Thanksgiving Praise and Thank Offerings (Nov. 2011)
Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart. Colossians 4:2 (New Living Translation)
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The What, Why, and How of Worship (July 2011)
1) What is Worship?
" Our response to God for who He is and what He has done"
Psalm 63:3 - Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you.
Worship is a broad spectrum not just including music.
1 Corinthians 10:31 - So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
2) Why Do We Worship?
1. It's a command
Our greatest commandment as Christians is to love the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength (Mark 12:30); therefore, worship can be described as our response in love toward God with all that we are.
2. He is worthy
3. We were created to do so
Revelation 4:11 - You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for you have created all things, and for your pleasure they are and were created.
3) How is the World Impacted by Our Worship?
1. Negatively:
Selfishnesh & disunity in the church
Personal preference over God's glory
Judgmental attitude
(Luke 19:36-40)
(Luke 7:36-39)
2. Positively:
Worship is an expression of love upward which results in an outward expression of love.
Worship should motivate us:
-Motivate us because weve been with God.
-Motivate us to go back out into the world, to our jobs, to difficult situations.
-Motivate us because we want others to have this same sweet relationship with the Father.
The World will know He is a holy God
Leviticus 10:3 - This is what the Lord has said, "Among those who are near to me I will be sanctified, and before all the people I will be glorified."
**Are your actions and your worship portraying the true holiness of God?
**Will the world negatively or positively be affected by our worship?
Our Confidence Before God's Throne (June 2011)
We know that worship can be expressed many different ways, but one reason we gather together and sing God's praises as a church is because it is what is going on in heaven now and for eternity; gathering before God's throne and worshiping Him. We're not gathering before a couple of large projection screens and a stage, we're worshiping at His throne, even though one day we'll visibly see Him face to face in His visible Kingdom.
We get a glimpse of this in Revelation 7:9-11 that says:
"After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!" And 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."
We know this is what we'll be doing in heaven one day gathered with the great multitude before the throne, but what about here and now on the earth?
In the Old Testament, God's people couldn't even go into the holy of holies where God's presence dwelt without the mediation of the high priest. You couldn't just walk boldly before God's presence because no one was righteous enough to stand and live before our holy God. After purifying themselves, the high priests would go into the holy of holies over and over again to atone for the sins of the people. But then Jesus came into the picture. By living and dying without sin on our behalf, He became our great high priest and imparted to us that righteousness necessary to come boldly before God's throne through him as our mediator.
Hebrews 4:14-16 says:
"Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. [[And here is where our boldness in worship is:]] Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace...
So even now, with confidence we come before God's throne because of our great high priest, Jesus Christ.
Praise the Lord!
However, for those who are not in Christ there is no mediation on their behalf, and therefore God's throne is a scary place to be if you are relying on your own righteousness and not Christ's.
Matthew 25 says:
"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. Then he will say to those on his left,'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."
So if we are in Christ, we come before God's throne with great confidence to worship Him. I encourage you to read John chapter 17 which is "The High Priestly Prayer" that Jesus prays for us who have placed our trust in Him.
Jesus prays:
"The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them."
Let us remember: "Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, ... Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace..."
What Does the LORD Require? (May 2011)
Isaiah 6:6-8 says:
"With what shall I come before the LORD,
and bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
with calves a year old?
Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams,
with ten thousands of rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?"
He has told you, O man, what is good;
and what does the LORD require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God. "
Biblical Community and Worship (March 2011)
Many cultures understand community much better than we do. We are bombarded with a focus on individuality. The Western mindset is about succeeding on our own with a focus on self. However, we see a different picture throughout the Bible- one of community and relationship.
Our greatest example as Christians is God, specifically the Trinity. One God, three persons - Father, Son, and Spirit. God lacked nothing before the creation of the world. He wasn't bored, wasn't lonely. He was, and is, in perfect communion as the Godhead revealed as the 3 persons of the Trinity.
So how should this impact our lives as followers of Christ, and particularly as worshipers? We need to realize that although we each have an individual relationship with Christ, if we belong to Him, we are part of the whole body of Christ. There is a necessity of fellowship with others, and even a biblical command to unite such as Hebrews 10:26 that says not to forsake gathering together.
So what happens when we gather to celebrate the faith that unifies us? The Psalmist wrote that God actually inhabits the praises of Israel. Other translations say that God is enthroned on the praises of His people. It should be no wonder to us that the Spirit of God is prevalent as we worship together, because He inhabits our praise and we sense His presence. I pray that this closeness would change the way that we worship- that we would comprehend the wonder of this, and that it would keep us from casually approaching the throne.
When we gather for corporate worship it is not about a bunch of individuals coming to have separate, individual encounters with God; we focus upward, which connects us outward to one another. Worship is edifying for the body of Christ, so don't close yourself off from those around you - be encouraged by how God is moving.
God didn't place us in this life to walk alone. He offers us a relationship with Him, but also a community to live within. Paul writes a lot about how we function as parts of the body and how we are to treat each other in love (Rom 12). There are also many passages about, and examples of, believers praying together. This is another of Gods ideas to promote community among believers through another act of worship - prayer.
A well know passage regarding this is Matthew 18:19-20.
Jesus says:
"Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them."
"There am I among them." This promise echoes what was found in the previous passage: God inhabits the praises of His people.
So we see that:
-God demonstrates perfect community and relationship in the Trinity.
-He offers that same holy communion to us.
-God calls us to be the body of Christ - living in community together and gathering corporately.
-And finally, God is among us when we worship together and pray together.
Let's join together not only praising Him, but also in prayer with one another; so that we may bear each others burdens, or perhaps mourn or even rejoice with one another.
Acts 2:42-47
42And they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.
Experience & Encounter (February 2011)
We’re all familiar with the feeding of the 5,000 in John 6:25-36. The crowd that Jesus fed experienced a great thing, a miracle in fact! The Bible says that the crowd he fed crossed over to Capurnaum the next day in search of Jesus. Why? Jesus explains, “Truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill.”
The crowd was seeking after Jesus because they had the experience of Jesus giving them food, and they wanted more of that bread, not to actually follow and be close to Jesus.
When we come into God’s presence to worship Him, are we merely seeking an experience, or an encounter with God? Firstly, let me try and distinguish these two things. We’ve all had experiences. Honestly, experiences are good - they are what make our faith real and personal to us. However, experiences come as a result of an encounter with God. By looking to Scripture, we see many different experiences that people had by coming into God’s presence. Those experiences produced fear, awe, repentance, and joy as a result of encountering God. This happens many times in worship - by coming before God’s throne. A great example is in Isaiah 6 when Isaiah is before God’s throne. He sees God in His glory and majesty, which leads him to repentance and mission. Because we also come before God’s throne in worship, we sense His presence which can bring awe, peace, joy, etc. We’ve had those experiences, but the point is that they come as a result of an encounter with God.
So, when we come into His presence, are we seeking a feeling from a past experience, or are we seeking God Himself? It is not bad to long to experience God, in fact, when we don’t feel like worshiping, it’s often good to be reminded of the times we’ve been close to God and to desire that intimacy. For example, David pleads to God, “Restore to me the joy of your salvation.” (Ps 51:12) He is desiring to experience the joy he once had. However, we know from the Psalms that David sought the Lord even more than a basic experience or feeling. Feelings pass, but God remains and He is what we should be seeking after. That is the key. Are we desiring an experience over God? The beauty is that when we are seeking God, we also experience the joy of His presence.
Later in John 6 (32-36)
“Jesus said to them, “... it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
“Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.”
Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe.”
The crowd was still seeking the byproduct, not Jesus. When we come into worship, we don’t seek after the benefits of being in His presence, we seek after God. To be motivated by a feeling associated with experience is like exalting the gift over the giver. May we learn from the crowd and Jesus’ teaching that our approach of worship is to seek after God - that we may know Him, not merely seek after a feeling or experience.
At the same time, may we not be guilty of the “opposite extreme” of denying Jesus’ teaching to worship both in spirit and in truth. For to sing songs of truth with our minds is only half of this teaching. God has given us emotions and feelings - we are to worship God not only with our minds, but with our spirit, for God is spirit. After all, the commandment also says to love the Lord with all our soul as well as all our mind and strength. Experience is good when it comes as a result of encountering God, but not as a motivation for worship.
