Why Worship?

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This sermon is the second one in a series of messages on worship. This message focuses on the motivations and reasons for worshiping God.

Written Excerpts:

Psalm 86:9 ^(NKJV) All nations whom You have made Shall come and worship before You, O Lord, And shall glorify Your name.

Job 1:9 ^(NKJV) So Satan answered the LORD and said, "Does Job fear God for nothing?

Introduction:

I want to continue today to explore the subject of worship from a slightly different perspective or angle. We’re going to talk about worship today by attempting to answer the question, “Why worship?”

Even though there may be many reasons to worship God, today I will attempt to explain that worship is offered for at least three reasons. We worship God to reveal the motives for our faith. We worship to reveal and exalt the true character of God. And we worship in order to refocus on eternal realities rather than temporal ones.

I.                    We worship to reveal our true motives.

I’ve been recently reading from a book titled, Where Real Worship Begins: Lessons from the Life of Job, written by James Draper, Jr. I want to share some of the observations that I picked up in his book.

James T. Draper, Jr. – And so Satan asks, "Does Job fear God for nothing?" (Job 1:9) That is the real question of the book of Job. We are accustomed to think that the question the book of Job answers is, Why do righteous people suffer? But the reasons for pain, suffering, injustice, and tragedy are dealt with only indirectly. The real question is the one posed in Job 1:9.

Draper is explaining that Satan’s question to God is a question that every one of us must also answer for ourselves. Why does Job worship God? Why do I worship God?

Draper continues: Why does man worship God? Why do prayers of faith come from both the shacks of the poor and the mansions of the rich? Why do songs of praise rise from every segment of the population? Do we worship God because we think we can get from Him what we cannot get from someone else? Do we worship Him because we think He will do for us what no one else will do for us? Do we love God because of what He gives us, or do we love God because He is God? These are questions we must consider. (Where Real Worship Begins: Lessons from the Life of Job.)

Is worship really about us? Is it about what we think we will gain if we honor God? Is it about what we think God will do for us because we acknowledge Him?

Douglas J. Brouwer – [Public] Worship is not, and never has been, something people attend in order to be entertained or fed. Worship can be entertaining. Worship can be richly nourishing. I have pleasant memories of worship being both of those things to me. But those are not the reasons God calls us to worship. (Christianity Today, Vol. 36, no. 10. Quoted in Today's Best Illustrations)

Essentially Brouwer is reminding us that worship isn’t about us. It is not intended to make us feel better, it is all about God and giving adoration to Him because He deserves it and it is right to do so.

So, it appears that God’s willingness to allow Job to be tested the way he is tested lies in the fact that God has full confidence in Job. God knows that Job loves God and worships God just because it is right and because God deserves it; not because of what Job stands to benefit from it.

Why do we worship Him? Why do we come to church? Why do we give our tithes and offerings? Why do we obey any of the commands of God? Is it only so that God will be nice to us and bless us and grant us a long, healthy, and comfortable life? No.

We worship Him because we know in the very depths of our soul that God is perfect and full of love and mercy. God is righteous and just, and God is absolutely worthy to be adored and worshiped by every creature in the entire universe. We worship because we understand that God has provided the perfect plan of salvation for fallen human beings to be rescued, ransomed and transformed into His children who imitate His nature. And, it doesn’t matter how life is going for us, we still know that God deserves all honor, glory, praise and adoration, and we intend to see that He receives it from our hearts, from our lips and from our lives!

II.              We worship to showcase God’s true character.

James T. Draper, Jr. – Satan's accusation was not only directed toward mankind. The arrow the adversary fired did not stop until it struck God Himself. Satan was insinuating that God could no longer inspire anything but mercenary love [i.e. greedy, covetous love]. If Satan's premise were correct, no one would serve God because He is God and no one would adore and worship Him simply for who He is. If Satan were correct, God would be robbed of His high and noble attributes and Heaven would be robbed of its glory. Satan's accusation was against God. (Where Real Worship Begins: Lessons from the Life of Job.)

The author is explaining that Job’s worship to God for who He is rather than for what He gives, proves to a skeptical devil that, at least in Job’s heart, God is still worshiped just like He was before the creation of man and the entrance of sin in the Garden of Eden.

Job 38:4-7 ^(NKJV) "Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements? Surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? To what were its foundations fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone, When the morning stars sang together, And all the sons of God shouted for joy?

Psalm 19:1 ^(NKJV) The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork.

Here is an indication of the worship God continually gets apart from the creation of man, and most certainly apart from the entrance of sin into the world. God was being praised for His very being; because of who He was. God was worshiped by angels simply because He deserved it, not because He was blessing them with riches, health and prosperity.

When the devil accuses Job for worshiping only because of what he’s getting out of it, he’s slamming God as not being worthy of honor and adoration unless He “bribes” people into giving it. Thankfully, Job proves the devil wrong.

I was thinking how I wish the end of Job’s story would have not only included God’s reprimand of Job’s comforters, but also included a stinging rebuke to Satan, reminding the devil that Job proved him wrong.

How about you? How about me? Do our words and our lives prove to a watching world that we believe God deserves honor and glory in spite of what’s happening to us?

III.        We worship to refocus on eternal realities.

Psalm 73:3-17 ^{(NKJV) 3} For I was envious of the boastful, When I saw the prosperity of the wicked…. ¹⁷ Until I went into the sanctuary of God; Then I understood their end.

The Psalmist admits being envious/jealous of the wicked, and then the next several verses describe why – all the benefits they enjoy even though they show no regard for God.

The thing that changed his perspective and attitude was going into the sanctuary. The passage seems to be specifically talking about the place of public worship, but any place can become a sanctuary if our heart is right. If our life only consists of what we see and understand of the world around us; and if our mind is filled only with the knowledge of earthly wisdom; then we have a one-sided and warped view of reality.

Worship of the high and lofty One who inhabits eternity gives us a vision and an understanding of eternal realities that this world knows nothing about. When we worship God, our own thinking is elevated and changed, as well as our behavior. We become enlightened to a whole new spiritual reality that enables us to re-interpret the earthly reality we’re so accustomed to.

We must worship in order to gain a perspective that raises our thoughts above mere human and earthly wisdom that is so limited, and in many cases, perverted.

Conclusion:

Brothers and sisters, we have a wonderful privilege each and every day – to bow our hearts and even our knees to humbly ascribe glory, honor and majesty to the Sovereign Authority and glorious Ruler of the universe.

We have the wonderful privilege of proclaiming His worth and His awesome character so those around us are reminded that He deserves their worship, reverence and adoration as well.

We have the privilege of rehearsing for the main activity of heaven – glorifying the King of kings and Lord of lords!

A.W. Tozer ― “I can safely say, on the authority of all that is revealed in the Word of God, that any man or woman on this earth who is bored and turned off by worship is not ready for heaven.”

Let us close by singing Ask Ye What Great Thing I Know