How We Worship on Sundays, 30 September 2012
I want to begin by stating the obvious...it’s not about you!
...so that God is glorified. It’s about Him. Period. We gather to glorify Him. Scio Community Church is not a distributor of religious goods and services. Our primary purpose does not involve meeting your needs, taking care of your kids, or making you feel good. That may happen, but that’s not ultimately why we are here.
David Platt, in his book Radical which has been our theme for 2012, wrote
when we gather in our church buildings to sing and lift up our hands in worship, we may not actually be worshiping the Jesus of the Bible. Instead we may be worshiping ourselves.
Ouch!
It’s hard to check our consumeristic impulses at the door on Sunday mornings. After all, we spend six days a week bombarded by messages that say it’s all about us.
As we noted three weeks ago, the first of the ten commandments tell us to have no other gods and no idols. It’s natural to do those things that make us comfortable and safe. But it’s dangerous.
Consumerism tells us to worship ourselves. Self-worship, according to The Satanic Bible, is the essence of Satanism, not the worship of Satan. When you worship, are you a consumer, or are you consumed by Jesus?
Without realizing it, we are all tempted to worship when and how and where we find convenient and comfortable. It is those preferences that bring about controversy and division.
Contemporary or traditional.
Hymns or praise songs.
Loud or soft.
Formal or casual.
Long or short gatherings.
King James or NIV.
Organs or guitars.
Good music or country!!!
Brothers and sisters, should it matter? If it’s truly about God, we should be able to worship Him wherever, however, whenever, with whomever! It’s about making Jesus smile, not us!
We have over 300 churches in Washtenaw County. They are separated by geography and theology, but much of the differences are methodology.
I’ll be the first to admit that I have preferences. Experiences in my past have shaped the type of music I prefer, the translation of the Bible I use, and the attire I wear. I must be careful to never let those cultural biases shift my focus away from the One I seek to worship. It’s not about me. It’s not about you. It’s about God being glorified.
The Power of Music
Worship is more than just singing songs, but music is a powerful way in which we express our worship to God. If you’ve ever been to a rock concert, you know it can bring thousands of people together like nothing else. A lullaby can calm a restless child. A dissonant song can scare a movie audience. A rousing anthem can fire up an athlete. A thumping dance beat can energize a crowd of dancers.
God created music. Contrary to what many said in the 1980’s, there is no such thing as music of the devil because satan cannot create anything. He can only copy, distort, and destroy. He takes beautiful things created by God and ruins them.
God created music, and the Bible is full of it! Over 100 verses mention singing in the Bible.
David would play the harp for King Saul and it would sooth his soul.
Whenever the spirit from God came upon Saul, David would take his harp and play. Then relief would come to Saul; he would feel better, and the evil spirit would leave him. (1 Samuel 16:23)
Music has a spiritual power.
There are numerous accounts of people singing in the Scriptures. Maybe you’ve heard some of these:
Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the LORD: “I will sing to the LORD, for he is highly exalted. The horse and its rider he has hurled into the sea. (Exodus 15:1)
About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. (Acts 16:25)
Music is often prayer. Look at this fascinating verse:
So what shall I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my mind; I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my mind. (1 Corinthians 14:15)
We can sing with our spirit and mind!
We are also commanded to worship.
We read earlier in Psalm 100...
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. For the LORD is good and and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations. (Psalm 100)
Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, ...(Ephesians 5:19)
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. (Colossians 3:16)
Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. (James 5:13)
Hebrews 13:15 tells us to “continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his Name.”
God Sings!
We were created in the image of God, so it should be no surprise that He also sings. In fact, He sings over us.
Has anyone ever sung over you? God has.
The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.” (Zephaniah 3:17)
That verse alone should make us want to respond with worship and song.
We will sing in the future
And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. No one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. (Revelation 14:3)
Postures
In Hebrew, the word used for worship in the Old Testament—shachah—means more to bow down than anything else. When the Israelites spoke of worshiping God, they understood it as bowing down before Him. Similarly, in the New Testament, the commonly used Greek word for worship—proskuneo—suggests the act of getting down on one’s knees and adoring.
We can stand, kneel, dance, sing, lift up our hands, shout, and clap as we worship God. Doing or not doing does not make you more or less spiritual, but we have been given freedom to worship God, provided we respect those around us.
Other Things On Sunday
Can we worship on Sundays without music? Of course! Two weeks ago we worshiped by serving tornado victims. You can worship by serving others, whether it be teaching children, playing an instrument, running sound, or cleaning.
We worship God with our finances. When we give back to God a portion of what He has given to us, it can be an act of worship. Unlike the IRS, it is not forced, but all that we have belongs to Him, and when we offer up our money, time, talents, dreams, and relationships to Him in an effort to glorify Him, He is blessed.
Worship is an attitude of the heart. When you gather on Sundays, are you seeking to glorify God? Is it about Him?
Acceptable and unacceptable worship
It’s not enough to go through the motions. We see the outside, but God knows our heart.
One of the first offerings of worship was accompanied by the first homicide. How’s that for an association?
The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.
Then the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.” (Genesis 4:4b-7)
Cain and Abel each provided offerings to God. For reasons we do not know for sure, Abel’s offering was acceptable and Cain’s was rejected. This may have been why Cain murdered his brother.
We do know that true worship is more than just outwardly singing songs or even putting money in the offering. Those are merely tangible ways we express our love and worship to the Almighty.
R.C. Sproul has said that
the giving of adoration and praise to God, the honoring and blessing and esteeming and reverence of God, an outward expression of an inward awe and reverence to God is worship. True faith that holds God in the highest possible esteem—the fear of the LORD—is required...Our most foundation of obligation as creatures is giving honor to God.
Praise is an attempt to express honor. However, God is never honored by flattery or insincere praise.
They honor me with their lips but their hearts are far from me. (Isaiah 29:13; Matthew 15:8)
Every sacrifice I have offered has been tainted with sin.
Amazingly, God loves the sincere worship of His children. We don’t have to worship, but that’s what makes it so special to God. He could have made robots, but we can choose when, how, and even what we worship.
All of life should be about worship, reflecting the glory of God back to Him. It all begins with remembering the God we worship and His great love for us. We love because He first loves us.
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