True Worship — Danny Bond

The Chief End of Man Is Worship

The Shorter Catechism in Days Gone By asks the ancient question of what and why, the what and the why of man's existence. The question is, what is the chief end of man? The answer is, man's chief end is to worship God and enjoy Him forever.

Man's chief end is to worship God and enjoy Him forever. That is what life on this earth is all about and the life to come. Whatever else you think of life, whatever else may be your purpose in life, whatever else might be your self-designed goals, you were created to worship God.

Jesus Teaches Worship in Spirit and Truth

I want to talk about true worship as we find it in the Bible today. And I want to begin by looking at John chapter 4 and pick up in the account at verse 20. Here Jesus is talking to the woman at the well and He is in this discussion.

She says, Our fathers worshipped on this mountain. And you Jews, she's a Samaritan, she says, you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship. Jesus said to her, Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem worship the Father.

You worship what you do not know. We know what we worship for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming and now is. When true worshipers will worship the father in spirit and truth for the father is seeking such to worship him.

Did you know God is looking for people on the earth who want to worship him? And he said, God is spirit. God is spirit. Those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth. Can you imagine the hour is coming and now is.

And there he revealed the fact to her that he was the Messiah, that all worship would not take place through him to the father. But God is a spirit. God is spirit. Those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.

Entertainment, Pragmatism, and Biblical Illiteracy

We have come to an era in the church where there is a lot of entertainment and very little worship. I don't know if you've noticed that. I don't know if you know the difference. But today, so many churches are designed to be marketable to the felt needs of people out there walking around the world.

Market your operation to the people. Churches today are man centered rather than God centered. We've come to a time where it's all about the human heart instead about the heart of God. It's a tragic time, if you ask me.

And it is a time where people should be called back to worship God. I want to talk about the proper definition of worship to begin with in the priority of worship, as we see in the Bible. And finally, a little bit about the practice.

To begin with, we need a proper definition today of worship. There is a growing mindset of mindset among Christians today that says worship is primarily for me. And there's a lot that has contributed to that.

I would say one great contributor has been the word of faith movement. The word of faith movement is all about health, wealth and prosperity. Name it, claim it, and you can have it. And it panders to man's pride, it panders to man's fleshly desires.

And as a result, all kinds of things are promised that are really to the benefit and advantage of the teachers of the word of faith movement who are without question false prophets and charlatans and rip off artists in the body of Christ.

There is something else that has contributed to the current mindset that says worship is all about me. And that is pragmatism is the order of the day in churches. No longer are people asking, no longer are pastors asking the question, is it right and is it in the word of God?

They're asking the question, will it work for me and will it make me feel good rather than is it right? And is it in the word of God? It is. Will it work for me? Will it make me feel good? And will this program make my church bigger?

These are the questions that are being tossed around today. This is not the time of revival in America. This is the time of a departure from the faith toward itching ears. As Paul wrote to Timothy in the last days, many will depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing doctrines of demons.

Having itching ears will heap to themselves false prophets that want to tell them what they want to hear, make them feel good so they can come into church, get a little positive pep talk, get entertained and go out.

And that is a tragic thing because the church is being driven and driven and driven and driven to produce, to bring other people, to make it grow, to buy property, to build, build, build, build, build.

And the individuals are suffering. People are going out into their daily life after going to church with nothing to guide them, nothing to feed them, nothing to help them. When they face temptation, when somebody shoves cocaine under their nose at school, when somebody offers you a crooked business deal, when you have the opportunity to make a lot of money, when you have these temptations, when Satan tempts you to do all kinds of things, you need to have iron in your soul, you need to be strong and healthy, and that only comes from the word of God.

To be able to worship God rightly requires a healthy Christian life and heart. And the pragmatic mindset of today is not ministering to that, and it is not cultivating strong Christian people who center their lives on Christ.

And it has left, in general, a widespread biblical illiteracy, a widespread biblical illiteracy. I am shocked today to ask the average Christian any kind of biblical question. And they're at a loss. They don't have any answers because they don't know the Bible, because they're not taught the Bible.

And yet so many today are saying the Bible is not important. Why do we need the Bible in our churches? What we really need is some really good musicians because that's what people like. And we need sermonettes for Christianettes because that's what we want to cultivate.

They don't put it in those terms, but that's what is being cultivated. We have greenhouses for carnality and shallowness, and that is a tragic thing because Jesus said God is spirit and he must be worshipped in spirit and in truth.

Worship Is Primarily for God

The perverted approach to worship today says worship is primarily for me. I go to a church service so that I can get something for me. You know what the Bible says? The Bible says worship is primarily for God.

Worship is primarily for God. Worship. The word in the Greek language that Jesus uses here is the Greek word proskuneo. Do you know what it means? It means to kiss toward. It means to kiss the hand. It means to bow down and prostrate yourself.

It was used widely among Orientals, especially the Persians. And the word was used to describe the act of falling on your knees and touching the ground with your forehead as an expression of profound reverence.

The Bible takes that word. Jesus takes that word. He exalts it to its highest dimension, and he describes what we are to do with God, with our hearts and lives. The English word worship that is used to translate proskuneo comes from an old English term, worth ship, worth ship.

It denotes the worthiness of the individual receiving the special honor, which in our worship as Christians is God. See, I think we often have it backwards. We have our whole approach to Christianity backwards.

We're always coming for what we can get, coming to God for what we can get rather than coming to God for what we can give to him in worship. And so we approach the Lord that way. We approach church services that way.

We fail to realize that if we will find first God and worship him, we'll find all the other things we want and desperately need brought our way by the Lord in the process. He is first and the needs are met as a result.

Let me read you the words of William Temple written so very long ago. He said both for perplexity in your life and for adult conscience. The remedy is the same for worship is the submission of all our nature to God.

Worship is the submission of all our nature to God. Listen to this. It is the quickening of the conscience by his holiness. It is the nourishment of the mind by his truth, his truth. It is the opening of the heart to his love.

It is the surrender of the world will to his purpose, the surrender of your will to his purpose. All of this is gathered up, he says, in adoration, which is the most selfless emotion of which our human nature is capable.

The most selfish emotion of which our human nature is capable. And therefore, worship is the chief remedy for that self-centeredness, which is our original sin and the source of all practical sin. Yes, worship in spirit and truth is the way to the solution of perplexity in our lives and liberation from sin in our lives.

So you see, to William Temple, worship is the response of all that man is to all that God has revealed himself to be. That's worship. That's worship. We do not worship God for what we can get out of it.

We worship God because he is worthy of our worship. And obviously, in the process, we get a lot out of it. But you see, essentially, worship is giving to God. We could put it this way. It is the blessed act of blessing God, the blessed act of blessing God.

We see it in the Old Testament in Exodus 30, verses seven and eight. Aaron, the high priest, let me just read it to you. Aaron, the high priest, shall burn incense every morning in a twilight. He shall burn incense, a perpetual incense before the Lord throughout their generations.

So in the Old Testament, they would burn the incense before the Lord. It would rise as a sweet fragrance, and that is a picture for us of worship. It was, in fact, part of their worship to God. In the New Testament, in John, there was a meal they had together after Lazarus had been risen from the dead.

Mary and Martha and Lazarus were very close friends of Jesus Christ. Few private friends that he had. And he went to their house for a dinner. In John 12, 1, it says six days before the Passover, Jesus went to Bethany.

Then in John 12, 3, Mary comes in and it says she took a pound of very costly oil of spikenard and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil.

And so it just permeated the houses. She's there worshiping the Lord in humility and offering the best that she had to give. And the fragrance fills the whole house. That is the way worship is to be among God's people, that we gather together and we worship him.

Whether it's in fellowship, whether it's in giving, whether it's in studying the word, our hearts are open and just offered to God. And the praise that flows from our lives comes from the Holy Spirit's power.

It's offered up to God, sanctified through the work of his son and received then by the father. It's something that we bring to God. So when you come to church or you go to your prayer closet, you should see worship as a gift in your heart that you are eager to give to God.

Worship is a gift from your heart to God as your father. So let me say to you very clearly, unless you miss it. If you come to church primarily to see what you can get, primarily to see what you can get, if you just come for the blessing, a zap, a touch, warm fuzzies, then you don't truly worship God.

Not truly, doesn't mean that you don't, but in the truest sense. A .W. Tozer once said, Tozer, you see, there was a reason Tozer was as deep as he was. The writings in his books still speak to so many today.

The bottom line is the church needs to worship God. When we worship God, we make him the center of everything and then we find God. And in finding God, we find the solution to our problems. I love what the psalmist wrote.

Turn your Bible, hold your place here and turn to Psalm 45, verse 1. Psalm 45, verse 1. The psalmist says my heart is overflowing with a good theme. My heart is overflowing with a good theme. In other words, as he sat before the Lord and meditated on the Lord, his heart was warmed.

Do you know the literal Hebrew there for the word overflowing? In the literal Hebrew, it is bubbling up and boiling over. Bubbling up and boiling over. Here is the psalmist sitting before the Lord. He's just focusing on God, meditating on God, and his heart gets warmer and warmer until he says, Lord, my heart is boiling over for you.

That is worship. That is a heart full of God. That is a heart offered to God. When you offer your heart to God, you can't outgive God. He will always give you back more than you can contain. Worship should be a gift in your heart that you can't wait to give to the Lord.

Worship as the Purpose of Redemption

And really it becomes, ultimately, your whole heart as a gift to God. Proper definition, let's go to the priority of God-centered worship. When you look at the Christian life and the plan of God, you will discover worship is the ultimate purpose of redemption.

Man in his lost state, when he fell in the garden, turned away from pure worship of God. So that what has happened today is so much preaching of the gospel has to do with felt need. That you have the idea, so many have the idea today, that you come to Christ because you're lonely.

And he's going to fix your loneliness. You come to Christ because you've been hurt and he's going to heal you. You come to Christ because you're not doing well financially and you need God to become your great financier and to make you prosper and make you wealthy.

You come to God because you need a physical healing. The gospel is so often preached like that. Are you lonely? You won't be lonely anymore. Do you need money? Christ will give you money, whatever, whatever, whatever.

How about this? All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. If you don't repent of your sins, you will be exiled from God forever. Men love darkness rather than light. And if that's what you love throughout this life, that's what you'll get forever.

How about this? God so loved the world he gave his only begotten son that whoever would believe on him would have, not perish, but have everlasting life. So many of the basics of the true gospel are being left out today, substituted with something else that's almost like it, but almost isn't good enough.

King Agrippa said to Paul the Apostle, you do almost persuade me to be a Christian. I will hear you on another day. And Paul went away and we have no record of Agrippa ever calling him back. He remained almost a Christian and almost isn't good enough.

There's so much almost gospel, so much almost Christianity today and a lot of almost worship. But you know what? I don't know about you, but almost isn't good enough for me. I want the real thing. I want all of God.

I don't want almost a walk with God, almost a life of worship with God. I want true worship before my Lord. Worship is the ultimate purpose of redemption. And along the way, if you're lonely, you'll find a friend who will never leave you or forsake you.

Yes. If you have need, you'll find you meet your needs. You were created to worship God. Do you worship God? If you call yourself a Christian, do you worship God? In Luke 1910, Jesus said the son of man has come to seek and to rescue or to save that which was lost.

Men who lost their way in worshiping God. To put it another way, in John 4, 23, he said the hour is coming and now is when true worshipers will worship the father in spirit and truth. For the father is seeking such for what?

To worship him. He's going to seek and to save that which is lost, to seek and save them for what? The father is seeking such to worship him. Did you know God is seeking you to come and worship him? That is why he brought you to salvation.

It is the only thing in the Bible. You may be interested to know that we are told that he seeks from you. In Revelation, at the end of the Bible, we read in chapter 14, verse six. Why don't you turn there in your Bible right now.

Revelation 14, 6. It's the ultimate purpose of redemption. You find it all the way through. And even the angel here, Revelation 14, 6. I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth.

To every nation, tribe, tongue and people, saying with a loud voice, fear God and give glory to him. Isn't that interesting? Here's an angel who's flawless, an angel who's perfect, an angel who gets his opportunity to preach the gospel.

What does he say? Fear God and give glory to him. The angel's not shouting from heaven. Are you lonely? Do you have problems in your relationships down there? Have you been having anxiety attacks? You need Jesus.

He'll lower your anxiety level. Now, the angel is flying through heaven. Fear God and give him glory. The essence of worship. Turn from your sins. Follow Christ. Worship God. That's the gospel. That is the gospel.

According to Jesus Christ. Turn from your sins and follow me. It never changes. To what end? Revelation 14, 7. Saying with a loud voice, fear God. Give him glory for the hour of judgment has come. And worship him who made heaven and earth, the seas and the springs of water.

Worship as the Focus of the Bible

In the Bible, worship is the ultimate purpose of redemption. Further, worship is the ultimate focus of the whole Bible. The whole Bible. In the very beginning, Adam and Eve worshipped God. When they sinned and worshipped another, they fell out of fellowship with God.

Salvation was immediately needed. Cain killed Abel over the matter of what? Worship. When the patriarchs worshipped God obediently, they were blessed. And when they didn't, they were chastised by God.

Israel was doomed in the desert because of a failure to properly worship God as God and give him the glory. Moses never entered the promised land because he refused to worship God in obedience at the rock in front of the people.

When God gave the law from Mount Sinai, there was, first of all, a call to worship Exodus 20, verse 3. You will have no other gods be for me. Worship. Jesus summed it all up in Matthew 22, 37. Jesus said to him, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind.

This is the first and greatest commandment. That's worship. Do you know that in Exodus, 25 chapters are devoted to the construction of the temple where they were to worship God, the tabernacle? 25 chapters devoted, watch this, to the construction.

Do you know that 50 chapters in the Bible report instructions on how to build it? 25 in Exodus devoted to building it. 50 chapters in the Bible devoted to instructions about building it. 13 chapters in Exodus, 18 in Leviticus, 13 in Numbers, 2 in Deuteronomy, 4 in Hebrews, all about the instructions to build the place of worship.

Do you know that when they built the tabernacle, after Moses received the instructions from God, God told the leaders where they were to encamp their tribes. Some to the north, some to the south, east and west.

And the configuration as you look at it, physically, you have the tabernacle here, tribes to the north, south, east, west. It forms literally a cross as they're encamped around the tabernacle. And it was all designed that there above the tabernacle, God's presence was manifested.

The cloud of glory by day and the pillar of fire by night. So as you came out of your tent in the morning, over the tent door, stretch, look out, check out the day. The first thing you would see would be the glory of God, the cloud of glory.

If you came out in the evening, the first thing you'd see as you looked out is the tabernacle. That's the way God had set up and you would see the pillar of fire. The first thing that greeted your life as you began your day was always the glory of God and the place of worship.

Worship was the first thing that came to the mind of the Jew in the encampment of Israel around the tabernacle. God designed it that way. And that's the way it is to be. That is the way it is to be. Their lives literally revolved around the worship that went on at the tabernacle.

The Serious Consequences of False Worship

In following worship as the ultimate priority of the Bible, you find out that when people violated principles of worship, it was serious. Do you remember when Moses was on the mountaintop getting the Ten Commandments?

What were the people doing down below? Worshiping a golden what? You all know it. Consequences were very serious. In Leviticus 10, it was the ordination day for Nadab and Abihu. They brought strange fire before the Lord.

And the Bible says fire came out from the Lord and consumed them. Evidently, if you read on, they were drunk when they came to make their offering. They came with worship that was unacceptable. They were slain.

Saul went in to act as priest and brought the offering and the sacrifice in First Samuel 13 and he lost his kingdom. Uzzah was riding along on a newly made cart when they were bringing the Ark of the Covenant back from the Philistines.

They hit a bump in the road. Uzzah reached out to steady the Ark and he died. David was in front of the Ark, dancing and singing and praising. About 100 ,000 people were around and they were all playing music and singing and worshiping.

And Uzzah, as they hit a bump in the road, he just, in the middle of all this praise, he just touches the Ark to stabilize it and he dies. Immediately it's silent. David is, oh my gosh, what happened?

And he goes home and the Bible says for about six months he sought the Lord and he poured over the scriptures and you know what he discovered? Uzzah was a Kohathite. Kohathites were the only ones allowed to carry the Ark of the Covenant.

They were to run poles through rings on the side of the Ark, run poles through the rings and carry the Ark on poles. They were never ever to touch it. They were not carrying God rightly in their worship before the people.

And when he reached out and touched the Ark, that was the main thing he was forbidden to do ever. Why did he do it? Because they had drifted away from the Word of God. They had drifted away from the revealed person of God in scripture and thus they were no longer carrying God rightly in their hearts.

And the Ark on a cart with wheels is a picture of the nation not carrying God properly in their hearts. As a result there was death. And so they got it right after David went back to the scriptures and poured over it.

But you see worship is the great priority of the Bible and when you violate the principles of worship it's very serious and it's the same today. As we come to the time of our Lord Jesus Christ. He comes to earth.

He says he came to seek the lost and to save them. And here he is with the lost woman at the well with great need and empty life. And he says the Father is seeking those that want to worship him in spirit and in truth.

Grace, Redemption, and the Living Sacrifice

The Apostle Paul in the book of Romans taught for eleven chapters the grace of God in a way that has never been revealed anywhere else. Eleven chapters. He doesn't ask you to do one thing in the book of Romans.

And after eleven chapters. Can you turn in your Bible to Romans 12 .1? After eleven chapters. You come. To chapter 12. And in chapter 12 Romans. You have the first time he asked you to do anything. Think of that.

Teaching teaching teaching teaching. He never asked you really to do anything until chapter 12. He says here. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God. He's given them eleven chapters of the mercies of God.

Now that I've laid it out before you. Now that it is clear. Eleven chapters of grace. Here's what I ask you to do. Present your bodies as a living sacrifice. Holy and acceptable to God. Which is the most reasonable thing you can do.

In light of everything I've taught you. It is your reasonable service. The NIV renders it. It is your spiritual worship. OK. Spiritual worship is the first thing he goes to. When you now understand the grace of God.

You're ready to worship him. He's given you eleven chapters of doctrine. Before he ever asked you to do anything. Always the word before anything you do. So you understand what to do. Then what happens when you give your life to God as a living sacrifice.

In true spiritual worship. What happens? He says and be not conformed to this world. But rather be transformed by what? The renewing of your mind. To what end? That you may be able to prove by experience.

What is that good? And. Acceptable. And. What kind of will of God? Perfect will of God. You want to know the will of God in your life? Worship him truly. Offer your heart. Offer your life as a living sacrifice.

And what you will find. Verse two. Do not be conformed to this world. But be transformed by the renewing of your mind. That you may prove what is that good and acceptable. And perfect will of God. God's will for your life is perfect.

Anything less. Is not God's will. To talk of God's will in any other terms. Less than perfect. Is false. It's not God's will. People bandy about the term today. Permissive will of God. There were Corinthians in the New Testament that Paul wrote to.

And he said I write unto you. I acknowledge you're born again. I write unto you. I acknowledge you have fruit. And I also want to tell you to begin with. And then we're going to have sixteen chapters of correction.

First of all I want to tell you you're carnal. We'll start there. And we'll go up. Why? Because you live at the bottom of the Christian life. You're carnal. We're going to make you spiritual. It's going to take sixteen chapters.

And I'll write you again after that. Second Corinthians. Permissive will of God. What is that? That is God being gracious to you. To save you. To take you to heaven. But you will never find the term in the Bible permissive will of God.

But you will find the perfect will of God. Because God is perfect. And he has a will and a plan for you. And his plan is perfect. Anything less than that is not his plan. God has a perfect will for your life.

And that alone is the will of God for your life. Does that make sense to you? That's what the Bible says. And you find it as you worship God. You find it as you worship God. We are to worship him in truth.

Jesus says you worship him in truth. The priority of the worship of God is all over the Bible. Let's go to the practice finally. Basic elements of Christian worship. We worship him in truth. That is why, brethren, we study here in this church the word of God every time we come together.

Practicing Worship Through Scripture and Corporate Fellowship

I cannot apply what I do not know. I cannot know anything about God except I go to the place he's revealed himself, which is in the Bible. In the Bible, God has revealed himself from Genesis to Revelation.

I was created to worship God. I cannot worship God if I don't know anything about him. The more I know about him, the more my heart is drawn out to worship him. So we worship God through the study of his word.

And there we know the truth about him. And then our hearts are drawn out toward him to worship him. I like what Vance Havner said. He said, Our Lord approved neither of idol worship nor idol worship, but ideal worship in spirit and in truth.

Then he said, Too many members today sit smugly in church on Sunday, some closing the eyes, others eyeing the clothes, and with a dozen other things on their minds except worshiping God. End quote. Worship is to be in spirit and to be in truth from the very center of our being toward God.

The basic elements of Christian worship lead to the basic elements of corporate worship in church. I would say the most basic element is that you order your life around God and the main church service at your church.

You order your life around God and the main church service. Our church right now, we have Sunday morning and Wednesday. That is when we worship the Lord. And just as the tabernacle of old, their lives were ordered around the tabernacle.

It is my conviction from the Bible that we are to order our lives around our church service. And I tell that to people all the time. And I find Christians today wondering why they're not doing so well and they don't order their life around the church service that they go to.

If God has called you to a local church and you understand that he's called you there and that's his will for your life, you should be there. When the doors are open, you should be there. Now, if you were to go to a ball game on Sunday, you would make preparation the day before, wouldn't you?

Would you? Of course you would. And yet, when we come to church, how often do we make any preparation at all the night before? To me, the most practical thing about gathering together to worship God is that we are preparing our hearts to worship him.

I would encourage you on Saturday night to order your life around God and your church service the next morning. To prepare your heart to meet with God. I rarely meet a Christian who prepares their heart on Saturday night to meet with God on Sunday morning.

Rarely. And, you know, I've been doing this for a long time. I see everybody as they come into church. Some are r-r-r-r-raring to go. Their hearts are prepared. They're right with the Lord. Others come straggling in.

You would not show up for a ball game like that. You'd be decked out, all prepared, food packed, da-da-da-da-da-da-da. And everything in order. The right t-shirt, right ball cap. Check it out, you know.

And, you know, with all your cheers down and all the stats down and everything else and yadda-yadda-yadda. And people come to church. Hey, wha's up, man? Then, you know, the service starts and the...

Uh, where am I? Excuse me, I didn't realize they're worshipping. Some people are out cold before the study ever starts. You'd be amazed at things you see up here. One person is blessed and worshiping God and filled.

And the person next to them is just... Oh, man, I was up late last night. Oh, I see. You were preparing to do anything other than worship God. You see, we should prepare our hearts. Do not underestimate how much God can bless you when you prepare your heart to meet with Him before you go to your church service.

Now, that's just taking it for granted that the whole church service you're going to is centered on Jesus Christ as Lord, as the center of our lives, and the word of God is there as the center of the service to introduce you further to Him that just takes that for granted as basic.

Make your conscious decision to be in church, order your life around it. Do not ever move to another place without going to the place first and finding out if you can be taught the word of God and fed and have fellowship in Christ-centered worship when you get there.

What good does it do you to take another job, go to another place if when you get there you're not going to be fed spiritually, you cannot worship God with those that worship Him in spirit and in truth, and you become anemic spiritually, your life dries up, you become unhappy and far from God, but you got some bucks.

Well, we just want the blue sky and the mountains and the ocean. What about Jesus? People order their lives around everything except their relationship with God and their worship of God and wonder why their lives are a mess, why they don't know the Lord very well, and that is why there's so little bubbly, boiling hearts and people today for the Lord.

True Worship and the Restlessness of the Heart

William Kalpert put it so good, he said, The dearest idol I have known, what e 'er that idol be, help me to tear it from thy throne and worship only thee. Make no mistake about it, whatever your master passion is in your life is what you are worshiping.

The thing that you think about the most is what you are worshiping. I pray that it's God, your Savior, Jesus Christ, and it's your relationship with Him and that you are a true worshiper and that you worship him in truth, honestly, intellectually, spiritually, because you've been educated from the word of God on who he is.

And in spirit from your heart, Augustine, the early church father, summed it all up when he says, You have formed us for yourself, O God, and our hearts are restless until we find our rest in thee. Our hearts are restless, O God, until we find our rest in thee.