Our Mission as a Church is found in Philippians 3:10 ‘to know him and to make him known’. Worship plays a vital part in us getting to know Him better, which then helps us to make Him known by sharing the Gospel - The Good News.
In Mark 16, when Jesus was taken up into heaven, he left us with the GREAT Commission. To share the GOOD NEWS - The Gospel. We get to PROCLAIM the Gospel on Sundays as we build an atmosphere of faith and invite our friends and family to be part of it. Mid-week, we PRACTICE the Gospel - sharing the love of Christ to the people we are connected to through work, studies, home life, even on the U-Bahn, serving and valuing others. We REPRESENT the Gospel as we reach out into our community with generosity - no strings attached, but a heart to contribute to the well-being of society, whether in the city we call home or further afield.
We all have the same mandate to make Him known, and how much more effective will we be in making Him known if we first know Him more and more?
Ephesians 1:17-20 (ERV)
I always pray to the great and glorious Father, the God of our Lord Jesus Christ. I pray that he will give you the Spirit, who will let you KNOW TRUTHS about God and help you understand them, so that YOU WILL KNOW HIM BETTER. I pray that God will open your MINDS to see His truth. Then you will KNOW the hope that he has chosen us to have. You will KNOW that the blessings God has promised his holy people are rich and glorious. And you will KNOW that God’s power is very great for us who believe. It is the same as the mighty power he used to raise Christ from death and put him at his right side in the heavenly places.
God wants us to know Him. He has made a way for you and me to know Him in a personal, intimate way through Christ Jesus, the Son of God. Through the Holy Spirit we can know Him better.
We are invited into having an intimate relationship with God, which means a deep, personal, and covenant relationship. A covenant NOT of human making that can be broken but by God Himself. A relationship that can be described as being fully known and fully loved by God. A relationship that can be cultivated and experienced as we WORSHIP GOD. In Worship we experience God’s presence and get to KNOW Him more.
WHAT IS WORSHIP?
What it is not: It is not the slow songs after the faster ones on a Sunday. It’s not a genre of music. Music is an expression of worship, but it is not worship. It is not the emotions we feel when we sing songs. We must be diligent not to start worshiping the worship songs.
Worship is: An Inexhaustible marvellous topic. Worship begins first and foremost with what God has offered us. His overwhelming love, grace \& forgiveness to name a few! It starts with Faith. It starts at the cross. We love Him because He first loved us (1 John 4:19). We can worship Him because He invites us into His presence.
The word worship comes from an Old English word meaning - WORTH \& SHIP
1. DISCOVERING \& KNOWING WHO GOD IS AND WHAT HE IS WORTH
2. RESPONDING TO WHO HE IS AND WHAT HE IS WORTH.
John 4:23-24 ESV: But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in SPIRIT AND TRUTH, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in SPIRIT AND TRUTH.
Worshipping in Spirit is located directly together with Truth. Humanity was made to worship. We will always worship something or someone, and what we worship, elevate, respond the most to, we end up reflecting and becoming. We are first and foremost SPIRIT - that is what will live forever, and we were created to worship God. Worshipping God is not an egotistical demand from Him, but it is to transform us into His likeness, and he is: love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, \& self control.
- If life is such that your joy is being stolen, in His presence, in worship - THERE IS FULLNESS OF JOY.
- If there is fear in your life - in His presence, in worship, there is Love - PERFECT LOVE CASTS OUT ALL FEAR.
- If there is temptation - in worship in his presence, there is STRENGTH, COURAGE TO RESIST IN THE NAME OF JESUS AND TO HAVE SELF-CONTROL.
- If there is insecurity, HE IS LOVE AND LOVES YOU
If the enemy can keep us distracted with all of the above, he can keep us from worship and from transformation. That is why we must KNOW the TRUTH. True worship is based on a right understanding of God’s nature. It is important to have the right mindset - the truth about who God really is. In John 14:9, He said if you have seen me, you have seen the Father. Jesus is The Truth, the Life, the Way. Let’s fix our eyes on Who He is and who He says we are.
Worshipping in Spirit and Truth is a combination of heartfelt honour flowing from the core of who we are (spirit), combined with a true understanding of who God is through the Word/Jesus Christ (truth).
This fosters a Spirit-led relationship rather than a legalistic, traditional or merely emotional moment. e.g., is there faith in our communion? – In that moment, are we honouring him for being our Saviour and risen Lord, the sacrifice He made because of His great love, or is it more about the elements, where we take it, or is it about the truth that communion represents?
“Individual worship is preparation for corporate worship” - Tim Keller
Our individual posture of worship towards God midweek will impact our Sunday gathering. So we’re in this together as a church community when we’re at K44 and when we are not.
Worship is a lifestyle, not an event. It is putting Jesus at the centre of every area of our lives.
It shows up in how we serve each other. Paul urges us to respond to God’s mercy by serving (Romans 12:1). So, whilst we are receiving, we are giving as we serve. We are responding to Him and following His example. Honouring Him with our finances and responding to His ways is worship.
Sometimes worship is costly - when circumstances of life bring us pain.
It will cost your soul - when you have to fight the good fight of faith because the enemy has always tried to steal our worship. We see it with Jesus when he was tempted after 40 days in the Wilderness (Matthew 4 \& Mark 1). When Jesus was tempted to turn stone into bread, He said: “Man must not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” – THE WORD, THE TRUTH, JESUS!
Matthew 4:8: Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.
Worship enables us to hold onto truth. Jesus refused to fall for the schemes and lies of the enemy by choosing to honour God’s word. You and I are invited into the most Holy of places through worship. It is the most precious of environments, and it is an invitation like no other. Our prayer is that we will be a community of worshippers who know their Lord and make Him known.
PERSONAL REFLECTION
- Write down the “One Thing” that stood out to you from today’s message. How can you see this in your day-to-day life and apply it this week? Who can you share it with?
- In which ways can you live a lifestyle of Worship this week - how can it look like in your workplace, in your home or as we gather in Community?
- Why don’t you intentionally create space in your day this week to encounter God through worshipping who He is!
Heavenly Father, thank You for inviting us into a personal relationship with You through Jesus. Thank You that we can know You—not just know about You—and experience Your presence in our lives. Let us be a community that truly knows You and faithfully makes You known wherever we go, Amen.
