Worship: A Commitment . . . Not a War, Part One, Part 1

Worshiping God has many expressions but what's the major focus? There is one God and one mediator between God and mankind and that is Jesus Christ. It does matter in whom you believe. It does matter that you're sincere in believing in Him, but it does matter who the object of your worship is.

Be very clear about that. That's how you came to know the living God. If you could tour a cross-section of different churches on any given Sunday, you'd witness a diversity of worship expressions. Some Christians are quiet and reflective.

Others are animated and emotional. So what does it truly mean to worship God in a community of other believers? Today on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindoll helps us understand the essential elements of biblical worship. Along the way, perhaps it'll help you become more intentional in your worship and in the process much more fulfilled. Chuck titled today's study, Worship, A Commitment, Not a War, Part 1. This morning I want us to think seriously about the one essential ingredient and I want you to take it personally. I don't want you to think, I'm so glad so-and-so is here to hear that because they really need to hear that.

It may be true, but that's beside the point. You need to hear it. And so it's for us individually and collectively and our hope is that we will as a result be better worshippers because of a time spent together. We want to read from a couple of sections of the New Testament if you brought a copy of the Bible with you. One is from John 4 and the other is from Acts 2.

We'll read him in opposite order. So have your finger in John chapter 4 and I'll read first from Acts 2 beginning at verse 41. Then we'll look at the middle of John 4 in a moment. Acts 2 41. So then those who had received his word were baptized and there were added that day about three thousand souls and they were continually devoting themselves to the Apostles teaching and to fellowship to the breaking of bread and to prayer and everyone kept feeling a sense of awe.

Many wonders and signs were taking place through the Apostles. And now from John chapter 4 verse 23 verse 24. But an hour is coming and now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth for such people the Father seeks to be his worshippers. God is spirit and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. Don't miss the closing of that previous verse 23. God seeks our worship. The Father seeks us to be his worshippers. You're listening to insight for living to search the scriptures with Chuck Swindoll be sure to download his searching the scriptures studies by going to insight world org slash studies and now the message from Chuck called worship a commitment not a war part one the little book was entitled the tyranny of the urgent it is a book about the difference between what is urgent and what is important and the urgent is always a tyrannical master loud and demanding and forceful and always pushing for first place in our lives and often gets it I look for this little book in my library this past week and couldn't find it I'd carried it for years until it was torn and tattered to remind myself of its message I may have lost the book but I I I will never forget the message it's a warning urging us not to allow the urgent to crowd out the important they're not the same remember the urgent is tyrannical but the important usually quiet always deep never popular they're not at all the same when our 34th president Dwight D Eisenhower set up his office at the Oval Office to begin his administration he explained to his aides and his executive assistant there were to be only two stacks placed on his desk the first would be a stack of those things with that were urgent and only the extremely urgent the other was to be a stack of the important and only the extremely important he said years later that it was interesting to him how rarely they were one in the same he's right he is right not only is that true and the world in which we live it is certainly true and the church we attend the great temptation is to replace the important with the urgent and when we do of course we emphasize work activity involvement doing producing impressing accomplishing but it leaves us flat it isn't satisfying furthermore it smacks of our secularized world where we work who knows how many people have been turned off longing for the real living God and encountering at their church of secularized substitute it happened to Jean Paul Sartre the well-known French philosopher who did not begin his life hoping to be a philosopher his life became empty and marked by cynicism and he wrote of such with a curled lip came across a statement that might explain why that happened listen to the words of a philosopher who cared nothing about Christ I did not recognize in the fashionable God who was taught me him who was waiting for my soul I needed a creator I was given a big businessman when I read that I wrote in the margin of my book how tragic I've said before and we'll say it again throughout our series on the church the church was never meant to be a house of business the church was never meant to be a structure where business took place but you stick across on top to make it look religious God's house is a house of worship we who are parts of his body are bodies of worship we are never more fulfilled and satisfied than when that worship is pure and clean and consistent how easy it is to replace worship with some weird substitutes Gordon doll writing some years ago put his finger on the issue he wrote most middle-class Americans tend to worship their work to work at their play and to play at their worship as a result their meanings and values are distorted their relationships disintegrate faster than they can keep them in repair and their lifestyles resemble a cast of characters in search of a plot is that a profound statement or what we tend to worship our work work at our play and play at our worship it was never meant to be that way ever Jesus addresses the subject of worship in the fourth chapter of John which I'd like to have you turn for a few moments my mind is on a couple of verses tucked away in the center of the chapter but those verses sit in a context that are helpful to understand in the context we have a Jewish man talking to a Samaritan woman in Samaria two things are scandalous first that a man would talk to a woman in the first century in any sense of dignity and honor which he did and second that a Jew would be found in Samaria of all places no geographical spot was more hated than Samaria by the Jews but here Jesus is standing alongside a woman who has brought her pot to the well to draw water and he in the process tells her of her life she's made a mess of her life the story can be picked up about verse 16 where he said to her go call your husband and come here the woman answered and said I have no husband Jesus said to her you have well said I have no husband for you have had five husbands and the one you whom you now have is is not your husband this you have said truly she suddenly exposed she doesn't even know the man and he tells her the secrets of her life she's struggling with the tyranny of the urgent if you will guilt has wrapped itself around her she's uneasy she's embarrassed she's especially uneasy talking to this Jew in her land and in her uneasiness she decides to sort of shift the subject where she says to him sir I perceive you are a prophet people do funny things when their lives are exposed don't they suddenly she wants to talk about his role he wants to talk about her life she's I perceive you're a prophet indeed he was he is he knew everything about her he knew every thought she had ever had since birth but she doesn't know that so she sees him as a prophet how else would he know these things in fact she goes on to say some religious things our fathers worshiped in this mountain and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship makes me smile when I read that we've just gotten back from the Holy Land and our trip and we heard again from a friend of ours that if if you want a party you go to Tel Aviv if you want to do business you go to Haifa if you want to worship you go to Jerusalem it goes all the way back to the first century she says we're told that if people worship they need to worship in Jerusalem she wants to get off the subject of her life and so he decides he will address worship as a matter of fact there is something amazing about the ancient city of David only there is the Temple Mount when you look across the landscape or I should say the skyscape of the city you can't overlook the Temple Mount the Golden Dome and if you look closer you will see on the western side a wailing wall where Orthodox Jews gather and others as well and there through the day they pray they pray and pray and pray she says we understand that Jerusalem is where you go to worship we believe it's at this mountain now the first thing Jesus clarifies is worship is not connected with a place Jerusalem mountain wherever look at his words in verse 21 woman believe me an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem shall you worship the Father there'll come a time when you'll realize and others will how transcendent worship is worship isn't connected to a place it is the contemplation of God it is being absorbed in him and him alone who is of supreme worth and therefore worthy of our tributing it to him our praise about now her mouth is open I would suspect he goes further you worship that which you do not know he has the audacity to tell her you're not connecting with the living God you worship one whom you do not even know we worship that which we know for salvation is from the Jews that isn't an arrogant statement it's an accurate one trace it all the way back to Abraham and fast forward to the days of Jesus and you will find the line of the Jews is the line of salvation came first to the Jews and through the Jews only by God's grace did it expand to Gentiles like us but it began with them and he speaks the truth so the second thing he clarifies is that worship is not a mystical groping in the dark hoping to reach some deity whoever he or it may be it is a clear definitive conscious connection with the living God you say that sounds pretty narrow you got it it is don't be afraid of the narrowness it isn't politically correct but it is biblically accurate to say the Lord Jesus Christ is the mediator between God and humanity there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind and that is Jesus Christ narrow narrow is the way that leads to salvation it isn't bigoted but it is narrow we're living in a pluralistic era where it doesn't matter what your God is just so you're sincere the great Hebrew word for that it's called hogwash nonsense it does matter in whom you believe it does matter that you're sincere in believing in him but it does matter who the object of your worship is be very clear about that don't let our time sweep you into that kind of heretical thinking don't be afraid of that that's how you came to know the living God that's why you have peace in your heart that's why you're ready to live and also when necessary when it happens ready to die that's why you worship the living God he says to her you worship what you don't even know he's not being ugly he's being accurate people need accurate information told them with compassion in fact he goes on to say an hour is coming and now is when the true worshiper shall worship the Father there it is worship the Father in spirit and in truth but he doesn't stop there for such people that you and me that includes you and me such people the Father seeks to be his worshippers what a great thought God seeks my worship I waken in the morning God seeks my worship I'm living my life through the day God seeks my worship I come to a Saturday afternoon and I'm at work in my yard God seeks my worship in my work I come to Sunday morning and I'm involved in preparing for and delivering his message God seeks my worship in doing so and your life the same whatever the details may be he seeks my worship he wants me to worship him as I drive my car he wants me to worship him as I rear my family he wants me to worship him as I work alongside my wife he wants me to worship him when I am alone or when I'm with others he wants my worship what's my worship so that brings us to the question of what is worship what does he mean when he says the Father seeks worshippers worship comes from the old Anglo-Saxon worth ship w-o-r-t-h ship worth ship the th was dropped in his become worship it means to attribute worth to someone or something more specifically when referring to our God it is attributing supreme worth to him who alone is worthy of it but we worship we do that we do it in silence we do it in our hearts we do it with our words we do it with our songs we do it when we play our instruments we do it corporately we do it individually but we come before him attributing to him supreme worth you see the purpose of the church is to cultivate worshippers it isn't a place to make business contacts it's a place where we learn about our God so that our worship of him it becomes increasingly deeper and more meaningful and understandable God is reachable God's love is pervading our presence and it is there for us to respond to him in our praise and in our our worship when I sing my song I sing for him and when I listen to that song song like I may be for a moment impressed with and grateful for the voice but as I hear the message it makes me worship when one plays the instrument whatever it may be one plays it for the worship of God so it's attributing to him our praise and our gratitude and our expression of worth because he's so worthy why is it so significant I can give it to you in a simple terms because it turns our full attention to the only one worthy of it when you have worship there is something so deeply satisfying and gratifying words cannot describe it I'll give you an example on our journey we paused occasionally often in the evening for our times together as a group here we set 600 or more in number on what occasion at the Sea of Galilee sitting in a large patio area at tables for eight and sitting up front were Stephen Nielsen and Ovid Young on electric pianos we brought and Richard Allen Farmer leading us in worship and I really mean that now it didn't hurt to have a Sea of Galilee nearby it didn't hurt to have a full moon with its reflection off the water but neither the sea nor the moon was what we worshiped fact I closed my eyes and even put turned my back to the sea as I listened to what we were singing and in the words of Wesley I was lost in wonder and love and praise I for a moment forgot there was a full moon forgot that I was in Galilee what was happening I was focused and my thoughts were of him and him alone and I in various ways my mind reflected on how much he means to me and I wanted him to know that I meant every word I was singing one of them was surely the presence of the Lord is in this place that reminds me of Acts chapter 2 if you'll go there with me for a moment you'll see well not a moment but for the next period of time we will get to these verses in 41 through 43 and 4 and you will see a body of people who worship acts 241 comes on the heels of Peter's sermon where he's delivered the gospel what is the gospel I always need to remember to give that clearly it is that Christ died for our sins on the cross he paid the complete penalty for our sins nothing left to be paid by anyone Christ paid it all it means also that when he went to the grave after he died shortly thereafter he was raised from the dead bodily and miraculously and he still lives he died for my sins and the sins of the world and he has been raised victorious over sin and the grave and death by believing in Jesus Christ who died for me and was raised I am born again and so are all who do so Peter has presented the message and we read in verse 41 that they received his word the term means to welcome they heard it they understood it they believed it and we read they were baptized as a result of believing the gospel they were then baptized now imagine it says at the end of the verse there were about 3,000 souls think of the crowd at the Jordan River think of the praise and glory that accompanied that time of sharing a new life and the joy of of these multicultural people coming together some of them not even knowing the language of the others but they all have Christ in common and so they believe they've received the message they've been baptized and there were added that day 3,000 souls so now we have over 3,000 believers in and around the city of Jerusalem and what did they do they worship how do I know they continually devoted themselves if I may play off those words worship is not a half-hearted haphazard activity where with a sort of a shrug I think about religious things no it's a devoting of myself when I prepare my message because I am a worshipper I prepare with devotion I work over words I shape the words so that they fit together in a way that makes sense as best I can I do it through prayer I do it through research I do it with time not to call attention to me but you deserve that more importantly God deserves that because this is an act of worship the delivering of this message and you involved in listening it to it you are involved as well so we are devoting ourselves not half-heartedly but with a full heart to those things that are worthy of our time and attention so they're doing that also to the teaching as I'm going through this passage of Scripture if not literally at least mentally you have your finger on the text of Scripture and you're leaving it there because you are serious about the Word of God that's an act of worship because of the importance of this topic Chuck Swindoll will spend the next several programs talking about worship in our churches he titled his message worship a commitment not a war part one you're listening to insight for living and this nine-part series comes under the banner of the church awakening to learn more about this ministry visit us online at insight world org and then to dig deeper on your own and take notes along the way remember you can access the online resource called searching the scriptures this is a free Bible study tool and we encourage you to interact with Chuck sermon notes online or to print out the PDF and share it with friends this series on the church awakening is perfectly suited for small group discussions with your friends at church it's free when you go to insight org slash studies then as the international news continues to focus on the intense conflicts in Eastern Europe we'll remind you that for many years insight for living has been speaking into this part of the world we've done so through Chuck's Bible teaching translated into languages such as Polish and Romanian these ministries are part of our long-range strategic plan to make disciples for Christ in all 195 countries of the world we call it vision 195 when you give a gift you're helping us provide Chuck's teaching in your own country and a portion is applied to going beyond our borders where clear Bible teaching is desperately needed so thank you for supporting the ministry of insight for living to get your donation today call us if you're listening in the United States call 800-772-8888 one more thing did you know that Chuck has a daily email devotional it's sent to your inbox each morning to help you start your day with God thousands are taking advantage of these daily inspirations that come from some of Chuck's best writing and you can too the email devotional is free to sign up go to insight org slash devotional I'm bill Meyer inviting you to join us when Chuck swindoll continues his message about de-escalating the worship wars in church Friday on insight for living the preceding message worship a commitment not a war part one was copyrighted in 2008 and 2010 and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2010 by Charles R Swindoll Inc all rights are reserved worldwide duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited