Committed to Worship

Revisiting Our Core Values: (Part I) 
COMMITTED TO WORSHIP

Core Value: Enhance worship experience to promote spiritual maturity John 4:23-24
23) Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.  
24) God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."  Psalm 86:8-13
8) Among the gods there is none like you, O Lord; no deeds can compare with yours. 9) All the nations you have made will come and worship before you, O Lord; they will bring glory to your name.
10) For you are great and do marvelous deeds; you alone are God.
11) Teach me your way, O Lord, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.
12) I will praise you, O Lord my God, with all my heart; I will glorify your name forever.
13) For great is your love toward me; you have delivered me from the depths of the grave.            

The beginning of this year is truly significant for us as a church family. After months of praying and waiting, the Lord in His goodness has finally brought us to our Promised Land. I’m glad He allowed us to skip the 40 years of wilderness wanderings. Indeed, we should all rejoice because of this bigger and better facility the Lord has provided for us.

With great prospects ahead of us, I felt that it would be very strategic to revisit our core values as a church. I would like to assume that by this time, we are all familiar with our mission statement – Leading people to a life of commitment and productivity in Christ. You see, we have a very clear mission. We exist in order to help our people develop deeper commitments to God, which we believe will result into greater productivity in their lives.

Now, to help us carry out our mission effectively, we should know our priorities. These priorities are our core values. They actually define who we are and what is important to us. Without a good understanding of our core values we can be all over the place doing all sorts of ministries without accomplishing anything significant. Can a church exist with so many activities without really experiencing productivity? Absolutely! But we don’t want to be that kind of a church.  Here are the core values we have set in our church:
Ø      Enhance worship experience to promote spiritual maturity
Ø      Deepen Commitments and relationships through discipleship
Ø      Actively teach, equip, and nurture leaders and church workers
Ø      Faithfully evangelize the unsaved
Ø      Continually seek church planting opportunities
Ø      Build strong stewardship values and personal accountability
Ø      Build intimate relationships and fellowships among members
Ø      Strengthen Families and Family Values This morning, I would like to specifically highlight the first one which is our commitment to corporate worship. First of all, when we use the word worship for the gathering that we do every Sunday morning, the concept comes from an old Anglo-Saxon word, which literally reads “Worth-ship.” The idea simply suggests giving worth or honor to someone. In the Bible, all creation must give worship to God. If you read the words of Jesus Christ to the Samaritan woman in John 4, He had emphasized the fact that God is seeking true worshippers. Obviously, if there are true worshippers, then there those whose worship can be considered false or unacceptable. As a church, we must constantly examine our corporate worship to make sure that our worship brings honor and glory to God. Of course, we also believe in personal or private worship, but our emphasis is on corporate worship, which we try to accomplish every Sunday morning. We hope that whenever you come to worship you get inspired to live for the Lord. Clearly, we have stated in our core value that a good spiritual worship experience can lead us to a growing relationship with God. The question is – what are the elements of a God-honoring worship?  In Psalms 86, King David who was himself a dedicated worshipper of God has shared four essential elements to us:     

I           WORSHIP ONLY THE ONE TRUE GOD: (vv.8-10)

True worship begins with its object. Jesus says we must worship is truth. What does that mean? For king David, among all the gods (small letter), there is only one Lord (capital letter – Jehovah God) who deserves our worship.

Jehovah God has made it very clear that we should not worship other gods:

Exodus 20:2-5
2) "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
3) "You shall have no other gods before me.
4) "You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.
5) You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,

God has made it very clear that he doesn’t want any competition in our worship. If we choose to worship other gods, this sin will be punished up to the third and fourth generations of our families. God really takes this offense seriously.

I hope by this time we recognize the fact that these gods don’t just refer to graven images. They could be anything that could come between our relationship and worship of God. They may be money, job, ambition, sports, friends, husband, wife, child, video games, etc. You see, the sin of idolatry is simply misplaced worship. Only Jehovah God deserves to be our object of worship.

Why? Well, the psalmist gave a very good reason - no deeds can compare with yours. The God of the Bible has proven His greatness through His work. And if you read verse 9, the work of creation is brought into the picture.  Have you ever considered how great the universe that God has created is? Scientists estimate that the universe is about 156 billion light years wide. Now, how big is a light year? A light year is 5.87 trillion miles. Can you imagine the universe as 156 billion light years? Yes, that is just one of God’s creations.

I trust that you are aware that every time we gather to worship, we have the privilege to encounter the great God of the universe. Again He is the only one who deserves our worship.

II         WORSHIP WITH A TEACHABLE HEART: (v.11)

Another truth in worship that we need to highlight is the learning part. In worship, it is our privilege to learn from the great God of the universe – Teach me your way

The psalmist understood that learning from the Lord can lead to two special blessings:

A. Walk in the truth – Satan has filled our world with lies. If we are not careful, we will miss the abundant life that God has prepared for us. Adam and Eve believe the lie of the serpent, so they miss out on God’s abundant provisions in the garden.

B. Fear your name – Learning more about the character of God can lead to a greater appreciation of Him. That sense of awe and reverence towards Him must continue to grow, if we are to walk in His ways.

Proverbs 16:6
6) Through love and faithfulness sin is atoned for; through the fear of the Lord a man avoids evil.

The more we know God, the more we will love and respect Him. And this love and respect will keep us away from the things which are offensive to God. Perhaps, we can look at it this way. As parents, because we care for the well-being of our children, we try to guide them. We help them know right from wrong. We educate them so they can avoid those things which can hurt or destroy them. Same is true with God. He wants us to experience a blessed life, and so He gave us His Word.

Psalm 119:105
105 Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.

The Word of God is necessary in worship? Do you have the desire to learn more about God? Our passage talks about having an undivided heart. I look at this to mean undivided affection. Within the context of having other gods, the psalmist prays for a wholehearted love for God. This is where we can gauge whether our worship has been misplaced. Do you have the desire to learn more about God? What is your attitude when we come to the sermon part of our worship? If you don’t have any appetite for the Word, it only shows the kind of heart you have for the Lord.  

Proverbs 27:19
19) As water reflects a face, so a man's heart reflects the man.

The reason why God examines the heart every time we worship is because it literally represents who we are as a person. The truth of the matter is: when you love the Lord, you will love His Word. When we worship, we need to examine our hearts. The last thing we want is for our worship to be in vain because we have done it without our hearts.

Matthew 15:8-9
8) " 'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. 9) They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.'" III        WORSHIP WITH A THANKFUL HEART: (vv.12-13)Last but not the least, there must also be praise and thanksgiving in our worship. Someone has appropriately defined worship as: The overflow of a grateful heart, under the sense of divine favor.”            Looking at verse 13, David specifically praises God for His great love which delivered him from death. How about you? Can you think of some specific blessings you can thank God for? Praise Him right now for these blessings. God doesn’t want us to forget that He is the source of all our blessings. With the abundance of our blessings, we must never neglect coming to worship.            

Before Israel would enter the Promised Land, God gave a very strong warning against forgetfulness:

Deuteronomy 8:10-11
10) When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.
11) Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day.

Reflect on these words. Failure to give praise can lead to forgetfulness; and forgetfulness leads to ungodliness. Therefore, God has designed for His people to regularly worship so that they can maintain a grateful heart towards Him.

Let me also emphasize the attitude required whenever we express our praise – with all my heart. This is just another way of saying with full earnestness or complete devotion. Whether we like it or not, we show our devotion or passion when we worship. When there’s no excitement and joy in worship, it definitely betrays our lack of heart in what we are doing.

We as a church consider our corporate worship as important. We are committed in providing worship that is directed to God alone, worship that will facilitate learning about God and His will, and worship which will stimulate praise and thanksgiving.  I hope we all come every Sunday convince that worshiping here is a blessed privilege and that it will lead you to a more vibrant walk with the Lord.