The Church Defined
Watching or Worshipping?
Today we continue a timely reopening series for June called – The Church Re-defined. Over the next month, we are identifying what we believe that God is changing in His Church!
Opening question: What should the posture of our worship look like in church?
> Should we sit and chill?
> Should we stand and stare?
> Should we sip our coffee and scan the room?
> Should we just watch while other people do their thing?
The Bible teaches us in:
Psalm 100:4
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! (ESV)
Psalm 95:1-3
1 Oh come, let us sing to the LORD; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! 2 Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise! 3 For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods. (ESV)
Let’s consider a few practical questions to help build a biblical picture of worship:
1. Who are we worshipping?
Romans 1:25
25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. (ESV)
Psalm 29:2
2 Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness. (ESV)
2. Why are we worshipping? Because we love God and are thankful for all he’s done!
Whatever we love we will worship! The word “worship” comes from the old English word “worth-ship”, and speaks of giving worth, time, honor, and glory to something.
The degree to which you love something is the degree to which you will ascribe worth to it. A couple of weeks ago, I challenged our leaders with something that I want to challenge you with today. As we are beginning to open back up as a church, I believe this is an opportunity for us to change how we do some things. I don’t want us to ever go back to worshipping the way we used to. I want us to worship differently church.
I want us to create a culture of worship, to encourage others by our worship, and to be known for our worship. One of the greatest chasms that exist in the church today is the gap between how much we say we love God, and how we respond to the God we love!
We should worship God to the same level that we love him!
Claiming God is our everything, but worshipping like he’s not, doesn’t make any sense!
Matthew 22:3
3 and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come. (ESV)
3. How should we worship?
Matthew 22:37
37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. (ESV)
Psalm 66:8-9
8 Bless our God, O peoples; let the sound of his praise be heard, 9 who has kept our soul among the living and has not let our feet slip. (ESV)
Psalm 47:1
1 Clap your hands, all peoples! Shout to God with loud songs of joy! (ESV)
Psalm 63:4
4 So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands. (ESV)
Psalm 126:2
2 Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then they said among the nations, “The LORD has done great things for them.” (ESV)
Psalm 61:1-2
1 Hear my cry, O God, listen to my prayer; 2 from the end of the earth I call to you when my heart is faint. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I, (ESV)
Psalm 149:3
3 Let them praise his name with dancing, making melody to him with tambourine and lyre! (ESV)
Psalm 95:6
6 Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker! (ESV)
When people enter the presence of someone they love, they hug, smile, clap, jump up and down, cry and embrace. The Bible is telling us we need to do the same with God!
Worship is a holy and reverent moment where we ignore everyone else but God!
Corrie Ten Boom – “If you look at the world, you’ll be stressed. If you look within, you’ll be depressed. But if you look at Christ, you’ll be at rest.”
A.W. Tozer – “Any man or woman who is bored or turned off in worship is not ready for heaven.”
A.W. Tozer – “God’s purpose in redemption is to make worshippers out of rebels.”
*Worship isn’t something Christians do, its what Christians were created to do!*
Isaiah 43:21
21 the people whom I formed for myself that they might declare my praise. (ESV)
John 4:23
23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. (ESV)
Exodus 3:1-5
1 Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 And the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. 3 And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” 4 When the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” 5 Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” (ESV)
-As Moses approached the burning bush, God stopped him and told him to take off his sandals. Why? It was a sign in the ancient Near East of humility and respect.
-Moses was being taught at that moment, that he was to act differently in the presence of God. By removing his sandals, he was separating himself from what was common.
-The ground that Moses was standing on wasn’t holy. God’s presence made it holy.
It’s time we restore HOLY GROUD in worship & start taking off our sandals again!
I want to close today with 3 significant things that worship does in our lives:
(1) Worship changes our Mood!
David proclaimed in:
Psalm 30:1-12
1 I will extol you, O LORD, for you have drawn me up and have not let my foes rejoice over me. 2 O LORD my God, I cried to you for help, and you have healed me. 3 O LORD, you have brought up my soul from Sheol; you restored me to life from among those who go down to the pit. 4 Sing praises to the LORD, O you his saints, and give thanks to his holy name. 5 For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning. 6 As for me, I said in my prosperity, “I shall never be moved.” 7 By your favor, O LORD, you made my mountain stand strong; you hid your face; I was dismayed. 8 To you, O LORD, I cry, and to the Lord I plead for mercy: 9 “What profit is there in my death, if I go down to the pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it tell of your faithfulness? 10 Hear, O LORD, and be merciful to me! O LORD, be my helper!” 11 You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; you have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, 12 that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks to you forever! (ESV)
(2) Worship changes our Motives!
The truth of the matter is – When we sing who He is, we remember who we are!
Psalm 34:1-3
1 I will bless the LORD at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth. 2 My soul makes its boast in the LORD; let the humble hear and be glad. 3 Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together! (ESV)
(3) Worship changes our Momentum!
Ephesians 5:19
19 addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, (ESV)
2 Samuel 6:14-15
14 And David danced before the LORD with all his might. And David was wearing a linen ephod. 15 So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouting and with the sound of the horn. (ESV)
The more we invite heaven into this church, the more this church will look like heaven!