I thought I would share a devotional about worship this morning. Actually it is from a sermon that I preached last night. We have church one Saturday night every month on the second weekend with the monthly church business meeting following after the worship service. It was a blessed service and the church came forward to meet God at the altar after the message. Since I am not going to go into great detail with the following post, I'll call it a devotional instead of a sermon. I pray you will be lifted up and encouraged reading it.
What is worship really all about? There are many possible answers to this question, but let's examine Psalm 95 verses 1-8 to answer the question. We will see that worship is:
I. Rejoicing in God's Salvation
II. Recognizing God's Sovereignty
III. Revering God's Supremacy
IV. Responding to God's Spirit
Here are the verses:
1. O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.
2. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms.
3. For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods.
4. In his hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is his also.
5. The sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land.
6. O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker.
7. For he is our God: and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. To day if ye will hear his voice,
8 Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness:
I. Worship is Rejoicing in God's Salvation. (Verses 1&2)
These first two verses remind us that worship includes singing, thanksgiving, and joy, but not just for the sake of having a good time. Verse one says that we are coming to “the rock of our salvation.” We rejoice with singing, thanksgiving, and joy because of the salvation that He has provided for us through His son Jesus Christ. If you do not have a personal salvation through His blood, then you can not truly worship the Lord, because worship is rejoicing in God's salvation!
II. Worship is Recognizing God's Sovereignty. (Verses 3-5)When we worship the Lord, we need to recognize that He is in control of everything. The Psalmist reminds us in verse 3 that “the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods.” Our God is greater than any king, president, or ruler of the most powerful empires that have ever existed! There is nothing that He cannot do, as verses 4 and 5 point out. We have the example of creation to examine and be amazed by. God created the seas and the lands and everything is in His control! The deep places of the earth are in His hands and the strength of the hills! In Jeremiah 32:17 we read, “Behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee.” God is great and powerful and in control of everything in the universe. But if you have not given Him control of your own life, then you cannot really worship Him. Worship is recognizing God's sovereignty.
III. Worship is Revering God's Supremacy (Verse 6)In verse 6 the Psalmist slows down some and brings us to a point of awe. We have rejoiced in the rock of our Salvation with thanksgiving and singing and joyful noise and we have felt the all consuming greatness of the creator of the universe as we recognized His sovereignty. And now we reflect on just what the previous 5 verses were about and all we can do is to fall on our faces before God in reverence and fear. We are so small and insignificant and we feel the sin and shame of our unworthy lives. We repent of our pride and hypocrisy and realize that our own righteousness is as filthy rags to Him. We are in the presence of the all-powerful creator of the universe who loved us so much that He sent His Son to die so we may be forgiven and saved from an eternal Hell! Wow! "Let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker." Worship is revering God's supremacy.
IV. Worship is Responding to God's Spirit (Verses7&8)
Verse 7 starts out with a logical follow up to verse 6 by remembering that we are God's people; His sheep. The great and glorious God that we worship and bow down before has a job for us to do as His people. He wants to speak to us and He wants us to listen and obey. We worship Him and He speaks to us and we must respond. Worship is an active happening event in the life of the believer. Worship cannot be just a spectator sport. The end of verse 7 and the beginning of verse 8 is so important: “To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your heart” God's Spirit speaks to us as we worship, but too often we just tune Him out! Part of our worship should always include a desire to go the next step that God wants to lead us in, what ever that may be. What does God want you to do? Worship is responding to God's Spirit.
There are many other verses and angles that we can approach the topic of worship. These are just a few ideas. One thing is for sure: worship is a serious thing to God. Many people do not treat it as such and many more are not even saved. Jesus says in Matthew 15:8, quoting the prophet Esaias, “THIS PEOPLE DRAWETH NIGH UNTO ME WITH THEIR MOUTH, AND HONOURETH ME WITH THEIR LIPS; BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR FROM ME. BUT IN VAIN THEY DO WORSHIP ME,”Let us not be counted among those people! Let us worship Him in spirit and in truth. We should remember that worship is rejoicing in God's salvation, recognizing God's sovereignty, revering God's supremacy, and responding to God's Spirit!
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