Years ago when the billionaire Howard Hughes died, his company’s public relations director asked the casinos in Las Vegas, where Hughes owned multiple casinos, to show him respect by giving him a minute of silence. For an uncomfortable sixty seconds, the casinos fell eerily silent. Then a pit boss looked at his watch, leaned forward, and whispered, “Okay, roll the dice. He’s had his minute.” (From the book, Howard Hughes: The Hidden Years, cited in “Our Daily Bread,” 11/77.)
Wow! I wonder if this is how people show respect nowadays! It is always interesting to watch the players at a baseball, basketball or football game as the flag is brought before them and the pledge is recited or the Star Spangled Banner is sung. There are some players who stand tall, hand over heart and I’ve even seen some of them shed a tear. On the other hand there are others who seem to be antsy, as they eagerly await the song to be done, so they can get to the game.
Some people might say that respect is not taught like it used to be. Some children have little respect for adults and adults have little respect for authority. I remember each of my children talking back to me, one too many times. I would set them down to the kitchen table with a dictionary in front of them and they were told to write out the meaning of the word respect numerous times. This is what my children would find as the definition of respect: “a feeling of admiring someone or something that is good, valuable, important, etc.; a feeling or understanding that someone or something is important, serious, etc., and should be treated in an appropriate way.”
So what does today’s sermon on worship have to do with respect? Well, if we also look up the word Worship in the dictionary we find this definition: “the act of showing respect and love for a god especially by praying with other people who believe in the same god; excessive admiration for someone.”
So what I hear in this is, that in order to worship we must have a respect.
As we join together each week to worship are we coming out of reverence and respect for the Lord our God? What is it that motivates us to worship here on Sunday morning?
A group of us were discussing this one day and there was a feeling that we come here to worship on Sunday morning so we can be filled and re-energized for the week. I am glad that some of you find yourselves feeling that way after being here together but I think we need to first understand that worship is meant to be an outward action.
Jesus told the woman at the well, “true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” Worship is to be an action that is motivated by the Spirit and directed toward the Father.
The Holy Spirit works within us as we begin to know God and through the relationship that develops we realize the majesty of God. In our reading this morning, we heard the Psalmist as he proclaimed the authority of God, “For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods. In his hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are his also. The sea is his, for he made it, and the dry land, which his hands have formed. O come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker! For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.”
When we truly consider the works of God and the love He showed us in Jesus Christ we have reverence and respect for him and we want to bow down and worship Him.
The Spirit is at the very center of all of this, working within us. When we choose to wake up on a Sunday morning and come here to worship we are responding to the work of the Holy Spirit within us.
Once we are here, we are joined together with others who have also come to worship. Worship is a combination of many choices that all culminate in the act of worshiping God who is deserving of all our respect, honor and praise. We worship God as we sing songs of praise, as we bow our heads in prayer, and as we listen to and study His Holy Word in scripture.
Worship is basically about how we show our respect toward God. It is like in John’s Revelation chapter 4
“Day and night without ceasing they sing,
“Holy, holy, holy, the Lord God the Almighty, who was and is and is to come.”
And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to the one who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders fall before the one who is seated on the throne and worship the one who lives forever and ever; they cast their crowns before the throne, singing, 11 “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”
John MacArthur, the well known preacher, author and radio teacher, speaks of worship in his Grace To You Radio teaching. He says, “Worship is loving God. Worship is honoring God. Worship is knowing God for who He is, adoring Him, obeying Him, proclaiming Him as a way of life.” As Paul states (1 Cor. 10:31), “Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” Thus all of life is to be oriented “God-ward,” permeated with a sense of His majesty and glory.
Worship for believers is truly a matter of the heart. In the Gospel reading from John this morning the woman was at first concerned about where worship was acceptable. The woman at that time did not know who was talking to her. Once we know Jesus we are not as concerned about the outward places and ways of worship but instead it is a matter of the heart. The Spirit is working within us to humble ourselves and moving us away from ourselves and toward God.
From deep within our souls we want, dare I say, need, to worship the Lord with every fiber of our being.
I find that when I can truly worship God I let go of myself completely – my wants and needs and my concerns don’t matter right then. I am just thrilled to be in His presence and worship Him. Now, does that mean at the end of worship I am depleted from giving of myself – no because in some mysterious way, as I am giving up myself and letting go – the Spirit is filling me with power, grace and more love than I can express. How can this happen? I believe it is like any vessel, it needs to be emptied before it can be refilled.
As the Spirit fills us we are prompted to worship God who is worthy of ALL Honor, Glory and Praise! As we worship Him we are reminded also of the love He has for us and we are blessed and reinvigorated.
So yes when we come to worship on Sunday morning we may hope that we are going to feel better – stronger-even happier at the end but our acts of worship should come not from the anticipation of what we will get BUT instead our worship must come from the heart and from the Spirit.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.