The Rhythm of Worship
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Post-its on notes?
Worship is much deeper than a song and more broad than a Sunday service.
“Since the object of our worship is the glorious and majestic God of Heaven, when worship becomes empty, the problem lies with the subject (us), not the object (God).”
— Donald Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life
Three Foundational Truths:
Three Foundational Truths:
1. You are a worshipper.
1. You are a worshipper.
Everyone worships
25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
Your children worship
Your neighbors worship
Your spouse worships
The most vile criminal in our prison system worships
We were made by God to worship
The question is not, ”Will you worship?” but “HOW and WHO will you worship?” Will you do it poorly or will you do it well?
Worship lasts forever
Revelation 5:11–14 (ESV)
11 Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, 12 saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” 13 And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!” 14 And the four living creatures said, “Amen!” and the elders fell down and worshiped.
prayer disappears
evangelism disappears
missions disappears
confession disappears
healing disappears
marriage disappears
“Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn't. Worship is ultimate.” - John Piper
2. God is the true object of worship. (32)
2. God is the true object of worship. (32)
you are not the object of worship - God is
Worship God because of who he is.
ILLUST - Are there more starts or sand on all beaches? there are multiple stars for every grain of sand on all the beaches of the world.
There are also more molecules in ten drops of water than there are stars in the sky
There are also many more atoms in one grain of sand than there are stars in the sky.
The feeling your head has now is called AWE. It’s the feeling we get when faced with something that is beyond our minds comprehension.
Eternity past - eternity future.
God is all-knowing, all-powerful, everywhere present. We examine God as if he is the one who can even be studied.
The simple fact that God exists is reason enough to worship Him. The person of God is worthy of worship - he has nothing to prove.
Worship God because of what he has done.
Imagine the miracles: (We have to use our imagination - our experiential side of our mind cannot do)
parting of the Red Sea
bread from heaven
walk on water
heal the sick
cast out demons
rise from the dead
Worship God because he calls us to.
You are to worship God if for no other reason than your Creator calls you to.
While he has every right to, God does not just command us to worship him - he engenders us to worship him.
God could easily make us all worship him.
ILLUST - I could threaten my children, take away their possessions, make life difficult for them as a way to demand they love me. Or, I could woo their heart to mine. Cause them to see me with awe (correct them when needed, but this shows they are mine).
This is the way God calls us to worship. I wonder how many Christians have a fear-based or rules-based worship rather than a love-rooted worship.
1 Very important truth:
Your view of God affects your worship of God.
If you don’t rightly view God, you will have a hard time rightly worshiping God.
Take time to know God rightly. Let your mind wander to AWE. Remember his acts of goodness to you.
3. The act of worship reorients the worshipper to the object of worship. (29)
3. The act of worship reorients the worshipper to the object of worship. (29)
The act of worship reorients our hearts, minds and lives back to what is really worthwhile.
The worship of an idol was a distraction from what was true and real.
Worship songs should reorient our hearts, minds, and life back to Christ
As we read Scripture we see are reminded of the greatness of God
The beauty of a sunrise should reorient us back the great Creator
If you are not the object of worship, then you are not the focus of any act of worship.
Satan giggles when churches engage in worship wars.
Focus of worship shifts from the true object of worship (God) to the preference of the worshipper.
OT worship included killing cute goats and lambs - not MY preference! I would look for a Temple that chose to pet the goats and lambs.
Regardless of what you think about Granger MC’s worship style, the frequency of hymns, whether or not we sing Bethel music, instruments used, the quality of singers, or volume of the band, know that Zach and the whole worship team
There will only be ONE focus of worship in heaven - with a worship band led by Chris Tomlin - JK
Because of this, true worship involves a refocus (of our minds), and reshaping (of our hearts), and a reflection (with our lives).
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Worship refocuses your mind (26)
Worship refocuses your mind (26)
Worship refocuses your mind back to what is truly worthwhile.
ILLUST - a Mandela effect is a phenomenon where a bunch of people remember the same thing, even though it didn't happen or wasn't accurate. It was named after Nelson Mandela and the false belief that the heroic activist was dead many years before he actually died.
Isaiah 6:1–7 (ESV)
1 In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord 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, and the house was filled with smoke. 5 And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” 6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”
If when you are struggling with (distracted) by fears, anxiety, decisions, loneliness, depression, temptation, etc., God were to show up as he does in Isaiah 6, how might your mindset change?
Is God different today than he was in Isaiah’s day?
So, this reality about God is true even right now?
ILLUST - close your eyes and as I read this passage, imagine your biggest struggle right now:
kids, marriage, lack of self worth, unrelenting temptations, depression, fears
compared to God this passage describes:
PASSAGE: Ps 103, or Ps 107
Worship refocuses our mind to what is truly worthwhile (and has the “worth-ship”) and corrects the values of everything else.
(Note: people, made in God’s image, are not devalued but revalued in this)
*Refocus on Christ in worship* (21)
*Refocus on Christ in worship* (21)
3 min - worship team
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Worship reshapes your heart (18)
Worship reshapes your heart (18)
True worship should reshape us not reflect us.
True worship requires sacrifice and submission
To hold back sacrifice claims you control and God is not worth your possessions
To hold back submission to Christ claims he is not worth your life
A confrontation with the God who is should change who you are.
John 20:24–29 (ESV)
24 Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.” 26 Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” 28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
In other words, empty worship is no worship at all.
2 Samuel 24:24 (ESV)
24 But the king (David) said to Araunah, “No, but I will buy it from you for a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God that cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.
Acts of worship require a response. Remain the same or change in light of what is visible with Christ.
It is both personal and public
When you go looking for worship that “suits” you, it is doubtful you will allow worship to reshape you.
Why? Because you are looking for a worship that reflects you not reshapes you.
We are to be reshaped to reflect Christ!
Through the conviction the encouragement of the Word, song, etc. we are refocused and (if we respond) reshaped more into the image of Christ.
What keeps us from responding in worship?
fear, pride, complacency
With no response, we mute the song to which Christ wishes to tune our hearts
*Allow Christ to reshape thoughts, decision, actions through worship* (13)
*Allow Christ to reshape thoughts, decision, actions through worship* (13)
3 min - worship team
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Worship reflects God’s worth through your life (10)
Worship reflects God’s worth through your life (10)
Worship is a Jesus-first life everyday, not simply a service attended on Sunday.
Philippians 1:19–21 (ESV)
19 for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, 20 as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. 21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
When I sacrifice for Christ, it shows the true value of Christ.
Romans 12:1–2 (ESV)
1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
A life of worship has worship as the end and not the means.
Paul didn’t worship Jesus only when things were sunny. He didn’t worship Jesus so that things would be sunny. He worshipped Jesus.
Worship is not a means in our life to stave off religious guilt or gain religious pride or wash our moral worries.
Paul’s purpose for a Christ-centered life was not not gain but to serve - and in that he gained because his affections were on Jesus.
He has joy in the face of everything - even death - not happiness, but joy
The purpose of worship is not to find complete satisfaction in anything else, but Jesus alone.
1 Corinthians 10:31 (ESV)
31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
*Consider how you will use the gifts God has given you in the spaces he has placed you to reflect his worth-ship* (5)
*Consider how you will use the gifts God has given you in the spaces he has placed you to reflect his worth-ship* (5)
3 min - dance team
Conclusion (2)
How will you worship this week? (listen to worship music all week long, place scripture nearby, write a verse on the post-it note along with what it says about God so it will refocus your situation.