Worship is an intentional act of the heart, but many
people take little time to prepare for worship.
Hello, I'm Phil Sanders, and this is a Bible study
In Search of the Lord's Way.
God expects us not only to prepare our hearts but
also our lives when we come into His presence.
How do we prepare for worship?
In all the hurry and hustle and confusion of modern living,
the Lord has the way.
We believe that the Bible is the revelation of His way.
We invite you to join us
In Search of the Lord's Way with Phil Sanders.
Welcome to In Search of the Lord's Way.
The Bible teaches us the truth, because God is the
true author of the Scriptures.
That's why we study diligently and encourage
everyone to read and study it.
There is simply no replacement for the word of God.
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The English word "worship' comes from an old word "worthship"!
It's by our attitude, our words, and our actions that we
tell God that He is worthy of our praise and adoration.
He deserves our love and thanksgiving.
"Worship is not an experience that we have in
the presence of God, but the act of offering God
our best when we are in his presence." Worship is
a spiritual act, that entails a sense of awe and
reverence in the presence of the DIVINE.
Worship comes from the Greek word proskuneo,
which means "throwing oneself on the ground to
show respect and awe."
When Moses saw the burning bush, he thought
it was a marvelous sight.
He wanted to know why the bush didn't burn up.
God called him from the bush and told Moses "Take
your shoes off your feet, for the place where you
stand is holy ground" (Exodus 3 and verse 5).
When we come into the presence of God for
worship, we are entering holy ground.
The Bible says in Hebrews 12 verses 28 and 29,
"Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a
kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us
offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence
and awe, for our God is a consuming fire."
Worship is, by its very nature, an act of reverence and awe.
It focuses on honoring and pleasing God.
Worship that pleases God requires some preparation.
And today we're going to explore the Scriptures to
see how we can show God reverence and awe.
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Larry Owsley will lead the Edmond church in song, and
then we'll read from Revelation chapter 5 verses 11 to 14.
Our reading today comes from the book of
Revelation chapter 5 verses 11 to 14. Then I
looked, and I heard the voice of many angels
around the throne and the living creatures and the
elders; and the number of them was myriads of
myriads, and thousands of thousands, saying with a
loud voice, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to
receive power and riches and wisdom and might and
honor and glory and blessing."
And every created thing which is in heaven and on
the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and
all things in them, I heard saying, "To Him who
sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and
honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.
And the four living creatures kept saying, "Amen."
And the elders fell down and worshiped.
What a beautiful scene.
Let's pray together.
Father help us to worship from our hearts and to let
you know how You too are worthy of our glory and
honor and all things that are good.
And Father may Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
In Jesus name, Amen.
What are we doing when we gather for worship?
Well, what does it mean to worship and praise God?
Now if we're to prepare for worship, we must know
something about worship and about God.
As we begin this lesson, let's
explore what worship is all about.
First, worship is internal; it comes from the heart.
One can worship internally without doing anything
externally, but one cannot worship externally without
doing something internally.
Zechariah 7 verses 5 and 6 says that the
Jews of Zechariah's day feasted and
fasted for themselves and not for God.
They went through the motions but didn't involve the heart.
William Temple rightly said, "To worship is to
quicken the conscience by the holiness of God, to
feed the mind with the truth of God, to purge the
imagination by the beauty of God, to open the heart to
the love of God, and to devote the will to the purpose of God."
Our worship must come genuinely from our hearts.
Now in a discussion with the woman at the well,
Jesus said in John 4 verses 23 and 4, "But an
hour is coming, and now is, when the true
worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth;
for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.
God is spirit, and those who worship Him must
worship in spirit and truth."
God isn't seeking worshipers who have their
minds elsewhere or are simply going through the
motions; He is seeking worshipers who will
worship Him in spirit and in truth.
Second, worship is intentional.
We don't worship God accidentally;
it must be an intended act.
Perhaps you remember Naaman the leper, whom God
healed through Elisha.
Naaman said that he would only worship the Lord God.
And in 2 Kings 5, 17 to 19 Naaman was worried and
told Elisha that he had to bow in the house of Rimmon
to another god as a part of his duties.
Well, Naaman makes the point that he must bow,
but that worshiping a false god is not his intention.
Well, Elisha understood that unless you intend to
worship, it's not really worship.
Unfortunately, some Christians come to church
to socialize or to see a production;
and they never intend to worship.
I hope you're a true worshipers.
True praise is not merely "going through the motions."
Jesus spoke about the hypocrisy of the
Pharisees, whose worship was only an outward show
and not from the heart.
The Lord said in Matthew 15 and verse 8, that "This
people honors me with their lips, but their
heart is far from me."
This not only revealed itself in their worship,
but also showed in their lives.
They had forgotten God's commandments but
concentrated on their human traditions.
The Lord said, "in vain do they worship me, teaching
as doctrines the commandments of men" (Matthew 15 verse 9).
Genuine praise to God comes from a sincere
devotion and obedience to the Lord.
Third, worship is vertical.
Yes, true worship will edify the church; but the
primary purpose of worship is vertical.
Worship takes place when our hearts and spirits
show our thanksgiving and praise to God our Father.
We sing praises to God.
We're not worshiping to please ourselves but to
adore and glorify God.
While we may sing to edify or teach others, the
primary focus is to praise God.
The Bible says in Hebrews 13 verse 15, "Through Him
(that is through Jesus) then, let us continually
offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is,
the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name."
Fourth, worship is momentary.
Like eating, it has a beginning and an ending.
While worship is something that we do throughout our
lives, it is an intermittent, heartfelt
act, occasional, wherein we put everything else
aside and we focus our minds and our hearts for a time on God.
Someone says, "Phil, the Bible says in 1
Thessalonians 5 verse 17 that we're to pray without ceasing."
Well, that's true, but nobody can pray 24 hours a
day, seven days a week.
What this passage is saying is that we ought
never to quit praying to God.
We should pray every day throughout our lives.
Our lives are spent in momentary acts; and since worship
is intentional we must choose to spend our time in worship.
We must make the moments we worship our Father important.
Jesus said in John 4:23 and 24, that "the true
worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth;
for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.
God is spirit, and those who worship Him must
worship in spirit and truth."
God wants you to give Him your heart and glorify His name.
Have you considered how important God regards worship?
You know the Lord said to Israel through the prophet
Malachi in Malachi 1:6 to 9, that "'A son honors his
father, and a servant his master.
Then if I am a father, where is My honor?
And if I am a master, where is My respect?'
says the LORD of hosts to you, O priests who despise My name.
But you say, 'How have we despised Your name?'
God answers, 'You are presenting defiled food
upon My altar.' But you say, 'How have we defiled You?'
In that you say, 'The table of the LORD is to be
despised.' 'But when you present the blind for
sacrifice, is it not evil?
And when you present the lame and sick, is it not evil?
Well why not offer it to your governor?
Would he be pleased with you?
Or would he receive you kindly?'
says the LORD of hosts.
But now will you not entreat God's favor, that
He may be gracious to us?
With such an offering on your part, will He receive
any of you kindly?" says the LORD of hosts.
It's common these days for Christians to come to
worship habitually late and sometimes dressed as
if they didn't know they were coming into the presence of God.
How does this show respect and awe for God?
Some think, "well God ought to be glad I came. Chill out!
God ought to be satisfied he got anything from me at all."
Is this the attitude of true worship?
Where is the love?
Where is the humility?
Where is the reverence and awe?
How is God honored in all of this?
I fear some have little sense of holiness about
coming into the presence of God.
God deserves our best; we shouldn't give God what is
common or profane or leftovers.
God deserves respect in our hearts and in our appearance.
I'm not here trying to make laws or tell you what
you must wear to worship but to encourage you to
consider whether you have honored God in your worship.
In the tabernacle and the temple, how one appeared
before God mattered.
The Bible says in Exodus 28 and verse 2, "And you
shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother,
for glory and for beauty."
How the priest dressed mattered to God.
Psalm 29 verses 1 and 2 says, "Ascribe to the
Lord, ascribe to the Lord, O heavenly beings, ascribe
to the Lord glory and strength.
Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness."
The New American Standard says the angels are to
worship "in holy array."
Well why would angels need to put on holy garments?
Consider Paul's instructions to Timothy in
1 Timothy 2 verses 9 to10, "that women should adorn
themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and
self-control, not with braided hair and gold or
pearls or costly attire, but with what is proper
for women who profess godliness-with good works."
When we assemble to worship, we're coming into
the presence of God.
What we do there, gathered in His name for worship,
is holy and reveals our respect for Him.
When the Israelites gathered for worship at
the temple, they didn't simply show up.
They lived in a world of ceremonially clean and unclean.
We have little sense of that concept today.
Israelite pilgrims who traveled to a feast in
Jerusalem in ancient times first went to a ritual
bath to become ceremonially pure before
they ever entered the temple area (John 11 verse 55).
In fact archaeologists count as many as eighteen
ritual baths surrounding the temple mount today.
These purification rituals stressed cleanliness and
worthiness to serve and worship the Lord.
In fact, Jehoiada the priest stationed
gatekeepers at the gates of the house of the Lord
so that no one should enter who was in any way
unclean (2 Chronicles 23 and verse 19).
Isaiah spoke of his experience in the presence of God
in the year that King Uzziah died in Isaiah 6 verses 1 to 8.
You remember that Seraphim proclaimed that the Lord
God, is "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the
whole earth is full of his glory!"
The Lord was sitting on his throne, lofty and exalted.
And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at his
voice, while the temple was filling with smoke.
And Isaiah responded, "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!"
And Isaiah was humbled by his own sense of
uncleanness before God.
He expected to die because he was unclean, but God
forgave him as the Seraphim touched his lips
with the burning coal.
You remember that when the apostle John came into the
presence of the Lord Jesus on the island of Patmos,
that he fell at his feet as though dead.
He understood the awesome and special nature of the occasion.
Many worship assemblies have become so worldly
there is little sense of being in the presence of
God or of the reverence of the occasion.
The Hebrew writer urged his readers, "let us offer
to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe,
for our God is a consuming fire" (Hebrews 12 and verse 29).
I fear we have lost a sense of the awesome nature of God.
In many worship occasions I find things that reflect
an environment of little respect for God.
Things like putting a Bible on the floor, people
putting their feet up in the pew or on song racks,
people who are repeatedly and needlessly late,
constant going in and out to get a drink or go to
bathroom, constant talking in the foyer, constant
talking in the pews, texting on the phone, passing
notes in worship, or clipping fingernails during the sermon.
Yes I care about everyone, and I want everyone to
come for worship, but I wonder if God feels
honored when our hearts and lives are so far from Him.
We also must think of our lives as we approach God in worship.
The Bible says in Psalm 66 verses 16 to 20, "Come and
hear, all of you who fear God, and I will tell what
he has done for my soul.
I cried to him with my mouth,
and high praise was on my tongue.
If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the
Lord would not have listened.
But truly God has listened; he has attended
to the voice of my prayer.
Blessed be God, because he has not rejected my prayer
or removed his steadfast love from me!"
When people cherish sin more than they do God, it should not
surprise them that God closes His ears to their prayers.
The New Testament says in James 1:26 to 27, that,
"If anyone thinks he is religious and does not
bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this
person's religion is worthless.
Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the
Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their
affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world."
If we wish to worship God in private or in public,
we need to serve God by living holy lives every single day.
Let's pray together.
O Father help us to love You with all our heart and
soul and mind and strength.
And give You the honor that is due Your name.
May Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
In Jesus name we pray, Amen.
The apostle Paul was concerned about the unruly
assemblies at Corinth that kept the people from
worshiping properly and from taking the Lord's
Supper in a way that pleased God.
He said in 1 Corinthians 11:27 to 30, "Therefore
whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord
in an unworthy manner shall be guilty of the
body and the blood of the Lord.
But a man must examine himself, and in so doing
he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup.
For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks
judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly.
For this reason many among you are weak and sick,
and a number sleep."
When we worship we ought to please God and we need
to do this for two reasons.
First, it honors God to worship the way that He desires.
Second, true worship calls us to live a purer and nobler life.
Let's prepare to praise and glorify God before we
come into His presence.
Let's get our hearts and minds focused on God.
Israel worshiped in vain by living immoral and
ungodly lives according to Isaiah 1 verses 12 to 20.
They needed to repent of their sins before they
came to worship God.
What will please God most is a heart that is right with Him!
Is your heart right with God?
To get right with God one must believe that Jesus as
the Christ, the Son of the living God.
He must regard Jesus as Lord and
turn away from sin in repentance.
Anyone who loves the Lord will not remain in willful sin.
He wants to change his life and to confess Jesus as the Christ.
He'll also be baptized as quickly as possible for
the forgiveness of his sins-as the Bible teaches
in Acts 2 and verse 38.
If a person loves the Lord, he won't want to
spend a single moment outside the love and grace of God.
We hope this lesson about worship has blessed you.
If you live in the United States and want a free
printed copy or a CD of this message, mail your
request to In Search of the Lord's Way,
P.O. Box 371, Edmond, OK 73083
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God bless you and we love you from all of us at
In Search of the Lord's Way.
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