"Worship -- What & Why?"

April 14/02 Psalm 100

Intro: Caught up in the spirit

Kim Hill is a Christian singer who serves as a worship leader for Focus on the Family's Renewing the Heart conferences, which attract 10,000-20,000 women to each event. Her husband, a basketball fan, persuaded her to attend a college basketball game between Duke University and the University of North Carolina. Kim recalls, "I found myself more interested in watching the fans than the game. People of every shape, size, colour, and background were cheering wildly for their respective team...Hundreds of fans had team logos painted on their faces. I was mesmerized by a huge group of students...who were chanting and jumping up and down in unison. They were so frenzied and passionate, as if they were performing some sort of sacred ritual. They were utterly and completely devoted to this game where the object is to throw a leather ball into a hoop more often than your opponent. I soon realized the reason I was transfixed by their demonstration of devotion was because it was a startling experience of deja vu.

             "I had witnessed that very same passionate fervency at a women's worship conference the previous weekend in California. I had spent the better part of 24 hours in a room with over a thousand women who were passionately devoted to the Lord. They also cheered and sang and swayed in unison as they demonstrated their love for Christ with heartfelt adoration and abandon. It hit me like a ton of bricks that these brilliant, young, successful, soon-to-be doctors and lawyers were worshipping...very much like my friends in Los Angeles. They just weren't worshipping God.

             "I found myself crying while throngs of Duke fans cheered all around me...I was crying over the fact that most of us don't even recognize when we worship things other than our Creator. Like the Israelites, we kneel in front of "golden calves" that divert our attention from the only true God. I'm not a 'sports-Scrooge'. I enjoy athletics and think sports are a great aspect of life. However, they pale next to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords -- everything pales next to Him." She concludes, "Worshipping from the heart involves focusing all of our attention and affection on one thing. The result of ardent, disciplined focus is adoration, which should be reserved for God alone. In addition, this singular focus leads to passion, commitment, and devotion, which first must be spent on the "Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come."

             Worship is so important. In this season after Easter, as we bask in the glow of the Resurrection, we're reminded that the first response of those who experienced Jesus as risen was to worship. So we gather each first day of the week for that same purpose. John Piper argues, "Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exist because worship doesn't. Worship is ultimate, not missions, because God is ultimate, not man."

             So let's focus the next few Sundays on "Worship": what is worship? Why do we do it? If the Lord desires our worship, how can we do it better? What's it all about?

             Our English word is derived from "worth-ship", "denoting the worthiness of an individual to receive special honour in accordance with that worth." Warren Wiersbe writes that "Worship is the believer's response of all that he is -- mind, emotions, will, and body -- to all that God is and says and does. This response has its mystical side in subjective experience, and its practical side in objective obedience to God's revealed truth. It is a loving response that is balanced by the fear of the Lord, and it is a deepening response as the believer comes to know God better."

             Today let's explore the meaning of worship as an acrostic - w-o-r-s-h-i-p. Each letter stands for words related to worship based on what God shows us about it in the Bible.

W

"W" stands for being overWhelmed by the Worthiness and Wonder of our Almighty Creator and Redeemer. Thomas Carlyle wrote, "The man who cannot wonder, who does not habitually wonder and worship, is but a pair of spectacles behind which there is no eye."

             We find people overwhelmed by God's worthiness and awesomeness from cover to cover in Scripture. Exodus 34(6-8) tells of Moses' response to God revealing Himself, describing God's own qualities. "And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, 'The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.' Moses bowed to the ground at once and worshiped." Exodus 15(11) sums up this sense of wonder at God's uniqueness: "Who among the gods is like you, O LORD? Who is like you— majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?" 1Chron.16:23-27 marvels, "Sing to the LORD, all the earth; proclaim his salvation day after day.Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples.For great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; he is to be feared above all gods.For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the LORD made the heavens.Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and joy in his dwelling place." Psalm 77(13) asks, "Your ways, O God, are holy.What god is so great as our God?"

             In the New Testament, the camera zooms in to focus on the special significance of what God accomplished in Jesus, saving believers from eternal punishment for their sins. On the Mount of Transfiguration, Peter and other witnesses were told to listen to God's Son moreso than Moses or Elijah. Hebrews 3(3) says "Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself." The book of Revelation is a prophetic account of the triumph of Christ over the powers of cosmic evil. Jesus is the slain Lamb of whom the attendants at the heavenly throne sing, "You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation." (Rev.5:2,9) So all through the Bible there is this sense of wonder, of being overwhelmed by God's worthiness.

O

"O" means we Offer Ourselves (totally) and our gifts (called Offerings) in grateful response for all God has done for us. Cain and Abel, Adam and Eve's sons, brought offerings of the field and flock as part of their worship (Gen.4:3f). Noah and the Patriarchs, Abraham Isaac & Jacob, all offered sacrifices; Abraham's supreme test was being willing to offer up his own son, though God spared him. In Deut.12(5-7) Moses tells the Israelites before they enter Canaan: "you are to seek the place the LORD your God will choose from among all your tribes to put his Name there for his dwelling. To that place you must go; there bring your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, what you have vowed to give and your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks.There, in the presence of the LORD your God, you and your families shall eat and shall rejoice in everything you have put your hand to, because the LORD your God has blessed you." Note the attitude is one of joy, not begrudging, since the offering is a sign of the blessing God has bestowed.

             When we come to the New Testament, Jesus is barely born when the Magi bow down and worship Him, presenting their treasures of gold, incense, and myrrh (Mt.2:11). They offer rich gifts, suitable for a King. In Christian worship, offering goes beyond material gifts to include our whole being. Paul tells the Romans in chapter 12(1), "I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God— this is your spiritual act of worship." In worship we offer our whole self back to God in renewed service, presenting our selves as tools of righteousness. We dedicate and consecrate ourselves to God's use for His Kingdom.

R

"R" stands for Reverent Response to Revelation. Worship is not something we do on our own. God is there - everywhere - already, waiting for our attention. He wants to reveal or show Himself to us, communicate His purposes, ways, and being to us ever increasingly. The direction of the Triune Godhead is not just inward-looking, but reaching out to bless Creation continually. Worship then is our interaction with the Unmoved Mover, a "dialogue with God".

             A key passage for understanding worship is Isaiah 6, a short chapter documenting Isaiah's vision in the Temple which formed the basis for His call to ministry as a prophet. Note the reverent dialogue in the first seven verses: God's revealing of Himself is accompanied by adoration; Isaiah's confession of sin is answered by God's act of expiating or cleansing his sin. (vv.1-7) "In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple.Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory." At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty."Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, "See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for."

             The cycle of revelation and response continues as God makes known His mission for Isaiah, and the prophet responds with willingness. "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" (And I said) "Here am I.Send me!" Through all the back-and-forth, though, there is a real sense of reverence. Hebrews 12(28f) conveys this same awe in the New Testament: "since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for 'our God is a consuming fire'."

             In worship we respond to God's unveiling of Himself. Leonard Sweet says, "Worship must set vibrating in the soul the full chord of God's awareness."

S

"S" means that real Christian worship is in Spirit, not the flesh; and results in service. The Samaritan woman at the well asked Jesus whether the best place to worship was in Jerusalem, as the Jews taught, or on Mt Gerizim, as the Samaritans believed. Jesus replied with a statement that is central to a proper understanding of worship: John 4:23-24 - "a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth." Repeated for emphasis - worship is in spirit. Not a matter of being at a particular geographical location; Jesus is implying there's a whole 'nother dimension. Those basketball fans were beside themselves, not at all self-conscious, they were "caught up" in the excitement of the game. Paul spoke of being "caught up" to paradise (2Cor.12:2,4). John describes himself as being "in the Spirit" when he received his visions. (Rev.1:10; 4:2) Somehow, being born from above by the Holy Spirit gives Christians the ability to enter their Heavenly Father's spiritual throne room and cry out "Abba! Papa!" The Holy Spirit even intercedes for us, helping us in our weakness (Rom.8:15,26).

             Paul told the church in Philippi (3:3) that we are the real circumcision, "who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh..." Real worship is a matter of inner awareness, not outer performance at a temple or on a mountain or by whether we raise our hands or kneel at benches. Worship happens in the heart, where you connect with God's Spirit and marshall all your desires subject to the Lord. A few verses later Paul describes someone with fleshly attitude, whose god is different: "Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame.Their mind is on earthly things." (Php.3:19) To the Ephesians (5:5) he wrote, "For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person— such a man is an idolater— has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God." The things of this world can become idols (worship-robbers) if we're focused on them and they get control. Immorality, impurity, greed make worship of God in the spirit impossible. If we want to worship with Jesus, we will circumcise ourselves from those counterfeits, cut them out in our life.

             The biblical words for "worship" also relate to servanthood; bowing, kneeling were routine expressions of obeisance from slaves to their master. So "S" also means that by the Spirit we submit to the Lord Jesus, reject other masters in our life, and put ourselves completely at God's disposal to serve Him however He chooses. "Here I am, Lord! I'm available!"

H

"H" stands for worship with a whole heart, not half-hearted; in truth, not pretending. This is the other half of that phrase Jesus used to the Samaritan woman, "in spirit and truth" - the real thing. Christ means that besides being internal and invisible, genuine worship isn't fake or phoney. We're told in 2Chron.16(9), "For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him." In 1Chron.29(17) David rejoices that the people gave so whole-heartedly to the temple project; he remarked, "I know, my God, that you test the heart and are pleased with integrity.All these things have I given willingly and with honest intent. And now I have seen with joy how willingly your people who are here have given to you." There was no grudging giving, no half-heartedness. By contrast, in Jer.3(10) Judah is criticized because the Lord says she "did not return to me with all her heart, but only in pretense." Making a show of it, but not really meaning it. The Lord spurns burnt offerings in Isaiah 1(11-15) because people's "hands are full of blood"; they're making all the right religious noises, but God sees their hard-heartedness to the oppressed when they think He's not looking. God prophesied through Hosea against the people's outward performance of religious duty without corresponding inner godly attitude: "For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings." (Hosea 6:6) Psalm 51(6) tells us God desires "truth in the inner parts".

             For an example of someone with a whole-hearted desire for God, take David on the run in Psalm 63(1-8). Here he is stuck out in the barren wilderness, a fugitive or refugee. Listen to all the words of longing and desire as he finds fulfilment in God: "O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory.Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you.I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands.My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you.On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night.Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings. My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me." True worship is from the heart.

I

"I" indicates that worship is Intimate but not Irreverent. Some of the Bible passages about worship remind me of someone who's just started dating describing their girlfriend or boyfriend. You can hardly get them off the topic! That's what worship is, fundamentally, it's love-language. The worshipper is consumed with a sense of being loved and treasured by God -- more profound than infatuation, but still a keen sense of intimacy with the eternal. Psalm 45(11) says, "The king is enthralled by your beauty; honour Him, for He is your Lord." Paul in Ephesians 5 uses the intimacy of marriage as an analogy for the love-relationship between Christ and His bride, the church. The Song of Songs can even be read as an allegory of God's love for the worshipper: for example, in 2:14 the Lover calls, "My dove in the clefts of the rock, in the hiding places on the mountainside, show me your face, let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely."

             Worship basically is all about meeting with God, getting together, communing, being intimate. Originally God's presence was seen between the cherubim over the Ark of the Covenant for the benefit of Moses and the Israelites: "There...I will meet with you and give you all my commands..." (Ex.25:22; 29:43) The Tabernacle itself was called the Tent of Meeting (Ex.27:21). Jesus promised in Matthew 18(20), "For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them." His last night several times he implored, "Abide in me." (Jn.15) He looked forward to the time when those who love Him would keep His word, and "my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them." Jesus prayed for complete unity with believers, "I in them and you in me."(Jn.17:23) How much more intimate can you get? Yet the closeness is not without reverence on our part, it's not "buddy-buddy" but respectful of Him who is completely holy.

             Richard Foster describes how much God longs to have intimacy with us. He says, "Today the heart of God is an open wound of love.He aches over our distance and preoccupation.He mourns that we do not draw near to Him.He grieves that we have forgotten Him.He weeps over our obsession with muchness and manyness.He longs for our presence." Jesus said the Father seeks our worship; with Him we can enjoy true intimacy at the deepest core of our being, thanks to oneness in the Spirit through the cross.

P

Finally, "P" reminds us that worship is Predominantly Praise and Prayer. Praise is our positive expression of appreciation for who God is and what He's done for us. We can be exuberant and lavish in our praise, even at the risk of getting a bit noisy and carried away. Who would criticize a parent for really pouring it on when praising their child? That's good and right! So why should we fear criticism from others when we're genuinely blessing the Lord from our heart for all His wonderful nature and deeds?

             I expect the volume was fairly loud when Solomon's temple was dedicated. We read in 2Chron.5:13, "The trumpeters and singers joined in unison, as with one voice, to give praise and thanks to the LORD.Accompanied by trumpets, cymbals and other instruments, they raised their voices in praise to the LORD and sang: "He is good; his love endures forever." Then the temple of the LORD was filled with a cloud..." The voices singing out along with the brass band must have pleased God, for the Shekinah glory came as His visible stamp of approval.

             Psalm 100 suggests that praise is essential in order to come into God's presence. "Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.Know that the LORD is God.It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name." (and hear next the basis or reason for the praise - God's qualities) "For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations."

             P also stands for Prayer. If worship is about meeting God and becoming intimate, prayer is the communication that goes on in the meeting. We pour out our heart's deepest concerns, we lay our needs and intercessions for others before the throne of grace. In the Middle East, they don't ask, "Did you go to church today?" but "Did you pray today?" Prayer is synonymous with worship. God saw prayer (not the ritual of animal offerings) as the central function of the Temple. Isaiah prophesied about non-Jewish foreigners like us (56:7): "these I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer.Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations." Jesus underlined this when he drove the moneychangers from Herod's temple; he insisted its prime purpose was to be a place where people could pray (Mt.21:13).

             For a stirring example of prayer, check out 2Chronicles 20. There King Jehoshaphat and the people of Judah are threatened by enemies they have no hope of defeating. In verses 6-9 Jehoshaphat praises the Lord for His power and care for them in the past. Verses 10-11 describe the predicament in which they find themselves. He ends by pleading in verse 12, "O our God, will you not judge them? For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us.We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you." The account adds, "All the men of Judah, with their wives and children and little ones, stood there before the LORD." What a picture of complete dependence! And God answers their prayer in a marvelous way. They are promised they won't even have to fight, just take their positions and watch; "for the battle is not yours, but God's." They would be delivered without lifting a finger (the different groups in the enemy coalition turned on each other). In response to the promise, "Jehoshaphat bowed with his face to the ground, and all the people of Judah and Jerusalem fell down in worship before the LORD.Then some Levites from the Kohathites and Korahites stood up and praised the LORD, the God of Israel, with very loud voice." Were they relieved! Worship worked - because they fully relied on God, who is faithful to His merciful promises.

Wrapping Up: Blaise Pascal's Secret

Don't ever get the idea that worship is only for weaklings or wimps. Worship has been a vital ingredient in the lives of great people throughout history. I've heard it remarked that hydraulics are one of the greatest inventions of modern times. Many of us have used a hydraulic jack to lift a vehicle weighing tons with a few strokes. We're amazed at the tallest cranes and biggest power shovels accomplishing huge feats with hydraulic cylinders. The pioneer in the study of laws of pressure was a man of worship. You'll hear his name the next time they announce the barometric pressure in "kilo-Pascals".

             Blaise Pascal was born in France on June 17, 1623. He was a genius, a mathematics marvel. At 16 he authored a treatise on conic sections which impressed the most famous mathematicians and was published immediately. After helping his father with long and tedious calculations in his job as a tax collector, at 20 Pascal created a machine which automatically worked out the arithmetical problems. When he was 25, his experiments on vacuum, gravity, and related fields were so significant that the advent of modern physics is understood to be at that time, 1648. Scientists honour him as the founder of hydrodynamics (our hydraulics); he developed the theory of mathematical probability; he's also credited with creating the modern French style of writing.

             God was moving in Pascal's life, so that this outstanding man of science also became one of Christianity's finest thinkers. At 23 Pascal had an ecstatic religious experience which caused a great change to take place in him. He came to give credit for originality not to the human heart, but to God acting on the human spirit. Within limits human reason is trustworthy, but, he said, "there are reasons which transcend human reason." Pascal wrote: "The God of the Christians is not a God who is simply the theory of geometric truths. This is the God of the pagan. He is not a God who crowns with blessings those who serve Him. This is the God of the Jews. The God of the Christians is a God of love and consecration, a God who unites Himself with the ground of their being and fills them with humility, joy, confidence and love. He makes the soul feel that its peace lies wholly in Him, and that it has no joy save to love Him. To know God after this fashion one must know first one's own misery and worthlessness and the need of a mediator in order to approach God, and be united with Him." Right on! He added, "The knowledge of God without the recognition of our misery engenders pride. The recognition of our misery without Jesus Christ produces despair. But the knowledge of Christ frees us alike from pride and despair because here we find conjoined God and our misery and the only way in which it can be repaired."

             Unfortunately Pascal was ill nearly all his life and died at the age of 39. After his death his friends found stitched into the lining of his vest a scrap of parchment with a rough drawing of a flaming cross. Around that cross was this poem, a beautiful trace of an intense worship experience:

"God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob,

Not of the philosophers and the learned.

Certitude.Joy.Certitude.Emotion.Sight.Joy.

Forgetfulness of the world and of all outside of God.

The world hath not known Thee, but I have known Thee.

Joy! Joy! Joy! Tears of joy.

My God, wilt Thou leave me?

Let me not be separated from Thee for ever."

             Let's continue now in worship; let's pray.