Worship Together (Life In Connection part 2 of 3)

Thank you. The Bible reveals that all of creation was created to bring glory to God. The Bible says in Psalm 19, verse 1, "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the Earth shows forth His handiwork." Not only all of creation, but humanity was created as the centerpiece of God's creation to bring glory to Him.

However, the reality is that the world is not necessarily doing that. Humanity, with seven billion people living on the face of the Earth, is not worshiping the way that we should. There truly is a worship disorder. But we here at Cross Connection believe that we are to be a people who worship together, bringing praise, honor, and glory to God as one people.

What we are doing here in a series at the church called "Life in Connection" is discussing the importance of gathering together and worshiping the one true God as one voice. So take some time to study through the Scriptures with us tonight; I think you'll be encouraged. God bless. Again, if you need a Bible, you can raise your hand, and ushers will bring you one.

In Romans chapter 12, verse 1, the Apostle Paul says, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God."

Father, help us to do that. Lord, help us to worship You not just when we gather here as a body, but to worship You day in and day out. Help us to worship You in things that might seem mundane and in tasks that may be repetitive. Lord, help us to worship and honor You not just with our lips and our mouths, but with the way that we live. May people see and know that we are followers of You by the way that we live and love.

So God, work in us; transform us by the renewing of our minds today. We thank You for the opportunity to gather together as Your people and to worship You as one body. We pray that You be glorified and honored by it, for we ask this in Jesus' name. And all God's people agreed, saying, "Amen." You can be seated.

This last week, we began a new series here at the church called "Life in Connection." We are seeking to clearly articulate our mission and vision.

Values are something that we do annually at the beginning of each year. We take time to look forward into the new year and talk about what our vision is for that year. However, this year is a little different than past years because we are not only looking at our vision for 2014 but also at our vision for who we are as a church. We want to express who we are, why we exist, what we do, and how we do it as a Community of Faith, as the people of God.

If you look at the sermon guide in your bulletin, on the side that says "Life in Connection," you will see the logo for the church. There, you will find the vision and the values we shared last week, but I wanted to look at it again this morning.

Our vision, which explains why we exist, states that because of the Cross of Christ, we know that we have been connected to God and one another in life-giving and satisfying communion. As a family of faith, we grow together into His likeness through worship and the application of His Word. As a community of faith, we labor together for the joy and justice of all peoples.

Immediately following that, at the bottom, are our values. How do we make this a reality? We believe that a church is a gathering of individuals connected to God and one another by the Cross of Christ. To facilitate this life in connection, Cross-Connection Church aims to promote a vision for worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry, mission, and generosity. At the core of our vision is a love for God, one another, and the world.

Last week, we spent our time really looking at that vision and thinking about it for us as believers here at Cross-Connection Church. We are called to live a life in connection with God and one another. That which was broken by sin and by the Fall is brought back to life in Christ. We are now connected to God, and we are connected to one another. We have communion with Him and community with one another, and we want to live out this life that is more abundant.

Jesus said in John chapter 10, "I have come that you may have life and that you may have it more abundantly," or that you may have it to its fullest. To experience that life more abundantly, it must be lived in community and in communion with God. It is lived in connection with one another.

Today, and for the next four weeks after this, we will be looking at the specifics of each of these values. Today, if you notice, it says "Week Two: Worship Together." That is what we are focusing on, as noted in the values.

There it says we cross connection aims to promote a vision for worship. We aim to promote a vision for worship because worship is foundational to experiencing the abundant life. It is core to experiencing this life in connection.

But perhaps the immediate question after stating that we seek to promote a vision of worship within our church and this community of faith is: why promote a vision for worship? To answer that question, I would ask you to turn to the Old Testament, to the book of Second Samuel, right after First Samuel, near the beginning of your Bible. We will look at Second Samuel chapter 22, which is just before First Kings.

In Second Samuel 22, verse 1, we find the words of perhaps the most worshipful individual in the Bible, King David, the great psalmist of Israel. The Psalms in your Bible, the longest book of the Bible, are dedicated to songs of worship, and most of those songs, called Psalms, were written by King David, this great man of God and king of Israel.

In Second Samuel chapter 22, verse 1, we read: "Then David spoke to the Lord the words of this song on the day that the Lord had delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of King Saul." Here, David has come to a point in his life where there is security and salvation from all of his enemies, including King Saul, who for a period of time was trying to track him down and take his life.

At this point, we are given the context of the words he writes in this song. He said in verse 2, "The Lord is my rock, my fortress, my deliverer, the God of my strength, in whom I will trust, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold, my refuge, my Savior. You save me from violence."

Now look at this verse 4: "I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised; so shall I be saved from my enemies." If you turn your sermon guide over and look at point number one on the back of it, point number one is...

Our outline: God is worthy of worship. King David recognized this three thousand years ago. He understood that God had literally moved mountains in his life. He had seen God protect him miraculously many times throughout his life and conquer enemies before him in powerful ways. As he sees God move in power, he declares, "You are worthy of my praise, and so shall I be saved from my enemies." Speaking of salvation and the God who is our deliverer, he affirms, "You are worthy to be praised." God is truly worthy to be praised and worshiped.

The first time in the Bible that the word "worship" is used is in the Book of Genesis, specifically Genesis chapter 22. We don't have time to go through the whole story in that chapter, but it is an awesome passage. There, God instructs Abraham, the father of the nation of Israel, to take a journey that took about three days to the land of Moriah, which is modern-day Jerusalem. God tells Abraham, "I want you to go to the land of Moriah, and you are going to worship there with your son Isaac."

As they embark on this journey, Abraham tells his son, "We are going to worship the Lord." The Hebrew word for worship, "shachah," means to bow down before, to bend the knee, or literally to prostrate oneself. This act of laying flat on your face symbolizes a recognition that the one before whom you bow is greater than you. You are acknowledging that you are lower, and laying yourself as low as possible is an expression of the distinct honor it is to be in their presence. It is a reverential and fearful thing because they are so much higher than you.

The English word "worship" comes from an Old English word that first appeared in our language around the 12th or 13th century A.D. It means to acknowledge the worth or value of something; it is "worth-ship." We acknowledge the worthiness of someone to receive our reverence. We adore, we praise, we glorify, and we revere only that which we deem worthy of our worship. So, when David says in 2 Samuel chapter 22, "You are..."

Worthy to be praised, to be worshiped, to be adored. He is saying, "I have recognized that of all the things in all of creation, in all of the universe, You are over all of those things. There is nothing, there is no one greater and more valuable and worthy of worship than You." That is what David is saying in 2 Samuel 22, and that is what Abraham is acknowledging back in Genesis 22.

When we say, "God, we worship and praise You; You're worthy of our praise," we are acknowledging that God is worthy of our worship. He is worthy of not just singing songs, but our complete and total devotion to Him, which is something we will look at in a moment. We already read Romans 12:1-2, and we will examine it more in just a little bit. It is the idea of completely devoting ourselves to His glory.

We have considered many times before that the very first thing we learn about God in the Bible, in Genesis 1, is that God is Creator. Romans 1:20 tells us that God's invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by what was made. So, when we look at creation, God is seen in His creation. Although He is separate from His creation, His creation declares that He is, and it declares that He is great.

When you look at the detail and the beauty of His creation, it reveals that not only is God powerful, but it also reveals that God is creative and artistic. How many of you recognize God's beauty in His creation? Remember, we live in a fallen creation. We live in a world that has been subjected to the fall and cursed because of sin, and yet we see the beauty and the detail of it.

In our day, we have an amazing opportunity to see the awesome beauty of creation going far into the universe, greater than any other people at any other time in history, because of things like the Hubble Space Telescope. We see these grand pictures of nebulae and other phenomena. When we look at the sky at nighttime and see the stars, we go, "Wow, that's amazing! That's awesome!" But then, when we see the pictures that Hubble returns, we think, "That is phenomenal!" It is incredible to see these awesome things taking place in places we could never reach.

Now, I hope that in the future, when we are with the Lord, He will take us on a tour of these things someday. For now, we just get pictures, but in those pictures, we...

See God's beauty. When people here on Earth look down into the deep molecular and cellular levels, when they examine the atomic levels of creation, they see the detail in the way that God has engineered everything. We have to agree with what King David said in Psalm 19. Psalm 19 states, "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the Earth shows forth His handiwork."

We were created as instruments of worship. This whole creation was designed to bring glory back to God, to reflect His glory, His beauty, His awesome power, and His amazing intellect. It is evident in His creation, just as David says in Psalm 19:1. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the Earth shows forth His handiwork.

In the same way that the frescoes on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome showcase the artistic mastery of Michelangelo, they declare how incredible he was. I can hardly draw a stick figure, and when you look at that, you are just in awe of what he accomplished. Even if you have never been there, you can see it online. Just search for the Sistine Chapel and admire this amazing work that took more than four years for him to create. That alone declares that the artist existed and possessed great mastery and skill.

In the very same way, the existence of creation and its beauty declare that God is real. They reveal how awesome and wonderful He is, that He appreciates aesthetics and loves beauty. God created for His glory so that people would see what He has done and glorify Him. Not only that, but the Earth itself cries forth of His greatness. We were created as instruments of God.

Point number two on your outline: we were created as instruments of worship. Would you turn in your Bibles to the book of Isaiah? Right about the middle of your Bible, you will find the Psalms; then keep turning to the right until you reach Isaiah chapter 43. We will look at two verses here: Isaiah 43:7 and then verse 21. In Isaiah 43:7, God is speaking to and through the prophet Isaiah, and He says this: "Everyone who is called by My name, whom I have..."

Created for my glory, I have formed him; yes, I have made him. Then, verse 21 states, "This people I have formed for myself; they shall declare my praise." We are instruments of worship, and we are to sound forth to declare the praises of God.

Now, I know if you're an astute Bible student, you might say, "Hey, the context is Israel," and I agree. Isaiah was written during the time that God was speaking to His people, the nation of Judah, around the 8th century BC. However, if you look at 1 Peter 2:9, it says of us that we are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, God's own special or peculiar people. Why? That we should declare the praises of Him who called us out of darkness and into His marvelous light.

God created for His glory, and He created you and me—humanity—so that we would be those who sound forth His beauty and declare His praise. He fashioned us to be image bearers of Him; He created us in His image and likeness. We carry with us the image of God, and we are to reflect His greatness back to Him and to all of creation. We are on display, showing how great and awesome our God is.

It may seem odd to say this, but we can back it up with Scripture: we, humanity, are the centerpiece of the masterpiece of creation. God, this great artist, has made this masterpiece and placed us at the center as image bearers of Him to declare His praise, to magnify Him, and to worship Him. We are to reflect back how great and awesome He is—His glory.

If all creation is singing a song of praise to God, which it is, remember in the Gospels when Jesus is coming into Jerusalem and people are singing, "Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord." There was a group of religious leaders who said, "Tell your disciples to stop this." He replied, "If they did, even the rocks would cry out." Creation is singing forth in glorious praise to God.

If that is true, then because of the way that God made us, humanity is like the soloist in that song. We are to be sounding it forth in a greater way. Why? Because God created us.

With the capacity to think, He created us with the ability to speak, write, build, and create. All of this was so that we could return glory back to Him. You see this nowhere else in creation. Even the highest life forms beneath humanity do not exhibit such behaviors. We do not see apes and gorillas combining resources, like scrapping a banana from over here and grabbing a little bit of spices from over there to make something wonderful. They do not build wonders.

Humanity was created in the image and likeness of God to create in a similar way that He does, so that we can show forth His glory. It is not just in grand creations; even in the very mundane and repetitive tasks of life, we can and should worship God. We have a responsibility to do that. The Apostle Paul, in First Corinthians chapter 10, verse 31, says, "Whatever you do, whether you eat or drink, do it all to the glory of God." Even in the most repetitive, mundane things that you and I do on a daily basis, we can and should be bringing glory to God.

Now, I will say it is a challenge to bring glory to God while you're eating pizza, but you can do it. There is a way we can discover that more as we live out life together. The reality is that we should be returning glory and praise to God in the smallest things. Life is meant to be worship to God, not just what we do here on a Sunday morning, but our entire lives are to be worshiped to God.

However, the sad reality is that sin devastated worship. Sin corrupted worship. You can either say "devastated" or "corrupted"; both are true. Sin devastated and corrupted worship. The fall of humanity, which we discussed quite a bit during our last series in the Christmas season, brought devastating corruption to the glory song of creation. Humanity, through sin, separated itself from the symphony.

If all of creation was created to bring glory to God—the heavens declare the glory of God, and the Earth shows forth His handiwork—then humanity, at the center of that, is meant to return praise to God. In the fall, as described in Genesis chapter 3, mankind stepped away from that and has separated itself from the symphony. It is not that we are no longer worshiping; it is not that...

We no longer have the capacity to worship because we were actually formed as instruments of worship. God made you and made me to be instruments of worship, and by our very nature, we will worship something. If we're not worshiping Him, which the fall separated us from, we will always default to the worship of someone or something.

When the fall brought in this separation from worship, we are now worshiping, but not in the right way. It's as if all of creation is playing this song of praise to God, and man, in the middle of it, is singing another tune, in a different key, at a different tempo, and twice as loud as everything else. This creates discordance; there is a dissonance in that worship.

I'm sure you've heard dissonant or discordant chords before. If a little kid goes in and starts pounding on the piano, there is no music there. Nobody pays money to go and watch that. We think, "Oh great, here we go again." Unfortunately, there is some music being sold today that is presented as music, but it is very abstract. You have to "feel" it. No, it's not music; there is no music there. Humanity has brought discord into this masterpiece of God.

Point number four on your outline: all sin is ultimately a worship disorder. That is what we see in the world today—a massive worship disorder. Turn in your Bibles to the Book of Romans, again, Romans chapter 1. Paul does a great job of expressing this in Romans 1, beginning at verse 20. There he writes, "For since the creation of the world, His (God's) invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made." Creation declares that He is, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that man is without excuse. When he is worshiping something else, he has no excuse; he can't say, "Well, I just didn't know that I should be worshiping God."

There is no excuse, because although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God. There is a choice here; we chose to no longer be in concert with all of Creation in worshiping the one true God. Neither were they thankful, but they became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became as fools. They changed the glory of the Incorruptible God into an image like corruptible man.

When it says they changed, you could read it as they exchanged. They acknowledged the glorious God and recognized that He should be worshiped, but instead, they chose to worship something else. They decided to worship something below Him, something even below us. They exchanged the glory of the Incorruptible God and began to worship an image like corruptible man, birds, four-footed animals, and creeping things.

Therefore, because of this, God also gave them up to uncleanness and the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves. They exchanged the truth of God for the lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

All sin is ultimately a worship disorder. We were created by God as instruments of worship, and we will always worship something. We will always land on something for our adoration and devotion. If it is not God, we will devote ourselves to something in the universe, in the cosmos, or in this world. When we do that, there will always be a great problem that arises.

It is our nature to praise, honor, adore, bow down to, reverence, glorify, exalt, and venerate whatever it is. If we refuse to worship rightly, if we refuse to bring glory to God, then we will worship anything else. Misdirected worship is idolatry. All sin is ultimately a worship disorder of misdirected worship; it is ultimately idolizing something.

God created us with talents, abilities, and gifts. Look around this room; there are about 200 people here right now. In this room, each individual has unique gifts, talents, and abilities. We may have similarities in some areas, but none of us is identical. The gifts, talents, and abilities that God fashioned us with were created in our mother's wombs, and all of those are ultimately to be used for His worship and for His glory. However, the ruling religion of modern...

Today, America is characterized by self-worship. Not only is this the ruling religion of the day, but it is also religiously taught in our educational institutions in the form of what is called self-esteem. How many of you have heard of self-esteem before? We are religiously instructing people in our culture to worship themselves, worship themselves, worship themselves. This is idolatry because there is only one who is worthy of our worship. You may love yourself, and there may be some great things about yourself, but you are not worthy of worship and devotion; only He is worthy of worship and devotion.

Yet, self-worship is the ruling religion of the day. We take what God has given us—our gifts, talents, and abilities—and we use them for our own glorification and gratification. In that, there is idolatry. I was thinking about this last week, pondering the idea that we use our gifts and talents for our own glorification and gratification. I'll admit, it’s easy to pick on a specific group of people, but I started to think about celebrities, specifically musically talented celebrities.

I wondered how many of these musicians began singing and bringing praise and glory in the church, but then moved on to bring self-glorification and self-gratification through the gifts, talents, and abilities that God gave them to be used for His glory. I found a list of some of those people: Britney Spears, Beyoncé, Justin Timberlake, Avril Lavigne, Snoop Dogg, Whitney Houston, John Legend, Katy Perry, Jessica Simpson, Usher, Aretha Franklin, Carrie Underwood, Diana Ross, Elvis Presley, and many others. Where did they all get their start? In a church.

As I said, it’s easy to pick on them; they are out there in the spotlight. However, every single human being, if they are not worshiping God and using their gifts, talents, and abilities ultimately for His glory, has a worship disorder. It is idolatry. Ultimately, these gifts are to be used for His glorification, but we all, in some way, shape, or form, are caught up in worship disorders. Even after we come to Christ by grace through faith, we still have these problems. We need to learn how to rightly worship.

How to rightly bring praise, honor, and glory to the only one who is worthy of it? Why? Because, number five in your outline, worship is transformational. Worship is transformational.

Turn in your Bibles to the Psalms, specifically Psalm 115. I mentioned this verse last week, but I want to actually go to it this week. This is said twice in the Psalms, but we're going to look at it in Psalm 115. Under the heading that worship is transformational, we look at Psalm 115, verse 4.

The idols of this world are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They have mouths, but they do not speak; they have eyes, but they do not see; they have ears, but they do not hear; noses they have, but they do not smell; they have hands, but they do not handle; feet they have, but they do not walk, nor do they mutter through their throats.

Verse 8 is the kicker: those who make them are like them, and so is everyone who trusts in them. Worship is transformational. The God that you worship is the God that you will ultimately become, the thing that you ultimately become. Paul speaks about this. We just looked at it in Romans chapter one, where he said, "Professing to be wise, they became as fools," and God allowed them to be turned over to a debased mind.

Why? Because they were worshiping things that were foolish and vain. In worshiping things that are foolish and vain, you will become foolish and vain as well. Even if you're professing wisdom, you will become foolish and vain. How do I know that? Well, look around at the intelligence of our society today.

Perhaps you saw that documentary that Ben Stein did a few years ago. It was great. The very last scene of the documentary features him sitting down talking with Richard Dawkins, of course, the most antagonistic atheist of our day. He is saying the same things that atheists have been saying for a long time, just repackaged a little bit differently.

So, what does he boil it down to at the very end of that documentary? When they press him about where life came from, because he admits that the intricacy of life just couldn't have appeared, he said, "Well, maybe aliens seeded the Earth." Okay, all right, sounds good. That's the best you've got.

Yep, that's it. Professing to be wise, they became as fools. Whatever you worship, you will ultimately become. If you worship foolishness and vanity, you will become foolish and vain. The 19th-century American poet Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "The gods we worship write their names on our faces." Be sure of that. A man will worship something; that which dominates will determine his life and character. Therefore, it behooves us to be careful what we worship, for what we are worshiping, we are becoming.

This is, of course, true for the bad, but it is also true for the good. Turn again back to the verse we began with: Romans chapter 12, the beginning or the end of your Bibles, Romans 12:1. Paul is speaking to Christians who were living in a hedonistic, paganistic, pluralistic culture in the first-century Roman world, specifically in the city of Rome. He was addressing a group of people who were living in a culture that is more and more like ours every day.

He says this to Christians living in that culture, who were being pulled by the world to conform to the practices of the world in worship, to be a part of the worship disorder. He speaks with very passionate and fervent language when he says, "I beseech you therefore, brethren. I am begging you, Christians in Rome. I’m begging you by the mercies of God, by His power, by His strength, by His mercy, that you present your bodies."

This instrument of worship, God created this to be an instrument glorifying Him. Present it by a choosing of your will, a volitional move. Make the decision to present this instrument of worship as a living sacrifice, holy—meaning consecrated, completely dedicated—acceptable to God, which is your reasonable worship, your reasonable service, your only right response. Another translation says, "And in doing this, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God."

Our vision statement, located on the other side of your sermon outline, states that as a family of God, we grow together into His likeness through worship. Worship is transformational. As we worship Him, we devote ourselves to Him; we honor, glorify, and revere Him. We are being changed more and more into His image and likeness. We grow more into His likeness by worship and the application of His Word. It is a part of our sanctification. God uses proper worship in our lives to make us more like Him.

Therefore, point number six on your outline is that we fulfill our purpose when we worship together. After I wrote that out and gave it to Karen to print for today, I reflected more on number six and came up with another answer. Both answers are correct: we fulfill our purpose when we worship together, and we experience our destiny when we worship together.

Pastor Josh read from Revelation chapter 5 this morning as we were worshiping in giving. You can turn there if you'd like; I encourage you to read the whole passage later on. I won't go through the entire thing today, but Revelation chapter 5 presents an awesome vision of the Apostle John as he describes a scene in heaven that we believe is still in the future.

He describes a scene in heaven where there are multitudes of angelic beings and tens of thousands of saints from every tribe, tongue, and nation in the world gathered there before the throne of God. A strong angel, as mentioned in verse 2 of Revelation 5, spoke forth and asked, "Who is worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals?" John notes that no one was found worthy to take the scroll and open its seals, and he begins to weep. In verse 5, as he weeps, one of the elders present in heaven, one of the 24 elders, reaches over to John and says, "Do not weep. Behold..."

The Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals. The Lion of the Tribe of Judah has prevailed, and He is worthy. In heaven, the angels ask, "Who is worthy?" No one is found except for the only one who is worthy. Jesus steps forth, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah.

Now, imagine in your mind what you would anticipate this elder saying. "Oh, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah has prevailed! He’s going to open the scroll." And then one steps forth. You are anticipating this great lion that comes forth, and what do you see? The elder says, "Behold!" We saw a Lamb as it had been slain. Jesus, the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world. Revelation 13:8 says this. John the Baptist said in John 1:29, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." Jesus was the Lamb that was slain in His first coming, and He still bears the scars of that slaying. But now He comes as a conquering King.

Pastor Josh read Revelation 5:9, and I want to start at verse 8. Revelation 5:8 states, "Now when He, Jesus, had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down." What is that? Worship. They fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, an instrument, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. They sang a new song, saying, "You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain and have redeemed us to God by your blood out of every tribe, out of every tongue, out of every people, and out of every nation."

Our purpose for which we were created is as instruments of worship, and our ultimate destiny is the worship of the one true God. That is our purpose and our ultimate destiny: that we would worship together. When we gather as a body to worship, do not misunderstand; life is worship. We should aim to worship personally and individually every single day, wherever we are and whatever we are doing.

However, when we gather together in worship, we are experiencing and tasting our destiny. We are fulfilling our purpose because we are joining in with the chorus of creation, worshiping Him and praising Him. As we close, I just want to add a few more important things. Our lives on a daily basis are to...

Worship should be lived as an offering to God in the mundane things, and we should strive to make that a reality by presenting our bodies as living sacrifices, as Paul exhorted us in Romans chapter 12. We should be seeking to understand what that means regularly. We already looked at that passage in First Corinthians 10:31, which states, "Whatever you do, whether you eat or drink, do all to the glory of God."

This only happens as we grow in our understanding of worship and our engagement in worship together. When we come together to worship, we do so in three different ways here at Cross Connection, which we'll discuss shortly. In the study of the Scriptures, we grow in our understanding of worship and how right worship is offered to God. This growth enhances our understanding of who He is, which in turn increases our worship. Engaging in worship together infuses us for daily worship, making it an essential part of our lives.

This is why the author of the book of Hebrews says, "Do not neglect the assembling together." When we gather as a body on a Sunday morning, a Saturday night, or whenever we come together, we worship in three ways: first, we worship in song; second, we worship through sacrificial giving; and third, we worship in the study of the Scriptures. At least these three elements are present when we gather in worship.

Now, let’s turn quickly to Hebrews chapter 13, verse 15, just to the left of Revelation. I want to show that it is biblical for us to worship in song and through sacrificial giving. This is clearly stated in verses 15 and 16 of Hebrews 13.

Hebrews 13:15 says, "Therefore, by Him, by Jesus, let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God." What does it mean to continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God? The verse explains that it is "the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name." We should corporately gather and continually offer this sacrifice of praise. In the Old Testament, there were very physical, tangible sacrifices; you would go to the Tabernacle or the Temple.

You would bring a lamb, a goat, a bull, or sometimes even a grain offering, and it would be sacrificed tangibly. God was well pleased by the incense that rose from these offerings. We don't have that in the New Testament; that has been done away with. The book of Hebrews is all about doing away with the old covenant. However, we still have New Testament sacrifices.

One of these is the sacrifice of praise, which is the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name. The second one is found in verse 16: "But do not forget to do good and to share." With such sacrifices, the fruit of our lips and doing good in sharing, God is well pleased. In the Old Testament, He was pleased by the incense rising to Him and the worship of those sacrifices. He is glorified and pleased with this sacrifice—the sacrifice of praise and worship given from the fruit of our lips, as well as the sacrifice of giving and sharing.

The word "sharing" comes from the Greek word "Koinonia." It is a multifaceted term with great definitions. It means fellowship, communion, and community. In other contexts, it also means participation, gift, contribution, and collection. When we gather together and share with one another, giving sacrificially of ourselves, it is a form of worship to God, and He is well pleased with this worship.

Not only that, but we also worship through the study of God's Word. In his book, "Worship Matters," Bob Coughlin writes, "The better or more accurately we know God through His Word, the more genuine our worship will be." Regardless of what we think or feel, there is no authentic worship of God without a right knowledge of Him. When we study the Scriptures together, we are joining together in our understanding of who He is, how He works, and how we are to rightly worship Him.

When we gather together for a service like this, it is not just a worship service that ends here. This is what ignites our worship, and we should go from here continuing to worship Him. That is the ideal, and that is what we are looking to achieve.

Move towards making a reality of who we are. Now, seventh and finally on your outline, and we're done. Music is important as an on-ramp to worship and not the destination. Music, in and of itself, is not worship, but God created music as an avenue to worship. He made music in such a way that it is not the invention of man; it is the creation of God. I believe He created music to be the fastest on-ramp to worship.

Now, just 50 feet behind me is an on-ramp and an off-ramp for a major freeway. The whole point of it is that you're able to go on that on-ramp and get up to speed so that when you get on the freeway, you're doing a very nice 65 miles an hour, which is what all of you do, right? I hate those meters that stop you. It's meant to be an on-ramp. Worship music is to be a fast on-ramp to worship.

God created music in that way. How so? He made music to affect us at a soul and emotional level. How many of you recognize the connection between your soul and music? It should stir emotion. Have you ever watched a movie without music? It's like, what is this? The heightened sense of what music adds is crucial.

Now, I'm not recommending the movie, so please bear with me; it's a terrible illustration. A few years ago, that Batman movie came out with the Joker. Some of you probably saw it. I'm not recommending it, but there is this sound, this musical sound that the composer Hans Zimmer wrote. Listen to the musical score; it's incredible. There is a sound that he created with a saw, and then he slowed it down and added all kinds of effects to it. Every time you hear it, it is the sound of the Joker coming, and it is the scariest sound in the world. Just that sound sends chills down your spine, and you know something bad is coming.

Worship should affect us at an emotional and soul level. When music engages your emotions and your mind is directed Godward, meaning toward God, the outcome can be worship. The heart is engaged emotionally by the music, while the mind is engaged intellectually by the lyrics that direct you toward God. In this way, worship occurs.

You don't have to have music to experience worship. You can have an emotional experience standing at the edge of Niagara Falls or the Grand Canyon. If your mind is engaged toward God, worship happens. However, music is a fast on-ramp to worship.

I emphasize that it is an on-ramp and not the destination for this reason: we need to be careful and understand that there is no such thing as emotionless worship, just as there is no such thing as emotionless love. They do not go together. Unfortunately, in our Christian culture today, emotion has become the focal point of the worship service.

Here’s what happens: a person may say, "I have worshiped," if they feel heightened emotion and happiness. If you break it down, the enemy, our adversary the devil, is cunning. He has taken something that is incredibly spiritually oriented—worship—and made it idolatry. Why? Because he has created a very fine line that we must be careful with.

When we come into a worship service, if heightened emotion and happiness are the point, then you become the focus. We say we are coming to worship God, but if someone leaves saying, "That wasn't very good," because they didn't cry or feel something, then worship was all about them and not about God.

Music is an on-ramp to worship, not the destination. We need to be very careful about this because God is worthy of our worship. He is worthy of our worship.

I’m going to ask George and the worship team to come back up. I know we've gone over a little bit, but they are going to lead us in one last worship song. Would you stand with me now as we prepare?

To worship the Lord, let's close our eyes and pray. As you are closing your eyes, if you today have not bent the knee in worship of Jesus Christ, if you have never acknowledged Him as your Lord and put your trust in Him, you are not experiencing the fullness of what you were created for.

The Bible says in Philippians chapter 2 that one day every knee will bow, but it is far better to choose to do so now. I want to give you an opportunity today to do that if you never have.