Spiritual Disciplines - Worship (3) Series

Spiritual Disciplines: Worship

July 25, 2021

We all have different views of what worship should and should not be. We all have our likes and dislikes. We have our ideas, thoughts, and feelings of what makes for a good worship and what leads to a not so good worship experience. Some come with expectancy and excitement, for others, it’s like getting to go to a painful appointment.

Lots of people come to worship with a less than attitude. Let me give you a couple of quick stories.

* In the 1700's a ships captain returned home after 3 years at sea, and kissed his wife at the docks. He was convicted of profaning the Sabbath “by lewd and unseemly behavior.” His punishment was spending several hours in the stocks.

In the 1600's, a man in Scotland was arrested for smiling on Sunday. The famous pastor, Jonathan Edwards resolved to never tell a funny story in his sermons. The first train to run on Sunday was met in Glasgow by an enraged group of clergymen who told the passengers they had just purchased a ticket to Hell.

Erwin Lutzer wrote about a pastor during the time of the Puritans who lived in an area with a lot of ice and snow. He decided it would be faster to skate to worship. After the service, the deacons called an emergency meeting to decide whether it was right for a pastor to skate to church on a Sunday. After the meeting they told him, “You can skate to church on Sundays, as long as you don’t enjoy it.”

Is that kind of our attitude as well? We come here not believing we’re to really enjoy this experience. In some ways, I’ve never thought about the fact that you might actually enjoy my messages. Hopefully they help you in your journey.

As we’ve been talking about worship for the past couple of weeks, worship is not about what we can do for you . . . but it’s about what you can do for God. Not that God needs anything from us, but it’s about our desire to give thanks to God.

Listen to these words from King David, from 1 Chronicles 16. To be honest, we don’t expect this from an OT book like this, but there are some great images of worship in this chapter and elsewhere in 1 Chronicles. David wrote –

8 Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon His name; make known His deeds among the peoples!

9 Sing to him, sing praises to Him; tell of all His wondrous works!

10 Glory in His holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice!

11 Seek the Lord and His strength; seek His presence continually!

12 Remember the wondrous works that He has done, His miracles and the judgments He uttered - 1 Chronicles 16:8-12

This is a call for us to come before God and worship Him. David tells us to give thanks to God!

To call upon His name

To make His deeds known

Praise God through song.

Tell of His great works

Glory / revel in His holy name

Seek the Lord with rejoicing

Seek the Lord and His strength

Always seek His presence

Again remember His great works

Remember His miracles and even His judgments

That’s a great way to worship. When you come here, when you watch on FB, come to God . . . do the work of drawing nearer and nearer to God. Don’t wait for God to show up . . . because God is already wherever you are. He’s there waiting for you to open the door to Him. He wants to come in and be with you.

So, come, be ready to give thanks and praise Him and sing out to Him, giving back the blessings He’s already given to you.

As I was thinking about worship, I wanted to tell you why we do worship the way we do it. Whether you agree with the order or not, there really is a method to my madness. So, I want you to understand the progression and flow.

The purpose of the prelude is to prepare you for worship. Yes, most of you are talking and catching up with your neighbors. I get it, but in reality the prelude represents the final moments before we hit the floor running. For me, it’s kind of like the national anthem before a sporting event. It’s the last moment to get pumped up and ready for the game. Not that worship is a game, but that’s the prelude. It’s like the guy used to say in boxing matches . . . “Let’s get ready to rumble.” We simply say . . . Let’s get ready to worship!!

After the prelude, I welcome you and we do announcements - - - and most people know I don’t like announcements. I believe they always disrupt the flow. Different churches have them at different times, but they always stop the flow. But we need them and we do them as quickly as possible. They simply give information about what’s going on, as quickly as possible.