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(1 Peter 2:5)

INTRODUCTION: We are continuing with our “Christ Our Purpose” series this morning, and I hope you are beginning to see how Christ really is the purpose of everything we do as a church. The purpose of Plantation Community Church is to make disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ by: 1) calling people to Christ, 2) helping them grow in Christ, 3) receiving them into fellowship and service, 4) involving them in personal and group worship, 5) sharing God’s love in Broward County and beyond, and 6) teaching and equipping people for ministry.

So far, we have talked about calling people to Christ, helping them grow in Christ, and receiving them into fellowship and service. Now today we move to the topic of worship. One of the ways we make disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ is by involving them in personal and group worship. (Read 1 Peter 2:4-5 and pray.)

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The purpose of our church is to make disciples of Jesus, and part of discipleship is growing in your worship of God. There is a reason why we call people to Christ and receive them into the church. It’s not just so we can have more bodies in church on a Sunday morning. It’s so we can worship God together.

You may have noticed that we spend a good deal of time each Sunday morning simply celebrating and worshiping God through music and prayer. This is not just a warm-up to the sermon or message. It’s not an optional part of the service. This is part of our essential purpose as a church. This is one of the main reasons we are here, and that is simply to worship God.

If you walk in right before the message and say, “Oh good, I didn’t miss church today,” yes, you did! You didn’t miss the message, but you missed the worship. Yes, we also worship through the preaching and hearing of God’s word, but you missed out on some of the most important reasons we are here—to sing praises to God and worship him.

So, try to get to church a little early. That will give you time to say hi to some people, sit down, settle your heart, focus on God, and prepare for worship.

Our English word “worship” comes from the word “worth-ship,” meaning how much something is worth. When you worship God, you are saying that God is “worth it.” He is worthy of all your adoration, love, excitement and praise.

How often do we expend our energy and resources on things that are not worth it? I can think of plenty of activities, projects, ventures, and purchases in my life that in the long run were just not worth it. I can look back on any number of things and honestly say, “I wasted my time on that,” or, “I wasted my money on that.”

But you will never have that problem when it comes to worshiping God. God is always worth it, and he is worthy of your first and your best.

Notice that as a church we want to involve you in personal and group worship. Both are equally important. If you only worship God on your own and never gather with the body of Christ for worship, you are missing out on the joy of worshiping God together as a church family. And if you only worship God at church on Sundays, you are missing out on the joy of worshiping God personally during the week.

Both are important. God didn’t save you just so you could come to church. He saved you so you would worship him, both in church and in your personal life.

I. Proclaiming God’s excellencies (1 Peter 2:5)

So, what does it mean to worship? First of all, it means proclaiming God’s excellencies. 1 Peter 2:5 says: “You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”

Here we see both aspects of worship coming together. Peter says you are like a living stone, which means you have a personal relationship with Christ, and you worship God throughout the week. But then God takes us, his living stones, and builds us into a spiritual house where we may proclaim his excellencies together. So, each of us worships God in our personal lives, and then when we come together, that praise is magnified as we lift our hearts and voices to the Lord in praise.

The book of Psalms is full of praises to God. Listen to David’s words of praise in Psalm 9:

I will praise you, O LORD, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonders. I will be glad and rejoice in you; I will sing praise to your name, O Most High … The LORD reigns forever; he has established his throne for judgment. He will judge the world in righteousness; he will govern the peoples with justice. The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you. (Ps. 9:1-2,7-10)

Again and again, the Psalms proclaim the goodness and the greatness of God: his power, his majesty, his holiness, his sovereignty, his justice, his compassion, his mercy, love, forgiveness and grace.

Praise in the Psalms is very specific. The Psalms rarely just say, “I praise you, O Lord,” but they usually give us specific reasons why we should praise God. And those reasons always have to do with God’s character and his actions. God’s character is holy and perfect. His actions are righteous and just, full of mercy and grace.

When you proclaim God’s excellencies, you are declaring God’s infinite value and worth. You expand your thoughts of God, and you come closer to appreciating him for who he is.

You can never think too big thoughts of God. God is greater, God is more wonderful, God is more majestic than any thoughts you or I could ever imagine. You can only have too small thoughts of God—never too big. Worshiping God means first of all, proclaiming God’s excellencies.

II. Worshiping God in spirit and in truth (John 4:23-24)

Secondly, worshiping God means worshiping him in spirit and in truth. Jesus told the woman at the well in John 4: “A time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth” (John 4:23-24).

Notice how Jesus relates the word “spirit” here to the fact that God himself is spirit. God does not have a physical body. He is not part of the physical, created universe, for he is the one who created the physical universe.

Jesus is teaching us here that true worship is not just the physical forms of worship. It is not so much where you worship, when you worship, or how you worship. Rather, true worship is spiritual in nature.

It is not a matter of just going through the motions—showing up at church; stand when the people stand; sit when the people sit; pray when the people pray; sing when the people sing. No, true worship comes from the heart and is empowered by God’s Holy Spirit. When we worship God in spirit, we focus our hearts and attention on him, giving him our love, our adoration and praise.

That’s worshiping God in spirit. But Jesus said, “True worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth.” So, what does it mean to worship God in truth? Well, part of it relates back to what we have just said about worshiping in spirit. Your worship must be heartfelt and sincere. It must be true worship of God from the heart and not just the outward motions.

But worshiping God in truth also has to do with thinking and saying true things about God. This is why the Bible is essential to the proper worship of God. We can have some understanding of God simply from nature and creation. We look at God’s handiwork, and we learn some of the awesome power and beauty of God. But in the Bible, we have a fuller and more complete revelation of God’s character and his works in history. The Bible is full of truth about God from God. Who knows God better than God himself?

And so, the songs we sing in worship should be full of truth about God from the Bible. When we read the Scriptures in our service, we give our attention to the words as they are read, because they are the very word of God. When God’s word is preached, we listen in expectation, because we know that God’s word has the power to change our lives and the lives of those around us. When we join together in prayer, we speak to God in the quietness of our hearts and praise him for who he is and what he has done. These are all aspects of worshiping God in spirit and in truth.

So, what does it mean to worship God in spirit and in truth? If we were to take all the preceding and put it together in the form of a definition, we would get something like the following. Worshiping God in spirit and in truth means:

Worshiping God truly and sincerely from the heart in the power of the Holy Spirit while proclaiming the truth about God as found in Holy Scripture.

Is that how you worship God? Do you worship God truly and sincerely from your heart? Do you do this in the power of the Holy Spirit? Do you do this while proclaiming truth about God as found in the Scriptures God has given us? If so, you are worshiping God in spirit and in truth.

God is worthy of our praise because all these things that we proclaim about him are true. God is all-powerful, all-knowing, all-loving and all-kind. When we proclaim God’s excellencies, we are simply speaking the truth about God and praising him for it. These are the kind of worshipers God the Father seeks: those who will worship him in spirit and in truth.

III. Offering God your very life (Romans 12:1)

There is one more aspect of worship that I would like us to look at, and that is offering God your very life. Once again, worship is much more than what simply takes place on Sunday mornings. Listen to Paul’s words in 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.”

Part of ascribing value and worth to God is offering him your very life. Everyone lives for someone or something. And whatever you live for is that to which you ascribe ultimate value. The person who lives for pleasure values pleasure more than anything else. The person who lives for power values power. The person who lives for money values money. The person who lives for self values self.

In the same way, the person who lives for God values God most of all. So, when you live for God, when you offer your very life to him, you are ascribing ultimate value or worth to God, and this is your spiritual act of worship.

When we talk about someone offering their life, we usually think in terms of someone dying. We think about the soldier who offers up their life on the battlefield, or Jesus who offered up his life on the cross.

But Romans 12 speaks of offering our bodies to God “as living sacrifices.” God is not talking about dying for Christ here but living for Christ. There are many people who have died for Christ throughout the ages. We call them martyrs for the faith, and we should have the utmost admiration and respect for their sacrifice. But every martyr, long before they died for Christ, first learned to live for Christ, and that is what Paul is talking about here in Romans 12.

God wants you to give him your whole life, completely and without reservation. “Almighty God—all that I have, all that I am, I give it to you. Use me for your kingdom and glory. I offer my body and my life as a living sacrifice, pleasing and holy to you. I value you, O Lord, above all other things. I worship you.”

CONCLUSION: One of our purposes as a church is to involve you in personal and group worship: proclaiming God’s excellencies, worshiping him in spirit and in truth, and offering him your very life. Why? Because God is worth it.

So, how are you doing with this purpose? When you come to church, do you come prepared to worship? When you come to church, do you come ready to celebrate our awesome God? If not, then you are missing out on one of the main reasons why the church exists. We are here to worship him.

God is seeking people. He is looking for us. He is looking for people who will worship him in spirit and in truth. God saved you so you could worship him. If you have lost some energy or interest in church, perhaps it is because you have lost sight of worship.

And then, remember, worship is not just for Sunday mornings. Do you celebrate and worship God throughout the week as well? The church is not a building or a time slot or a program. The church is the people. The church is us. And so, these purposes only become real as you and I live them out in our day-to-day lives.

God is awesome! God is holy! God is great! God has given us life! God sent his only Son into the world that whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life. That is worth getting excited over. That is worth celebrating. That is worth loving and worshiping God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength—this day, tomorrow and forever. Amen.

© Ray Fowler

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