Everyone has been created and designed to live a lifestyle of worship.
We are wired for eternity and to know God.
*“Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.” *
( Westminster Catechism 1646 )
Worship is: To magnify, to make big, to humble one’s self and exalt another.
1. Learn how to worship on God’s terms and not ours.
Perspective: Christianity is not another consumer product that we grade and judge based on our preferences.
Worship is not about us, or for us. It’s about magnifying who God is.
We mature in our ability to love people by paying attention to what they’re into and doing those things with them.
2. God is a person who has feelings, desires and preferences.
Christian worship is the practice of getting to know who God is. He wants to be known for who He is. This is why he gave us the Bible.
Mark 12:29-30 -
Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’
God wants us to love Him with our whole heart, soul, mind and strength, just as he loves us with everything that He is.
One way of praise that we can use to speak God’s love language: Lifting our hands.
Hand (Yad) - Hebrew word for praise is Yadah - the lifting of hands as an act of worship.
To extend or throw up the hands as an act of praise.
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Psalm 9:1 -
I will give thanks (yada) to the Lord with my whole heart; I will recount all of your wonderful deeds.
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Psalm 28:7 -
The Lord is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks (yada) to him.
1 Timothy 2:8 -
*I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling;
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The Psalms were the instruction manual for worship in the New Testament church.
Psalm 141:2 -
Let my prayer be counted as incense before you, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice!
The heart of God wasn’t in the bulls and goats being offered, it was a desire to have our hearts.
Hebrews 13:15 -
Through him (Jesus) then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name.
It’s called a sacrifice of praise because sometimes we don’t FEEL like it.
We are priests! Made for nearness to God, and made to minister to His heart.
1 Peter 2:5 -
*You yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
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3. Don’t bring your hands without your heart.
*Psalm 57:7-11 -
My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast!
I will sing and make melody! Awake, my glory! (my whole being)
Awake, O harp and lyre! I will awake the dawn!
I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples;
I will sing praises to you among the nations.
For your steadfast love is great to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds.
Be exalted, O God, above the heavens!
Let your glory be over all the earth!*
Usually the Bible talks about God’s glory, but here, David is talking about his glory.
“Wake up inner man! I will wake up my whole self!
Glory (Kabod in Hebrew) - Weight; what you bring with you; when I’m fully leaned in.
It’s the gift of presence.
When I give my Yad with Kabod, I get God with Kabod.
James 4:8 -
Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.
Every acceptable sacrifice has a divine response. When you bring your weight, God will respond with His.
Discussion Questions:
1- What do you think of the statement, “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and enjoy Him forever.”
2- What are some ways you have allowed your own preferences in worship to get in the way of what God prefers?
3-God desires that we love him with the entirety of our heart, soul, mind and strength. Which of these areas are easy for you to worship Him with? Which areas seem more difficult?
4- God has given all of us glory, or weight. What are areas of gifting, talent, or skill that God has given you that you can “bring to the table” in your worship to Him?
5- What are some ways you can prepare yourself to come into corporate worship experiences being fully present and fully engaged?
6- What are some ways you can learn to lean in with your full heart in private worship settings?