Hello and welcome back to Cultivating Growth. We want to thank everyone for joining us this week. Jeremy and I are going to be talking about how we can grow in our worship. All of us as followers of Christ have not just an opportunity, but a responsibility to worship God and to do so, as Jesus says, in spirit and in truth.

We're going to talk about how we can grow in our worship. In our worship this week. And so with that, let's get to it. 

Well, John, when we spend the time talking about God and and who he is and we think about worship it, it.  Should be one of those things that should come very easily, very naturally to us, right? We understand who he is and we understand what he's done and and he is to be Adored because of that he is to be revered because of that and and those kind of ideas  a lot to do with worship, you know, but it is interesting that you could go all the way back into the pages of the Old Testament.

And pretty early on, it's still something that God talked to his people about. And not just talked to his people about in generalities. It's interesting that he talks to them even in specifics on how they are to go about worshiping him. And so you see that again in the page of the Old Testament with the old law, and in the pages of the New Testament when it comes to, you know, his church.

One other thing I'll say kind of here at the beginning, I think it's also interesting that you can look at passages like Matthew chapter 15  that will make sense. You know, a specific reference to vain worship or, you know, Colossians chapter two, which will make reference to selfish worship. You know, that tells us that worship can be something that God isn't interested in.

And so because of that,  We have to make sure that our worship is where God would, you know, would certainly have it intended to be. Yeah, that was one thing that stood out to me, too, when I was thinking about this and looking at what the Bible has to say about worship. You're absolutely right. There is no denying that Scripture will teach us that worship can be done wrong.

And if worship can be done wrong, then that means that there must be a right way to do it. To worship as well, and we, we have examples of, of worship being done wrong. You mentioned Matthew chapter 15 verses eight and nine, where Jesus is quoting from Isaiah and he says that you, they can be worshiping in vain if their heart isn't in the right place.

When they do that. We have another example in Acts chapter 10, when Cornelius bows down to worship Peter when he comes and Peter says, no, get up. I'm just a man. I'm not one to be worshiped. And we have an example in first Samuel chapter 15, where Saul took it upon himself to offer sacrifices to God that he should not have offered.

He should have waited on Samuel to do that. He took it upon himself to do that. God was displeased because of that. He was trying to worship. He was trying to offer sacrifices to God, but he was going about it the wrong way. And so we have examples all over the place of worship being done incorrectly.

That means that God has expectations of how we are to worship. And so we have to give serious consideration to that to make sure we are worshiping appropriately. That's why at the outset, I pointed to John chapter four, where Jesus there tells us. And that we are to worship in spirit and in truth, we have to give serious thought to, am I worshiping in spirit?

And am I worshiping in truth? Because if I'm not, then I could be guilty of worshiping incorrectly. I may be claiming to worship and glorify God, but if I'm not doing that the way that he has asked me to, then I can be guilty of worshiping incorrectly, like we see.  And we know this is important to God. We see, you know, in the way that he, uh, phrases it.

I mean, you can look at the very beginning of, you know, what is the Ten Commandments in Exodus chapter 20. And in a lot of ways, those first few, several commandments, all center around worship to Jehovah and to Jehovah alone. And if there's going to be worship, and I wish everyone listening could see, you know, I'm using air quotes, right?

But if there's to be worship to any other entity or any other thing, it isn't worship, right? It isn't what God is looking for. But we also know that it's serious to God with how he, you know, has, uh, He responded to various worship. He made mention of Saul, and certainly God made mention of his displeasure with that.

But you can literally go back nearly to the very, very beginning with Cain and Abel. You know, you have Cain and Abel when, you know, Abel offers a sacrifice that God is pleased with. Cain does not. And Cain is known by God that that is not acceptable. You can go to Nadab and Abihu in a very similar kind of way. 

And, uh, God strikes them, even. I mean, you know, and so you're able to see from God and the way he responds to worship that not just that there is a right or wrong, but yet this is a serious thing. And, you know, we've made mention of Matthew 15 a couple of times, and, you know, it's, it is interesting because as Jesus is quoting that, it certainly must have been relevant in that moment that he's using that example.

But he's drawing directly from Isaiah when it says, In the moment you had the Israelites who were seemingly from the outside worshiping God the way that they should be worshiping, but yet because their heart was not in it, God is, he says, that's not just bad worship or less than worship. It is vain or empty, meaningless worship.

And so God's response. Often even tells us how serious it is to them. Yeah. And I think you hit on something that's really important on this topic. Worship is an action. Worship is a verb. It means to do reverence or to express reverence and adoration. It, it is an action on our part. And that means if we're just.

Kind of engaged. That means we're not truly worshiping. I'm not expressing my adoration to God. I'm not showing him full reverence. If I'm just kind of sitting in a pew and I'm around people who are worshiping, therefore I went to worship today. Uh, that, that shows a really a lack of understanding of what worship truly is.

Worship demands our full engagement. We should be, we should be tired after a morning of worship. When we come together on the first day of the week to worship God collectively, it should take something out of us because we have been so engaged and so active in our participation of worship. I am expressing my adoration to God and showing Him full reverence in that period of time.

Amen. And I think if, if we approached worship more as something that we are actively engaged in, as opposed to a spectator of worship, that would change our perception of really what it means to be engaged in a worship assembly. I am an activist. active participant in this. There is no bystander when it comes to worship, not one that God is going to be pleased with anyway.

And I think understanding that word and understanding what it really means helps us engage ourselves more. And just ask yourself that simple question, on Sunday morning when you go to worship, are you going with the mindset of, I'm going to go, I'm going to listen to people sing, and I'm going to listen to somebody preach, and I'm going to listen to somebody teach Bible class. 

That, that's a spectator mindset. Whereas, am I going to truly engage myself? in showing reverence and adoration to God today. That's what worship is truly calling us to do. Yeah, I mean, that examination is important. I mean, you have Ecclesiastes chapter 5, when, you know, the writer there is talking, you know, about the vows that we're going to take and that we need to take those things seriously.

But he really begins that idea with, you know, when he says we need to be careful. We need to be prepared when we're approaching God. Good walk. Prudently when you go to the house of God, that's the new King James. That's what you and I both use. But the new America standard ESV both uses guard your steps.

So you have to be thoughtful. You've got to be prepared. And, you know, I love the point that you make about, you know, that worship should take it out of us because, and it should take it out of us because It takes all that we have to worship God the way that he intends for us to worship God. You made mention already of John chapter 4 and, you know, that we are to worship in spirit and in truth.

And I think one of the points that's being made there is that, listen, it is a spiritual thing that's taking place. God is spirit and it is a spiritual thing that takes place. And so, you know, that is certainly a part of it. But yet also, it's Physical it, it physically takes, you know, some things of me when it comes to, I've got to be locked in physically, but worship also is something I've got to be locked in mentally.

I've got to be engaged mentally, but also I've got to be locked in emotionally. I mean, I've got to engage every piece of who I am.  into worship, or I run the risk of it being vain or run the risk of it being selfish. And so when I'm engaging all that I am spiritually, physically, mentally, intellectually, emotionally, it takes all of those things and none of those things  can be left behind.

And I think ultimately, you know, culturally and the religious world, we're leaving those pieces behind. But all of those things, they all have to be engaged simultaneously. And don't you think that the more we  value the relationship that we have with God and the more we grow in our understanding of who he is and what he has done for us, then our worship.

worship becomes more fruitful as a result of that. It's much easier for me to engage in active worship to God when I have an intimate, meaningful relationship with Him. And I truly understand what He has done for me and who He is.  My understanding of that grows and as it does my desire to worship him grows.

The, the idea of the idea of waking up on Sunday morning and thinking, you know, man, I'm kind of tired today. I'm not sure I really want to go. And, you know, the football this afternoon, and I got to be ready for that. When we understand who God is and what he's done for us, and we have an intimate relationship. 

We're gonna be jumping out of bed Sunday morning. We can't wait to join with other brothers and sisters in Christ to worship Him because we truly understand who He is and what He's done for us. And so if we're struggling with our engagement in worship, and I think we maybe need to take a step back and say, Well, what is my relationship with God really like?

What is my understanding of who He is and what He's done for me really like? What is my relationship with His Word? Yeah. Like because just forcing ourselves to go through the motions isn't going to aid in our growing in worship. We have to grow in our relationship with God and that is then going to lead to growth when it comes to our worship.

I mean, you think about God and you think about, you know, He is always thinking about what is best for us. And you know, the point that you make, well, what is the best thing for my relationship with God is worship and growing, cultivating that growth when it comes to worship. That's what's best for my relationship with him.

But, you know, think about worship can be a very personal thing and I can privately and all by myself. You know, give God worship, give him glory. But yet he also calls upon us to do it collectively as a part of his church. And that's a part of, uh, of what we are as a church, that we are to gather together to engage in worship.

And, you know, he does that. Certainly, to give us opportunity to glorify him, to think about him, to get closer to him. But yet you look at other passages, specifically 1 Corinthians chapter 14, where you do have, you know, points made about that worship collectively, that it needs to be in order, that it needs to not be chaos, that God is a God of order.

But it also makes the point that it is also to be done because of edification. That, you know, again, God is looking out. for what is best for us. And so he says, you know, here is an opportunity that sure our relationship, God and man can grow. But yet at the same time, it's also a moment that we can build each other up.

And so I think that really showcases,  you know, the greatness of God and his understanding of what we need that, you know, engaging and full on locked in worship is the best for us. In all kinds of capacities, and you're right, I mean, we can go back to, you know, the reality. Well, I mean, we should be spent at the end of worship if all of who we are is engaged.

And you, you know, you hit on an important topic, and maybe here towards the end we can just kind of clarify this. A lot of what we've been talking about this, uh, Today has been our collective worship or our corporate worship. I don't really like that term, but collective worship where we come together as the Lord's body to worship.

But, but you're absolutely right. When, when we look at what worship is expressing reverence and adoration to God, we can do that individually. We can, we can do that. We're going to gather together tonight to sing, uh, together. We can worship him in that way. There's a lot of different ways in which we can worship.

The Bible talks about. worship in different ways, including the collective assembly of the saints to worship him. But the the one thing that ties each of those together is worship is intentional. We don't worship accidentally. We don't stumble into worship. Worship requires intentionality on our part because it is a very active.

It is a very active thing that we're engaged in. It's not something we do passively or on accident, but something that we do intentionally. And we need to do so at all times. Anytime we are going to engage in worship, whatever that may look like, we do it with our full hearts and our minds engaged, recognizing that we're giving praise to God.

Yeah, but let's build upon that. As we close with a passage, Deuteronomy chapter six, verses four and five, a passage that it was important to God. Then Jesus quotes specifically from it in Matthew chapter 22. So it was certainly important to him. But in a lot of ways, even though the word worship isn't there, it is everything that our worship is to be.

And so in Deuteronomy chapter six, verses four and five, the text there says, Here, O Israel, the Lord, our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. 

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