What is Worship? Part VI
Psalm 50; Hebrews 1:6; 13:15-16
Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise¾the fruit of lips that confess his name. And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased. Hebrews 13:15-16
Our offerings today are not about dragging our livestock or pets to be sacrificed. Jesus was our sacrifice. So then, what do we bring? We bring ourselves! We bring a heart that desires Him, a will that is surrendered to Him, and a life that is dedicated to Him. Our sacrifice today is what flows from our heart, our love and adoration of our Lord. We are to be so full of love for our Lord that it flows to those around us. Our praise, as drawn from this text, is a peace offering of thanksgiving. This means our Lord wants us to be devoted to Him with our whole being, all the time and in all that we do.
There should be no circumstance we could ever face where praise does not flow from our lips. Our praise is to acknowledge Christ alone, by faith alone, and by His grace alone. There should be nothing from us but that faith. What we have to sacrifice is our person, ability, and availability to His purpose. When we first give ourselves, everything else will be easy because pride and hoarding will be eliminated as well as materialism. We can sacrifice our wallets and purses to His service. Time, talents, and treasures should flow willingly from us to Him in service with joy and gladness. This involves our intellect in knowing Him as well as our emotions in praising Him.
The biggest praise is what flows from our lips. The thanksgiving for His saving grace should flow with passion and conviction. The primary testimony that we are effectively praising God is the result our praise has on our friends, family, and neighbors. When we are in a healthy relationship of praise, the church reaps benefits of health and vitality. This beckons to the world who our Lord is and what He does. This is the sacrifice of praise because it distracts from our ego and self and points toward His presence. True praise places our focus on our Lord and helps remove us from our sin and selfish nature.
Read Psalm 50
- What gets in the way of your heart drawing closer to Christ?
- What do you bring to worship? From your Heart? From your Will? From your Ideas and Agendas?
- What do you wish your church world do about the worship services? How does that line up with Scripture?
- What can you do to make your worship experiences more heartfelt, enjoyable and impacting?
- What can you do to make sure when you praise God you are being God-centered and not self-centered?
- How do you bring a heart that desires Christ? How can you do so better?
- What does it mean to have a will that is surrendered to God, and a life that is dedicated to Him? How does worship help?
- What does adoration of our Lord mean to you? How have you practiced it? How will you practice it from now on?
- How an you be so full of love for our Lord that it flows to those around you?
- How do you feel that our Lord wants you to be devoted to Him with your whole being, all the time and in all you do? How have you done so in the past? How can you do so?
- What do you need to sacrifice to be closer to God? What is in His way of your worship experience? What needs to change in your person, ability, and availability to be more lined up to His purpose?
- How has pride and hoarding get in the way of your worship? What needs to be eliminated in your life such as over materialism so you can have more of a heart that is after God's?
- The biggest praise is what flows from your lips is? What can it be?
- How can you develop a relationship of praise to our Lord? How can your church be of help? How would this benefit your church? How would you reap its benefits of health and vitality?
- What would happen if your church decided that worshiping God is to be as they saw fit and thus forgetting how God wants to be honored?
Principle Passages on Worship: Deuteronomy 6:4-9; Psalm 50; Psalm 65:13; 79:13; 95:6-7; 100; 150; Matthew 4:10; 2:2,11; 14:33; John 4:23; 9:35-38; Colossians 2:9; Hebrews 1:6; Revelation 4