Genuine Worship
Isa. 6:1-6
Introduction:
A woman entered an ice cream store on Kansas City Plaza for an ice-cream cone. After making her selection, she turned and found herself face to face with Paul Newman, who was in town for the filming of a movie.
He smiled and said hello. Newman’s blue eyes caused her knees to shake.
She managed to pay for her cone, then left the shop, heart pounding. When she gained her composure, she realized she didn’t have her ice cream. She started back into the store to get it and met Newman at the door.
“Are you looking for your ice cream?” he asked.
She nodded unable to speak.
“You put it in your purse with your change.”
I wonder if we realize that here today we have come into the presence of God Almighty!
1. Last week we mentioned there were five works of the church: Evangelism, Discipleship, Fellowship, Ministry and Worship. We want to look at the last one Worship.
2. Since we have come together today to worship, we need to think about what we are doing and whether or not we are pleasing God.
1. A preacher stayed in the home of a sweet family, and each morning the lady in the home would sing a hymn while cooking the eggs. The preacher commented on her lovely voice and how spiritually in tune she was.
She laughed and replied, “Not really. I sing one verse for soft-boiled and three verses for hard-boiled.”
2. Christians ought to come church to worship God
a. since we are trying to please we ought to prepare for worship mentally, spiritually and emotionally
b. 2 Cor. 9:7 Let each one do just as he has purposed in his heart; not grudgingly or under compulsion; for God loves a cheerful giver.
c. while we are worshipping we ought to focus on God and avoid distractions
d. Going through the motions doesn’t mean we are worshipping! We become hardly different from a group of children who ran to the kitchen after church and drank the leftover grape juice.
3.
1 Cor. 11:26-30
a. We are to examine ourselves and discipline ourselves when we commune.
b. When people are distracted they become weak or sick and some fall asleep
1. John 4:23,24 "But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers shall 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."
2. Eph. 5:19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord;
3. Mark 7:6 "Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, 'this people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far away from me.’”
4. God knows our hearts, and He knows if our lips and hearts do not act in harmony with each other.
1. In the first century when miraculous gifts were present, people would sing or pray “in the Spirit” in a tongue, i.e., a foreign language that people did not understand.
2. Paul said, “I shall pray with the spirit and I shall pray with the mind also; I shall sing with the spirit and I shall sing with the mind also.” (1 Cor. 14:15)
3. 1 Cor. 14:18, 19 I thank God, I speak in tongues more than you all; however, in the church I desire to speak five words with my mind, that I may instruct others also, rather than ten thousand words in a tongue.
4. I wonder if we always understand what we sing:
Phrase: “seraph song”
Meaning: seraphim are angelic beings above God’s throne with six wings (Isaiah 6:2,6)
Phrase: “glad Hosannas”
Meaning: “Save now” or “Save now, we pray”
Phrase: “here I raise my Ebenezer”
Meaning: (“stone of help”) The name of a site near Aphek where the Israelites camped before they fought in battle against the Philistines (1 Sam. 4:1). After the recovery of the ark and a decisive Israelite victory over the Philistines, Samuel erected a monument to which he gave the name Ebenezer.
Phrase: “fetter”
Meaning: “chains, handcuffs, leg irons”
Phrase: “Ebon Pinion”
Meaning: “black wing” poetically speaking of a dark, gloomy, dreadful place
Phrase “Olive’s brow”
Meaning: the side of Mt. Olivet near Jerusalem where Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane (Matt. 26:36)
Phrase “Breath on Me, breath of God”
Meaning: John 20:22-23 “And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained." The idea of the song misunderstands the point. Jesus was giving the apostles the power to forgive; but many people believe in the direct operation of the Holy Spirit—thinking that the Spirit directly saves them in answer to prayer.
Phrase: “Breathe, O breathe, Thy loving Spirit, into every troubled breast”
Meaning: “Take away the love of sinning, take our load of guilt away.” Sin is taken away through the blood and obedience to the gospel not by the Spirit’s breathing on us.
Phrase: verse 4 “O let the Holy Spirit give The sealing unction from above.”
Meaning: In this song, a man arises from the waters of baptism and asks for a second or miraculous measure of grace. Acts 2:38 teaches that when we are baptized, God gives us the Holy Spirit to indwell us.
Conclusion:
1. If we are to worship God in spirit and in truth, we must worship Him intentionally from the heart and with the mind.
2. God is worthy of our best efforts in worship.
3. Col. 3:16 Our songs should always teach the truth!
Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.