Sermon Tone Analysis

In last weeks message we began to look at the Spiritual Discipline of Worship.

We discussed how Worship is, perhaps the most misunderstood of all the Spiritual Disciplines and we looked at the 2 ways we often misunderstand what worship is by limiting it to the activity of singing and to the location of church settings.

We looked at how worship changed the moment Jesus moved onto the scene and established His earthly ministry.

Next Slide

During Jesus earthly ministry, worship was changing from an external conformity to ceremonies and rituals, into an internal move of the heart.

We looked at the fact that God seeks our worship and He wants us to worship Him in spirit and truth, for only in worshipping in spirit and truth do we really have authentic worship.

We closed out our time with Next Slides

3 things that are always present in authentic worship:

1.

In authentic worship, there is always a sense of Awe towards God.

2. In authentic worship, there is always a sense of conviction.

3.

In authentic worship, there is always a sense of Joy in God’s love and generosity.

I mentioned last week that we would take a closer look at why authentic worship always brings a sense of Awe towards God, and why authentic worship always brings a sense of conviction of sin.

These are the 2 areas we will spend most of our time on this morning.

Now, perhaps you are wondering, why?

Why are these two areas so key?

To start with, I want to point out that the 2 of these are designed to fit together perfectly, one always precedes the other.

A proper awe of God will always bring with it a sense of conviction of sin.

We looked at that briefly last week, but we will look at it more closely this morning.

But let’s go back to your question of, why these 2 are so key to our worship of God.

In order for me to do that, let me ask you a question.

What type of worship does God seek from us?

We saw this last week when we looked at His encounter with the Woman at the well.

God seeks those who will worship Him in spirit and in truth.

This brings me to the first thing I would like us to look at this morning, and that is: Next Slides

A Proper Perceptive of God Cultivates a Proper Awe of God.

For me, there are times I struggle worshipping God in spirit and truth, because I don’t have a proper sense of awe towards God.

This generally happens because of the type of lens I view God through.

Often times I view who God is, by the lens of my own experiences, the lens of what I am going through right now.

The lens of my own personal struggles.

The lens of my trials.

Later, when I think back to what I am going through, to my personal struggles and the trials I am faced with, I realize, they didn’t come about because God let me down, they didn’t come about because God isn’t quite as awesome as I thought He was, not at all!

They came about because of choices I made, the places I went, the people I chose to hang it with, the activities I chose to participate in, and I realized I was looking at God through the wrong lens.

The lenses we choose, make all the difference in the world when it comes down to what we ultimately see.

Let me give you an example of what I mean.

Hold up a jewelers loop

Anybody familiar with what this is?

This is a jewelers loop.

I’m not sure anybody here knew this, but I used to be a jeweler.

I have probably looked at thousands of loose diamonds or rings through this jewelers loop.

This is used to enable a jeweler to get a better look at diamonds.

With the naked eye you can get an idea of the cut of a diamond, but you really can’t see the specific facets of the cut.

Get Pam’s ring For instance, if Clay Chastain and his fiancé were here this morning, and I were to look at her engagement ring through my jewelers loop, I would likely see, that the way her ring is cut is a lot different than how this ring is cut.

This is Pam’s ring, and the diamond in her ring was given to me by my parents and came from my great great grandmothers ring.

Chances are, this diamond was cut right around 1890, making it about 129 years old.

When a jeweler looks at this through jewelers loop, he can instantly see that the way a diamond is cut has changed a lot in the last 129 years, but you have to have a special lens to see how it is cut.

A very poor woman inherited a brooch from a distant relative who had passed away.

She didn’t really know much about the brooch, or even the relative, for that matter, but it was obviously pretty old and truthfully, in her eyes, not very attractive.

Decades had come and gone since she received the brooch, she’d never really worn it, you know, it just wasn’t her style.

On this particular day, which happened to be a Monday, she was at the point of being destitute, she was several months behind on her rent and about to be evicted, the cub-bards were bare, there was less than a pint of milk in the refrigerator, 3 pieces of bread and a half a stick of butter.

It was midway through the afternoon and she still hadn’t eaten.

She worked as a cashier at the local drug store, which was about 2 miles away.

She walked to work every day.

She recalled that about a mile or so past the drug store she worked at, there was a pawn shop.

She remembered the brooch and thought to herself, “You know, If I could sell that brooch, perhaps I could get enough money for groceries and possibly a little extra to give my landlord to bye me some time.”

She grabbed the brooch, her tattered and torn winter coat, and begin to walk through the winter air towards the pawn shop.

As she got to the corner where her drug store was located, she looked down the street to her right and saw a brightly lighted sign.

Curious, she walked towards the sign to get a better look.

As she got closer, she noticed that the sign was advertising a special jewelry event at the jewelry store located right there, an event where they can give you the value of your jewelry and even buy it, if you would be interested in selling it.

She had never been in that store before, I mean why walk into the store if there is absolutely nothing there you could ever afford!

She decided to see what the brooch was worth.

She pushed open the door, causing the bell at the top of the door to ring, letting the jewelers know a new customer had walked in.

The manager of the store was seated next to the expert that had been brought in to provide an expert evaluation of the jewelry.

They were looking over some paperwork, and both looked her way.

The second they laid eyes on her she regretted she had come in.

Hopefully none of you have received that look, it was.........I’m not even sure how exactly to describe it.....it was like.....like what exactly are you doing in this store?

This store isn’t for the likes of you, please do us a favor and walk right out the door......you know, that kinda look.

She was just about to exit quietly when a young man approached her.

He smiled a broad smile, put his hand gently on her shoulder, as if to stop her from leaving and said; “Ma'am, what can I do for you?”

“I’m sorry......I should leave.”

“Ma’am, don’t you worry about them, I am sure you came in here for a very good reason.

I am here to help in any way I can.”

His smile, and his hand on her shoulder kind of disarmed her.

“Well......I do have an old brooch I inherited from a distant relative....I was hoping someone could look at it and tell me how much it’s worth.”

“I’d be happy to look at it for you.”

He took her by the hand and led her over to a low counter with a velvety chair right next to it.

Oh.....I couldn’t sit there......I’m really not dressed very well.”

“Ma’am, no need to worry about how you are dressed, just have a seat.”

Before sitting down, she reached into her pocket and pulled out the brooch and handed it to the young man.

He sat directly across from her on another chair.

Pulled out his jewelers loop and began to examine the brooch.

The brooch was shaped like an upside down sea shell, had gold around the edges, with a strip of gold going up through the center, which also went through the center of a crown, at the bottom, also in gold, there was a very elaborate bow.

Inlaid behind the gold crown and underneath the strip of gold going up the center and between the gold on the outside edges, was a brilliant red center, almost leaf like.

He examined it carefully, turned it over to look on the back side.

Back there was an inscription, it was almost too to small to read with his jewelers loop, but he could just barely make it out.

Unfortunately it was in another language.

He called his manager over to take a look.

His manager came over, looking down his nose at the older lady.

Then he looked down at the brooch.

He began to breath short rapid breaths.

Looked it over, then flipped it over to look on the back side, almost as if he knew what to expect.

Once he saw what he was looking for, He quickly motioned to the expert.

By now the manager was literally sweeting.

He wiped his brow as the expert came over.

Before the expert even sat down, his countenance changed, as did his breathing.

After examining the brooch, he too turned it over to look at the back side.

After reading the inscription, he looked at the older lady and said; “Ma’am, where did you get this brooch?”

“I inherited it from a relative who had passed away.”

“Was your relative from the United States?”

“No, she was visiting the United States from Romania.”

He trembled as he looked it over again.