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Rediscovering true worship
Andy Nagahara
Last week and the week before, I talked about the Covenant of yourchurch members. What was it that we were told over and over again there that should be our top priority? It was to worship God. I also confirmed there that this does not mean just attending a church service on Sunday. Today I am going to talk about that worship.
A. What is worship?
1. True Worship (Romans 12:1)
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God–this is your spiritual act of worship. （Romans12:1）
The focus of worship in the Old Testament era was on offering sacrifices. This remains unchanged to this day. Of course, I am not suggesting that animal sacrifices should be offered here. It’s not even about donations.
What God is looking for is actually a more expensive sacrifice. It means giving of yourself. That is the essence of worship.
Those are heavy words that I can’t bear to let you all hear first thing in the morning on the first day of the week, can I? Sometimes I jokingly suggest that we place a burnt offering table in the center of the chapel, but Paul says that it should be us, not the sheep, that is placed there. But don’t worry. The sacrifice God seeks is not our flesh, but a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart (Ps. 51:19). In other words, just as Jesus answered the scribes, we must worship with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.
As you may have noticed, most of the songs we sing at yourchurch are in the second person (from me or us to you), addressed to God. They are not songs about God for everyone to hear, but our offering sung to God.
The core of worship is not to “be blessed” with words or music, but to offer oneself as a sacrifice before the Lord. Many Christians consider the message, the sermon, to be the center of worship service. But we don’t think so. We believe that singing to the Lord is the core of worship, not just an add-on before or after a message.
Worship is not karaoke where we can feel holy. Singing is not about making myself feel good or for other people to hear it. It is a confession of love towards the Lord, a cry for help, and a praise to Him.
And it’s not a one-way thing. The Lord answers our earnest calls. It’s not only a time to sing with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, but also a time to listen to the Lord’s response with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.
2. Enjoying a date with Jesus (Psalm 28:7)
The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song. (Psalm 28:7）
Worship is translated as “reihai” in Japanese. The original meaning of the word “worship” was to bow down, to offer respect and honor, to humble oneself, to turn and kiss, to kneel and worship.
Why does yourchurch often use the word worship instead of reihai. This is because we do not want worship to become just a ritual.
Why do we gather together to worship on Sunday morning? Jews considered Saturday to be the Sabbath, a holy day. The first Christians, who were Jews, began to gather and worship on the first morning of the week, while still observing the Sabbath custom.
This is because the resurrection of Jesus was the origin of their hope and joy. Worship is where we spend time with the resurrected Jesus, who is still alive and working.
Have you ever wondered what kind of worship Jesus wants you to do? Does Jesus want to be praised one-sidedly? Jesus does not want to be everyone’s superhero, but rather to be closer to each of you than anyone else, with whom you can talk about anything.
Rather than just being told, “You’re amazing, you’re wonderful,” he wants you to be able to honestly share what’s on your mind as someone who is closer to you than anyone else.
When you go on a date with someone you love, do you praise him or her one-sidedly from beginning to end? If you do that, you’ll probably lose your next date. Jesus desires to worship with you in a way that allows you to enjoy conversation and communicate with each other.
3. What Worship Brings Us (Matthew 11:28-30)
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”（Matthew 11:28-30）
These words come true in worship. In worship, God, the Spirit of the Lord Jesus, and the Holy Spirit work freely and abundantly. We are privileged to be in the midst of it.
Worship is not so much a command as it is a great privilege for us. There, we unload the “burdens of life” such as the problems and concerns we each have. And we rest. There we will be healed, and we will take on a new and easier yoke. We will receive new strength and wisdom from God. And we walk out with a lighter burden (no longer the burden of problems and worries, but the purpose and meaning of our life).
Even if you often feel that God is far away, through worship, God will become closer to you than anyone else. After a week of walking, some people come to church on Sunday overflowing with joy, others wounded and hurting. Some come with light steps, while others come at last, telling themselves that they would like to avoid meeting other people if possible, but that they should step forward into the presence of God. People who came to worship with completely different mental preparations had their needs met as they sang together, and their hearts were prepared and satisfied before the Lord. That is our worship.
B. To make our worship even richer
The reason I titled this message “Rediscovering True Worship” is because I feel that we are losing sight of it. This is not an old man’s “good old days” story. Rather, it is for the future that if we were to have such tendencies, we would be missing out on many blessings that we could have received.
Worship is the lifeline of yourchurch. To make it more fruitful, I would like to do three self-checks. The first thing to check is, “Am I worshiping as earnestly as a psalmist?”
1. As earnest as the psalmist (Psalm 42:2,3)
As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? （Psalm 42:1,2）
We can survive without food for quite some time on water alone, but without water our lives can quickly become endangered. The reason why our souls yearn for God is because it is related to the life and death of our souls. “I want to get to know you better. I want to get closer to you. I want to get good things. I want to offer you my best.” Even if you put yourself in a place of worship without having such an earnest desire, you are not offering worship.
The danger is that we are unaware of this thirst. I had a blood clot in a vein in my left leg 10 years ago. Fortunately, the blood clot did not skip to the heart and stopped at the base of my leg, which saved my life, but the after-effects remain and I am unable to run for long, even at a jogging speed. The doctor said that lack of water could be one of the causes. Maybe I was not thirst sensitive and did not drink enough water that my body needed.
Are you aware of the thirst of your soul? Unfortunately, many people are unaware of this thirst. Therefore, they don’t feel the need to sing with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength. But it is damaging to the health of the soul. Please worship seriously and earnestly.
There are many Christians who do not feel the thirst of their souls and end up in a terrible state without even realizing it. So what I want you to know this morning is that your soul is dry to the Lord.
2. As Mary cherished (Luke 10:38-42)
As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”（Luke 10:38-42）
If you have ever been a member of a church other than yourchurch, you may have noticed that you rarely hear the so-called church terminology that was commonly used there. I would like to talk about one of these, which is “service”.
When I came to faith, the church that I attended had many “services” and “ministries “ the atmosphere was that those who had many of these activities were dedicated members. I believe this was the case with many churches at the time.On Saturdays, there were the services where I make printed materials, clean and prepare for the next day’s service, and on Sunday mornings I teach at church school, and after each service is finished, I feel a bit relieved and sometimes the message turns into lullabies. But I would get a good rest and rejuvenate myself during the service, and then I would have another service in the afternoon…so Sunday ended up being the most tiring day of the week.
And in my heart, I was criticizing people who didn’t “serve” much even though they were members. I mean that I was like Martha in the passage we just read. At first, Martha was willing to “serve” Jesus, trying to entertain him. However, when she got mad at her sister, it was no longer “service” but had turned into something she had to do. “Service” means serving voluntarily and willingly. To serve generally means to do work for someone, but in order to truly do what your master wants you to do, you must always be by his side like Mary and listen to his thoughts. Otherwise, we will become complacent and do what we want, and like Martha, we will end up criticizing others and ignoring the wishes of the Lord.
In other words, this analogy does not mean that “worship” is more important than “serving,” but that worshiping with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength is the highest priority “service”.
3. Free as David (2 Samuel 6:14-16)
David, wearing a linen ephod, danced before the LORD with all his might, while he and the entire house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouts and the sound of trumpets. As the ark of the LORD was entering the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul watched from a window. And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD, she despised him in her heart. （Samuel II 6:14-16）
King David was a very honest man before God. It is very important to be honest before God. At this time, the people, including David, could not help but sing and dance for joy. However, there was only one person who looked at him coldly. This is Queen Mikal. She is the daughter of the previous king Saul. Her pride as the daughter of a venerable king made her unable to understand her husband David’s un-kingly expressions of worship.
Michal lives in our hearts too, and it happens that we cannot fully receive the wonder of worship. It is natural for everyone at a rock concert to stand up, clap their hands, and express that they are enjoying themselves and having fun with their whole body, not just their ears. For us, worship is supposed to be a lot more fun and a lot more free than a concert, right?
However, there are some things we should be careful about. There is no point in creating such an atmosphere artificially. That is neither free nor natural. It is easy to create such a spiritual atmosphere, but it makes worship even poorer.
Everyone has times when their state of mind is not up to keeping up with the energetic and joyful songs of praise. Even if you force yourself to pretend to be cheerful and sing with a smile on your face, you will only feel depressed more. In such cases, you just have to be honest. If you want to stand up, stand up, kneel, raise your hands, clap your hands, whatever you want to do, just do it.
People who have experience with other churches may find worship leaders at yourchurch to be reserved and curt, and that’s okay. Because you are the one singing, and it is God who is listening and responding.
What were the results of the three self-checks for you?If you know what you are missing, you are fortunate, your worship this year will be great. This year could be a turning point in your life.
Now, let’s look forward to it and worship the Lord Jesus with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.
(Prayer) God, we thank you for giving us the grace to worship you.
Please help us to get used to this grace and never lose sight of our expectations, our earnestness, and our honest attitude.
We look forward to what you will do in worship.
Please abundantly satisfy our needs as we live together with You.
We look forward to your comfort, blessings, healing, problem resolution, and release.
Please allow us to continue offering the worship that suits your heart, with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind, and with all our strength.
We pray in the name of Jesus Christ.
Summary
The reason we spend so much time singing to the Lord during Sunday services is because that is the center of worship. When we sing with all our heart, mind, and strength, and with high expectations for God, God will be with us and will do new things. He changes our circumstances and causes a change in our hearts. Love must be expressed. The highest expression of love for God is to worship.
For Discussion
- What’s the difference between praising and worshiping?
- What can you do to make your worship more fruitful?