Worship: Acknowledging Jesus

WORSHIP: ACKNOWLEDGING JESUS

Revelation 5:8-14

INTRODUCTION: I read a story just the other day about a Christian couple who lived some twenty miles outside of Munich, Germany. In order to make it to Bible School at 9 A.M. they had to get up at 4 in the morning, dress, quickly eat breakfast, and then walk forty-five minutes to the train station for the ride into town. They then took a streetcar ride arriving just in time for the 8:30 prayer service. After Bible class and morning worship was over, they then rode the streetcar back to the train station, rode the train back to the depot near their village, and then walked forty-five minutes back home, normally arriving at about 1:30 in the afternoon. Why, we might ask, would someone go to all that much trouble to go to church? They did it because they were dedicated to the worship the Savior they served. They were willing to go the extra mile, literally, to give Jesus the acknowledgement He deserved. This is they type of worship we see described by the hand of John in Revelation 5. READ TEXT Worship is an important subject, not only for mankind, but in the sight of God. From the passage in Revelation 5, there are at least three aspects of worship directed toward Jesus.

{In Worship we must…}

I. ACKNOWLEDGE THE PRICE HE PAID

A. Jesus said in John 15:13, "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends." This is truth, powerful truth, concerning the relationship man should share with one another, but it is also the relationship Jesus shares with mankind.

1. In a day where relationships are often based on societies terms: money, power, influence, education, the reality of a relationship worth dying for is foreign to us. The prevailing perception is that our lives are more important than the lives of others is a direct result of the "all for me and me for me" generation.

2. The last thing on our mind is the lives of others, and the first thing on our mind is our own life. If it suits us, pleases us, thrills us, makes us happy, moves our life in the way we want it moved, then it must be right! And then and only then would we even consider the thought of giving our life for it in some small portion.

3. The Bible says, "Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself." CEV reads, "consider others more important than yourselves." Paul wrote, "Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another." RSV says "outdo one another in showing honor."

B. Thanks be to God that Jesus did not have our mentality! The angelic host shouts and sings, "Worthy is the Lamb… for he was slain." It was our sins that carried Him to the cross, drove the nails into His hands and feet, and spilled His blood onto the cold ground. He underwent such torture because He called us His friends!

C. He deemed us worthy of His death, even though we, mankind, had done everything we could to be found in opposition to God. We abandoned His will, created our own laws of righteousness, rejected His love and chose strange gods to worship; gods of the flesh, gods of the dollar, the gods of me, myself and I. Yet despite the reality of our sinfulness, God in the flesh gave His life for us. (Romans 5:6-11)

D. He is worthy of our worship, acknowledging the Price He Paid.

{In Worship we must…}

II. ACKNOWLEDGE THE GIFT HE GAVE

A. In conversation with a Samaritan woman in John 4, Jesus told her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that says to you, "Give me a drink, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water." Her reply was to tell him that He did not have a bucket to draw out any water. She did not understand what He said and completely missed the point.

1. His apostles lacked understanding as well. Even though they walked with Him day and night, from village to village, they did not realize who He was. They, like the rest of their generation, had been looking for an earthly King, one who would bring about a return to the glory days of David and Solomon, one who would be a liberator from Roman oppression. Later as He stood before them risen from the grave, Acts 1 tells they were still with out a clue.

2. And in reality we are not much different from them. We read the stories about Jesus in MMLJ, we hear about them in Bible class, from the pulpit, but being removed some 2000 years from his footsteps on this world, we either lose the reason for His existence or never really grasp it. Therefore He becomes the magician to whom we appeal to solve our problems, heal our wounds and grant our wishes.