The Way Of The Worshipper Series

The way of a worshiper

We worship through Music – Psalm 110:2

We worship through Prayer - Luke 2:36-37

We worship through sacrifice - Isa 19:21

We worship through serving - Luke 4:8

We worship through obedience – Romans 12:1

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Intro

Last week we spoke of the Way of Worship, What exactly God is looking for when we worship Him.

We saw that we need to worship

in Spirit,

in Truth and

by choice.

When we are doing all of those things, it glorifies the Lord and we are truly worshiping.

This week, though I want to talk about

how we express that worship to Him.

Practically, what does worshiping in spirit and truth look like.

How do we show love for someone.

Find out what they like, not what we like.

As we talk about these things, we need to keep in mind that

the acts themselves are not worship

the acts are only ways of expressing true worship.

if these acts are not in spirit and truth, they are not even expressing worship.

This is where the Jews got tripped up.

They did some of the right things, but they were just acts done by men.

Matthew 15:7-9

7 You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:

8 "’These people honor me with their lips,

but their hearts are far from me.

9 They worship me in vain;

their teachings are but rules taught by men.’"

(from New International Version)

Now it is important that we know what the Bible has to say about how worshiping in Spirit and truth manifests itself so that God is glorified, but we need to be cautious that we don’t just start doing the actions of worship without the heart and mind involved.

So, even as we discuss these things, we need to keep that in mind.

Today, we are not going to just be looking at one passage of Scripture, but looking throughout the Bible as to how the people of the Bible expressed worship to the Lord, so that we might also learn to express ourselves in a way that honors and glorifies the Lord.

One of the major ways we express our worship to the Lord is when

We Worship through Music

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But is that a biblical way of expressing worship?

Actually it is.

Psalm 100:2 says

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Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.

Throughout the Scriptures we see music and song used to worship the Lord.

In fact the many of the psalms are the lyrics of songs of worship to the Lord.

We see God

praised for who He is.

Praised for what He has done.

We see God acknowledged as the true God

We see God relied on as the only hope

Those are expressions of worship that glorify the Lord.

We find those same expressions in many hymns.

But the same is true of many contemporary songs today.

It is not the style of music that makes something worship,

it is the lyrics that make it worship.

What do the lyrics have to say?

Is God the object of the Song?

Does it give Him honor and glory?

Does it acknowledge Him as God?

Does it praise Him for His works?

Those are the types of things we need to ask about the music we sing.

These are the types of things expressed in the singing and songs we see throughout Scripture when the people worshiped with music.

Moses and the Israelites – Red Sea

When Moses and the Israelites crossed the Red Sea on dry ground and God destroyed the Egyptians, they worshiped with song

Exodus 14:29-15:2 (p. 50)

29 But the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. 30 That day the LORD saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore. 31 And when the Israelites saw the great power the LORD displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant.

15:1 Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the LORD:

"I will sing to the LORD,

for he is highly exalted.

The horse and its rider

he has hurled into the sea.

2 The LORD is my strength and my song;

he has become my salvation.

He is my God, and I will praise him,

my father’s God, and I will exalt him.

(from New International Version)

Hezekiah becomes King

When Hezekiah became King they returned to worshiping the Lord God, and they worshiped with music,

2 Chronicles 29:27-30 (p. 327)

27 Hezekiah gave the order to sacrifice the burnt offering on the altar. As the offering began, singing to the LORD began also, accompanied by trumpets and the instruments of David king of Israel. 28 The whole assembly bowed in worship, while the singers sang and the trumpeters played. All this continued until the sacrifice of the burnt offering was completed.