Worship: Rest Stops Along the Way
June 9, 2002
READ Ps.122
The theme of this Psalm this morning is “Worship”. If you’ll remember last week, we started a series of messages on the Christian life.
And we found kind of an outline of the life of following Christ in the Psalms of Ascent. (120-134) Songs that the early Israelites used to sing as they made their way across 100’s of miles to Jerusalem for their holy holidays and festivals.
Now, when it comes to worship, there are all kinds of ways to do it.
Right now millions of people are attending worship services, and the services they’re attending are as varied as their personalities.
Some worship services are straight-laced and liturgical. You’re not allowed to sneeze unless it is included in the “Order of Service”.
On the other end of the spectrum, some churches are highly emotional and demonstrative. Their services resemble more of a football game than anything else… people are yelling loudly, applauding… their doing the ‘wave’ in the pews!
As you can imagine, the two extremes don’t mix very well.
I read of a woman who was visiting a liturgical service and kept calling out, “Praise the Lord!”, every time she agreed with something the pastor said in his sermon.
This went on for awhile until the woman in front of her turned around and said, “Excuse me… but we don’t ‘Praise the Lord’ in our church!”
A man down the pew corrected her.. ‘Yes we do; it’s on page 19”
The controversy between form and freedom isn’t new. But is it possible to have the best of both worlds? I say yes! I believe that there can be a balance… that ‘order’ and ‘ardor’ can be happily wed.
And the issue is not structure or freedom… but SPIRIT.
God isn’t interested in either ‘formless spiritualism’ or ‘spiritless formalism’ - He rejects both!
Every church likes to believe that ‘it’s’ worship style is the most biblical. The truth is, (believe it or not) the bible never spells out which style of worship is the best.
Instead, the Bible gives us two requirements for legitimate worship in John 4:24 (read)
God isn’t offended or even bothered by different styles of worship… as long as it meets these two imp. criteria.
It’s done ‘in spirit’ - i.e. in sincerity
and it’s done ‘in truth’ - i.e. agrees with His revealed Word.
God wants freedom and honesty… but total freedom leads to heresy. It’s not ‘anything goes’.
So worshipping ‘in spirit’ is important, but ‘truth’ is the boundary in which the Spirit moves. Inside of those two boundaries… God loves variety! If you don’t believe that, just look around you, at the faces in this room!
Ps.122 is the song of a person who decides to go to church and worship God in Spirit and Truth.
And in this Psalm, he includes 5 characteristics, that any true, legitimate and God-pleasing worship style will incorporate. I believe they are the 5 Char. of any true worship…
The 1st Char. is…
1. EXPECTATION
vs. 1…”When they said, “Let’s go into the house of God, my heart leaped for joy!”
Now here’s a guy who’s excited about going to church! And I find that that’s a rare person! In fact, most people today, instead of being excited about going to church, make excuses for not going.
To show the weaknesses of those excuses, someone came up with a humorous list called “Ten Reasons Why I Never Wash.”
1) I was forced to wash as a child.
2) People who wash are hypocrites – they think they’re cleaner than others.
3) There are so many kinds of soap, I could never decide which was right.
4) I used to wash, but it got boring.
5) I wash only on Christmas or Easter.
6) None of my friends wash.
7) I’ll start washing when I’m older.
8) I really don’t have time.
9) The bathroom isn’t warm enough.
10) People who make soap are only after your money.
Now listen, worship is supposed to be a ‘delight’, not a duty!
King David (who wrote this Psalm) was an avid worshipper of God… In fact, in ___________ we read that He got so excited about God He danced around in his BVD’s!
Now, I’m not suggesting that we try that here, but nonetheless we can learn a lot from his example about getting excited for God.
In Ps. 21:6 David reflects on the wonderful life that God has given him… he writes… (Read)
Let me ask you… does that reflect your attitude as you drive into the parking lot of this church each Sunday? Are you excited about the opportunity of coming into God’s presence?
Are you expecting great things?
You know, what you ‘expect’ has a lot to do with what you ‘get’.
We see what we expect to see… not what we can see;
We hear… what we expect to hear… not what we can hear; and
We think what we expect to think, not what we can think!
It’s like the grandpa who was visiting his grandkids… each afternoon he liked to lie down to take a nice long nap.
So, one day, as a practical joke, the grand kids decided to put limburger cheese in his moustache. Not long after that… he woke up with this foul odor in his nose.
He said, “Ahh! This room stinks!” and so he got up and went into the kitchen.
He sniffed around the kitchen for awhile and said…”It stinks in here too!”. So… he walked outside to get a fresh breath of air.
Much to his surprise though… it stunk outside just as bad as it did inside. Finally, frustrated, he cried out… “The whole world stinks!”
Isn’t that true of life? When we carry ‘limburger cheese’ around in our attitudes…the whole world smells bad! Know anybody with limburger cheese in their moustache?
Expectancy is just another word for faith, and Jesus said, ‘According to your faith, will it be done to you” -Mt.9:29
What you EXPECT from God, is what you GET from God. Some people get a lot more from God because they’re believing Him for more!.
They see a greater God and so they receive greater things from God.
So ask yourself before you walk through that door each Sunday morning… “What am I expecting from God this morning?” Limburger cheese? Or the sweet smelling presence of the Holy Spirit?
You know, every Sunday morning, before I come up here… I expect God to show up! I expect and believe that He’s going to meet every need represented by this congregation…
I believe that today… God is going to meet with me & you… and we’re going to walk away from this service… a different people!
Ascribe great things to God and receive great things from God.
The 2nd characteristic of a true worship experience is…
2. AFFIRMATION
Now if you were a Israelite, there’s only one place to worship. Jerusalem. That’s where the temple was.
The city of Jerusalem was central to a Hebrews worship (still is!)…
vs. 3 tells us that “Jerusalem was a well-built city, built as a place to worship. The city to which the tribes ascend, all God’s tribes go up to worship…”
Notice he says that “ALL tribes go up to worship”. See, even though we’ve come from different places and backgrounds… none of that matters when we worship. We all come together in unity.
In Heb. 10:25 it says… (Read)
You know, there’s so much ‘bad’ news in the world… people need a place they can go to hear some ‘good’ news.
Life is tough and some of you have been beaten up by the world all week long… you need some encouragement!
I see worship as a “resting place” a ‘spiritual oasis in the middle of a parched desert. We’re called to offer the refreshing water of life to people who are dying of thirst.
It’s easy to be so overwhelmed by the events of the world that you lose perspective on God.
Somebody once said that, “If we spend 16 hrs. a day thinking about the affairs of the world and 5 min. thinking about God… than this world will seem 200x’s more real to us than God!
Isn’t that true? Doesn’t the world we live in seem more ‘real’ than God sometimes? Isn’t it easy to think that God isn’t involved in our lives? That the problems are too big? That the difficulties have no solutions?
Worship is a time for us to come together and RE-recognize God. To bring Him back into focus and our lives back into perspective. To remember that God is with us… and that 1 + God = a majority!
Every week people arrive here with their spiritual & emotional batteries depleted. In worship we reconnect our spiritual jumper cables to the restorative power of Christ!
Jesus said in Mt. 11:28-29 (Read)
If we’ve been successful in our worship of God… whether it’s in something that someone has said to you, a song you’ve sung, through the message, or in a prayer… you have had what I call a ‘GOD MOMENT’.
A pt. where God has touched you by His Spirit, and infused your heart with hope and encouragement.
You leave here with the burden lifted and the desire and strength to go on. Knowing that you don’t go alone… but that God and other worshipers are carrying you.
3. CELEBRATION
Worship is the place where we obey the command to praise God:
David says in vs.4b… “To give thanks to the name of God – this is what it means to be Israel!”
Praising God was central to what it meant to be an Israelite. And today it’s central to what it means to be a Christian. Worship is celebrating the fact that God is with us!
Ya know, the more I read about worship in the O.T. the more I’m convinced that God is not a ‘GRUMP’!
In the O.T…. worship services were filled with dancers, singers and instrumentalists combining to make worship a real time of celebration and rejoicing.
In I Chron.23:5 we read of one such worship service… (Read)
You know, I used to watch those old Cecil B. DeMille movies and think he was overdoing it a little bit, with all those trumpeters on one wall, heralds on another wall… a chorus in every corner…
But after reading verses like that… I think DeMille was probably ‘downplaying’ it!
Karl Barth once wrote that ‘Christian worship is the most momentous, the most urgent, the most glorious action that can take place in human life!”
Have you ever thought of it that way? If that’s true… How have we turned the ‘momentous’ into the ‘monotonous’??? Why is it that most church services resemble a ‘funeral’ more than a ‘festival’?
Did you know that worship can be more exciting than skiing on the slopes of a beautiful mountain?
That worship can be more exciting than spending a weekend camping in the great outdoors? Or hiking and hunting?
That worship can even be more exciting than watching ‘World Wrestling Federation’ on T.V.!!!
Now I know that’s hard to believe… but it’s true! Worship CAN be one of the most momentous and exciting things you do all week long…
And the reason that people figure out a whole host of other things to do on Sunday’s… is that they’ve never experienced ‘true’ worship!
They’re too busy worshiping the ‘creation’ to give any time to the ‘Creator’.
(Tahoe Wkend) Now let me ask you… if worshipping God’s creation is wonderful and sometimes borders on ecstatic… what do you think worshipping the source of that creation is like? HUH?
The most fulfilling & life-changing adventure you can ever have… is getting to know the God who created you.
Someone said that “worship is the language of heaven”. Let me ask you, if you don’t enjoy worshipping God here on earth, what are you going to do when you get to heaven and that’s the main agenda?
Maybe there’s something more to it than you’re experiencing if you think it’s boring!
The 4th Characteristic of true worship…
4. Exhortation
Now, I want to talk to you about an area of worship that you may never have considered a part of worship….
The Message, or The Sermon…
Our psalm this morning describes worship in vs.5 as a place where…”thrones for righteous judgment are set…famous David thrones.”
The biblical word for ‘judgment’ means, “the decisive word by which God straightens things out and puts things right”.
I don’t know about you, but in a weeks time, I can get things pretty twisted out of shape! My thoughts get twisted, my attitudes get twisted… my actions get twisted.
I need God’s word to straighten things out in my life!
Every Sunday 55 million Americans will hear 1 billion words of ‘sermon’ preached. And when it’s all been said and done… a lot more has been said than done!
And so, the question is… how are you going to get the most out of what you hear, in order to get your life back on track?
The bible tells us in Mark 10:1 that it was Jesus’ custom to teach the crowds. But it also tells us the reactions that the crowd had to his teaching…
Read Mt.7:28, Mt.22:33, Mark 11:18, Mark 12:37…
Jesus was not your ‘run-of-the-mill’, average, boring preacher…
Another version translates Mark 11:18…”the people were SPELLBOUND by His teaching”…
People had never heard a person speak like this. And there has never been before or since, a greater communicator than Jesus Christ. Jesus has to be the model of our preaching… not anyone else.
Jesus always started with his audience and asked 3 questions…
a. What are their hurts?
b. What are their needs?
c. What are their interests?
Check Him out in scripture and you always find Him teaching people in response to a question of a pressing problem from someone in the crowd.
His preaching had an immediacy and freshness about it because it was always on target for the moment.
When Jesus preached his first sermon at Naz, he read from Isa. to announce what the preaching agenda of his ministry would be…
Read Luke 4:18-19
Notice the emphasis on meeting needs and healing hurts. Jesus always began with people’s needs, hurts and interests.
Jesus had good news to share and so people wanted to hear it! His messages offered practical benefits to the people who listened to Him.
His truth ‘set people free’ and brought all kinds of blessings into their lives… no wonder they listened and were profoundly impacted.
The word ‘gospel’ lit. means in the grk… ‘good news’.
So when I preach the good news… I have to show that it is both ‘good’ and ‘news’! If it isn’t ‘good’ and it isn’t ‘news’… it isn’t the gospel!
The gospel is about what God has done for us, and what we can become with Christ’s help… It’s the best news in the world!
Jesus understood that people are looking for anyone who can give them hope, help and encouragement…He knew people were, ‘harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” (Mt.9:36)
Does that still describe people today? I think it does!
Now amazing as it sounds… very few people who came to Jesus were looking for truth…. they were looking for relief. They came with leprosy, or blindness, or a bent back, a child who was sick ect.
So Jesus would start there. He’d meet their felt need… and then when that was done…
They were always anxious to know the truth about this man who had helped them with a problem that they couldn’t solve.
You know not much has changed…. Most unbelievers are not really interested in truth these days. In fact, surveys show that the majority of Americans reject the idea of absolute truth.
People worry and complain about the rising crime rate, the breakup of the family, the general decline of our culture… but they don’t realize that the cause of all of this is that they don’t value truth!
TOLERANCE is more valued than truth these days.
So…if we run around advertising, ‘Heh! We have the truth!’, they respond… ‘Yeah, yeah… so does everybody else!”
Proclaimers of truth don’t get much attention in a society that devalues truth. But…while most unbelievers aren’t looking for truth… they ARE looking for RELIEF!
What I’ve found is that when I teach a truth that relieves pain or solves problems… people will say… “Thanks! What else is true in that book?”
Sharing biblical principles that meet needs creates a hunger for more truth! Isn’t that what we see Jesus doing in his ministry?
I like what the great preacher D.L. Moody once said, “The Bible was not given to increase our knowledge, but to change our lives.
I believe that the ultimate purpose of the bible is not to teach the history of Israel… it’s ultimate purpose is not even to teach doctrinal facts (although that’s imp.)… but that the ultimate purpose of the bible is to transform our character.
It’s more than just ‘interpretation’…. It’s application!
See…Interpretation without application is spiritual abortion!
People say, “I’ve got a Living Bible”… Listen, we ought to BE living bibles!
Christ-like preaching is life-related and produces changed lives. It changes people because the Word of God is applied to where people actually live.
Over and over when Jesus would get done with a teaching, he would say…”Now… go and do likewise!” - Lk.10:37
What was he saying? Don’t just be a hearer… be a doer!
Listen… it’s not my job to make the Bible relevant… it already is! My job is to SHOW the bible’s relevance by applying its message to our lives.
5. Proclamation
Vs. 6,7 says, “Pray for Jerusalem’s peace! Prosperity to all you Jerusalem lovers!”
We already said that Jerusalem is symbolic of worship in the bible. And now David tells us about 2 benefits of becoming a God lover… prosperity and peace!
I think it’s safe to say that it’s God’s will that every true worshipper enjoy those two benefits in their life. Peace & prosperity. We’re not necc. talking about financial prosperity… but a complete, fulfilled and abundant life!
The last characteristic and purpose of worship, is to make more worshippers! In John 4:23… “The Father seeks worshipers”
True worship is for believers…but can be attractive to unbelievers.
When we magnify and praise God’s name, we are expressing our love and commitment to Him. Unbelievers can’t do that.
The bible says that, “The natural man can’t understand the things of the Spirit.” Vs.?? BUT… Worship can be a witness!
When unbelievers watch believers relate to God in an intelligent, sincere way… it creates a desire in them to know God too!
In Acts 2, on the day of Pentecost, God’s presence was so evident in the disciples worship service that it attracted the attention of unbelievers throughout the entire city.
Acts 2:6 says… (READ)
We know it must have been a big crowd filled with unbelievers because 3,000 people were saved. Why were they converted? Because they felt God’s presence, and they understood the message.
Both of these elements are necc. if worship is to be a witness.
1st, God’s presence must be sensed in a service.
More people are won to Christ by feeling God’s presence than by all our arguments combined!
Nobody gets converted to Christ purely on intellectual grounds. It’s the sense of God’s Spirit that melts hearts and explodes mental barriers.
At the same time, the worship and message have to be understandable. At Pentecost, the Spirit miraculously translated the message into words that each person (regardless of their language) understood…
Read Acts 2:11 (NCV)
Even though God’s presence was evident, they wouldn’t have known what to do, if they hadn’t been able to understand the message.
See, there’s a great connection between worship and evangelism. It’s the goal of evangelism to produce worshippers of God… in fact, evangelism is really the task of recruiting worshippers of God.
As a result, God expects us to be sensitive to the fears, the hang-ups and the needs of unbelievers when they’re present in our services.
When you have guests over to your home for dinner does your family act differently than when it’s just your family at the table?
It does for us! The kids manners improve dramatically! In fact, I’m thinking of having guests over for every meal!
You pay attention to your guests, making sure they’re served first.
The food may be the same, but you may bring out the good china.
The table conversation is usually more courteous.
Is this being hypocritical? No… we’re just showing some respect for our guests.
In the same way, when we’re being sensitive to the needs of the unbeliever… the spiritual food isn’t changed… but the presentation is more thoughtful and considerate.
The message isn’t shallow… it’s just made understandable.
Did you know that in America the most common fear that people have is going to a party where they will be surrounded by strangers?
Know what the 2nd most common fear is? Having to speak to a crowd. The 3rd most common fear is being asked a personal question in public.
Now what do most churches do when a guest comes to their service?
The pastor thinking he’s being friendly will say, “Would you please stand up, tell us your name and a little about yourself?” Inside they’re dying a 1000 deaths!
See, the way many churches welcome visitors causes them to experience their 3 greatest fears… ALL AT ONCE!!!
I went on vacation once, and we visited a church where they decided it would be better to reverse the process!
So instead of having the visitors stand and introduce themselves…. ALL of the members were asked to stand while my family and I sat!
All of the sudden I was attacked by 30 smiling faces! I was embarrassed… and I’m a pastor! Can you imagine what visitors felt?
I heard of another pastor who went 1 step further and instructed everybody to stand up and sing a welcome song to them!
‘We’re so glad to have you here… It’s so great to have you near!”
Ever been sung to by a stranger? He said he wanted to ‘die on the spot!’
The moral of the story? Think through everything you do and say from a visitors viewpoint. Realize that the first emo. response to coming through those doors is ‘fear’….
They have the same feelings and fears you’d have if you were invited to a Moslem Mosque for the first time….
‘What’s going to happen to me? What are they going to make me do? Will I be embarrassed? Will they lock the doors behind me?
We want to help people feel comfortable when they come to our church, because fear blocks communication. Once a person relaxes… they can stop thinking about themselves and start tuning into the message.
In fact, unless you’ve been here for a while you probably don’t know about what we call the ‘3 minute rule’…For the first 3 minutes after the service is over….if you are a regular attender… you ought to only speak to people you’ve never met.
Visitors are usually the first ones to leave… and by the time you get done talking to your friends… they’re already gone!
This church is a very warm and comfortable place to be. And people who visit for the first time usually are impressed by our genuiness and friendliness. But we can always do better!
I Cor.14:19-20 Paul says that when we think only of our own needs in worship, we are being childish and immature.
We demonstrate incredible spiritual maturity when we are considerate of the needs, fears and hang-ups of unbelievers and are willing to place those needs before their own in a service.
That’s when worship changes from a ‘serve-US’ to a ‘service’.
The most important question you can ask yourself before you leave this morning is… Have I really worshipped?
Have I come this morning with an attitude of EXPECTATION? Am I expecting God to do anything in my life? If not… you won’t be disappointed.
AFFIRMATION… Have I had a ‘God moment’ this morning where I just laid all of my burdens at His feet? Have I let the Lord minister to me? Encouraging, strengthening, giving me hope? A new attitude or a new perspective on my problem…
How about CELEBRATION? Have I celebrated the fact that I can know and love God? and that He wants to know and love me?
EXORTATION?
Then… PROCLAMATION: How have I helped make this worship service a witness? Invite somebody? Meet someone new?
Have I really worshipped?
For some people they think they’ve worshipped because they raised their hands or clapped joyfully.
For others, when they’ve sung a hymn or listened to a sermon.
For still others a worship service means that every things gone smoothly without any hitches in the sound system, ushering, or music.
But the only true criteria of worship is… Have I met with God?
Have I sensed His presence? Being in his presence might bring quiet reflection or exuberance, weeping or joy, repentance or reflection…Whatever the outward signs… worship means coming to God on His terms and encountering Him!
Let’s pray….
