Jump Start # 1062

Psalms 99:5 “Exalt the Lord our God and worship at His footstool; Holy is He.”

  One of the greatest blessings and privileges that we can be involved in life is to be a worshipper of God. He wants us to worship Him. Our English word ‘worship’ comes to us through the Latin language. There it means, ‘to give worth,’ or, ‘worth-ship.’ Worship is recognizing the great value of God. Psalms 34 reminds us to magnify the Lord. Modern plastic churches today have moved away from that. For them, worship is about making the people happy. Hip music, a message that stirs the emotions, a show to watch—great fun…great entertainment…great time. But worship of God? I don’t think so.

The lesson from Cain and Abel and their different offerings to God reminds us that God does not accept everything we offer Him. Cain was rejected. The sacrifice of Cain was rejected. Our worship must be pure and follow what God has revealed. He tells us how to worship Him. He never says, “be original.” He never says, “Surprise me.” He has told us what pleases Him.

Worship involves our insides and our outsides. The outside is probably easier to deal with than the insides. The outside means worshipping God according to the Biblical pattern we find in the New Testament. The outside means gathering together as a church on Sunday. It means prayers are offered to God. It means singing praises to God. It means remembering that wonderful sacrifice of Jesus that saved our souls. It means hearing God’s word preached. That’s what we find in the N.T. That’s how the early church worshipped God. We cannot “outgrow” those things. We cannot toss them out because they don’t work today. They do work. We must never give up on what God has said. Jesus said that those who worship MUST worship in spirit and in TRUTH. Truth—that’s the outside. That’s the Bible way.

The insides involve our hearts, minds, thoughts and attitudes. We are told to sing with THANKFULNESS and to give CHEERFULLY. Those are attitude words. Just as it is improper to worship God with the wrong outsides, it is improper to worship God with the wrong insides. Our attention is upon God. We are in communion with God in worship. Psalms 2 says to “worship God with reverence.” That’s insides. Jesus said to worship God in SPIRIT and in truth. Insides and outsides.

The insides are hard to deal with. Things that bother me will affect my worship. If I’m tired, it will show in how I worship God. If I’m distracted, bugged by things, irritated, stressed, worried or preoccupied my worship suffers. I do not give God the best. He deserves the best and because of my insides I often give God mediocre to substandard worship. My mind wanders. I mouth words without thinking about them. I get distracted by the noise or commotion of others. The result, my worship has been a bust. God has not been honored by me and that is the failure of worship.

There are things I can do to help that. The outsides and insides are equally important. One is not greater than the other. Both are necessary and both need to be the best that I am capable of giving.

The O.T. priests purified themselves before they began worship. There was a ritual of washing that made them clean before God. It would help to do that through prayer. BEFORE worship begins, say your own prayer. Lay the things that bother you at the throne of God and focus upon His grace, His power, and His will. This will help you. Invite God into your problems. Seek His help. Through worship, you find a new way of looking at things. You find comfort and relief because God is before you.

Work on ending the commotions that may keep someone from worshipping. Just as it would be wrong to block the doorway of the church building and refuse to allow those who want to come in to worship—that would be so wrong, it is just as wrong to ruin someone’s worship because of phone calls, crying babies, fussy kids, and going in and out to the bathroom numerous times. It’s hard to worship with commotion. Parents can do a lot to keep this down by using the nursery. Put your phones on vibrate or better yet, leave it in the car. Is anything that urgent that you must have your phone at your side? Put away the games and give your attention to God. Bring books and coloring books for children. Go to the bathroom BEFORE services. These things are not rocket science. We do these things in the movies. But in church services, we seem to forget. WHY? Maybe it’s not a study of worship, but rather a study of God that we really need.

Get to bed at a decent time the night before worship. Tired worshippers are giving God the left overs. Is that what you really want to give to God? Come refreshed. Come ready. Sing hymns or play CD’s of hymns on your way to the church house. Come excited. Come expecting. Bring your Bible. Bring pens and paper for you to take notes on. Think about what you want to thank God for.

It’s important to take care of the insides. When I hear folks state that worship is boring, to me they are saying that “God is boring.” Really? He’s probably thinking the same of the way you have been worshipping. Try sitting in a different place. If the little ones distract you, sit up front. Try singing without looking at the words. Try reading passages during the Lord’s Supper. Try adding your own thoughts to the prayers. Your insides must be involved in your worship. Worship is participation. Worship most often is a verb in the N.T. It’s not like watching TV or a movie. It’s not a spectator sport.

When people say, ‘I don’t get anything out of worship,’ I believe they are correct. If you come tired, bored, and out of obligation, you sit there staring, never singing, never opening your Bible, never participating, you will get “NOTHING” out of it. Maybe we are looking at this from the wrong direction. Instead of getting something out of it, we ought to be PUTTING something INTO it. Now, that’s different. Worship is giving God is due or worth. It’s telling God that you love Him. It is thanking God. If you come only to GET something, then you have missed the whole purpose of worship. The direction is wrong. You are thinking it ought to come from God to you. It needs to come from you to God.

Insides and outsides—that’s what worship is about. Help us, Lord to get this. Help us to teach our friends the importance of the outside but may we finally learn, ourselves, the importance of the insides. God wants them both. It’s not a choice. One without the other is wrong. God wants both. God deserves both.

Help us not to ruin the worship of others because of our commotions, noise, attitudes, and behavior.

Maybe these thoughts will help us for Sunday.

Roger