This Course comes in three sessions that are meant to be taken over a week long period. Don’t rush through these. If you can find a copy of Richard Foster’s Celebration of Discipline, it will greatly increase your understanding as you read the chapter on worship. IF not, that is okay. Simply skip the homework questions based on his writings and write summaries of what you learned through your study of what we have presented.
I encourage you to read all scripture references and study them in their larger context to get a better handle on what the Word is saying about worship.
Remember to send your summaries to us at emberfoundry@gmail.com and we will engage you in further conversation.
DIVINE INVASION
Worship, adoration and rapture are all synonymous words that describe humanities communion with a holy God. This is, after all, the whole purpose of worship. It is not only for the benefit of humanity that we worship. It is not only because God is worthy that we worship. The reason that we worship is because the divine has come into that which is not divine.
This is not just the reason that we worship, this is worship. When the holy One comes into our midst as a people, our interaction with Him is called worship. Our simply asking Him to come does not qualify as worship. Worship is a response to God’s undeserved presence. The beckoning call of his children is either performance or prayer (one good and one worthless), but neither is worship.
When we gather to praise God for what he has done, that is prayer. When we actually engage in the active presence of God in our midst, that is worship and it takes on whatever form seems best. We can respond in silence, tears, laughter or even sorrow, but unless it is in response to the presence of God, it is not worship.
RELAX
Why all of this negative speak about what worship is not. Part of the reason is to help you relax.
I have often heard (and even said myself) that we can worship God with our lifestyle. This can be true in the sense that we change our lifestyle in response to the presence of God, but we cannot worship God by simply living right.
Anything done outside of response to God is idolatry.
If I am changing in order to experience God, then I am looking more at myself than I am at Him. If I simply come to Him and allow Him to reveal Himself to me, this inspires true and lasting change that is fueled by the presence of the Holy rather than the misguided notions of a weak man.
Don’t muster for worship; you don’t have it in you anyway. Worship is meant to be much more organic that we are used to.
A FINDABLE GOD
The fact of the matter is that God has promised us that if we seek Him, we will find Him.
Proverbs 8:17
"I love those who love me; and those who diligently seek me will find me.”
Jeremiah 29:13-
“You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.”
This means that if we enter into our predetermined time of worship with a heart that is expecting to find God, we will and then we can fully expect to have worshiped before the end of the hour. If we are just going to pray (not a bad agenda in and of itself), sing some songs and listen to a sermon, then we are not likely to enter into what we call worship.
HORSE, THEN THE CART
Worship is so much more that just doing what is required by the liturgy or by our sensibilities. Worship is centered on God’s presence and will forever be the foundation of a healthy spiritual life.
Let us first worship and find ourselves serving with a powerful passion rather than a frustrated fury.
THE UNKNOWN GOD
We also note that we are to seek Him, and that means laying down any preconceived notions about what He may want to say, do, or be for us in that hour.
He may want to reveal a new part of His nature to us and if we are too busy seeking our own idea of God, then we will miss Him altogether.
Discussion
Notes:
Homework: Read Celebration of Discipline, pages 158 – 164 and answer the following questions;
- What does “Shekinah” mean?
- Thinking about wineskins, write a few paragraphs about different forms of worship and how we can experience and respond to the presence of God in different settings.
- What is the object of our worship?
- Read Mark 12:30 and then answer, what is to be our priority?
- How can we best prepare our hearts for worship?
- Write your thoughts on the “gathering” together for worship
SESSION 2:
The Object of Our Worship: It may seem obvious to point out that Jesus is the object of our worship. However, that could use some clarification. When we say that we worship Jesus, what does that mean?
1. Responding to the manifest presence of Christ in our lives:
a. Christ shows up in our lives primarily though the cross.
i. Power of God for Salvation (Romans 1:16)
ii. An indescribable gift (John 3:16)
b. Christ empowers us to live holy lives. (Romans 7:24)
c. Christ shares His heart with us. (1 Corinthians 2)
2. Getting the focus off of us and onto Christ (Romans 3:21-31)
Preparation for Worship: Faith, expectation and atmosphere.
1. God shows up to be with us, so we show up.
a. In the beginning, God spent time with Adam in the garden just taking walks.
b. Immanuel means “God with us”. This is still the focus of heaven.
c. Two or more. The Bible promises us that God is in our midst when there are only two of us together focusing our hearts on Jesus.
2. Enter worship with that faith and expect an encounter with the living God.
a. Seek me and find me. This is a promise from God and speaks a great deal about His very nature.
b. God’s desire for you. We don’t have to beckon Him to come, He is standing at the door knocking.
3. Remove distractions and inject support structure.
a. Confession of sin. The confession of sin is a simple and neglected practice that clears our conscious and exposes our hearts to the light. It really is useful and not early as scary as we think.
b. Release of worries and fears. If our hearts are focused on those things that we cannot control or change, then we are accomplishing nothing.
c. Fear God, not man. Let God be your audience and strive to ignore your worrying about the unknowable opinions of those who may be watching you worship but probably are not.
d. Give permission and be patient with learners. When you worship freely, it gives others freedom to worship. When you judge the immaturity of others, it is also contagious and invites them to judge incorrectly.
Notes:
SESSION 3:
The Leader of Worship: Worshiping in spirit and in truth. Allowing the Holy Spirit to direct your worship will enable you to worship with genuine passion and you will avoid both hype and quenching. Don’t fall into the trap of leaning on a “formula” for worship.
Steps into Worship:
1. Practice the presence of God. Put your heart in the God gear and continually think on the fact that He is in you and sustaining you and speaking to you. Spend private time with Him, praying to Him, praising Him, whispering your thoughts to Him. Listen to Him as He teaches you. Confess to Him regularly and study the Word with Him as He is your teacher. When this becomes habit, corporate gatherings of worship will just be a heightened punctuation of what you are already doing.
2. Vary your expressions of worship. Worship alone, worship with music, worship with art, worship with a few, worship with many… These little expressions of worship with also only serve to enrich the corporate gathering of worship.
3. Prepare physically and mentally for the gathered experience by going to bed early on the night before, seasoning it with intercession, letting go of mental distractions, etc.
4. Let go of your agenda, concerns, blessings, revelations. The language of corporate worship is “we”, not “I”.
5. Lean on the Spirit to make things happen. Don’t manipulate.
6. Absorb distractions with the secret weapon of gratitude. Thank God that the baby is among you and for the lungs he/she is screaming with. Thank God that the person you are struggling with is in a place to worship God with you.
7. Learn to offer the sacrifice. Many times we will not feel like worshiping, but even if we think it is a waste of time, waste it on God.
Fruits of Worship:
1. Obedience-Jesus tells us that if we love Him, we will obey Him.
2. Transformation-The more time you spend with a person, the more like them you become.
3. Forgiveness-Becoming more like Christ works mercy into our character and we become more forgiving people.
4. Power-Lifting Jesus us tears the enemy down.
Notes:
You have finished the course on Worship!!!
