Good morning. Good to see you. You may have guessed we’re going to take a little break for a couple of weeks from the Roman series and we’re going to talk about worship. The title of this message, message this morning is “A Primer On Biblical Worship”. A “primer” is simply something that is foundational. It’s an entry point. For a lot of you, you know these things. It doesn’t mean you don’t need to be reminded of them. We’re going to talk about the essentials of worship at least in two messages, a primer on biblical worship here this morning and then next Sunday, the title of the message is “How To Sing A Song”. It’s good. It’s good. Preached a message years ago called “How To Hear A Sermon”. If you’ve never listened to that, you should go back and listen to it and maybe the sermons will be better, right? So, so anyway, it’s fitting at this point in the series to Romans that we pause and reflect back on not just who He is and all that He’s done but what should our gifted response be to the fact that we’ve been justified by grace through faith apart from the law only by Jesus Christ. And we felt like worship was the proper topic to address as you saw In Focus. And so, I have three points. The first one’s long, the second one’s shorter, and the third one more of a joke because you’ll get it. You’ll know the answer to these three questions. And if you don’t right away, you will by the time we’re done.
Here’s number one,
1. What Is Worship?
“What Is Worship?” Now, before you think song service, let’s think it all the way through, what are we actually doing when we say we’re worshiping God? Well, first of all, let me explain something here. This word “worship” comes from an old English term that was used and kind of became antiquated. And there were two words that kind of got shortened but in the Old English, worship was this word “worth” – “ship”. “Worthship”. In other words, worship was the enunciation, the heartfelt oration, or the heart posture toward the worth of God. The very worth of God. And that’s what worship, actually, in essence, is. It’s a reflecting back to God of who He is and what He has done in the face of Jesus Christ. That’s what true worship is. True worship is not a song set. True worship does not require a guitar. True worship does not even require, believe it or not, drums. It doesn’t. True worship does require two things. It requires the Holy Spirit and it requires the truth of God’s Word for us to rightly describe and enunciate God’s worth. If we don’t do those two things, we’re not actually worshiping, even if we do the outward acts, even if we sing the lyrics that are on a screen, even if we raise a hand, even if we bow the head, no matter what, it’s not the outward that God is looking at. He’s not looking at that, although that is pertinent for the human experience, right? Do these things: “Sing to the Lord a new song”. You know? Praise Him, clap your hands, all you people, shout to God with the voice of triumph, bowing down. Those things are biblical but if they’re apart from the heart, we’ve done it in vain. We’ve simply come and done something, and it’s in vain. So, we want to do a bit of a reset on what is it we’re actually doing, and is it only when we get together as a church, or is it throughout our week? Is it each and every day that we’re to be worshiping? Are we to be declaring the worth of who God is?
So, when we talk about God’s glory, that’s the demonstration of His attributes. It is the expression of His person. That’s the best definition I’ve ever, really ever heard. The expression of God’s person. That is God’s glory when He shows us who He is in His Word when He demonstrates His attributes. Or as the Puritans called it, His perfections. Who is He? What does He like? What does He like, in fact, and what does He do with all those attributes? That is what informs and fuels our worship. And so, when we talk about the accurate description of reality related to God, we want to describe at least in some way, his attributes or His perfections. In fact, biblical worship puts the supreme worth of God on display. The temperature, if you will, of how a congregation worships will be directly related to how much they know about God in the Bible. It will. Because if you say you have worship but you don’t have the truth that worship is in vain, let’s say it in theological terms. The theological term for worship is “doxology”. “Doxo” is praise. If you have doxology without theology, that simply means learning about God. That simply means learning who He is, what He’s like and what He’s done. Without theology, doxology is not praise. It’s idolatry because you’re actually singing to something that you made up in your head. There’s no different than that than carving it out of a piece of wood and bowing down to it. And the converse to that is if you have theology and it does not result in doxology and worship then really what you’re practicing is dead orthodoxy. So, we don’t want dead orthodoxy and we don’t want idolatry. We want the truth of Scripture. The theology to fuel our mind and enlighten our heart and wake us up unto the person of God, so that we then reflect back to Him: this is who You are, this God is our God, this is what our God has done, this is who He really is, He’s not this, He’s not that, He’s this. Because the truth tells us that.
So, when we speak in terms of His attributes, let me cover a couple of them. Here’s the first one. You’ve probably heard of a few of the omnis. “Omni” is a Latin word that just means all. So, when you put “omni” in front of something, you’re saying “all”. God is first. He is omniscient. He’s omniscient. That means He’s all knowing. That means He knows everything that can be known. He knows everything that can’t be known. And He knows every contingency between the two. You say, “what’s possible that can’t be known?” Well, things only God can know. He knows it all. He has all knowledge. Psalm 139:1-6 says, “O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it all together. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it.” God is omniscient. He literally knows everything. Let me say it to you this way, God is the smartest there is. In fact, it can’t even be measured. 1 John 3:20 says, “For whenever our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and He knows (what? He knows) everything.” God is omniscient. So, if we were to say in worship, “God is the all-knowing God”, we would be able to exclaim to Him, the fruit of our lips, the Bible says, giving praise unto His name, acknowledging not just that He is but what He’s like. We could sing to God or our heart could resonate with this truth. “You know it all, nothing is hidden from You, even the darkness to You is of light. Oh God, I give You the glory though due Your name and Your attributes because You are all knowing. There are no other gods that are all knowing. All other gods are false. You’re the only one who’s all-knowing. No man is like that.” That’s doxology. That’s simple.
Here’s another term, God is omnisapient. Now that’s a fancy way you can press your friends at parties of saying that He’s all wise. We are homo sapiens, right? We are supposedly have some wisdom in our own title that we granted ourselves. Hmm. Omnisapient. He’s all wise. That means that God doesn’t just know everything, He also has all the wisdom to do what he chooses is wise because he knows what’s wise. Wisdom is the ability to see the end from the beginning, right? So, God can always, in His wisdom, choose the right thing to do. Always. Because He has all wisdom. Psalm 147:5, “Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; his understanding (that’s a synonymous term with wisdom) is beyond measure.” Romans 11:33, “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!” Proverbs 2:6-7 says, “For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding; he stores up sound wisdom for the upright; he is a shield to those who walk in integrity.” So, if we were to worship God for His wisdom, we would say this. We would say, “Thank You for who You are. That You are always choosing the right thing. You never choose the wrong thing. You have all wisdom. Thank You, God, no man is like You. I would give You praise for that. God, thank You for being that and for revealing wisdom even to me. You give me wisdom.” The Bible says wisdom is free if any man lacks wisdom let him ask of God, who gives to all men and upbraideth not, I just went King James on you, and you didn’t even know. See? That’s doxology. That’s seeing part of who He is.
Yes, here’s another one. He’s omnipresent. He’s omnipresent. That means He’s everywhere at once, at the same time, and His presence over on this side of something does not affect or diminish His presence over on this side of something, and that can be separated by a trillion light years away. God is all present. Jeremiah 23:23-24, “Am I not a God at hand, declares the Lord, and not a God far away? Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? Declares the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth? Declares the Lord.” In other words, you can’t get away from God. Let me encourage you this weekend, in all three services, watching on TV or online, if you’ve been running from God, give up. Do you know God can’t go anywhere? You realize that? You say, “Jesus is returning.” Right? Because He’s because that’s bodily, but God, in His essence, is omnipresent. He has no frequent flyer miles. He has nowhere to go. Why? Because He’s already there. Man, what an amazing truth that He fills all in all. Psalm 139:7-10 says it this way, “Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven (by the way, this is the heavens of the universe) if I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell on the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall find me and your right hand shall hold me.” Everywhere you go, God is there. That does not mean God is pleased with what’s happening there. But nothing escapes Him, nothing at all. We can worship Him for that because He is the only one who’s all present. That means we can worship anywhere we are and He hears us.
Here’s another one, God is omnipotent. Omnipotent, that means He’s all powerful. He has all power to do anything, and He can do anything except that which would violate His actual character. God cannot lie. You see that’s not a limitation of power. That’s just a display of His own goodness. He’s omnipotent. Isaiah 40:25-26 says, “To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? Says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these?…” “Who created these?” What is he talking about? He’s talking about the stars and the constellations. Saying, “look up”, because why? Because the heavens declare the glory of God. Why? Because they demonstrate His attribute. Attributes such as this, such as His omnipotence, His infinite power. Look up and look at these. “…He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name…” Did you know they all have a name and we don’t know what they are? It’s true. Why is that important? “…By the greatness of his might and because he is strong in power, not one is missing.” Scripture tells us that Jesus holds the entire universe together by the Word of His power. That’s how powerful He is. He simply has to say, “Let there be”. And there it is. That is omnipotence, and we can worship God for His power. Do you see that’s one of His attributes? So, when we sing songs and we say things like, “You are mighty to save. You are strong enough to rescue me. You are powerful enough to conquer death, hell, the devil and the grave. You have that ability.” We are ascribing to God the glory due His name. That’s what worship actually is. It’s not just the floating around of certain songs and catchy phrases. We’re to love the Lord our God with what? All our heart, all our soul, all our mind and all our strength. Notice that, our mind is to be involved. Our mind is to be thinking about the attributes. Our mind is to be cognizant and meditative on the scriptures that pertain to these things. And you say, “Well, that sounds hard.” Well maybe at first but the more you grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and the more you know the Word of God, you’ll find yourself singing with understanding. You’ll find yourself saying words and songs and being, “I know where that is in the Bible.” And now you’re understanding you’re actually worshiping, not just you could say in Spirit but it’s in truth, because what you’re saying about Him is accurate and real. He is omnipotent.
He is also, here’s another one, He’s independent. The theological term is He has “aseity”. Aseity. And that means He needs nothing, He’s independent. God has need of absolutely nothing. I heard Christian songs back in the day that made God sound like He was pathetic. There was a song that we changed the lyrics two years ago. By the way, we change the lyrics to songs when they’re broken. If we want to sing songs, we just changed the lyrics because we’re not going to sing songs that aren’t true. And there was a song and this song started out this way. It said, “You didn’t want heaven without us, so Jesus, You brought heaven down”. That’s biblically inaccurate and bad. That poses God as a being in heaven, kind of going, “Ah, man, I’m kind of bored. I really need some fellowship. I need some friendship. I know what I’ll do. I’ll create some sinners who will hate Me.” And you have missed the biblical message, if that’s what you think God did. You say, “Well, God created us for fellowship.” Oh, see how that sounds like God has a need. God has no need. He created us for His own glory, and in that glory we get fellowship with Him. He has need of nothing. Acts 17:24-25, “The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, he does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind, life and breath and everything.” God is not in need of anything. Therefore, we can come to Him and we can say, “I’m going to offer to You a sacrifice of praise. It’s not because You need it. It’s because I need to give it. Because I see You and I love You. You didn’t need me. You chose me. You wanted me.” That’s a deep doxology there.
Here’s another one, I’m just going to go through several of them. He’s unchangeable. God is unchangeable. That means He’s immutable. Is the theological term the immutability of God. It means He does not change. Day to day, year to year, age to age, He always remains the same. That meansHhe’s not evolving. He’s not becoming. He doesn’t switch into something else. God is not growing in anything. Do you know God’s never learned anything? Now, anthropomorphically, in the Old Testament, God will say things like, “Now I know that you that you trust Me”, that’s anthropomorphicism saying now you’ve clearly demonstrated it but God already knows that. He knows the beginning from the end. He is unchangeable. Malachi 3:6 says, “For I the Lord God, do not change…” That’s pretty clear. And then He adds this, “…Therefore you O, children of Jacob, are not consumed.” In other words, if God just lashed out because He’s having a bad day. That’d be really dangerous and really bad, but He’s completely consistent. Hebrews 13:8 says it this way, “Jesus Christ is the same (when?) yesterday, today and forever.” He’s exactly the same. This is why we can call Him our rock. This is why we can call Him our fortress. This is why we can run into Him as a strong tower. This is how He can be a shield and a defender, a defense to the Christian. Why? Because He’s absolutely unchangeable. He is going to receive you the same way tomorrow that He will today that He did yesterday. He’s not going to have a bad emotion and pull a switch on you. He’s unchangeable. We can worship Him for that.
Here’s another one. He’s infinite. He’s infinite. He’s infinite. 2 Chronicles 2:6a says, “But who is able to build him a house since heaven, even the highest heaven, cannot (what) contain him?…” There’s no end to God. There’s no end. You can’t find the end of the universe because there isn’t one. To the expanse of His kingdom, there’ll be no end. He made a creation that would basically demonstrate one of His glories which is what? It’s infinite. It doesn’t matter how far you go, there is no last star. That blows my mind. And the day’s gonna come when we get to tour it, and what’s that gonna be like? I don’t know but it’s not part of the message so stop distracting me.
Here’s another one. He’s eternal. He’s eternal. Now, what’s the difference between eternal and infinite? Well, Infinite is moving forward. Eternal is no beginning. God has no beginning. Now, if you meditate on that enough, it’ll bake your little noodle because your brain fits between your ears. And everything we know has a beginning and an end. God has neither. Psalm 90:2 says, “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.” That’s a doxology right there. Why? Because that means He’s not making it up as He goes along. He oversees all of it. He is eternal. He’s not bound by time. Now He enters into it. He interacts.
And that too is a grace which brings us to the next one, God is personal. God is personal because, see, who we just described, could be a little bit detached from being intimate with individuals, particularly a human being, right? We’re so finite. We’re so small. We’re so ignorant. We’re so unwise. We’re so finite, right? But God is personal. That means He interacts with His creation. Isaiah 1:18, God says this, think about this statement, “‘Come now (this is God speaking to you. Who we just read about Him, look) Come and let us (what?) reason together,’ says the Lord…” What? What kind of condescension is that? That’s the ultimate condescension. “I’m going to come down from My high and lofty who I am. I’m the creator and sustainer of everything including you. You’re living on My borrowed planet, breathing My air. I put a spirit in you. I not only had you born, I but I sustain you. I’ve protected you, and now I’m gonna stoop so low as to say this, come now, let Me, let’s reason together.” What is the reason? “…’Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they are red, like crimson, they shall become like wool.’” That’s personal. That’s a personal appeal. Look, “You have a problem, I have a solution. You are dirty but I can clean you. You are filthy but I can wash you. I’m going to give My Son to take away your sin by putting it on Him, and then I’m going to give you His righteousness, His robe. Come, let reason.” That’s so personal. And that’s how a man is really regenerated. It’s not because the preacher says everything perfectly. It certainly isn’t because of any oratory skill. You’re not even at risk of that in this church. What it is a result of is, as the Bible is taught and rightly understood, the Holy Spirit sits with you and deals in you, and you find yourself hearing not just the voice of a man, but in essence, the voice of God. Because the scripture is coming alive in your heart. What does that result in? “Thank You. Thank You for saying that to me. Thank You for calling me by name. Thank You for choosing me from the before the foundation of the world. Thank You. How can I not say, ‘thank You’? Thank You. How can I not sing this truth?” this is the gospel.
Here’s another one, God is unique. Now I don’t mean He’s unique like your weird aunt, and if you don’t have a weird aunt, you might be the weird aunt. No, no. God is unique in that He is singularly unique. There’s no one like Him. Not only is there not one who surpasses Him, there are none beside Him. There are no other gods. All the other gods are lower case “g” gods of the invention of men and of demons. There’s only one true God, and there’s only one way to that true God, and He is unique as well, because He is God, and that’s through Jesus Christ. His sacrifice. Isaiah 46:9 says it this way, “Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there is no other I am God, and there is none like me.” And you say that’s a pretty simple Christian doctrine. Well, it’s actually quite inflammatory when you bring it to the world. There is one God, and He has wrath for you because of your sin. And there’s only one way that’s going to be atoned for. There’s only one way you can come to the Father, and that is through the Son, Jesus Christ, and the Spirit must make the Word effectual to raise you from the dead. That’s the gospel. God is unique.
Here’s another one, God is perfect. He is perfect. His perfection stands. That means He’s never had a flaw, never will, never could. Psalm 18:30, “This God, his way is (what?) perfect…” What did Jesus tell the disciples and the people that were listening in Matthew, right? Chapter five, He would say you got to be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect. “…The Word of the Lord proves true; he is a shield to all those who take refuge in him.” Why is He a good shield? And why is this safe refuge? Because He’s perfect. His way is perfect. You’ll never, ever, ever, eternally, ever regret obeying God. You’ll regret obedience to what is perfect. It’s always the right thing to do. No one ever will say this. “I should not have obeyed God. I should not have submitted to God. I should not have made Him my refuge. I should not have made Him my defense and my shield. I should not have put my trust in Him.” No, no. Never will anybody say that. It’s always the right thing to do because God is perfect His way and His person.
Here’s another one, He’s faithful. He is faithful. God is faithful. By the way, all these attributes function simultaneously without diminishing any of the other. God is not the sum of His parts. He is all of these at all times, undiminished, no matter what He’s doing. You say, “That’s hard to understand.” Well, He’s God. He doesn’t fit in our brain. Does He? Exodus 34:6. This is when He reveals Himself to Moses, “The Lord passed before him (that’s before Moses. And this is God’s proclamation over Himself) and proclaimed, ‘The Lord, the Lord a God (look at these) merciful (that’s an attribute) and gracious (that’s another), slow to anger (hallelujah), and abounding in (what?) steadfast love and faithfulness.” There it is. He’s faithful, faithful in the biblical sense, in the Biblical definition, we would say true to the original. If a man is true to his wife, he’s true to the original value made, we would say he’s a faithful husband. If you have a painting and you do a reproduction of it and it looks identical, you would say that is a faithful reproduction. It’s true to the original. God is completely true to His Word every time. There’s no exceptions ever. If He says it, He’ll do it. If He says He won’t do it, He won’t do it. If He makes a promise, He’ll keep it. If He makes an offer, it’s sincere, and He’ll always follow through. This God is our God, so we can say to Him, “You always keep Your Word. You’re always true. Oh, thank You. Nobody else is like that.” You might know some faithful people. We call people faithful but no one’s perfectly faithful. No one’s totally faithful but God. He’s the only one worthy of our worship.
We could go on. He’s good, He’s gracious, He’s merciful, He’s long suffering. If you sum all those attributes up in that sense, we would say what? God is love. God is love. He’s not just loving. He is love. And even when He’s doing things that, in our human mind, looks like the antithesis of it, this is always His motive. 1 John 4:8, “Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God (what? is loving? No) God is love.” One of His attributes. He’s also righteous. God is righteous. That’s another attribute. Psalm 11:7, “For the Lord is righteous; he loves righteous deeds; the upright shall behold his face.” So, He’s loving but He’s righteous, and He’s righteous and He’s also jealous. There’s another attribute, these sometimes aren’t highlighted. Sometimes people think, “Well, when God’s being jealous, He’s not being loving.” Again, all of His attributes are constant without being diminished. He’s not the sum of parts. I know that’s hard to get your head around. That’s the really what it is. God is jealous. Exodus 34:14, “For you shall worship no other god, for the Lord your God, whose name is Jealous, (He uses it as one of His names), is a jealous God.” Now, human jealousy, except for maybe within the covenant of marriage, is typically a vice, but with God, it’s a virtue. He’s jealous for what? For His glory, and for every single thing that loves Him and He loves. He is jealous for that. He’s jealous for righteousness. He’s jealous for truth. He’s got this jealous zeal. This is our God. And I’m glad about that. I can’t imagine being a husband who was not jealous for his wife, who would let somebody just show up and clown on his wife, pick on her, curse at her, defile her, right? That should stir an anger in you. And that’s where God is as well. And here’s what we want to see, that’s not at odds with His love, His kindness, His gentleness, His faithfulness. This is all of Him and so we can worship Him. “Thank You that You’re jealous for me. You’re jealous for me. You won’t surrender me to my sin. You will not surrender me. You’ll discipline. You’ll do what You’re going to do, You’re going to accomplish it. You’re faithful and You love me but You’re jealous, and You’ll fight against the enemies of my soul that would try to drive me away from the goodness and the joy I’m called into.” I’m so thankful God’s jealous that should stir our hearts for that.
He’s also just. He’s the judge of the universe, right? Deuteronomy 32:3-4, “For I will proclaim the name of the Lord; ascribe greatness to our God! ‘The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are (what?) justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he.’” He’s the God of justice. He loves it when justice is done. He hates it when justice is not done. You do too, if you think about it. If you’re in Christ, you’ve experienced this. You’ve probably read something in the news, and you’ve been like, “that’s a miscarriage of justice”, and something burns inside of you. Do you know what? God has the same thing only undiminished. Psalm 7:11 says, “God is a righteous judge and a God who feels indignation (that’s righteous anger, how often?) every day.” So today, God felt righteous indignation. Yes, He did. And yet, His love, His kindness, His faith, nothing else is undiminished. This God is our God. This is who we’re to exalt. And when you start to see His attributes, worship stops being about you, and it goes where it should be about Him. God is also wrathful. Did you know that God is wrathful? He holds His anger. He’s slow to anger but when He pours it out, it’s in wrath. Nahum 1:2, “The Lord is a jealous and avenging God; The Lord is avenging and wrathful; the Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries and keeps wrath for his enemies.” It’s one of His attributes.
Here’s another one that pretty much sums it up. God is holy. God is holy. That word means He’s just altogether set apart. In Isaiah 6:3, “When the angels call to each other and said, ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his (what?) glory!’” What is that? The display of His person and His works. It is the demonstration, the essence of His divine attributes, some of which we just talked about, many of which we didn’t that when those things are seen, that is you seeing the glory of God. Now there’ll be a day when we see it undiminished. Right now, we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face. If you were to see the full weight of the glory attributes of God right now in our human bodies, we would die. No man could see God and live. Why? Because our bodies are tainted by sin. Our eyes couldn’t handle it, our minds couldn’t bear it, our hearts couldn’t stand it. We would just fall over dead. So, He has mercy on us. That’s why we get a new body someday, at the resurrection, that will be fit to look at Him and see these things. Right now we’re only saying He is glorious. God’s glory refers to the consummate beauty of the totality of His perfections, and the greatest display of these attributes of God are in the life, death, resurrection and the second coming of Jesus Christ. That’s why we focus on the gospel because we see all that in the facets. That’s point number one.
Here’s point number two,
2. Who Decides How We Must Worship?
God. Good answer, you get a bonus point. God. God decides. I’ve heard many people through my life tell me this, something like this, maybe you’ve heard this too, “I like to worship God in my own way.” Ooh, yeah, that’s got a real bad track record. God tells Israel how to worship, and He tells the church how to worship, and He tells individuals how to worship. He tells churches how to worship locally. His descriptives are in the scripture. That’s why we search them. Let me give you a couple of examples, just from the writ of the law Deuteronomy 12:1-8, God says, “‘These are the statutes and the rules that you shall be careful to do in the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess all the days that you live on the earth. You shall surely destroy all the places where the nations whom you shall dispossess served their gods, and on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree (you’re going to tear up their stuff). You shall tear down their altars and dash in pieces their pillars and burn their Asherim with fire. You shall chop down the carved images of their gods and destroy their name out of that place. You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way.’” He tells him, “Don’t do this. You don’t get to make it up as you go along.” He says, “‘But you shall seek the place that the Lord your God will choose out of all your tribes to put his name and make his habitation there. There you shall go.’” Look, God will choose. Did you know God chooses how He’ll be worshiped? Why does He get to do that? Well, He’s God, and if we do it His way, we’ve done it the right way. “‘And there you shall bring your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes and the contribution that you present, your vow offerings, your free will offerings and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock. And there you shall eat before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your household in all that you undertake, in which the Lord your God has blessed you.’” Watch the next statement, “‘You shall not do according to all that we are doing here today, everyone doing what is right in his own eyes.’” There’s no self-style worship. We obey what the Bible says. It shows us how we do it, so we can worship in spirit and truth and not guesswork. Skip down same chapter. I just want to add this in, Deuteronomy 12:29-32, “‘When the Lord your God cuts off before you the nations whom you go in to dispossess, and you dispossess them and dwell in their land, take care that you do not be ensnared to follow them…” “Follow them”. How? In their worship, we’re not to look to the world and model our worship off their rock concerts. We’re not to look to the world and find things that are titillating to the human sense and then import it into the church. That doesn’t mean we can’t have a drum set. That doesn’t mean we can’t have a bass guitar. It doesn’t mean we can’t have keyboards. But let me tell you what, even if there weren’t guitars here, the church can still worship. If the church has a mouth, she can sing to God. In fact, we’re taking a season right now where we’re coming back to those roots. We want to get grounded back in that. Lest we look to the world and we find things that simply move the emotions we want, truth and Spirit. Verse 30, “Take care that you do not been snared to follow them, after they’ve been destroyed before you, that you do not inquire about their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods? That I may also do the same.’ You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way. For every abominable thing that the Lord hates, they have done for their gods. For they even burned their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods.” You think, “Well, we would never do that.” I know but it’s on scale you see. The compromise in worship is robbing God’s glory. And then He says, “‘Everything that I command you, you shall be careful to do you shall not add to it or take from it.’” He’s just saying, do it the pattern. Give the pattern. People say, “Well, I want to do it in my own way. And I feel like when I get in touch with nature…” I’ve had men tell me, “Nature is my church”. Well, right? Because it will never discipline you. Watch out for bears. It’ll never tell you you’re wrong. It won’t demand anything. You can’t get spiritually edified from natural revelation in so much that it can only glory. It can only reflect the glory of God. And then you can look at that, and you can appreciate God’s creation, but that’s not where you’ll learn the truth. You have to come to the Bible. That’s what’s required. People say, “Well, I want to make it up as I go along.” That’s got a bad track record.
Let me show you one instance, Leviticus 10:1-3 says, “Now Nadab and Abihu (those are priests, by the way, because they’re look), sons of Aaron (Aaron was a high priest. Here’s to the other priests), each took his censer (that’s a little fire pan, be about that big. Each took his fire pan in it) and put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered unauthorized fire before the Lord…” This word can be translated “strange”. They offered “strange fire”. What does that mean? It means they’re making an offering that looks spiritual. They’re going to burn incense. They’re going to do something. And they made up, probably a ceremony, and they decided on an incense and they were going to, they were going to come, and they were going to do something to worship Yahweh. And you could think, “Oh, that seems like a really good motive”, according to God, no, but the Lord had not commanded that, and they bring it. Verse two says, “And fire came out from before the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord.” Now someone could read that and say, “Whoa, are you saying that looks like God killed them”, because God killed them. You say, “Why would God do that? I thought God was loving.” He is loving, and He loved Nadab and Abihu. But He loves His glory more, and He is holy. And in the next verse when Aaron, the father of these two boys, was probably going to weep or complain, look, verse three, “Then Moses said to Aaron, ‘This is what the Lord has said: ‘Among those who are near me I will be sanctified…’” That means set apart. That means don’t treat Me common because that would be lying against the truth. It’s not His ego, it’s the truth. “‘…And before the people I will be glorified…’” What does that pertain to? It’s those that come near Me. When we come to make an offering, we want to make a fitting offering before the Lord. We don’t want to come just make it up and self-style it. We want to resent the sacrifice of our hearts, the fruit of our lips giving praise to His name. And we want to say and think and pray and sing the right things. We want to bring an offering that He has prescribed. It says, “… And Aaron held his peace.” He couldn’t answer back to that.
Let me give you one last instance here. And this is in John 4:19-24. This is when Jesus is dealing with the Samaritan woman at the well, you’re probably familiar with the story. So, the woman realizes, hey, this guy is spiritual, understatement. And verse 19 says, “The woman said to him, ‘Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.’” And then she asks him a question and it’s about worship. She says, “‘Our fathers worshiped on this mountain. But you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people where people ought to worship.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You (watch this) worship what you do not know (because it was just pure idolatry, right? Those were the Samaritans, it was that northern kingdom mix); we worship what we know, (right? because they were obedient to the Torah), for salvation is from the Jews. But (watch the next two verses) the hour is coming, and now is here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in (what?) in spirit and truth. For the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him (what?) must worship in spirit and truth.’” You have to that means it has to come from the inside out. It’s not just actions, not just words, and it has to be rooted in the truth of Scripture. That’s what He’s talking about so that we rightly praise God and we rightly attribute things to Him. That we don’t do it unrightly. We want to do it rightly. It’s that important. That’s why we focus on the scripture. That’s what fuels gospel-centered worship. That’s what fuels love for others and community and that’s what will always lead you to your next in obeying God in gospel-centered mission.
Okay, I have a third point. It’s the shortest point in the history of time. It has no text to it.
Here’s point number three,
3. Who Decides If Worship Is “Good”?
You win a free bagel. Tell him, “Pastor Steve will pay for it.” God decides if worship is good. Because somebody might show up to worship and it’s like, “Oh, I love that tune”, “oh I like the hymns”, or “oh I like the really upbeat”, or “oh I like this”, or “oh I like that”. And then that happens, and you go, “Oh, that was good.” And the singers sang, and the drummer’s drum and the keyboards keyboarded, and the person behind you actually was on pitch, right? Didn’t you love it? Did you all love singing without- I love singing. I’ll say it. I love singing when, sometimes, when it’s quiet enough where I can hear other people. It’s so encouraging, but ultimately, it’s really not for me, is it? It’s not for you. It’s for God. So, worship is good if God is pleased with it. Worship is good if God receives the thanks and the praise and the honor and the worship, getting what? Glory as His people echo, reflect, magnify, all those words His glory back to Him. In other words, we’re singing and thinking correctly, and we’re saying these things to him. And guys, you could use a ukulele. You could use what’s the most ridiculous, a kazoo, a didgeridoo, just start shouting out instruments, everybody? That’s a great way to do, church. Guys, it doesn’t matter because you could have the best band up here with the best singers, and the heart could be empty, and we could be doing what would be, ultimately, Jesus called it in vain. We don’t want to do that. This is what worship is. This is what worship actually is. So, I’m going to cut this right here. We’ll pick it up next week with a message, “How To Sing A Song”, and may the Lord give us ears to hear.
KEYWORDS
Gospel, Spirit, Truth, Worship, Worth Ship, Doxology, Biblical Worship, Essentials Of Worship, True Worship, Holy Spirit, God’s Word, God’s Glory, Attributes Of God, Omni, Omniscience, Omnipotence, Omnipresence, Omnisapient, Wisdom, Aseity, Immutability, Infinite, Eternal, Personal God, Faithful, Merciful, Long-Suffering, Unique, Jealous, Holy, Wrath, Independent, Love, Perfect, Gracious, Good, Justice, Just, Indignation, Sanctified, Audio Sermon, Bible Sermon, Grayson County, Texas
SPEAKER
Steve LeBlanc