FOUNDATIONAL TRUTHS (3)

Worship

Victor M. Eskew

 

INTRODUCTION

 

A.   Since I have been a child, attending worship services on Sunday was a fundamental part of my Christian life.

 

B.   Most people in this audience have attended worship services for ten, twenty, thirty, or more years.

 

C.   When we think of worship, a setting like the one we are in today is what comes to mind.

1.    It is true that worship is corporate in nature, meaning all of the church assembles for the worship service.

2.    But, worship is also singular in nature, meaning it involves the person who is worshiping and God.

 

D.   This lesson is the third in a series entitled:  “Foundational Truths.”  In this lesson, let’s take up the subject of “Worship.”

 

I.             WHAT IS WORSHIP?

 

A.   Definition:  an act of respect, adoration, praise given by man to deity

 

B.   Example:  the wise men before Jesus (Matt. 2:11)

 

And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him:  and when they had opened their treasures, they presented him with gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.

 

C.   This point could be developed into an entire lesson.  Worship involves:

a.    Acknowledgement of person, position, power, and performance of the one worshipped

b.    Voluntary submission

c.    Homage, that is, adoration, respect, and reverence

d.    Focused attention upon the object of worship

e.    Thanksgiving

f.     Praise

 

II.           JOHN 4:23-24

 

But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth:  for the Father seeketh such to worship him.  God is a Spirit:  and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

 

A.   The Object of Worship

1.    Three times in the text, Jesus tells us that the object of worship is God, the Father.

a.    True worshippers shall worship the Father

b.    Seeketh such to worship Him

c.    They that worship Him

2.    When Satan tried to get Jesus to worship him, Jesus affirmed to the evil one only God is to be worshipped (Matt. 4:10).

 

Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan:  for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

 

3.    All objects other than God are forbidden.

a.    Men (Acts 10:25-26)

b.    Angels (Col. 2:18)

c.    Creatures of this world (Rom. 1:25)

d.    The hosts of heaven (Acts 7:42)

e.    False gods (Exo. 20:4-5)

 

B.   The Temperament of Worship

1.    Jesus reveals that worshippers must worship God “in spirit.”

2.    The spirit is the inner man. 

a.    The rational soul

b.    The mental disposition

c.    The mind that thinks, reasons, wills, and feels

3.    Worship is just as concerned about what is going on inside the worshipper as much as the external actions.

a.    As we worship, thoughts and feelings are going through the worshipper’s mind.

b.    These thoughts and feelings have a single focus:  God, His person, works, and power.

c.    Matthew 15:8

 

This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.

 

C.   The Conduct of Worship

1.    Jesus also said that worship was to be “in truth.”

2.    In John 17:17, we learn what truth is.  (NOTE:  If there were not standard to follow in worship, men would do almost anything and call it worship.  It is this way today when men reject the truth.  They entertain and appeal to the flesh instead of truly worshipping God).

 

Sanctify me through thy truth:  thy word is truth.

 

3.    The worshipper must worship God in the manner prescribed in God’s holy Word, specifically the words found in the New Testament today.

a.    Teaching (Acts 2:42; 20:7)

b.    Singing (1 Cor. 14:15; Eph. 5:19; Col. 3:16)

c.    Prayer (Acts 2:42; 1 Cor. 14:15)

d.    Lord’s Supper (Acts 2:42; 1 Cor. 11:20)

e.    Giving (1 Cor. 16:1-2)

 

III.         WORSHIP CAN INVOLVE AN ASSEMBLY

 

A.   There is a worship service that has specific divine authorization in the pages of God’s Word. 

 

B.   This worship service is to be conducted on the first day of the week (Acts 20:7).

 

And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight.

 

1.    This was definitely the Lord’s Day assembly.

2.    Several indicators:

a.    Paul tarried in Troas waiting for this assembly to gather (Acts 20:6).

b.    They came together to “break bread.”  This is a figure of speech involving the church’s coming together to partake of the Lord’s Supper.

1)    Their purpose was to gather as the church to break bread.

2)    There was another period of breaking bread later that night that involved a common meal (Acts 20:11).

c.    While at this assembly, Paul preached to the brethren.

 

C.   The assembly or gathering of the church is mentioned in several different ways in the New Testament.

1.    Matthew 26:29

 

But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.

 

a.    The kingdom would be established when the Lord would fellowship with the saints again at His table.

b.    Jesus knew the Lord’s Supper would be taken on a specific day, that is, “that day.”

2.    1 Corinthians 5:4

 

In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

3.    1 Corinthians 11:20

 

When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord’s supper.

 

4.    In 1 Corinthians 14, there are three words or phrases that are of importance to this study.

a.    Several times we read the word “church,” and it means “the assembly” (1 Cor. 14:19, 28, 33, 34, 35)

b.    Coming together (1 Cor. 14:23, 26)

c.    If there come in one that believeth not, or one unlearned (1 Cor. 14:24)

5.    Hebrews 10:25

 

Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is…

 

6.    James 2:2

 

For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment.

 

D.   What we are doing here on this Lord’s Day is patterned after the example of the early church.  It comforting to know that we are doing precisely what they were doing two thousand years ago.

 

IV.         WORSHIP IS MORE THAN AN HOUR ASSEMBLY

 

A.   There are some who have pigeonholed worship into an hour section of their life each week.  If this is all one worships God, he worships less than 6 one thousandths of his week.

 

B.   This one hour is not the only way we worship God.

1.    The elders of the church have the authority to call assemblies for the purpose of worship in order to feed the flock (Acts 20:28; 1 Pet. 5:2).  The members of the church have been instructed to obey these men and submit ourselves to them (Heb. 13:17).

2.    Parents can hold periods of worship in their home as often as they desire.

3.    Each of us can individually offer up worship to God, especially through prayer and singing.

a.    In prayer we are bowing before our Lord in reverence.

b.    In song, we offer the sacrifice of praise to God

c.    Two verses:

1)    Psalm 63:4

 

Thus will I bless thee while I live:  I will lift up my hands in thy name.

 

2)    Hebrews 13:15

 

By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name.

 

C.   NOTE:  Our home devotionals and personal periods of worship cannot be a substitute for the Lord’s Day assembly.

 

CONCLUSION

 

A.   No Christian should ever minimize the importance of worship in his/her spiritual life, both corporate worship and individual worship.

 

B.   God can never be praised too much.

 

C.   In the Revelation, we see a lot of activity in Heaven.  Much of this activity involves the worship of deity.

1.    The four beasts “give glory and honour and thanks to him that sat on the throne” (Rev. 4:9).

2.    “The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever” (Rev. 4:10).

3.    The voice of many angels cry out with a loud voice:  “Worthy is the Lamb…” (Rev. 5:1, 2)

4.    “And every creature which is in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea,” John heard saying, “Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever” (Rev. 5:13).

 

D.   If we do not develop ourselves into true worshippers here, it will be impossible to be a true worshipper in the eternal realm.