Please turn in your Bibles this morning to Revelation chapter 7 as we are in part 2 of our study on worship, or as I have called this study, “What About Worship?” Now some have a hard time with this, they wonder why worship is so important or even if it is important at all. Folks, as you study the book of Revelation and see what takes place in heaven, heaven is filled with worship!
Here are just a few examples to show you what I mean. In Revelation 4:8-11 we are told, “The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying: ‘Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!’ Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying: ‘You are worthy, O Lord, To receive glory and honor and power; or You created all things, And by Your will they exist and were created.’”
In Revelation 15:2-4 we are told, “And I saw something like a sea of glass mingled with fire, and those who have the victory over the beast, over his image and over his mark and over the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, having harps of God. They sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying: ‘Great and marvelous are Your works, Lord God Almighty! Just and true are Your ways, O King of the saints! Who shall not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy. For all nations shall come and worship before You, For Your judgments have been manifested.’”
I think that is pretty clear and that is just 2 chapters, heaven is a place of worship, it is filled with worship, the worship of God! Now some may wonder if heaven is the only place we are to worship God. Then answer, obviously is no, we are to worship Him every day here on this earth as we give our lives as a living sacrifice unto Him. You see, worship is very important to God. How do I know? Let me share a few Scriptures with you and you will clearly see this point unfold of the importance of worship.
Folks, first of all it is the Father’s desire that we worship Him. How do I know that? Because Jesus tells us in John 4:23, “But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.” You see, it is the desire of the Father that we worship Him!
Not only that, but Jesus tells us that worshiping God, loving Him is the greatest commandment. In Matthew 22:37-38 w are told, “ . . . ‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment.” So not only is it the desire of the Father that we worship Him, but it is the greatest commandment!
And lastly, it is our eternal purpose as God’s children to worship Him. We saw this in Revelation 5:8-14 where we are told, “Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying: ‘You are worthy to take the scroll, And to open its seals; For You were slain, And have redeemed us to God by Your blood Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, And have made us kings and priests to our God; And we shall reign on the earth.’ Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice: ‘Worthy is the Lamb who was slain To receive power and riches and wisdom, And strength and honor and glory and blessing!’ And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying: ‘Blessing and honor and glory and power Be to Him who sits on the throne, And to the Lamb, forever and ever!’ Then the four living creatures said, ‘Amen!’ And the twenty-four elders fell down and worshiped Him who lives forever and ever.”
And so we have seen the importance of worship, the worship of the God. It is the Father’s desire that we worship Him. We have seen that worshiping God is the greatest commandment. And we have seen that it is our eternal purpose as God’s children to worship Him!
In our last study we looked at six different aspects regarding what Biblical worship is all about. We said that it is REVERENCE towards God, that we bow down before Him and give to Him the honor that is due His holy name. We said that it is SACRIFICE, that true worship will cost us our time, our possessions, our positions at work and it may even cost us our money and-so-on, for if the worship of God does not cost you something, it is empty. We said that it is PRAISE or that what comes from our lips and our lives should bring glory to God!
We also said that Biblical worship is GIVING and it is not just speaking of money, but our time, our talents, our gifts, that we can give to the Lord by ministering to the body of Christ. It is seeing CONVERTS or leading people to the Lord, which causes heaven to break forth and rejoice and praise God for making a sinner a saint. And it is LOVING THE BODY OF CHRIST, submitting to one another in the fear of the Lord!
This morning we are going to be looking at 2 of 3 main points about worship. We are going to be looking at THE OBJECT OF OUR WORSHIP, THE ACT OF WORSHIP and then next week we will look at what ACCEPTABLE WORSHIP is all about and wrap it all up with a CONCLUSION. And once again, I believe these are very important points for us to understand because there is much confusion today about worship.
But before we get to our text this morning, let me share with you this story to help set the stage for what we will be discussing. We are told:
Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) was present at the Vienna Music Hall, where his oratorio The Creation was being performed. Weakened by age, the great composer was confined to a wheelchair. As the majestic work moved along, the audience was caught up with tremendous emotion. When the passage “And there was light!” was reached, the chorus and orchestra burst forth in such power that the crowd could no longer restrain its enthusiasm.
The vast assembly rose in spontaneous applause. Haydn struggled to stand and motioned for silence. With his hand pointed toward heaven, he said, “No, no, not for me, but from thence comes all!” Having given the glory and praise to the Creator, he fell back into his chair exhausted.
- Daily Bread, September 20, 1992
You see folks, it is not about us, it is never really about us, but it truly is all about the Lord for He alone is worthy to be praised. With that said, let’s begin reading in Revelation chapter 7, beginning in verse 9, and see what the Lord has for us this morning as we continue to look at worship.
As we have seen in our study of Revelation, heaven is filled with the worship of God and this worship flows from hearts filed with love for Him. Even here in Revelation chapter 7, in the midst of God’s righteous judgment being poured out upon a Christ rejecting world, we see the grace and mercy of God come shinning through as these sinners become saints through the evangelism of the 144,000 Jewish witnesses for Christ. And these dear saints who have given their lives to Jesus during the Tribulation Period and have been martyred for their faith, are now resting in the presence of God!
What happens as all of heaven sees these redeemed saints from the Tribulation Period standing before the throne of God? Worship breaks forth throughout the heavens for God redeeming sinful man in the midst of this judgment!
And folks, for us, true Biblical worship will satisfy our soul so much that we won’t have to shop around for any man-made substitutes. We won’t have to look around and try to find someone to pump us up! In fact, William Temple put it this way in his definition of worship. He said:
For worship is the submission of all our nature to God. It is the quickening of conscience by His holiness; the nourishment of mind with His truth; the purifying of imagination by His beauty; the opening of the heart to His love; the surrender of will to His purpose – and all of this gathered up in adoration, the most selfless emotion of which our nature is capable and therefore the chief remedy for that self-centeredness which is our original sin and the source of all actual sin.
- William Temple
And that truly is my prayer as we go through these studies on worship. That we would get our minds off of self and focused back on the Lord, that we would truly worship Him with our lives! That you won’t have to be pumped up, as I have said, to worship God, but that it would flow from a heart that is totally in love with Him. And so let’s look at those two points this morning and we will finish up then next week on the last point and the conclusion, and let’s see what we can glean from them to help us have a true Biblical worship of God.
1. THE OBJECT OF OUR WORSHIP
How many people look to external things to draw them to God, to help them to worship God? In the Old Testament we saw things like sacrifices and burnt offerings and all kinds of outward rituals but if you don’t know the true God, and even if you do, true worship is not found in these things. Remember what the Lord said in Hosea 6:6, “For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, And the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.”
Do you see what the Lord is saying here? He is saying that to worship Him you must know who He is, it is a matter of supreme importance. Even today people do all kinds of rituals hoping to draw close to God and they do this because they have lost the awareness of who God is and they then must resort to these things.
I like what A. W. Tozer wrote regarding this: “The history of mankind will probably show that no people has ever risen above its religion, and man’s spiritual history will positively demonstrate that no religion has ever been greater than its idea of God. Worship is pure or base as the worshipper entertains high or low thoughts of God. For this reason the gravest question before the Church is always God Himself, and the most portentous [arrogant] fact about any man is not what he at a given time may say or do, but what he in his deep heart conceives God to be like.”
He truly hits the nail on the head here. In other words, God does not desire us to worship Him through rituals, but He desires that we know Him! How do we know God? By reading His Word because as we do God will reveal Himself to us. You see, it is not surprising that the church is going back to the old rituals of lighting candles, burning incense, having prayer stations, putting up icons to communicate with God because they don’t know God and they don’t know God because they don’t know His Word. They do not know the God of the Bible! They have lost the consciousness of God in their lives and have resorted to dead rituals!
In John 5:39-40, as Jesus spoke to the religious leaders, He said, “You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.” Here is a group of people that knew the Scriptures but did not know the God of the Scriptures who was standing right before them, why? Because they had their own preconceived ideas and they followed the traditions of men instead of the Lord. They went through all these rituals but they were dead rituals and in the end they were not willing to come to the one who could give them life, the one they said they were worshiping!
And tragically, many are like that today and they look to outward acts or rituals to worship God by and He will not accept that. You see, without the proper understanding of God from His Word, you will never be able to worship Him in a way that He will accept!
2. THE ACT OF WORSHIP
Think about it this way, and folks, this is not rocket science. When it comes down to it there are only two kinds of worship; that which is acceptable before God and that which is not acceptable before Him. We are going to finish up this morning looking at UNACCEPTABLE WORSHIP and then next week we will look at ACCEPTABLE WORSHIP and what that is all about!
A. UNACCEPTABLE WORSHIP
We are going to be looking at four areas that can be considered unacceptable worship before God and as you will see, these are areas we need to guard ourselves against.
1. THE WORSHIP OF FALSE GODS
We are told in Isaiah 44:6, “Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel, And his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: ‘I am the First and I am the Last; Besides Me there is no God.’” In other words, He alone is God and thus, he alone deserves our worship. In fact, in Exodus 20:3-6 we are told, “You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image — any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.” I think that is pretty clear. And in Exodus 34:14 we are told, “(for you shall worship no other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God).”
Now, as clear as that is, I want to share with you what some of God’s people and those that do not know the Lord do worship today because, as you will see, it is very easy to fall prey to them.
In Romans 1:25 we are told, “who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.” You see, it is the worship of self and the worship of creation instead of the creator!
In Job chapter 31 we are told, “If I have made gold my hope, Or said to fine gold, ‘You are my confidence’; If I have rejoiced because my wealth was great, And because my hand had gained much . . . This also would be an iniquity deserving of judgment, For I would have denied God who is above.” Job 31:24-25, 28. The worship of gold or wealth is wrong!
In Philippians 3:18-19 we are told, “For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame — who set their mind on earthly things.” Here we see that feeding the flesh, consumed with earthly things is worshiping those things and it is wrong!
In James 5:5 we are told, “You have lived on the earth in pleasure and luxury; you have fattened your hearts as in a day of slaughter.” Here we again see a person who is consumed with worshiping the good life, grabbing for all that he can in this life and that is not acceptable before God. The focus is all wrong.
In I Corinthians 10:19-20 Paul tells us, “What am I saying then? That an idol is anything, or what is offered to idols is anything? Rather, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to have fellowship with demons.” In other words, whatever we bow down before can become an idol in our lives because we are worshiping it!
2. THE WORSHIP OF THE TRUE
GOD IN AN UNACCEPTABLE MANNER
Folks, God has given to us His instructions in His Word on how we are to worship Him. And to deviate from what God has said will only make our worship unacceptable before Him. A great and yet very tragic example of this is seen with the children of Israel. In Exodus 32:1-10 we are told, “Now when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered together to Aaron, and said to him, ‘Come, make us gods that shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ And Aaron said to them, ‘Break off the golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.’ So all the people broke off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron. And he received the gold from their hand, and he fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made a molded calf. Then they said, ‘This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!’ So when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, ‘Tomorrow is a feast to the LORD.’ Then they rose early on the next day, offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. And the LORD said to Moses, ‘Go, get down! For your people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves. They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a molded calf, and worshiped it and sacrificed to it, and said, “This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!”’ . . .
. . . And the LORD said to Moses, ‘I have seen this people, and indeed it is a stiff-necked people! Now therefore, let Me alone, that My wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them. And I will make of you a great nation.’”
You see, it is not that they were worshiping other god’s, but they were worshiping the true God in an unacceptable way, in a way that was contrary to the Word of God. They were basically saying that this calf was a representation of Jehovah God, reducing God down to an image when He is God! You see, Israel was not worshiping a false god, but they were worshiping the true God in an unacceptable manner!
In Deuteronomy 4:15-19 we see God forbid His worship when it is reduced to an image. We are told, “Take careful heed to yourselves, for you saw no form when the LORD spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire, lest you act corruptly and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of any figure: the likeness of male or female, the likeness of any animal that is on the earth or the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the air, the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground or the likeness of any fish that is in the water beneath the earth. And take heed, lest you lift your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun, the moon, and the stars, all the host of heaven, you feel driven to worship them and serve them, which the LORD your God has given to all the peoples under the whole heaven as a heritage.”
Why does God forbid this? Look at Isaiah 40:18-26, which says, “To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare to Him? The workman molds an image, The goldsmith overspreads it with gold, And the silversmith casts silver chains. Whoever is too impoverished for such a contribution Chooses a tree that will not rot; He seeks for himself a skillful workman To prepare a carved image that will not totter. Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. He brings the princes to nothing; He makes the judges of the earth useless. Scarcely shall they be planted, Scarcely shall they be sown, Scarcely shall their stock take root in the earth, When He will also blow on them, And they will wither, And the whirlwind will take them away like stubble. ‘To whom then will you liken Me, Or to whom shall I be equal?’ says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high, And see who has created these things, Who brings out their host by number; He calls them all by name, By the greatness of His might And the strength of His power; Not one is missing.”
Do you see that, any image we create to worship God by is false and it is born out of the imagination of our hearts! And by doing this you have reduced the greatness of God by the limits you have set, by the image you have made!
3. THE WORSHIP OF GOD IN
A SELF-STYLED MANNER
What this means is we do our own thing when it comes to worshiping God, instead of what God commands us to do in the worship of Him. In Romans 10:3 Paul tells us regarding the Jewish people and what they were guilty of, “For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God.” You see, they rejected the guidelines that God had set and established their own system of worshiping God, how they could come before Him!
And people still do this today, substituting religion for a relationship “with Christ.” Rituals for righteousness “in Christ.” And sacraments for service “for Christ.” This is an unacceptable form of worship before God, you can’t have it your own way!
4. THE WORSHIP OF THE TRUE
GOD WITH THE WRONG ATTITUDE
In Malachi 1:6-14 we are told, “A son honors his father, And a servant his master. If then I am the Father, Where is My honor? And if I am a Master, Where is My reverence? Says the LORD of hosts To you priests who despise My name. Yet you say, ‘In what way have we despised Your name?’ ‘You offer defiled food on My altar,But say, “In what way have we defiled You?” By saying, “The table of the LORD is contemptible.” And when you offer the blind as a sacrifice, Is it not evil? And when you offer the lame and sick, Is it not evil? Offer it then to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you favorably?’ Says the LORD of hosts. ‘But now entreat God's favor, That He may be gracious to us. While this is being done by your hands, Will He accept you favorably?’ Says the LORD of hosts.
. . . ‘Who is there even among you who would shut the doors ,So that you would not kindle fire on My altar in vain? I have no pleasure in you,’ Says the LORD of hosts, ‘Nor will I accept an offering from your hands. For from the rising of the sun, even to its going down, My name shall be great among the Gentiles; In every place incense shall be offered to My name, And a pure offering; For My name shall be great among the nations,’ Says the LORD of hosts. ‘But you profane it, In that you say, “The table of the LORD is defiled; And its fruit, its food, is contemptible.” You also say, “Oh, what a weariness!” And you sneer at it,’ Says the LORD of hosts. ‘And you bring the stolen, the lame, and the sick; Thus you bring an offering! Should I accept this from your hand?’ Says the LORD. ‘But cursed be the deceiver Who has in his flock a male, And takes a vow, But sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished — For I am a great King,’ Says the LORD of hosts, ‘And My name is to be feared among the nations.’” In other words, they were giving God their worthless things instead of their best and that is not acceptable before God.
In Hosea 6:4-6 we are told, “O Ephraim, what shall I do to you? O Judah, what shall I do to you? For your faithfulness is like a morning cloud, And like the early dew it goes away. Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets, I have slain them by the words of My mouth; And your judgments are like light that goes forth. For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, And the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.” In other words, they came to worship God and yet they did not obey God, they were serving God unfaithfully and God will not accept that!
In Isaiah 1:10-17 we are told, “Hear the word of the LORD, You rulers of Sodom; Give ear to the law of our God, You people of Gomorrah: ‘To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me?’ Says the LORD. ‘I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams And the fat of fed cattle. I do not delight in the blood of bulls, Or of lambs or goats. When you come to appear before Me, Who has required this from your hand, To trample My courts? Bring no more futile sacrifices; Incense is an abomination to Me. The New Moons, the Sabbaths, and the calling of assemblies — I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting. Your New Moons and your appointed feasts My soul hates; They are a trouble to Me, I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands, I will hide My eyes from you; Even though you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Cease to do evil, Learn to do good; Seek justice, Rebuke the oppressor; Defend the fatherless, Plead for the widow.’” In other words, they were doing all the outward rituals and yet they lived immoral lives, and God refuses that kind of worship, it is empty to Him!
And in Matthew 15:8-9 we are told, “These people draw near to Me with their mouth, And honor Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’” Yes, they are worshiping God, serving God, but not according to His Word but by the words of man, the traditions of man, and once again God will not accept that!
Folks, how important it is to examine our own hearts before God and make sure we are not allowing these things into our lives, to become part of our worship of God when God says He will not accept them.
As I begin to wrap things up this morning, let me share with you these words about worship. We are told:
To worship God is to recognize his worth or worthiness; to look God-ward, and to acknowledge in all appropriate ways the value of what we see. The Bible calls this activity “glorifying God” or “giving glory to God,” and views it as the ultimate end, and from one point of view, the whole duty of man (Ps. 29:2; 96:6; 1 Cor. 10:31). . . .
This then is worship in its largest sense: petition as well as praise, preaching as well as prayer, hearing as well as speaking, actions as well as words, obeying as well as offering, loving people as well as loving God. However, the primary acts of worship are those which focus on God directly – and we must not imagine that work for God in the world is a substitute for direct fellowship with him in praise and prayer and devotion.
- James Packer, Your Father Loves You, p. 15
As we have seen this morning; the importance of worship is that it is the Father’s desire, it is the greatest commandment, and it is our eternal purpose as God’s children.
We have seen that the object of our worship is God and the only way we can truly worship Him is by understanding who He is from the Word of God. You see, the knowledge of the true God provides the intimacy of acceptable worship.
And we looked at the act of worship in unacceptable ways by the worship of false gods, the worship of the true God in an unacceptable manner, the worship of God in a self-styled manner, and lastly, the worship of God with the wrong attitude.
Next time we will tie this all together by looking at acceptable worship of God and then we will have some concluding remarks about worship. Let me close this morning with these words from I Chronicles 16:25-30 regarding worship. We are told, “For the LORD is great and greatly to be praised; He is also to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the peoples are idols, But the LORD made the heavens. Honor and majesty are before Him; Strength and gladness are in His place. Give to the LORD, O families of the peoples, Give to the LORD glory and strength. Give to the LORD the glory due His name; Bring an offering, and come before Him. Oh, worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness! Tremble before Him, all the earth. The world also is firmly established, It shall not be moved.” May we worship the Lord like that, knowing who He is and what He has done for us!