What Is Worship Series

SERMON SERIES: THE DYNAMICS OF WORSHIP

What is Worship? (John 4:21-24)

Introduction

Begin series THE DYNAMICS OF WORSHIP

Several weeks to complete series

At the end – change up our service a little and I’ll explain why later

Would a doctor be successful in his medical practice if he didn’t know what he was doing?

What about an auto mechanic?...if he tried to fix cars without knowing the essential fundamentals or elements of auto repair?

In a similar sense, we cannot worship God in the way that He desires if we don’t know what we are doing.

We need to understand the essential principles of worship and put them into practice

Do you view worship as a burdensome activity? As not that important?

Or, it’s just what we do on Sunday morning?

If you do, your worship has little to do with God

Much of what we call worship today is really not worship at all…I want us to see what worship is from His Word and not what we think it is

My message today is “WHAT IS WORSHIP”

In order for us to truly be able to worship…we need to understand what it is

Read Passage (John 4:21-24) / Pray

Trans: If you could survey the people you pass daily on the streets, you might get some of the following opinions about what worship is.

1. STREET TALK

• It’s a waste of time

o The atheist says worship is unnecessary because there is no God

o No heaven, no God, no gratitude – no point in worship

• It’s a shot in the dark

o The agnostic says “I don’t know WHO to worship”

o Hard to worship someone you can’t see

• It’s up to the individual

o Some say it doesn’t matter who or how you worship

o What’s important – you devote life to serving higher power

o All religions are different roads that lead to same God

• It’s better in a fishing boat

o This view says you can be as close to God in a boat or on a golf course or in my house as a stained-glass sanctuary

o Worship is seeing God in the beauty of the sparkling water, the towering trees and the blue sky

• It’s more common than you think

o Some worship religious leaders – we see this in cults

o Some worship special objects – house, car, boat

o Some worship other people – child, spouse, father, mother, friend

o Some worship hobbies, work, ideas – fishing, hunting, job, position

• It’s done a certain way according to liturgy

o Worship is following a set of repeated religious words or exercises

o Emphasis is on standing up, sitting down, bowing or some other ritual

o Traditional clothing and religious phrases are key elements

• It’s something that happens at church

o Some feel it is a specific time at a specific church setting

o Stained-glass windows, traditional hymns, soft organ music

o Or live band, special lighting, contemporary music

Does anyone really know what worship is all about? Can we define it?

Truth is…Man was made to worship

God’s Word tells us about the definition of worship and what kind of worship God expects from us

2. Worship Defined

• Is worship something we do? Something we feel? Something we achieve?

• Dictionary – show reverence and adoration for a deity; honor with religious rites

• Commonly, considered to be the singing and praise part of a church service

• The word worship comes from an old English word that contains the ideas of honor and worth

• When we worship God, we are honoring Him

• When we worship God we recognize or should recognize His inexpressible, indescribable, infinite value

• The Old and New Testament have a number of references to the word WORSHIP

o Occurs 108 times in 102 verses in KJV bible

 This word is SHA KHA in Hebrew and means “to bow down, prostrate oneself in homage”

We see this idea first in Gen 18:2 when Abraham saw three men from the Lord appear to him and he “bowed low to the ground”

 First account of the word WORSHIP is used by Abrahan in Gen 22:5 “And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and WORSHIP, and come again to you”

• This is the same word used in the Ten Commandments saying we should not worship – bow down to any other god but GOD only

• First account in New Testament is Matt 2:2 “Saying, where is he that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east and are come to WORSHIP him”

o This word in the GREEK is pros ku ne o and means “to kneel, or prostrate in homage in order to express respect”