a short passage from the Bible and I want you to really try and see just what type of emotions these people had.
ACTS 2:42-47.
‘They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.’
Can you see that these disciples were truly focused on the Lord? There was no pretending among these people. The passage says that these people were ‘devoted’. They had a heart full of love for God.
May I ask you what you are truly devoted to in your life? Is it your job or perhaps it is your image that you like to project to yourself and to others that you are fun, successful, happy or a good person. Are you devoted to God enough to put Him at the very top of everything in your mind and keep Him there? Are you devoted to God enough to give up your need for control and give it to Jesus?
The passage goes on to say that everyone was filled with awe, and they even sold all of their worldly possessions and gave to others as the need presented itself. Do you get the picture that these people were very serious about what they were doing; that they had true purpose? These people were very hungry for God, and because of that, it says that God blessed them with favor among the people and that God let many others come into their fold each day.
The emotions you need to honestly praise and worship God are those that will let you want Him so badly that you are willing to depend on Him for every single thing in your life – nothing more and certainly nothing less. There is nothing you will ever have in life that you gave yourself – except maybe unhappiness or sorrow. God is the giver of all things good.
The emotion of worship is to spend your days praising His name and thanking Him for all He has given you.
3. THE BENEFITS OF PRAISING & WORSHIPING GOD
Many people have excuses for not going to the house of God to worship Him. One man said that it was snowing outside and he never went to church in bad weather. This man was in the VA Hospital, and the chapel was just down the hall from his room.
One lady commented that she was usually very sick on Sunday mornings, and one man, who was in the hospital, said the nurse didn’t want him to get out of bed. As the interviewer was leaving his room, the man made his way to his wheelchair and asked if the interviewer could push him down to the smoking room.
How do you think we would feel if it came time for us to go to Heaven, and we found out that God was just too busy to acknowledge us or to think about us? Wouldn’t we think that God did not love us because we weren’t in His thoughts?
As we begin to worship the Lord, the Holy Spirit starts working with us to make us even more aware of the holy presence of God with us. And the necessity of praising and worshiping with other believers will just increase His presence in all of us.
As it is stated in MATTHEW 18:20 –
‘For if two or three come together in my name, I am there with them.’
In PSALM 22:3 it says that worshiping and praising the Lord will result in His inhabiting the nation. I think we would all agree that America needs the Lord like never before in our history. One way to get God to inhabit our country again is to start worshiping Him with a true heart.
In PSALM 27:4, David says he wants to stay in the house of the Lord forever. What do you think we would do in God’s house? I think we would spend all of our time praising Him and worshiping Him in one form or another. If we worship God with all of our hearts, God will elevate us way above any problems we might have.
There is another benefit to doing this. When we are praising and worshiping God, we are happy; positive; and that infectious attitude will enhance other believers’ walk in worship, too. We have all known somebody who always gets upset and starts griping. What does that do to you when you are around that person? You feel very uncomfortable and want to get away, don’t you? It starts to destroy your Godly spirit because that negative spirit is from the enemy, not from God.
Remember what I said earlier about the gods we worship will be written on our faces? When a person is very negative, the god they worship, which is the god of hate is written all over their face. However, when a person is joyous and happy, the God they worship, which is love, is written all over their face. Which face would you want to stand next to and share conversation with? Remember that a heart of true worship also lifts other people above their problems, too.
Worship is a matter of where your heart is toward God. But it is not confined to any specific area of your life. Worship in church is also found in the songs we sing. If you pay attention to the words of the songs we sing, you will notice that they are all presented as a loving testimony to His greatness and how much we need Him.
In REVELATION 5:11-14 we read
‘Then, I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they sang: “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!”
Then I heard every creature in Heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing: “To Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, forever and ever!”
The four living creatures said, “Amen,” and the elders fell down and worshiped.’
Whenever I read that passage, I cannot help but feel the awesomeness of that holy scene. Can we imagine the intense love, praise and worship that is given the Lord God in that vision? I think that is how we are going to spend our eternities: Worshiping God from the bottom of our hearts. No pretenses. No trying to impress anyone ever again. No longer having a need for anything but to love, honor, praise and worship our Heavenly Father.
It is so imperative that we make sure our hearts are properly prepared for Jesus. We all have an eternity waiting for us, and I cannot make it real enough for you to understand that you will either live forever in hell, as the rich man is now, or you will live in Heaven where Lazarus is, in the everlasting presence of God.
Please use this week to bring yourself in compliance with God’s Word in those areas that you may not be, and use this week to give your heart, in absolute submission, to Jesus Christ.
LET US PRAY
