Worship Matters!
Notes
Transcript
Worship Leader Bob Kauflin asks the question, “How do I know what I love the most?” By looking at my life outside of Sunday Morning. He asks, “what do I enjoy the most? What do I spend the most time doing? Where does my mind drift to when I don’t have anything to do? What am I passionate about? What do i spend my money on? What makes me angry when I don’t get it? What do I feel depressed without? What do I fear losing the most? Our answers to those questions will lead us straight to the God or gods we love and worship.”
So, this morning the title of our message is worship matters. This begs the question yeah, but why? Why does worship matter? Last week we kicked off our series by looking at one of the most important themes of Revelation, and that is who is God? What are His characteristics? In order for us to really understand why worship matters and how we can passionately worship God we must have a clear view of God. Last weeks message sets us up for what we will look at today.
Now there is one more thing we need to do before we jump right in this morning. I want to help us by defining the word worship. In fact, one of the most important words for worship that we see in the book is this term “falling down.” This is the greek word (proskyneo). What we know about this word is that it had everything to do with a person’s posture. So, worship was bowing down or falling down in reverence of the person or god being worshiped. What we know from Scripture and specifically here in Revelation is the fact that John himself fell down before angels, but the angels directed him to worship only God. (Revelation 19:10 and Revelation 22:8-9)
1. God is the true object of our worship.
1. God is the true object of our worship.
In our everyday lives what we see is that people worship something or someone. This is exactly what we see happening in Revelation. In Revelation 13 we read about a beast that comes out of the sea. What in the world is this talking about? The beast is a symbol of the Roman Empire which Satan the dragon gives great power too. The beast has recieved a fatal wound, and was now healed. The whole world is astonished because of this amazing thing and now follow the beast. Notice what happens in
And they worshiped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?”
So, the beast and the dragon become the object of worship in the last days. There is a real struggle to either worship God or Satan! The worship of good or evil will always be the question and struggle in this life. And yet, we were made to worship something. Did you know that you were made for worship?
Oh come, let us worship and bow down;
let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!
For he is our God,
and we are the people of his pasture,
and the sheep of his hand.
Today, if you hear his voice,
We were made to worship, however God’s Word and even more specifically the Book of Revelation points us to the fact that God alone is the one who we should worship. Last week we talked about God being in control, God is ruling and reigning and is holy and righteous and our Wonderful Father, so our response to knowing all of these things about God is to worship Him. In Revelation chapter 4 as we saw last week the four living creatures and the 24 elders worship God. But we also are to worship God. We can worship God individually, but also when we come together as the family of Christ. During the time of Christ and before the Jewish people worshiped corporately on Saturday. After Christ died and rose from the grave Christians began to worship together on the “Lord’s Day.” This was on Sunday. What we do is so important because when we come together we are worshiping God. We sing to Him, we speak about Him, we give Him and offering, pray to Him. Everything we do, all of our worship is to God and no one else.
Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God.” For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me,
but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.”
When we truly think about all that God has done, we should realize that we would not be here today without Him. We owe everything to Him. He made us to worship Him and Him alone.
2. Worship is a response to who God is and what He has done.
2. Worship is a response to who God is and what He has done.
Revelation 4 reminds us that worship involves a response. As believers we can’t just read God’s Word and see what He has done and not respond. Listen to these verses.
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,
And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, “Great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God the Almighty! Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations!
Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.”
Revelation 4 and 15 show us a response. The 4 Living Creatures gave glory and honor to God. The Elders fell down and worshiped. The People in heaven sang Great and amazing are your deeds God. God alone is holy, and everyone will worship you. When people worship God they sing, they speak, the shout, fall down, cry out, even play instruments. All of these things I mentioned are ways we celebrate how awesome and mighty God is. God is our salvation, He is the judge, and will defeat all evil when He returns.
Scott Duval reminds us that when we worship God and sing to Him we are telling Him what we believe about Him. Scott says, “Worship focuses our attention and centers our affections on what really matters. It carries us through hard times. It shapes and strengthens us. It replaces fear with trust. It drives away the darkness. It allows us to go on living and sing praises of worship to our God. Let’s Remember what God has done for us church!!!
3. We Worship God as we look forward to what He will do.
3. We Worship God as we look forward to what He will do.
One of the great things about worship is that we can not only worship God for who He was and is, but also as we look to the future to see what He will do. Anyone who reads through the book of Revelation will come to see how God is worshiped for what he will do. In Revelation 5 Jesus is worshiped for making God’s people into a kingdom and priests, who will serve with God in the future. In Revelation 19 which is the Marriage Supper of the Lamb God is being praised because His people are coming together as His bride. There is rejoicing, worshiping, and one big meal with God. But there are 2 other areas that I want to point out that are important for us as believers to see and to look forward too.
-He will overcome evil.
-He will overcome evil.
saying, “We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, who is and who was, for you have taken your great power and begun to reign.
The nations raged, but your wrath came, and the time for the dead to be judged, and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints, and those who fear your name, both small and great, and for destroying the destroyers of the earth.”
Jennifer and I a few weeks ago sat down to watch a very interesting documentary on one of our Supreme Court Justices. Justice Clarence Thomas. It was interesting for me to hear about all of the difficult and even evil things that this man went through. He often faced racism, he faced harsh living conditions and at the end stood trial while being falsely accused of evil things. Many of us want to see truth and justice prevail, we want to see right defeat wrong and good overcome evil. This is exactly what we see here in Revelation 11. When God begins to reign, the elders fall down and worship Him for judging the wicked. The first thing we need to keep in mind as we read this Scripture is to take a look at our own lives. How are we living for God? Is there any evil sinful things we need to confess and make right? God’s Word tells us as believers that we need to live obedient and pleasing lives. The second thing to remember is that God will return and deal with injustices, horrors and sinful things of this world. God will defeat the enemy (Satan) and He will win!
-He will rescue His people.
-He will rescue His people.
They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”
After this I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, crying out, “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God,
for his judgments are true and just; for he has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality, and has avenged on her the blood of his servants.”
Once more they cried out, “Hallelujah! The smoke from her goes up forever and ever.”
And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who was seated on the throne, saying, “Amen. Hallelujah!”
Over and over again throughout Scripture we see that God’s people call out for Him to rescue them. Here in Revelation chapter 6 we see the exact same thing. How long Lord before you judge and avenge? God when will you rescue us??? Many of you have asked that question. In Revelation 19 which we just read we see how this all plays out. God is being praised because he is faithful and righteous. He is judging the wickedness of the earth. He has not excused or ignored evil and He has heard the cry of his people from chapter 6. Now it is important to remember that God desires for rebellious people to turn back to Him, but so people refuse and continue to live rebellious lives. There will come a time where evil is punished and God rescues His people. Some of you have faced evil things in your life recently. You have faced betrayal, abuse, injustice. You can praise God today and worship Him because one day he will totally destroy all evil.
Conclusion: When we worship God it is an outward expression of our love for Him. We recognize everything He has done for us and is the true center of life. When we don’t worship God it is because we are looking to others things to become the center. Scott Duval says, “In Worship, everything is made right and whole again. We are put in our proper place as beloved creatures, no longer attempting to be the very center. When we worship, we find that we are who we were made to be, and our restlessness stops as we come to find our rest in God alone.
(Pray and lead into Communion)