INTRO.- ILL.- A man called the church office one day and said, "Can I please speak to the head hog at the trough?"
The secretary, highly offended, said, "If you mean the pastor, then you may refer to him as ’Pastor’ or ’Brother,’ but you may certainly NOT refer to him as the ‘head hog at the trough!’”
The man said, "Well, I was planning on giving $10,000 to your church’s building fund, but..."
"Hold on," the secretary quickly replied, "the big fat pig just walked in."
Money talks. It talks very loudly to most people. What does it say to you? Money talks to everyone in some form or another. And obviously, we can’t live without it, but at the same time it can become an obsession to some people.
I Tim. 6:9-10 “People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” Money is not evil, but the love of it is evil.
But money isn’t everything to people. People are captivated in this life by many things: sports, hobbies, traveling, cars, shopping, eating, etc.
ILL.- At one point during a game, the coach said to one of his young players, "Do you understand what cooperation is? What a team is?" The little boy nodded in the affirmative.
"Do you understand that what matters is whether we win together as a team?" The little boy nodded yes.
"So," the coach continued, "when a strike is called, or you’re out at first, you don’t argue or curse or attack the umpire. Do you understand all that?" Again the little boy nodded.
"Good," said the coach, "now go over there and explain it to your mother."
Some people can get really into sports. You name it and some people go wild over it, either doing it or watching it. It almost seems like they live for their sport. And some do.
I John 2:17 “The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.”
All sports and exercise programs, in fact, everything in this world will some day pass away, but the person who seeks to honor and please the Lord will forever. Surely this should tell us about where our supreme devotion and attention should be!
Brothers and sisters, the attachments to this life are many. They are strong, powerful, habitual, relentless, and addicting.
We cling to this life and the things of this world strongly, constantly, stubbornly, etc. However, isn’t there something greater, something better, something higher, something more important? Yes!
‘Tis the season to remember and honor Christ! The Lord Jesus Christ should be our greatest idol, our leading person, our main man, and our God! He is all these things and more whether He is to us or not!
He is the creator, sustainer and Savior! He is the sun, the moon and the stars all put together! He is the highlight of the universe! He is the focal point of all there is. He is the all in all. He is everything good and more! Therefore, I say, ‘tis the season to remember and honor Him. ‘Tis the season to worship the Lord!
Matthew 2:9-12 “After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.”
The Magi or wise men found the Christ child and when they did, there was only one thing to do: worship Him. When you’re in the presence of divine holiness you must worship.
ILL.- The story is told that a woman entered a Haagen-Dazs store on the Kansas City Plaza for an ice-cream cone. After making her selection, she turned and found herself face to face with the actor Paul Newman. He was in town filming the movie Mr. and Mrs. Bridge. Newman’s blue eyes caused her knees to buckle. She managed to pay for her cone, then left the shop, heart pounding. When she gained her composure, she realized she didn’t have her cone. She started back to the store to get it and met Newman at the door. "Are you looking for your ice-cream cone?" he asked. She nodded, unable to speak. "You put it in your purse with your change."
Brothers and sisters, I’ve never been in the presence of some very famous person, but I imagine it might be somewhat unnerving and/or exciting.
Can you imagine how the wise men of old must have felt in the presence of God? No wonder they fell down and worshipped even though He was in the form of a baby. Wise men still recognize the true and living God and fall down and worship Him!
Isaiah 6:1-5 “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory." At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty."
When Isaiah saw the Lord in all of His holiness, he was deeply humbled and confessed, “Woe is me!” He knew that he was an unclean man.
What about us? Have we lost our sense of awe in the presence of God to the point where we no longer know how to worship Him? How do we feel deep within when we come into the presence of God? Unnerved? Excited? Humbled? Ashamed? Thrilled? Overcome? Filled with awe?
None of us knows what it will really be like, but we should have an inkling of that experience in our worship of God on earth.
Heb. 10:22 “Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.”
Let us draw near to God. That’s worship.
Why do we worship God and Christ? Because of who they are! God is our creator and heavenly Father. He is the one, true living God. He is the only God there is! He is all-wise and all-powerful. He is all-loving. He has no beginning and no end. HE IS GOD! And the Lord Jesus is God in the flesh. He came to earth in the flesh to become our Savior! He bore our sins in His body on Calvary’s tree! WE OWE HIM! We owe them! This is why we worship both the Father and the Son!
ILL.- A Christian named Tom Kraeuter wrote: “You cannot do in front of people on Sunday mornings what is missing from your private life. If you worship God on your own Monday through Saturday, your worship will flow more easily on Sunday.”
Proper public worship won’t happen unless there is proper private worship. If we don’t reflect privately, more than likely it won’t happen publicly!
What are we talking about when it comes to private worship? Personal Bible study, prayer time, praise time, etc.
Ps. 1:1-2 “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.”
Reading Scripture and meditating on Scripture is a matter of worship. How would you feel if your loving letters were never read by the loved ones to whom you sent them? Surely, this should tell us something about God’s wonderful love letter to us! It needs to be read and meditated over. And yet there is more.
Ps. 7:17 “I will give thanks to the LORD because of his righteousness and will sing praise to the name of the LORD Most High.”
Ps. 13:6 “I will sing to the LORD, for he has been good to me.”
Ps. 33:1 “Sing joyfully to the LORD, you righteous; it is fitting for the upright to praise him.”
Ps. 59:16 “But I will sing of your strength, in the morning I will sing of your love; for you are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble.”
The book of Psalms is filled with thoughts about singing praise to God. And here’s the practice of it:
Acts 16:25 “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.”
Even though it was midnight. Even though they were in jail. Even though they had been beaten. Even though they were fastened in stocks. Even though they were not having a good evening, they were still praying and singing hymns to God!
And, of course, after that period of praying and praising, God opened the doors of that prison. Did their praise do that? What about us? And what could our praise do?
ILL.- On my birthday my daughter called. That is, her number came up on the cell phone. I answered it, but heard nothing and then finally my little 4 year-old granddaughter Hope started talking softly to me. I asked her about her new home, house, church, etc. And finally, I heard my daughter say to Hope, “Are you going to sing to papa?” Well, she did. She sang happy birthday to me. AND I CAN’T TELL HOW DELIGHTED I WAS!
I wonder what God thinks of us when we sing to Him? DELIGHTED and then some! No matter how good we sing or how poor God desires for us to sing praise to Him and delights in this.
I encourage you to get off by yourself: in your bedroom, in your closet, in your car, etc. and sing to the Lord. You just might be surprised what singing will do for you and for your worship.
Ps. 22:3 KJV “But thou art holy, O thou that inhabits the praises of Israel.”
From what I understand, the meaning is that God dwells, resides, lives in our praises. What does this mean or should mean to us?
ILL.- I live in my house. I reside in my house. I spend quite a bit of time in my house. Perhaps it is the idea that God resides in us as we praise Him in song! HE LIVES IN US THROUGH OUR PRAISES! More praise equals more God or more of God!
One friend wrote, “When we praise God He gets involved in our lives through that which we verbalize. Outward expression of an inward experience pleases God. So say amen, hallelujah, raise your hands in praise, fall on your knees, lay prostrate before Him, or anything that will acknowledge Him as the Sovereign God who came to earth to inhabit individually all those who accept Him.”
Ps. 63:1-5 “O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water. I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory. Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you.”
Our praise may well nourish our souls. The way out of misery, depression, discouragement, and sorrow is to praise the Lord.
Notice the words: “I will praise you as long as I live…and then My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods.” Some commentators believe that the more we praise the Lord the more He blesses us. And this makes a whole lot of sense.
ILL.- It seems there was a certain man stranded and lost in the desert of Death Valley. He was crawling across the burning sand, dying of thirst, when he happened upon a necktie salesman. “Can I interest you, sir, in a nice, new, hand-dyed silk necktie?” the salesman asked. “Have you lost your mind?” the man gasped. “I am dying of thirst and you want to sell me a necktie!” The salesman shrugged his shoulders and went on his way, while thirsty man resumed his crawling.
Finally, after hours of crawling in the desert sand the man came upon an unbelievable sight. There, in the middle of the desert, was a huge restaurant with flashing neon lights and a parking lot filled with cars. The desperate man mustered the energy and crawled to the restaurant’s front door. He whispered to the restaurant’s doorman, “Please, help me in. I am dying of thirst and must have something to drink.” The doorman replied with a disapproving frown, “I am sorry, sir, gentlemen are not admitted to this restaurant without a necktie.”
Could it be that praise is our admission to receive God’s nourishment and blessing? ‘Tis the season to praise the Lord! If there ever was a season to worship, it’s now!
CONCLUSION-----------------------------------------
ILL.- Best-selling Christian author, Max Lucado, tells this story.
“My first ministry position was in Miami, Florida. In our congregation we had more than our share of southern ladies who loved to cook. I fit in well because I was a single guy who loved to eat. The church was fond of having Sunday evening potluck dinners, and about once a quarter they feasted.
“As a bachelor I counted on potluck dinners for my survival strategy. Knowing I should bring something, I’d make it a point to raid my kitchen shelves on Sunday afternoon. The result was pitiful: One time I took a half-empty jar of Planters peanuts; another time I made a half-dozen jelly sandwiches.
“Wasn’t much, but no one ever complained. In fact, the way those ladies acted, you would’ve thought I brought the Thanksgiving turkey. They’d take my jar of peanuts and set it on the long table with the rest of the food and hand me a plate. ‘Go ahead, Max, don’t be bashful. Fill up your plate.’ And I would! Mashed potatoes and gravy. Roast beef. Fried chicken. I took a little bit of everything, except the peanuts.
“I came like a pauper and ate like a king!”
Brothers and sisters, isn’t this true for us as well? We all come before the Lord as paupers, beggars, sinners, etc., but we come away like kings, rich people, forgiven, etc.
We owe Christ! We owe Him our worship, our love, our adoration, our very lives! ‘Tis the season to give them to Him.
