Practice: Worship 7.1 - March 7, 2010

Practice # 7 - Worship
7.1 – The Worship Wheelhouse

Romans 11:36 - Romans 12:2 (New International Version)
For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen. 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. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Some Simple Elements of Worship:
•    It is for the Glory of whatever is worshipped.
•    There is an Offering where the worshipper will Present or Dedicate something.
•    Whatever is dedicated or offered or presented to the thing worshipped becomes sacrificed – it                     belongs to the thing that is worshipped.

A View of Worship from Scripture:
Offering and Sacrifice:
•    Genesis 4:2b-5… Cain and Abel are offering sacrifices
•    Genesis 8:20-21… Noah builds an altar and makes sacrifices
•    Genesis 14:17-20…Abraham and Melchizedek
•    Genesis 22 – Abraham and Isaac – Abraham makes a Sacrifice
 
Acknowledging who God is and what He is doing:
•    Genesis 24:26-27 – Abraham’s Chief Servant finds Rachel for Isaac to marry.
•    Genesis 28:16-19… Jacob’s dream and reaction
•    Genesis 35… Jacob goes back to that spot and builds an altar to remember.
•    Exodus 15… Moses and Miriam Sing to God

Obedience to the Lord’s Commands:
•    Exodus 12… Hebrews obey God through the Passover
•    Exodus 19-20… Commitment from the People and a Commitment from God
From Exodus 21 – Matthew 3 everything takes on a defined process – the LAW…
Jesus called them back to a perspective that honors God…

John 4:23-24
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. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.

•    The Question she asked was immediately about worship.
•    There is a place for the law, but it is not the observance of the law that pleases God.
 
Isaiah 1:11 (New International Version)
“The multitude of your sacrifices— what are they to me?” says the LORD. “I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals; I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats.”

2 Traps in Contemporary Worship:
1.    Religiosity – Truth without the Spirit
Galatians 3:2 (New International Version)
I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard?

John 5:39-40 (New International Version)
You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.
•    How can I know if I have fallen too far on this side of the worship balance?
 
2.    Anarchy – Trying to Emphasize the Spirit without any truth.
Galatians 5:13 (New International Version)
You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.

Jeremiah 17:9 (New International Version)
The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?
•    How can I know if I have fallen too far on this side of Balanced Worship?

Conclusion:
When I Worship, is it in the wheelhouse of Spirit and Truth?
What did I offer in Worship today?  Whatever I offered, it is no longer mine.  If I offered nothing, I did not Worship.  What then did I do?  Is God okay with that?