Worship Matters (Session 2)

Thanks for listening to the voice of sovereign grace.

This podcast is a ministry of Grace Church in Harrisburg, North Carolina. You can check us out on the web@graceharrisburg.org. Last week we defined worship. We looked at the primary Hebrew and Greek words for worship in the Bible and realize that our definition must include both homage and obedience, reverence and service we look at both old and new Testaments, and learned that worship is internal. It happens in the heart the spirit of man, but it's also ex-starlets expressed publicly, corporately, visibly, we learned that we are to worship in truth were to be people of integrity in our worship were to worship according to the directives of Scripture. We discussed several misunderstandings that are often applied to the term worship I worship is not the preliminaries before sermon is not music. It is in emotionalism. It's not just a matter of attending a Sunday service worship is not evangelism and it isn't self-expression.

So several things that worship is not. Although we commonly misunderstand worship to be these things. We then came up with a definition of our own. My working definition for worship is this worship is the process through which the believer is private worship or the church, which would be public worship in response to the self revelation of God and in accordance with the commandments and principles of Scripture demonstrates the beauty and worth of God through acts of praise confession, Thanksgiving, supplication, and obedience. And finally we talked about different categories in which our discussion of worship will inevitably take place.

There is the all of life aspect of worship and there is the idea of worship within specific contexts corporately in the church family worship in the home and private worship.

Worship of the individual before God, we acknowledge that not all of the biblical principles that relate to worship will equally apply to these various contacts or categories of worship. Next question I want to consider is this how important is worship. How important is this matter of worship. What level of priority should we assign to this activity. Let's think about several scriptures first. Matthew 22 verses 37 and 38 Jesus says that 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, Jesus is very explicit about which commandment in the law is the greatest, the preeminent command and it is to love God with everything you have no Matthew 2237 could serve as our definition of worship.

Worship is loving the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. According to Jesus. Worship is given the highest priority possible first print is 1031 is another verse that highlights the priority of worship bosses. Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, you all to the glory of God that phrase to the glory of God I think is often a religious cliché that has no meaning we throw it around a lot but we don't understand what it means. We know they were supposed to live life for the glory of God.

What does it mean to glory in the Lord to give him glory.

If you look up the word glory in a Greek dictionary defined as the word dockside. This Greek word means, radiance, brightness, splendor, weight, weightiness, majesty, fame, rundown prestige.

So when we speak of glorifying God, we mean that we are attributing to God the honor of the prestige the fame that is due him, we could paraphrase first convince 1031 like this whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all in such a way as to attribute to God all the splendor and majesty and prestige that belongs to him do it in such a way as to show off God we talk about worship are we not talking about glorifying God. And Paul says that whatever we do, were to do it in such a way as to bring glory to God were to put it another way. Worship is to permeate all of life. So Paul just like Jesus was a very high priority on worship. Romans 1136 is another passage that addresses the priority of worship. Paul again says for off him and through him and to him are all things, to whom be glory forever.

Amen.

I don't miss the significance of the prepositions in this sentence off him points to God as the source of all things through him points to God as the means through which all things are accomplished and to him is the one that specifically concerns worship to him points to God as the goal of all things. The purpose for which all things have been created is to bring glory to God. So again, Paul affirms that it's all about God creation exists for his glory.

One more verse on the priority of worship. Revelation 411. You are worthy of the Lord, to receive glory and honor and power and why is he worthy to receive these things because you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created by virtue of the fact that God has created all things by his own will and for his own pleasure. We exist then to give him glory and honor and power folks there a lot of important things were to be doing as Christians, but worship is by far at the top of the list. There's no doubt in my mind that the Westminster divines were spot on when they answer the question what is the chief end of man like this, they said man's chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. We were created above all else to worship God. How important is worship is a first importance. It really doesn't matter how successful you are in business if you fail in your worship of God. It doesn't matter how well your children succeed academically or athletically.

If they fail in their worship of God. It doesn't really matter what kind of programs. Our church offers or how large your budget is or how fast we grow numerically if we fail in our worship of God, the preeminent activity of our lives, our ultimate aim. Our chief end is worship the wise is so critical that we understand the primacy of worship. It's important because whenever we view as our chief end will set the trajectory of everything else in our lives we say that again because it's it's so critical that we understand this whenever we view as our chief end in life will set the trajectory of everything else in our life, we ask you question what is the chief end of dieting. What is the main purpose. The ultimate goal of dieting the chief end of dieting ought to be a healthy body and we may be tempted to say well it's weight loss or its physical appearance, but if if we make weight loss or physical appearance of chief and there plenty of unhealthy ways to lose weight, you might lose weight but dive high cholesterol. It is so easy for us to confuse the means with the end but a wrong chief and can bring very harmful results. Let's let's just take a few moments and think about the concept of a chief and let's clarify exactly what we mean by that term of art.

If our chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever, or to say it in shorthand, our chief end is to worship God and to fully recognize the importance of worship we must understand what we mean by chief in a bear with me here because my goal is for us to walk out of here this morning with the full awareness of the weightiness and importance of worship we got to understand the importance of worship in our Christian walk is whatever we view as a chief end will set the trajectory of everything else in our lives.

What we mean by chief in the best explanation of this idea of a chief and that I found is in a piece that Jonathan Edwards wrote called the end for which God created the world the end for which God created the world several years ago I picked up a book in a Christian bookstore is because the title intrigued me. The book was called God's passion for his glory.

Now, at the time. I really didn't know much about John Piper or Jonathan Edwards for that matter, but this is a two-part book. The first half was written by John Piper and it was explaining the importance and influence of Jonathan Edwards theology than the second part of the book was the complete text of Edwards Atreides. The end for which God created the world and it had on footnotes from Piper explaining what Edwards was saying pie took me nine months to get to this book, but when I finished it.

It had so altered my thinking and philosophy of ministry that to this day, whenever I open the book and just read a little snippet of it, I realize how much it's shaped my worldview, my theology is well worth the investment of time and energy to digest this book. I want us to look at how Edwards explains the idea of a chief end in his in his treatise. First, he distinguishes between a chief end and an ultimate end and a subordinate and queso 33 distinctions chief and ultimate end and subordinate and subordinate, and Edward says something that we aim at on account of a further end it.

It's a means to an end. My kids recently went to the dentist to have their teeth cleaned going to the dentist for teeth cleaning was a subordinate and they didn't go to the dentist for the sheer joy of the experience going to the dentist was a means to an end. And of course that and is helping teeth ultimate and is that which we seek for its own sake, that which we love value or take pleasure in on its own account and ultimate end is never a means to an end. It's an end in and of itself.

I used to own a convertible and on a sunny day when the temperature was right.

I would put the top down on my car. I didn't put the top down for any other reason than that I enjoy riding with the top down. It didn't accomplish anything besides making me happy. It was an ultimate end belt ultimate and for one person may be a subordinate and for somebody else. So, for example, as so my kids love to play chutes and ladders.

I don't particularly like that game but I enjoyed being with my kids. I enjoy watching them. Have a good time so playing chutes and ladders for them. Isn't ultimate and they're playing it for the sheer joy of the game, but for me it's a subordinate and I'm playing it not for the enjoyment of the game of the enjoyment of being with my kids tonight so we understand hopefully the difference between a subordinate and ended ultimate end.

Edwards then explains the term chief and he says that a chief end is the ultimate and that is most valued and most sought after in what we do. Of the two ultimate ends I've mentioned riding in a convertible and spending time with my kids. The chief end. The thing I would value the most.

Of those two is spending time with my kids. Some of the Westminster shorter catechism asked the question what is the chief end of man, it's asking this among all the things that man loves and values and takes pleasure in on its own account. Those things that are ends in themselves.

What is the one thing that ought to be most valued most loved and most sought after and the answer is the glory and enjoyment of God. Worship is the end of all ends. The aim of all aims. The joy of all joys, it's the very purpose and fulfillment of our existence so happens when we make something else. Our chief end well. We have an example of this very thing. In acts eight verses 18 to 24 you remember the story of Simon the sorcerer.

He had amazed people with his powers than one day, Philip arrived in town and began evangelizing the Samaritans, they began to get converted.

The apostles eventually came to Samaria to lay hands on these new converts and they receive the Holy Spirit. And here's what Simon the sorcerer did ask eight. Beginning in verse 18 when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles hands, the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money, saying, give me this power also that anyone on whom I lay hands may receive the Holy Spirit. But Peter said to him your money perish with you because you thought that the gift of God can be purchased with money. You have neither partner portion in this matter. For your heart is not right in the sight of God. Repent therefore of this. Your wickedness and pray God is perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you for I see that you are poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity, and Simon answered and said, pray to the Lord for me that none of the things that you spoken may come upon me. Evidently Simon was viewing the Holy Spirit as a means to an end. Whether that end was fame or wealth. We don't know but Peter sharply rebuked him.

We see the same kind of thing illustrated in the story of Ananias and Sapphire are in acts five. You remember the story. This couple sold some property gave a portion of the proceeds to the church, but they claimed to have given all of the proceeds and as a result of their lie there struck down dead their act of worship. In this case, the giving of a financial gift for the work, the church had been a means to an end rather than an end in and of itself. They gave to advance their own reputation. They performed an act of worship.

In order to exalt themselves worship for them had become a means to some other and it is so easy for us to confuse the means with the end I grew up in a church that didn't hold to the Westminster confession of faith or any confession of faith. I can tell you how they would answer the question what is man's chief end, I would've said man's chief end is to go into all the world and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son of the Holy Ghost. Evangelism is what my home church and I think many churches in our day identify as man's chief end. Now don't get me wrong. Evangelism is a good thing and if were not evangelizing were in rebellion against God, but evangelism is merely a means to an end. Were talking about how whatever we identify as our chief and will set the trajectory of everything else we do. So what happens when we make evangelism. Our chief end. Everything else becomes a means to the end of evangelism, including worship and we see this played out in American Christianity.

Don't wait on the goal of glorifying and enjoying God is made subservient to the goal of winning converts is reflected in our actions and words and thinking. Listen to what You said about the shift from God centeredness demand centeredness and worship.

He said there is an intrinsic downward gravity in human centered worship among the greatest dangers is pragmatism because were pragmatism becomes the conductor the audience increasingly becomes humans rather than God.

And when humanity is played to first when what humanity wants becomes the determining factor.

It will corrupt not only worship but theology. When we meet for corporate worship we must consciously begin with the question, how must we conduct our lives and shape our meeting so as to glorify God by insisting that corporate worship must be radically God centered. I am not in any way suggesting a disregard for humankind, and the lost world, but rather I insist that the proper approach to worship must first be God focused and then human sensitive only when the question of God's glory and pleasure is addressed in the second question regarding humanity be pressed again my concern is that the second question is the dominant force today in many circles and that this has a pernicious effect of persistent focus on humanity could lead to a post-Christian human centered evangelicalism. Certainly, the church must be culturally attuned and sensitive, but the ultimate question must be what does God think of the way we worship him, so may only summarize what we've seen from several Scripture passages and from our own confession of faith. The highest activity. The chief end. The main event in the Christian life is worship is bringing glory to God attributing to him all of the splendor and majesty and fame and renown that is due him, we've seen that when we confuse a subordinate in the end, with a chief and we change the trajectory of our lives, with devastating results results in the case of Simon the sorcerer. In acts eight, we sought in the case of Ananias and Sapphire. We see it played out all around us today whenever man takes center stage in the church over and above God.

The question we need to ask ourselves is, do I make glorifying and enjoying God, my chief and in all things. We all know the answer to the catechism question we all know how important loving and worshiping God is.

But do we do it, do I wake up in the morning asking myself how can I glorify God and enjoy him today. Do I turn on the TV and think what can I watch that will help me glorify God better and enjoy him more now not saying go home and make a resolution to only listen to BV and radio would only watch Charles Stanley reruns on TV and never watch anything quote on quote secular. I'm not saying don't imbibe media that is explicitly Christian.

I'm saying that whatever media you do imbibe do it in a Christian way in a way that consciously keeps God at the center not in a way that puts your Christian worldview on the shelf. In fact, one can even listen to and watch and read explicitly Christian media in a very non-Christian way. My point is, it's not just the medium it's our heart's response to the medium that's it's at stake. I guess it's the old Puritan concept of tomato day, everything we do, even not explicitly religious stuff we do in the presence of God with the conscious awareness of his watching us and with the conscious pursuit of grounding every pleasure and appetite we experience in him isn't a denying of pleasure and appetites must of course are sinful but it's rather than listing of our pleasures and appetites in the service of heightening our enjoyment of God might be profitable to to go home and spend some time today thinking through the activities that make up a typical week in your life it, ask yourself how can I do blank in a way that explicitly brings glory to God and consciously heightens my enjoyment of him to my shame. I would have to admit that my money and my time and my thought life and how I use my eyes and how I use my mouth and what I listen to and what I indulge in reflects how the knee centered. I really am and what is that what is that me centeredness it's self worship is it not how very much like Lucifer, I am. I want to be the object of worship.

I want everyone to glorify me and enjoy me. Folks if left to ourselves. We will worship ourselves. I fully believe that if there's a problem with man centeredness and corporate worship. It's most likely because there's a problem with man centeredness and private worship is a man centeredness and worship is not primarily an ecclesiastical problem is not a church problem or a musical problem or a problem of form and style man centeredness and worship is primarily a heart problem, and it's a heart problem that we all have. You see, was at stake were not studying this topic of worship in order to become better Presbyterians were studying worship because it is of primary importance is the very reason we exist is the purpose for which were on this planet were studying what the Bible has to say about worship because at the heart of what it means to be a sinner is compulsion to worship myself instead of my creator.

If worship is this central to life and at the same time.

This resisted by my sinful flesh than it stands to reason, doesn't it, that this is the arena in which the battle will be the most intense. This is where the world the flesh and the devil will fight most vehemently. Worship is so central to the purpose of life that everything I do, going to school, filing my taxes, cleaning my house watching a movie even going to church has the potential to be an act of worship toward God or an active disdain of God.

Worship is at the center of everything we are and everything we do is that important. So if worship is that important. Does God care how it is done. If worship is so foundational to an obedient Christian life. And if the Bible contains everything we need to be equipped for every good work and shouldn't we expect the Bible to contain sufficient instruction for us concerning worship should we expect to find thorough teaching in the area of worship. Does God care how we worship asked the question were to take up next time.

Thanks again for listening to our podcast. If you're ever in the Charlotte area and would like to visit Grace Church. We love the beach were located in Harrisburg, North Carolina, and we worship every Sunday morning at 1030 and every Sunday night at 6 o'clock. For more information visit Grace Harris.org