The Basics of Worship

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Pastor Scott L. Harris

Grace Bible Church, NY

August 29, 1999

The Basics of Worship

Selected Scriptures

This morning we come to the fourth purpose of the church. We have already discussed Communicating New Life in Christ – Evangelism; Cultivating New Life in Christ – Edification; and Caring for New Life in Christ – Fellowship. This morning we come to Celebrating New Life in Christ – Worship.

A.W. Tozer referred to worship as the crowning jewel in the purposes of the church. Yet, even with worship being so fundamental, so central in the basic purposes of the church, worship is too often, as one writer put it, the Missing Jewel of the church instead of its crowning jewel.

How can that be? Doesn’t even the ancient catechism teach that the very purpose of our existence is worship – to glorify God & enjoy Him forever? How then could worship be missing?

The major reason is that it is too easy for true worship to be replaced by substitutes. We saw last week how easily false fellowship can substitute for true fellowship, so it is that false worship can easily substitute for true worship. With some people and in some churches the form replaces the substance and the church becomes cold within its liturgy, and that will eventually cause it to die. This has happened all around us in many of the main-line denominations which have lost their foundation in solid doctrine and their love for Christ. All that is left is a cold ritualism. All they had left to offer was their liturgy and so they were dying.

With other people and in other churches true worship is replaced with a shallow facsimile which leads the church into high emotion with little substance. This other extreme is found too often in the emotional hype seen in so many of the large Charismatic churches. They have the appearance of life, but it is only a shadow of the reality. True worship is not founded in emotionalism, but in solid doctrine. Such churches tended to be revolving doors because after awhile the emotionalism wears thin and people look for something else to fill the void in their life. A person needs something solid to take them through the tough times of life.

There are also those churches that have kept their foundations solid, but in reaction to ritualism, the charismatic movement or the modern church growth movement, they often try harder to demonstrate that they have not like those other groups than in trying to see what God wants them to do. The result is good theology, but a lack of warmth among the people. They have correct doctrine, but they lack enthusiasm for God and lack joy in the worship of Him. That is not true worship either.

My desire is to see that Grace Bible Church avoid all these various pitfalls and truly worship God. What then is true worship? Turn to John 4 and lets see what Jesus says about it.

In the midst of her conversation with Jesus, the woman at the well pulls up the old conflict between the Jews and the Samaritans of "where to worship." Jesus’ response was completely different from what she expected. He gave an answer that went beyond the place of worship and explained the nature of worship.

The woman said to Him, "Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship." Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, shall you worship the Father. You worship that which you do not know; we worship that which we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." John 4:19-24

Jesus points out to this woman four important points about true worship.

1. The places is not the issue (v. 21)

2. You cannot worship what you do not know

3. The nature of God is spirit

4. True worship is in Spirit and in Truth

This last point, that true worship must be in Spirit and in truth, is the essential of true worship. You cannot do it any other way. Lets examine this first and then add the other elements.

True Worship is Regenerated in the Spirit

This text is not talking about just any spirit. It is talking about our spirit reacting to the working of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 2:12-14). True worship is regenerated in the Holy Spirit. God created man to worship Him, but that relationship was broken because of man’s sin. It is the Holy Spirit that regenerates or "makes alive" (Eph 2) the spirit in a man or woman so that they can have a relationship with God.

A person who does not have a personal relationship with God cannot worship Him. In fact, Scripture says that natural man, man apart from God, regards the things of the Spirit as foolishness (1 Cor. 2:12-14). It is the Holy Spirit that intercedes on our behalf with God because He knows the Father and searches our hearts (Romans 8:26,27). The Holy Spirit is our helper and (John 16:7) He is the one that convicts us of both sin and righteousness. He guides us away from sin and into truth (John 16:7-13). The Holy Spirit glorifies Christ and reveals Him to us (Jn 16:14). The Holy Spirit is the first essential element in worship, for without Him we could not fulfill the second requirement of worshiping in truth, for it is the Holy Spirit that is the "Spirit of Truth" and who is the revealer of truth (John 14:17; 16:13).

True worship is Regained in Truth

Jesus’ words to the woman at the well were straight and to the point. "You worship that which you do not know," and "True worshipers must worship the Father in spirit and in truth."

Ignorant worship is false worship. At its very best it is just religion, man’s attempts to fill that God shaped vacuum in his heart. True Christianity is not a religion, it is a relationship with God brought about by God! The woman thought she knew what she was doing. She thought she was truly worshiping God, but she was actually lost in ignorance. So it is with many. They believe they are true worshipers of God, but in their ignorance they worship many things other than God. This is true of paganism, pantheistic religions, eastern mystical religions, new age religions, cultic and occultic religions and sects. Even many that would be under the umbrella name of Christianity worship in ignorance. They try to worship God by ritual rather than in reality. And we must be careful about this point because it does occur within conservative, fundamental, evangelical Churches. It does not take long for something to become "sacred" just because that was the way it was done for a long period of time. Whenever something is done simply because "we have always done it that way," then you can be sure that the reason and meaning have been lost and it has become an act of ignorant worship. That is cold liturgy, not true worship.

True worship is regained in truth because it requires sound doctrine. This is why the early church put teaching doctrine as a centerpiece of their worship. Acts 2:42 records the "worship service" of the early church as "continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, the breaking of bread and to prayer." The requirement is to worship God in truth for without the truth, you are worshiping something other than God!

What are the other elements of Worship? Coming directly from the foundation of Spirit and truth is that true worship is:

Reverent in heart.

One of the Greek words used for worship in the N.T. is sebomai (sebomai). This word stressed the feeling of awe or devotion in the worship of God. Lydia, in Acts 6:14, was characterized by this devotion and was called a "worshiper of God" as was Titius Justus in Acts 18:7. In fact, without the heart, worship is false. Jesus rebukes the Pharisees and Scribes for this very thing in Matt 15:8,9 – "This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far away from Me. But in vain do they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the precepts of men."

Let me caution you however to not let those times that you do not "feel" like worshiping the Lord be an excuse for not worshiping Him. This is not talking about your "feelings," but about the direction of your heart, and in the Scriptures "heart" signifies that which is at the center of the life, not just the emotions. We will see as we go on that many aspect of worship can be and should be carried out regardless of your emotions at the moment. It is your heart, what is at the center of life, not your feelings that make up true worship. And if your heart is set correctly on following God and you begin to worship, I can guarantee that the feelings will come as your heart, mind and will all agree on the wonderful character of our loving Lord.

In addition to being Reverent in Heart, true worship is:

Respectful in Action

The root meanings of the main words for worship in both the O.T. and in the N.T. describe the respectful action of the worshiper.

In the O.T., Shaha means to "Bow Low" or to "prostrate one’s self." This refers to the oriental custom of bowing to some one as a sign of respect. A person would also bow down in reverence to the deity he worshiped. This was true of the idol worshipers and it was for the true worshipers of our Creator God.

In Exodus 20:5 the second commandment is to not make any idols and to not "bow down" (worship) them. This commandment was stressed again in Exodus 34:14.

In Deuteronomy 6:13 Moses emphasizes to the people preparing to go into the promised land that "you shall fear only the LORD, your God. You shall worship (bow down to) Him…"

Our worship of God should include the humble, respectful action of bowing down. Psalm 95:6 in calling us to worship God says "come let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord our God our maker." It is regrettable that in the effort to distance ourselves from the liturgy of Catholicism that the evangelical church got rid of the kneelers on the pews. There is something about kneeling before God that reminds us that we are but His creatures and that He is to be highly respected.

The main greek word translated as worship ( proskunew– proskuneo) literally means "toward to kiss." It is an act of obeisance and reverence. We might think of the ancient custom of a person coming before a King, bowing down and kissing his feet. That is seen in Psalm 2:12 were the nations are told to "kiss the son, lest He be angry" (KJV), or "Give homage" in NAS. This was an act of respect to the king. This was done by the woman at the home of the Pharisees who came and kissed Jesus’ feet (Lk 7:45)

This reverent respect can be demonstrated in ways other than a kiss. The wise men came to the baby Jesus and "fell down and worshiped Him" – Mt 2:11. The leper who came to Jesus for healing did the same thing (Acts 8:2), as also did the Canaanite woman with the demon possessed daughter (Mt. 15:22). After the resurrection, Scripture records in Mt 28:9 that the disciples ‘took hold of his feet and worshiped Him." But again, we must be careful that in worship our respectful actions toward God come because of a reverent heart for Him and not because we are worried about what other people might think or we do it out of rote practice.

In addition to worship being Regenerated by the Spirit, Regained in the Truth, Reverent in Heart and Respectful in Action, true worship is:

Rendered in Service

This idea comes out strongly from two other Biblical words translated as worship.

In the O.T., service for God was part of worship. All the duties of the Priests and Levities (Num. 3:7,8; 4:19) and all of their ritual service was part of worship. The reason that Israel was called out of bondage in Egypt by God was so that they could serve (worship) the Lord (Ex. 3:12). Joshua worshiped the Lord following the conquest of Canaan with the ritual service of Sacrifice. Ritual service is true worship providing it is done from the heart with respect. Thus we are told in Psalm 2:11 to "Worship (serve) the Lord with reverence."

The same is true in the N.T. We get our word "liturgy" from a Greek word translated as "worship," but carries the expanded meaning of "service of worship." In Phil. 3:3 Paul says, "we are the true circumcision (the ones truly following God), who worship (latreuw – latreuo) in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no glory in the flesh." The same idea is also seen in Romans 12:1 – "I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present you bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship (literally "logical service of worship). So, when we are using our spiritual gifts – whether it be helping, teaching, exhorting, giving, leadership, showing mercy or whatever else, that is part of our worship of God for it is serving Him.

True worship is also: Radiated in Proclamation

Whenever we proclaim the character of God, speak of His works, tell of His mercy and kindness – we are worshiping God. This idea comes out very strongly in the Psalms. The Psalms were written for worship.

Ps 8 describes the Lord’s glory

Ps 19 tells of the works and word of God

Ps 34 tells of the Lord’s provision and deliverance

Ps 50 tells of God’s judgement

Ps 68 tells of God’s character

Ps 77 & 78 tells of God’s dealing with the nation of Israel

Ps 91 tells of God’s security and protection

Ps 139 tells of God’s omniscience and omnipresence

Ps 145 tells of God’s goodness

Add to these the centrality of the teaching ministry in both ancient Judaism and the early church and we see the importance of proclamation in the worship of God.

Let me add that the confession of sin is also proclamation. Proclaiming that God is right and just and that I am wrong. That can be and is an act of worship. If you recall the story of Achan in Joshua 6 & 7 you will see this. The army is defeated at the little village of Ai because Achan did not obey the ban that God had placed on taking spoils from Jericho. Achan is found out and in Joshua 7:19 Joshua says to Achan, "My son, I implore you, give glory to the LORD, the God of Israel, and give Praise to Him; and tell me now what you have done. Do not hide it from me." Achan confesses in verse 20 based on giving glory and praise to God, not on bargaining for a leaner sentence (try that in modern society).

Worship is given when we proclaim either the truth about God or the truth about something in relation to God. By proclaiming Him, we radiate His glory, and that is worship.

Related to proclamation is praise, and worship is:

Resounded in Praise

To praise is to commend, to glorify, to express approval of something or someone. That is central to worship. We commend God to others, we glorify Him and we express approval of all that He has done and all that He is. Psalm 96 speaks of singing to the Lord, telling of His greatness, and ascribing to Him glory. This is the worship of praise.

Praise is not something that is always easy to do. Hebrews 13:15 speaks of it as a sacrifice. "Though Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name." What is the sacrifice that is required to praise? Several things. 1. It takes time, so there is a sacrifice of my time. 2. In order to praise, I have to turn my thoughts to God, so there is a sacrifice in what I think about. 3. In order to give thanks, I have to realize that I am a receiver of God’s blessing and that I need Him. That is a sacrifice of pride. 4. In order to continually offer up praise, I have to learn to see all things from God’s perspective and not my own, so I have to sacrifice my self-centeredness and self-pity.

Praise is best when it comes from a heart that is already full of the joy of the Lord, but there are times when we start our praise to God as a sacrifice. And when we do, it is amazing at how fast the joy of the Lord will return. Praise is the aspect of worship which echoes back and forth. It resounds the greatness of our Lord.

Worship that Resounds in Praise also:

Responds in Prayer

When a man or woman has their heart right with the Lord, they are being controlled by the Spirit of God, they are serving Him and telling others about Him, so it is only natural that they are also going to respond in prayer. Too often we tend to think of prayer as bringing our "wish list" to God, but prayer is so much more than that. It is intimate fellowship with Him. Prayer is that personal communion with God. Talking with Him and letting Him know personally your love for Him and the things that are on your heart. True prayer begins with adoration of God and confession of our sins (two acts of worship) before any requests are made.

And finally, True Worship is:

Reflected both as Individuals and as a congregation.

Admittedly we call this hour the "Morning Worship Service" because it is that time when we come together as a manifestation of the local Body of Christ to worship our Lord. However, whatever occurs here in this building corporately will only be a reflection of what has occurred in our hearts individually throughout the week in our personal worship. Each of us should be preparing ourselves for that time when we can gather together for corporate worship.

Tell me, how much do you feel like worshiping God if you come in rushed from all the activities of the morning. Getting the kids ready, getting out of the house on time, rushing down the highway to make up the extra five minutes you spent in bed. If we want the most out of our corporate worship we have to start before hand. 1) Get into the habit of spending daily time in individual worship. Read your Bible, pray, sing, and give thanks. 2) Prepare for Sunday on Saturday night. Be careful about how late you stay up. Decide what you are going to wear the next day before you go to bed. (Decide what your kids are going to wear the night before too and have it ready!) 3) Plan to leave 5 -10 minutes earlier than usual and drive leisurely to church (of course, watch out for the guy who is speeding because he is late) and look at the beautiful things God has created while coming to church. Point out all the things you see – trees, birds, animals, ponds, rivers, mountains – beautiful scenes, etc. to your children. If you did this, I think you will find that your worship experience with other believers will be more meaningful.

Let me close with a quote that has been attributed to several different men, but regardless of who said it, it is thought provoking.

"Some have felt that the coming to a church service is similar to going to a theater. The platform is a stage upon which the preacher, the musicians, the Scripture readers, etc. are performing before the congregation. The congregation is the audience that can then show their approval by how much they leave in the offering plate. In truth however, the preacher, musicians, Scripture readers, etc. are simply the prompters of the congregation who are the ones that are on stage, and it is God Himself who is the audience of their worship"

Folks, true worship takes work. Worship is not a passive activity, but a very active one. You are not here to be entertained, but to work hard at giving the best of all you are to God. Perhaps that is the final thought I want you to leave with today. True worship is Rigorous Work. It takes work to set aside the thoughts and emotions of daily existence to focus your mind on the scriptures. It takes work to prepare your heart to praise Him. It takes work to you pray thoughtfully. It takes work to sing to God’s glory.

True worship is

Regenerated in the Spirit

Regained in Truth

Reverent in heart.

Respectful in Action

Rendered in Service

Radiated in Proclamation

Resounded in Praise

Responds in Prayer

Reflected both as Individuals and as a congregation.

It is Rigorous work

I pray that today and every day that God will find our worship, both as individuals and as a congregation acceptable to Him.

Sermon Study Sheets

KIDS CORNER

Parents, you are responsible to apply God’s Word to your children’s lives. Here is some help.

Young Children – draw a picture about something you hear during the sermon. Explain your picture(s) to your parents at lunch. Older Children – Do one or more of the following: 1) Write down all the verses mentioned in the sermon and look them up later. 2) Count how many times the term "Worship" is used in the sermon. Talk with your parents about what it means to worship God. How are you doing at it.

THINK ABOUT IT!

Questions to consider in discussing the sermon with others.

Why is it that true worship can easily be missing in the church? What are some of things sometimes substituted for true worship? What are the essentials of true worship? How does the Holy Spirit fit in our worship? Can you truly worship without Him? How important is truth in worship? What is the result if truth is missing in worship? What does the Bible mean when it talks about your "heart" in worship? How important are your feelings in true worship? What should your attitude be? How physical effect will your attitude have on your worship of God? What physical things might you do to improve your worship of God? What are some of the practical results of true worship? What have you learned from the Psalms about true worship? How do Service, Preaching, Praise, and Prayer fit in true worship? Is your worship active or passive? What can you do to improve your worship of God?

Sermon Notes – 8/29/1999 a.m.

"The Basics of Worship"

Introduction

John 4:19-24

True Worship is Regenerated in the Spirit

1 Cor. 2:12-14; Romans 8:26,27; John 16:7; John 16:14; John 14:17: 16:3)

True Worship is Regained in Truth

Acts 2:42

True Worship is Reverent in Heart

Acts. 6:14; 18:7; Matt. 15:8,9

True Worship is Respectful in Action

Exod. 20:5; Deut. 6:13; Psalm 95:6; 2:12; Luke 7:45; Matt. 2:11; Acts. 8:2; Matt. 15:22; 28:9

True Worship is Rendered in Service

Num. 3:7,8; 4:19; Exod. 3:12; Phil. 3:3; Rom. 12:1

True Worship is Radiated in Proclamation

Psalms 8, 19; 34; 50; 68; 77; 78; 91; 139; 145; Joshua 6 & 7

True Worship is Resounded in Praise

Psalm 96; Heb. 13:15

True Worship Responds in Prayer

True Worship is Reflected as both Individuals and as a Congregation

True Worship is Rigorous Work


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