RETHINK WORSHIP Part 5 Psalm 92:1-2/12-14
Worship How and Why?
Worship
What is your reaction to that subject that activity?
A)I was a Christian when I
was in High School and for a while Worship was a struggle for me.
B)Reason: I had several
friends who played guitar and sang well
1)So I was very self
conscious about how I sounded
C)I was also self conscious
about what my friends would think if they saw me lift my hands
1)Or if I stood when I
wasnt told to? Would they think I was weird trying to be ultra spiritual?
D)So for a time I was
hindered in worship by my own SELF CONSCIOUSNESS
1)I am sure some of you here
have struggled with that as well.
I
have also been hindered in worshipping by my own personal problems.
A)I come into a gathering
like this and there is so much going on in my life I dont feel like
singing
B) I really am not in the
mood to worship God that sounds silly doesnt it?
1)I am sure you have been in
that place { linger a little while longer in this meaningless conversation
C)What
about this one: I have been hindered from worshipping God by my personal
Preferences.
1) I dont like that style
of worship
D)Or I like it when that person leads worship but not so much when that
other person does.
E)Now it is ok and quite
normal to have personal preferences
1)But out personal
preferences should never hinder us from worshipping God!
THE
PROBLEM W/ ALL THOSE SCENARIOS I just mentioned IS THIS:
A) The FOCUS IS ON ME when
it should be ON GOD!
B)Worship is not about what
I can get but it is about giving myself and my heart to God!
C)That being said there
are some great benefits and blessings that we
receive when we engage ourselves in true worship of God!
David declared in Psalm
92:1-2/12-14
1 It is good to give thanks to the LORD,
And to sing
praises to Your name, O Most High;
2 To declare Your lovingkindness
in the morning,
And Your
faithfulness every night,/ V.12
12 The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree,
He shall
grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
13 Those who are planted in the house of the LORD
Shall
flourish in the courts of our God.
14 They shall still bear fruit in
old age;
They shall
be fresh and flourishing,
I love this passage: Those who plant themselves in house of Lord, for the purpose of
offering praise to the Lord will be like palm tree & Cedar tree
A) Palm trees stand tall
in the sunshine found in hot weather Dessert
B)Ceder trees in Contrast
thrive in the Mountains &forest /where the climate can change drastically
snow & cold
C) The point is: the
person who Plants himself in the house of the Lord for the purpose of giving
thanks
singing praises & declaring His lovingkindness in the morning,
And faithfulness every night,
D) Those
people will flourish & bear fruit in every season of their lives & even
in thier Old age !!!!
1) Great Promise !!!!!
This series we have noted
that worship is a lifestyle
A)Getting God in View Wonder
and Reverence Treasuring the true beauty and worth of Christ
B)Letting that affect every
aspect of our lives!
C)What
we do here is just one expression of what really should be the heartbeat of our lives.
D)So our focus throughout
this series has not been so much about what we do here.
E)Today as we finish this
series that is going to be the focus Corporate
worship.
1)Although what I am going
to say definitely applies to our times of Private worship as well
I want to consider this morning 5 Blessings of Worship: Five reasons why
we should be those who are given to worshipping the Lord!
A)Reason#1 we worship simply because Worship DELIGHTS OUR HEAVENLY FATHER :
B)This
is not because God is vain we answered that question in our third study.
C) Webster
defined Vanity as being excessively proud of oneself or one's qualities or
possessions.
1)Vanity is a distorted sense of ones self worth.
D)Listen: God does not have a distorted view of Himself
1)He is the creator and sustainer of the Universe
2)He is Sovereign Does what ..When .. How
3)Omnipotent All powerful
4)Omniscient All Knowing
5)Omnipresent Everyone at once
But
God is also a father and as He enjoys experiencing intimacy with His Kids.
A)Psalm 22:3 God inhabits the praises of HIS
PEOPLE.
B)Inhabits = to dwell
amongst to be enthroned upon. { Comes and Sits to listen.
C)I understand this
because as a Father I love it when my kids are altogether.
1)I Cherish it even more now
because they are getting older doesnt happen as much.
D)We are sitting around the
table having a meal
1)They are talking Aaron
starts being comical
All laughing I love it.
E)It is an intimate and
special time: Our heavenly Father feels the same way worship.
Did you know that the word used
the most in the NT for worship is the greek word Pros/Ku/Neo{ Used 60 times
It means to turn towards
and kiss. It is an act
of intimacy.
The
other reason why Worship delights the Father is as a Father He enjoys watching
his kids do what they were created to do.
A)We understand this: A
sport / Dance / Excelling in School Creative
B)We were made to worship!
Colossians 1:16
all things were created by Him, and for Him:
Revelation
4:11 You
are worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power. For you
created everything, and it is for your pleasure that they exist and were
created.
B)It delights the Father to
see His Kids engaging in worship because He knows the benefits it has for us.
#2 DETHRONES OUR
FLESH.
A) In the O.T.
the word Shachah is the word used the most for Worship 97 times /
B) Shachah = To Lay
Prostrate / to bow / to stoop
C) The
idea is showing Humility in the Presence of God / It is declaring in our Hearts
that He is the CENTER OF ATTENTION
1) Many Scriptures that bear this out Psalm 95: 6 Oh come, let us
worship and bow down; Let us kneel before the LORD our Maker.
D) Now
if You Think about it /the very act of Worship Announces the Absence of Self
Absorption & Self Centeredness
1) In
Worship we are Preocuppied w/ God there is no other No one else in the room
2) All that
Matters is Him !!!!!!
This is the reason I believe why many times we dont engage in Worship
/ We are self Absorbed
A) We come to Church focus what can I get from
God.
Aa) I hope the message is good I want to learn
I need God speak to my heart
B) Worship is the last
thing on our minds:
William Temple
the Arch Bishop of Cantebury in the 1940s hit the nail on the head when he
declared True Worship is the most selfless emotion our nature is capable of & is
therefore the Chief Remedy for Self Centeredness which is the original sin
& the source of all sin!
C) The very act of
Worship DETHRONES OUR FLESH because it enthrones the Lord.
1)Things get put into
Perspective.
D)God is greater than I
am My self consciousness and personal preferences should not be an issue.
E)God is bigger than all
my personal problems
1)Eyes off of me and on to Him.
When we engage
in worship we are saying to the Lord It is not about me it is all
about you.
So Delights ..Father/
Detrhones our Flesh
#3 Worship: DEVELOPS our CHURCH FAMILY
A) When we come together I
often think of the different types of people who call this their Church Home
B) All different ages/
People from different Ethic backgrounds / economic
backgrounds / family backgrounds,
1) But all of that gets put aside
in Jesus & it is seen the most lift our Hearts & voices in worship
C) When people get
together and say: We are
here to worship the Lord and express our love for Him, there is an interesting
thing that happens.
1) There is this unity & this togetherness that Happens that
is so very sweet
There is a Neat example of this
in 2 Chron. 5 turn there .
2 Chronicles 5:13 It came to pass, when the trumpeters and singers were AS
ONE TO MAKE ONE SOUND to be heard in praising and thanking the LORD, and
when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments
of music, and praised the LORD, saying:
For He is
good, For His mercy endures
forever,and the house, the house of the LORD, was filled with a cloud, 14so
that the priests could not continue ministering because of the cloud; for the
glory of the LORD filled the house of God.
D) What is it that
brought them into oneness?
1)They came together to
acknowledge the goodness of the Lord. God Showed up in a big
way
That's
what worship does - come together as one / I lose myself
A) Become a part of
something bigger than me. Family
B)Peter put it this way: 1 Peter 2:5,9-10 We as
living stones,
are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual
sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
C)Alone just a rock good
for smashing; sinking
1) But together built up - spiritual house -
offer praise
9 But you are
a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people,
that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into
His marvelous light; 10 who once were not a people but are now the people of
God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.
So WorshipDelights ..Father/ Detrhones our Flesh
#3DEVELOPS our
CHURCH FAMILY
#4 Worship DEFEATS our FOE!
A) We see a neat
picture of this in 2 Chronicles 20: The armys of Ammon and Moab & Mt Seir
were coming against Judah
B) King Jehosophat of Judah was a godly king!
1) He sought the Lord/ the Lord declared assemble the
worship leaders Have them go
out ahead of the army Singing
2 Chron 20:20-23
20 So they rose early in the morning
and went out into the Wilderness of Tekoa; and as they went out, Jehoshaphat
stood and said, "Hear me, O Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem:
Believe in the LORD your God, and you
shall be established; believe His prophets, and you shall prosper."21 And
when he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who should sing to
the LORD, and who should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out
before the army and were saying:
"Praise the LORD,
For His mercy endures forever."
22 Now when they began to sing
and to praise, the LORD set ambushes against the people of Ammon, Moab, and
Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; and they were defeated.23 For the
people of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir to
utterly kill and destroy them. And when they had made an end of the inhabitants
of Seir, they helped to destroy one another.
The Enemy was
defeated when? When they began to
worship!
A) So too
our enemy: Satan hates worship - / Kicked out of heaven.
B) See He desires people to worship him / last thing
he likes to see is people worshipping God.
1) Fingers on a Chalk board /
Drill in the dentist Chair / Drives him crazy he bails the scene!
C)In a setting like this He shows up He wants to
distract us and Hinder us in anyway that He can from worshipping God when We
do
D)He is defeated Lost cause go somewhere else.
So Worship Delights ..Father/ Detrhones our Flesh
DEVELOPS our CHURCH FAMILY
#4 Worship DEFEATS our FOE!
#5
Worship: DECLARES OUR FAITH.
A) Now there are 6 Hebrews
words for Praise each one - gives us insight into how worship declares our
faith.
1st
word is Barak used in Judg. 5:12 / Psa. 72:12-15 / Barak speaks of silent praise from the Heart.
A) There is no
statement of vocal expression in this word. /
B)
But it is active in the sense that kneeling - is associated w/ it.
B) It means to kneel to bless - to salute ! It is a word that speaks of a
deep Reverence !
2nd
word is Yadah means to throw out the hands: It is used in Psalm 7:17 and in
several other the Psalms
A) The idea w/
this word is to throw out the hands to touch the throne of God!
B) It speaks of a
thankful expression of worship
3rd word is Zamar is also used in that same verse it speaks
of using instruments to praise God
A)It lit. means
to touch the strings to celebrate in song
B)David as a worship leader was always inventing musical instruments to
be used in worship.
Expanded translation of
Psalm 7:17
I will throw
out my hands in praise the Lord according to His righteousness, and will sing
and use musical instruments to praise
the name of the Lord Most High.
NKJV
4th
Word is Halal - which is the most common word for praise found in the Bible -
99 times in O.T. & in 1/3 of the Psalms
A) Halal is the
root of the word Hallelujah which literally means to praise the Lord.
B) Halal means to shout / to
celebrate / to rave / to boast / & to sing loudly !
1) It is a word that speaks of
a radical outward expression of worship- a real letting go - and worshipping
the Lord.
5th word is Towdah also involves the hands -
Towdah means to lift our hands - it is the most common word for thanks in
Israel today.
A) It speaks of lifting the hands in thanks for what God is going to do!
B) The outward
lifting of the hands speaks of the inward lifting of the heart.
1)
Lamentations 3:41 declares let
us lift our heart with our hands.
C) Yadah speaks
of giving - Towdah anticipates receiving - daddy pick me up
1)
The need or attitude of the heart is displayed in the way we lift our hands
6th
word is Shabach = to commend to triumph to glory and shout with a loud voice !
A) - Now you get the idea here
w/ most of these words aside from Barak/
that God intends worship to be a
loud very expressive thing.
B) Excitement about the Lord
and his presence in our lives!
Someone once said that Loud praise is not because God is deaf or hard of
hearing - or far away , but it is because He deserves great commendation, His
glory & majesty are worthy of praise.
C)At the very beginning of this study we said
that we wanted to RETHINK WORSHIP
1)See what the Bible says
and align our hearts with that.
D)No one is going to force
you to worship Sit there ok Sad missing out
At
the same time There is freedom: Stand hands
Be
loud bow Freedom to do that here.
A)Just dont make a
spectacle of yourself
B)Be expressive whatever
that means to you.
1)You watch a football game
small clap fine
C)You be you
C) We see a very costly
& expressive act of worship in John 12:
1)
Mary takes a bottle of very costly perfume. Dowry yrs wage $10,000 dollars
and pours it on Jesus.
It
was an expression of her faith: She caught on to what everyone else missed
Jesus was going to die for them.
A) Anointed him for burial
B) Interesting to note Mary
wasnt at the Crucifixion: I believe it was because she believed he was going
to rise
C) Marys faith was declared
in her worship
As she anointed Jesus that
day:
1) That fragrance filled the
room / Her hair