Worship for the Soul

“Authentic Revelation”
From the teachings of James MacDonald
 

Revealed As: Worship for the Soul
John 4:24

Worship is the most powerful joy producing hope sustaining life altering thing we can do.  I don’t know where you are today but I hope you can hear this.  Politicians are constantly asserting overstatement.  “I will” or “I promise.”  I want you to know that I am not over stating anything here.  Worship is what it’s all about.  When Jesus said out of the heart the mouth speaks, he was punctuating the absolute centrality of worship at the determinate for every human future.  Pride is the condition of heart that leads to placing worship in the wrong object. Even sometimes in ourselves.  Worship is what God has to displace what pride leads me to; which is sin.  Commandment #1 “You shall have no other God before me.”  The greatest sin is idolatry.  Worship is the highest and most human experience.  Love the lord God first.  Idolatry insulates our hearts from the delight we were created to revel in.  A lot of things come to mind when you hear the word “worship”; like your encounter with God when you see something magnificent, like the Grand Canyon, the stained glass windows in the church, the sound of an organ recital, or a walk in the woods.  I don’t know what comes to your mind, but to talk about this the whole message, let’s make sure we have the right definition.  The Old Testament version means to touch your head to the ground.  In the New Testament, two words describe the action of worship.  One is proskuneo, to kiss the hand. The second word is latreuw, to give or pay homage.  When you worship you are saying this is worth more.  Letting go of what is worth less and embracing what is worth more.  Some people are fond of saying “Worship is more than singing.”  “I can show God worship by the way I cut my grass, by the way I prepare a meal for my family.”  False!  Those acts may be worshipful or like, but this is key.  Worship is not the act of doing things that evoke awareness in God, or even indirectly can ascribe worthiness to him.  Worship is the conscious, direct, specific adoration of someone or something greater than ourselves.  Arch Bishop William Temple quoted, "Worship is the submission of all our nature to

God. It is the quickening of the conscience by His holiness; the nourishment of the mind with His truth; the purifying of the imagination by His beauty; the opening of the heart to His love; the surrender of the will to His purpose and all of this gathered up in adoration, the most selfless emotion of which our nature is capable and therefore the chief remedy for that self-centeredness which is original sin and the source of actual sin.”  When I worship I am taking an ax to the base of the tree that has caused pain and misery in my life.
 

I’m always looking for something fun to do, something to bring humor or joy.  I’m saying this because I’ve had a lot of fun but no extent of it can touch the border of the joy that I’ve experienced in the joy of worship.  I have filled my life with the worship of God and it has produced so much joy and it is hope sustaining.  I know what it is to weep, to face dark nights, where I can’t even think of what to ask God because it seems so far gone, I can’t even think of a way to ask God to resolve it.  But all those things have passed.  People ask how I got through it.  Worship is taking hold of the Lord.  And in worship we find that not only does he alter us, not only does he give us joy, but in the dark times, worship is what sustains our hope.  When problems are big, God is small.  But in worship, when we say magnify the Lord within me, all of a sudden the holiness of the greatness of God begins to eclipse those things, like they will never happen.  So worship is the most powerful joy producing hope sustaining life altering thing we can do.
 

So what does Jesus Christ think of worship? In John 4, the Samaritan woman was a sinful woman and to be avoided. She was so filled with shame and regret. She might have wrongly assumed that worship was for other people, better people, but worship is for everyone. Jesus was talking about the water that satisfies the soul. (Last week’s lesson.) In order to see the Lord fill what is empty in me, to satisfy what is hungry in my soul, I have to be exposed for who I am really am. She perceived he was a profit. In John 4:20 He finally exposes who she really is. Then she wants to have a debate about worship. Talk about jumping across four lanes and going in a different direction. The truth is, we don’t know why. Don’t supply a motive though. She’s of a different faith. How often do people of different faiths get to talk? Whatever her motive was, we can learn a lot.
 

Avoid debate.  In John 4:21 what Christ is saying is it’s not a place, it’s a pattern.  It’s just not worth having the fight.  They devalue people and the Lord.  Instead of debating with her, he decides to instruct her about what her soul really needs.  The biggest debate is the worship debate.  What our soul needs the most is worship.  And when people debate worship, they are hurting peoples capacity.  Let the passionate adoration of God grow and leave the debate at the door.
 

Start with salvation.  He says to her, “You worship what you do not know.”  People say they’re going to figure out God on their own.  Well God wrote a book that told about himself.  We don’t have to go sit somewhere and make up God. I f you want to know about God, turn to “And it is written.”  If you want to have a worship relationship, start with salvation.  People know about him but not him personally.  Do you remember when
you were in science and you would read about a physics formula?  But then there was the day you got out of the text book and went into the laboratory and did something.  And you could see the light going on in everyone’s mind saying, “I get it!”  That’s what salvation is.  It’s when you move from text book information about God to I know.  It begins with removing the barrier of sin.  We’ve all fallen short.  The wages of sin is death, both physical and eternal.  The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, the gift of eternal salvation.  God’s wrath was poured out on the death of Jesus Christ.  Salvation is when I turn from my sin and place my faith on Jesus Christ for my forgiveness.  You have to make it personal and know that you have it.  Everyone that is saved has a story.  Here is James’s story.  He remembers his Grandfather.  He was 7 and went to church on Sunday night, remembers the message his Grandfather preached and says to his Dad that he wanted to go down front.  His Dad said no, we are going home.  His Dad didn’t know what he meant.  So when James got home from church he ran in and took off his church clothes and threw them on the floor.  He walked to the kitchen and he asked why they didn’t want him to be saved.  His Mom took him into her bedroom, opened her Bible, kneeled down by the bed and showed him this verse and told him Jesus died for him and his sins could be forgiven.  So he turned from his sins and he embraced Christ by faith for his forgiveness.  That little moment he was 7.  It started then and he tried to get away from the Lord, but the Lord would not let go of him.
You’ve got to avoid debate.  If you don’t have strong convictions about what matters in worship, you’re going to get your train jerked off the right tracks every time someone shows up with their preferences or no preferences at all.  Avoid debate and start with salvation.  If someone doesn’t even know the Lord yet, then you REALLY can’t have the debate.  If you can’t come into a temporary relationship with a human being that allows for many years of your life till you go to heaven.  Then what makes you think you can come into an eternal relationship with God of the universe without knowing him.  What is your story?
 

Enter in fully.  He says the hour is coming and the time is near when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking people who truly worship him.  God wants true worshipers.  Truth matters, but it is spirit and truth.  It’s not just head, it’s heart.  It’s not just mind, it’s soul and strength.  It’s whole being adoration.  It’s vertical.  We sing about the Lord but not to him.  He’s leaning in listing.  It’s simple.  The songs sing holy, holy, holy is the Lord.  If the songs are simple it makes them easier to become emotive.  We should feel what we are saying.  Don’t just say I love you without feeling it.  Direct that love to the person you are saying it to.  Enter in fully.  When Jesus says to the Samaritan woman God is spirit, and those who worship do in spirit and truth.  And she says to him she knows the messiah is coming, he will tell us all things.  He said I am him.  

 

The final point in worship should be clear to us.  Worship should absolutely and categorically avoid debate, start with salvation, enter fully, and focus on Jesus Christ.  When James sits down at the piano he plays the same song every time, now for 20 years.  (Here is a link if you want to hear the song… http://youtu.be/DobvWwqTYhw)  The song was written by a man who founded what became known as the Vineyard Movement.  They would have a lot of doctrinal differences but a lot in common in what is preached in the church today.  One of the things we would have in common with them was a commitment to a passionate heartfelt worship. John Wimber was his name.  He was not only a preacher but a gifted song writer.  Spirit song is the name of the song.  The reason James plays this song is because it has become a symbol of what he desperately needs.  All of the things we do can become a barrier in the heart of a worshiper.  And when we worship we say this is worth nothing and you are worth everything.  The song is very tender of our dependence upon the Lord.  People who turn, run, receive or depend on the Lord are depicted as a child of innocence.  Jesus is like a Shepard and we are like a lamb.  In the song, Wimber says, “Oh let the Son of God enfold you with his spirit and his love.  Let him fill your heart and satisfy your soul.  Let him have the things that hold you and his spirit like a dove will descend upon your life and make you whole.”  The chorus “Jesus oh Jesus, come and fill your lambs.”  What a humble thing to say to the Lord.
 

 

Prayer: “Father, I pray that our worship today would be honoring to you.  I pray today that our worship would come from tender and humbled hearts.  Thank you that in drawing near in worship you welcome us.  Thank you that we are wrapped in the robe of Christ’s righteousness through faith in him and that we are welcomed into your holy presence.  Help us to come as the little children and hungry lambs that we are.  And as we sing a song of love to you, may we sense you drawing near to us, even as we draw near to you.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.