Worship That Pleases God

Worship That Pleases God

Mark 12: 28-30

God wants all of you

He ask for all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.

God is not interested in:

Half hearted commitment.

Partial obedience

Leftovers of our time and money

God desires your full devotion.

There is a right and wrong way to worship. Hebrews 12:28 says “Let us be grateful and worship God in a way that will please him.”

The kind of worship that pleases God has four characteristics:

God is pleased when our worship is accurate.

Worship must be based on the truth of Scripture, not our opinion of God.

To “worship in truth” means to worship God as he is truly revealed in the

Bible.

God is pleased when our worship is authentic.

When Jesus said, “Love God with all your heart and soul” he meant that

worship must be heartfelt. It’s not just a matte of saying the right words;

you must mean what you say.

When we worship, God looks past our words to see the attitude of our hearts.

1 Samuel 16:7 says, “Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks

at the heart.”

There is no “one-size-fits-all” approach to worship and friendship with God.

One thing is certain: You don’t bring glory to God by trying to be someone

He never intended you to be. God wants you to be yourself.

John 4:23 says, “the Father is looking for those who are simply and honestly

themselves before him in their worship.”

God is pleased when our worship is thoughtful.

Jesus’ command to “love God with all you mind” is repeated four times in

the New Testament.

God is not pleased with thoughtless singing of hymns, praying of cliche`s,

or careless exclamations of “Praise the Lord,” because we can’t think of

anything else to say at the moment. If worship is mindless, it’s meaningless.

You must engage your mind.

God is pleased when our worship is practical.

The Bible says in Romans 12:1 “offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and

pleasing to God-this is your spiritual act of worship.”

Why does God want you body? Why doesn’t he say “Offer your spirit”?

because without your body you can’t do anything on this planet.

In eternity you will receive a new, improved, upgraded body, but while you’re

here on earth, God says, “Give me what you’ve got!”

He’s just being practical about worship.

In worship we are to “offer our bodies as living sacrifices.”

We usually associate this concept of “sacrifice” with something dead, but God

wants you to be a living sacrifice. He wants you to live for him!

When Jesus said, “Love God with all your strength,” he pointed out that

worship takes effort and energy. It is not always convenient or

comfortable, and sometimes worship is a sheer act of the will-a willing

sacrifice.

When you Praise God even when you don’t feel like it, when you get out

of bed when you are tired to worship God, or when you help others when

when you are worn out, you are offering a sacrifice of worship to God.

That pleased God!

Matt Redman, a worship leader in England, tells how his pastor taught his church the real meaning of worship. To show that worship is more than music, he banned all singing in his church for a period of time while they learned to worship in other ways. By the end of that time, Matt had written the classic song “Heart of Worship”

I’ll bring You more than a song,

because the song itself is not what You’ve required.

You search much deeper within

than the way things appear.

You’re looking into my heart.

THE HEART OF THE MATTER IS THE MATTER OF THE HEART.