Introduction: In this study called "Learning to Fear God," we have seen that those, who truly fear the Lord, have certain characteristics in their lives.
- God-fearing people willingly and fearfully submit to the authorities God has set up.
- God-fearing people are obedient to His Word.
- God-fearing people live in the constant and conscious presence of the Lord. It is impossible to flee the presence of God, but it is possible to ignore it!
- God-fearing people live in total dependence on Him.
- God-fearing people want God to be glorified.
There is yet another characteristic of God-fearing people. They worship God in spirit and truth. They understand and seek to live lives that show that God truly owns everything and is worthy of our worship. In other words, they are stewards, not owners, of all that God owns. David said in Psalm 24:1, "The earth is the LORD'S, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein." God is Owner of everything. People, who fear the Lord, recognize this fact in their daily living.
The truth is, we do not even own ourselves. We belong to the Lord. Paul wrote, "What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." (1 Corinthians 6:19, 20) We are to be stewards of, if not especially of, ourselves. He owns us first by right of creation. Then, He owns us by right of redemption. First, He made us; then, He saved us.
What is worship? In Scripture, the word "worship" is used to denote both a way of life and a specific activity. When the Prophet Jonah said, "...I am an Hebrew; and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land..." (Jonah 1:9), he was speaking of his whole way of daily living.
In contrast to Jonah's words, Psalm 100:2 says, "Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing." The psalmist here speaks of a specific activity of praising God. This is the sense in which we normally use the word "worship" today.
These two concepts of worship, a broad one and a more specific one, correspond to the two ways by which we glorify God.
- We glorify God by giving to Him the honor and adoration due Him because of His excellence. This is the narrow concept of worship.
- We glorify God by showing His glory to others. This is the broader, way-of-life kind of worship.
1. Worship in my daily living. - Romans 12:1
"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."
- To offer our bodies as living sacrifices is to worship God.
- Paul meant not just the physical body, but our entire being, "Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God." (Romans 6:13)
- To offer your body to God involves offering your mind, emotions, and will to Him also. It is the wholehearted dedication to God of your total way of life.
- Paul called it our "reasonable service" or logical service.
- To worship God in only the narrow sense of praising Him, without also seeking to worship Him in our whole way of life, is hypocrisy.
- Jesus rebuked the Pharisees because they were going through outward motions of worship, but their hearts were not committed to God, "Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, 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, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." (Matthew 15:7-9)
- It's important to understand that a lifestyle of worship is the foundation for all our praise and adoration, both privately and with other Christians.
- There is glory due God's name. Psalm 29:1-2 says,
"Give unto the LORD, O ye mighty, give unto the LORD glory and strength. Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness."
- What is this kind of worship in the sense of praise and adoration?
* The Puritan Stephen Charnock called it "nothing else but a rendering to God the honor that is due Him."
* A. W. Tozer said that God "wants to cultivate within us the adoration and admiration of which He is worthy. He wants us to be astonished at the inconceivable elevation and magnitude and splendor of Almighty God!"
- Worship is ascribing to the Lord the glory due His name. Before we can do that, we must understand what is due Him. We have to begin to try to understand His greatness, holiness, wisdom, and love.
- We must meditate on and pray over the kind of Scripture passages that tell of His greatness.
- In order to render heartfelt worship to God, we must try to understand the depth of His majesty, holiness, and love. If we don't, our praise and adoration may be no more than empty words. Perhaps, this is the reason our worship of God is so heartless.
- It has been said that we praise God for Who He is and thank Him for what He does for us. Thanksgiving is an important part of worship.
- In Luke 17, we find the story of the cleansing of the ten lepers. Only one returned to thank Jesus for what He did. Jesus took notice of this act of true worship.
- It's difficult to separate thanksgiving from praise in our worship of God.
- We must recognize God as Owner of everything. 1 Chronicles 29:10-14 says, "Wherefore David blessed the LORD before all the congregation: and David said, Blessed be thou, LORD God of Israel our father, for ever and ever. Thine, O LORD, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O LORD, and thou art exalted as head above all. Both riches and honour come of thee, and thou reignest over all; and in thine hand is power and might; and in thine hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all. Now therefore, our God, we thank thee, and praise thy glorious name. But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? for all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee."
- David praised the Lord in the presence of the whole assembly.
- David began by praising God for His surpassing glory. Note the words he used: greatness, power, glory, victory, and majesty.
- He was also acknowledging something that lies at the heart of the fear of God and provides the basis for our worship of Him. He said that God is the owner of everything and that we are only stewards of that which He has given to us. It is a recognition of our dependence upon Him and our responsibility to Him.
2. Worship in your private life. - Psalm 69:30
"I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving."
- Again, David says in Psalm 86:12, "I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart: and I will glorify thy name for evermore."
- Once more, David said in Psalm 145:1-2, "I will extol thee, my God, O king; and I will bless thy name for ever and ever. Every day will I bless thee; and I will praise thy name for ever and ever."
- We are to worship in spirit and truth. John 4:24 states, "God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth."
- The "spirit" in which Jesus says we must worship God is the human spirit. It is what Paul often refers to as the heart. Worship is not just an external act. True worship must come from the heart and reflect a sincere attitude and desire.
- In other words, our worship of the Lord is to be from the heart.
- It is also to be in truth. This means that we are to worship God in total honesty. He knows the truth about us anyway. Therefore, we ought to not beat around the bush with God about ourselves.
- All of us have pet sins. This is the area where the Lord is not usually welcomed with great joy. Yet the Word of God says, "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me." (Psalm 66:18) To "regard" sin is to "cherish" sin. We are to give no place to the Devil.
- There's a difference between struggling with sin and regarding it. You may genuinely desire to forgive another person. In your mind, you have said many times, "I forgive him," yet your own sinful heart keeps bringing it up. You cry out to God to change you; but for some reason, He allows you to keep struggling. That is not regarding sin; that is warring against it.
Conclusion: If we're to fear God through proper worship, we must ask ourselves some hard questions:
1. Have I presented myself and all that I have to God as a living sacrifice so that my way of life is a life of worship?
2. Do I take time daily to worship God privately and to thank Him for all His blessings to me?
3. Is there some "regarded" sin, some practice I'm unwilling to give up, that hinders my worship?
4. Do I seek to enter wholeheartedly and "in spirit and truth" into worship, or do I simply go through the motions without the heart?
None of us will score perfectly on these questions. That is not their intent. Rather, they're designed to help us honestly assess ourselves and pinpoint areas of our lives that need improvement. Only then can we take steps to do better.