Celebration of Disciplines | Together in Worship

Celebration of Disciplines: Part V

TOGETHER IN WORSHIP

Psalm 95:1-3

1 Oh come, let us sing to the Lord;

    let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!

2 Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;

    let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!

3 For the Lord is a great God,

    and a great King above all gods.

Psalm 95:6-7

6 Oh 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.

I would like to Praise and Thank God for this opportunity and privilege to deliver HIS Word this morning. Though I feel so nervous right now, as this is the first time for me to do this in a worship service, I believe that this is all about HIM and not about me, so it will be God that would give us all the wisdom and understanding!

As we continue with the series topic – Celebration of Disciplines (Praise God for great messages that were delivered by all our Pastors!)

Part 1 entitled Alone with God which talked about our Personal Time with God and Part 2 - The Word in our World which encourages us to listen, learn and live the Word of God both delivered by Pastor Jerry

Part 3 - was about Evangelism entitled Turning the world upside down by Pastor Glenn.

And last Sunday, Pastor Roldan talked about "Gratitude that leads to Generosity" that spoke to us about Giving

Today will be the last message on this topic series, and I will be sharing about WORSHIP. The title of our message for today is "Together in Worship."

You probably have heard this quote before– Worship is a lifestyle!

For us to be able to have a lifestyle of worship and be part of our everyday lives, I believe that we should establish a discipline in worship.

We can start it out as a hobby, and then it will eventually become a habit, a routine, or it will be an automatic thing in our lives out of our gratitude and thankfulness to our God.

 I want to share an illustration:

After attending church one Sunday morning, a little boy knelt at his bedside that night and prayed, "Dear God, we had a good time at church today—but I wish you had been there!"

Here's a question for all of us: Is it possible to come to church on a Sunday and leave the building as nothing happened? Or is it possible that we just want to show others that we are better than them or want to feel good on Sundays?

Another illustration:

Satan Standing on the Sidewalk:

One Sunday morning, Satan happened to be standing outside of a large Baptist Church. Inside, the people were singing, praying, and listening to a sermon. Someone passed by on the sidewalk and noticed Satan standing on the steps of the church. The passerby asked Satan if it bothered him to hear the people worshiping the Lord. With a demonic laugh, he said, "no it doesn't bother me in the least. They get that way on Sunday, but they will be all right come Monday morning. It's just a little habit they have acquired."

Unfortunately, that seems to be true to some people. Worship is supposed to make a difference in who we are and what we do. (Lou Nicholes - Missionary/Author)

And before we go to our topic and pointers, I would like to define the word worship quickly.

The Dictionary defines worship (worth-ship) as the feeling or expression of reverence and adoration for a deity.

The Bible's definition of worship is the act of attributing reverent honor and homage to God. In the New Testament, several words are used to refer to the term worship. One is proskuneo ("to worship"), which means to bow down to God or King.

But I also like what William Temple said when he made this clear when he defined worship:

"For worship is the submission of all our nature to God. It is the quickening of conscience by His holiness; the nourishment of mind with His truth; the purifying of imagination by His beauty; the opening of the heart to His love; the surrender of will to His purpose-and all of this gathered up in adoration, the most selfless emotion of which our nature is capable and therefore the chief remedy for that self-centeredness which is our original sin and the source of all actual sin." 

Today, my prayer is that we will all be reminded of the basis, reason & purpose why we go to church and worship our God, that we will be able to see that we do not come to church to visit God. Still, we come to church to worship God, as the Bible describes worship. It means that we have to come together to rejoice before God, give thanks to God, sing our praises to God, lift our thanksgiving unto the Lord, humble ourselves before Him, and kneel in the presence of a Holy God.

There are two things that I would like to present this morning.

I – We Worship God for who He is.

Psalm 95:1-3

1 Oh come, let us sing to the Lord;

    let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!

2 Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;

    let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!

Psalm 95:6-7

6 Oh come, let us worship and bow down;

    let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!

Here we will see that it is about both the form and function. It is about the issues of what, how, where, and when. Those are invitations like, ' Oh come, let us sing, let us make a joyful noise, oh come let us worship, these are matters of form, but the psalmist was not just preoccupied with matters of form also pay close to the attention to the matter of function. Function as a noun is defined as an activity or purpose, natural or intended for a person or thing. Psalm 95 says, "to the Lord, to the rock of our salvation, our Maker."

I believe the first thing we have to consider when we come to worship either individually or corporately or as a congregation is to know who it is we are coming to see and worship.

Here are just some of God's attributes that I would like us to see today because I know that there are way too many to account for. So here are some of them:

A.    Our God is a Holy God – We are coming into the presence of a Holy God.

One of my favorite verses in worship is Isaiah 6:3, but I would like to read from verse 1 where it says, Isaiah 6:1-3

In the year that (A)King Uzziah died I (B)saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and the train[a] of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each had (C)six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called to another and said:

(D)"Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;

(E)the whole earth is full of his glory!"

The first thing we need to consider about worship is in whose presence we are standing. – We are standing in the presence of a Holy God.

B.     Our God is the author, creator, and sustainer of the whole universe – We are coming into the presence of God who was and is and always will be.

Hebrews 13:5 “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.”

He is our creator, the beginning and the end. He is the one who sustains us. He holds all of our future in the palm of His hands. He is the only one who knows when the person will begin his or her life here on earth and when it will end.

C.      Our God is Sovereign

1 Timothy 6:14-15

14 to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ,15 which he will display at the proper time—he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords.

It is a good reminder for us to know that one of the reasons we come to worship God is because He is a Sovereign God. That is who God is; He is Sovereign over all creation. There is no place in the universe where God is not sovereign. There is no power, government, or political regime that can outlast or overrule the God that we serve. Everything else in creation comes and goes, but God lasts forever. Nations and rulers rise and fall, but God remains on the throne forever.

We are currently in the midst of a pandemic, civil unrest, calamities, and many other negative things that are going on in and around us. Still, we are so blessed to have a Sovereign God who is orchestrating every movement in creation. Whether we will take part in it or not, our sovereign God will still be praised and worshipped unto the ends of the earth.

We worship the Lord because the Lord is Sovereign!

Like what we sang a few minutes ago, the first part of the Christian hymn, How Great Thou Art says:

O Lord, my God, when I in awesome wonder,

Consider all the worlds thy hands have made.

I see the stars; I hear the rolling thunders,

Thy power throughout the universe displayed.

Then sings my soul, my savior God to thee. How great thou art. How great thou art.

II – We Worship God for what He has done.

Psalm 95:3

3 For the Lord is (E)a great God,

    and a great King (F)above all gods.

Psalm 95:7

7 For he is our (C)God,

    and we are the people of his(D)pasture,

    and the sheep of his hand.

Another thing that we have to consider when we worship God is WHY we should do it at all.

"There is no right way to worship God if there is no good reason to worship Him."

And "There is no right time or place to worship God if He has not done something that causes our worship to make sense."

In Psalm 95, people were told to worship God because of who God is and what He has done. There was an answer to both who and why questions.

We worship God because he is a great God and a great King above all kings. We worship God because he has been our rock in a weary and dying land, our shelter in the time of the storm, our great healer in time of sickness, our great provider and supplier in time of need, and our stronghold in times of uncertainty. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He never changes.

Please let me give you some reasons for us to remember when we think about WHY we worship God.

A.    God Saves – it is amazing to consider what can happen when the saving power of a Sovereign God is used on our behalf. God is not only deserving of worship because of who HE is, but God also deserves all our worship because of what He has done.

Just like what Psalm 95:1 says, "let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our Salvation."

Most of you can probably think of a lot of verses in the bible that talks about Salvation, but please allow me to present some of them:

John 6:40

40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day."

Romans 7:18-19

18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.

And I want to talk about different ways of how God has been a Savior to all of us.

1.     Maybe some of us were in circumstances that appeared to be a dead-end or that we almost hit rock bottom. Maybe you have experienced hitting rock bottom either financially, physically, relationally, emotionally, or even spiritually, and there was our God who helped and pulled you up.

Here is one of my favorite verses when going through tough times–

Deuteronomy 33:27 New Living Translation

     The eternal God is your refuge,

      and his everlasting arms are under you.

    He drives out the enemy before you;

    he cries out, 'Destroy them!'

Where is God when you hit rock bottom? He is right there with you/us! He is our refuge, and his everlasting arms are under you. Even before we hit bottom, Jesus is much willing to hit that rock bottom first before us. Sometimes we just have to fall into his arms of love, allow Him to catch you, and support you when you feel like you have nowhere else to go.

2.     Another way God might have saved some of us is when He rescues us from death or danger. I know that some of us might have a living testimony wherein you are in a dangerous and hopeless situation. You miraculously got out of it, or Some of us might have experienced significant healing from God Or maybe even had a near-death experience. But because of God's love, will, and ultimate purpose, you are still alive and still fulfilling God's purpose in your life.

3.     Then, there is this ultimate saving that God has done, which applies to all of us. The victory over sin and death, which none of us can ever defeat. Only God and only because of His grace and mercy that all his children were able to receive salvation.

Ephesians 2:4-9

4 But[c] God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace, you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Some of you might ask the question, Why are there people who lift their hands or cry, or are so into it when they worship? Maybe they have recently experienced the saving grace of God in their lives, or they were about to hit rock bottom, or some of them have experienced healing, or there can be other reasons that convict them to raise their hands and passionately or enthusiastically praising and worshipping God for what God has done in their lives.

And I quickly want to share about enthusiastic worship expressions.

Many of my brethren here and I have watched games together, especially during the NBA Finals, Super Bowl, or World Series. Some of us were so passionate and enthusiastic about the game that when our team scores, we look like we're part of the actual game that we did chest bumps, high fives, going around the room, feeling like we were at the courtside, enjoying our favorite team scores. Or sometimes in a concert, the leader of the band would say, raise your hands and wave like this, right? And some people would be shouting throughout the entire show.

I can only imagine if that passion & enthusiasm during games & concerts will be the same when we worship God, let us just imagine that for a second. Singing, shouting, clapping, and raising our hands to God for what He has done for us as He is more deserving of the praise and worship than what we do for anything in this world.

The great love that He offers to everyone is incomparable, and that leads to my second point to help us remember to think of the right reasons to worship God.

B.     God Loves – He loves unconditionally.

The best way to describe this is to look at the book of Romans 5: 8, where it says:

Romans 5: 8

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Here are two things that can happen during worship:

1.     The Holy Spirit reveals to us who we are BEFORE God

• Isaiah 6:5 NIV

"Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty."

• Psalms 16:2

I say to the Lord, "You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing."

Here we can see that Isaiah recognized that he was a sinner and needs a Savior. King David said that we have no good thing; in other words, apart from God, we are nothing, we can do nothing!

Also, here is another thing that can happen during worship:

2.     The Holy Spirit reveals to us who we are TO God

• 1 John 3:1

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

• Ephesians 2:4-5 NIV

4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.

• Psalm 117: 1-2 NIV

1  Praise the Lord, all you nations;

   extol him, all you peoples.

2 For great is his love toward us,

   and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever.

Like what I said earlier, God's love is incomparable & unconditional. Jesus was willing to die for all our sins that we can have eternal life.

Despite all our shortcomings, God is merciful enough to forgive us and still continually love us. Even at times, when we experience God's discipline, He allows that to happen because HE has the perfect plan for us.

Before I close, I want to share another experience I have during worship.

Back in our church in the Philippines, God entrusted my wife and me to be a part of the ministry in worship. He allowed our worship team to go to different churches to lead praise and worship mostly in Conservative Baptist Churches around the Luzon area. God even allowed us to be a part of Rise-up Quezon and Rise-up Tarlac and some other local worship conferences. We also had the privilege of attending some big conferences. In one of the seminars, while the team was playing background music, I remember during the praise and worship when the Pastor stood up and started to encourage the congregation to meditate and focus on God. He said, "before you sing this next song, I want you to focus, meditate and ask yourself how much you love God." He kept on encouraging all of us, then suddenly I remember seeing myself sitting down and started asking myself some questions.

Do you know what the title of the song was? It is a popular song entitled "I Love You Lord."

I started asking myself, do I really love God more than my high school friends, more than what I do during Monday through Friday, more than my possessions, more than sports, more than pride and all its sinful acts, or even more than my loved ones. To be honest with you all, I could not sing that song for a while because I started crying out to God. But before the song ended, I was able to sing along with everyone else there finally. Do you know why? It was not because I said, okay, God, I will be better next time, or I will do my best to please you, but you know why I was able to sing? It was because God impressed me how He loves me so much, how He cares so much for me, and how He oversees my sins because of His unconditional love for me. That despite all the things I've done against Him, He is still willing and able to forgive me and keeps on loving me!

So my hope and prayer this morning is that with God's help, we will all be able to see God for who He is and for what He has done, been doing and will be doing in our lives, in our family, and our church every time we worship HIM. It is also my prayer that we will begin to establish a spiritual discipline in worshiping God individually and congregationally.

Please let me close with these verses.

Psalm 96:7-9 NIV

7 Ascribe to the Lord, all you families of nations,

    ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.

8 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;

    bring an offering and come into his courts.

9 Worship the Lord in the splendor of his[a] holiness;

    tremble before him, all the earth.

- Rolando Ona Jr.