We are in a series on worship.
For the last two weeks we have talked about what is worship and what should be our attitude in worship.
To our question...
WHAT IS WORSHIP?
We said, “Worship is prostrating oneself before a superior being with a sense of respect, awe, reverence, honor, and homage.” In short, “Worship is honor and adoration directed to God.” That’s what we have seen in our look at Psalm 95.
We are told to “come” and “worship and bow down,...kneel before the LORD our maker” (v.6) with songs of “joy” (vv.1-2) and “thanksgiving” (v.2).
All of those verses tell us what worship is and the attitude we’re to have as worship.
Now, I want to address the second question...
WHO ARE WE TO WORSHIP?
This may sound like an irrelevant question but not in light of our culture. There is much worship taking place but the question is “who are they worshiping.” For the Christian the answer is simple and Jesus Himself gives us the answer in Matthew 4:10. In this chapter, Jesus is being tempted by the Devil. By this point in Matthew 4 all attempts to get Jesus to presume on God had failed. Now Satan tries one more time. This time Matthew records beginning in verses 8 and 9, "Again, the devil took Him to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory; and he said to Him, "All these things I will give You, if You fall down and worship me." Now Jesus responds in verse 10. Here he is quoting from Deuteronomy 6:13, and He says, “Go, Satan! For it is written, 'YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD, AND SERVE HIM ONLY.'" Jesus make it emphatically clear who we are to worship.
He says, “the LORD your God.”
We need to note at this point why it is important to identify who we are to worship. There are so many people using God's name but mean someone entirely different. The Muslims say Allah is God and that's who we are to worship. New Agers say, "Everything and everyone is God," so that must mean we worship each other. In the passage Jesus quotes, He identifies God by the tetragrammaton or 4 letters YHWH or Yahweh. This is the name given to Moses in Exodus 3:14, the “I AM.” (Yahweh). God is known by many names in the Bible like Elohim or El Shaddai (God Almighty) or El Elyon (the Most High God). Here He is identified as Yahweh, the “I AM,” the self-existent God. The only true God.
Exodus 20 records the giving of the Ten Commandments. The very first of those commandments calls for and regulates worship:
God says, “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 3 "You shall have no other gods before Me. 4"You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth.”
When he says “Before Me” at the end of verse 3, it may be understood as “besides me” (, ) or “in my presence” (Durham). The New Jerusalem Bible has “You shall have no other gods to rival me,” and The Translator’s OT has “You must not defy me by acknowledging other gods.” The Today’s English Version is clear and accurate, “Worship no god but me,” and the Contemporary English Version () has “Do not worship any god except me.”
All false gods stand in opposition to the true God, and the worship of them is incompatible with the worship of Yahweh. As is clear from Exodus 20:2-5, God is a jealous God. He will not give His glory to another. Isaiah 42:8 says, “I am the LORD, that is My Name; I will not give My glory to another, nor My praise to graven images” (NKJV). It’s clear as you study the Bible that there is a Trinity. From the very first verse of the Bible, Genesis 1:1, we hear, “In the beginning God.” The Hebrew word for “God” in this verse is the name I mentioned earlier.
It’s the name Elohim (im is plural) which means this singular God exists in a form of plurality. So when we say we are to worship God we are talking about all three members of the Trinity, referred to in the New Testament as the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.
So when we ask the question, “Who are we to worship?”, it should be no surprise to see Jesus the second member of the Trinity receiving worship.
Who are we to worship? God the Father and secondly...
“Jesus”
This is not the worship of another God.
Jesus is God, one with the Father and Spirit. The Jehovah’s Witnesses make the mistake of saying Jesus is another god in John 1:1. But Scripture makes it very clear that He is one with the Father and the Holy Spirit. He is God incarnate (John 1:1, 14). And when you consider this in light of worship, throughout His ministry, He never refused worship because He is God. He didn’t respond like the angel who told John not to do that. No, he accepted their worship. After His resurrection, Matthew 28:7 says when He appeared to His disciples in Galilee, “they worshiped Him.” Again, you don’t hear Him saying, “Do not do that!” In Matthew 14 after He comes to His disciples in the midst of a storm walking on the water, it says in verses 32-33, “When they got into the boat, the wind stopped. And those who were in the boat worshiped Him, saying, ‘You are certainly God’s Son!’” They worshiped Jesus because everything He did and said pointed to the reality that He is God!
Listen to Hebrews 1 in light of this:
“God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, 2 in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. 3 And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become as much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more excellent name than they. 5 For to which of the angels did He ever say, “You are My Son, Today I have begotten You”? And again, “I will be a Father to Him And He shall be a Son to Me”? 6 And when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says, “And let all the angels of God worship Him.” 7 And of the angels He says, “Who makes His angels winds, And His ministers a flame of fire.” 8 But of the Son He says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, And the righteous scepter is the scepter of His kingdom. 9 “You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You With the oil of gladness above Your companions.”
Now, we must not forget about...
“The Holy Spirit”
He is a member of the Trinity and equally deserves our adoration. Philippians 3:3 says, “For we are the true circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh” (NKJV). Though the Spirit came to testify about Jesus according to John 16:13-14, as a member of the Trinity, He too receives worship, especially when we yield to Him as Ephesians 5:18 says. So we are to worship God in totality as the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. We are to worship Him only! He is a jealous God. He will not share His glory with another. When we fail to worship God properly, we experience His chastening, some His judgment.
John MacArthur says, “God repeatedly judged those who failed to worship Him properly. When the people of Israel worshiped the golden calf, God mercifully mitigated His initial righteous reaction, which would have been the utter destruction of the nation, and only slaughtered thousands of them. It stands as a graphic illustration of how God feels about false worship.”
In Leviticus 10 we hear the ordination of the priesthood of Nadab and Abihu.
These were the sons of Aaron the high priest. They had spent all their life for this moment--to offer worship to God on behalf of the people of Israel. They had been prepared, trained, and now they were to be ordained. In their first real function as priest, we are told they offered “strange fire.” This, according to verse 1, was that “which [God] had not commanded them.” In other words, they did not do what was prescribed to be done as priests, leading the people in worship. They acted independently of the revelation of God regarding proper worship, and instantly God killed both of them. So who we worship is important as well as how we worship.
Let’s consider another question...
ARE THERE ANY PREREQUISITES TO WORSHIP?
Given what we have looked at now for 3 weeks, what do you think the answer is?
“Yes”!!!
We can narrow our answer in this way:
You must have a right view of God and a right view of your self as presented in the Bible.
Let’s consider the first...
A Right View of God
When Paul addressed the Athenians in Acts 17:22-29, he pointed out 4 things about God:
He said...
God is the Creator (v.24a)
, God is Omnipresent (v.24b),
God is Omnipotent (v.25), God is Sovereign (v.26).
William Temple said, “It is much worse to have a false idea of God than no idea at all.”
Charles Spurgeon went on to says that “a very large majority of churchgoers are merely unthinking, slumbering worshipers of an unknown god.”
What do you think when you hear a statement like that? Much of what occurs in church in what we would call worship is not worship at all. It’s merely going through the motions and worshiping an unknown god. It’s not giving glory and honor and adoration to the true God.
That’s why we need to also have...
A Right View of Self
Guess what? You’re a sinner. Romans 3:23 says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” And as a sinner, naturally, you do not seek God. Romans 3:10-11 says, “As it is written, “There is none righteous, not even one; There is none who understands, There is none who seeks for God.” But God requires that you believe His Word and the words of His Son as well as obey them! 1 Peter 1:14-16 says, “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
CONCLUSION
So, What can be said about your worship?
Do you worship idols?
Do you worship other gods?
Do you worship yourself?
There are times when we probably would have to answer yes to those questions because we have fallen down to idols. We might not be guilty of worshiping other gods but we have certainly worshiped ourselves. Every time we disobey God’s Word we are worshiping ourselves. There are two more questions I want us to consider next time. But for today, let’s meditate on what we have already heard.
Are you a child of God? Have you been born from above? If not, you are worshiping a false god--Satan. Ephesians 2:2 says you are walking “according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.” And not only that but you are worship yourself by living “in the lusts of [your] flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind” (v.3), and therefore “by nature children of wrath.”
You ask, “What shall I do?” Repent and cry out for the mercy of God.
Believe that God sent Jesus to die in your place for your sin and commit your life to Him. Then worship Him by His Spirit.
LIFE APPLICATION
How does worship affect what you believe about God?
Should we worship the Holy Spirit? Why?
Are there any prerequisites to worship? If so, what are they?
Friday, July 22, 2011
Sunday, June 05, 2011
Why Worship (Pt.2)
In our last study we considered the question, “What is worship?” And as we approached what the Bible said regarding worship, we noted mostly what it said regarding our attitude. Attitude plays an important role in our worship. You can have everything else right but if the attitude is wrong, your worship is unacceptable.
As we looked at Psalm 95:1, we noted the attitude of “joy” in coming before the Lord while verse 2 referenced the attitude of “thanksgiving.” Both are commanded in Scripture. The Greek word for "joy" (chara) is found frequently in Matthew and Luke, and especially in John, once in Mark (4:16, , “joy,” , “gladness”); it is absent from (though the verb is used three times), but is frequent in , where the noun is used five times (for 7:4, , see Note below), and the verb eight times, suggestive of the Apostle’s relief in comparison with the circumstances of the 1st Epistle; in Col. 1:11, , “joyfulness,” , “joy.” There are 59 occurrences; translates as “joy” 51 times, “gladness” three times, “joyful” once, “joyous” once, “joyfulness” once, “joyfully” once, and “greatly” once. The basic and most common Hebrew root for joy is śmh, which reflects not only the inner emotion or state of well-being, i.e., “joy,” but also its expression, i.e., “rejoicing.” In fact, the more often refers to the expression than the emotion, as is evident in the Psalms and Prophets. The word “thanksgiving” used in Psalm 95:2 is the Hebrew word towdah and occurs 33 times in the OT. The AV translated it as “thanksgiving” 18 times, “praise” six times, “thanks” three times, “thank offerings” three times, and “confession” twice.
A grateful heart is required in our worship of God. Psalm 69:30 says, “I will praise the name of God with song and magnify Him with thanksgiving.” It’s not just our song that we praise Him with but also our “thanksgiving.” When Israel entered the Temple area, Psalm 110:4 said they were to enter with “thanksgiving.”
“Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise give thanks to Him, bless His name.”
Beginning at verse 1 through verse 4, the psalmist gives 7 elements of worship.
He says:
Shout joyfully (v. 1).
Serve the Lord with gladness (v. 2a).
Come before Him with singing (v. 2b).
Enter into His gates with thanksgiving (v. 4a).
Enter His courts with praise (v. 4b).
Be thankful to Him (v. 4c).
Bless His name (v. 4d).
This, by the way, is what happens when you’re filled with the Spirit.
Ephesians 5:19-20 says, “18And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, 19speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; 20always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father. Speaking of Psalm 95:2, Matthew Henry says, “How God is to be praised. 1. With holy joy and delight in him. The praising song must be a joyful noise, v. 1 and again v. 2. Spiritual joy is the heart and soul of thankful praise. It is the will of God (such is the condescension of his grace) that when we give glory to him as a being infinitely perfect and blessed we should, at the same time, rejoice in him as our Father and King, and a God in covenant with us.
The final two attitudes were found in Philippians 2:3 and Colossians 4:2.
Philippians 2:3 focused on doing “nothing from selfishness or empty conceit,” while Colossians 4:2 talked about “prayer.”
All of this is important to worship. Without coming to God with the proper attitude and the proper understanding of who He is, our worship is unacceptable. Before we move to the second question, I left you last time with a challenge from Psalm 37:4, which says, “Delight yourself in the LORD; and He will give you the desires of your heart.”
I asked you to meditate this week on the word “delight.” If you engaged in this activity, you would have realized in order to “delight” in the Lord, you first had to “trust” Him according to verse 3. “Trust” and “delight” go hand-in-hand. I cannot “delight” in someone I do not “trust.”
David is telling Israel to Trust in the Lord and not grow weary over the prosperity of the wicked. They will “fade like the green herb.” “Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.” In other words, don’t follow the temptation to leave the land the Lord has blessed. Dwell in it, be faithful and find all your delight in the Lord.
The word translated “delight” in verse 4 comes from a root that means “to be brought up in luxury, to be pampered.” It speaks of the abundance of the blessings we have in the Lord Himself, totally apart from what He gives us.
To enjoy the blessings and ignore the Blesser is to practice idolatry. In Jesus Christ, we have all God’s treasures, and we need no other. If we truly delight in the Lord, then the chief desire of our heart will be to know Him better so we can delight in Him even more, and the Lord will satisfy that desire! So, delighting in the Lord means we seek and find in him the source of happiness and joy, and not in material possessions. It’s what Matthew 6:33 says, “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” In other words, let God be the object of your affection. Let Him be the object of your meditation and activity. Take full pleasure in Him.
In Genesis 6, Eve took pleasure in what she heard from the Devil and what she saw on the forbidden tree.
Genesis 3:6 says, “When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.
At that moment she no longer found delight in God alone but in something else.
Does this sound like you? God is your delight so long as nothing else comes along to replace Him. On the other hand, the psalmist took pleasure in God and His Word.
Psalm 1:1-2 says, “How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night.”
In Psalm 40:8, we hear again the psalmist’s delight in God when he says, “I delight to do Your will, O my God; Your Law is within my heart.”
This, the psalmist says in Psalm 112:1, is the blessed man. Why? Because he “fears the LORD” and “greatly delights in His commandments.” That is true worship! Does this describe your activity this week? Has God been the object of your conversation with your spouse and kids? What about with your co-workers or even strangers? Has He been the object of your meditation? You say, “Yes, sure!” But did you memorize Scripture this week? Has He been the object of your affections? If He has, then everything else paled in comparison to Him.
John the Baptist said it right when he said in John 3:30, “He [Jesus] must increase, but I must decrease.”
If God wasn’t the object of your affections, meditation, or activity, then you did not “decrease.” You exercised yourself over God. And that, my friend, is no different than what the Devil did in Isaiah 14. For God to “increase” in your life, you have to die to your self, your affections, pleasures, activities, and whatever else that takes your attention away from Him. That is no different when we talk about worship. Think about this for a moment. Although the Bible is clear about how and whom and when we are to worship, little genuine worship takes place today. Why? Because much of it is an attitude problem or an unbiblical perception of worship.
Warren Wiersbe says, “Too often Christian “praise” is nothing but religious entertainment and it never moves into spiritual enrichment in the presence of the Lord. Our singing must give way to silence as we bow before the Lord. He alone is Jehovah, the Lord, the covenant-making and covenant-keeping God. He is our Maker and our Shepherd. (See 23 and John 10.) Jubilation has its place only if it becomes adoration and we are prostrate before the Lord in total submission, “lost in wonder, love, and praise.” But worship doesn’t stop just at our attitudes. It goes further into what I want us to address in our second question...
We said...
WHAT IS WORSHIP?
Our answer, “Worship is prostrating oneself before a superior being with a sense of respect, awe, reverence, honor, and homage.”
Now, the second question is...
WHO ARE WE TO WORSHIP?
Jesus gives us the answer to this question in Matthew 4:10 when responding to Satan’s offer to give Jesus the world in exchange for worship.
Quoting from Deuteronomy 6:13, He said, “Go, Satan! For it is written, 'YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD, AND SERVE HIM ONLY.'"
Who are we to worship?
“the LORD your God”
We are to worship no other person. Today we have to define who God is because there are so many people using this name but meaning someone entirely different from the Bible. In the passage Jesus quotes, He identifies God by the tetragrammaton or 4 letters YHWH or Yahweh. This is the name given to Moses in Exodus 3:14, the “I AM.” (Yahweh) God is known by many names in the Bible like Elohim or El Shaddai (God Almighty) or El Elyon (the Most High God).Here He is identified as Yahweh, the “I AM,” the self-existent God. The only true God.
Exodus 20 records the giving of the Ten Commandments. The very first of those commandments calls for and regulates worship:
God says, “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 3 "You shall have no other gods before Me. 4"You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth.”
When he says “Before Me” at the end of verse 3, it may be understood as “besides me” (, ) or “in my presence” (Durham). The New Jerusalem Bible () has “You shall have no other gods to rival me,” and The Translator’s OT () has “You must not defy me by acknowledging other gods.” The Today’s English Version () is clear and accurate, “Worship no god but me,” and the Contemporary English Version () has “Do not worship any god except me.” All false gods stand in opposition to the true God, and the worship of them is incompatible with the worship of Yahweh. As is clear from Exodus 20:2-5, God is a jealous God. He will not give His glory to another. Isaiah 42:8 says, “I am the LORD, that is My Name; I will not give My glory to another, nor My praise to graven images” (NKJV). It’s clear as you study the Bible that there is a Trinity.
From the very first verse of the Bible, Genesis 1:1, we hear, “In the beginning God.” The Hebrew word for “God” in this verse is the name I mentioned earlier.
It’s the name Elohim (im is plural) which means this singular God exists in a form of plurality. Since that is the case, it should be no surprise to see Jesus the second member of the Trinity receiving worship.
Who are we to worship? Yahweh God! and secondly...
“Jesus”
This is not the worship of another God. He is God. The singular God existing is a form of plurality is seen in the Scripture as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. These three are one God not three. The Jehovah’s Witnesses make the mistake of saying that Jesus is another god in John 1:1. But Scripture makes it very clear that He is one with the Father and the Holy Spirit. He is God incarnate (John 1:1, 14). And when you consider this in light of worship, throughout His ministry, He never refused worship because He is God. He didn’t respond like the angel who told John not to do that. No, he accepted their worship. After His resurrection, Matthew 28:7 says when He appeared to His disciples in Galilee, “they worshiped Him.” Again, you don’t hear Him saying, “Do not do that!” In Matthew 14 after He comes to His disciples in the midst of a storm walking on the water, it says in verses 32-33, “When they got into the boat, the wind stopped. And those who were in the boat worshiped Him, saying, ‘You are certainly God’s Son!’” They worshiped Jesus because everything He did and said pointed to the reality that He is God! Listen to Hebrews 1 in light of this:
“God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, 2 in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. 3 And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become as much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more excellent name than they. 5 For to which of the angels did He ever say, “You are My Son, Today I have begotten You”? And again, “I will be a Father to Him And He shall be a Son to Me”? 6 And when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says, “And let all the angels of God worship Him.” 7 And of the angels He says, “Who makes His angels winds, And His ministers a flame of fire.” 8 But of the Son He says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, And the righteous scepter is the scepter of His kingdom. 9 “You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You With the oil of gladness above Your companions.”
Now, we must not forget about...
“The Holy Spirit”
He is a member of the Trinity. He equally deserves our adoration. Philippians 3:3 says, “For we are the true circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh” (NKJV). Though the Spirit came to testify about Jesus according to John 16:13-14, as a member of the Trinity, He too receives worship, especially when we yield to Him as Ephesians 5:18 says.
So we are to worship God in totality as the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.
We are to worship Him only! He is a jealous God. He will not share His glory with another. When we fail to worship God properly, we experience His chastening, some His judgment. John MacArthur says, “God repeatedly judged those who failed to worship Him properly. When the people of Israel worshiped the golden calf, God mercifully mitigated His initial righteous reaction, which would have been the utter destruction of the nation, and only slaughtered thousands of them. It stands as a graphic illustration of how God feels about false worship.”
In Leviticus 10 we hear the ordination of the priesthood of Nadab and Abihu.
These were the sons of Aaron the high priest. They had spent all their life for this moment--to offer worship to God on behalf of the people of Israel. They had been prepared, trained, and now they were to be ordained. In their first real function as priest, we are told they offered “strange fire.” This, according to verse 1, was that “which [God] had not commanded them.” In other words, they did not do what was prescribed to be done as priests, leading the people in worship.They acted independently of the revelation of God regarding proper worship, and instantly God killed both of them.
CONCLUSION
What could be said about your worship?
Do you worship idols?
Do you worship other gods?
Do you worship yourself?
There are times when we probably would have to answer yes to those questions because we have fallen down to idols. We might not be guilty of worshiping other gods but we have certainly worshiped ourselves. Every time we disobey God’s Word we are worshiping ourselves.
LIFE APPLICATION
Did you "delight" in the Lord this week? How?
Why is it important to have the proper view of God?
How does this affect your worship?
How did you worship the Lord this morning?
As we looked at Psalm 95:1, we noted the attitude of “joy” in coming before the Lord while verse 2 referenced the attitude of “thanksgiving.” Both are commanded in Scripture. The Greek word for "joy" (chara) is found frequently in Matthew and Luke, and especially in John, once in Mark (4:16, , “joy,” , “gladness”); it is absent from (though the verb is used three times), but is frequent in , where the noun is used five times (for 7:4, , see Note below), and the verb eight times, suggestive of the Apostle’s relief in comparison with the circumstances of the 1st Epistle; in Col. 1:11, , “joyfulness,” , “joy.” There are 59 occurrences; translates as “joy” 51 times, “gladness” three times, “joyful” once, “joyous” once, “joyfulness” once, “joyfully” once, and “greatly” once. The basic and most common Hebrew root for joy is śmh, which reflects not only the inner emotion or state of well-being, i.e., “joy,” but also its expression, i.e., “rejoicing.” In fact, the more often refers to the expression than the emotion, as is evident in the Psalms and Prophets. The word “thanksgiving” used in Psalm 95:2 is the Hebrew word towdah and occurs 33 times in the OT. The AV translated it as “thanksgiving” 18 times, “praise” six times, “thanks” three times, “thank offerings” three times, and “confession” twice.
A grateful heart is required in our worship of God. Psalm 69:30 says, “I will praise the name of God with song and magnify Him with thanksgiving.” It’s not just our song that we praise Him with but also our “thanksgiving.” When Israel entered the Temple area, Psalm 110:4 said they were to enter with “thanksgiving.”
“Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise give thanks to Him, bless His name.”
Beginning at verse 1 through verse 4, the psalmist gives 7 elements of worship.
He says:
Shout joyfully (v. 1).
Serve the Lord with gladness (v. 2a).
Come before Him with singing (v. 2b).
Enter into His gates with thanksgiving (v. 4a).
Enter His courts with praise (v. 4b).
Be thankful to Him (v. 4c).
Bless His name (v. 4d).
This, by the way, is what happens when you’re filled with the Spirit.
Ephesians 5:19-20 says, “18And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, 19speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; 20always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father. Speaking of Psalm 95:2, Matthew Henry says, “How God is to be praised. 1. With holy joy and delight in him. The praising song must be a joyful noise, v. 1 and again v. 2. Spiritual joy is the heart and soul of thankful praise. It is the will of God (such is the condescension of his grace) that when we give glory to him as a being infinitely perfect and blessed we should, at the same time, rejoice in him as our Father and King, and a God in covenant with us.
The final two attitudes were found in Philippians 2:3 and Colossians 4:2.
Philippians 2:3 focused on doing “nothing from selfishness or empty conceit,” while Colossians 4:2 talked about “prayer.”
All of this is important to worship. Without coming to God with the proper attitude and the proper understanding of who He is, our worship is unacceptable. Before we move to the second question, I left you last time with a challenge from Psalm 37:4, which says, “Delight yourself in the LORD; and He will give you the desires of your heart.”
I asked you to meditate this week on the word “delight.” If you engaged in this activity, you would have realized in order to “delight” in the Lord, you first had to “trust” Him according to verse 3. “Trust” and “delight” go hand-in-hand. I cannot “delight” in someone I do not “trust.”
David is telling Israel to Trust in the Lord and not grow weary over the prosperity of the wicked. They will “fade like the green herb.” “Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.” In other words, don’t follow the temptation to leave the land the Lord has blessed. Dwell in it, be faithful and find all your delight in the Lord.
The word translated “delight” in verse 4 comes from a root that means “to be brought up in luxury, to be pampered.” It speaks of the abundance of the blessings we have in the Lord Himself, totally apart from what He gives us.
To enjoy the blessings and ignore the Blesser is to practice idolatry. In Jesus Christ, we have all God’s treasures, and we need no other. If we truly delight in the Lord, then the chief desire of our heart will be to know Him better so we can delight in Him even more, and the Lord will satisfy that desire! So, delighting in the Lord means we seek and find in him the source of happiness and joy, and not in material possessions. It’s what Matthew 6:33 says, “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” In other words, let God be the object of your affection. Let Him be the object of your meditation and activity. Take full pleasure in Him.
In Genesis 6, Eve took pleasure in what she heard from the Devil and what she saw on the forbidden tree.
Genesis 3:6 says, “When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.
At that moment she no longer found delight in God alone but in something else.
Does this sound like you? God is your delight so long as nothing else comes along to replace Him. On the other hand, the psalmist took pleasure in God and His Word.
Psalm 1:1-2 says, “How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night.”
In Psalm 40:8, we hear again the psalmist’s delight in God when he says, “I delight to do Your will, O my God; Your Law is within my heart.”
This, the psalmist says in Psalm 112:1, is the blessed man. Why? Because he “fears the LORD” and “greatly delights in His commandments.” That is true worship! Does this describe your activity this week? Has God been the object of your conversation with your spouse and kids? What about with your co-workers or even strangers? Has He been the object of your meditation? You say, “Yes, sure!” But did you memorize Scripture this week? Has He been the object of your affections? If He has, then everything else paled in comparison to Him.
John the Baptist said it right when he said in John 3:30, “He [Jesus] must increase, but I must decrease.”
If God wasn’t the object of your affections, meditation, or activity, then you did not “decrease.” You exercised yourself over God. And that, my friend, is no different than what the Devil did in Isaiah 14. For God to “increase” in your life, you have to die to your self, your affections, pleasures, activities, and whatever else that takes your attention away from Him. That is no different when we talk about worship. Think about this for a moment. Although the Bible is clear about how and whom and when we are to worship, little genuine worship takes place today. Why? Because much of it is an attitude problem or an unbiblical perception of worship.
Warren Wiersbe says, “Too often Christian “praise” is nothing but religious entertainment and it never moves into spiritual enrichment in the presence of the Lord. Our singing must give way to silence as we bow before the Lord. He alone is Jehovah, the Lord, the covenant-making and covenant-keeping God. He is our Maker and our Shepherd. (See 23 and John 10.) Jubilation has its place only if it becomes adoration and we are prostrate before the Lord in total submission, “lost in wonder, love, and praise.” But worship doesn’t stop just at our attitudes. It goes further into what I want us to address in our second question...
We said...
WHAT IS WORSHIP?
Our answer, “Worship is prostrating oneself before a superior being with a sense of respect, awe, reverence, honor, and homage.”
Now, the second question is...
WHO ARE WE TO WORSHIP?
Jesus gives us the answer to this question in Matthew 4:10 when responding to Satan’s offer to give Jesus the world in exchange for worship.
Quoting from Deuteronomy 6:13, He said, “Go, Satan! For it is written, 'YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD, AND SERVE HIM ONLY.'"
Who are we to worship?
“the LORD your God”
We are to worship no other person. Today we have to define who God is because there are so many people using this name but meaning someone entirely different from the Bible. In the passage Jesus quotes, He identifies God by the tetragrammaton or 4 letters YHWH or Yahweh. This is the name given to Moses in Exodus 3:14, the “I AM.” (Yahweh) God is known by many names in the Bible like Elohim or El Shaddai (God Almighty) or El Elyon (the Most High God).Here He is identified as Yahweh, the “I AM,” the self-existent God. The only true God.
Exodus 20 records the giving of the Ten Commandments. The very first of those commandments calls for and regulates worship:
God says, “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 3 "You shall have no other gods before Me. 4"You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth.”
When he says “Before Me” at the end of verse 3, it may be understood as “besides me” (, ) or “in my presence” (Durham). The New Jerusalem Bible () has “You shall have no other gods to rival me,” and The Translator’s OT () has “You must not defy me by acknowledging other gods.” The Today’s English Version () is clear and accurate, “Worship no god but me,” and the Contemporary English Version () has “Do not worship any god except me.” All false gods stand in opposition to the true God, and the worship of them is incompatible with the worship of Yahweh. As is clear from Exodus 20:2-5, God is a jealous God. He will not give His glory to another. Isaiah 42:8 says, “I am the LORD, that is My Name; I will not give My glory to another, nor My praise to graven images” (NKJV). It’s clear as you study the Bible that there is a Trinity.
From the very first verse of the Bible, Genesis 1:1, we hear, “In the beginning God.” The Hebrew word for “God” in this verse is the name I mentioned earlier.
It’s the name Elohim (im is plural) which means this singular God exists in a form of plurality. Since that is the case, it should be no surprise to see Jesus the second member of the Trinity receiving worship.
Who are we to worship? Yahweh God! and secondly...
“Jesus”
This is not the worship of another God. He is God. The singular God existing is a form of plurality is seen in the Scripture as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. These three are one God not three. The Jehovah’s Witnesses make the mistake of saying that Jesus is another god in John 1:1. But Scripture makes it very clear that He is one with the Father and the Holy Spirit. He is God incarnate (John 1:1, 14). And when you consider this in light of worship, throughout His ministry, He never refused worship because He is God. He didn’t respond like the angel who told John not to do that. No, he accepted their worship. After His resurrection, Matthew 28:7 says when He appeared to His disciples in Galilee, “they worshiped Him.” Again, you don’t hear Him saying, “Do not do that!” In Matthew 14 after He comes to His disciples in the midst of a storm walking on the water, it says in verses 32-33, “When they got into the boat, the wind stopped. And those who were in the boat worshiped Him, saying, ‘You are certainly God’s Son!’” They worshiped Jesus because everything He did and said pointed to the reality that He is God! Listen to Hebrews 1 in light of this:
“God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, 2 in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. 3 And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become as much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more excellent name than they. 5 For to which of the angels did He ever say, “You are My Son, Today I have begotten You”? And again, “I will be a Father to Him And He shall be a Son to Me”? 6 And when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says, “And let all the angels of God worship Him.” 7 And of the angels He says, “Who makes His angels winds, And His ministers a flame of fire.” 8 But of the Son He says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, And the righteous scepter is the scepter of His kingdom. 9 “You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You With the oil of gladness above Your companions.”
Now, we must not forget about...
“The Holy Spirit”
He is a member of the Trinity. He equally deserves our adoration. Philippians 3:3 says, “For we are the true circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh” (NKJV). Though the Spirit came to testify about Jesus according to John 16:13-14, as a member of the Trinity, He too receives worship, especially when we yield to Him as Ephesians 5:18 says.
So we are to worship God in totality as the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.
We are to worship Him only! He is a jealous God. He will not share His glory with another. When we fail to worship God properly, we experience His chastening, some His judgment. John MacArthur says, “God repeatedly judged those who failed to worship Him properly. When the people of Israel worshiped the golden calf, God mercifully mitigated His initial righteous reaction, which would have been the utter destruction of the nation, and only slaughtered thousands of them. It stands as a graphic illustration of how God feels about false worship.”
In Leviticus 10 we hear the ordination of the priesthood of Nadab and Abihu.
These were the sons of Aaron the high priest. They had spent all their life for this moment--to offer worship to God on behalf of the people of Israel. They had been prepared, trained, and now they were to be ordained. In their first real function as priest, we are told they offered “strange fire.” This, according to verse 1, was that “which [God] had not commanded them.” In other words, they did not do what was prescribed to be done as priests, leading the people in worship.They acted independently of the revelation of God regarding proper worship, and instantly God killed both of them.
CONCLUSION
What could be said about your worship?
Do you worship idols?
Do you worship other gods?
Do you worship yourself?
There are times when we probably would have to answer yes to those questions because we have fallen down to idols. We might not be guilty of worshiping other gods but we have certainly worshiped ourselves. Every time we disobey God’s Word we are worshiping ourselves.
LIFE APPLICATION
Did you "delight" in the Lord this week? How?
Why is it important to have the proper view of God?
How does this affect your worship?
How did you worship the Lord this morning?
Monday, May 23, 2011
Why Worship? (Pt.1)
Recently I read a statement that said, “I will die tonight for my beliefs.” As I thought about this, I asked myself, “Will I die for worship?” Because, as A.W. Tozer says, “We are called to an everlasting preoccupation with God.” Is this so important to you that you would die for it to be right and biblical?
Many view worship differently. Some see it as merely attending Church. Others view it as to how many times you say the name Mary. But our worship of God is much more than that.
As we consider this subject, I want to ask 5 questions regarding worship.
We will look at two of them and the remaining three next time.
The five questions are What is worship? Who are we to worship? What are the prerequisites? How is it to be done? and When are we to worship?
Let’s begin with the first question:
WHAT IS WORSHIP?
The common NT word for worship is proskuneo. It means, “To kiss toward, to kiss the hand, to bow down, to prostrate oneself.” Worship carries the idea of “prostrating oneself before a superior being with the sense of respect, awe, reverence, honor, and homage.” If you have noticed the definition I read talked about giving something to God. Giving Him respect, awe, reverence, honor, and homage. John MacArthur, in his book called The Ultimate Priority, says, “When we gather together to worship the Lord, our focus is to be on giving to Him, not getting from Him. Worship is a consuming desire to give to God, and it involves the giving of ourselves, our heart attitudes, and our possessions.” So “we gather together to give worship not to give respect to the preacher or those in the choir, we gather to give honor to God. The sermon and the music are just to be the stimuli that create the desire in our hearts to honor Him.”
Scripture gives us many examples of worship. In fact, the word proskuneo is used in Scripture indiscriminately to refer to homage given to people other than God. We see worship of the true God, worship of false gods, and the worship of Satan. In Romans 1:18-25 we hear of worship of idols and material things. Even verse 25 indicates a worship of self.
Listen to what it says: 18For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. 20For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. 21For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. 24Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. 25For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator,who is blessed forever. Amen.
“Even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks.”
In fact, when they refused to worship God, they began to make images and according to verse 23 they “exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.” They refused to worship God, turning instead to false gods, and that is unacceptable. Verse 24 tells the consequences of worshiping a false god: “God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity.” Verse 26 says, “God gave them over to degrading passions.” Verse 28 adds, “God gave them over to a depraved mind.” The result of their improper worship was that God simply gave them over to their sin and its consequences. When men reject God they worship false gods. No wonder the wrath of God is revealed.
In Matthew 4:8-9, when Jesus was in the wilderness being tempted by the Devil, Satan “showed Him all the kingdoms of the world, and their glory; and he said to Him, ‘All these things will I give to You, if you fall down and worship me.’”
Satan now drops his pretense and makes one final, desperate effort to corrupt Jesus. He finally reveals his supreme purpose: to induce Jesus Christ to worship him. He had first suggested what Jesus ought to do for Himself. Next he suggested what the Father ought to do for Jesus. Now he suggests what Satan could do for Jesus-in exchange for what Jesus could do for him. Satan wanted Jesus to worship him. He wanted the respect, the awe, the reverence, the honor, and the homage that is only due God. But Jesus said to Satan in verse 10, “Go Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the LORD your God, and serve Him only.” God is the only one to be worshiped. We are not to worship Satan or ourselves or even angels. Two times John tried to worship the angel that was revealing the vision to him in the book of Revelation. And both times he is told, “Do not do that” (Rev.19:10; 22:9)...Worship God” (22:9). Angels worship God! But Satan wanted angels to worship Him! He didn’t stop there, he wanted everyone and everything to worship him. He didn’t just want to be like God, he wanted to be God!
According to Isaiah 14:13-14 he said, “13"But you said in your heart, 'I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, And I will sit on the mount of assembly In the recesses of the north. 14'I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.'”
If the Son of God would not compromise even the least important truth in the universe, He would surely not compromise the greatest: that God, and God alone, is to be worshiped and served. God created everyone and everything for His glory. That is the purpose for our lives. When we hear the four living creatures and the twenty four elders in Revelation 4:8-11 worship God, we see what they were created for.
John says, “8And the four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within; and day and night they do not cease to say, "HOLY, HOLY, HOLY is THE LORD GOD, THE ALMIGHTY, WHO WAS AND WHO IS AND WHO IS TO COME." 9And when the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, to Him who lives forever and ever, 10the twenty-four elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and will worship Him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne, saying, 11"Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created."
We we read Revelation 7:9-12, we hear the same truth about worship:
9After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands; 10and they cry out with a loud voice, saying, "Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb." 11And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures; and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12saying, "Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be to our God forever and ever Amen."
John MacArthur says, “I think a comparison of worship with ministry might help to distinguish what true worship really is. Ministry is that which comes down to us from the Father, through the Son, in the power of the Spirit, to one another in the form of spiritual gifts. Worship, on the other hand, is that which goes up from us, by the Spirit’s power, through the Son, to the Father. Thus, ministry is that which descends from God to us, while worship is that which ascends from us to God. And both must be in perfect balance. Unfortunately, we tend to be too ministry oriented (like Martha) and not oriented enough toward worship. We need to learn from Mary how to sit at Jesus’ feet and worship Him.”
Many view worship differently. Some see it as merely attending Church. Others view it as to how many times you say the name Mary. But our worship of God is much more than that.
As we consider this subject, I want to ask 5 questions regarding worship.
We will look at two of them and the remaining three next time.
The five questions are What is worship? Who are we to worship? What are the prerequisites? How is it to be done? and When are we to worship?
Let’s begin with the first question:
WHAT IS WORSHIP?
The common NT word for worship is proskuneo. It means, “To kiss toward, to kiss the hand, to bow down, to prostrate oneself.” Worship carries the idea of “prostrating oneself before a superior being with the sense of respect, awe, reverence, honor, and homage.” If you have noticed the definition I read talked about giving something to God. Giving Him respect, awe, reverence, honor, and homage. John MacArthur, in his book called The Ultimate Priority, says, “When we gather together to worship the Lord, our focus is to be on giving to Him, not getting from Him. Worship is a consuming desire to give to God, and it involves the giving of ourselves, our heart attitudes, and our possessions.” So “we gather together to give worship not to give respect to the preacher or those in the choir, we gather to give honor to God. The sermon and the music are just to be the stimuli that create the desire in our hearts to honor Him.”
Scripture gives us many examples of worship. In fact, the word proskuneo is used in Scripture indiscriminately to refer to homage given to people other than God. We see worship of the true God, worship of false gods, and the worship of Satan. In Romans 1:18-25 we hear of worship of idols and material things. Even verse 25 indicates a worship of self.
Listen to what it says: 18For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. 20For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. 21For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. 24Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. 25For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator,who is blessed forever. Amen.
“Even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks.”
In fact, when they refused to worship God, they began to make images and according to verse 23 they “exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.” They refused to worship God, turning instead to false gods, and that is unacceptable. Verse 24 tells the consequences of worshiping a false god: “God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity.” Verse 26 says, “God gave them over to degrading passions.” Verse 28 adds, “God gave them over to a depraved mind.” The result of their improper worship was that God simply gave them over to their sin and its consequences. When men reject God they worship false gods. No wonder the wrath of God is revealed.
In Matthew 4:8-9, when Jesus was in the wilderness being tempted by the Devil, Satan “showed Him all the kingdoms of the world, and their glory; and he said to Him, ‘All these things will I give to You, if you fall down and worship me.’”
Satan now drops his pretense and makes one final, desperate effort to corrupt Jesus. He finally reveals his supreme purpose: to induce Jesus Christ to worship him. He had first suggested what Jesus ought to do for Himself. Next he suggested what the Father ought to do for Jesus. Now he suggests what Satan could do for Jesus-in exchange for what Jesus could do for him. Satan wanted Jesus to worship him. He wanted the respect, the awe, the reverence, the honor, and the homage that is only due God. But Jesus said to Satan in verse 10, “Go Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the LORD your God, and serve Him only.” God is the only one to be worshiped. We are not to worship Satan or ourselves or even angels. Two times John tried to worship the angel that was revealing the vision to him in the book of Revelation. And both times he is told, “Do not do that” (Rev.19:10; 22:9)...Worship God” (22:9). Angels worship God! But Satan wanted angels to worship Him! He didn’t stop there, he wanted everyone and everything to worship him. He didn’t just want to be like God, he wanted to be God!
According to Isaiah 14:13-14 he said, “13"But you said in your heart, 'I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, And I will sit on the mount of assembly In the recesses of the north. 14'I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.'”
If the Son of God would not compromise even the least important truth in the universe, He would surely not compromise the greatest: that God, and God alone, is to be worshiped and served. God created everyone and everything for His glory. That is the purpose for our lives. When we hear the four living creatures and the twenty four elders in Revelation 4:8-11 worship God, we see what they were created for.
John says, “8And the four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within; and day and night they do not cease to say, "HOLY, HOLY, HOLY is THE LORD GOD, THE ALMIGHTY, WHO WAS AND WHO IS AND WHO IS TO COME." 9And when the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, to Him who lives forever and ever, 10the twenty-four elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and will worship Him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne, saying, 11"Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created."
We we read Revelation 7:9-12, we hear the same truth about worship:
9After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands; 10and they cry out with a loud voice, saying, "Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb." 11And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures; and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12saying, "Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be to our God forever and ever Amen."
John MacArthur says, “I think a comparison of worship with ministry might help to distinguish what true worship really is. Ministry is that which comes down to us from the Father, through the Son, in the power of the Spirit, to one another in the form of spiritual gifts. Worship, on the other hand, is that which goes up from us, by the Spirit’s power, through the Son, to the Father. Thus, ministry is that which descends from God to us, while worship is that which ascends from us to God. And both must be in perfect balance. Unfortunately, we tend to be too ministry oriented (like Martha) and not oriented enough toward worship. We need to learn from Mary how to sit at Jesus’ feet and worship Him.”
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