Are We Clueless When is comes to Genuine Worship?

This morning we are are going to evaluate are worship in order to see if it is pleasing to God or not but before we can I need to set the scene for you

As we all know Revelation was a vision that was given to the apostle John

and In Revelation 1:19 John was given an outline of what he would see

The things you hav seen

The things that are

The things that will take place

This morning we are going to begin by briefly looking at the 3rd section of this outline

John has been sentenced to a life of hard labor on the island of Patmos

and as we read I want you to keep in mind that in spirit h has just been ushered form the island of Patmos into the indescribable presence of God

at the end of verse 3 he just heard these words : “Behold I stand at the door”

Now as he hears the voice of Jesus and looks up he sees an open door

stand with me and let’s read about what he saw

Revelation 4:1–11 ESV

After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne. And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald. Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clothed in white garments, with golden crowns on their heads. From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God, and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal. And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight. And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!” And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying, “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”

Now I want you to understand that this is not an attempt by John to give us an accurate description of God

In scripture we are told that he father remains hidden

1 Timothy 6:16 NIV

who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen.

1 Timothy 1:17 LSB

Now to the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

No one has ever seen God except for Jesus

Some might argue that we read in the Old Testament where some where lucky enough to see God himself

but I would argue that it was just a glimpse of his glory

and in Revelation 4 what John is describing is the un-matchless glory and worth of God

and if we understand what he is describing we should be overwhelmed by this vision

So the question then is

What did John see and Why did he see it?

John saw the absolute awesomeness of God - in order that he could communicate to us that God alone is the center and source of all creation!

He wanted us to see that God and God alone deserves to be worshiped!

There is a lot of ideas out there about creation and the meaning of life but let me clear it up for you

Our Father is the center and source of all creation

Everything points to and revolves around him

He alone occupies the sovereign place of authority

He has unshakable authority over all things

So then the real question then is if this vision is not suppose to be an accurate depiction of God - why did John see what he saw?

God wanted us to see what authentic worship looks like.

and if he wanted us to what authentic worship look like then it only makes since that we should look at what John saw and them ask ourselves if in fact what we call worship lines up with what the father has in mind

So let’s spend some time unpacking what genuine worship look like

Our Response

Authentic worship start with a response

It is all about our response to who God is and how we see God!

this effects everything about our worship

when we enter into his presence - which is exactly what we do or at least should be doing when we come in to this worship center

we should be in awe

the hairs on the back of out neck should stand up

Just like John we should be in utter awe

and when we are…………

- It will lead us into unwavering commitment

- It will lead us into a deep reverence for the eternal king

Let’s continue looking around the throne room of God with John - look at verse 4 - this is where John begins to describe what was going on - he is describing the worship service that is taking place

Revelation 4:4–8 NIV

Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. In front of the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God. Also in front of the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal. In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under its wings. Day and night they never stop saying: “ ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty,’ who was, and is, and is to come.”

who are the 24 elders?

- the truth is we do not really know

And we are not given the answer so it is best not to speculate

what we do know is that they are wearing crowns of victory

crowns that they no doubt earned

crowns that suggest they have been redeemed

and the understand that even though they earned the crown in reality it was God working in them that made it possible - which definitely plays a role in our attitude towards God when we enter into worship

they show us what authentic worship looks like

Now John’s attention returns to God

- He hears thunder booming and lightning flashing from the throne of God - displaying the character and authority of God - all of which plays a huge role on how we see God

and How we see God affects how we worship - it effects our response

He then notices seven burning lamps and a sea of glass

we do not have time to really dive into all of that but just now that they are describing the character of God

and as we said above how we see God effects out response - it affects our worship

Now are attention is drawn to 4 living creatures

in order to better understand these creatures one has to study what us said about them in scripture

and while we do not have time to unpack all of that i would encourage you to do so latter

you can find references to these creatures in Isaiah and Ezekiel

what we conclude form these verses is that they are angelic beings who are called to lead all of creation on worship and that is what I want you to focus in on this morning

as we read Revelation 4:9-11

Revelation 4:9–11 LSB

And when the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, to Him who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and will worship Him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne, saying, “Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power, for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created.”

If you thing all of this was confusing think about how John must of felt

all of this blows our mind - and it should

but here is the thing - many man get so wrapped up in explaining all of the unknown in John’s vision - trying to read between the line and decipher what is being said - and they end up missing the whole point

Absolute Awe of God

the miss that fact that John is in absolute awe of God

if you do not get anything else from this message and form these verses

do not miss the fact that John was in absolute awe of God

that is where genuine worship begins

Are We Clueless When is comes to Genuine Worship?

When describing worship Tozer described it as the “the missing jewel of the modern church”

In other words he said most of us when it comes to real worship are clueless

We are so clueless that we are left asking ourselves

- do I have to hold my hands up in order to worship

- do i have to close my eyes are leave them open

- is it some special kind of felling

Swindoll says his great concern is that we tend to play the game church

We learn how to……

- dress

- sit

- what words to say

- How we should look

- We even learn the words to all the songs while missing the real reason we sing them in the first place

Take a song like how great is out God

we should be focusing in on how great God really is

but instead we are to busy worrying about

what are neighbor wore to church and the fact that he is out of key

about what is for lunch

did I turn my head lights off

All of these things run thorough are head and we do not skip a beat we keep singing

but don’t you see that is not worship

that is playing church

Because Worship is ascribing worth to someone or something

When we are worshiping God - I mean truly worshiping him then we will turn all our attention towards HIm

All of our affection and adoration will be directed towards Him

to often what is going on horizontally - distracts us form what God is trying to do vertically

Let’s have a moment of honesty

We will surrender everything for our work

But when it comes to worship we barley make time to show up on Sundays and an occasional Wednesday

Is that you - think about it

I want draw your attention back to the 24 elders and the 4 living creatures

God alone is the center of their world

They praise him for who he is and what he has done

They are not distracted by each other

They are not distracted the furniture in the throne room

Their thoughts are not wandering

Their eyes and ears are focused on the one who is worthy of all praise

What is response to God this morning?

It is time for some personal reflection

Do you see him as the one worthy of all praise - do not give the sunday school answer here - really search your heart here

When it comes to worship - are you in the spirit of worship are are you distracted?

How can you refocus yourself

- some find it helpful to wake up early on Sunday morning and prepare their hearts and minds for worship

Maybe you need to sit up here on the front row so nothing distracts you

Maybe you need to rid yourself of something that is not pleasing to God so you can boldly approach the throne room