A Word abou the Church as a Worshipping Creation

Today I want to share a word about the church as a worshipping creation.

In our last episode about the qualities of the church, we observed that the church is a praying creation. In that regard we demonstrated from Scripture the Priority of Prayer, the Practice of Prayer, the Promise of Prayer and the Personal Nature of Prayer. Today we want to look at another one of the most basic and essential qualities of the church, which is this: the church is a worshipping creation.  Let’s begin by reading Psalm 100.

Shout triumphantly to the Lord, all the earth. Serve the Lord with gladness; come before Him with joyful songs. Acknowledge that Yahweh is God. He made us, and we are His—His people, the sheep of His pasture. Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him and praise His name. For Yahweh is good, and His love is eternal; His faithfulness endures through all generations.

Also, Psalm 27:1-6 says, 

The Lord is my light and my salvation—whom should I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life—of whom should I be afraid? When evildoers came against me to devour my flesh, my foes and my enemies stumbled and fell. Though an army deploys against me, my heart is not afraid; though a war breaks out against me, still I am confident. I have asked one thing from the Lord; it is what I desire: to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, gazing on the beauty of the Lord and seeking Him in His temple. For He will conceal me in His shelter in the day of adversity; He will hide me under the cover of His tent; He will set me high on a rock. Then my head will be high above my enemies around me; I will offer sacrifices in His tent with shouts of joy. I will sing and make music to the Lord.

Worship, along with prayer, is one of the most fundamental qualities of the church and it is basic to all that we do. Because it is a basic quality and activity, we often take worship for granted, and we can become complacent, like what happened once to the Green Bay Packers when Vince Lombardi was their coach.

After the 1960 National Football League championship game when his team lost to the Philadelphia Eagles, Lombardi decided that the team needed to return to a focus on the basics of blocking and tackling. At the beginning of spring training in 1961, he picked up a pigskin and said, “Gentlemen, this is a football.” In reply, Max McGee, the Packers’ Pro Bowl wide receiver, joked, “Uh, Coach, could you slow down a little? You're going too fast for us.” Despite his players’ frustration with having to practice the fundamentals of the game, the Green Bay Packers went on to beat the New York Giants 37-0 in the NFL Championship that year.

Prayer and worship are fundamental qualities of the church, and today we want to remind ourselves of the importance of worship to God and also in our own lives. So, why do we worship God?

We Worship Because God is Worthy:

People need heroes. We need people in whom we can believe, and who we can praise with our lips. This is an inherent part of the human soul, and one that we really cannot eliminate and one that is difficult for us to control. 

• We dance with joy when our political candidate wins.
• We whistle and clap for our favorite actor or actress.
• We jump for joy when our ball team wins the big game.
• We put our favorite race driver’s number on our pick-up.

It is simply part of our being a human to embrace and even idolize our heroes. The problem is, everything human will eventually fade and die off:

• Every politician will eventually retire (or go to prison).
• Every actor and actress will get old and ugly.
• Every ball team will eventually lose.
• Every driver will eventually lose his own personal race with mortality.

Sometimes this fall from grace happens naturally. Sometimes our heroes do it to themselves. Sometimes other forces will conspire to topple them. The case of Rudi Guliani after the 9/11 attacks is a prime example. Guliani was an effective mayor of New York City before September 2001, but afterwards his acclaim soared to the point that he became known as “America’s Mayor.” Now, however, due to all the factors above and more, his reputation lies in tatters.

The Dallas Cowboys football team is another example. They have not won a Super Bowl since the 1995 season. So why are they still called “America’s Team”? Are they, really? I think not.

Who then is worthy of our praise? God and God alone. Revelation 4:9-11 says,

Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor, and thanks to the One seated on the throne, the One who lives forever and ever,  the 24 elders fall down before the One seated on the throne, worship the One who lives forever and ever, cast their crowns before the throne, and say: Our Lord and God, You are worthy to receive glory and honor and power, because You have created all things, and because of Your will they exist and were created.

Only God is truly worthy of our praise. He is powerful and just forever. He is loving and beautiful forever. His race never ends. The Psalmist above knew these things, and that is why, even when he was in physical danger, he said, 

Though an army deploys against me, my heart is not afraid; though a war breaks out against me, still I am confident. I have asked one thing from the Lord; it is what I desire: to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, gazing on the beauty of the Lord and seeking Him in His temple.

The lyrics to the hymn “Thou Art Worthy” are a wonderful way to summarize why we worship God:

Thou art worthy, Thou art worthy, Thou art worthy, O Lord.
Thou art worthy to receive glory, Glory and honor and power.
For Thou hast created, hast all things created,
For Thou hast created all things.
And for Thy pleasure they are created; Thou art worthy, O Lord.

We will worship; It is our nature. But, is what we worship worthy? We worship God because He and only He is worthy. We also worship because God is present with us when we worship.

We Worship To Enjoy the Presence of God:

A challenge that people have faced from the beginning is the need for connection. Being isolated, even for introverts, is an increasing problem in our society today. Even extroverts often substitute bluster for connection, and although we are always connected to the internet because of our cell phones and computers, people are more isolated from each other every day. More people work from home, and even those who go to work at a plant or office can be isolated for hours each day because of commuting. 

To feel isolated is distressing. We feel small and helpless, and we feel insignificant and purposeless. We are often full of fear and anxiety. We need to feel connected to a person to overcome those uncomfortable feelings.

One of the first two sayings we learned in Africa was, “Never stand in the sun when you can stand in the shade, and never be alone when you can be with a friend.” But we know even friends can fail us. 

One of the sayings that I remember from the pastor who performed the wedding ceremony for my wife and I, was, “Don’t place your trust in me that you should be placing in God. I am human, and I will fail you; God never will!”

The good news for us is that God is present with us in a special and intimate way when we worship Him. Matthew 18:20 tells us,

For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there among them.

And Psalm 22:3 says,

But You are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel.

The King James translation renders that verse as,

But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.

God is present when we praise and worship Him. He lives in our praise, and He occupies our worship. If we want to feel connected, if we want to feel His presence, the Bible tells us that the best way to do that is to worship.

This reminds me of the saying “If you don’t feel close to God, who moved?” The fact is, we will get out of our worship life what we put into it. If we want to experience the real presence of God in our lives, we must worship!

We worship God because He is worthy and we worship God to experience His presence, and we also worship God because it is the best part of life and service.

We Worship Because it is the Best Part:

We have many options about how to spend our time each day. In the church we have worship, Bible study, fellowship, ministry. Outside the church we have work, family, school, entertainment, sports. A day isn’t long enough anymore. Like the old knight of the crusades in the Indiana Jones movie, we must choose wisely!

In the Gospel of Luke, we can observe a time when Martha and Mary, close friends of Jesus, had to choose between worshipping Him and doing other things, even useful and humanly necessary, things. Luke 10:38-42 tells us,

While they were traveling, He entered a village, and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who also sat at the Lord’s feet and was listening to what He said. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks, and she came up and asked, “Lord, don’t You care that my sister has left me to serve alone? So tell her to give me a hand.” The Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has made the right choice, and it will not be taken away from her.”

One thing that we must remember is that the good is the enemy of the best, and vice versa. Martha chose to do good things. She was caring for her family and guests. She wasn’t sinning, she was just too busy doing good, to focus on the best.

Mary, on the other hand, chose the best part. There is nothing like true worship to bless our souls. We all need to sit at the feet of Jesus and bask in His glow! And we need to share that blessing corporately.

The vast majority of the time that we see people worshipping in the Bible, we see collective worship, corporate worship. This is another factor in choosing the best. It is good to worship God alone, and sometimes that is all the opportunity we have. If that is the case, we should embrace it. The truth is, however, that corporate worship is the best kind of worship, and when it is available to you, you should choose it. It is easier to stay warm in the winter when you huddle together, and it is easier to ignite our spiritual fires when we worship together.

Again, we have many activities we can invest in, but if we become too busy to worship, we are too busy!

Finally, another very important reason we worship is because it is our destiny. In Revelation 7:9-12 we read,  

After this I looked, and there was a vast multitude from every nation, tribe, people, and language, which no one could number, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were robed in white with palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: Salvation belongs to our God, who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb! All the angels stood around the throne, the elders, and the four living creatures, and they fell facedown before the throne and worshiped God, saying: Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and strength be to our God forever and ever. Amen.

We Worship Because it is Our Destiny:

• Everything God made has a purpose:
• Sun, moon, and stars.
• Earth, land, water, and sky.
• Fish of the sea, beasts of the field, trees and grass of the wilderness.
• Humans have the highest purpose of all.

Our purpose for existing is to worship God. Our faith is based on a relationship, not programs; on a person, not principles; on fellowship, not productivity. After the Fall, people must work, but we must see that the purpose of our labor is to allow us to spend time with God. The centrality of worship is indicated by the fact that worship is mentioned over 380 times in the Bible.

Again, our purpose for living is to worship God and to praise His name. It is to bless Him and acclaim Him and to spend time in His presence. Our purpose for Bible study and discipleship is to learn about God so we can praise Him better and to spend time in His presence in a more informed way. Our purpose for evangelism is so that all nations will worship Him. Our purpose for ministry is so that those blessed will praise God. Every facet of our church ministry, and every facet of our personal lives is intended to bring glory and praise to God.

In a world in which we are encouraged to set goals and to achieve more, and in a world full of self-help books that encourage us to pursue self-fulfillment, sometimes we need to remember what the cartoon character Popeye said, “I am what I am.” That’s like another saying we heard in Africa, “A man cannot escape himself.”  We should not become fatalistic, but realistic. We were made to worship God, and we need to embrace that with our whole hearts.

Conclusion:

When I was in youth choir, we sang a cantata that had a song entitled “Get All Excited.” The main theme stated: “Get all excited, go tell everybody that Jesus Christ is King.” Before we go tell, we need to get all excited about who God is and what He’s done for us.  If we do that, we’ll come to truly worship Him with the devotion He deserves.

Are we excited about God?  Do we truly worship Him?

Every blessing,

Dr. Otis Corbitt