Returning to Godly Worship
Isaiah 29:13
Introduction: What is worship?
Unfortunately there are as many answers given to that question as there are
people who try to discuss it. When I ask it I want you to understand the
spiritual qualities that create true worship from the believer, because only
the believer can give true biblical worship that is acceptable to God. It is
very possible for a person to know the vocabulary used in worship but on the
inside their heart is no where near God.
Do you know everything man does is in a state of
degeneration? For example; when we buy a new house everything has to be just
right then as the new wears off of it we become much more forgiving about what
goes on there. We behave the same way over our cars, our spouses, our jobs and
even our worship. The longer we are involved in it the more lax we become with
it. Concerning worship let me give you an example; in Exodus 13:6 concerning
the festival of unleavened bread we read “Seven days thou shalt eat
unleavened bread, and in the seventh day shall
be a feast to the LORD.” Notice it was a feast to the LORD,
now concerning the same feast in John 6:4 we read “And the passover,
a feast of the Jews, was nigh.” The feast has now become a feast of
the Jews, what happened? In the process of time the spiritual emphasis was
moved from God to man, that’s what happened, and this same thing is happening
with worship today, the emphasis has moved from God to man. This morning I want
to preach for a little while on the subject of “Returning to Godly Worship.” If
we are going to return to godly worship we must first return to…
John 4:24 tells us “God is a
Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” In other words for
worship to be acceptable to God it must prompted, led and anointed by the Holy
Spirit. Sadly enough it is possible for a born again believer to be anything
but spiritual. The apostle Paul tells us humanity is divided into three
spiritual classes of people.
The person we were physically born as,
unregenerate, lost and undone without Christ.
The born again person, the person who is indwelt by
the Holy Spirit, having the capacity for understanding and appreciating divine
truth. The person who seeks to live a life that is pleasing to God
The born again person who is indwelt by the Holy
Spirit but who chooses to live in the power of the flesh instead of the power
of the spirit.
In 1 Corinthians beginning in chapter 2:14 and
continuing through 3:2 Paul tells the Corinthians “I…could not speak unto you
as unto spiritual but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ… for ye are
yet carnal.”
The idea of carnality did not die with the
Corinthians; it is alive and well today. Every born again believer that has
lived or ever will live has been exposed to the carnal lifestyle, it is a
temptation we must face daily. It should be feared and if we are smart we will
do as David did in Psalm 139:23-24 and ask God to search us, know our heart, try
us and know our thoughts, and if there are any wickedness in us lead us to
everlasting life.
For worship to be acceptable to God it must come
from the spiritual man. You cannot worship God if you are the natural man or
the carnal man, you must be the spiritual man.
In John 4:24 we read again that worship must not only be spiritual but it must be done in truth. It must be guided by the truth of Gods word and be presented in a truthful or sincere way. In Luke 18:9-14 the Lord refers to the Pharisees prayer and its five capital “I’s” to teach us to avoid hypocrisy. Someone has given the following definition of hypocrisy; “pretending to be, what we don’t intend to be.”
The word sincere means to be “without wax” it refers to the stone mason trade of Jesus day. Wax would be used to fill in flaws and present the work as a quality it wasn’t, in other words the stone mason would deceive his customer.
In Philippians 1:10 Paul tells his readers “That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye
may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ;” Paul wanted these
people to be without deception.
If our worship is going to be spiritual and sincere we must allow God to
deal with our hearts. All sin must be confessed, hypocrisy must be avoided, and
our lives must be lived in transparency toward God in thought, word and deed.
The holiness of God demands a corresponding holiness of life, on the part of
the one who worships.
When we acquire spiritual worship and sincere worship we will develop…
God doesn’t bless a mess; He doesn’t place a premium on ignorance. One of the purposes of Holy Scripture is to make the believer “wise” about what God has to say and give us a proper understanding of our privileges and responsibilities concerning worship. Spirituality and sincerity must therefore be accompanied by an intelligent understanding of what God has revealed concerning worship. Too many people today are content with being ignorant of Gods instruction for them, there seems to be a mentality that says if I don’t know about it I will not be held accountable for it. When it comes to the matters of God that defense doesn’t hold water. There is coming a day when EVERY knee will bow and EVERY tongue will confess, no one will be spared. If you and I are going to be wise concerning worship there are a few things we must have.
This necessitates the reading and study of Gods word, our Bible. From the word of God we should know a few things.
I’m not talking about a local membership, denomination or belief system; I am talking about the truth of the bride of Christ, the universal church.
I have it said too many times that I don’t have to go to church to be saved, no, but if you’re truly saved you will want too! Meeting to worship is done to remember Christ that is why we gather on the first day of the week, the day in which He rose from the grave. Every Sunday we remember the resurrection. Everything we do on Sunday morning is to remember Christ, we remember Him…
From Sunday school to preaching it is the word of God regardless of who reads it or who speaks it, we remember the Lord Jesus Christ.
From southern gospel, to the great hymns to our current contemporary music there are songs that worship God and allow us to remember Christ’s life, death, burial and resurrection.
Everything the early church done was based around fellowship, first with God through Christ then with each other. In the early church meetings lasted all day from daylight to dark, not because they had too but because the Holy Spirit led that way and the people were happy to be part of the Spirit’s moving. Today if you mention the Holy Spirit in most Baptist churches you scare them to death. Today we want the preacher to hush by noon so everyone can get home to watch the ball game, car race, dinner or a nap. Where has the true fellowship gone?
Conclusion: Did you really show up today to worship? When you leave today is your understanding of worship going to be different than when you came? When you came in today were you really ready to worship? How about right now is your heart and life where God’s wants it to be for worship? I have just asked four very significant questions and you’re going to answer them with your heart before you leave today. Either you will walk away with a hardened heart about worship, ignoring what God wants and insisting on doing it your way or you’re going to be closer to Gods way of doing things. What has God told you about your worship this morning? Close as God leads…