Sunday, November 30, 2014
am
BACK TO BASICS 38
Worship – 5
Concerns About Worship Today
a.
As we have noted
continually, God has a pattern and we must respect that pattern.
In worship, God has always demanded we worship Him His way.
Genesis 4:3-7 from the very beginning God has established boundaries
Leviticus 10:1-3 – Nadab and Abihu burned for offering strange fire
2 Chronicles 26:16-21, when King Uzziah attempted to burn incense to God
in the temple, the priests tried to stop him.
When he persisted, he broke out with leprosy and died a leper.
When the tabernacle worship was established, God was very exact as to
how He is to be worshipped.
b.
Under the New Law we
have seen how to worship God.
He tells us what to do and HOW to do it!
c.
Today there are many
innovations introduced into worship - instrumental music, burning
incense, choirs, social activities, lighting candles to set the mood,
etc. Such things are without
authority and reject the pattern of God’s word.
As such we must reject them as well.
a.
We are living in a time
when far too many seek to appeal to the crowds by offering something
that gets them worked up into a frenzy.
Songs are sung that are more emotionally driven than doctrinal.
The service becomes more about
performance than participation. It
is more about how one feels than whether or not he is right (and often
clouding the two).
b.
Here is an example: Max
Lucado, preacher for Oak Hills church in San Antonio (formerly the Oak
Hills church of Christ before they changed their name) said this about
entertainment: "No longer can we afford the luxury of thinking that the
people who are sitting in our pews are going to be there every Sunday.
We have to arrest their attention. We have to use every device possible
to reach them and to teach them and we need not be so apologetic about
entertaining them. I mean, they been entertained all week long, every
time they turn around. l have no apology for putting a good singer in
front of them to entertain them if they're not Christians. You've got to
do something to reach them ... " (Preaching magazine, July-August 2005,
p. 14).[1]
c.
For many today, worship
has become about worshiping and serving the creature rather than the
creator. (Rom. 1:25) Paul
said in the process of doing that, they “exchanged
the truth of God for a lie.”
Consider: Who is hand clapping designed to appeal to?
Who does celebrity and talented music and performances appeal to?
They are about man and not about glorifying God.
d.
Worship done properly
will build us up and it does “move us”, but it begins with truth and
reason. It
is about our hearts being what they ought to be.
Consider Acts 8:30, notice where Philip begins, “Do you understand what
you are reading?”
Acts 26:25, Before Festus and Agrippa, Paul said,
“I am not mad, most noble Festus, but speak truth and reason.”
Isaiah 1:18, the Lord’s call to Israel, “Come and let us reason
together.”
e.
It is our words and
heart that makes our worship acceptable.
Psalm 19:14, David said, “Let the words of my mouth and the
meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength
and my Redeemer.”
a.
As we have seen, there
is great danger in our worship becoming emotionally driven, but there is
also danger in making it emotionless.
Another way of saying emotionless is without heart or without
spirit. It is worshipping
God by merely going through the motions, and without our minds and
hearts fully engaged.
I am fearful in some circumstances, in response to overly emotional or
emotional driven worship services, we have swung the pendulum the
complete opposite direction.
We have become so formal and ritualistic that any feeling is lost. We
treat the worship as a ritual we are trying to get over with so we can
get on with the rest of our lives.
“I’ve done my duty to God for the week.”
b.
Oh what a weariness!
Malachi 1:12-13 speaks of God rejecting their worship – among the
sins were flawed sacrifices and an attitude of weariness.
It is in a context of insincere worship (Mal. 1:6-14).
In Matt. 15:8-9 Jesus quoted Isaiah saying, “‘These people draw near
to Me with their mouth, And honor Me with their lips, But their heart is
far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the
commandments of men.’ ”” (cf. Isa. 29:13)
c.
Sometimes we do not sing
with fervor, follow along with the prayers, consider the sufferings of
our Lord as we partake of the Communion, give without purpose of heart,
and sleep through the sermon and studies.
d.
John 4:24 – our worship
needs to be WITH spirit. IT
is with the heart we worship God.
When we teach and admonish one another, singing with grace in our hearts
to the Lord, there is to be heart involved.
How can we say “amen” if we are not praying with the leader?
Does not the “worthy manner” associated with the Lord’s table call for
thoughtfulness.
Do we TRULY love His law so that we want to hear more of it?
e.
We need to prepare
ourselves to PROPERLY worship God.
a.
I am afraid that many
have made worship services more casual than they ought to be.
It is seen in the attitudes, actions and appearance of too many.
Consider some examples
b.
Coming in late.
I realize there are times when things come up that cause us to be
late. Sometimes it may be a
simple oversight (such as forgetting your Bible and lesson book so you
go home and get them), but you do your best to get there as quickly as
possible. There are some
whose coming in a few moments late show their dedication (i.e. – one
whose job requires them to work up to the last minute – but they don’t
let that keep them from
worshipping God while others would use it as a crutch).
My greatest concern is
with those who habitually come in late.
Their problem has to do with time management.
Coming in late disrupts the service or class and I believe it
shows a lack of respect for God and your brethren who are putting forth
effort to worship God properly.
Usually, if we will start just a few moments earlier we can
eliminate the problem.
c.
Our appearance
– While I am not trying to impose a dress code because the Bible doesn’t
have one, I do believe that appearance is often an indicator of
attitude. Whether we want to
admit it or not, there is such a thing as an appropriate standard of
dress which is dictated by the occasion.
The workplace has a dress code.
Special occasions have a dress code (weddings & funerals).
If we were invited to be in the presence of some dignitary, we
would dress up appropriately. What is the dress code for worshipping
God? (I will let YOU answer that for yourself)
d.
When as we come together, are we giving God our best
and the respect He deserves?
Do we treat it as a special occasion where we are going to appear before
our creator and worship Him?
Or do we just hop in the car taking no thought as to where we are going
and what we look like? Are
your clothes clean and neat?
Are YOU clean and neat? My
concern is that there are some who “dress down” to worship God and they
dare you to say anything.
They want to be as relaxed as possible.
And whether you like it or not, it is a product of our casual
society where the dress code and attitude has become more casual.
Have we allowed the church to adapt to the casualness of society?
e.
What about those who lead the congregation in our worship?
You are setting the tone for the seriousness of the occasion.
Is yours a casual attitude?
A “pet peeve” of mine (and I admit this is MY opinion) is the
wearing of t-shirts with sports logos and cartoon characters and
sometimes worse. Is that
appropriate for the occasion?
f.
I mention these things to provoke you to think about it.
Are you giving God your best? For what it is worth, under the Old
Law, the leaders had a “dress code” for service.
a.
When we assemble is it
part of a life that is totally devoted to Him, or is it something we do
for the sake of appearance.
Do we reason that if we give God a few hours each week then we are free
to live ungodly lives the rest of the time?
God despises the lukewarm Christian (cf. Rev. 3:15-16).
He demands our ALL!
b.
Could it be for some
that the reason the worship service is “boring” and “not edifying”
because our life is out of favor with God?
That is no way to live.
“Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands,
you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” (James 4:8,
NKJV)
a.
We have noted in this
lesson just a handful of concerns associated with our assembling to
worship God. Consider the
following verses as we conclude our lesson:
b.
Micah 6:6-8, “With
what shall I come before the Lord, And bow myself before the High God?
Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, With calves a year old?
Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, Ten thousand rivers of
oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, The fruit of my
body for the sin of my soul? He has shown you, O man, what is good; And
what does the Lord require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And
to walk humbly with your God?”
c.
1 Samuel 15:22,
“So Samuel said: “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt
offerings and sacrifices, As in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold,
to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams.”
d.
Psalm 51:16-17,
“For You do
not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it; You do not delight in
burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and
a contrite heart— These, O God, You will not despise.”
e.
Hosea 6:6,
“For I desire
mercy and not sacrifice, And the knowledge of God more than burnt
offerings.” (cf. Matthew 9:13, 12:7)
f.
Matthew 5:3, “Blessed
are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”