Sunday, December 10,
2017 am
NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH 2017
Worshipping God (1)
In our lesson today we want to begin addressing worship.
We will not engage in an exhaustive study of this subject, but we
want to notice a few things: 1) What is worship? 2) What makes worship
acceptable? 3) How do we worship God as the church? 4) Why don’t we use
instruments of music? 5) When and why do we assemble? We may also
address some other issues if they are inquired about.
a.
Worship is a
challenge to properly define.
There are many misunderstandings as to what it is and what it
involves. Our dictionaries
define it with words such as expressions or feelings of piety or
reverence, often it is defined by one’s own feelings and reasoning.
There are some who see worship as an emotional experience, while
others see it as mere ritualistic acts, and still others see it as
service thinking that in everything that we do we are worshipping God.
The result is such is attitudes where, as long as we dedicate
something to God, then it must be acceptable worship to Him.
Biblical worship goes much further than that.
b.
Several NT words are
used to give us an understanding of its meaning;
i.
Προσκυνέω (proskuneo)
– “to make obeisance, do reverence toward” (Vine’s) (lit. “to kiss
toward” as one who might kiss the hand as a token of reverence.)
“To express in attitude or gesture one’s complete dependence on or
submission to a high authority figure” (BDAG)
It is the idea of understanding that you are in the presence of one
greater than you and rendering to Him reverence that He is due,
especially in performing
acts directed toward Him.
This is the ACT of worship!
John 4:23-24 – we worship Him in spirit and in truth.
Matthew 4:9-10 (one of the times it is used of worshipping the devil,
and the other worshipping God).
Also Hebrews 1:6 – angels worship Him (Jesus),
Hebrews 11:21 – Jacob worshipped, Revelation 4:10 – 24 elders in heaven
worship God; Revelation 5:14 - the four creatures around the throne
worshipped Jesus.
ii.
εὐσέβεια, (eusebia),
also the root
σεβω (sebo) - a word that means to demonstrate awe and respect toward
God, devoutness, piety; godliness (cf. BDAG).
This is the ATTITUDE of worship.
Acts 16:14 – Lydia, “worshipped God”; Acts 18:7 – Justus
“worshipped God.”
Matthew 15:9, “in vain they worship Me…”
The word is also
translated “godliness” (1 Tim. 2:2, 2 Peter 1:3, 6-7).
This demonstrates the attitude of reverence and piety that is
present in TRUE worship and service to Him.
iii.
Λατρεύω (latreuo) – a word that primarily means to serve, and is often
used in the sense of rendering religious service.
As worship, it deals with obeying God (doing what He says HOW He
says it) out of reverence toward Him.
Philippians 3:3 says, “For we are the circumcision, who
worship God in the Spirit,
rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh,”
(Philippians 3:3, NKJV)
“But this I confess to you, that according to the Way which they call
a sect, so I worship the God
of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the Law and in
the Prophets.” (Acts 24:14)
“For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers,
once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins.”
(Hebrews 10:2)
“Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written,
‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall
serve.’ ”” (Matthew
4:10) NOTE: IT is the
word “serve” that is this Greek word.
I note this passage because we need to understand that as we
worship God we ARE serving Him.
NOTE: There are some today advocating that everything we do is worship
to God. Typically, this is
offered by those who wish to make our worship assemblies less formal or
optional. They point out
that sometimes “worship” is defined as “service.”
While worship does involve service (doing what He says and as He
says it), a study of the use of these words in their context negates
this concept and makes a distinction.
c.
True worship is:
i.
Directed toward God
– John 4:24, Matthew 4:9-10.
Galatians 1:10 – Our goal is to please God in all we do - Including How
we worship Him.
Broken and contrite heart – Psalm 51:17 will not be despised by Him.
The attitude of worship shows this direction.
ii.
Sacred
– it is a holy act. Hebrews
12:28, we serve God with reverence and godly fear.
A study of the dedication and work of the tabernacle shows this.
Exodus 40:34-38, shows how God entered the tabernacle at its
dedication. There were
serious consequences associated with how worship was carried out.
Leviticus 10:1-2 is an example where Nadab and Abihu were burned to
death for offering strange fire.
In vs. 3 we read, And
Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the LORD spoke, saying:
‘By those who come near Me I must be regarded as holy; And before
all the people I must be glorified.’ ”
Over and over we see in
scripture the seriousness of worshipping God.
iii.
Both in spirit and in
truth
– John 4:24. By this we mean, it consists of both a proper attitude AND
actions as He directs us. Next
week we want to address this in greater detail.
iv.
Deliberate
–
worship is something we enter into.
It has a beginning and an end.
The point is we choose to worship God, we do so with deliberate
action. In scripture, we find that worship has a beginning and an end.
Israel had designated feasts they observed at various times.
They had a beginning and an end.
The sacrifices were to be done at specified times and in
specified ways. There was
preparations to be made.
Hebrews 10:25 tells us not to forsake the assembling of ourselves
together – it indicates a time when we ought to come together.
Acts 20:7, the disciples came together to break bread (the Lord’s
Supper).
1 Corinthians 11:17-26 indicates they ought to come together to “eat the
Lord’s Supper”
1 Corinthians 16:1-2, speaks of on the first day of the week laying by
in store.
Personally, study and prayer are acts that we decide to engage in.
a.
Because worship is
first and foremost about God
–
1 Corinthians 14:25 – even in our assembling, when done properly is
calls for us to worship Him.
Hebrews 13:15 – the sacrifice of praise, the fruit of our lips
Hebrews 10:22 – we draw to Him, James 4:8
b.
Because there are
acts of worship we are commanded to do when we come together
–
The Lord’s Supper – 1 Corinthians 11:20ff
Giving – 1 Corinthians 16:1-2.
Also our singing and prayers are directed toward God – Colossians 3:16,
Ephesians 5:19
c.
Because He has given
us a pattern to follow in how we worship Him
– in every act of worship, we have a pattern to follow.
This pattern is about Him – it directs us to Him.
And we are OBEYING him when we do that.
d.
True worship DOES
edify!
Typically, worship is placed under the category of edification,
and rightly so. When we
worship God properly we are edified – built up spiritually.
Every act of worship, in God’s wisdom does strengthen us
Hebrews 10:24-25 – in our assembling we provoke one another to love and
good works.
1 Corinthians 14:12, 26 – let all things be done for edification.
In our worship, we seek to be understood
Colossians 3:16 – our singing teaches and admonishes each other
BUT, we must be careful to always remember the purpose of worship.
Otherwise, we are in danger of abusing it.
It can become will worship and vain worship.
We can find ourselves simply going through the motions or
focusing on how we are perceived by others instead of God (cf. Luke
18:10-12 – the Pharisee; Matthew 23:2-7, etc.)