Then I looked again, and I heard the voices of thousands and millions of angels around the throne and of the living beings and the elders. And they sang in a mighty chorus: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slaughtered—to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing.” And then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea. They sang: “Blessing and honor and glory and power belong to the one sitting on the throne and to the Lamb forever and ever.” And the four living beings said, “Amen!” And the twenty-four elders fell down and worshiped the Lamb. Revelation 5:11-14
There are many reasons one comes to a
worship service. A preacher once noted
four specific ones.
·
Propriety – Some people imagine it is the decent or
right thing to do.
·
Popularity – some folks simply like to hear popular
speakers.
·
Politickin’ is third on the list; some people come to
rub elbows with those who can do them some good.
·
Prescription – there are those for whom the worship
service is somewhat of a theological aspirin, once taken it provides a feeling
of relief; a stay from contemporary judgment.
Of course, none of these four so-called
reasons are valid. The only reason for a
worship service is found in the word itself.
Worship is derived from the old English term
worth-ship. It means to ascribe to the
object the worth due. One definition
says that worship is: Human response to the perceived presence of
the divine, a presence which transcends normal human activity and is holy.[ii]
Worship is a tricky thing. According to the definition (worth-ship), how
do you even figure out the worth of Almighty God? Much less present that to Him? We are confronted with an all-consuming, yet
impossible task. We, who are imperfect,
must find appropriate means to ascribe perfection to He who is perfect. It makes me feel like I’m a T-ball kid batting
against a major league pitcher, way-out of my league. Yet, we are to do battle with our
ineffectiveness in worship. We are to
keep stepping up to the plate.
Joni Erickson Tada was a beautiful young
woman who became a quadriplegic through a diving accident when she was
seventeen. Once, according to a magazine
article[iii] she was in a worship service where
everyone was asked to kneel in prayer.
She was unable to do so and began to cry silently because she really did
want to kneel before her Lord. Through
her tears she prayed, Lord Jesus, I can't wait for the day when I will rise up
on resurrected legs. The first thing I
will then do is to drop on grateful, glorified knees and worship You.
Here is the real test of worship:
·
Does it, whatever we do, and however we do it – does it come from the
heart?
·
Do we recognize that it can never be enough?
·
Do we offer our best, despite the inadequacies of our human
condition?
·
Are we in the worship service to be pleased by a fine choir, soloist,
neatly constructed and cleverly presented sermon? Are we in the worship for the entertainment
value? Or are we there (here) to please
God, bow before Him, and cry Holy, Holy, Holy?
There is a true story of a young boy who
complained to his father that the church hymns were boring and
old-fashioned. The tunes and words were worn-out
and meant little to his generation. His
father challenged him, if you think you can write better hymns, why don't
you? The boy accepted the challenge,
went to his room and wrote his first hymn.
The year was 1690, and the young boy was Isaac Watts. More than 350 hymns later, Isaac was still
writing. We are still singing his tunes,
X Joy to the World X When I Survey the Wondrous Cross
X O God, Our Help in Ages Past X At the Cross X Alas, and Did My Savior Bleed
X Am I a Soldier of the Cross X We're Marching to Zion
It is said that Watts wrote Come, we that
Love the Lord when he was Pastor and Choir Director at a
church. The unity of that church was
nearly broken, and one week Watts heard that the choir was going to refuse to
sing in protest of some issue. That Saturday
night Pastor Watts wrote this song, which has as its' second stanza:
Let those refuse to sing Who never knew our God;
But children of the heav'nly King May speak their joys abroad.
The music, the prayers, the offering, the
sermon, the Scriptures – nothing about any of that is protest or personal
prerogative – it is all total surrender.
It is all falling down before a holy God and ascribing worthiness to
Him.
Some folks will only come to church to be
baptized, married and buried. Dr. Adrian
Rogers used to call it hatched, matched and dispatched. (The first time they throw water on you, the
second time rice, and the last time, dirt!)[iv]
People who have to be dragged to church have
the same attitude as Dolly in that comic strip, The Family Circus;
the family is sitting in church, and Dolly, with a bored expression on her
face, asks her Mom, How much longer till we goeth home?
Friend, when you come to stand in the
presence of holy God, the transcendent, King of glory, the resurrected LORD of
all, somehow the thought of how long it's going to take, or if the Baptists will
beat us out to the cafeteria – these things ought not to be.
Look at what is the character of the God
you've come to worship
1. Consider His Holiness
When Isaiah had his eyes opened to see the
glory of God filling the temple, he saw the angels flying back and forth,
crying Holy, holy, holy. Isaiah's
reaction was to shrink away. Isaiah knew
himself. He said, I'm a man of unclean
lips; I can't say what I'm seeing here.
God is different from man; He is beyond description.
Standing before Almighty God will change
your perspective on life! Paul wrote in
his 2nd letter to the Corinthian church[v] that he'd been lifted up to the third
heaven. Like Isaiah and John, Paul
couldn't utter appropriate words to describe what he'd seen. How unspeakable, how wonderful; words just cannot
say.
Marco Polo went to the far east in the
thirteenth century. The reports of his
discoveries were not believed by everyone.
On his deathbed he was urged by some to recant and withdraw the tales
he'd told about the wonders of China.
But his reply was, I have not told half of what I saw.
How can you tell the wonder of God's
holiness in mere words? You cannot. You simply let your song lift your heart to
Him.
2. Consider His Majesty
In Revelation 4, crowns and beasts speak
of the royal nature of our God. The lion
represents nobility, the calf is strength.
The man indicates wisdom, and the eagle grace and speed. The twenty-four elders are the leaders of
worship in every age.
In Old Testament times there were twelve
tribes of the Jewish nations. Added to
this group are the twelve apostles of the New Testament. These elders, leaders of the worshipping
community in every age, take off their own crowns, symbols of authority, and,
along with the angels, bow down to the only truly majestic one in the bunch,
King Jesus.
It makes little difference if you are
Billy Graham, or a murderer on death row who is converted at the last hour,
there will come a time when we will all bow before the throne to worship. ALL the saints adore Him.
It is not a wrong thought to begin to
practice that here. Our worship ought to
include bowing before God. Sometimes I
think we Methodists simply don't do that because the Catholics are doing
it! In heaven, therefore, the Catholic
saints will be way ahead of us!
Holy, holy, holy! all the saints adore Thee,
Casting down their golden crowns around
the glassy sea;
Cherubim and seraphim falling down before
Thee,
Who wert, and art, and evermore shalt be.
3. Consider His Uniqueness
This is a dark world. On every hand the evil that is prevalent in
our day attempts to push Jesus to the side and trivialize the Gospel. Once again, in the 4th chapter of
Revelation, when John looked at the throne he noticed there was room for only ONE;
this is a solitary seat, and there is only one Jesus! Many have tried to include Jesus in their
life. They try to make room for Him
among other things. The reality is that
Jesus IS life. You don't make room for
breathing -- it happens, or you don't!
There is another, lesser throne. It is the one in each of our hearts. There is also room for only one. The problem with sitting on that throne
yourself is that the responsibility is too big.
It is so big, that the shadow it casts blocks out any view of God.
The Old Testament story of Jacob
illustrates this. Jacob was second in
line to his father's estate, so he decided to take matters into his own
hand. He sat on the throne, he wanted to
call the shots. Eventually, he messed up
and had to leave the very place he'd called home. Years later he came back home, but not until
he wrestled with this issue of who's in charge.
One night he wrestled with the angel of
the Lord, and Jacob finally said, I'm not leaving this place, or letting go of
you until the matter of who's going to sit on the throne of my heart is
settled. In that pre-dawn struggle,
Jacob got himself off the throne of his heart, and allowed God control – life
or death – and once he got out of the way, he could see the glory of the
Lord.
4. Consider His Mercy
Only mercy can evoke true praise. It is only the saved sinner who can look back
and see that he deserved Hell and was handed Heaven!
What has God been merciful over?
·
Creation was an act of mercy
·
God's patience over sin is an act of mercy
·
God's Word which reveals Himself is an act of mercy and the CROSS was
the supreme act of mercy.
What shall we do about His mercy?
Praise!
It is our purpose
…for you are a chosen people. You are
royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can
show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his
wonderful light. 1 Peter 2:9
It is our privilege
May the nations praise you, O God. Yes, may all the nations praise you. Psalm 67:3
It is our priority
Therefore, let us offer through Jesus a
continual sacrifice of praise to God, proclaiming our allegiance to his name. Hebrews 13:15
If the God of all mercy could come to
earth, die, go to Hell, and suffer the penalty for all our sins, what an
incredibly small thing it is for us to return praise. There is a song I love that expresses our
praise…Worthy of Worship; it was played for the offertory:
Worthy of worship, worthy of praise,
Worthy of honor and glory;
Worthy of all the glad songs we can sing,
Worthy of all of the offerings we bring.
You are worthy, Father, Creator.
You are worthy, Savior, Sustainer.
You are worthy, worthy and wonderful;
Worthy of worship and praise.
A
test: What are you going to DO about what you
have experienced here today?
Will there be any difference
about the way you spend this week?
Paul Rees said, if you can leave your
church on Sunday with no feeling of discomfort, of conviction, of brokenness,
of challenge, then for you the hour of worship has not been as dangerous as it
should have been.
Richard Foster said, if worship does not
change us, it has not been worship.
·
Are you challenged to live in worship this week?
·
Are you different because you've been here?
·
What will you do in response to the mercy of a holy, majestic, unique
God?
A VIDEO of this sermon can be seen HERE
[i] All Scripture quoted is from The
New Living Translation (unless otherwise stated) Title Image:
Pixabay.com
[ii] The
Holman Bible Dictionary, Trent C.
Butler, Gen Ed., (Nashville, Holman
Bible Publishers, 1991), 1421
[iv] Adrian Rogers, Our Worship: The Church in the 21st
Century, (1992, SBC Pastor’s Conference), message Prestonwood Baptist
Church
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