How Do We Worship?

How Do We Worship?

Luke 19:45-48

-Today, we see Jesus being corrective of some human tendencies

-In life we have the tendency to start thinking or living a certain way that does not align with truth & the result can be devastating, if it is not corrected.

-Sometimes we develop thoughts and philosophies that do not line up with truth.

-May we take an introspective look at our own thinking and actions to see if they line up with what God says we should think/do.

What was I created to do in life? 

-John 4:23-24 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

-Romans 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service (to God—worship).

-Hebrews 13:15 By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.

-Ephesians 5:19 Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the LORD;

-Psalm 95:1-7a O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms. For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods. In his hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is his also. The sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land. O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker. For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand…

-When Jesus used the word “worship” in John 4, He was using the Greek work “proskuneo” – lit. to kiss the hand toward one in reverence

-Worship is a way of life…not simply something done in a church service.

As believers, we live to worship and worship as we live. Anything less is totally outside of God’s design for us.

*Religious Actions do not equate to God-intended Appropriateness (Luke 19:45)

–When Jesus entered the temple courts, he began to drive out those who were selling.

-Jesus showed great displeasure in this perversion of what God had designed!

-Referring to to the parallel of this passage in Mark 11:15-19:

-Notice there are 4 examples of…

A. Irreverence (Mark 11:15-16)

-“And they come to Jerusalem: and Jesus went into the temple, and began to cast out:”…

1. (15) “them that sold and bought in the temple,” – the understanding here is that the people who had come to worship and offer sacrifices to God found it more convenient to buy what they needed for sacrifice there at the temple instead of lugging it along on the long journey.

-God’s house is not a place for financial gain or even convenience.

     -It’s a place of prayer – “prayer” is the means of communication used to interact with God

-They apparently saw the temple more as a place of routine and convenience than as a place to interact with God.

2. (15) “and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers,” – problem: the moneychangers were making a profit on it. 

-God’s house is a place of interacting with Him, not a place for making a profit.

3. “and the seats of them that sold doves;” — doves were used for sacrifice by those who could not afford the larger animals.

-Again, selling goods w/in the temple was irreverence for God!

4. (16) “And would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple.” – many were using this outside court of the temple as a short-cut from one part of the city to another.

-That’s not reverence & worshipping God…that’s selfish gain through convenience!

-Application for today: God does not exist for our own gain/convenience…true worship is given to God alone without idolatrous distraction of money or anything else.

-May we each search our own hearts to see if there’s been an irreverence in out heart despite the appearance we’ve been putting on as a “good Christian.”

B. Intention (Mark 11:17)

-“And he taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? but ye have made it a den of thieves.”

-Jesus quotes Isaiah and Jeremiah and points out that God’s intentions for the Temple were for it to be a place of prayer and access to Him, not a place where selfishness had a refuge!

-We’ve become very good at taking something God intended for good and perverting it into something God never intended!

-i.e. sexual relationships, entertainment, worship practices, wealth and success, authority, freedom…all of these are great in God’s intended use, but when we add our own ideas and sinful approaches to them, we go down roads that God never intended.

-A Bible-based approach to worship is the solution to idols of the heart that creep in.

-Perhaps there’s something in your own heart/life that started off great, but has become something God never intended.

-Jesus’s purpose that day was to cleanse the temple and bring it back to God’s intended use.

-Let God bring you to a place of renewed worship as He intended for your every next step.

C. Indignation (Mark 11:18-19)

-“And the scribes and chief priests heard it, and sought how they might destroy him: for they feared him, because all the people was astonished at his doctrine.  And when even was come, he went out of the city.”

-This correction by Jesus was a direct opposition to the selfish interests of the Jewish leaders.

-They had become more concerned with padding their pockets than with worshipping their God!

-They had become bitter instead of worshipful!  Worship was replaced!

-Bottom line: Just because we do something in the name of God does not mean it is really OF God!

1. Does your appearance indicate what’s really going on in your heart or is it a façade?

2. Is what you do in the name of Christianity appropriately lined up with the truth of God’s Word?

3. Is your assurance in life placed in God alone or in your own ability?