Worship Series - Part 2

“God Is the Audience”

Message #2 in Worship Series 

INTRODUCTION:

Some years ago, Fortune magazine did a national survey in the USA to discover why people chose to be members of certain churches. Here are the answers given in their order of frequency from #5 to #1 with 1 being the most common:

• #5 = I agree with their doctrine and denominational connections.
• #4 = Their location and meeting times are convenient for me.
• #3 = They play the kind of music I like.
• #2 = They have a good programme of Christian Education for my children.
• #1 = I can relate to the personality and preaching style of the pastor.

I cannot help but notice that all these answers reflect a consumer mentality:

Ø  Preoccupation with the personal pronouns “me,” “my,” “our,” and “us.”

Ø  A desire to be served rather than to serve.

This is understandable to a point, because as human beings we do have needs. However, this neediness can easily lead us to value God not because He is, but because He can supply our needs and give us what we want.

We live in such a selfish age when many people are only concerned with receiving. We have lost a sense of the majesty of God. Worship is recognition of that majesty. Many people come to church with a long list of requests and personal concerns. They arrive with empty hands believing that God is obligated to fill them. Even many sincere Christians enter the courts of the Lord like professional beggars. This is wrong! Worship is not about us. It is about Him. It is not about receiving. It is about giving—offering up to God sacrifices of praise, adoration, and thanksgiving.

Even our vocabulary betrays the incorrect attitude on the part of many people. We often speak of “attending a worship service.” A person can attend a movie, a stage presentation, a concert, or a sporting event, but we should never “attend” a worship service. There is no place for “spectatorism” in worship, at least not from Christians. We should all go with the mindset to be active participants in worship, not merely watchers.     

Moreover, calling a gathering a “worship service” does not guarantee that worship will take place. If Christians are not truly connecting with God and offering up to Him their sincere praise, thanksgiving, and adoration, then it is not a “worship service” at all. It is just another religious meeting. We all know that many times Christian meetings in a church are little more than exercises in religious ritual, following comfortable patterns with no surprises. In truth, most church meetings focus 90% of their time and energy on educating, encouraging, and motivating Christians, rather than on worshipping God. So, how will you recognize true worship when you see it?

Ø  True worship is concerned with giving up to God that which is due unto Him.

Ø  True worship is for God’s benefit, not ours.

Ø  True worship recognizes God as the Only God, Creator, Sustainer, Lord, Redeemer, Saviour.

Ø  True worship acknowledges God as Holy, Just, Loving, Forgiving, and Merciful, etc.

Ø  True worship recognizes that God is worthy to receive honour, glory, praise, thanksgiving, love, adoration, and exaltation.

Ø  True worship always involves sacrifice, including our bodies, our time, our possessions, our egos, and our goals.

Ø  True worship admits no cheap substitutes, no graven images.

Ø  True worship is offered in spirit and in truth, not merely going through the motions.

TRANSITION:

Worship is driven by certain attitudes:

1.       The desire to get close to God, to be with Him, to know Him, to see Him, to hear Him.

2.      The sense of awe, reverence, and humility in His presence.

3.      Our whole being is involved – our bodies, intellect, emotions, and volition. 

As we walk out of a worship service the crucial question is not, “What did we get out of it?” but rather, “What did God get out of it?” We need to learn to be better worshippers. We need to learn to be participants rather than spectators. Worship is not just an emotional experience, something “worked up” as the result of music, methods, rituals, or audience-control techniques.

The supreme motive for worship should be love toward God in response to the love He has poured out on us. Centuries ago, Origen, one of the early church fathers, said this: “Our debt of love is permanent; therefore, we must pay it daily, and yet we are always debtors.” When believers come to church on Sunday morning, we are coming to pay a small payment on that great debt.

MAIN BODY:

I. Definitions:

The worship of God is nowhere defined in Scripture. We might find that odd. However, a careful study of the verbs used to describe the act gives us a wealth of illustrative material.

A. Our modern English word, “worship,” comes from the old Anglo-Saxon word, “worthship.” It meant to ascribe worth or value to someone or something. The ending of the word, “-ship” is used as a noun suffix to denote condition, character, office, or skill, e.g., authorship, scholarship, lordship, friendship, statesmanship, etc. Thus, to worship God is to declare His worthship; that is, His value, His great worth, and worthiness of our praise.

B. The OT uses two main Hebrew verbs that translate into our word “worship.” The 1^st one literally means “to bow down, to stoop, to prostrate oneself,” especially in homage to royalty or to God. The 2^nd Hebrew word carries the idea of “service.” It emphasizes the acts of worship and the outward demonstrations of our love for God.

C. The NT uses 5 Greek words for worship. The 3 main ones are:

1. προσκυνέω (proskunéo - literally, “to kiss + towards”) = It is used of bowing down, doing reverence to someone by an act of homage.

2. σέβομαι (sébomai) = It means “to revere,” stressing the feeling of awe or devotion.

3. λατρεύω (latreúo) = It means “to serve, to render religious service or homage,” (cf. noun form, λατρείαν, in Rom. 12:2, “reasonable service”)

4. By the way, the English word, “liturgy” translates the Greek word, λειτυργία (leiturgía), which is a compound word from λέος (léos), people, and έργον (ergon), work. In the NT, this word is usually translated as “ministry,” but literally “liturgy” means “people work.” This is ironic in that it came to denote the work of the clergy, but that is not what it means. It is the work of the people of God in worship. Liturgy is simply a vehicle by which believers can publicly worship God. It is a tool to facilitate genuine worship.

II. Three worship words often confused:

Ø  Praise = Emphasis on FACTS about Him – it recognizes and recites His attributes and His works.

Ø  Thanksgiving = Emphasis on US – on us offering personal gratitude for blessings that we have received from Him.

Ø  Adoration = Emphasis on HIM – offering pure love and admiration to Him strictly for who He is. Again, the emphasis is on His personhood.

Let me try and illustrate these three for you. A man comes home after a hard day at work. He says to his wife, “Baby, you are the greatest! You take such good care of me. You are kind beyond belief and all the guys at work are jealous of me because I have such a great wife.” That is praise. He is focusing attention on her character and her actions. Then he goes on to say, “…and thank you so much for that great lunch you packed for me this morning. Those egg salad sandwiches were delicious. And thank you too for putting in that nice little red and white chequered tablecloth. That made quite a hit with the guys, I can tell you.”  That is thanksgiving. The emphasis is on thanking her for the actual gifts she provided. Then the husband finishes up by saying, “Honey, I love you so much. I do not deserve a fabulous and beautiful wife like you. I know that I do not say this enough, but you mean the world to me. You are incredible! I love you, and I always will.” That is adoration. Of the three, which do you think the wife would most like to hear? – praise, thanks, or adoration? The easy answer—ADORATION! Yet in our “worship” of God we do too little of that. We do a little bit of praising, quite a bit of thanking Him, and a whole lot of asking Him for stuff.

III. Some common tools we use to help create a climate for worship, and to facilitate the expressions of worship:

A. Prayer – we talk to Him.

B. Music – we sing to Him.

C. Giving – we give to Him of our substance.

D. Silence – we meditate on Him.

E. Praise – we compliment Him.

F. Communion – we remember Him.

However, there are many other expressions of worship and adoration mentioned in the Bible. These are external manifestations that reveal what is sincerely felt in the heart toward God:

1. Removing the shoes – Exodus 3:5 Moses at the Burning Bush; Joshua 5:15 Joshua before the Captain of the Lord’s host
2. Kneeling – Genesis 41:43 the Egyptians kneeling before Joseph; Luke 22:41 Jesus kneeling in Gethsemane
3. Kissing the hand, face, or feet – Psalm 2:12 “Kiss the Son;” Luke 7:38 woman who anointed Jesus and kissed His feet
4. Hand over mouth in silent reverence – Job 29:9 the princes before Job; Psalm 39:9
5. Offering sacrifice – Leviticus 7:13; Romans 12:1-2 our bodies as living sacrifices
6. Singing – Psalm 33:1-3 a new song of joy to the Lord; Hebrews 2:12 singing praises in the midst of the congregation; Acts 16:25 Paul and Silas singing hymns of praise in the prison
7. Playing instruments – Psalm 150 praise the Lord with the trumpet; 33:2
8. Shout to God – Psalm 95:1-2; 98:4, 6; 100:1 (“joyfully”)
9. Clap hands – Psalm 47:1; 98:8; Isaiah 55:12

10.  Fall prostrate before Him – 2 Samuel 9:6 Mephibosheth before David; Daniel 3:5

11.  Bow the head – Exodus 4:31 the people worshipping God; 34:8 Moses bowed and worshipped the Lord

12.  Raise the hands to Him – Psalm 134:2 lifting hands to the sanctuary; 1 Timothy 2:8 to pray, lifting holy hands

13.  Stand up – Nehemiah 8:5-7 the people stood to honour the Word of God

14.  To bless, pronounce a blessing – Judges 5:2; Psalm 72:15

15.  To serve – Psalm 100:2; Joshua 22:5

16.  To testify about Him – Psalm 66:16; 71:15, 24

17.  To pray to Him – Colossians 1:3; 1 Timothy 2:8

IV. The Drama of Collective Worship:

A. The common concept of a worship service is:

Ø  The pastors, singers, and musicians lead everything. They are like the actors.

Ø  The people watch and listen. They are the audience.

Ø  God. He has no clearly defined role except perhaps to listen; we hope He is in attendance.

B. A more biblically accurate portrayal looks like this:

Ø  Pastors, singers, and musicians all function as prompters, behind the curtain, giving cues.

Ø  The people, the congregation, are all actors on the stage.

Ø  God is the audience of One, watching, listening, applauding, enjoying the show.

CONCLUSION:

Psalm 95 in Latin is entitled, “Venite!” because of its first word, venite, which is simply the Latin imperative verb, “Come.” The whole psalm is an invitation to “Come and worship” the Lord. Look at it for a moment.

Psalm 95:1-7

¹ O COME, let us sing for joy to the LORD (i.e., Yahweh/Jehovah); let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation.

² Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms.

³ For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods,

⁴ In whose hand are the depths of the earth; the peaks of the mountains are His also.

⁵ The sea is His, for it was He who made it; and His hands formed the dry land.

⁶ O COME, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD our Maker.

⁷ For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand.

The Lord invites us to come and worship Him, to enter His courts with joy and confidence. Worship is the privilege of the child of God. Our heavenly Father delights in our prayers and in our heartfelt worship. Psalm 22:3 tells us that God “inhabits the praises” of His people. And in Psalm 116:2 the psalmist says, “Because He has inclined His ear to me, therefore I will call upon Him as long as I live.” Try to picture this in your mind. When we offer our praises to Him or when we cry out to Him, He leans over and cups His ear to hear us the way an earthly father stoops down to hear his precious child. What a magnificent thing it is to be a child of the King!