The What, The Where And The Why Of Worship

THE WHAT, THE WHERE and THE WHY of WORSHIP 7 20 25

Ask ourselves today Why do we worship? Is it because that is what “good people” do? Is worship coming into a building every Lord’s Day, singing a few songs,,Throwing a few bucks in the plate and fulfilling a duty to worship , maybe going out for a nice lunch afterwords and then call it a day? Or is Worship more than what we do every Lord’s Day?

I hope by the end of the next 3 hours we will have a better understanding of a few of the many aspects of worship.

1. The questions for us to answer today are: what is worship? What does it look like in the Christian’s life? Where do we worship and Why do we worship?

Throughout this message I want you to keep in mind Genesis 22- Where God asks Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. As they draw near to the mountain Abraham tells his servants, “stay here and watch the donkeys we will go and worship” ( in the Hebrew shachah) Worship in this context was faithfulness and obedience to God to kill Isaac.

To unpack the answers to these questions allow me to start with a little “word study”

Worship appears in the NIV translation 254 times- many times describing what Worship is NOT

(1)The Vine’s Expository dictionary says this: “ The worship of God is nowhere defined in Scripture. A consideration of the following words shows that it is not confined to praise. Broadly, worship may be regarded as the direct acknowledgment of God...whether by the outgoing of the heart in praise and thanksgiving or by deeds done in such acknowledgment of God.

(2) Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible dictionary reads: Worship is “Reverent devotion and allegiance pledged to God.”

The word Worship- in the Hebrew shachah - (shaw-chah) the word literally meant to bow down before God, prostrate and that is consistent with one of the Greek words proskuneo- (pros-koo-neh-o) denoting the worthiness of the individual to be worshiped. Not just a physical bowing down like a performer would take at the end of a recital, but more we have a posture that is face down reflecting a recognition that God is Lord and Master. It has this connotation about it, that our lives do not belong to us, but they belong to God. and although proskuneo is the most common translation found in the NT for worship occurring some 71 times another word that I like to describe this act of worshiping God is found in Romans 12:1 and in 10 other NT passages. The word is Latreia (lat- ri- ah) it describes worshiping God by the Spirit of God, using the Spirit of God to do it. It has the connotation of service to God-that includes sacrifice for others. Those literally are the ones who are worshiping Him . Maybe that gives a whole new meaning to what we commonly refer to as a “worship service”

2. I believe what worship and service mean when combined is that we worship God, bow down to God, through the humility that is in our hearts when we live obedient sacrificial lives of service that glorify Him.

One author explains bowing down as a NT Christian this way: “The Hebrew word translated as “worship” literally means “to bow down.” In Psalm 95:6, the psalmist uses three different terms to describe bowing down, which is the foundational posture of worship in the Old Testament: “Come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the LORD our maker” Each of these words conveys the image of bowing low face down, bending the knee, and kneeling. They are meant to inspire the worshiper to bring himself low before God, but physically bowing down is not the true essence of humbling oneself in worship.

Bowing down is merely an outward expression of an inner attitude of humility, reverence, and submission. (3)

TRANSITION

However, I believe there is one major problem that STOPS us from being the kind of worshipers that God desires

And That problem is:

It is these bodies we live in. You see because we live in the flesh, because we are actually trapped in these bodies of death, because the flesh battles against the spirit, we struggle to be true worshippers. Although we struggle in these bodies, the fact remains and must be dealt with is that we live in these bodies.

I maybe like you, when I am hungry I want to eat and when thirsty, I want something to drink. If I don’t eat I get Hangry and I am NO fun to be with. When my heartburn kicks in I want an antacid to take away the pain.

But because we live in the body we become influenced by externalities. Because we live in the flesh and have to satisfy our flesh to live. Before too long our flesh and its desires becomes our ruler. We actually begin to believe that because our flesh is satisfied by what we like and that is pleasing to us, we should, therefore always get what we like because it feels right for us.