Matthew 22:37-38 Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and great commandment.
God has intentionally created each person with different skills, interests, gifts, personalities, and abilities. We are all made in the very image of God therefore humans are designed with creativity and complexity. God has created every person as a unique one-of-a-kind masterpiece. But there are some things we are all born to do! For example, we are all born to love. We were designed to give and receive love.
This innate need to love others is called relationship or fellowship and this innate love for God is called worship. However, our sin natures pollute and distort this natural desire which leads us to worship and serve lessor things… John Calvin said, “The human heart is an idol making factory.” That means we will all worship something or someone, therefore we had better choose wisely. Only God is worthy of our worship and obedience… anything or anyone else is a false idol that won’t produce life but will only deliver spiritual death! The fact is, we are alive right now to know God and to make Him known!!!
Without worshipping God, we just don’t function as God intends. Without clean oil, a car engine doesn’t work well. The vehicle will break down… the engine will overheat and self-destruct. Without worshipping the true and living God the human heart doesn’t work well… our lives will break down and we will eventually self-destruct.
“Holiness is the characteristic of God’s nature that is at the very core of His being. Only as we encounter God in His holiness is it possible for us to see ourselves as we really are. The view of God presented in Isaiah 6:1–4 leaves an individual with a deep sense of awe at the greatness of His majesty. To be indifferent is impossible for the Christian when confronted by the holiness of God. The practical life of the Christian flows from the vision of the God of holiness. In this first study we will see the importance which God puts on His holiness. In later lessons we will look at the impact of God’s holiness upon our own lives.” RC Sproul
1 Samuel 2:2 No one is holy like the Lord, For there is none besides You,
Nor is there any rock like our God.
Psalm 29:2 Give unto the Lord the glory [b]due to His name;
Worship the Lord in the [c]beauty of holiness.
2. Recognize the Point of Worship
Many people wrongly think worship is simply the warm-up for the sermon, but worship is not just an appetizer but it’s an essential part of the spiritual main course! That is why so many church attenders show up 5, 10, 15 minutes late… If we had an appointment and opportunity to meet our favorite celebrity or professional athlete, I am sure we would be punctual and prepared to make the most of the special occasion… I wonder why we take the weekly opportunity to meet with other Christians and to worship the Creator of the universe with such a flippant demeanor… Worship must not be relegated to a secondary place in our hearts. Just as we would feel slighted to miss the first 20 minutes of a movie or the first half of a UK basketball game, we should sense a deep and profound loss when we miss out on the weekly worship experience.
One the most disheartening things about being a pastor… having the responsibility of looking from the front out and over the congregation… is to see people standing stoically, with their arms crossed, looking like they had just been baptized in pickle juice. The same people who will jump, cheer, clap, shout and act crazy at a concert or a sporting event will stand like a statue during worship…. It almost seems like for many church members their favorite song to sing should be “I shall not be moved”!
I am personally not a great singer, (I know how to carry a note, I just don’t know how to unload it…lol) but I have learned over the years to participate in worship. The Senior Pastor is not the worship leader, but he is the lead worshipper. I want to be a good example for The Mission Church of Lexington on how to be engaged in the worship experience. I have also learned, not to participate in worship is often rooted in pride or fear… and pride is a sin and fear is opposite of faith! Lord, please forgive me!
People are welcome at The Mission Church of Lexington who never sing a word or lift a hand or even crack a smile, but I know once somebody truly begins to experience the Lord’s presence, they will long to experience worship with both their voices and their bodies!
Hebrews 13:15 Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, [a]giving thanks to His name.
Psalm 47:1 Oh, clap your hands, all you peoples! Shout to God with the voice of triumph!
Psalm 134:2 Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, And bless the Lord.
Psalm 149:3 Let them praise His name with the dance; Let them sing praises to Him with the timbrel and harp.
3. Recognize the Pursuit of Worship
John 4:23-24 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. 24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
Like a runner leaning forward to reach the finish line is a picture we get when thinking about the pursuit of God in worship. To earnestly worship requires a gaze not a glance of the True and Living God. Worship is looking intently and intensely at His majesty and his might. It is looking with anticipation at His presence and His promises.
Every time we worship, we are to expect God to speak to us. Not in an audible way but in and through our mind, soul, and spirit. Therefore, we must come to God with an attitude of anticipation. Some people will say “I just didn’t get anything out of that worship service”. This statement says more about you than it does about the worship service. When we come prepared to pursue God in praise, that changes everything!
Many years ago, when the billionaire Howard Hughes died, his company’s public relations director asked the casinos in Las Vegas, where Hughes owned multiple casinos, to show him respect by giving him a minute of silence. For an uncomfortable sixty seconds, the casinos fell eerily silent. Then a pit boss looked at his watch, leaned forward, and whispered, “Okay, roll the dice. He’s had his minute.” (From the book, Howard Hughes: The Hidden Years, cited in “Our Daily Bread,” 11/77.)
I wonder if sometimes we treat God as those gamblers in Las Vegas treated Howard Hughes. We interrupt our busy schedules once a week, rush into church, give God “His hour,” and then forget about Him and get back to what we’d rather be doing.
John MacArthur was certainly correct to title his book on worship, The Ultimate Priority [Moody Press, 1983]. God created us for the ultimate priority of worshiping Him. As the Westminster Shorter Catechism puts it, “The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.” Or, as John Piper modifies it, our chief end is “to glorify God by enjoying Him forever” (Desiring God [Multnomah Books], 1996 edition, p. 15).
If this blog post has grabbed your curiosity and you would like to know more please pursue any/all of the below options:
1- Contact me at pastor@missionchurchlex.org
2- Check out our church website Misisonchurchlex.org
3- Visit us for Community Celebration and Worship every Sunday at 9am and 11am (Facebook livestreaming available at 9am) and Mission Groups each Wednesday at 630pm. We are located at 3288 Beaver Creek Drive Lexington KY 40515.
4- Follow us on Facebook www.facebook.com/missionchurch.lex
5- Continue to read this weekly blog- “Find your Why with Pastor D”
I loved this blog so true we need to worship God for who he is in love and compassion and sing in a joyful way to him God loves all people and loves a happy and faithful person who worships with a loveing heart
Thank you, Dannie!