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. John 4:23
As you look through scripture you will find there are two kinds of people the Father seeks. First, He seeks those who are lost. Those who do not already have a relationship with Him. Jesus said this is why I came, to seek and to save the lost.
The second kind of person the Father seeks is a true worshipper. If you notice He doesn’t say he seeks the most talented or the best looking or the most popular or the wealthiest. The Father is seeking believers who will be true worshippers. God wants worship to be not something we do, but who we are. He wants us to worship Him in spirit and in truth.
I think there are three things we need to do to become true worshippers.
1) WORSHIP WITH AWE
Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire. Hebrews 12:28-29
Awe is defined as an overwhelming feeling of reverence, admiration, or fear. It’s produced by something or someone that is grand or extremely powerful.
The problem is that we so often don’t see God as the Almighty God. Our minds have a hard time imagining how big God is so we make him small to help us understand. Then our worship becomes small. We have to come to the place where we can see God for who He really is. One of the ways I get a better perspective of God is by looking at creation. I love looking at all of the things that He has created. I love looking up at the stars at night and being amazed at all that is out there.
Try to imagine. A light year is 5.88 trillion miles long, and the furthest thing we have measured so far is 13 billion light years away. Somewhere in the midst of all of that is a spiral galaxy called the Milky Way, which is made up of hundreds of billions of stars. One of those stars is our sun, and one of the planets circling our sun is Earth. And two of the more than six billion people on this planet are you and Me. Yet the universe that so easily blows our minds is nothing more than a speck to God.
Psalm 33:6, 9
By the word of the LORD were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth. 9 For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm.
In other words God created the cosmos without lifting a finger. And when he created the heavens, He did it all without a DIY kit, an existing photo, a template, or a diagram. God was creating in the truest sense of the word, speaking the world into existence out of absolutely nothing.
2) WORSHIP WITH ABANDONMENT
Worship is a verb; it’s something you do. Worship isn’t something you watch, despite what you see from many people who attend church. We see a stage with lights and chairs facing it, and receive worship guides with an outline of the “show.” So we think every part of church is put on for us.
But here’s a wake up call for all believers. Worship is a participation activity not a spectator sport. Worship isn’t something we attend, like a sporting event or a concert. Worship is something we enter into with everything we’ve got.
Some of you might say that’s not your personality, but believe it or not, you know how to lose yourself in worship. Just look at the way people respond at a concert or a sporting event. People go nuts when a team makes a great play or a band plays their favorite song. Those are all great acts of worship, only to a not so great god. We know how to worship with abandonment but for some reason not to the one and only true God.
The Bible has so many examples of how to worship with abandonment. Here’s just a few:
Shout to God! Clap your hands! Lift up your hands! Stand in awe! Bow down! Dance before Him! Make a loud noise!
Psalm 100: 1-2
1 Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.
2 Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.
Psalm 149:3
3 Let them praise his name with dancing
and make music to him with tambourine and harp.
When you know who God is and you embrace what He’s done, your only reasonable response is to worship. Worship in awe that we even get to be in his presence. Worship with abandonment, losing ourselves in the presence of God.
3) WORSHIP WITH OUR LIFE
True worship is a whole-life response to God’s greatness and glory. The only fitting response to all He has done is to give back to Him all that we are. Worship is not determined by what we say but how we live.
All of us leave a trail with our action. At the end of that trail sits a throne.You don’t get to the throne by talking about what’s there. You get to the throne when you follow the trail and find where you put your passion, energy, time, and money. And at the end of the day, you may get to the throne and find your job sitting there. Maybe it’s your brand new car. Or maybe you follow the trail of your achievements and social media and find yourself sitting on that throne.
Maybe you think you are a worshipper of God. You listen to worship music sometimes, go to church a few times a month, and even go to a small group every now and then. When you look at all the bread crumbs on your trail, and you follow them - the passions, the energy, the time -- you get to the throne of your life and realize: ”I am a great worshipper. But the thing I worship is me.”
You worship what you find most valuable, and it’s usually not what you tell people you worship. Worship is not found in your words, but in your way of life. That will tell you the story of what you worship.
Jesus said in
Matthew 6:21
For where your treasure is there your heart will be also
Today we have a great opportunity to follow our treasures and evaluate the object of our worship, the god sitting on our throne. And I don’t know about you, but I want to do whatever I can to make sure that on the throne of my life is the One and only God . One day our time on earth is going to be through. And when that time comes we are going to stand face to face with a Holy God. I want to be able to say that He was on the throne of my life.
You can watch the sermon here. http://www.stevenscreekchurch.com/series/true-worshipers/