Worship
Course: The Higher Calling
to Worship
Lesson 5
Lesson Title: Going up to worship
Lesson Goal: …that the student will understand a worshipper must go up to worship.
Text: Acts 24:11, '…there are yet but twelve days since I went
up to
Introduction: A characteristic of worship is that we must go up to worship.
Matthew
· The prodigal son arose to go to his father, Luke 15: 18 'I will arise…'
· The sinner is lifted from the depths of sin to the heights of worship,
Psalm 113:7-8
Introductory illustration:
Going up to worship at
·
· Even in worship there are higher realms in worship. Worshippers should seek to go up to higher levels of worship. The height of our worship is dependent upon the depth of our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.
Christians have a choice in the trial to go up to worship or go down to worldliness.
·
To go down to the Dead Sea
which means going down to worry and anxiety or finding a means of escape. The world uses alcohol or drugs, cigarettes,
movies, soaps novels to escape from the problems of life, or just the mundane
routine of everyday life. A Christian
who goes down to the
· To go up to worship takes discipline. It takes a disciplined mind and determination to follow Christ. The Christian must have one desire to worship the Lord. The difficulty of the trial provides a great opportunity to worship.
Exposition:
The prerequisites for worship. We must approach God in a right manner. Worship must begin with a longing for God
1. Obedience is a requirement of worship.
· We must be willing to obey the Lord's commandments, (John 14:15). Walking in truth means obeying His word. What was His commandment? (John 13:34) The Old Testament commanded, 'love your neighbour' (Leviticus 19:18). The new commandment is 'as I have loved you'.
Personal Testimony: How do we put this love into practice? Love is to be the standard, by which we serve each other, (Galatians 5:13).
Illustration: Church with a large congregation - fellowship missing. We need to obey the Lord's command to love as He loved. Blessing associated with obedience, (Acts 5:32)
·
Walk in love as an act of
worship, Ephesians
5:2 And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us, and has
given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling
savour.
·
Jesus offered Himself as an offering. The work of Jesus on the cross was firstly an
act of worship to the Father. The Son of
God became a worshipper to redeem a people for worship.
2. Another requirement for worship is holiness.
· Holiness is required for worship - worshipping the Lord in the Holy Spirit is worshipping God in the beauty of holiness, (Psalms 29:2)
· We need to worship with the fruit of the Holy Spirit. We cannot worship with morality or legalism. Self-righteousness has no place in worship
· True worship is entirely the work of God in the life of the believer. The worshipper presents Christ to the Father every time he or she worships. The worshipper rejoices because 'hid with Christ in God'. (Colossians 3:1-4)
· Worshippers seek to glorify the Lord with every thought, action, and word.
3. We must worship with godly fear and reverence. (Hebrews 12:28)
· Godly fear and reverence is recognising the nature and character of God. There is no fear of judgement because of the blood (1 John1:7),
· We can come boldly into His presence (Hebrews 4:16). It is a holy fear that draws us to worship in a right manner, (Proverbs 18:10)
· The fear of the Lord was upon the believers, (Acts 5:11-14). The anointing of God will also bring chastisement (Leviticus 10:1-3)
· We can only approach the Father because we are accepted in His beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Conclusion:
We must always go up to worship.
1. We must worship in obedience to the word of God, approaching the Lord in truth.
2. We must worship in the beauty of holiness bringing the offering of the fruit of the Spirit.
3. We must come with holy fear and reverence. It is the fear of the Lord that causes the worshipper to draw near to Him.
Textbook
- The Higher Calling to Worship