True Worship

True Worship

I. Introduction:

1. Read: Psalm 95:6,7 "Oh come, let us worship and bow down; Let us kneel before Jehovah our Maker: For he is our God, And we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. To-day, oh that ye would hear his voice!" ASV 1901

2. About the Text:

a. We find in this verse the correct object of our worship - Jehovah.

b. We find in this verse the correct attitude of worship – putting God before ourselves.

3. Read John 4:24

a. We find the correct object of worship - God who is a Spirit.

b. We find the correct attitude of worship - Worship in spirit.

c. We find the foundation for correct action in worship - Truth.

4. Definition of worship.

a. Literally the greek word (proskuneo) means "kissing toward one in reverence."

b. "To honor or reverence a divine being ." Websters.

II. For our Object of Worship

1. The object of worship is not our fellow man.

a. Some actually exalt and worship men falsely. 2 Thess. 2:4 "Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God."

b. Some view worship as a big social club thinking that they make the rules and regulations thereof. Matthew 15:9 "But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men."

2. The object of worship is God

a. He is deserving of worship because he is holy. Psalm 99:5 "Exalt ye the LORD our God, and worship at his footstool; for he is holy."

b. Nothing else is deserving of worship. Matt. 4:10 "Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve."

c. Not even angels are worthy of worship. Rev. 22:8,9 "And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which shewed me these things. Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God."

d. Hear the words of King Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel 3:28 "Then Nebuchadnezzar spake, and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who hath sent his angel, and delivered his servants that trusted in him, and have changed the king’s word, and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God."

III. For our Attitude in Worship

1. We are not here just to sit in a pew.

a. Micah 6:6-8 "Wherewith shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?"

b. Col. 2:20-23 "Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, (Touch not; taste not; handle not; Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men? Which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body: not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh."

2. We must put aside all worldly concerns and focus on spiritual concerns.

a. We are to focus upon the spiritual. Col. 3:1-4 "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory."

3. We must have the attitude of the broken and contrite heart.

a.Psalm 51:17 "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: A broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

b.Isa. 57:15 "For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite."