The nature of God : He is a jealous God Joshua 24:19. He will tolerate no rivals Isaiah 42:8
God is possessive 1 Corinthians 6:20. He wants to be worshipped Exodus 20:2-6
God wants praise and adoration Psalm 8:1. He wants to be feared & served Psalm 34:9
God wants to be worshipped. How do we worship God?
Two Grk words in NT Proskuneo = to adore, to revere. Jesus taught the Samaritan woman 'God is spirit & those that worship Him must worship in spirit and truth' John 4:24
Latreuontes = service public worship Philippians 3:3 Who worship by the Spirit of God
Romans 12:1 'I urge you in view of God’s mercy to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy & pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship.'
WORSHIP includes our preparation to hear the preached Word. Our response to it.
Our change in lifestyle as instructed bt the preached Word.
- Worship properly understood makes preaching central
- We can only worship to the degree we have heard from God. God speaks. 1 Corinthians 1:21, Titus 1:3 Having heard Him speak prompts a response.
- Worship can also be preparation to hear His Word. Singing His praise. Reading His Word prepares us to receive from God. Our mind is attentive and focused on Him
Preaching is paramount.
Aim of worship is to glorify God and edify the soul:
Two levels of worship. Gratitude – express ours sincere thanks. Excellence: Worship God for who He is.
Many stop at gratitude. Few worship God for His transcendence & immanent glory.
Transcendence: The glory of God beyond human experience Exodus 33:18-20
Immanence : Nearness of God. We cry “Abba Father” Galatians 4:6
God has His own way how He wants us to worship. Are we thinking of Him or us?
True worship will aim to please God entirely without any thought of ourselves.
The more we please God the more we enjoy it. The greatest pleasure is to discover you are pleasing God! The only way is when we worship by the Spirit of God Philippians 3:3
What we do turns God off John 6:63 What we do in the Spirit gets His attention. How?
We affirm what He wants of us: To know Him as He is. To explore truth about Him. To honour His Son. All three refer to His excellence.
We get God’s attention by allowing His ungrieved Spirit to lead us to feel God’s presence, to thank Him for what He has done, to praise Him. All three pertain to gratitude.
All this is we are worshipping by the ungrieved Spirit Ephesians 4:30 quenched 1 Thessalonians 5:19
Nothing comes between us & God to grieve or quench the Spirit such as: bitterness, unforgiving spirit, gossip, slander, lust Ephesians 4:31-5:5
Not any worship is pleasing to God. Traditional, lively good preaching if we are thinking only of ourselves and what we get out of it.
Worship by the Spirit. By His help. His impulse, Everything done is for Him.
Preaching & Worship Greatest Service in NT was on the Day of Pentecost.
Spontaneous. Directed from heaven Using a remote! All done by the Spirit of God Acts 2:1
Response - tongues - strange behaviour - attracted attention. Acts 2:4
Peter preached the first sermon of the Church. Unplanned, without notes. Expository : He gave the meaning of OT scriptures Joel 2:28-30, Psalm 16:8-11, Psalm 110:1 (Acts 2:1-36)
Immediate result : 3000 saved. The Holy Spirit showed His presence: Blessed the preaching.
Fellowship spontaneous . New converts loved each other. Shared common faith & rejection by fellow Jews.
Breaking of Bread : High priority of the Spirit upon Jesus instruction. Experienced intimacy with Jesus
Prayer : Spontaneous but also corporate time of prayer Acts 3:1
High Priority the Holy Spirit placed on preaching. Peter explained in detail what happened.
Souls converted The church worshipped
Preaching the Word of God through human personality
True preaching & the Incarnate Word Jesus was God as though He were not man and yet man as though He were not God. Preaching is the Word of God as though no man delivered it & yet it is a man speaking accord to own gift intellect personality. It must convey sense of God.
Not worship unless this happens 1 Corinthians 2:4 'My method & my preaching were not with wise & persuasive words but the demonstration of the Spirit’s power.'
1 Thessalonians 1:5 'Our gospel came to you not simply with words but also with power with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction.'
Preaching that results in true worship will be characterised by: sound theology, urgency, relevance, gripping, effectual so that the hearer hears God’s voice leading to change of mind & life and worship in spirit & in truth
The Preacher & the listeners : He feels nothing. They feel the presence of God. He enjoys preaching no one else does, sometimes both are filled with a sense of the awe of God.
We only worship if we hear God speak. Jesus often said ,”He who has ears let him hear.”
Psalm 95:8 '...Today if you hear His voice, harden not your hearts as you did at Meribah & at Massah in the desert.' We have as much of God as we desire. We need to hear with expectancy
Active Listening : eager to hear leads to worship.
Need an open mind. Willing to learn, to be chastened, to obey.
Passive listening. Barely hearing but God does the unexpected.
Three kinds of doubtful worship: Emotional. The building scenery nostalgia Intellectual
Appeals to the mind rather than the soul, liturgical. Entertainment lost sight of the glory of God
True worship: When we see & love the glory of God. All His attributes To sense , to see Him
True Preaching in the Spirit of God will be God centered & prompt worship. How?
Challenged, rebuked, encouraged, thrilled as the Word of God gets right inside Hebrews 4:12
Isaiah 6 He saw the glory of God. He saw himself. He described the glory of God high and lifted up seated on a throne & the train of his robe filled the temple then he saw himself,
'Woe is me for I am a man of unclean lips'
Isaiah never lost sight of the glory of God. He was aware of his own unworthiness, God was pleased to reveal to him the glories of the coming Messiah.
We need to say Lord show us Your Glory and help us to pass that on to others.
