https://www.bible.com/events/49401981
Church of the Nazarene – East Rockingham Campus
Beyond The Song: A life of worship Part 2
Take your everyday, ordinary life, and place it before the Lord as an offering.
Today we are continuing in our 4-part teaching series called Beyond the Song: A life of worship.
Throughout this series, we want to be challenged to re-frame our thinking on worship. That we would not only think of worship as somewhere we go on Sunday mornings, or a certain song we sing, but that we would see all of our lives as an opportunity to worship the Lord.
Worship- if you look it up in the dictionary, you will find definitions like:
-to honor or show reverence for a divine being or supernatural power
-to regard with great or extravagant respect, honor, or devotion
Worship is action or response ascribing value to someone or something.
For us, that someone and something is the Lord.
When we worship, we are expressing how much God means to us, how much we value and honor him.
Today we are continuing to explore a life of worship asking questions like:
How should we approach worship Monday through Saturday? How should we think about it?
Is there a right way and a wrong way to express worship throughout the week? What should we look out for?
These are necessary questions to consider as we continue to explore worship Monday-Saturday because as we will see, a decision about worship is at the heart of nearly every temptation we face.
Matthew 4:8-11
Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’” Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.
If you look back in this chapter, the devils first temptation is that Jesus would turn stones into bread. He was trying to get Jesus to use his power to meet is needs, in his own way, rather than trusting the Father’s plan.
The second temptation was that he would leap from the pinnacle of the temple and allow God’s angels to rescue him. The temptation seems to be that Jesus would take for granted, for his own purposes, the protection of the father. By taking that leap, he wouldn’t have to endure the cross. Again, using what was available to him to meet his own desires and needs, rather than the will of God.
At the core of these first two temptations is the matter of loyalty and devotion.
Who is Jesus going to live his life for? Will he take matters into his own hands, use his power to make things easier for himself? Or will he stick fast to the plans of the heavenly father?
And Here in this third and final temptation in verse 8-9, the devil offers Jesus everything this world has to offer, all the power, al the wealth, all the glory- all the goods, if only he will worship him. What has been implied in each temptation before, is explicitly brought forward here.
It’s a matter of worship.
Who are you ultimately going to worship? The Lord? or the devil?
And Friends, this is the heart of the matter of your life, and mine. Who are we going to worship? Who are we going to obey?
What we give our lives to is critical. As we think about Monday through Saturday worship- It’s not just about K-Love on the radio or even saying prayer before a meal. It’s the very core decision we make every day. Who am I living for today? What am I worshipping?
It’s a question that’s the very essence of our relationship with the Lord.
A conscious surrender to living out his plans for our lives.
Romans 12:1 MSG
So, here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him.
John 4:19-24
“Oh, so you’re a prophet! Well, tell me this: Our ancestors worshiped God at this mountain, but you Jews insist that Jerusalem is the only place for worship, right?” “Believe me, woman, the time is coming when you Samaritans will worship the Father neither here at this mountain nor there in Jerusalem. You worship guessing in the dark; we Jews worship in the clear light of day. God’s way of salvation is made available through the Jews. But the time is coming—it has, in fact, come—when what you’re called will not matter and where you go to worship will not matter. “It’s who you are and the way you live that count before God. Your worship must engage your spirit in the pursuit of truth. That’s the kind of people the Father is out looking for: those who are simply and honestly themselves before him in their worship. God is sheer being itself—Spirit. Those who worship him must do it out of their very being, their spirits, their true selves, in adoration.”
Within Jesus’ description of worship, we see a few key truths that I believe will help us as we seek to reframe our thinking on worship.
– True worship flows from a place of relationship with The Father.
– Jesus says true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth.
– True worshippers will worship the father in Spirit AND Truth.
– Finally, the Father is seeking worshippers like this.
Will he find one in you?