Clarity 9-22-10 What is Worship?

What is worship? You know, a lot of people equate worship to being the time in the service that we sing praise songs. We are sometimes thrilled with the way “worship” went today. Other times we say, “Well, that wasn’t very good worship.” We take worship and cram it into about 15 minutes on Sunday morning. It goes along with our Bible reading on the same day. So our week is complete! We have had worship and scripture within 40min on Sunday morning. No… not really. That is not viewing worship in a scriptural sense.

Let’s read Isaiah 6 together before we jump in to what worship means.

Worship came from an old English word, “Worthship”. Basically it was saying that we give God His proper worth. What does it mean to have worth? It means that something has value, it is worth pursuing or protecting. If something is precious to you, you will protect it, you will honor it. Has anyone here ever had something so precious to them that they worked to keep it in pristine condition? I had a Star Wars collector’s item that I received for being a member with the Star Wars Insider. This was the most incredible thing I had ever received! It was a little action figure inside a box that was sealed with a “Collector’s Edition” seal. I was so excited that the action figure would eventually be worth thousands of dollars, or at least, I thought it would. I kept it in its package and wrapped a hand towel around it. Then I wrote a note to myself reminding me of the importance of this treasure. It was to deter me from opening the package destroying its worth. The note said, “Not this time Kevin!” I would show it off to my close friends, but not just anyone got to see it. The action figure had that much worth to me. Worship means to ascribe to God honor. To be excited about who He is. To prize Him above all else. 

Worship is not primarily about music, or even about the service on Sunday morning. It is putting God in His rightful place above us and realizing who He truly is. 

How do we worship? Let me answer that question with another question. What does awesome mean? A totally awesome car? A totally awesome video game? A totally awesome mall just opened? True worship begins when we are awe stricken. We toss around the word “awesome”, but we do not always tie it to what it really means. Awesome means to have been smacked in the face with something that is jaw dropping incredible. When you are standing in front of the Grand Canyon and you cannot see the bottom because it is that huge, that is awesome. When you feel that last latch on a roller coaster give way and you begin tumbling forward. That is awesome. Awesome means to be struck with awe. You are in wonder. Overwhelmed. That is where worship begins.

Take a look at Isaiah 6. This is the progression of true worship:

Isa 6:1 In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple.
Isa 6:2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.
Isa 6:3 And one called to another and said: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!"
Isa 6:4 And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.
Isa 6:5 And I said: "Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!"
Isa 6:6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar.
Isa 6:7 And he touched my mouth and said: "Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for."
Isa 6:8 And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" Then I said, "Here am I! Send me."

What is the first thing that we notice about where Isaiah is standing? He is in the throne room of God and God is high and lifted up. Right from the beginning Isaiah points out his position before God. God is exalted, he is under Him. Then the angels cry out around him, “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” They declare that God is set apart from anyone or anything else in creation. He is entirely pure and worthy of praise. Isaiah was brought into an awe inspiring perspective of who God is. That is what brought him to his knees before God in the first place. This is how it all starts! If we do not see God for who He is, we will have no reason to worship.

Now that we know where worship starts, how do we worship in a way that pleases God? By being cleansed before Him. In Isaiah 6:5 Isaiah realizes that he has no hope before an incredible and sinless God, he cries out that he is a sinner. He is desperate for redemption. The “Woe” that he uses here literally means “I am a dead man!” But an angel touches his lips with a coal from the altar. This was a symbol of redemption, of cleansing him from his sins. Now he can stand before God and join in with the praise going on around him. We cannot think that living a lifestyle of sin is acceptable before God! You cannot stand before him and offer yourself and be unclean before Him. This is a picture of the future redemption through Christ.

This is the order that worship happens. 1. We see that God is completely powerful and worthy of our praise. 2. We see where we are in relation to Him, that we need God to save us. 3. We offer ourselves to God as an act of worship.

How do we live a life of worship if you are supposed to be ascribing worship to God? Worship goes beyond just giving God lip service, singing, or simply exalting Him through Scripture reading. Rom 12:1 “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” God not only demands our praise, but that we would live in a way that honors Him. We are to present our bodies as “Holy and acceptable to God.” This is where the other spiritual disciplines link together. We are working towards holiness, we want to be godly. Scripture reading, prayer, worship, self control, and so many more add up to us tearing ourselves away from the world and submitting ourselves to Christ. What does it say later on in Romans 12? That we are not to be conformed to the world, but be transformed by the renewing of our minds. You have probably heard the phrase “Lifestyle worship.” That is exactly what I am talking about. Everyday there is a struggle that goes on in our hearts and minds. Will we serve God, or will we do our own thing? True worship means that we will crucify our own desires and submit ourselves to God and His desires for us. We cannot please Him when we decide to follow our own sinful patterns in life.

These verses show what God expects from us:

Gal 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Luk 9:23 And he said to all, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

Mat 16:24 Then Jesus told his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

            Worship is much more than just opening our hearts in praise to God through songs. That is one of my favorite things to do, but we cannot take the emphasis off of worshiping God in everything that we do.