INTRO: If I would say the word worship what would come to your mind?
-Wow, we just had a great worship service.
-Maybe we get a picture of some person bowing down worshipping their god.
History: Our English word worship comes from worthship which is still used in English law when a judge is referred to as “your worship” which means to pay homage or respect.
-Hebrew word means to bow down, to show reverence, to lay prostrate.
-We need to understand we were created to worship. We do worship things today. It’s not when or how you worship, it’s who you worship.
-God has given man a free choice to worship who he wants.
Today: We are going to look at the concept of worship.
TITLE: What We Are Created to Do
TEXT: Romans 12:1
Quote someone, “Worship is living in a state of constant gratitude. Even when we do something wrong we have something to be grateful for that is God’s mercy!”
I. In view of God’s mercy – a prerequisite to worship God is his mercy.
A. What we need to understand – it does not say in view of your righteousness, it doesn’t say in view of your brilliant mind or witty sense of humor.
1. It doesn’t say in view of your impressive spiritual resume.
-It says “in view of God’s mercy.”
2. What is the prerequisite to mercy – it’s you’ve had to do something wrong. So if you qualify for mercy you qualify for worship.
Point: Don’t let what’s wrong with you keep you from worshipping what’s right with God.
Example. How many times do we get hindered to worship God because we feel we’re not good enough, that we’re so unworthy, so rather than worship God we sit there feeling like a loser. How many people stay away from church because they feel they are unworthy.
-The truth is it’s about him and his great mercy we should be focused on, not about our inadequacies and failures. I understand this does not give us a license to sin, but the focus is on him.
B. We are broken from the fall. Mark Batterson cites some research.
1. “That we talk to ourselves 50,000 times a day and studies have found that on average 80% of self talk is negative.”
-It goes like this - I’m not good enough, I’m not smart enough, nobody likes me, I’m not skinny enough, pretty enough, smooth enough, kind enough, gentle enough, etc.
2. One of the enemy’s tactics is to get you focused on what wrong with you.
Why: Because when you get so fixated on your problems you’ll totally forget how good and how great God is.
-Don’t fall for the trick of the enemy. Yes, you need to confess and repent of your sins but understand the focus of your worship is God not you or others.
C. When the focus of your worship is wrong you are on dangerous ground.
1. C.S. Lewis: We are half-hearted creatures fooling around with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us.
2. Be careful you don’t base your identity on the opinions of other people because you’ll begin to worship their opinion.
-God is the only opinion that counts. Conformity is living down, worship is living up.
3. Terry Law in his book The Power of Praise and Worship says: The more we worship something or someone, the more our commitment increases, and the more we become like the thing we worship.
-Psalm 115:4-8, “But their idols are silver and gold, made by the hands of men. They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes but cannot see; they have ears, but cannot hear, noses, but they cannot smell; they have hands, but they cannot feel, feet, but they cannot walk; nor can they utter a sound with their throats. Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them.”
4. Louis Giglio in his book The Air We Breathe: So how do you know what you worship? It’s easy. You simply follow the trail of your time, your affection, your money, and your allegiance. At the end of the trail you’ll find a throne; and whatever or whoever is on that throne is what’s of highest value to you. On that throne is what you worship.
He goes on and says: Whatever you value most will ultimately determine who you are. If you worship money, you’ll become greedy at the core of your heart. If you worship some sinful habit, that same sin will grip your soul and poison your character to death. If you worship stuff, your life will become material, void of eternal significance.
Thought: So when you worship God, you will begin to take on his characteristics (love, mercy, grace, etc.).
-We worship in view of God’s mercy.
II. 2ndly we are to offer ourselves - as a living sacrifice.
A. Our bodies. Before we trusted Christ, we used our bodies for sinful pleasures and purpose. But now that we belong to him, we want to use our bodies for his glory.
1. In the Old Testament animals were sacrificed on an altar as a sin atonement, to push back the wrath of God.
-Christ, of course, is the perfect sacrifice for our sins once and for all time.
2. God requires us to be a living sacrifice.
Example. Isaac is an example of this. Abraham brought him out to sacrifice him as the Lord instructed. As Abraham bound him and was ready to kill him, an angel of the Lord stopped him and provided a lamb.
Scholars suggest that Isaac was not a little boy rather a grown teenager who probably could have put up a good fight, but he didn’t. He willingly got on the altar, a living sacrifice.
-God provided a lamb instead, just as he did for us. He provided Jesus the Lamb of God.
Interesting: As Abraham and Isaac were traveling to make this sacrifice with his two servants they came to their destination and Abraham said (Genesis 22:5) to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.”
TS: A lot of times we don’t like to be a living sacrifice so we give God the junk.
B. Our sacrifices need to be holy and pleasing to him.
1. This is the other side of the barrier. One side “in view of God’s mercy” and the other side of the guard rail is “holy and pleasing to him.”
-Gets rid of the idea I’ll give God the dregs of the barrel, the garage sale specials when I should give him my best.
Summary: When we think of worship we are to:
1. in view of God’s mercy.
2. to offer ourselves.
III. This is a spiritual act - an act of worship.
A. We need to think of worship as a lifestyle and not simply a praise service.
1. If you make this mistake, when the service does not go well who’s to blame (the team, the worship leader). The truth is who’s to blame - you are.
B. Let me talk for just a moment what it means to live a lifestyle of worship.
1. Many forms – tithes and offerings. (Spoke a little about that last week.)
: Did you know obedience is an act of worship.
-1 Samuel 15:22, “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.”
: Do you realize the work you do is worship to God.
-Colossians 3:23, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.”
The Hebrew word avodah is the root word having the same meaning of “work” and “worship.” God sees our work as worship.
: When we sing, God inhabits the praises of his people. (Psalm 22 KJV)
: When we dance, clap, shout, kneel, bow are all forms of worship.
: Our attitude is a form of worship (Philippians 2). We can either be a sweet fragrance unto the Lord or a stinky smell.
Point: Think of worship as a lifestyle and not just a worship service.
-God wants to put our lives on display to glorify him.
In Conclusion:
As our lives are played for the world to see, what do you think they see and hear?
-Do they see and hear a beautiful instrument that’s in tune, or do they hear a clanging cymbal or a resounding gong?
