Bible Reading: Psalm 96
1 The heart of worship- Recognition
3 words key words
a) Worship
Old English = worth-ship
To worship something or someone is to recognise their value – worth.
Psalm 96: 4 “For great is the Lord and worthy of our praise.”
Hebrew = Shachah - to bow down in submission or prostrate oneself.
Greek = Proskuneo - to kiss (as in the way subjects kiss the hand or feet of the sovereign)
b) Glory
Psalm 96: 8 “Ascribe to the Lord the glory due to his name”
Hebrew = kabod - heavy in weight
To glorify someone is to recognize their importance. If we say someone is a lightweight, we often mean that their power, their influence has little significance but someone who is regarded as a heavy weight is someone who can make a difference. If someone starts throwing their weight around, we mean that they are trying to use authority they do not have. But God has glory. He has all authority, power, and strength.
c) Holiness
Holiness = qodesh – God is in a league of his own. We should recognize his complete “otherness” both to human beings and to so called other gods.
Psalm 96: 9 “Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness.”
C S Lewis “If you ask why we should obey God, in the last resort the answer is ‘I AM’. To know God is to know that our obedience is to Him”.
2. The Heart of worship – Response
Worship from a human perspective is primarily a matter of response.
“Worship is the believer’s response with all that he is – mind, emotions, will and body to all that God is and says and does.” (Warren Wiersbe)
The first response to the immensity of the love of God is adoration. “We love, because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19).
We worship God because He has made Himself known to us.
“For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen” (Romans 11:36).
Fallen human beings could never approach a righteous and Holy God, so God in the person of Jesus Christ made us just and righteous by His work on the cross for us. The Holy Spirit of God works within us to enable us to worship (Philippians 3:3). Worship is directed to the Father (John 4:23).
Worship is from God, through God, and to God.
“Prayer is the human response to the perpetual outpouring of love by which God lays siege to every soul. When our reply to God is most direct of all, it is called adoration. Adoration of the spontaneous yearning of the heart to worship, honour, magnify and bless God.” Richard Foster
It is sometimes said that there are two sides to the worship of God, one is telling God how much we love Him for who He is and the other is giving praise for all He does. To only value God when we are on the receiving end of His good actions is a bit like a Mum only being appreciated for her cooking, and not for her company and conversation.
Yet it is also a bit of a false distinction.
How do we know the extent of God’s love? It is through an action. It is through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
As a result of all that God has done we are as A.W. Tozer, “called to an everlasting preoccupation with God."
Why do we not spend more time simply giving God praise and telling him that we love him?
Sometimes we need to remind ourselves of how much we actually do love the Lord, and how deeply thankful to Him we really are.
We need to lay aside some of our other obligations and clear a path so that we can attend to remembering the extent of God’s for us. When we remember His love, we open ourselves up to receive it again.
3. The heart of worship Expression
The
psalm lists a variety of expressions of our recognition of God and our response
to him
-Sing v 1, 2
-Proclaim v 2
-Declare v3
-Ascribe v7, 8
-Bring an offering v8
-Come into his courts v8
- Tremble before him v8
We are taught that it is wrong to seek praise for oneself and yet God seems to seek our praise and worship. He hardly needs our approval to make Him feel better about Himself. If he did He would be a poor kind of God.
God urges us to worship Him as much for our sake as for His. He wants us through a worship relationship to enjoy Him. God does not force worship on us. He did not terrorize the human race to impel worship from them.
Just as we find great delight in the things we know are worthy and so being in the presence of God whom we value beyond every other is joy beyond compare. True worship is deeply satisfying and thrilling.
We naturally need to express our appreciation of what we value and enjoy. It is frustrating to discover something wonderful and have to refrain from expressing it in some manner.
The fact is that when we take time to recognise and respond to God then we will want to do all these things the psalmist suggests.
Many of us love singing but not everyone is Pavorotti. It can come through the words we speak, art, flower arranging – people in our history have built Churches as an expression of worship, some bang the tambourine, others raise their hands, and some bow their heads. God even tells us that when we feel frustrated that our words are inadequate the Spirit intercedes for us. He will express our hearts longing for us. We would be foolish to suppose that singing itself is praise or worship.
It has simply been a vehicle, which we have used to recognise again that there is but one god who alone is the proper object of Christian worship.
“Do we sing as much as the birds do? Yet what have birds to sing about, compared with us? Do we sing as much as the angels do? Yet they were never redeemed by the of Christ? Birds of the air, shall you excel me? Angels, shall you exceed me? You have done so, but I intend to emulate you, and day by day, and night by night, pour forth my soul in sacred song.” (C. H. Spurgeon)
Where is this
expression of worship to take place?
Well the psalmist does advise the people to come into the temple courts
and bring an offering to God but theya e also told to proclaim God’s salvation
day by day and they certainlu didn’t go to the temple every day.
The
psalmist urged the people to declared God’s glory among the nations. They could not do that through confining
worship only in the temple, the nations were not allowed in there. If they were
going to declare God’s glory among the nations then it had to be as they went
about their daily business, engaged in politics, dealt with justice issues and
in their family relationships.
Each
moment of our lives is to be a joyful expression of worship. Our time in front
of the television is to be an act of worship. The way we eat and what we eat is
to be an act of worship. The way we raise our children and grandchildren is to
be offered to God as an act of worship. Sex is to be an act of worship. Our
conversations, our relationships, our driving, our walks in the park, our time
in the gym, the way we care for our bodies, the way we dress ourselves are all
intended by God to be offerings to Him of worship! “So whether you eat or
drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God!”
How
radically different our lives would be, and how much more pleasing to God our
lives would be if we saw each moment, each word, each attitude, each
conversation, each bite, each act an offering of worship to God! Let me ask you
something: is God deserving of your daily worship? Is He deserving of you
living for His glory? Does He deserve for you to declare that glory each day?
“Whenever you feel indifferent,
apathetic, or bored with worship, it means you’ve forgotten how amazing God’s
grace really is.” ( Rick Warren) Blessings
Carol
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