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Worship
God
Worship
After attending church with
his father one Sunday morning
before getting into bed that evening a little
boy kneeled at his bedside and prayed
“Dear God
we had a good time at church
today
but I wish you had been there.” ── Michael P. Green《Illustrations
for Biblical Preaching》
Worship
Many years ago
Thomas K.
The
example of godly leaders is helpful
but only the Savior is worthy of our
worship and devotion. ── Michael P. Green《Illustrations for Biblical
Preaching》
What is worship? Worship
is to feel in your heart and express in some appropriate manner a humbling but
delightful sense of admiring awe and astonished wonder and overpowering love in
the presence of that most ancient Mystery
that Majesty which philosophers call
the First Cause
but which we call Our Father Which Are in Heaven.
A.W. Tozer
quoted in D.J.
Fant
A.W. Tozer
Christian Publications
1964
p. 90.
To worship God is to
recognize his worth or worthiness; to look God-ward
and to acknowledge in all
appropriate ways the value of what we see. The Bible calls this activity
"glorifying God" or "giving glory to God
" and views it as
the ultimate end
and from one point of view
the whole duty of man (Ps. 29:2;
96:6; 1 Cor. 10:31).
Scripture views the
glorifying of God as a sixfold activity: praising God for all that he is and
all his achievements; thanking him for his gifts and his goodness to us; asking
him to meet our own and others' needs; offering him our gifts
our service
and
ourselves; learning of him from his word
read and preached
and obeying his
voice; telling others of his worth
both by public confession and testimony to
what he has done for us. Thus we might say that the basic formulas of worship
are these: "Lord
you are wonderful"; "Thank you
Lord";
"Please Lord"; "Take this
Lord"; "Yes
Lord";
"Listen everybody!"
This then is worship in
its largest sense: petition as well as praise
preaching as well as prayer
hearing as well as speaking
actions as well as words
obeying as well as
offering
loving people as well as loving God. However
the primary acts of
worship are those which focus on God directly -- and we must not imagine that
work for God in the world is a substitute for direct fellowship with him in
praise and prayer and devotion.
James Packer
Your
Father Loves You
Harold Shaw Publishers
July 1986
P. 15.
Neil Marten
a member of
the British Parliament
was once giving a group of his constituents a guided
tour of the Houses of Parliament. During the course of the visit
the group
happened to meet Lord Hailsham
then lord chancellor
wearing all the regalia
of his office. Hailsham recognized Marten among the group and cried
"Neil!" Not daring to question or disobey the "command
"
the entire band of visitors promptly fell to their knees!
Today in the Word
July 30
1993.
True biblical worship so
satisfies our total personality that we don't have to shop around for man-made
substitutes. William Temple made this clear in his masterful definition of
worship:
For worship is the
submission of all our nature to God. It is the quickening of conscience by His
holiness; the nourishment of mind with His truth; the purifying of imagination
by His beauty; the opening of the heart to His love; the surrender of will to
His purpose -- and all of this gathered up in adoration
the most selfless
emotion of which our nature is capable and therefore the chief remedy for that
self-centeredness which is our original sin and the source of all actual sin.
Warren W. Wiersbe
The
Integrity Crisis
Thomas Nelson Publishers
1991
p. 119.
Deeply immersed in
meditation during a church service
Italian poet Dante Alighieri failed to
kneel at the appropriate moment. His enemies hurried to the bishop and demanded
that Dante be punished for his sacrilege. Dante defended himself by saying
"If those who accuse me had had their eyes and minds on God
as I had
they too would have failed to notice events around them
and they most certainly
would not have noticed what I was doing."
Today in the Word
March 10
1993.
Franz Joseph Haydn
(1732-1809) was present at the Vienna Music Hall
where his oratorio The
Creation was being performed. Weakened by age
the great composer was
confined to a wheelchair. As the majestic work moved along
the audience
was caught up with tremendous emotion. When the passage "And there was
light!" was reached
the chorus and orchestra burst forth in such power
that the crowd could no longer restrain its enthusiasm.
The vast assembly rose in
spontaneous applause. Haydn struggled to stand and motioned for silence.
With his hand pointed toward heaven
he said
"No
no
not from me
but
from thence comes all!" Having given the glory and praise to the Creator
he fell back into his chair exhausted.
Daily Bread
September 20
1992.
Barclay quotes William
Temple
the renowned archbishop of Canterbury
as defining worship as
quickening the conscience by the holiness of God
feeding the mind with the
truth of God
purging the imagination by the beauty of God
opening the heart
to the love of God
and devoting the will to the purpose of God
Matthew R. Mounce.
The citizens of Feldkirch
Austria
didn't know what to do. Napoleon's massive army was preparing to
attack. Soldiers had been spotted on the heights above the little town
which
was situated on the Austrian border. A council of citizens was hastily summoned
to decide whether they should try to defend themselves or display the white
flag of surrender. It happened to be Easter Sunday
and the people had gathered
in the local church. The pastor rose and said
"Friends
we have been
counting on our own strength
and apparently that has failed. As this is the
day of our Lord's resurrection
let us just ring the bells
have our services
as usual
and leave the matter in His hands. We know only our weakness
and not
the power of God to defend us." The council accepted his plan and the
church bells rang. The enemy
hearing the sudden peal
concluded that the Austrian
army had arrived during the night to defend the town. Before the service ended
the enemy broke camp and left.
Source Unknown.
I think we delight to
praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the
enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation. If it were possible for a created
soul fully to 'appreciate
' that is
to love and delight in
the worthiest
object of all
and simultaneously at every moment to give this delight perfect
expression
then that soul would be in supreme blessedness. To praise God fully
we must suppose ourselves to be in perfect love with God
drowned in
dissolved
by that delight which
far from remaining pent up within ourselves as
incommunicable bliss
flows out from us incessantly again in effortless and
perfect expression. Our joy is no more separable from the praise in which it
liberates and utters itself than the brightness a mirror receives is separable
from the brightness it sheds.
C.S. Lewis.
God seeks and values the
gifts we bring Him--gifts of praise
thanksgiving
service
and material
offerings. In all such giving at the altar we enter into the highest
experiences of fellowship. But the gift is acceptable to God in the measure to
which the one who offers it is in fellowship with Him in character and conduct;
and the test of this is in our relationships with our fellow men. We are thus
charged to postpone giving to God until right relationships are established
with others. Could the neglect of this be the explanation of the barrenness of
our worship? (Matt 5:24)
G.C. Morgan.
James Michener
writing in
his book
The Source
tells the story of a man named Urbaal
who was a farmer
living about 2200 B.C. He worshiped two gods
one a god of death
the
other a goddess of fertility. One day
the temple priests tell Urbaal to
bring his young son to the temple for sacrifice--if he wants good crops.
Urbaal obeys
and on the appointed day drags his wife and boy to the
scene of the boy's "religious execution" by fire to the god of death.
After the sacrifice of Urbaal's boy the several others
the priests announce
that one of the fathers will spend next week in the temple
with a new temple
prostitute. Urbaal's wife is stunned as she notices a desire written more
intensely across his face than she had seen before
and she in overwhelmed to
see him eagerly lunge forward when his name is called. The ceremony over
she
walks out of the temple with her head swimming
concluding that "if he had
different gods
he would have been a different man."
Erwin Lutzer
Pastor to
Pastor
p. 89.
During the tenure of the
great orator Henry Ward Beecher
a visiting minister (Beecher's brother) once
substituted for the popular pastor. A large audience had already assembled to
hear Beecher
and when the substitute pastor stepped into the pulpit
several
disappointed listeners began to move toward the exits.
That's when the minister
stood and said loudly
"All who have come here today to worship Henry Ward
Beecher may now withdraw from the church. All who have come to worship God keep
your seats!"
Today in the Word
April 1989
p. 22.
After attending church one
Sunday morning
a little boy knelt at his bedside that night and prayed
"Dear God
we had a good time at church today--but I wish you had been
there!"
Source Unknown.
Types Of Worship In The New Testament
INTRODUCTION
1. The example of Nadab and Abihu serves as a very important example for us today in regards to rendering worship to God - Lev 10:1-3 a. When they offered in worship something the Lord had not commanded
it was taken by the Lord as a sign of disrespect for His Holiness b. Such examples were written for our learning - cf. 1 Co 10:11 2. As children of God ... a. We are to be holy before the Holy One who called us - cf. 1 Pe 1:14-16
b. Therefore it is equally important that we treat God as holy! c. This we can do in our worship by doing exactly as He instructs in His Word! 3. To be sure that we do this in regards to our MUSIC in worship
I would like for us to consider what the NT has to say about: a. The nature of worship in general b. And especially about the music in NT worship [In this lesson
we will investigate what the NT says about worship in general. Beginning with the fact that there are different ...] I. TYPES OF WORSHIP IN THE NEW TESTAMENT
A. "TRUE" WORSHIP... 1. Referred to by Jesus in Jn 4:20-24 2. This is the type of worship expected by God today ("an hour iscoming and NOW IS")
3. Since this concerns us personally
we shall deal with it in more detail later B. "VAIN" WORSHIP... 1. Referred to by Jesus in Mt 15:7-9 2. This worship is the result of: a. Following traditions of men and ignoring the commands of God on a particular subject b. Also
when worship is not done "from the heart" C. "IGNORANT" WORSHIP... 1. Referred to by Paul in Ac 17:22-23 2. This is worship offered in the absence of a knowledge of God's will concerning who He is and how He is to be worshipped D. "WILL" (SELF-IMPOSED) WORHSIP... 1. Referred to by Paul in Co 2:20-23 (KJV) 2. This worship
closely aligned with VAIN worship: a. Is the result of doing what WE like and WE think is good b. But not taught by God in His Word (cf. Nadab & Abihu) [It should be evident
then
that not just ANY worship is acceptable toGod! There are different kinds that can be offered
but only ONE is acceptable. Since God will only accept "TRUE" WORSHIP
we had better understandwhat is involved ...] II. THE MEANING OF "TRUE" WORSHIP
A. AS DEFINED BY JESUS... 1. "the true worshipers will worship the Father IN SPIRIT ANDTRUTH;" - Jn 4:23
2. But what is meant by the phrase "in spirit and truth"? 3. Notice first the contrast being made by Jesus - cf. Jn 4:19-24 a. The Jews had been worshiping correctly by going to Jerusalem b. But now the time was coming when place was not important (as it was in the OT) 4. Thus the contrast is between OT and NT worship! a. Somehow
OT worship had not been "in spirit and truth" b. But NT worship would be! [The contrast becomes more evident now as we define what is meant to worship "in spirit and in truth"] B. WORSHIPPING GOD "IN SPIRIT"... 1. Some understand this to mean "to do so with sincerity
fromthe heart"
a. But this does not fit in with the idea that Jesus is making a contrast between OT and NT worship b. For sincerity was required just as much under the OT - Deu6:4-7; Isa 1:10-18
2. A better interpretation is that to worship in spirit means to offer "spiritual worship" a. In contrast to worship that is physical or fleshly b. This contrast is in harmony with the context 1) Jesus began by saying "God is Spirit" 2) Therefore the worship of Him is to be "spiritual"
that is
more in keeping with His nature c. This interpretation is in harmony with what we learn else- where about the contrast between OT and NT worship 1) From He 9:1-10 we learn that OT worship consisted of FLESHLY ordinances; e.g.: a) A physical structure (tabernacle) b) Special clothing for priests c) Lampstands d) Burning of incense e) Instruments of music f) Animal sacrifices -- all of which appeal to the PHYSICAL senses 2) But NT worship is geared more toward the SPIRITUAL side of man: a) God's temple is spiritual
made up of Christians - 1 Co 3:16; Ep 2:19-22 b) All Christians are priests
offering up spiritual sacrifices - 1 Pe 2:5
9; Ro 12:1; He 13:15 c) Our prayers are sweet incense - Re 5:8 d) Our music is making melody with the HEART - Ep 5:19 3) The physical ordinances of the OT were to last until a "time of reformation" - He 9:9-10 (which has occured with the coming of the New Covenant) 3. To "worship in spirit"
then
is to offer up SPIRITUAL worship as taught in the NT and not the PHYSICAL as found in the OT. C. WORSHIPPING GOD IN "TRUTH"... 1. What is meant to worship in "truth"? a. To worship according to the commands of God? (as so often interpreted) b. Certainly we should do this c. But again
this is no contrast to what God expected in the OT - cf. Deu 5:32-33 d. Jesus admitted that the Jews were right in their worship - Jn 4:22 e. So the contrast is NOT between "TRUE" and "FALSE" worship 2. The contrast is between that which is "TRUE" (or real)
and that which had been a "SHADOW" pointing toward the true! a. Many elements of OT worship were simply a "shadow" or "figure" of what was to come 1) The Tabernacle was a symbol - He 9:8-9 2) The Law with its worship was only a "shadow" of that which was to come - He 10:1 b. Christ is now in the the TRUE tabernacle (heaven)- He 9:11-12 24
1) Therefore we should expect the worship of the TRUE to be different from that of the SHADOW 2) And we have already seen that to be the case: a) The OT worship
which was but a SHADOW
was PHYSICAL in nature b) But N. T. worship
which God now expects of "true worshipers"
is according to the TRUE realities (God is Spirit
Christ in heaven) and is therefore SPIRITUAL in nature CONCLUSION
1. We see that there are different types of worship
but only one is now acceptable to the Father 2. We see that this worship is "in spirit and in truth"... a. It is not the physical worship found in the OT which was only a "shadow" of what was to come b. But a spiritual worship which is the true substance of what God wants of us in worship 3. Our next study shall examine the TRUE
SPIRITUAL music God wants in the worship of the church
as revealed in the NT
－－《Executable
Outlines》