Who
is the object of your worship?
This season we’ve been talking
about love and I will be talking about the expression of love through worship
John 4:20-24 English Standard Version (ESV)
20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but
you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to
worship.” 21 Jesus said to her, “Woman,
believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in
Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22 You
worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation
is from the Jews. 23 But the hour is
coming, and is nowhere, when the true worshipers will worship the
Father in spirit and truth, for the Father, is seeking such
people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those
who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
10 times the word worship is mentioned which means
that Worship is so important!
1. What is worship?
According
to Merriam Webster dictionary:-
“it
is to honor or show reverence for as a divine being or supernatural power.
“To
regard with great or extravagant respect, honor or devotion.”
Wayne Grudem says, “Worship is the activity of glorifying
God in His presence with our voices and hearts.”
All
aspects of our lives are supposed to glorify God so this definition specifies
that worship is something we do especially when we come into God’s presence.
The
greek word for Worship is PROSKUNEO which
means to show respect, fall or prostrate before. Literally, to kiss towards
someone, to throw a kiss in token of respect.
To
kiss the hand of a superior.
LIFESTYLE Worship should be your lifestyle (Not part of
life)
Worship is not
just for church services.
We are told to
worship him continually and to praise him from sunrise to sunset.
“Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do,
do it all for the glory of God.
Anthropologists have noted that worship is a universal urge,
hard wired by God into the very fiber of our being- an inbuilt need to connect
with God.
If we fail to
worship God, we always find a substitute, even if it ends up being our
self. Romans 1:21 - 25
21 For
although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to
him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although
they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and
exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a
mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.
24 Therefore
God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual
impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They
exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created
things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
Vs 22 of
John chapter 4 says: You Samaritans
worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is
from the Jews.
Do you know who
you worship? Who is the object of your worship?
In this world, some worship idols created by men, some worship
celebrities, some worship their children or parents, some worship money, job, Satan.
God is all-knowing –
that is omniscient, God is all-powerful - omnipotent, God is present everywhere
– that is omnipresent. God knows everything all the time, he never has to look
into his filing system to find out the number of grains in the sand or how many
hair strands are there on your head. He knows, names and numbers them all. He
brought the universe into existence from nothing. HE is eternal, holy,
righteous, loving, merciful, compassionate, forgiving.
Vs 23 of
John 4 says: Yet a time is coming
and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the
Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.
When Jesus said you must worship in Spirit, he wasn’t
referring to the Holy Spirit, but to your spirit. Made in God’s image, you are
a spirit that resides in a body and God designed your spirit to communicate
with him.
Worship is your spirit responding to God’s spirit.
So why does God want our praise?
God is not weak and has no deficiencies. Romans 11:36 For from him and through him and for him are all things.
To him be the glory forever! Amen.
Zephaniah 3:17
the Mighty Warrior who saves.
He will take great delight in you;
in his love he will no longer rebuke you,
but will rejoice over you with singing.”
Zephaniah 3:17
the Mighty Warrior who saves.
He will take great delight in you;
in his love he will no longer rebuke you,
but will rejoice over you with singing.”
Piper says God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.
1 Corinthians 1:9
So what does private worship look like?
It means conversing with God thru your daily activities.
It means having daily quiet time.
It means having a time of prayer and worship when no one is looking and praising God in your quiet space.
It means displaying God thru your lifestyle, your mannerisms, and your behavior.
It means witnessing and preaching the gospel to others.
It means serving your wife, your family, and friends
It means embracing the poor when no one is watching.
It means releasing forgiveness.
It means working with honesty and integrity.
It means declaring your faith in Jesus and not renouncing it in times of trials.
It means sticking to Biblical morals, values and what’s right no matter the outcome or circumstance.
In short private worship is simply being obedient to God’s word and giving Him reverence in all that you do.
Hebrews 10:25
Hebrews 10:19
Acts 17:25 And he is not
served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives
everyone life and breath and everything else.
Everything that exists owes its existence to him and no one
can add anything to him which is not already flowing from him.
What could God give us to enjoy that would prove him most
loving?
There is only one possible answer – himself.
God delights in us.
What does God do when we worship him? The amazing truth of
scripture, is that as the creation glorifies God, he also takes delight in it.
17 The Lord your
God is with you,
Worship is therefore a direct expression of our ultimate
purpose for living – to glorify God and to fully enjoy him forever.
Emotions in
worship
Jesus said, love God with all your heart, soul, mind and
strength.
He meant worship must be genuine and heartfelt
We are told to rejoice before Him, clap our hands, shout and
sing and we see this example in King David.
Some have argued that old testament worship was external with
its clapping, dancing and use of instruments where as new testament worship is
internal because it is in Spirit and in Truth. God is seeking for those who
will worship him in Spirit and in Truth not in temperament and preference.
One of our values
in this church is private worship, public worship and heart worship.
a) Private worship
9 God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with
his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Private
worship is your personal time with God when nobody is watching you, it’s just
you and God.
You will never grow a close
relationship with God by just attending church once a week or even having a
daily quiet time. Relationship with God is built by sharing all your life
experiences with him.
b)
Public Worship
As a church we also give importance
to public worship.
25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in
the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the
Day approaching.
God
had to pay a huge price for us so that we could come into his presence
together. In the Old Testament, only the high priest could enter the holy of
holies once a year.
19 Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have
confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the
curtain, that is, his body, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with
the full assurance that faith brings,
What
does public worship look like?
Public worship is worshipping as a
church.
It can mean dancing, clapping,
rejoicing, sitting, lying prostrate or bowing in God’s presence.
It can mean fellowshipping with God’s
people.
It can mean honoring and submitting
to your elders and leaders in the church.
It can mean obeying Jesus command to
get water baptized as an adult.
It means giving Tithes and offerings
into His kingdom extravagantly and you will get an opportunity to participate
in the gift day offering next week. To give like you’ve never given before.
It means operating in the gifts of
the Spirit like prophecy, the gift of tongues, healing.
It means serving the church and the
community.
It means loving, encouraging and
honoring one another.
In short public worship is when the community of people come together to give God glory, honor and reverence thru
their words and actions.
Satan
is also looking for worshippers
3 weeks back, Navaz touched on this.
Lucifer was the most beautiful and powerful angel – he
wanted to be like God and wanted all the glory. God knew his intentions and
cast him out.
In Rev 13 we see that those whose names are not
written in the Lambs Book of Life had to worship Satan.
In Matthew 4, Satan approached Jesus and took him to a
very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory
and said to him “all these I will give to you if you will fall down and worship
me.”
Then Jesus said to him “Be gone Satan, for it is
written you shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.”
If Satan could approach Jesus, don’t you think he can
approach us?
When we are disobedient to God or do not acknowledge
him or give him reverence, then who are we worshipping?
So my closing question is:
Who
is the object of your worship and do you know who you’re worshipping?
Word of Grace is an Evangelical (Born Again), Spirit-filled (Charismatic), Reformed, English speaking church in Pune that upholds the Bible as God's inspired Word for life. We are a church community that has people from every part of India and parts of the world. We are here to put the Great Command and the Great Commission into practice by equipping and releasing every member into works of service. Word of Grace is a part of a wider international family of Churches called RegionsBeyond.To know more about us please log onto www.wordofgracechurch.org.
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