No Wonder - No Worship

truly to lay our burdens and our trials, our strife and difficulty in this life, to lay that at the feet of Jesus really is an act of worship. Because the Bible says he came to help with all of those things. There's a great prophecy in Isaiah 61 that talks about the coming of the Messiah and what he will do to set the captive free and to bind up the brokenhearted in verse 3 of that chapter it says, he will provide for those who grieve in Zion to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They, the people who've suffered like this and will receive in heaven that crown, that beauty that gladness, they will be called oaks of righteousness a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor. So someday we're going to trade in all the heaviness and the sadness for joy, the morning for dancing, and someday it's all going to be as God intended it to be, and that will be when we worship him at our best. So this is the third out of the fifth five Sundays that I've been back, actually only was able to be back four of them because we got snowed out the first one. This is the third we've had weather issues which have altered our schedule. And I think we need to give a big thank you to one person who makes it possible for us to be here in this building this morning besides the Lord himself and that is Joey Simmons. Let's thank him. Joey has moved more snow than any man ought to have to move in a lifetime over these fast few weeks and that's the reason we're able to get into the parking lot and get into the building safely and I hope if you see him today you'll give him your thanks for that. He was the last time you were truly amazed at something. I'm talking about really being astonished at something. Maybe it was something you saw, maybe it was someone, maybe it was the beauty of nature as you looked up into the sky at night or maybe it was in some other way, you just saw something that astonished you and you were in awe of it. And for a few fleeting moments you were taken, you were breathless, you were unable to move maybe. Has that ever happened to you in church? Has it ever happened to you in your own private devotions as you spend time with God? The Bible word that best describes that concept which is at the heart of worship is the word wonder, to wonder, to be amazed at something, to be astonished, to be in awe, to wonder at something. You know children have a lot to teach us about wonder. Give a gift to a small child and watch their eyes. I will never forget a gift we gave to Missy when she was just about a year and a half old and we gave her a little Christmas gift and if I remember correctly it was very simple, it was just a little bunny rabbit, that little bell on it and you push a button and it shakes the bell and she just looked at that and her eyes got real wide and she would reach out and touch it. And there was just this wonder in her eyes. I will never forget that expression. Our little grandson Ruben is that way now with anything that resembles a ball. He's just about two years old and he loves throwing anything that's round. It might be a baseball, it might be an apple but when he sees something like it might be a nice glass decorative item but when he sees something round he goes for it and he says ball, ball and his eyes get real wide, might be a sister's head and he tries to get it ball and he tries to throw anything that's round. It's fascinated with it. You know the older we get the more we tend to lose that sense of wonder. The older we get the more we tend to lose not only wonder at things around us but wonder spiritually. Our wonder at God are all at being able to be in His presence. The older we get the more we get used to the songs and the more we get used to the Bible and the more we know about what we believe the more we lose that sense of awe, that sense of wonder. We're refocusing upon the purposes of the church and the first purpose we're going to talk about is we saw last week the real heart of what God wants for the church is worship and so that's where we begin today with the purpose of worship and I would suggest to you today that the real essence of worship is bound up in that word wonder. If there is no wonder there is no worship. If there is no awe and respect and wonder our eyes getting wide our jaw dropping at the awesomeness of God. If there's none of that then we probably have not truly worshipped. The real focus of worship is that wonder, that awe, that reverence, that astonishment at who God is and what He does. So let's take some time to focus upon worship and the wonder in worship this morning. I want to begin with the meaning of wonder. What are we talking about here? It's such a lost concept. I think we need a little bit of time to explore the concept itself. So let's begin with the word itself. The word itself, the English word wonder means amazement, surprise, astonishment, bewilderment, admiration, awe, fascination, all of those ideas are incorporated in that word wonder. But the Bible words are even more significant. I think if you have your outline in front of you, you have four Bible words all of which either are translated wonder or have the idea of wonder or being marvelous or something that is wonderful. The one Hebrew word in the Old Testament is the word Pele. It's not the soccer player, Pele, it's Pele. And Pele is a word which means literally astonishment. It talks about someone or something that is unusual, extraordinary, beyond human capability. And thus it causes astonishment in someone. It is used in the Old Testament of God's acts of redemption. It's used of God's acts of judgment. It's used in the Bible of Jerusalem as Jeremiah looked on the city after it was destroyed by the Babylonians and that beloved city as he describes it in the book of lamentations, his book of weeping over the destruction of the city. He describes it as being awestruck. He describes it as being something that was so astonishing. He was speechless at what had happened in the judgment of God upon that city. It's used in the Old Testament that word Pele, wonder, astonishment of what happens when we face severe trials. It's used of the word of God and it's used in the prophets of the Messiah. Look at this verse on the screen. Isaiah chapter 9 and verse 6, for unto us the child is born, to us the son is given and the government shall be upon his shoulders. And he will be called Pele, wonderful. It's not just, he's really nice, he's wonderful. No, no, that you missed the idea. That's what you think when you see that word. And it's not just that he's a great counselor, those two do go together, but the word wonderful is the word astonished at. We are bewildered when we behold him, when we look upon him, when we really encounter him, when we really come into his presence, we are awestruck, struck with a sense of wonder at who he is. He is wonderful. It is always the type of thing when we see that in the Old Testament, when we see God's works that cause for praise. Look at this verse Psalm 107 and verse 8, let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds, deeds which cause a response of amazement, of bewilderment, of all of wonder. Four times in that chapter, that verse is repeated. It's a wonderful chapter, by the way. It talks about different ways in which the Lord works and then summarizes each of them with this verse, give thanks, praise the Lord because of his awe-inspiring works. It's the type of thing that when we see it, it always calls for public testimony also. Look at this verse in Psalm 96 or Psalm 71, verses 17 and 18. It's my youth, O God, you have taught me into this day. I declare your, here it is, marvelous, deed, same word, pela. Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, O God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your might, to all who are to come. You see what the Psalmist is saying there? He's saying, even when I get old, I don't get over it. Don't get over it when you get old. Don't get used to the songs. Don't get used to the word. Don't get used to God. Even when we're old, we ought to be saying to the generation, the next generation, his deeds are all inspiring. His deeds, his works, still cause my jaw to drop open and my eyes to grow wide. I'm fascinated, I'm bewildered, I'm awestruck at who he is and what he does. Even when I am old, David says, I will not forget your marvelous deeds. I will still be awestruck and I will be in wonder at who you are and what you do. That's the Hebrew concept. In the New Testament, there are three separate words that are used for this concept of wonder, awe and amazement. The first one is the word tarash, you have it there in your notes. It's the word which literally means something strange, something that causes the beholder to marvel. It is used of God's work, 13 times, it is used of Satan's work, three times in the New Testament. Most often it is used in a combination with another word, signs and wonders. Look at this example, the next 243. Everyone was filled with awe and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. These are all inspiring deeds. These are miraculous deeds that God allows the apostles to do and everybody is filled with awe, with fear, with wonder in the early churches. They see these miraculous acts of God. The sign appeals to the intellect to give a demonstration of something, a proof of something. The wonder of it appeals to the imagination and we are awestruck at what God has done. Second word used in the New Testament is the word thombus. Thombus means amazement or astonishment. The word literally means to be rendered immovable. To be so awestruck, to be so amazed and astonished at something that is supernatural, that is clearly beyond explanation that you are rendered immovable. You are just stuck to your place. You cannot move. You are so astonished. This word is used in Luke 436. Jesus is in a synagogue. A man comes up to him and a demon speaks out of that man and says, who are you, the old son of God? We know who you are. You are the Holy One of God and Jesus the Bible says, spoke sternly to him. Be quiet. Come out of him. This was the response of the crowd when the demon threw that man to the ground and came out of him. All the people were, here is the word thombus, amazed. They could move. And they said to each other, what is this teaching? With authority and power, he gives orders to evil spirits and they come out. They were so amazed at what they had seen, a clear demonstration of the power of God. It is the same word used in Luke 5 and verse 9. When the disciples have been out fishing, Jesus tells them to go back out and drop the fish or the nets over the other side of the boat and they have catch fish and they catch a whole net full boatload full of fish. The Bible says when they came to the shore, he and all his companions, Peter and all his companions were astonished, astonished at the catch of the fish they had taken. They saw something that had no human explanation. Efficient night, they just fished all night. They caught nothing. And Jesus says, go back out and day time, just drop the net over the side of the boat, you catch a bunch. That defies all human explanation. It defies everything those fishermen knew about fishing. That's the reason they were so astonished. They couldn't move. Estonished at the work of God. The last word is the word thomadzo. It's a word which literally means to marvel or to wonder at. It's used for instance in Luke 233. The child's father and mother marveled at what was said about him. That's Mary and Joseph. Jesus has just been taken into the temple. He's eight days old. There's a ceremony that will be performed on him there. And Simon, the old man, comes up to him and says, here is the holy one of this shrill, the one who is a light for the Gentiles and for the glory of Israel. His father and mother marveled at what's being said about their little eight day old baby. Yes, they had been told by the angels who he was, but for a man in the temple to recognize that, they marvel. They are astonished at what's being said about him. It's the word that's used in Luke 8.25. There is your faith, he asks his disciples, in fear and amazement. There's the word amazement. They ask one another. Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water and they obey him. This is when they're crossing sea of Galilee and the storm comes up and Jesus comes and stills the waters and they are amazed. They are awestruck. They marvel at what has happened. What we're talking about here is something that is beyond the capability of man, something that is clearly God and thus causes amazement, astonishment, awe and humble praise. That is at the very essence of worship. And I want us to look for a few moments at some biblical examples. So if you open your Bible, please, you thought you weren't going to get to open your Bible today, right? You are Exodus chapter 3. Exodus chapter 3. We're going to look at four examples quickly of what it means to be in wonder of God, in awe and amazement of Him, astonished at Him. What happens when you really worship God? What happens when you really confront Him in His power and His glory? Moses found out in Exodus chapter 3, verse 1, Moses was tending the flock of Jethrough his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the desert and came to horror of the mount of God. There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire, it did not burn up. So Moses thought, I will go over and see this strange sight why the bush does not burn up. When the Lord saw that He had gone over to look, God called to Him from the bush, Moses. Moses. And Moses said, here I am. Do not come any closer. God said, take off your sandals for the place where you are standing is holy ground. Then He said, I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Now notice Moses' response. At this, Moses hid his face because he was afraid to look at God. This is what happens when you come face to face with God. This is what happens when you realize you are in his presence. Take your sandals off. You are in the presence of God and Moses' response is the hideous face in the presence of God. Moses found out what it is like to be an amazement, to wonder, to worship. So did Isaiah. Look at Isaiah chapter 6. Isaiah chapter 6 in the passage that is often thought of as the call of Isaiah to ministry. Isaiah 6, verse 1, in the year that King Yuziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs and jealous beings, each with six wings, with two wings, they covered their faces. Now wait a second, these are angels. These are beings who are always in the presence of God. Do they ever get used to it? No. Do they ever get used to the songs? Do they ever get used to the teachings? No, they never get used to it. They cover their faces with two. They covered their faces with two. They covered their feet with two. They were flying and they were calling to one another. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty, the whole earth is full of His glory. The repetition in Old Testament worship, holy, holy, holy, the repetition was a way of exorthing the majesty of God. One holy is not enough, holy, holy, holy. Don't ever get tired of repeating praise and worship courses. It's one of the complaints of people having against worship courses. Oh, those 7-11 songs, same 7 words, 11 times. That's fine with me. I'll take my place beside the angels. Do not cry, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. Repetition is the Hebrew worship way of saying, oh, God, you are too, you're got to majesty your too mighty, you're too great for me just to say, holy and go on. I'm going to abide in your presence and worship you with all of my heart, holy, holy, holy, verse 4, at the sound of their voices, the door posts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. Can you imagine that scene? We had an explosion near our house last Wednesday night, two of them in fact, at a motel just over the hill from where we live. And I'd just gotten home from church and putting things up and all of a sudden the house shook and there was this explosion. I'd tell you something, I was filled with wonder. I really was. I was awestruck. I ran to the window to see what in the world is happening out there. And I could see the glow of a fire and fire truck starting to come. And then another explosion and I felt the same way again. It just, I was jumping inside. Can you imagine? When these loud voices of worship explode to where the whole temple in heaven shakes. Can you imagine the response? Isaiah, here's his response, verse 5. Whoa, to me, I cried. I am ruined. For I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips and my eyes have seen the king, the Lord Almighty. This is the man who had just six times in the previous chapter said, whoa unto you in Judah because of your sin and he enumerates the sin of Judah and why they will go into captivity. Whoa, whoa, whoa is you, whoa is you, whoa is you and he sees God and he says, whoa is me. I am a sinner. I am a man of unclean lips. That's what happens when you see God. That's what happens when you realize you're in his presence. There is an awestruck wonder at the majesty of God. Isaiah saw it. Isaiah knew it. And so did Peter. So did Peter. Bless his heart. Let's go back to Luke 5 and that story that we saw a verse from a moment ago. In Luke 5 Peter knew what it was like to be in the presence of awesome power and presence of Christ. This is the story where as we mentioned Jesus tells them to go back out and drop their nets on the other side of the boat. Simon answered in verse 5, master we've worked hard all night, haven't caught anything but because you say so. I will let down the nets and when they had done so they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. Verse 7, so they signaled their partners and the other boat to come and help them and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink. Now look at verse 8, when Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus knees and said, go away from me Lord. I am a sinful man. So he and all his companions were astonished, astonished, amazed, filled with wonder, awestruck that the catch of fishes was it the fish, not one of the fish, it was the demonstration of the power of God, the power of Christ that Christ can speak and the fish obey him and jump into the net. Awesome power. Peter's response just like Moses, just like Isaiah, Lord, Lord, depart from me. I don't deserve to be in your presence. I am a sinful man. Peter knew what it was like to come into the presence of God. So did John. The Apostle John describes his own experience in Revelation chapter 1. If you look at that for a moment, Revelation chapter 1 and verses 12 through 17. This is on the Lord's day and John has been worshipping but he gets a little more than he bargained for. He says on the Lord's day I was in the Spirit in verse 10. I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet which said, right on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches and then he lists them. In verse 12, I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lamp stands. And among the lamp stands was someone, and he quotes from Daniel 7 here, like a son of man. It's a divine title. Like a son of man dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet with a golden sash around his chest. Try to get in your mind this picture. Verse 14, his head and hair were white like wool as white as snow. And his eyes were like blazing fires, feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace. His voice was like the sound of rushing waters like Niagara Falls. That's what he voice sounded like. His right hand he held seven stars and out of his mouth came a sharp double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance. Verse 17, when I saw him I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said, do not be afraid. I am the first. In the last I am the living one. I was dead and behold I am alive forever and ever and I hold the keys of death and Hades. John knew what it was like to be in the presence of awesome display, glory, power. And he fell at his feet as though he were dead. Mercy me. And temporary Christian band has captured this thought in their song. I can only imagine surrounded by your glory, talking about when they get to heaven, surrounded by your glory. What will my heart feel? Will I dance for you, Jesus? Or in all of you be still? Will I stand in your presence? Or to my knees will I fall? Will I sing hallelujah? Will I be able to speak at all? I can only imagine. I can only imagine. You can only imagine. We cannot fully grasp what it will be like to be in the presence of God. But if these biblical examples give us any indication of what it will be like, then we will fall at his knees. We will fall at his feet. We will be silent, unable to speak. The jaws drop, eyes wide, at the awesome display of the glory of God in the presence of Christ. That is what it means to worship God. That's what it means to love Christ in worship. It is that awesome, awestruck wonder. But we live in a day of the absence of wonder. There is no wonder around us in our world anymore. We live in a space age. We built rockets. We built space shuttles. We've tracked across the surface of the moon. We've explored far-flung planets and sent probes out into outer space. We've seen TV documentaries that show the moment of conception and the development of a baby throughout nine months in a mother's womb. We've seen the eruption of a volcano. We've seen flowers grow. We've seen fish spawn. We've seen things in nature that people only use to wonder at. But we've figured it out. We've got scientific names for it. We've got explanations for it. We've looked at the intricacies of a cell. We've mapped the human genome. We have a world of information at the click of a mouse in our day. Just Google it. You'll get three million sites on whatever you want to know about. Go to YouTube. You'll find it somewhere. You can watch it. Then put it on Facebook and two thousand of your friends will comment on what they think about it. There's no wonder left anymore in our world. We've explained everything. Science is given a name for it, a formula for it, an explanation for it. So there's nothing left to wonder at. But the same thing has happened in our worship. Not just in our world. We've done the same thing in our worship. What is there left to wonder about? We know all about God. Because we know our Bible so well. We study. We listen to sermons. We go to Bible studies. We slip in our CDs and listen to the greatest preachers and teachers in the world. We get them on the radio. We get them on television. If you have on television, you've got to watch the television. That's kind of a bad deal there with TV of angels. But anyway, we read their books. They explain everything there is to know about God and about how to live the Christian life. We have outlined our Bibles. We have analyzed God's attributes. We have charted the ages. We have got it down on. There's no wonder left. There's no amazement left. We have a scientific approach to knowing God in our day. We thrive on definitions and analyses and outlines and charts and formulas. There's nothing left to wonder about about God. So the preacher is supposed to explain everything. Then he's supposed to be able to answer every question. And we're embarrassed if we can't answer every question. angels were supposed to know everything there is to know about the Bible and everything there is to know about God. We've developed systems to put it all in. Our theological systems and things that we don't know exactly how to explain. We cram them into our system somehow because we got our systems and our theological charts and our prophetic schemes. It's got to be under our control. It's got to all fit in somewhere. And we've lost a sense of wonder, of wonder in God, of just amazement at Him. And we've lost the true sense of worship. So I want to take for a few moments to call us to wonder, to call us to refocus on wonder. Please don't misunderstand what I've just said. This is not a call to ignorance. I'm not suggesting we put our minds in neutral when we worship. I'm not suggesting that we stop studying the scriptures and learning all we can learn about God so that we can rightfully give an answer for the people who ask a reason for the hope that's in us. That's in the Bible too. I'm not suggesting that we stop studying. I'm not suggesting we throw away all our books in discount twenty centuries of theological learning and Bible study. I'm not suggesting that. But I am suggesting that in the midst of that we not lose our sense of wonder at God. That we not lose our sense of awestruck, job-dropping, eye-widening, expression and response to God, falling on our knees before Him, on our face before Him. I'm calling us to learn that there are some things we cannot understand. There are some things about God we will never be able to explain. And we just need to marvel at Him and wonder at Him and worship Him for the great God that He is. So I want to issue a call today. And really I'm not issuing the call. The Bible has already done that. I want to call our attention briefly to three calls to wonder. We're going to look first of all that David's call to wonder in Psalm 8. And I want us to visualize this. Not just read it and hear it. So we're going to watch this one on the screen. The call to wonder that David gives in Psalm 8. O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name and all of the earth. Use that your glory be seen in the heavens above. From the mouths of babes and infants, you have established a fortress of strength to still be enemy and quiet the adventure. When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have set into place, what is man that you are mindful of Him, the Son of Man that you care for Him. You may have a little lower than the angels and ground Him with glory and honor. You have given Him dominion over the works of your hands. You have put all things under His feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the earth, the birds of heaven, the picture of the sea, and more ever passes along the path of such a trees. O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name and all of the earth. Just think of that. All that God has put in this universe, all that He has put in this world, draws attention to His glory, His awesome power, and we ought to wonder at all, wonder at all, and all of that He has placed under our dominion every attempt to understand the Scriptures, every attempt of scientific endeavor to explore His universe is really exercising the dominion that God has given us to find out what He has put in creation and to glorify Him, to bow before His presence in an awestruck wonder at who He is. That should be the result of every scientific endeavor David's call to wonder. Look at the call of Christ for us to wonder in Matthew chapter 18, Matthew 18. I think at least part of what Jesus has in mind here is the very concept we're talking about with wonder, wonder. Matthew chapter 18, verse 1, at that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, who was the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? He called a little child and had Him stand among them. And He said, I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore whoever humbles Himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Now there's a lot that Jesus meant there no doubt. It is the simple trust of a child that accepts at least at very early ages what is said at face value. But I believe it is also there's something here perhaps what Jesus part of what He had in mind was that a child's life is filled with wonder and amazement with new discoveries, with the opportunity to find new things. Have you ever watched a child look at a flower? Have you ever watched a child's fascination with a bug? I mean, they pick it up and eat it next, but at least they're fascinated with it. They're amazed by it. That kind of fascination, wonder, ability to be amazed at what a child sees is at least a part of what Jesus is talking about here. Is it any wonder that in Matthew chapter 21 when Jesus is teaching in the temple, it is the children who sing, Hosanna to the Lord, and it was the theologically trained adults, the scribes and Pharisees who tried to push, push, shut them down. Is it any wonder? Researchers tell us that a child's creativity, imagination and wonder, diminished 90% between ages 5 and 7, 90% between ages 5 and 7. By the time we are 40 years old, we have 2% of the creativity left that we did at age 5. We don't let it happen to you spiritually because we tend to drift the same direction spiritually. We tend to lose the sense of wonder at God, the awestruck, amazement at how powerful and glorious our God is. We tend to get used to it, and by the time we're 40 or 50 or 60, we're so used to it that we can just sing the songs and never even think about them much less, recognize that we are singing praise to an awesome God. And our heart is no longer engaged, we're calloused to the wonder of God, and we are in His presence. Worship, worship. Look at the call of Paul in Romans chapter 11, Romans chapter 11 verses 33 through 36. For all of His theological brilliance, Paul never lost sense of the wonder at God's work after three deep chapters on God's sovereignty. In Romans chapter 9, especially, but also 10 and 11 are enough to challenge the sharpest theological minds about the sovereignty of God after three very deep chapters talking about God. Notice what He does in verse 33. Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God, how insuriable His judgments and His paths beyond tracing out who has known the mind of the Lord or who has been His counselor, who has ever given the God that God should repay Him for from Him and through Him and through Him are all things to Him be glory forever. Amen. At the end of this tremendous theological passage, Paul breaks out into a hymn, a doxology of praise. May we never lose the ability to move from theology to doxology, from Bible teaching and Bible understanding to the awesome praise of God, an awesome, wonderful God, a marvelous God. That was Paul and this is His call to wonder. Now wonder is a very amazing thing in worship. Worship is an amazing expression of love for God and let me just mention the balance that we need in this wonder. We need a balance between attitude and action. As of all reverence, praise and actions that may demonstrate them. Would you look at these two verses in Nehemiah chapter 8. Ezra opened the book, opened the Word of God, the Old Testament Scriptures. All the people could see because he was standing above them and as he opened it, the people all stood up. It's not forced, it's not mechanical, but they just stood up because they saw He had the book of God. Ezra praised the Lord, the great God, and all the people lifted their hands and responded, Amen, Amen. Then they bowed down and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground. You notice three different physical postures in those two verses. When He opens the Word of God, they immediately stand to their feet, its reverence and awe. Now I know that can be forced, I know that can be mechanical, it can become another part of a worship service, this is done and we don't think about it. These people weren't told to do that. They just in reverence and awe stood at the Word of God. Then they lifted their hands as they responded to the Word of God. The lifting of the hands in Hebrew culture was the way they approached God by like a little child lifting up hands to daddy to father, to be helped, to make a request. They lifted their hands in worship and in prayer and then they bowed on their faces before God. If it does nothing else, passages like that in Scripture ought to at least give us an appreciation for other styles of worship which we may not be accustomed to. The exuberance, shout, or at least an occasional amen. That's not bad. There's nothing sinful about that. The lifting of the hands to worship and God nothing sinful about that. The falling on our face before God, nothing sinful about that. And I realize there must be a balance there and that's what I'm talking about because all of those things can become showy, emotionalism, or empty formalism. But there can be and should be a balance between attitude and action. Secondly, there should be a balance between truth and experience. John 4.24 says, God is Spirit. His worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth. Yes, we must worship according to truth. That's the truth of God's Word, the objective, external Word of God which comes to us and tells us how our worship ought to be. But we also ought to worship in spirit and that's not the Holy Spirit. That's our human spirit. That is worshiping him with all that we are, with all that we have to bring to him, with all of our hearts, soul, mind, and strength, loving him, adoring him. That's worshiping with all of our spirit. That's what they're important and we should keep them in balance. In our circles we have placed such emphasis on Bible knowledge that we're in danger of ignoring the personal spiritual experience of worship. Please don't misunderstand me. We don't base our theology on experience but neither should we divorce our Bible knowledge from our experience and from our heart. We need to know what we believe and then we ought to feel that as we express it to God, we ought not to come out of us with just empty hearts, callous hearts, minds that are not even engaged in thinking. It ought to flow out of us in wonder at a transcendent mighty God. That's the balance we need to have. And then there needs to be a balance between adoration and reverence, the ability to adore God, to love him but not get too chummy. To balance that with reverence and awe and the attitudes like we saw in the examples of Scripture, of hiding your face, Lord, I don't deserve to be in your presence. It's not throwing your arms around him and saying, hey buddy, now there should be adoring of him, yes, but there should always be a reverence of him. There are two verses that describe that balance so well, we'll put him quickly on the screen. That is Romans 1133 that we saw earlier. All the depth of the riches and the wisdom and knowledge of God, how insurcheable his past beyond tracing out, we cannot fully understand and know him. And then Ephesians 319. And to know the love that surpasses knowledge, you ever thought about that phrase? Sounds like a contradiction, doesn't it? To know the love that surpasses knowledge. How can you know something that surpasses knowledge? We can know a little bit of it and we can know more of it but we'll never know all of it because it surpasses knowledge that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. There must be a balance. Now what are we asking of ourselves? What are we wanting Johnson Chapel to look like as regards to worship? What's the how to? How can you participate in worship? If worship really means a wonder and amazement and awestruck sense of the presence of God, how should we worship? We are saying what we should do when we come is to participate in the worship service. Participate in the worship service. Not just come, not just sit, actively participate in the worship service. Now the Sunday morning service is our service that focuses mostly on worship. Our Sunday evening service will focus on fellowship. Our Wednesday evening service will focus on discipleship. Learning more of the deep truths of the word of God. But Sunday morning is the service we want to focus on worship. So when we come, we're asking all of us, including the pastors, all of us, we are leading in worship. And so we are to be worshiping too. We are to be fully engaged in drawing near to God, recognizing we're in His presence and participating, not just sitting and doing, but participating in the worship service. There are several means that we use in worship services to draw us into the presence of God. Singing is one of them. So when we come to a worship service, we ought to sing with all of our hearts. Remember, worship is loving God with all of our hearts so mind and strength. We ought to sing with all of our hearts. You say, John, you don't want to hear me sing. Well, if everybody's singing with all of our hearts, I won't hear you. Okay, so this is all sing with all of our hearts expressing our praise to God. When we sing, are we really praising Him? Are we really adoring Him? Are we expressing our love to Him? Are we expressing the testimony of our own heart to Him? Are we really engaged in what we're doing? Are we surrendering all to Him when we sing? Singing is just a means to draw us into that heartfelt surrender and all in worship of God. And praying is another when we pray, when someone leads us in prayer. What are you doing? What are you doing? When we have a prayer time in a church service, getting your notes together and getting your coat on, getting ready to go, things are finished, right? No, no, no, no. We're in the presence of God. We're in His presence. We ought to be awestruck at His presence. Because someone leads us in prayer. We ought to be praying along with Him, really talking to God, aware that we're in His presence. That's worship. Giving is another means that we use. When we give to God, are we doing it with a heart of gratitude? Is it really an act of surrender of ourself to Him? Like the Macedonians did in 2 Corinthians 8 where Paul says they first of all gave themselves to God and then they gave what they had to us. In the offering, we ought to be giving ourselves to God in a all-out surrender and our giving of what He has blessed us with to be able to do His work is just a symbol. It's just an evidence of the giving of ourselves and our hearts and then attention to the word. When we give attention to the word, are we really saying, God, what are you saying to me? What do you want of me? I want to look for you in your word today. I want to worship you in your word. We ought to be what we're doing, participating in a worship service and that ought to be true of both contemporary and traditional services. The style doesn't matter. Really doesn't. The style is of no matter to God. What He wants is people, whether it's the hymns or the worship choruses and contemporary songs, whether it's with the drums and guitars or with a piano and organ. I don't think God's concerned about what instruments we use. If you worry, we would have told us exactly what we're supposed to use in the Bible. We probably would be using salt, rean harp and tambourines and all that stuff in Psalm 150. I don't think that matters to God. What God wants to see is whether you're singing a hymn or a contemporary song that your heart is in it, that you're really praising Him and worshipping Him. We want to do all we can to make both types of services better. To make them opportunities for us to really draw near to God, be in His presence and be awestruck with the awesome nature of who God is, that will be when we worship. But we're not only asking you to participate in worship services, we're asking you to develop personal worship disciplines. Worship happens beyond these four walls. Corporate worship is when we're together. But there ought to be a development of personal worship in your life as well, all of our lives. I'm talking about a regular personal practice of worship, of reading the Word of God in your home, of spending some time in prayer, maybe singing a song to the Lord just by yourself, a giving of yourself to God, developing those worship patterns and disciplines in your own life. It doesn't have to be two or three hours. Start somewhere and begin to develop worship disciplines in your own life. Be open to Him, speaking, teaching your heart, showing up in your own quiet time and being drawn into the presence of God. It won't happen every day. If you're expecting that, you'll give up quickly. But if you're watching for it, there will be times when He will show up in ways that amaze you and you will worship Him in those personal times. If there is no wonder, I'm convinced there's no worship. If we have lost the ability to wonder at God, to be amazed and all-struck at Him, then we probably don't understand what it means to worship Him. Worship at its very root involves an awe and amazement of God, something that we can never get used to realizing that His knowing Him and all about Him is far deeper than we will ever go. And so we never come to a level where it should become routine to us, where our heart should become calloused. But we are always filled with wonder and awe at who He is. Would you worship God in that way? Would you come into His presence with that sense of nearness? I hope we all will. That's bad together, please. Father, thank you. For who you are, that you are the awesome, amazing God. And yet you are mindful of us. May our response be like David's, what is man that you're mindful of Him? May we truly learn better what it means to worship you in spirit and in truth, in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.