The Worship of The Church

Temple Baptist Church - 5-30-2010

Psalms 138:1-8

Introduction:

A. I want to preach tonight on worship of the local church. Worship has been one of the missing elements in the church, especially over the past 50 years. If God inhabits the praises of Israel, and the Bible says that He does (Psalm 22:3 says, “But thou [art] holy, [O thou] that inhabitest the praises of Israel”), then I believe that He also inhabits the praise of the saints in the church.

B. Bro. Jesse Hailey hit the “nail on the head” this morning in Sunday School while preaching on prayer. Public praise is directly in proportion with private praise. Believers do not praise the Lord in their personal devotions and prayer time and, therefore, do not praise the Lord in public worship services.

C. The Bible also says that the Father seeks worshippers. “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. 24 God [is] a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship [him] in spirit and in truth.”

(John 4:23-24) The Lord is still looking for believers who will worship and adore Him.

D. In order for the Lord to be properly glorified, praise must once again be restored to the services. We call these Worship Services but very little worship is present today. Some churches have a lot of hype with no truth while others have a lot of truth with no spirit.

E. There are several things that have led to this lack of worship in the churches that need to be both recognized and eradicated before true worship is restored.

1. In Order To Worship God, You Must Learn To Sacrifice - Genesis 22:5 And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you. (Selfishness has become an enemy of biblical worship. We are to offer the sacrifice of praise. Praise requires reflection on the goodness of God while the minds of most are upon what they are involved with or what they are going to do when church is over.)

2. In Order To Worship God, You Must Have An Understanding Of Who God Is - Acts 17:23 For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you. (Biblical ignorance is an enemy of true worship. Worship involves understanding just who God is and what He had done.)

Exodus 34:14 For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God:

3. In Order To Worship God, You Must Have Sincere Humility - Psalm 95:6 O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker. (Most people are too proud to either bow or kneel before the Lord. This involves a realization of who we are. Pride goeth before destruction, not worship.)

4. In Order To Worship God, You Must Have A Giving Heart - Deuteronomy 26:10 And now, behold, I have brought the firstfruits of the land, which thou, O LORD, hast given me. And thou shalt set it before the LORD thy God, and worship before the LORD thy God: (I do not think that this is much of a problem here at Temple but there are many who profess to be saved who do not tithe or tithe grudgingly. You cannot rob God and worship at the same time.)

Psalm 96:8 Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name: bring an offering, and come into his courts.

5. In Order To Worship God, You Must Have Confession Of Personal Sin - 1 Samuel 15:25 Now therefore, I pray thee, pardon my sin, and turn again with me, that I may worship the LORD.

Nehemiah 9:3 And they stood up in their place, and read in the book of the law of the LORD their God one fourth part of the day; and another fourth part they confessed, and worshipped the LORD their God. (One of the problems with the end time church is that of Phariseeism! People think that they are right with the Lord when they are far from Him. Confession is agreement with God about ourselves.)

6. In Order To Worship God, You Must Come With Reverence– 2 Kings 17:36 But the LORD, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great power and a stretched out arm, him shall ye fear, and him shall ye worship, and to him shall ye do sacrifice.

Psalm 89:7 God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him. (Today’s “Christians” are far too casual with God! Casualness has permeated churches as people dress, act, and sing as if they were at a theme park instead of the house of God.)

7. In Order To Worship God, You Must Have Holiness – 1 Chronicles 16:29 Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name: bring an offering, and come before him: worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.

Psalm 99:5 Exalt ye the LORD our God, and worship at his footstool; for he is holy.

Hebrews 12:14 Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: (Anything that comes between the believer and the Lord destroys worship. God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. Sinfulness separates the sinful from God.)

8. In Order To Worship God, You Must Faithful Assembly - Worship Involves Assembly - Psalm 5:7 But as for me, I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy: and in thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple. (We live in days of unfaithfulness! Not forsaking the assembly of the church means absolutely nothing to many. The pastor can preach on it until he is blue in the face and people still miss church over the least thing. I do not think that you can come whenever you want or as little as you want and expect God to be either pleased or worshipped.)

9. In Order To Worship God, You Must Be Spiritually Involved - Psalm 100:1-2 Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands. Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing. (Worship is not a spectator’s sport. People watch other people play games without being involved. They also sit and watch a service without ever getting involved.)

10. In Order To Worship God, You Must Come With Thanksgiving - Psalm 100:4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving. (We are to be a grateful people! We will not thank God if we take His blessings for granted!)

11. In Order To Worship God, You Must Offer To God Praise - Worship Involves Praise - Psalm 100:4 And into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. (I believe in order, but not formality. Many times we are guilty of just going through the motions with no emotions. Knowing what to do and when to do without knowing HOW to do is killing our services.)

12. In Order To Worship God, You Must Do So In Truth - John 4:23 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.

John 4:24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. (You cannot worship the Lord with false doctrine! What you do may look good in the eyes of man but God is not pleased.)

13. In Order To Worship God, You Must Have A Worshipful Spirit - 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. 24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. ( Laodicea brings about lukewarmness which is apathy! Simply coming to church, knowing that we are to worship the Lord, and not caring if we do or not!)

Psalm 111:1 Praise ye the LORD. I will praise the LORD with my whole heart, in the assembly of the upright, and in the congregation.