What is Worship? pt.1
Notes
Transcript
Handout
In our introduction to the series of worship you will see:
Worship is a part of your make-up as a person (Genesis 1:26-27)
How the God of the Bible views worship as a priority (Exodus 20:3-6, Isaiah 42:8)
How your view of God affects your worship (Isaiah 6:1-5)
How the previous 3 considerations point to Christ (John 4:19-23)
The most popular view of our time is belief that humanity is capable of morality and self-fulfillment without belief in God.
self reliance, self preservation, self confidence, self esteem, self help, self improvement
all of these revolve around your identity
your identity is a reflection of an image that is worth something/everything
hence all the the hype around identity politics
your identity the image you reflect and worth are tightly knit together
worship is the expression of the worth of something (Expressing how much something is worth to you)
worth+ship (Old English)
Worship & Your Identity
First Consideration Gen 1:26-27 “26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness, so that they will have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”
When God shaped/ created/ brought mankind into existence image bearing was at the center of it
3x image in 2 verses
Genesis 9:6Genesis 9:6 (LSB) “6 “Whoever sheds man’s blood, By man his blood shall be shed, For in the image of God He made man.” (LSB)
At the core of our being we are imaging (image reflective ) beings
You’re either reflecting the image of the Creator or creation
Like David in Psalm 8:3-9 “3 When I see Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have established; 4 What is man that You remember him, And the son of man that You care for him? 5 Yet You have made him a little lower than the angels, And You crown him with glory and majesty! 6 You make him to rule over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet, 7 All sheep and oxen, And also the animals of the field, 8 The birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea, Whatever passes through the paths of the seas. 9 O Yahweh, our Lord, How majestic is Your name in all the earth!”
Or like the children of wrath who suppress the truth in unrighteousness Rm 1:18, Rm 1:22-23 “22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the likeness of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.”
At your core, whose image do you reflect?
What / who do you show more worth to?
G.K Beale Writes “What people revere they resemble, either for ruin or restoration”
2. God’s View of Worship
Having seen that you were made for worship/ Worship is a part of your DNA identity
Consider how God views worship, So much so the first 2 commandments are about worship
Ex 20:3-6 “3 “You shall have no other gods before Me. 4 “You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. 5 “You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6 but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.”
You shall (Must) not be possessed by/ reflect any other image worthy of worship (gods) than Me
Nor should you substitute true worship of Him by making up things that you think represent Him (EX 34, the golden calf)
He takes His glory and worship so seriously
Is 42:8 “8 “I am Yahweh, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another, Nor My praise to graven images.”
He is intolerant of disloyalty to His worth I YHWH is a jealous God (Ex 20:5)
He considers the way you reflect His image seriously
His view of worship due to Him is a matter of your loyalty or treason
3. Your View of God Determines your Worship
If God is a 3 letter word with a meaning that you can change as you see fit, then worship is idolatry
If God is anything else than His own self revelation in scripture then worship is lacking or you’re an idolater
Is 6:1-5 “1 In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, with the train of His robe filling the temple. 2 Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called out to another and said, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is Yahweh of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory.” 4 And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called out, while the house of God was filling with smoke. 5 Then I said, “Woe is me, for I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, Yahweh of hosts.””
This is essential because the at the root of idolatry is a thought of God as being less than or other than what He revealed Himself to be
Deuteronomy 4:12–14 “12 “Then Yahweh spoke to you from the midst of the fire; you heard the sound of words, but you saw no form—only a voice. 13 “So He declared to you His covenant which He commanded you to do, that is, the Ten Commandments; and He wrote them on two tablets of stone. 14 “And Yahweh commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that you might do them in the land where you are going over to possess it.”
God is not a bigger/ better version of humanity (Superhero)
the God of the bible is completely/ utterly/ unimaginably transcendent/unique/other worldly/magnificent/matchless
Psalm 50:21 “21 “These things you have done and I kept silent; You thought that I was just like you; I will reprove you and state the case in order before your eyes.”
Fear and trembling, recognition of His Holiness in the truest sense and your sinfulness (broken spirit & contrite heart)
If that’s not your view of God then it’s incomplete
This high view of God causes you to worship Him with true reverence
Approach Him on His terms and not your own
Is this your view of God? (Challenge)
If we are honest about whose image we reflect most often (which is mostly our own or some version of creation)
If we honestly and truly consider the lofty way God views worship and how we reduce it to Sunday morning or some experiential thing
And if we’re honest about how deficient our view of God is
We recognize that we’re LACKING
4. Christ & Worship
It is imperative to get Christ’s definition of true worship on this matter because there’s no better source than Him to tell us what that is
Consider John 4:19–23 “19 The woman said to Him, “Sir, I see that You are a prophet. 20 “Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.” 21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22 “You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 “But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.”
Consider your thoughts as we worked through the first 3 points
Reasoning within yourself to justify that your worship is sufficient
Maybe trying to harmonize your worship experience to stand vindicated like the woman at the well
Maybe you’re eagerly and secierly seeking to worship God on His terms
For that you must firs come to Christ
Hebrews 1:1–4 “1 God, having spoken long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, 2 in these last days spoke to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds, 3 who is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power; who, having accomplished cleansing for sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become so much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more excellent name than they.”
John 1:18 “18 No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.”
He Says that true worship that honors God the Father comes only through the Son (who is the embodiment of the truth) and empowered/ energized/animated by the Spirit
worship that the father will receive from us must come from the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts as He transforms us to the image of Christ by His power and His word(truth)
In other words, Christ centered and Holy Spirit Empowered expression of the worthiness of God is true worship
Worship God on His terms by looking to the truth (His word) and being filled and led by His Spirit
Practical Applications
Worship God with all that you are
Examine and Rearrange Worship in your Life
Always Maintain a High View of God in all circumstances
Yield to the Holy Spirit as He reveals Christ in Scripture for Worship