We Fall Down (Part 1) - January 5, 2003

"Worship God"

We’re beginning our first series of the year. It’s going to be on the subject of worship. There aren’t many subjects more important than worship. We’re going to spend eight weeks talking about this important subject. Today, we’re going to do an introductory message. Next week the second message in the series is called “Kissing Toward the Throne.” We’ll be looking at Revelation Chapter 4. The third message, based on Revelation Chapter 5, is called “Kissing Toward the Lamb.” If anyone knows how to do worship, you would think it’s the people in heaven. We’re going to find out that worship is going on constantly in heaven and that if it’s done right anywhere, it must be there.

The fourth message is called “The Heart of Worship” from Matthew 15. I think you are very much aware that our lips and our heart are not always in the same place when we worship. They don’t always agree. The fifth message: “What if the Psalms Were Our Guide?” The Book of Psalms was used in the Old Testament temple as part of worship. What if we today were to use the Book of Psalms as our worship manual? Would we dare follow it? We’ll look at some “How To’s” in Psalms. The sixth message, “Why the Worship Battles?” is from John 4. There is controversy today in churches, conflict over the subject of worship. I’m going to suggest that this is just part of the bigger battle that’s going on. The seventh message: “Spirit-filled Worship” from Ephesians Chapter 5: If our worship is spirit-filled, what would it look and sound like? Or, is the measurement of spirit-filled worship something other than what it looks and sounds like? Then we’ll conclude the series with “The Academy Awards of Worship.” I’m going to present two awards, one for the most reasonable act of worship, and the other for the deepest level of worship.

I think God is going to meet us here and that we’re going to learn some really important things. Some Sundays we’ll be comfortable about that; other Sundays, we’ll be uncomfortable. But I think we’re going to learn, and it’s going to make a difference for every one of us. I’m looking forward to it. Let’s pray and then get started with the introduction.

Father, we give You thanks that we have the opportunity to worship You, to worship our God, our Lord, our King, our Savior. Father, I pray that in these weeks You would guide us, give us ears to hear and hearts that are open to Your Word and what You have to say. I pray, Father, that as these weeks go by, You would equip us to be more effective worshipers of our God. In the name of Jesus, we commit the series to You. Amen.

Questions with obvious answers

There was a man who was flying somewhere. He grabbed a newspaper as he rushed to the plane. Just as the flight was about to leave, he got into the plane and found his seat. They were already telling passengers to fasten their seatbelts and get ready for take-off. Because he had to get into his seatbelt, he put his newspaper down on his seat, and sat on it. He put his carry-on under the seat, fastened his seatbelt, and sat back for take-off. They took off, and just as they got into the air, the man sitting next to him said, “Say, are you reading that paper?” The man looked down and asked, “What did you ask me?” The other man said again, “Are you reading that paper? The man just stood up, turned around, and opened the paper, and sat down on it again. He turned to the other man and said, “Yes, I am.”

There are some questions to which the answer is so simple and obvious that you almost feel foolish having to answer them. One of those questions is, “Does God deserve worship?” I believe the answer to that question is very simple, and I almost feel foolish having to answer it. I’m not even going to take the time to do so, except to say, “Yes, He deserves our worship.” During this series, we’re not even going to address that question. If you have any doubt that God deserves our worship, then you go address that yourself with Him, because to me that is a very simple answer: He does.

Definitions

We’re going to talk about some different things concerning worship, rather than whether or not God deserves it. First, some definitions, and as we go through this series, we’ll build on these definitions of worship and what it is. I just want you to see and hear what the literal meaning of worship is, from the words that are used in our Bible. In the Old Testament, written in the Hebrew language, “worship” comes from the word “Shachah.” Literally, that Hebrew word translated “worship” means “to stoop, bow, or fall down before royalty.” Can you get that picture? In those days of kings, monarchs, and other royalty, this Hebrew word meant to stoop or bow or fall down before those people. That word is taken in the Old Testament, and used in referring to worshiping God: to stoop, bow, or fall down before Him. We’re going to add some things and build on that definition as we go through this series.

In the New Testament, which was originally written in the Greek language, whenever you have the word “worship” it comes from the Greek word “proskuneo.” That literally means “to kiss toward.” “Pros” is the prefix that means “toward”, and the root word means “to kiss.” So, the word “worship” in the New Testament literally means “to kiss toward.” In the next two weeks, as we get into Revelation 4 and 5, we’re going to build on that definition. That’s why you’ll see the title of next week’s message as “Kissing Toward the Throne.” That’s the literal meaning of worship. Then, the following week, the title will be “Kissing Toward the Lamb.”

Basically, “worship” means to give honor, praise, glory, adoration, and love. It also means to express those things. I went through every scripture where the word “worship” is used. Throughout scripture, it is always used as a verb. To me, that’s significant. It tells me that “worship” is an action --- it’s something you do; it’s not a passive thing. It is never used as a noun, although we use it that way, as in “That was good worship today.” Scripture never uses it as a noun. It’s always a verb: action, something you do. We’ll talk more about that as the series goes on.

Who is worship for?

What I want us to think about today, as we introduce the topic of worship and whet your appetite for the rest of the series, is one statement: Worship is all about God. That is mainly what I want you to take from this introduction today. Worship is all about God. It’s not about us. In worship, whether it’s personal or group worship, God is the audience --- not us. The object of worship is not to make me feel good; the object of worship is for God to feel pleasure, and be honored. It’s not about us; it’s about God. Worship is not for our benefit. Although some positive things can impact us through worship, worship is not primarily for our benefit. It’s to bring honor, glory, and praise to God.

It’s not about us. Worship is all about God, yet so often we’ll hear something like this after God’s people have worshiped together. Someone will say, “That was such good worship today; it made me feel so good.” Or, someone will say the flip side: “What a waste of time. I got nothing out of today’s worship.” Both of those statements are beside the point, because they both imply that worship is for me. If I got something out of it and it made me feel good, it was good worship --- again, we use it as a noun. But if I didn’t get anything out of it, didn’t enjoy it, and it didn’t make me feel good, then it was a waste of time; it wasn’t good worship. Those statements miss the point. That’s not what it’s about. Worship is all about God. It’s not about us.

I’ll tell you about a story I read. A young man named Jack visited a church when he was out of town. He went to the Sunday morning worship service. He didn’t like what he experienced. It was different. He didn’t like the music; the order of the whole thing was something he was unfamiliar with. What it was specifically doesn’t matter here --- he could have been a young man who enjoys contemporary worship. Or, he could have been a young man who liked traditional and formal worship, and this place was too contemporary and informal for him --- it doesn’t matter. The idea was that he didn’t like the experience.

The story goes on to say that after the service, Jack stood in line to greet the pastor, and was rehearsing what he was going to say. When he got to the pastor, he said, “Your sermon was excellent. It helped me.” Then he says, “My voice dropped a bit, and I said, ‘but I have to say I feel a little different about the rest of the service.’” He was prepared to go on and give his critique of the worship. But the pastor spoke up immediately and said, “Oh, what was it that you think the Lord didn’t like?” And then Jack said, “My heart jumped into my throat. He wanted to know what I thought the Lord didn’t like. I was unprepared for that question. I wanted to tell him what I didn’t like. I cleared my throat and I mumbled something like this: ‘Well, I don’t suppose there was anything the Lord didn’t like, but I was talking about me. But it really isn’t about me, is it?’ So, I offered my hand, and shook his, and he smiled.”

That young man was caused to leave thinking. He was ready to tell the pastor what he didn’t like about the worship, but the wise pastor said, “Oh, what is it that you think God didn’t like?” You see, our worship preferences --- and we all have them --- say more about us than they say about God. Our worship preferences say a lot more about where we come from, what our experiences have been, our likes and our dislikes, than what they say about God. We have to remember that worship is all about God; it’s not about us.

What God expects from us

God desires and requires worship. It’s so all about God that it’s something he desires and requires from us. In John Chapter 4, Jesus said that God actually seeks worshipers. He wants to be worshiped, He desires it, and He seeks people that will worship Him. But he not only desires it, He requires it.

As I was going through all the scriptures that use the term “worship”, I found that there’s a multitude of times when worship is used in the imperative, where we are commanded to worship, someone is instructed to worship. It’s required by God. He not only desires it, but He requires it. He instructs us and commands us to worship Him.

Turn with me to Exodus Chapter 20. Immediately you might recognize that as the chapter where the Ten Commandments are first presented. In verses 3 through 5, as Moses begins to pass on these commandments from God to the people, notice the first two commands: “You shall have no other gods before Me” and “You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath, or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God.”

Does it bother you that scripture says God is a jealous God? We always think of jealousy as a bad thing. It can’t be all bad if God is jealous. What is God jealous about? Worship. He says, “You will have no other god than Me, and you will worship no one else or nothing else but Me, for I am a jealous God. I want your worship, Me alone.”

We have the same truth presented in Exodus Chapter 34. Verse 14 says, “Do not worship any other god, for the Lord whose name is jealous is a jealous God.” Again, we see the same thing. God not only desires worship, but He requires it, and He says, “I am the only one you are to worship.” He says He is jealous about that: “Worship Me, no one, nothing else.”

Then, go over to Matthew Chapter 4 in the New Testament. Here we have the record of Jesus’ temptation, when He was off in the wilderness prior to beginning His ministry, and Satan came and tried to tempt Him, to get Him off course at the very beginning. I want to remind you of the third of the three temptations: Chapter 4, verse 8: “Again, the devil took Him to a very high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. ‘All this I will give You,’ he said, ‘if You will bow down and worship me. If you will stoop, bow down, fall down, and worship me, give honor and praise to me, I’ll give all of this to You, Jesus.’” Notice verse 10: Jesus said to him, “Get away from Me, Satan, for it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.’”

Jesus goes back to the Old Testament teachings, and says, “Satan, we worship only God. Only God, not you --- you can offer Me anything you want, but only God will we worship.” So, what we have in scripture is the truth that God desires worship. He’s actually seeking worshipers. He requires worship, He commands and instructs us to worship, and gives warnings about not worshiping Him or worshiping something or someone else.

In fact, someone has said that God has made us to worship, and that we have been wired as human beings to worship. If we do not choose to worship God, we will always find a substitute. Maybe it will be Satan; maybe it will be a different god. In the Old Testament, a lot of times it was Baal or some version of Baal. In the city of Athens in New Testament times, we find in Acts Chapter 17 that the Greeks had a variety of gods; they even had an altar for any god they might have missed, the unknown god, and worshiped that god.

A lot of people, because they are wired to worship but choose not to worship God, will find substitute gods. Some will choose to worship people, and they will in a sense bow down, fall down before, honor, praise, and glorify people. Some of them are athletes, some are rock stars or other musicians, some are NASCAR drivers, some are called friends, boyfriends, girlfriends, children. Some people will substitute people, because they’ve got to worship, but they choose not to worship God.

Others will choose inanimate things like money, a job, possessions. They’ll bow down before those things that will receive the honor, the glory, and the praise in their life. Others choose themselves. They won’t worship God, yet they have to worship, so they choose to worship themselves. They give themselves the honor and glory and praise. We were made to worship; we all have a desire to worship. If we choose not to worship God, we will find a substitute.

It’s not that we don’t know how to worship. We all know how; it’s built into us. It’s that we don’t always choose to worship God. He said, “I seek your worship, I require your worship, and I warn you if you choose a substitute.”

The role of relationship

So, worship is all about God. It’s not about us. God desires it, and He requires it. And really, if you think about it, worship is influenced by our relationship with God. If you don’t have a relationship with God, it makes sense that you won’t want to worship Him. Why would you want to worship someone you don’t have a relationship with? If worship is the expression of love and awe and reverence and honor and all those things, why would you want to express those things to someone you don’t know? You would have no reason. Worship is really influenced by relationship.

There are some adults taking our Foundations of Faith Sunday School class. Most of them are fairly new believers. It’s been interesting --- more than once, as we’ve been talking about various subjects, someone has made the comment that in certain areas things are different in their life now than they were a few years ago. Every time they mention that, I have asked, “What do you think has made the difference?” And the answer has always been the same: Relationship. “I didn’t have a relationship with Jesus then. I have a relationship with Jesus now, and that’s what changed it.”

It’s the same with worship. There probably was a time in your life when you didn’t even desire to worship. Worship wasn’t something you had even thought about, at least not worshiping God. Without knowing it, you were worshiping something, someone. But, at least worshiping God was not a desire; it was not something you thought about. And now in your life, it is something you think about, something you want to do, something you desire.

What’s the difference? It’s relationship. At some point between then and now, you entered a personal faith relationship with God through Jesus Christ. It influenced the place of worship in your life. It changed who and what you worship. You see, worship is influenced by your relationship with God. Even now that we know God and are Christians who have a relationship with Him, our worship experience is influenced by how our relationship with Him is going. Isn’t that right?

There are some times when, even as a believer, you don’t feel like worshiping God. It’s probably a reflection on how your relationship with Him is going, how the communion is going, how close you are with Him at that time. There are other times when you can’t even wait until Sunday when you can worship as a group with other believers --- you’ve got to do it in your car, you’ve got to do it at home, you’ve got to do it when you’re walking down the road or in the woods, because you can’t wait. Why? It’s because something good is happening in your relationship with God.

Worship is influenced by our relationship with God, but notice that it’s all about God. It’s not about us. God desires it and requires it, and it’s all influenced by our relationship with Him, whether we have one or not, and how the one we have is going. Obviously, worship should be motivated by our love for God, our awe in Him and who He is, our gratitude to Him, our reverence for Him, our adoration of Him, our appreciation of Him. Our worship should be motivated by those things --- it shouldn’t be just duty because He requires it. He deserves it, so even if it’s done out of duty, He still deserves it. But what we want is where it is motivated by the relationship, where I am so in love with Him, I am so in awe of Him, I revere Him so much, I’m so grateful to Him, I appreciate Him and my relationship with Him so much that I just want to express that. It’s all about Him.

In closing, turn to the Book of Revelation. In the next two weeks, we’re going to spend time there. I want us to look at two verses as we close this introduction to the series. Revelation Chapter 19, verse 9 talks about an angel that’s speaking to John in his vision. John says in verse 10, “At this I fell at his feet to worship him. But the angel said to me, ‘Do not do it. I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God.’” Now look at Chapter 22, verses 8 and 9: “I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things, and when I had seen and heard them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who had been showing them to me. But he said to me, ‘Do not do it. I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers and all who keep the words of this book. Worship God.’”

That’s the message of the Bible: Worship God, because it’s all about Him, not about us. He desires it and requires it. He warns us about worshiping something or someone else. Worship God.

So, when you assemble with other believers on a regular basis, worship God. When you’re at home all by yourself, when you’re walking along the road or in the woods, driving in your car, and you remember the good things God has done and your mind goes to thinking about God and who He is, worship God. When life is going well and there are blessings left and right, worship God. When life is hard and there is difficulty at every turn, worship God.

And when you’re tempted --- and we all are --- to bow down and give glory to someone or something else, resist that temptation and worship God. He is the only one who deserves it; it’s all about Him. We’re going to learn about worshiping God in the next seven weeks. Let us pray.

Father in heaven, You are the true living God. We worship You, we adore You for who You are. Deliver us from the worship of substitutes. May we worship the Creator, not the creation, may we worship the Redeemer, not the experience of being redeemed or the blessings it brings to our lives. Tear away from our hearts every idol that would take Your place. May we worship and serve You, and You alone. It is our desire to worship You. Please Father, in these weeks increase that desire to worship You and You alone.

In Jesus Christ, the beloved wonderful Son, Amen.