The Big Picture Series

The Big Picture

Romans 12:1-2

David Yarborough writes, “Back in 1992 when the Dallas Cowboys were preparing to play the San Francisco 49ers

And then he writes, “Why did you come to worship today? Our primary reason for attending church should be to worship God, honor Him and to show Him how much we appreciate Him. Worship is more than just singing a few songs, performing a few rituals and enduring a sermon. We come to acknowledge his authority in our lives and to worship Him as our Creator.”

In this series, “Worship That Thing You Do”, we’re looking at what we do most in our lives, whether we realize it not. and I’m not just talking about what you do for one hour on Sunday morning. As we learned last week

The question is, “What or whom are you worshiping?” But what is worship?”

Worship is our response both personal and corporate to God for who He is and for what He has done expressed in and by the things we say and the way we live.

First, Worship is Action. The word worship is a verb and that means it’s something you do. Yet too often, we take the approach that worship is something that we watch, like

But worship at it’s very heart is not something you should watch but something you do. Listen to the Psalmist’s call to worship, “Clap your hands, sing for joy, serve the Lord with gladness, stand in awe of Him, kneel and bow down before him.” Psalm 47:1 All of these words describe the activity of worship.

What’s amazing is that we can get riled up for the Saints at the Dome or for the Tigers

so why are we so emotionless when we come into the presence of the Almighty God? We have forgotten that worship is something you do by giving yourself, all of yourself to Him in praise and thanksgiving

Second, worship is Response. Robert Weber, Professor of Worship at Candler School of Theology in Atlanta, writes, “We gather together in worship to be met by God Almighty, God the Creator of the Universe, the One who sustains our lives, our Redeemer and King, is present….He wants to communicate to us, to penetrate our inner self, to take up residence within us. And as we go through the experience of meeting with Him in this mystical moment of public worship, we are meant to respond.”

http://vimeo.com/23864881

We’ve allowed culture to steal much of the expression of worship.

But response is not just singing a hymn or a chorus, or saying a prayer or a creed. It is responding in both heart and mind, body and soul to the presence of God in our midst. Jesus said, “Wherever 2 or 3 are gathered, there will I be.” So when we gather, God initiates and we are called to respond. It’s not a matter of saying

It is a matter of God acting and moving in our midst and our lives and we not being able to hold ourselves back responding to that love and grace so freely given. It’s coming to understand not only who God is but what He has done

We respond because God has moved first. He reveals, we respond. Romans 12:1 says, “Therefore, I urge you brothers and sisters in view of God’s mercy to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable. This is your spiritual act of worship.” God demands much of us in worship. In fact he demands all of us in worship. Why?

Worship is about you giving all of yourself to Him in response to what He has done and is doing in our lives. According to Paul, this is the only right and true response to God. It is the only acceptable response to Jesus Christ. In view of God’s mercy we have received

In view of God’s mercy, our response is clear: everything I am and everything I have offered up to God in worship. It’s all of me given to all of Him

For those of us who do believe, I can’t help but wonder if the deadness, solemness and restraint of our worship isn’t reflective of the fact that we haven’t encountered God during the week. We haven’t provided the venue or means

Others of you are still negotiating with God to be the Lord of your life, and so you’ve experienced some grace, some power and some direction in your life but not all you could and so you have only a little to respond to. That’s not a knock on you because

But when you have received Jesus as your Lord and Savior and fully surrendered to Him, you start to experience in ways you could only imagine. And when Sunday comes, you race to worship