What is worship to you? Let's begin by looking at what worship is not.
It is not merely physical.
Knowing the words to the song is not worship.
It is not just singing and clapping our hands.
It is not just done at church.
It is not done in an insincere way.
What then is genuine worship? Is what churches categorize as worship really Biblical? What does the Bible teach us about genuine worship? We can begin to get an understanding of how God views worship and what He requires of us in worship as we look at Genesis 4: 3 - 5 and Genesis 22: 7-5.
In Genesis 4, we see the account of Cain and Able and their offering to the Lord. We see that Able's offering was accepted by God, but Cain's was rejected. In chapter 22 is the story of Abraham when God asked him to offer Isaac, his son of promise, as a sacriface to God. As we look through these verses, we can find eight significant aspects of worship.
1. We must be willingness on our part to give something back to God.
2. When we come to worship, we are to offer God our best.
3. God holds us accountable for the quality of our offering to Him.
4. Worship is personal between you and God. We don't force people in worship -
we lead them.
5. While worship is personal, we still do not do our own thing.
6. Worship includes a voluntary act of obedience.
7. Worship is an act or action directed towards God.
8. It must include giving some kind of offering to Him.
The Biblical definition of offering can be found in Genesis 22:5. And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass, and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you. In the verse, worship is an act of offering.
The definition is also found in John 4:19-26. This passage is about the conversation between Jesus and the woman at the well. In these verses we learn that genuine worship is always directed towards God and not a place. It is who we worship that makes worship, worship.
Also, worship is based upon the reality of a relationship with God. Many get excited about worship but not about the God whom we are to worship. Genuine worship is lead by the spirit. Jesus told the woman, God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
Worship invloves our minds and we have to get our minds in gear to do so. It must be theologically correct, even our emotions must be based upon sound doctrine.
God deserves our worship, even if we don't want to. Romans 12:1 says, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. That means we are to give ourselves to God; place our all on the altar in an act of worship.
Question: How is your worship?
Thought: God will not accept your worship if your heart is not in it.
Action: Make sure that you are not drawing near to God with your mouth
but leaving your heart behind. Matthew 15:8
Sermon notes that were taken from the November 4th, 2007 message
by the late Rev. Michael Johnson
