More Worship | Undone Series | Week Seven
Less Worship/More Worship
What do you think of when we say the word Worship?
What the Bible Says
23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
John 4:23-24 (NIV)
22 Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.
24 “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. 26 From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. 27 God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. 28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’
29 “Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill. 30 In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 31 For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”
Acts 17:22-31 (NIV)
Worshipping Unknown Gods/Misplaced Affections
1. Things (Matthew 6:19-20)
It’s ok to have things as long as things don’t have you!
The world judges success by how much we have on earth, true success is measured by how much we have in heaven!
Is there something God wants you to give away in order to receive what he wants to give you?
2. Appearance (1 Samuel 16:6-7)
It’s ok to look good, as long as looking good doesn’t have you!
Are you more focused on looking good and pleasing people than you are in pleasing God?
Are you willing to be as dedicated and sacrificial for the inner man as you are for the outer man?
3. Money (Proverbs 24:1, 1 Timothy 6:10, Matthew 6:24)
It’s ok to have money, as long as money doesn’t have you!
True Worship
Worship is the believers response of all that he is – mind, emotion, will and body – to all that God is and says and does. This response has a mystical side in subjective experience, and it’s practical side in objective obedience to God’s revealed truth. It is a loving response that is balanced by the fear of the Lord, and it is a deepening response as the believer comes to know God better. ~ Warren Wiersbe
1. Worship is the willingness to Give (Mark 12:41-44, 2 Samuel 24:24)
Worship is the price we are willing to pay, to do the will of God!
2. Worship is the willingness to Obey (Genesis 22:1-18)
Worship is obeying the word of the Lord!
22 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he replied.
2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”
3 Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5 He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.”
6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, 7 Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?”
“Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.
“The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”
8 Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.
9 When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he replied.
12 “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”
13 Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”
15 The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time 16 and said, “I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, 18 and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.”
Genesis 22:1-18 (NIV)
3. Worship is the willingness to Surrender. (Luke 22:41-43)
Worship is choosing God’s will over your will!
42 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”
Luke 22:42 (NIV)
Lyrics: Worthy of it All – David Brymer
All the saints and angels bow before your throne
All the elders cast their crowns before the Lamb of God and sing
You are worthy of it all, you are worthy of it all
For from you are all things, and to you are all things, you deserve the glory
Day and night, night and day, let incense arise