1. Title: Essentials of Worship
2. Text: (several)
3. Audience: Villa Heights Christian Church, AM crowd., October 1, 2006, First in the series on worship “Stand in Awe”
4. Objectives:
-for the people to understand what constitutes an “essential” in worship; to understand why the essentials of worship matter so much
-for the people to feel glad to worship God and Him only; feel strongly that the body of biblical doctrine regarding worship is very important
-for the people to regard worship as a privilege and a vital part of our relationship with Jesus; review in their heads what is the object, system of belief, and resulting lifestyle that accompanies their worship life; make changes in their lives where they don’t accurately reflect their worship
5. When I finish my sermon I want my audience to have a more biblical understanding of worship and a greater conviction that results in life change that they need to be in continual awe of God
6. Type: topical
7. Dominant Thought: Worship of God consists of a few essential elements
8. Outline:
Intro: In essentials unity, in non-essentials, liberty, in all things, charity.
How many of you recognize that saying? In Christian Churches and Churches of Christ, you may often find or hear it. Some say it was first coined by St. Augustine. It’s one of a few “slogans” that were repeated early on in what’s known as “The Restoration Movement.” We don’t have “creeds,” so we have slogans. In fact, one of those slogans is, “No creed but Christ, no book but the Bible, no name but Christian.” I’m helped by those creeds, I mean, slogans. Those sayings remind us of the great ideas from which this church grew. They help us because they simply point to Bible truth and insist that we keep the truth of the Bible ahead of all human ideas, rather than treating them as important as the Bible itself. They’re valuable because they remind us of the mistakes of the past and encourage us to live wisely in the future.
In essentials unity, in non-essentials, liberty, in all things, charity. Can you amen the idea behind that? So, what’s an essential? Before we can get very far with this, we have to be able to answer that.
Identifying essentials has become a great challenge over the centuries. In fact, some even balk at the idea that there is such a thing as a non-essential. But, let me be quick to point out there are some non-essentials in the Lords’ Church – all of them our own creation. You know what they are, but sometimes someone needs to get up and remind us – they’re the things that churches sometimes decide to split over – things in the realm of opinion – things that the Bible doesn’t even address – things that we must keep in the realm of opinion – things like whether we should serve a big breakfast, a small breakfast or serve no breakfast at all in the fellowship hall or whether we should have a fellowship hall, and whether we should call it a fellowship hall, the gym, the family life center, or something else. They’re the things like the color of walls and carpets, and pew pads.
You have an opinion about some of these things. That’s great. So do most other people. But we have to make sure that we hold those opinions and share those opinions with an attitude of love and a view toward unity. They’re non-essentials. They’re things that God doesn’t even talk about in the word because, frankly, God doesn’t care about them! He’s all caught up in other stuff like saving people from hell forever and things like that! The moment we start to make preferences an issue between people is the moment that we’ve dropped this very good idea. In matters of opinion we should cut one another slack and not make non-essentials important. If we’re going to argue, if we’re going to throw lots of emotion into something, then let’s do that over something that matters – like the authority of the Bible or the deity of Jesus or the fact of the resurrection or the plan of salvation or something else. Please, contend for those things! But let’s not let Satan direct our concerns to things that are about as important as whether you use sugar or the pink, blue, or yellow sweetener in your tea! I don’t care what kind of sweetener you use. Just make sure you use enough sweetener to make sure that you’re real sweet, OK?! This life’s too short to devote much of it to things that don’t matter.
In essentials unity, in non-essentials, liberty, in all things, charity.
So, here we are this morning, introducing a new series on worship, and we’ve done something different – we’ve deliberately not used music this morning. Last Sunday, just by coincidence, we had no video – first time in years - but we still managed to worship together. This morning, we’re finding out that worship can also take place even if there’s no music. One of the ways we can identify what we have to have and don’t have to have in order to worship is to remove elements. But that’s not the point this morning – to prove everything we don’t need. The point is to refocus us on the things that really do matter – the things that are essential to worship – and not just here on Sunday mornings, but then the rest of the week as we worship on our own and together in smaller groups. What is essential to worship?
I wish there were some Scripture that would just spell out what I have to have in order to worship God. Wait, there is at least one! Jesus said,
John 4:23-24
Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.
There’s one essential we can hang our hats on. Jesus said that worship of God must be this way. So, all along the next 4 weeks, we’ll be working to identify what it means to worship in spirit and in truth. We have to. It’s an essential. That Scripture, along with several others we’re going to look at this morning, help us to see some of the must-have’s of worshiping God. This is kind of a “Worship 101” course this morning. But, once again, we’re trying to get back to some basics this morning because we need to do that once in a while.
Here are some worship essentials:
I. An Object of Worship
Worship always has an object. That is, there’s always someone or something to which worship is directed. It may be God, it may be an idol, or it may be something else, but be assured, if there’s worship, there’s an object of that worship.
When you go back through the OT and look for what it has to say, it’s interesting how much of it is talking about the object of worship. Usually, God is warning Israel or rebuking Israel about worshiping false gods. The very first of the 10 Commandments was about this:
Exodus 20:3-5
"You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,
The nations Israel would be overthrowing as they entered the land of Canaan were all worshiping false gods. Israel was in a dangerous situation. They weren’t supposed to mess around with those gods. They weren’t even to allow the people to remain. It was too dangerous. Sure enough, look at all the times Israel either made golden calves or sold out to worship of Baal or Chemosh or other phony gods.
There was an instance where God gave help to Israel and they forgot the point of it. He used Gideon and 300 men to overthrow thousands of Midianites. And Gideon took gold earrings from the spoils of that victory and made an ephod – a breastplate like a priest wore – and it became an object of worship.
Judges 8:27
Gideon made the gold into an ephod, which he placed in Ophrah, his town. All Israel prostituted themselves by worshiping it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and his family.
There was a time in their history when God sent snakes among the camp of Israel to punish them. Lots of the people were bitten, and many died. So, they cried to God for help, and He had Moses make a snake of bronze and put it up on a pole in the middle of the camp. If someone was bitten, all that person had to do was look at the bronze snake, and they’d be healed. Neat solution – look and live. Jesus even compared this to the way that He would be lifted up on the cross. Interesting parallel – look and live. But later, good king Hezekiah had to get rid of the snake, because people had made it into an object of worship.
2 Kings 18:4
He broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it. (It was called Nehushtan.)
Worship will always have an object of worship. No object of worship, no worship. So, every religion of the world has its object of worship – a god, gods, relics, or some element of nature. Whatever it may be, it’s the object of worship. The adherents to that religion direct their attention to that object or person.
The Apostle Paul was on the missionary journey that took him to Athens. He was waiting there for a few days before he preached, and it was troubled by the number of idols in that city. So, when he preached to the Areopagus, he started by saying to them:
Acts 17:22-23
"Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.
Objects of worship. Idols, in this case. Paul said these men needed to change the object of their worship.
Some years ago, C.H. Spurgeon said in a sermon, “I believe a very large majority of churchgoers are merely unthinking, slumbering worshipers of an unknown God.”
Could it be true of us in the Church today that we sometimes mess up on this most basic essential? The first question we really need to be confronted with this morning is: Who, or what, is the object of my worship?
Worship necessarily has an object to which that worship is directed. Even if that object is…you. Even if you say that you don’t believe in any god at all, and that there is no spiritual realm at all, and that you’re just living your life completely for yourself - you have an object of worship – it’s You. Or you may have the trappings of being a follower of Jesus, but when it comes to what’s inside your heart, this experience here from week to week, and when you’re alone, isn’t directed to God. It’s really about you.
(show video from Sermon Spice – “It’s all about me” praise and worship album)
Funny, but how many of the problems we have with worship begin with this most basic essential? Becoming a follower of Jesus begins when we no longer make ourselves the object of our worship. So, what does it mean when the criteria we apply to worship is all about ourselves – what I like, what I want, what works for ME?
John Henry Jowett in Listening to the Giants – “Men who are possessed by a powerful God can never themselves be impotent. But have we not robbed the Almighty of much of His awful glory, and to that extent are we not ourselves despoiled? We have contemplated the beauties of the rainbow, but we have overlooked the dim severities of the throne. We have toyed with the light, but we have forgotten the lightning. We have rejoiced in the fatherhood of our God, but too frequently the fatherhood we have proclaimed has been throneless and effeminate. We have picked and chosen according to the weakness of our own tastes, and not according to the full-orbed revelation of the truth, and we have selected the picturesque and rejected the appalling.”
What is the object of your worship this morning? What’s driving your thoughts and attitudes about the experience we share together this morning, and the experiences you have throughout the rest of the week? We’ll spend some more time on this later, but let it be enough this morning to say that we will worship someone. God tells us that Someone is to be Him and Him only.
Another essential of worship is…
II. A System of Belief
When people or cultures adopt an object of worship, it means they’re also accepting a system of belief. Every form of worship springs from a belief that there is someone or something of value, of worth, that deserves recognition from me. We say that it’s “worth-y.” Our word “worship” even comes from a word that includes the word “worth.” (OE “weorthscipe”)
When someone cuts a CD or makes a movie, if we view it as worthy, that means we believe it’s worth something. We do, because we’ll pay money to the person who made it just to listen to it or see it. It must be worthy to us, or we wouldn’t ascribe worth to it by spending money on it. And, there are some things we just won’t spend money on. We don’t think they’re worth it, or they’re even harmful and wrong. What we choose to spend ourselves on tells about what we believe.
So, the scene around the throne of God in Rev finds non-stop worship directed to Him, and behind that worship, repeated in that worship, is a belief of Who God is, and that He deserves worship.
Revelation 4:10-11
the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne, and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say: "You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being."
This is worship “in truth.” The truth is simple: God is worthy to receive glory and honor and power. Those who accept that truth, who reflect on that truth, have a response to that truth we call worship. People worship what they believe deserves worship.
Just like everyone has an object of worship, everyone has a system of belief, even it it’s to “not believe anything.” That by itself is a system of belief. Look around at the acts of worship over history and around the world. Every one of them has behind them a system of belief, whether it’s a belief that there are 33 mil. gods, or that there is but one god Whose name is Allah, and Mohammed is his prophet, or a belief that God is in everything in nature, or a belief that everyone’s going to go to heaven, or that there is no heaven. Whether it’s right or wrong, the truth or a lie, you have a certain set of values and beliefs that direct your decisions – and your worship. That’s the basis for our worship of God:
1 Corinthians 15:2-8
By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.
Listen to another statement of belief:
1 Timothy 3:16
Beyond all question, the mystery of godliness is great: He appeared in a body, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up in glory.
The whole reason for our worship comes back to this essential: what we believe to be true about God. Take that away, and we’ve lost the foundation.
1 Thessalonians 4:14
We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.
Acts 15:11 We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved..."
Those are essentials. Take them away, and the foundation for worship is removed. Don’t know what you believe, or don’t know enough about God, and at best your foundation for worship is weak.
One more essential is…
III. A Resulting Lifestyle
I have read that, historically, the character of a society is often a reflection of the god of that society. In other words, there’s a lifestyle that results from worship. Could that possibly be true? If so, how would you like to live in the culture that worships this little beauty? (Picture of ugly idol)
Every one has a lifestyle that results from their worship. If you appear here week after week, then leave this place and live like it never happened, your worship is a sham. This is what happens when worship isn’t in spirit. By the time of Isaiah, Israel, who had all the right rules, all the right formulas for worship, and who went through all the motions, wasn’t sincere. And God said,
Isaiah 1:13-17
Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations--I cannot bear your evil assemblies. Your New Moon festivals and your appointed feasts my soul hates. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you; even if you offer many prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood; wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight! Stop doing wrong, learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.
God wants people who worship Him to have a resulting lifestyle.
James 3:9-10 With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be.
You say you worship God? Good! Our lifestyle needs to be consistent with our profession, otherwise we deny the object of our worship, we deny our belief, and we have no credibility in the eyes of those who see it in us.
Quote - Karl Rahner, quoted in the Wittenburg Door – “The number one cause of atheism is Christians. Those who proclaim God with their mouths and deny Him with their lifestyles is what an unbelieving world finds simply unbelievable.”
Don’t we want consistency in people? Don’t we want what they profess to match up with how they live? Of course. Be assured, the world wants that in the Church.
Ill - Major Osipovich, a pilot for the former Soviet Union, planned to give a talk at his children’s school about peace. But he would need time off during the day to give his talk, so he volunteered for night duty. And that’s how Major Osipovich found himself patrolling the skies over the eastern regions of the Soviet Union on September 1, 1983--the night Korean Air Lines Flight KE007 strayed into Soviet air space.
Soon the Soviet pilot was caught in a series of blunders and misinformation. In the end, Major Osipovich followed orders and shot down the unidentified aircraft. The actions of an air force major preparing to talk about peace sent 240 passengers to their deaths and sparked an incident that pushed world powers to a stand-off. The man who was planning to talk about peace to school children.
What we live means a whole lot more to people than what we say – or how we worship.
They may know you worship here every week, even. They may not know what that looks or sounds like, but they probably expect a certain lifestyle from you and me. Our lifestyle needs to be a direct result of our worship.
Conclusion:
In essentials unity, in non-essentials, liberty, in all things, charity.
If you can agree this morning that worship must have an object, a system of belief, and a resulting lifestyle, can you say amen with me? Can we begin with that basis of worship and resolve together to let that be a reason for unity?
OK, so let me ask every one of you this morning to ask yourself: what is the object of your worship? Is it someone eternal, all-powerful, holy, and just? Or is it something less? What are you worshiping?
What is the system of belief that drives your life? Is it based on truth, or on an attempt to believe a lie?
We want to get everyone here this morning in a relationship with God where you’re worshiping Him in spirit and in truth. Worship the Father. It begins with that.
