Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

In his book ‘Call to Worship’ ABA author Robert Ashcraft declares that ‘Our prime reason for attendance at the house of God should be to worship and glorify God,

to show our love, our devotion, our honor, and our respect to Him, His work, and His Word.

Therefore, our singing, our prayers, our giving, and our presence should be primarily for His worship and praise.

Of the many things a New Testament church can do to bring glory to God, suggests that it is worship that brings the most glory to God.”

Of the many things a New Testament church can do to bring glory to God, suggests that it is worship that brings the most glory to God.”

Of the many things a New Testament church can do to bring glory to God, suggests that it is worship that brings the most glory to God.”

And yet, because many believers are ‘woefully ignorant’ of what it really means to worship God - many churches are ‘woefully deprived’ of the blessings that rich, rewarding corporate (communal) church worship can provide.

Now you’ll remember from last time, we looked at a conversation that took place between our Lord and a Samaritan woman in

And we discovered that

During that conversation, Jesus explains that ‘the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship Him.’

During that conversation, Jesus explains that ‘the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship Him.’

And we discovered that the first reason we worship is because the Word of God demands it.

But it’s not just any worship God wants from us - according to God wants ‘spiritual worship’ that is acceptable to Him.

according to God wants ‘spiritual worship’ that is acceptable to Him.

And that’s the kind of ‘spiritual worship’ Jesus told the Samaritan woman about in - ‘for the the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth’

Then we saw in 1 Peter that

Now our first concern is to identify WHO these true worshipers are.

The Father seeks true worshipers.

Believers in the gospel, in the Lord Jesus Christ, are those true worshipers.

This is, then, our eternal duty, and privilege, and priority.

In fact, any glimpse into heaven in the book of Revelation will reveal that all who are there, both saints and angels, are glorifying God, giving Him honor.

The most serious activity anyone will ever do is worship.

The most serious activity anyone will ever do is worship.

And the only people in this world who could possibly worship God are SAVED PEOPLE - right?

Obviously the

This means that the only people in the entire world who can properly and acceptably participate in the true worship of God,

This means that the only people in the entire world who can properly and acceptably participate in the true worship of God - are those who believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

are those who believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

So when believer’s come together for the purpose of worshiping God - they are engaging themselves in an activity that no one else can possibly be engaged in.

The Father seeks true worshipers.

Believers in the gospel, in the Lord Jesus Christ, are those true worshipers.

This is, then, our eternal duty, and privilege, and priority.

In fact, any glimpse into heaven in the book of Revelation will reveal that all who are there, both saints and angels, are glorifying God, giving Him honor.

The most serious activity anyone will ever do is worship.

The most serious activity anyone will ever do is worship.

And this extraordinarily unique and exclusive position that every believer holds - has one demand: WORSHIP.

And we said that a worshiper can offer 2 kinds of worship:

ACCEPTABLE worship or UNACCEPTABLE worship.

We also said that there are 4 kinds of UNACCEPTABLE worship that we need to be aware of,

And the first kind of unacceptable worship is the most recognizable of the 4,

and the first kind of unacceptable worship is the most recognizable of the 4,

and the first kind of unacceptable worship is the most recognizable of the 4,

To wthe first kind of unacceptable worship is the most recognizable of the 4,

1.

The worship of false gods.

The Bible declares that God is a jealous God, and He will not tolerate the worship of another in His place.

God declares, “My glory will I not give to another”

And yet this world of ours worships at the feet of false gods of every kind - and explains WHY

explains WHY

“for when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful.”

So even though this world of ours knew God - they glorified Him not as God.

They wouldn’t give Him glory as God,

They wouldn’t give Him praise as God,

They weren’t thankful to Him as God,

And they refused to worship Him as God.

And then, in their ultimate rejection of God, vs24 says that “they became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and God gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts”

And what was it that caused them to reject God and refuse to worship Him?

Vs23 explains that they “changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four footed beasts, and creeping things.”

In other words, they turned from the living God to worship their idols.

Now I don’t care who you are, or where you came from – every human being worships something.

And we said that when it comes to making idols, there are literally thousands of things you could fill in the blank with,

And there are literally thousands of things you could fill in the blank with – but there’s only one way you can fill in that blank and be right – RIGHT?

And there are literally thousands of things you could fill in that blank with – but there’s only one way you can fill in that blank and be right – RIGHT?

but there’s only one thing you can use to fill in the blank and be right – RIGHT?

‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, soul, mind and strength,’

So the first kind of unacceptable worship is the worship of false gods.

2. The second kind of unacceptable worship is to worship the true God in the wrong way.

Now we have determined that the only people in the entire world who can properly and acceptably participate in the true worship of God,

Now we have determined that the only people in the entire world who can properly and acceptably participate in the true worship of God,

And the only people in this world who could possibly worship God are SAVED PEOPLE - right?

This means that the only people in the entire world who can properly and acceptably participate in the true worship of God,

So when believer’s come together and say its for the purpose of worshiping God - they are engaging themselves in an activity that no one else can possibly be engaged in.

are those who believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And when a believer comes together with other believers for the purpose of worshiping God,

And when a believer comes together with other believers for the purpose of worshiping God,

And when a believer comes together with other believers for the purpose of worshiping God,

they are engaging themselves in an activity that no other assembly on earth can possibly engage in.

they are engaging themselves in an activity that no other assembly on earth can possibly engage in.

So there is

But I’m afraid that the meaning of worship has become so trivialized in our culture,

But I’m afraid that the worship event has become so trivialized in our culture - that what was once understood to be an urgent, serious, exclusive, and sacred event - has become nothing more than a frivolous, superficial, and shallow pursuit of emotional satisfaction.

And not only in heaven, but even on earth.

When you come together and you say it is for the purpose of worshiping God, you have just pronounced upon yourself an urgency, and a severity, and a seriousness in the very activity in which you engage.

Nothing is more serious than worship.

I’m afraid in our culture, worship has become frivolous, superficial, shallow, trivialized.

But I’m afraid that the worship event has been so trivialized in our culture - that what was once understood to be an urgent, serious, exclusive, and sacred event - has become nothing more than a frivolous, superficial, and shallow pursuit of emotional satisfaction.

that what was once understood to be an urgent, serious, exclusive, and sacred event,

And yet, I’m afraid that worship has become frivolous, superficial, shallow, and trivialized in our culture.

This is the most serious activity anyone will ever do, worship God.

that what was once understood to be an urgent, serious, exclusive, and sacred event - has become nothing more than a frivolous, superficial, and shallow pursuit of emotional satisfaction.

has become nothing more than a frivolous, superficial, and shallow pursuit of emotional satisfaction.

And what is the reason for this ‘woeful ignorance’?

And what has caused this abomination?

According to another longtime ABA author - Robert Rayburn explains,

“There remains among sincere believers today a woeful ignorance concerning the significance of true worship.”

And where does this ‘woeful ignorance of true worship’ come from?

I believe we find a clue in John 4:24 where Jesus revealed that ‘true worshippers shall worship the Father in SPIRIT and in TRUTH’

1.

The first point of Jesus’ statement to the Samaritan woman is that the call to worship God in SPIRIT means that we are to worship Him with the TRICHOTOMY of our beings; that is with ALL of our faculties: the Body, Soul and Spirit.

Now some people will worship with their Bodies - which means they believe they’ve worshiped God as long as they’re in the right place at the right time.