They're our own Hale and Wilder.
And that's quite a fitting number because of the theme of our study this evening in
the Word of God, which deals with this matter of worship.
We've been talking about the priesthood of the believer and the responsibilities that
we have as believer-priests.
We have seen previously that we have been, by the grace of God, consecrated or set apart
to the priesthood.
We've been washed from our sins in the blood of Christ.
We have been given the robe of spotless righteousness in His sight by justification.
We have been anointed by the Spirit of God.
We've been set apart under priestly duties.
God has opened the access for us into His very presence so that we may come confidently
before Him at any time and in any place.
We don't have to be in church to pray.
We are no more in the presence of God in church than we are anywhere else where we happen
to be, because God indwells us.
This building is not His sanctuary.
Our hearts serve as His sanctuary.
He lives in you and in me.
Our spirits form the holy of holies in this age.
And we are priests assigned to serve.
We have seen that there are sacrifices that we are to offer up.
The sacrifices, as listed in the book of Hebrews, are praise, the fruit of our lips giving thanks
to His name, service, in other words, doing good, and giving of our substance, sharing
with those who have need.
In Romans 12, 1, which we are going to look at so you can open your Bible there, we have
found already that another of the sacrifices we are to offer up as priests in this age
is the sacrifice of our bodies.
These are to be living sacrifices.
In the Old Testament, the priests brought sacrifices involving death most of the time.
But not so in this age, because Jesus has offered the supreme, ultimate sacrifice.
He gave Himself in death for our sins.
There needs be no further sacrifice of death.
Now the sacrifice is a living sacrifice poured out day after day through us.
He says in Romans 12, 1, I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present
your bodies a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of
worship, or that could read, which is your rational, reasonable service of worship.
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that
you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
You will notice in those verses a number of words that deal with the matter of sacrificing,
of worshiping.
It's a key verse regarding the subject for this evening, the worship of the believer
priest.
We have said that one of the duties of us, of ours as believer priests, is that of sacrifice.
Tonight we are looking at the matter of worship.
Now the two are not mutually exclusive.
There is a lot of overlapping in them as a matter of fact.
The purpose of every moral being which God has created is that of worship of God.
Man of course fell into sin, and thus he could not be a worshiper.
And God through the work of the Lord Jesus Christ has redeemed man.
And as John MacArthur said, he has done this to make worshippers out of rebels.
Worship is a theme which dominates the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, from the Garden
of Eden to the New Jerusalem that we looked at this morning.
There is probably not a more vital theme for us to learn about as believer priests than
this theme of worship.
And I think that we must admit that it is sadly lacking or at best deficient in the
lives of far too many of God's people.
Some of us were talking about A.W.
Tozer before the service tonight.
Tozer has been with the Lord now about twenty years.
He was a prophet to the church in his day.
He was ahead of his time so to speak.
I don't think he was really appreciated then as much as he has been since his death.
Warren Wiersbie has compiled a little paperback book called The Best of A.W.
Tozer.
If you would like some stimulating thinking, something that will stir you and enrich you,
I would encourage you to get a hold of that paperback, The Best of A.W.
Tozer.
One of the articles in that particular book is entitled Worship, the Normal Employment
of Moral Beings.
He makes a statement in there that is thought provoking.
He says, worship is the missing jewel in modern evangelicalism.
We're organized, we work, we have our agendas, we have almost everything, but there's one
thing that the churches, even the gospel churches, do not have.
That is the ability to worship.
We are not cultivating the art of worship.
It's the one shining gem that is lost to the modern church.
I believe we ought to search for this until we find it.
A good statement.
What is worship?
We were talking about that before the service, too.
What is worship?
Is worship an emotional experience?
Well, it can involve emotions, but I think it would be short-sighted to say that worship
is an emotional experience.
There are many people today who are caught up in emotions and existentialism, seeking
after a new high.
We need to be aware of that kind of mentality even among evangelicals.
But we ought not to deny emotions, on the other hand.
We need to realize that very often worship does involve emotions and there's nothing
wrong with that.
We ought not to shut off the faucet of our emotions so that we lack them.
There's a place for emotions.
So often I think the attitude that we engender in coming to church is that of, what am I
going to get out of it?
Or if we go away and say, boy, I got a lot out of that, or we say, I didn't get much
out of that service, that very kind of thinking reveals that we know little about worship.
Because you see, worship is not getting at all.
Worship is giving, as we're going to see.
I hope that God will cause our thinking to mature so that we don't come to church thinking,
I'm going to get something out of this, or I'm looking to get something.
Rather, we will come to church saying, what can I give?
What can I contribute?
There are two words in the New Testament that are most commonly translated, worship.
There are other words, but these are the two most common.
One of them means generally to kiss the hand.
It means to bow down as one would before a sovereign or a king.
We are foreign to that kind of a picture in our society, but if you watch television and
you see people around royalty and other nations, you will see a proper courtesy before royalty.
It often involves bowing down.
That is the thought in this one word for worship.
This is the most common word.
It means to bow down and to kiss the hand.
It's a very oriental picture, but it's the word that God uses to express what our attitude
ought to be.
Let's face it, worship is an attitude as much as an action.
It is an attitude of submission, an attitude of bowing down.
Then there is another word that is the word for service, particularly worshipful service.
It's the word that's used here in Romans 12.1 at the end of the verse.
It's a word that refers to religious duty.
If you put those ideas together, you come up with this.
Worship is giving to God the honor that is due to him.
That's a very simple definition, but I think it suffices.
Worship is ascribing to God the glory and the honor of which he is worthy.
The English word worship comes from the Anglo-Saxon.
Originally it was worth-ship, and it refers to affirming the value of a person or a thing.
To declare the worth of something.
In Old English you will read statements referring to a sovereign as your worship.
What that noun meant was that this person, this sovereign, is worthy of respect.
It's a word that declares his value because of his office.
That has been brought across to us today when we speak about worship.
We are affirming the honor and the value, so to speak, of God.
We are saying that God is worthy above all others.
We give worship to God because of what he's done for us.
You'll notice even in the text that we looked at here in Romans 12, there are words like
present, there is sacrifice, and then especially this word acceptable.
It's used twice, once in verse 1 and again in verse 2.
It's a word that means what is well pleasing to God, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual
service of worship.
Now you've got to think where this verse comes in the book of Romans.
He begins the verse by saying, I beg you, brethren, by the mercies of God.
That's what the first 11 chapters of Romans is all about.
It describes the mercies of God, how lost we are as sinners, and how God has provided
redemption and righteousness for us, and how that righteousness is very real.
It's a part of our lives, and how God has created this new body in this age called the
church which reflects his righteousness through Jesus Christ.
All of this is the mercy and the grace of God.
The apostle says now on the basis of all this doctrine, on the basis of all that God has
done for us, I beg you, present yourselves in worship to God.
You see, worship comes as a result of our recognition of what God has done on our behalf.
We see this again in Hebrews.
Come over to Hebrews 12 for a moment.
Oh, there's a whole lot about worship in Hebrews, isn't there?
Because it is focused upon a Jewish orientation, and there's a great deal about sacrifice
and service.
In chapter 12, at the end of the chapter, he explains all that God has done for us.
He's brought us to Mount Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to
the General Assembly, the church, and so on.
He warns us to listen to what the Lord has to say.
In verse 28, he kind of summarizes it.
He says, chapter 12, verse 28, Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be
shaken.
That is a great statement that summarizes the blessings of the previous verses.
Do you realize that you and I are part of a kingdom, an order that is in this world
that cannot possibly be shaken or removed or defeated?
It is a permanent, eternal kingdom.
It is the kingdom of Jesus Christ.
God by His grace has made us a part of that.
He says, since we've received this kingdom, let us show gratitude by which we may offer
to God an acceptable service.
Right there is the idea of worship.
Let us offer to God an acceptable worship with reverence and awe.
On the basis, he says, of what God has done for you, then this should be your response
to worship Him.
So worship is giving God the honor to do Him because of who He is and what He's done.
You know that's the reason that the pagan world is condemned.
Review with me Romans chapter 1 again, and we'll just look at verse 21.
You will recall that he's talking here about the condemnation of God, the wrath of God
that comes against those who suppress the truth.
In verse 21 he says, for even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or
give thanks.
What does that mean?
They did not worship God for who He is or for what He had done.
They didn't give Him glory as God for who He is, nor did they give thanks to God for
what He had done.
Because they refused to worship, God condemns them.
They become futile in their minds and their foolish hearts are darkened.
It is not too strong a statement to say that we have been saved to worship.
So often our theology is man-centered, and we say we are saved because God wanted to
keep us out of hell.
Well there is truth to that of course, but there is a greater truth folks.
That focuses on God in theology, and that is that God has saved us so we might worship
Him.
And you want to know what you'll be doing throughout eternity?
You'll be worshiping God.
That involves a lot more than playing a harp and singing songs.
We're going to see that tonight.
Worship involves service.
But the reason that you and I have been saved is that we might be made worshippers, true
worshippers.
Do you remember what Jesus said to the woman at the well there in Samaria?
They had a conversation, and a part of that was that the Father seeks true worshipers
to worship Him.
An interesting thought, a true worshiper.
A true worshiper.
It is possible to be a false worshiper or to worship falsely.
Well to worship a false God, it's possible to worship with the wrong motives.
God seeks true worshippers.
Those who know what worship is and who are worshiping.
Now how do we worship?
That's the second question.
Having talked about what worship is, how do we do this?
It's important to understand that worship is not just a noun.
It is a verb.
It is an action word.
We need to recognize that worship is not just a church service, though we talk about going
to worship.
And that's fine as far as it goes.
And worship really, and believe me this is the key thought for the whole evening, worship
is a way of life.
Worship is not just going to church and singing and praying and listening to the preacher
and going home.
Worship is a way of life.
Worship involves living acceptably before God.
Now there is that key word, doing what is acceptable to Him, well pleasing to God.
We're going to run through some scriptures here.
I have five of them that I've selected.
These scriptures will help us to begin to understand that worship is a way of life.
It's not something we just do in church.
It's something we do seven days of the week.
Here in Romans, so turn to Romans 14, verse 18.
The thing that's going to tie these verses together is this thread of worship terminology
which you'll pick up.
Romans 14, verse 18.
He says, For he who in this way serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men.
So he says, He that lives this way is acceptable to God.
And there's that word, well pleasing.
What way is he talking about?
Well, we have to look at the context.
In Romans 14, he is telling us that there are those believers who are weak in the faith.
They don't have an understanding of the liberty that is ours in Christ.
They have consciences that are weak, weaker than they ought to be, but nonetheless that's
the reality of the situation.
They are weak.
And so he says that those of us who are stronger, who understand the liberty that we have in
Christ, are to live in such a way that we're considerate of the weaker.
We're to be sensitive to their needs, to understand the place that they are in their walk with
God and not do anything that will cause them to be offended.
That's what he says here.
He says the one who lives with that kind of an attitude is one who worships, who lives
acceptably before God.
The guy who pushes for his own way and who says, I don't care what they think, this
is what I'm going to do.
That kind of an attitude is not a life of worship.
It's not an attitude that pleases God.
The attitude that pleases God understands where the weaker brother is, does not judge
him for that, but says I will limit myself in my liberty so that he will not stumble
or be offended.
Now it takes grace to live that way, but that's the way Jesus lived, and that's how we're
commanded to live, to be considerate of one another.
Then in the next chapter, chapter 15 verse 16, he reminds them of the grace that was
given him from God to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, ministering as a priest,
you see that?
Ministering as a priest the gospel of God that my offering of the Gentiles might become
acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
That verse is pregnant with worship terms.
Essentially what he's saying here is that winning people to Jesus Christ is a life of
worship.
When you and I share our faith, whether it be in some organized ministry of the church
or there informally in the office or around the coffee, in the restaurant, as we share
our faith and people are one to Christ, it is as though we are priests giving out the
gospel to people, our prayer being that they may be saved, that we may offer them up to
God acceptably, a tremendous thought that is.
You see if I'm going to worship God it means that I have to be a faithful witness.
God will take care of the fruitfulness of it, but my responsibility is to be a faithful
witness.
What does it mean to worship?
It means to witness, to share our faith, to win others to Christ.
Let us go to Philippians 4.
The apostle thanks them for the gift that they've sent to him for his ministry.
In fact, they've sent two.
He says in verse 18, I have received everything in full and have abundance.
I am amply supplied, notice, having received from Epaphroditus what you have sent, a fragrant
aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well pleasing to God.
And so here's another verse that just bubbles with terms dealing with worship.
He says that what we give is like a sacrifice that is offered up to God and there is as
it were an aroma about it that is well pleasing to God.
It is a sacrifice that has a sweet savor or aroma.
It is acceptable, in other words, to him.
Have you ever seen your giving that way?
Worship is giving.
It is giving to God really what is His because everything that I possess, actually I only
am the steward of.
I oversee it in this life.
And as I give to the Lord and to His ministry, to His work, that is a sacrifice to God.
Worship is giving.
So worship involves being considerate, especially of the weaker brother.
It involves winning people to Christ.
It involves giving money to the Lord's work.
Turn over to Ephesians chapter 5 verse 10.
Well let's back up to verse 8 to get the context.
He says walk as children of light, verse 10, trying to learn what is pleasing, there is
the key word, what is pleasing, acceptable to the Lord.
And what is acceptable to the Lord?
Well to cause our lives to be like those terms in verse 9.
He says the fruit of light.
He says this is what the children of light are characterized by, goodness, righteousness,
and truth.
And so our lifestyles should reflect what is good, what is right, and what is true.
To the extent that we reflect what is wicked, what is selfish, what is deceitful or false,
we are not worshiping.
Conversely, as we live our lives according to righteousness, we live our lives according
to truthfulness, and according to goodness, our lives are a worship to God.
And then finally to 1 Timothy chapter 2 verse 3.
How do we worship?
First Timothy 2, 3.
He simply says this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior.
What?
He says in verse 2 that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.
And so in our manner of living we should reflect tranquility, God-likeness, and dignity.
In other words, we ought to reverence life, to see its seriousness, not to waste it and
fritter it away.
As we put up the standard over here of what worship is, I believe the Spirit of God would
have us to compare our lives, our attitudes, with what we see.
The assembling of believers for worship, like we do on Sunday, is really just the overflow
of our worship all week long.
Have you ever thought about it that way?
So many people look at going to church as their spiritual high.
They go to church, that's their pickup, and from there it's all downhill.
Until the next week they get back to church and get their next injection.
That is not the will of God.
The will of God is that six days a week we are worshiping God out there in what we're
doing in our homes, in our personal relationships with other people, at work, driving the car
in the expressway.
Everything we do reflects worship to God.
And then when we get together on Sunday it's just that our hearts overflow with everything
that's been happening and worship is spontaneous and it's beautiful.
But to have come to a service and having lived a life of selfishness and meanness throughout
the week and then claiming to worship, that's a perversion.
That's a disgrace to God.
What place should worship have?
Well, it should be the priority.
I believe that worship is God's priority.
Just think about these things.
If you look at the Ten Commandments, actually the first four of them deal with worship in
some aspect of it.
Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
You shall not make any graven image.
You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.
You see as God gave the Ten Commandments, worship and the accruediments of worship was
a priority.
When you think about Israel, worship was a priority.
Have you ever noticed how God commanded them to encamp in the wilderness?
They were to put the tabernacle out there in the middle of this large area and then
immediately surrounding the tabernacle would come the priests and the Levites who had the
service of the tabernacle.
Then all of the others were in a particular order as God commanded around the tabernacle.
Interestingly, they were all to face their tents toward the center.
In other words, the place of worship was to be the center of the whole camp of Israel.
When they went to bed at night, the last thing they were to look at was the tabernacle out
there and that pillar of fire above it.
When they got up in the morning, the first thing they were to see as they came out of
their tent was that pillar of cloud over the tabernacle.
Worship was the priority in Israel.
Their activity, of course, involved bringing offerings.
We see it in Hebrews 11.
The first three individuals really mentioned there are individuals who lived before the
flood.
There's Abel and who?
Enoch and who's the last one?
Anybody remember?
Noah.
Now, I've preached this.
You've probably heard it.
There are three words that summarize those verses about those three guys.
Excuse me, gentlemen.
Each word begins with W. If you think about Abel, what word comes to your mind?
Worship.
It talks about him offering up his sacrifice to the Lord.
If you think about Enoch, what does it say about Enoch?
He walked with God, so he had the walk.
Then Noah, by faith, worked.
He built the ark.
So you have worship, walk, and then work.
Don't we so often reverse that order?
We say, well, I've got to work for the Lord.
I've got to walk with God.
Worship comes down to the end somewhere.
God's priority is worship, then walk, and then work.
That's God's priority.
Why is worship such a priority?
Because we become like what we worship, a basic principle of life.
If we love money and worship money, we'll become greedy and covetous.
If we are looking for sensual fulfillment, the gratifying of the flesh, and we worship
those things, we will burn out, and our lives will become perverted and twisted.
We become like what we worship.
I believe that's why, again and again, the Word of God tells us to focus on Jesus Christ.
Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.
Folks, let us learn what it means to be true worshipers.
Heavenly Father, we have to confess that we know very little about this matter of true
worshiping, and we are reminded that we are to worship in spirit and in truth.
Help us to understand that worship is a way of life, that we worship tomorrow as well
as today, and that as we gather here for our services, it is only the overflow of all that
we have done and all of the attitudes that we have expressed through the week.
Dear Lord Jesus, make us true worshipers of the Father.
As we bow our heads and our eyes are closed, as the Spirit of God searches our hearts,
I wonder if this evening the Spirit of God has put his finger upon an area of your life
where you are not worshiping at all, or where you are worshiping the wrong thing, or you
have the wrong motive.
Are you considerate of others?
Do others come before yourself?
Are you sharing your faith and winning people to Christ?
Are you giving sacrificially and joyfully?
Is your lifestyle conformed to what is good and right and truthful?
Do you evidence a seriousness about life, or do people know you as a cut-up?
Do you waste life?
Are you undisciplined?
The Spirit of God has indicated to you by conviction that you need to learn something
more of worship in your life in a specific area.
Will you right now talk to God about that?
All to Jesus I surrender.
Will you surrender that area to Him, to His Lordship?
Father I pray that tonight there won't be one of us who will go away except that we
have made a commitment to learn more about worship and to be true worshipers as you teach
us how.
In Jesus' name I pray, amen.
I would like for us to close by singing a verse of what Mark is playing, All to Jesus
I Surrender.
That's 451.
And as we sing this, if there is a need in your life and we can pray with you and help
you this evening.