Worship, New and True

We've been in the last number of weeks now pursuing a course that the Holy Spirit launched us on. On the subject of praise and worship, maturing in worship, We're not really sure. I can't get a feel for how comfortable you are in terms of the heat. Some people are shivering and some are fanning and we're, we're going to try to get this thing down. And if you get hot, then we'll trust the Lord will kick it back on. But we're having a little trouble keeping that thing regulated. John, chapter four. Since we've read the passage twice, if perhaps you're visiting, and I must say, ordinarily by this point grant we've extended three or four welcomes and so forth. We just forgot to do that today officially. But I trust that you sense the welcoming, accepting love of the Holy Spirit in this place. And if you need someone to tell you that face to face, we'll get that done before we leave, so. So count on that. Also, I've seen a lot of college students back and I want to say to you, praise the Lord. And the weekend that you'll be home for Thanksgiving, we have a very special time planned with a man by the name of David Smith, who has worked with World Evangelization Crusade and has an exciting and I think very challenging, not only testimony, but presentation about the heart of God in missions. And the whole community is going to be involved in that. But we're doing it over that weekend specifically for you college young people to come back and have something significant to do besides watch the football games. John, chapter four. Let's just pick it up in verse 21 so that we can move along. Jesus said to her, woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know. We worship what we know. For salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming. And now is when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. For such the Father seeks to worship him. Hallelujah. God is Spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth. How many of you know it's not enough to be sincere? That's true when it comes to your salvation. It's also true when it comes to worshiping the Lord. It's not enough to be sincere. Last July, following one of our Friday night community gatherings, Blaine and Linda Stone and 15 or so young people jumped in the van and headed down toward Myrtle beach. And they went down Interstate 79. And somewhere along the way, in the middle of the night, Blaine headed off toward Kentucky. He sincerely thought he was on the right road, But he was sincerely wrong. Beloved, there's a lot of people when it comes to the things of God that are very sincere but don't have the truth. And today I believe the Lord is going to uncover a lot of things. I know in my heart as I was in the Word this week, and I want to say the Lord fed me this week in the Word and I want to thank you. I want you to receive thanksgiving from me for your opportunity, giving me the opportunity to be in the Word. And I come forth from a week of studying the Word and being with the Lord. And I can't wait to share this because I know it's going to bring liberation into some of your hearts because it's doing it in mine. I just thank you for supplying the resources financially and enabling me to do what the Lord has called me to do. It's a blessing. John, chapter four. Jesus said true worshipers will worship him in spirit and in truth. When he uses the term true, it says to me that there's something just the opposite that can take place, that there's false worship going on. The word true in the Greek really has two shades of meaning. One is true as opposed to false, and one is true as opposed to incomplete or full as opposed to incomplete. And as we look around, it doesn't take much searching today to recognize that there's a lot of false and a lot of incomplete worship taking place. Jesus had a lot to say to the Pharisees and the scribes when he said to them, in vain does this people worship me, for they treat as law the precepts of men. You see, in all around us today, people are erecting things, their forms of worship, their way of doing it. And I believe that much of it is in vain. There's more to learning to worship the Lord than having something right for Sunday morning, brothers and sisters, and we're going to talk about this a little bit later. But I want to say to you that worship is the fundamental and I believe resolutely most important thing in your relationship with God. Because if you're not worshiping the Lord as he desires to be worshiped, then you're not functioning in what you were created to be and to do. Isaiah 43:7. I'm memorizing that this week because I'm seeing the truth of says that you were created for his glory and that we give him glory. To the praise and worship of Our hearts. As I said, Revelation, we looked at that and we saw how that heaven is a very noisy and rowdy place because people are praising the Lord and that's where we're going. But all through the Scriptures, there's a lot more to worship than just knowing how to give God praise. It has a lot to do with what happens in your life. Turn to Genesis chapter four and keep your thumb or one of your fingers and for. So you can get back there all the way back to Genesis chapter four. And I believe that this is the very first illustration in the whole Bible about an act of worship. And this really taught me something this week. Genesis chapter four, beginning in verse three, in the course of time, Cain brought to the Lord an offering. One of the future weeks, we're going to talk about the fact that worship always involves an offering. An offering of the fruit of the ground. And Abel brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering, he had no regard. And there we see all the way back in the time of the second generation of people, there was false worship. God had no regard for the offering of Cain. And the Lord said to Cain, why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? As if I sense it. I don't know about you, but I hear him singing there. He understands what's happening. The Lord is saying to Cain, what's the problem? As if the Lord doesn't know what the problem is. If you do well, will you not be accepted? So clearly it wasn't just capricious sentiment on the Lord's part, saying, I don't like yours, Cain, but I like. He's saying, you didn't do well. And it's not my purpose to really get into this passage to talk about the difference in their offerings. But look, and if you do not do well, if your sacrifice isn't acceptable, if your worship doesn't reach me, sin is couching at the door. It's desirous for you, but you must master it. You see, I think fundamental to coming to the Lord and seeing worship as an important part of your life is that sin is couching at the door and that it's very easy for us brothers and sisters if we're not in love with the Lord and flowing in love with his heart for sin to couch at our door and to come in and to rob us of the joy and the peace and the life that Jesus intends. All the way back in the very first offering that was ever offered. Isn't that something? And so there's a blessing to be had in true worship. There's also incomplete worship. Also incomplete worship. Worship that doesn't really. And the Greek would indicate it's not fully realized. Don't turn to 1 Kings 11. But you want to note that the Bible says there that Solomon's heart was not wholly true to the Lord. A little part of him that he hadn't quite really given over. And most people, as they study the Word, seem to feel that that was true of Solomon because he tampered around with concubines and wives that weren't of the. The Jewish line. And he polluted himself. And there's the application to us. We tamper around with all kinds of things that are not of the Lord. And we wonder why our heart isn't wholly his. Entirely his. So what is true worship? How do we truly worship the Lord? Well, I want to suggest here four things that I see in John 4 again, true worship. Verse 23. The hour is coming. And now is the very first thing that you've got to see is now is the time. It doesn't matter. I want to take off any conceivable guilt trip on anybody here who's struggling in their mind to be a committed Christian, but finds themselves continuing to fall. And they say something like, well, I can't really come into this kind of worship because I'm not really purified yet. And the longer you convince yourself that that's true, the longer you'll be distant from the Lord, because the things that God's provided for you to get to the Lord's perfection in your life, you've got to be functioning in now. Now is the time. The Lord Jesus, in saying to this woman who had come up in the Samaritan tradition, we can't go over that. But it's. And the tapes, if you missed them, he's saying to her that all the forms and all the limitations that you had about worshiping on this mountain or in this temple or whatever he said is gone, because the tabernacle of God is now with men. John 1:14. The Bible says Jesus came and dwelt. And the word there in the Greek is literally tabernacled with man, full of grace and truth. And so he's saying, it's not in this place or that place. It's now because I'm here. Now is the time. Here is the place. In me is true worship. When it comes to prophecy in the Bible, look at verse 25. The woman said to him, I know that the Messiah is coming. He was called the Christ, and when he comes, he will show us all things. How many of you are looking forward to God fulfilling something in your life? How many of you are looking forward to the Messiah coming in your life? Some of you aren't too sure. Brothers and sisters, now is the time. Do you see that? Now is the time. Many of the unfulfilled things in your heart that you're waiting for the Rapture to come and complete in you. Now is the time. It's not just a matter of worshiping. It's a matter of much of what God speaks. It's prophetic fulfillment. I don't mean that all of revelation will happen in your life before revelation happens, but I mean that in Jesus Christ, all the promises of God are yea and Amen. 2nd Corinthians 1:21. And so what so many dangle out there is the hope of, like they used to say to the slaves back in the 1800s, and the sweet by and by, the sweet by and by for many of us is just a lie because it's robbing us from what God wants us to have. Now fulfillment. Now. Now is the time. But also when he says that, I believe that there's another important truth. Now is the time to me says not just Sunday morning. And I don't want anyone to misconstrue what we're saying here about worship in these weeks to be something that defines only what happens here at Northway Christian Community, because we have the niftiest worship this side of the Allegheny. Well, that isn't it at all. And you'll miss it if you think that what we're talking about is just how we're going to work when we're here together. We're talking about you learning how to worship the Lord right where you are, you getting alone with him, you being in his presence, knowing his heart. And that when we come together, it's simply the overflow of people who have been out there enjoying his presence all week. And we come together and I don't know much, we're still struggling along here. These are baby steps, beloved. I believe that. I'm not complaining. I mean, I love it as you do, but they're baby steps. The Lord is taking us on, and now is the time. So wherever you are, tomorrow morning is the time tomorrow evening when you come home and you meet your wife after a long day, that's the time to worship the Lord in spirit and see that praise The Lord. Now, who does he say we're to worship? Now is the time to worship the Father in spirit and in truth. First of all, this says to me that worship is personal. Worship is. We're worshiping a personal God. Worship the Father in spirit and in truth. In Acts 17:23. Just flip a couple pages over there and look at that. You may want to look back at this later, but it says, Beginning pick it up at Paul's quotation in verse 22, Men of Athens. I perceive that in every way you are very religious. Here's another good illustration of this sincerity trip. Right? You're very religious. For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription to an unknown God. What therefore you worship is unknown. This I proclaim to you. And he goes on to tell them about Jesus. You see, Worship. We don't worship a God that we don't know. And I taught this was the subject of all last week's teaching. We worship a God that we know. He's a personal God. He's our Father. But we also keep this in mind to this woman when she thought of God. And to the Jews of the day when they thought of God. They had in mind simply and strictly the idea that came forth from Moses and Sinai. Remember that? That's when Moses went to the base of the mountain and the clouds and the pillars of smoke were coming up. And I just. I have to read it to you. The people were in fear. And it says this in Exodus, chapter 20, if you want to jot it down. And it was well, the mountain smoked, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood afar off. The people perceived the thunderings and the lightnings and all the sounds of the trumpet. And they said to Moses, you speak to us and we will hear, but let not God speak to us, lest we die. And Moses said to the people, do not fear, for God has come to prove you, and that the fear of him may be before your eyes, that you may not see. And the people stood afar off while Moses drew near to the thick darkness of where God was. You see, beloved, in the old covenant, worship was that which was done according to the strict pattern and form to a God that was majestic, terrible, awesome, powerful. And Jesus comes and says, we worship the Father, a personal God, because he's been revealed to us through the Son. Jesus says the spirit in you, says Abba, Father, all the intimacy in that word is tied up. Nearness and tenderness and love and compassion and caring. All of it in Creation, we see God revealed as powerful and almighty. In the law, we see him revealed as holy and righteous. And in Jesus we see him revealed as our Father. And that's how we come to love him in worship. The people of Moses Day didn't have the freedom of that understanding or that relationship. And that sets me free. And I don't know about you, but it gets me excited to think that God has so infinitely provided for us to love him in that fashion. Worship the Father in spirit and in truth. What does it mean now? Third point, to worship in the spirit. It was about 10 or 12 years ago now that I was with a group of friends and I spent a summer in England and had a job in a record player factory doing a little manual labor kind of thing. And had a lot of freedom to do what we wanted to do on evenings and weekends. And one Sunday we mustered up enough courage to go to a church. And I don't know, we have a couple of people who lived in Europe. But the poverty of the spiritual situation in Europe is really incredible. I understand that there are some stirrings now, but we sat in this cathedral outside of London. It was beautiful cathedral, and there were huge pillars and beautifully sculptured things all around in the stained glass. And we sat down, I expect Maybe there were 60 people in this huge cathedral. And it was absolutely. And I mean, it was the epitome of what it means to be in a dead church. I mean, it was dead dead. And I knew right then that that wasn't worshiping in the Spirit. About 10 years later, I guess it was eight years later at Jesus 70, whatever, six or seven, I can't remember which one. 50,000 people standing and praising God and rejoicing and shouting and waves of this and waves of that and hallelujah is there. And I said, this must be what it is to worship the Lord in spirit. Now let me say this, that both in spirit and in truth have two sides to them. Man's side and God's side. It really is very revealing to me to realize. If you look carefully at this word in your Bibles, is it a capital S or a small S? It's a small S. It's not. Bring your Bible up here afterwards and we'll correct it. In spirit is a small square. And it's talking about. The Greek word. By the way, this doesn't help you any. But the Greek word for spirit is the same for man and God. So really, if you want to know the truth, grammatically, it doesn't really help you. That Much. See, the person who interpreted or translated the scripture, the determined here that this was referring to the pneuma of man or the spirit of man. And what this is essentially getting down to saying is that worship is no longer an external thing, but it is an inner thing. It's a spirit thing. It's based on the dynamic of relationship with God. And so you see, it's not either the empty, cold tabernacle of Northeast London or the big grazing field with thousands upon thousands of people singing together. Worshiping the spirit in the spirit is an internal thing. And that's what it ends up being all the time, isn't it, beloved? Anyhow, it's in the heart. I find it really exciting to me to recognize that when it says in the Spirit, the Bible many, many times correlates spirit and heart. Turn to Ezekiel 36 and look at verse 26, Ezekiel 36, 26. It's all a matter of the heart. The Lord speaks to Ezekiel and he says, a new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you, and I will take out of your flesh the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And you see, there it is, the spirit and the heart. God is making the transformation. And so when he's talking about worshiping in the spirit, he's talking about this thrilling, exciting reality of worshiping God in the inner man. It's no longer an external thing. It's not the altars, the sacrifice and all the rituals. It's something that's happening on the inside. It's love poured forth from a heart at rest with its creator. Remember that last week? Love poured forth from a heart at rest with its creator. That's worship, and it can happen anywhere. Now I can think along with some of you, well, does that mean it can happen any way I want it to happen? Doesn't that mean it can happen on the bus, it can happen in the car? The same things you hear about prayer. Does it mean I can worship in my own way? If it's. If it's not a matter of externals, it's a matter of the heart. Isn't that what you just said? Well, it seemed to me the best thing to do to find out what true worship from the heart is is to find a man in the Scriptures who had a heart after God. Who is that? Just in case you're not sure, look at Acts 13:22. Here. Paul says when he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king, of whom he testified and said, this is God speaking. I have found in David, the son of Jesse, a man after my heart who will do all of my work. First Kings, chapter 9, verse 4 says the very same thing. And how did David worship the Lord beloved? Extravagantly. He loved him. He went after God. And David wrote the psalms that we read and sing about. I will enter his gates with thanksgiving in my heart and enter his courts with praise. O sing unto the Lord a new song. Declare his marvelous works in the midst of his sanctuary. Clap your hands, all you people, shout unto the Lord with a voice of triumph. O worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. David danced before the Lord and made merry as he brought the ark of the covenant in. So man whose heart was right before the Lord worshiped him in liberty and in expression. I believe that the Lord is moving us into that same thing. David's heart, beloved, was not a perfect heart. Don't ever think that you have to have a perfect heart to worship the Lord acceptably. You just have to have a clean heart, one that acts in integrity. Psalm 51 After David's terrible sin with Bathsheba and her husband Uriah, where he had adultery with her and murdered him, in any culture, in any time in history, the most heinous of sin. And yet God could say, a man after my own heart. Why are there any of you here today who have sinned more grievously than that? And yet God could say, amen after my own heart. Why? Because his sin broke his heart. And a heart of integrity is one that's willing to say about itself what God says. Lord, I have failed you. Search me, O God, and know my ways, and see if there be any wicked thing within me. And so wherever you are today, you see whether you're a young person and this is brand new to you, or you're an old person, as it were, and God's teaching you some new things you can say to the Lord. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, O Lord, and take not your Holy Spirit. You see in a heart of integrity, realizes where it is, confesses it before God is broken, and humble and contrite about it and moves on from it. And that's all it takes. But there's a God side of this worship and spirit. That's the man's side, God's side. I believe when it says here to worship the Lord in spirit and truth is talking about the enablement of the Holy Spirit. God is Spirit, the Next verse says, right, look at Ephesians 5 to see what happens when the Holy Spirit leads worship. Ephesians, chapter five. I know we're doing a lot of Bible jumping, and if you don't have a Bible, it's hard to jump. We try to make Bibles available to you on the way in, and next week you can remember to pick one up. And if you need one for your own study, by the way, let me say this, some of you may have some financial problems and you need a Bible. We'd be delighted to give you a Bible and get you on your way in your own study. Or maybe you have a Bible that you don't understand. What good is it? We'll get you a Bible that you can understand and study and learn on your own. Ephesians 5:18. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery. But be filled with the Spirit. Addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, Philip says, singing among yourselves psalms and hymns and spiritual songs unto the Lord, singing and making melody to the Lord with all your heart, always and for everything, giving thanks to the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to God our Father. That's what happens when you're spirit filled. Psalms, hymns, spiritual. You see, I walked out of my office last night thinking, you know, Lord, this is just so all tied together. I mean, it all fits together because when you're worshiping in spirit, it comes out when the Holy Spirit fills you. You can't help but worship the Lord appropriately. And if it's a struggle for you to do that, then maybe the first thing you need to look at after you examine your heart before the Lord, is to say, lord, I need to be filled with your Holy Spirit. What was the very first. Well, in fact, what was the interpretation of the tongues that fell on the men in Acts chapter two after they were baptized in the spirit? What was the very first thing that the people said about what? True, but how did they interpret the tongue? What did they say they were doing? Glorifying God. In my language, there were tongues of worship. It's interesting that drunk and worship come together more than once. Well, you see, there's a reason for that because there's a freedom and a liberty. And I venture to say if some people walked in here at some point in our worship times, figuring, well, this is a restaurant and all, some of these people look pretty tipsy, Hallelujah, the Lord is working. And so that's what worshiping in spirit means. It means from deep inside the heart with a heart of integrity by the enablement of the spirit of God. That's what it means to worship in spirit. But what about truth? What about truth on man's side? Truth means to be literally. It's interesting that one of the translations of the word is to be sincere. A Latin translation of this word means sincere, Lord. Sincere breaks down twofold sen sere, which means without wax. Without wax. And I may have used this illustration before. I know I did it with the leaders one day. But it's worth saying again that in that culture, when potters would make vases and so on, if it should crack for one reason or another, in order to not have a total loss, they would take wax and stuff it in the cracks and then paint over it so you couldn't see it. But the minute you put something hot inside the container, what would happen? Obviously, the wax would melt and stuff would leak out. And so in the marketplace, it was very common to see people lifting up pottery and holding it up to the sun and saying, this is sincere. Without wax. You see, that's what God wants to do with our hearts. To worship in truth means that he lifts us up to the light of his word and says.