Series looking at our first mission statement, V of SERVE, Vibrant in Worship, Pentecostal. Autumn 12, Life Church.
Last week we looked at the W of worship, to Worship God [on His terms]. We looked at the ideas that corporate worship will always involve Song, Emotion and an Act of our Will.
Everyone’s viewpoint of worship is different. One of the buzzwords of the last 10 years has been, “Worship is a lifestyle.” But friends that’s not strictly true. What we’re trying to say is that God should have every part of our life.
Discipleship is a lifestyle, of which worship is a part.
But when I reach out to the lost, think about noble things, focus on the needs around me, I do so as a transformed follower of Jesus and not just as an act of worship. True God approves of these things, but Jesus said, By your fruit you will be known [Matt 7:16-17; John 13:35].
In emphasising that worship is a lifestyle we have begun to lose the idea of encounter in corporate worship, this worship has moved to performance and not encounter. This type of thinking has been the case through the ages, the church swinging from performance through orchestral arrangements, musical items, to rave type of praise, back to intimacy, meditation, and stillness.
If we are created with vocal worship inside us, a song to sing, then worship as a lifestyle will not satisfy the requirement of God to be sung too. We need to sing!
What we’re talking about in this series is the act of corporate worship when we come together.
Everyone’s viewpoint on worship is different.
Ask a Pentecostal; an Anglican; a Methodist; a Baptist; ask younger person; or an older person and you will probably come away with as many different views as the number of people you asked.
However, the point I want to make this morning is that our view on worship is relatively irrelevant. For it is only God’s viewpoint on worship that really matters. Worship is not about us, it’s about Him.
Very few, if any, of the differences various viewpoints that people give have anything to do with theology. Most of us probably have a high degree of agreement on what it means to worship God, but may differ greatly when it comes to the style in which we prefer to worship God.
The good news is that nowhere in the Scriptures does God prescribe a particular style of worship as the correct style.
The Bible gives several ways in which worship can be giving that is acceptable to God:
· Kneeling – Psalm 95:6
· Dancing -2 Samuel 6:14; Psalm 149:3
· Playing Instruments – 1 Chronicles 13:8; Psalm 33:3, Psalm 150:3-5.
· Clapping – Psalm 98:8; Psalm 47:1.
· Singing – Exodus 15:1; Colossians 3:16.
· Shouts of Joy – Psalm 47:1, Psalm 33:3.
· Silence and stillness – Psalm 46: 10; Zechariah 2:13; Habakkuk 2:20.
But all styles should be vibrant – that means alive! It is impossible for anyone one church to capture all the different ways we can worship – hence the different expressions of church. We’re Pentecostal!
I want to take the rest of this series to look at six things that His terms do dictate.
2. O – Overflow with God’s Praise
Psalm 95:1-2: Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song.
When our love and gratitude for God fills our lives to the point where it simply overflows – that is worship.
John Piper: “We also believe that our joy shows the supremacy of God’s value. If His greatness is the basis of our joy, then our joy is the evidence of His greatness. God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.”
Joyful praise consists of a popular outburst of joy using all the available means of expressing love and loyalty to the Lord.
We are to use all available means to express our worship and love to God. There is not just one way that is the right way.
People castigated Martin Luther when he brought into the church a profane instrument that was used in the pubs for drinking songs. They asked “How can we worship God with such a profane instrument as a Pipe Organ?”
"Besides theology, music is the only art capable of affording peace and joy of the heart like that induced by the study of the science of divinity. The proof of this is that the Devil, the originator of sorrowful anxieties and restless troubles, flees before the sound of music almost as much as he does before the Word of God. This is why the prophets preferred music before all the other arts, proclaiming the Word in psalms and hymns. My heart, which is full to overflowing has often been solaced and refreshed by music when sick and weary."- Martin Luther
Eugene Petersen: “Worship does not satisfy our hunger for God – it whets our appetite. Our need for God is not taken care of by engaging in worship – it deepens. It overflows the hour and permeates the week.”
When we are truly worshiping God we are overflowing with his praise whatever forms that may take.
But a characteristic of praise is joy! You cannot stir joy up – it is a fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22) and wells up from the reservoir of a close personal relationship with Jesus – the joy that comes from the gladness of who He is!
3. R – Recognise God’s Position
Psalm 95: 3-5: For the LORD is the great God, the great King above all gods. In his hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to him. The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land.
Here the Psalmist is showing us that the Lord is deserving of our overflowing expression of praise for Him. He is worthy of our worship and deserving of our devotion.
Why? He is worthy because He is “the great King” who rules and reigns as sovereign over the entire universe. The other nations of the world may each have their own deities, but these nations understood that their gods’ powers were limited by the sphere of each nations rule.
Not so with the God of the Israelites. His rule crossed the continents and spanned the seas. His dominion extended from the depths of the valleys to the peaks of the mountains. All territory lay within His kingdom and so He reigns as “the great King above all gods.” He is the King of Kings and the Lord of lords and we need to recognise His lofty position as He sits atop the spiritual universe and give Him the honour He deserves.
Are we sometimes guilty of treating God flippantly in our worship?
We may be able to worship God in many different ways, but none of them have anything to do with treating God flippantly – with failing to give Him His proper respect.
An angel in the book of Revelation made the connection between respecting God and worship when he said, "Fear God and give him glory… Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water” (Revelation 14:7).
Fear God and give him glory. For if God does not sense the appropriate note of respect in our worship He may well walk out the door.
Worship Is For God’s Benefit.
The focus is God, not us
1 Chronicles 16:29 (NKJV): Give to the Lord the glory due His name; Bring an offering, and come before Him. Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty of Holiness!
Worship Is For God’s Benefit. He is the focus.
When we seek to “get something out of worship” we are taking God’s rightful place, this is idolatry.
Worship is all about giving
• Giving honour:
Psalm 22:23: You who fear the Lord praise him! All you descendants of Jacob, honour him! Revere him all you descendants of Israel!
• Giving reverence:
Psalm 19:9a: The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever…
• Giving glory:
Psalm 86:9: All the nations you have made will come and worship before you, O Lord; they will bring glory to your name.
• Giving devotion:
Psalm 37:5-6: Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.
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