How to Worship

1. NIV Psalms 29:2

2. Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness.

Glory - to give weight to, make God bigger than yourself! Make sure you know who you’re worshipping. Put God first and your desires second. (Psalms 34:1-3 & John 17: 1-3)

2. NIV Psalms 95:6

6. Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker:

Bow down-prostrate oneself as if meeting royalty. Kneel-an act of adoration. Humble yourself before God, so respect!! (Psalms 138:1-2) Bowing and kneeling is also an act of submission to God and his perfect will; it is saying “you are in charge!” (James 4:7-10)

3. NIV Psalms 96:9

9. Worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness; tremble before him, all the earth.

Acknowledge the Lord’s holiness-a sacred thing, consecrated, dedicated, set apart, not like other people, not the “man up stairs”. This is the Lord God Almighty. (Isaiah 6:1-5 & Exodus 19:10-16) We have lost the awesome vision of a Holy God!!

4. NIV Psalms 99:5

5. Exalt the LORD our God and worship at his footstool; he is holy.

We are to “exalt”-to rise or raise, bring up, give up, heave up, lift up on, set up on too, hold up mount up, to promote, proudly set up make taller. (Psalms 145) We exalt to raise God above ourselves to remind ourselves Who is in control. We also exalt to promote God and especially His Son Jesus who said of Himself in John 3:14-15 “14. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15. that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” Worship is a witness!!!! People are looking at us!! Observing how we deal with stress and problems. Worship during trials is our greatest witness to the presence of God in our lives!! It shows the world that God is real and not a figment of our imagination.

5. NIV Psalms 100:2

2. Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.

We are to have the proper attitude in worship. “Gladness” and “joyfulness” is emphasized. “Gladness” here means forgiveness of a debt or released for work and labor; in other words, worship as one freed form the bonds of oppression. There should be a lightness to our worship; we should feel free and unencumbered. We are freed from the power of sin and guilt, which should be a daily cause for rejoicing!!!

Galatians 5:1

1. It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

Worship is an attitude of joy. Joy comes from God, Who gives His assurance that He is near and will never leave us or forsake us. Gladness and joy are not simple emotions; they are hard realities of the Christian walk; they are the things we experience in good and bad times. We need the right attitude, we must decide, by an act of our will, that we will worship with gladness and joy.

We must “choose our ‘tude’!” and act on it, with singing or prayer or some other outward expression. (Psalms 9:1-2 & Psalms 33:1-3) Worship is not always quiet and private. Worship is showing the world on the “outside” what’s going on “inside”!

6. NIV Romans 12:1

1. Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God-this is your spiritual act of worship.

“Offer”-to exhibit, to be at hand, bring before, to give, to present, to prove, to provide, to show, to stand by, to yield. To make ourselves available! We are here at God’s disposal!

Romans 6:13

13. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness.

“Sacrifices”-a place of sacrifice, i.e. an altar or the victim of a sacrifice.

Philippians 2:4-8

5. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:

6. Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,

7. but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.

8. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-even death on a cross!

“Holy”-sacred physically, pure, morally blameless.

1 Peter 2:5 & 9-10

5. you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

9. But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

10.Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

“Worship”-voluntary service and devotion of one’s whole life. Our bodies were built for the offering of worship to God. They were designed by the mind of an Architect (God); they were built by the hands of a Craftsman (God). Our bodies are a shrine where we meet to worship. Paul says, “take your body; take all the tasks that you have to do every day; take the ordinary work of the shop, the factory, the office, the school room, the home, and offer all that as an act of worship to God.”

True worship is the offering to God of one’s body and all that one does every day with it.

Real worship is not just offering God a religious service, however noble or a solemn ritual, however magnificent. Real worship is offering our everyday lives to Him, not just some church service on Sunday morning! We might say, “I am going to church to worship God,” but we should also be able to say, “ I am going to the factory, the shop, the office, the school, the garage, the store, the hospital, the field, the garden, to worship God.”

1 Corinthians 6:19-20

19. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God: You are not your own;

20. you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.

2 Corinthians 6:16

For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said, “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.”

Ephesians 2:21-22

21. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.

22. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

6. NIV Philippians 3:3

2. For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh-We worship in the Spirit of God! We worship according to the leadership and power of the Holy Spirit. Christian worship is not a thing of ritual; it is a thing of the heart. We know people who go through exciting worship services; hands raised to God in praise and yet have a heart that is far away from God. We know people who sing all the hymns and offer up all kinds of prayers and listen to hours of sermons and yet hold hatred, bitterness and pride in their hearts. The true Christian worships God, not with outward forms and rituals, but with true devotion and sincerity in his heart. He worships in the Spirit! Jesus taught this to the woman at the well.

John 4:23-24

23. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.

24. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.

Jesus is teaching her and us the difference between “true worship” and “false worship”.

False worship is displayed in three ways.

1.False worship is selective. It chooses what it wants to know about God and omits the rest. The Samaritans only accepted the first five books of the Bible and ignored the rest (the prophets, Psalms etc…). They took as much scripture as they wished and dismissed the rest. It’s very easy for us to accept and hold parts of God’s truth (that suit us) and disregard the parts that make us uncomfortable.

2.False worship is ignorant. It doesn’t understand worship. God has given us a brain and we should use it! Worship may begin with emotion; but the time comes when that emotion has to be thought out. Why am I here in this place of worship? What does God require of me in worship? Why do I pray? Read my Bible? Sing hymns? Why do I believe in God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit and in Christ’s church? Are you worshipping in ignorance or can you answer these questions with confidence!!?? Our worship is founded on hope but it is hope with reason behind it.

1 Peter 3:15-16

15. But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,

16. keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.

4. False worship is superstitious. It is a worship given, not out of a sense of need or desire, but because we feel that it might be dangerous not to give it. A lot of people have a relationship with God that is founded on a kind of vague fear of what might happen if they leave God out of their lives. But true worship is founded not on fear but on the love of God and gratitude for what God has done. Too many people worship out of a kind of superstitious ritual to discourage the wrath of God.

True worship, Jesus explains, is understanding that God is spirit.

If God is Spirit then three things are true:

1. God is not confined to things. God is not someone you touch or even feel; He is someone you experience. Like the fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace). 1 John 4:16 “God is love.”

2. God is not confined to places. God is everywhere. God is not confined by space or time. (Psalms 139)

3. God desires spiritual gifts from His people. What spiritual gifts can we give the Lord? Love, loyalty, obedience, devotion, these gifts made God happy (Romans 14:17-18).

We are called to worship “by the Spirit of God”, meaning from our hearts, a heart changed by God and filled with His Spirit. A worship that is sincere and honest; a worship that is “true” and not “false”!

8. NIV Hebrews 12:28-29

28. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe,

29. for our “God is a consuming fire.”

This passage is a contrast between the old and the new. It is a contrast between the giving of the law on Mount Sinai and the new covenant of which Jesus is the mediator. In the giving of the law at Mount Sinai three things are stressed.

1. The majesty of God.

2. The inapproachability of God.

3. The terror of God.

Once men were under the terror of the law, the relationship between man and God was one of distance and fear. But after Jesus came to live and die and rise again, the God who was far away was brought near and the way opened to his presence.

Now that we have a new relationship with God through Jesus that is “unshakable”, we also have an obligation laid upon us. We must worship God with reverence and awe, for nothing must be allowed to disturb that relationship. No worry, not the fear of men, not the stresses of this life (money-job-family-friends-enemies-sickness-possessions-etc…) What God did, what Jesus did, what the Holy Spirit is doing in our lives is an on going sanctification, a setting apart a people for Himself to love and for them to love and worship Him!! It is a relationship that God takes very seriously and He does not take a backseat to anyone or anything!!! We were created and were redeemed for worship!!

Romans 8:38-39

38. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present not the future, nor any powers,

39. neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

We were not created to live for ourselves, we were not redeemed to live with anxiety and worry. If our relationship with God becomes tainted with sin or worry it is not God’s fault, in fact He will burn it out of our lives so we can return to Him in purity and worship!!

Matthew 3:11-12

11. “I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

12. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

So the writer of Hebrews finishes this chapter with a threat. It is a quotation from Deuteronomy 4:1-24. Moses is telling the people that they must never break their agreement with God and relapse into idolatry. For he is a jealous God. They must worship him alone or they will find him a consuming fire. It is as if the writer of Hebrews was saying: “You have a choice before you.

Remain true to God and even during the shaky times your relationship with Him will stand safe and secure.

Be false to God and that very God will be to you a consuming fire of destruction.”

2 Corinthians 7

1. Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness our of reverence for God.

 

Close with reading Psalms 18