Church of the Nazarene – East Rock
Building Blocks Part 3
Worship
Welcome to our teaching series “Building Blocks”.
Building Blocks is focusing on the essential features, the basics, of the Christian life. And it’s not intended just for new believers in our midst, but as an important refresher for even those of you who are veterans of the faith.
Today we continue looking at the foundational practice of Worship.
Worship, running parallel with prayer, is a key element of our ongoing relationship with God.
When many of us hear worship, I think all too often our minds zero in to something that only happens between 9:00 and 9:30 for first service (or 10:30 to 11:00 for second) on Sunday morning.
And to be sure, that can be part of worship in our lives.
But to think of it only in those terms isn’t necessarily biblical. If we only think about worship as something that happens on Sundays at church, we are missing a foundational building block in our Christian life.
John 4:19-26
“Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.” “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”
Jesus says “True worshippers- those who are getting it right- will worship in spirit and in truth”
For the woman at the well, this mean that worship wasn’t limited to location anymore. It wasn’t the subject of debate and fighting- all that was over- something new was right before her.
For us today- it means that worship is not only something we do in this building on Sundays- Worship is an expression of hour heart to God for who he is and what he has done. Anywhere, anytime.
So true worship is in spirit and truth- that’s what it is, what does it look like?
The word worship in our teaching text here means to kiss the hand as a token of reverence; to fall on one’s face before another in reverence and submission.
That’s the essence of worship, to express, communicate, show reverence, respect, or submission to another. In this case and in our case it is worship of the Lord.
Pastor and Author Louie Giglio gives a good working definition of worship. He says: Worship is our response, both personal and corporate, to God for who He is, and what He has done; expressed in and by the things we say and the way we live.
Worship- the God oriented expression of our hearts of who God is.
Friends, that opens the doors really wide when we start to think about what worship can look like. You can express your love, your gratitude, your praise from your heart anywhere, anytime.
There is something about worship that you just have to dive into- You just have to try it on.
Here are a few take away’s as you begin the journey in worship.
First, The bible is absolutely full of examples of worship.
That’s part of worship in truth right? God’s word. Start there.
Abraham, Moses, King David, Mary.
In a few weeks our nativity scenes in the yard will tell about 3 men who came to worship Jesus.
Dive into God’s word to grow your perspective on worship.
Second take away about worship: we can do it wrong.
Did you notice Jesus called out the Samaritans for this? He said “You all worship what you do not know”
The Samaritans could get it wrong, and we can too.
I think one way we can get worship wrong is by thinking that we have done it by simply being in the room when others were worshipping.
We must engage our own hearts.
Another way we can get worship wrong, is by worshping the wrong things. Things like money, material possessions, sports, careers. We can even worship ourselves.
God’s first command is that we have no other God’s but him- we don’t want to get worship wrong by worshipping the wrong things.
We can get it wrong but the good news is, we can do better!
I hope you hear that good news today- you can learn to worship. You can improve in worshipping.
We can practice worship, we can grow and get better at it. The beautiful thing is- God is pleased by our practice!
Finally, worship can be a lifestyle
We have learned how worship is an expression of the heart to God for who he is and what he has done.
What if we allowed our every day lives to be part of that expression?
Going to work, wrangling the kids, working the garden- what if our lives were one ongoing expression of the spirit life within us? That’s worship as a lifestyle
Romans 12:1
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.
Remember Jesus’ words- God is seeking worshipers- Will he find one in you?
Start now! Let your heart express praise and honor to the Lord this morning.
Don’t miss this foundation in your spiritual life!
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