Ron Dunn Podcast - What Is Worship

Episode Date: February 27, 2019

From the sermon series on Exodus

Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb. And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. And he looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. And Moses said, I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I. And he said, Draw not nigh hither, put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the

God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God." I am going to bring to you tonight a sermon on a dull subject. I almost hear somebody say out there, I thought all sermons were on dull subjects. I want to preach to you tonight on worship. And the word worship itself to a great many people is a very dull subject, mainly because the worship of most people is dull. I remember several years ago hearing a preacher say, The reason most people don't like to go to church services is the same reason they don't like to go to funerals, because it's sad.

And most of us, when we think about the word worship, we think of people sitting in a beautiful edifice with folded hands and long faces, a robed choir singing highfalutin songs, and the preacher having a lot to say about nothing in particular. And I think the average man in the street, that's his conception of worship, and most people don't get too excited about it. I don't think that's the case here. I think most of us have tasted real worship to a certain degree,

and to us it is not dull. And you know, worship in the New Testament was not dull at all. The early church, there was absolutely nothing dull about their worship services. You never knew what was going to happen. You never knew when the Lord might come back, or when Ananias Sapphira might drop dead, or when Eutychus might fall out of the balcony and break his neck and Paul raise him from the dead. You just never knew what might happen.

And it seems to me that there was an air of excitement and enthusiasm about the worship of the early church. And true worship experience is always the power of God released in an individual. It seems to me that most Christians today do not know how to really worship because we do not really know what worship is. And I am convinced that when the Church discovers how to worship God, they will discover the key to power. I have been doing a little studying lately in this matter of worship in the Word of God, and I find some very interesting things about this matter of worshiping. I find that worship is the object of our salvation, that we are saved in order that we might worship

God. That the highest act of service that a Christian can render to God is worship. Worship itself is service, where we glory in the Lord Jesus Christ and worship by the Spirit and have no confidence in the flesh. We worship in spirit and in truth. And the object of our salvation is that we might worship the Lord. It is the occasion of victory. Just this past week, I read again that marvelous account

in the book of Joshua where the Israelites completely overwhelmed the city of Jericho. No military strategist in history would have bought that plan of battle that God gave to the Israelites that day. And as you read that account and you see the children of Israel doing something strange naturally to the people of Jericho as they probably watched it, every day they would just get in a long line, a procession, and they would march around,

march around the city. And the priests were there. And following the priests, there were these strangely dressed men bearing a box, an ark. And the people would just follow, just march, just march. On the seventh day, they did it seven times,

blew the trumpets and gave a shout. You know what they were doing? They were just worshiping God. That's all they were doing. And as they worshiped God, the walls of Jericho fell and they became victorious. And on and on you go through the word of God and you discover that worship is the occasion of victory

in the Christian's life. Second Chronicles chapter 20, Jehoshaphat, when he met the armies of the enemies of Israel, and he said, their might is too much. We don't know what to do. And if we had the might, we wouldn't know what to do with it. But Lord, our eyes are upon thee. And God said, here's what you do with it. You just take all the musicians, you take the singers, and you take the instruments, and you put them before all the soldiers, and you go out and you shout, praise the Lord. And as they shouted and as they praised the Lord, God came in and completely defeated the enemy. What did they do? They just worshiped the Lord. That's all. They just worshiped the Lord. I really believe that most of us would be

surprised tonight to discover that all the defeats in our Christian life, we would find victory over them if we ever learned how to worship God. Worship is the occasion for victory. I discovered something else exciting. Worship is the occupation of the redeemed in glory. I love to read the Revelation. I don't understand all of it. I sometimes think the more I read it, there's more I don't understand than there is I do understand. But I tell you, there's one thing, one passage that I really understand that just thrills me, and that's in Revelation chapter 5 when you see that host and the four and twenty elders bowing down before the Lamb upon the throne and saying, Worthy, worthy is the Lamb that was slain, for thou hast redeemed us unto God by thy

blood. Worship. Worship. And they worship the Lamb day and night forever. They worship the Lamb. That's the occupation of the redeemed in heaven. Say you'd better learn how to worship because that's what you're going to be doing forever and ever and ever. I think if most people thought that's what they're going to be doing in heaven, they wouldn't sign up for the trip.

Worship. Worship was the occasion for victory in Moses' life. Moses was in the place of defeat. He was in the desert. Now this is a strange place to have a worship service. He's in the desert on the backside of the desert while he's going about his daily task of being a shepherd. And this leading sheep and being a shepherd for his father-in-law in the desert is Moses' place of defeat.

You know the story how he tried to take God's work in his own hands and do the Lord's work in the devil's way, and then God had to just remove him from the scene. He had to flee to the desert, and for 40 years he kept his father-in-law's flocks. The scene of defeat. It was worship that got Moses recommissioned and got him out of the desert back into the service of the Lord. What a tremendous worship experience Moses had there.

As I was reading along this passage anew just a few moments ago, I made another note, a thought that just came to me. It's an amazing thing. You can worship anywhere. If you can worship on the backside of a desert and meet God and have a life-transforming experience on the backside of the desert, then you can worship on the backside of a desert and meet God and have a life-transforming experience on the backside of the desert, then you can worship God anywhere. And it reminded me of a verse in 1 Corinthians 3

that says that my body is the temple of the Holy Ghost. And the same thing in 1 Corinthians 6, where it says that my body is the temple of the Holy Ghost. And the Greek word translated temple refers to that inner sanctum, that holy of holies. And my body has become the holy of holies for the Spirit of God who dwells within me. My body is a temple.

That means that it is a place of worship and that I can worship God anytime. Worship is not something you do at church. Worship is something that you do at church. Worship is something that a Christian experiences every day of his life as he is in tune to the indwelling Holy Spirit of God. You are not dependent upon places or circumstances or preachers or buildings or choirs to worship God when you recognize that the Spirit of God dwells within you and you worship

him because your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost. I think that more than anything else I want to learn how to worship the Lord Jesus Christ, to worship him in spirit and in truth. What does it mean to worship God? What is true worship? Most of you were here this morning. You attended a worship service. I wonder if we really worshiped the Lord. Did we really worship him? It seems to me that in this incident there are three ingredients to true worship. I want to share them with you briefly. 1. Worship is my responding to God's call.

Let's read again the first the midst of a bush. And he looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. And Moses said, I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush and said, Moses, Moses, and he said, Here am I. Moses worshiped God because he simply responded to God's call.

Now this is important. The act of worship begins not with man, but it begins with God. Just as in salvation God takes the initiative, so in the act of worship God takes the initiative. The most important thing about worship tonight is not how many people we have here. And you ought not to come to worship God simply because we want to have a new goal set next Sunday. The most important thing about worship is that God himself has called us to turn aside and to worship him. That's why we ought to

be here. We have come because God has put within us an impulse, a hunger, and a thirsting, a craving to know God and to reach out for God. Now the amazing thing is that even the heathen have this, and they don't know what to call it. They have an emptiness, but they do not know what to label it. For Paul says in Romans chapter 1 that even the pagans, even though they have never heard the name of Jesus yet, that which may be known of God is revealed unto them. The Godhead in all of its power has been revealed unto them. Every man is born with a heart reaching out for God. And God is constantly giving calls, and God is constantly giving impulses

and initiating a call for us to worship. Worship is simply when I hear the call and I sense the call of God to turn aside, is to turn aside and worship him. With Moses, God used a burning bush. It caught his attention. Moses saw a strange sight in the desert, the bush that was burning, but yet it was not consumed. And so he turned aside. You know how God gets our attention? Do you know what your burning bush is? It is that Holy Spirit who dwells within us. That's my burning bush. And God

grabs my attention, and that indwelling Spirit takes hold of me and creates a desire in me to worship. And this is why it is so important for us to understand that our body is the temple of the Holy Ghost. The Lord does not dwell in buildings made with hands. He dwells in our bodies, and our body is the temple of the Holy Ghost. That means that wherever I am, there's a worship service going on, if I understand it right. If I understand the scriptures properly, wherever I am, a worship service ought to be going on in my heart,

because the Spirit of God is there revealing Jesus Christ to me. You know, this is an exciting thing. I never will forget the first time God taught me this. And I always knew that my body was the temple of the Holy Spirit, but I never will forget some years ago, as I went downtown one day, and I had a long walk. I was going to a certain store, and I couldn't find a parking place within about 70,000 blocks, it seemed. And I had to park all the way at the other end of Commerce Street. So I began to walk up. It was on a Saturday afternoon,

and it was such a long walk. What to do while you are walking? But something inside of me just seemed to say, Why don't you just worship the Lord as you walk?" As I walked those many, many blocks of that certain place, I just began to worship the Lord. My body is the temple of the Holy Ghost. My body is the sanctuary. I don't like calling a building a sanctuary. I just don't. There's nothing wrong with it, but I don't like to call the building a sanctuary.

The building is not the sanctuary. My body is the sanctuary. That's where God dwells. And as I began walking up that street, I began worshiping the Lord. And to myself, just praising Him, and worshiping Him, and loving Him, and adoring Him, and quoting Scripture.

And I want you to know, I had the most glorious walk I've ever had in my life. God was as real to me, walking up and down that sidewalk, as He's ever been in my life. God was there. He was in that place and the burning bush within me called me to turn aside from everything else that I was doing and just worship him. Worship is a response to God's call. Now, the two things about this call that are important. First of all, it's a personal call. Notice he says, Moses, Moses. You know, you don't worship God in a crowd.

And this is the one thing that I get concerned about Sunday after Sunday, is that many of us come and we're lifted up. We're born on the wings of a congregation. And worship never becomes a personal, individual matter to us. Unless you meet God personally, have a person face-to-face encounter with God, you have not worshipped. You need to know this. You need to understand this. That simply coming and singing and standing up when everybody else stands up and sitting down when everyone else sits down, listening to the preacher and going away, that is not worship. That is not worship.

I find that every time in the Bible somebody worshipped God, they were never the same after that. Moses was never the same after this. This was the turning point in Moses' life. He had a genuine personal encounter with God. Now, did you worship when you came to church this morning? Did you have a personal encounter with Jesus? Did you? You can be in a crowd, and this is why I like so much what Jesus said this morning in that passage about doing everything in secret. And he did not mean that we withdraw from the public view. But even in the crowd, you can be in secret in the presence of the Lord. And even in a congregation such as this, you can be alone with Jesus and isolate yourself with God.

That's what worship is. Worship is a personal call. God calls me personally. And I'll tell you how to transform your worship services on Sunday for yourself. When you come to church and you say, Lord, I want you to speak to me today, and I open my heart, and Lord, I want to see your face in the Word today, in the service today, and I open my heart, Lord, personal, face to face, I want to worship thee. It's a personal call. But not only that, it is a priority call. It is a call to turn aside from everything else.

Now I want you to see something. Verse 3, Moses saw the bush that was burning and yet was not consumed. And Moses said, I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. Moses said, I'll give it my attention. This will be a preeminent thing. This will take priority. I will turn aside and see this thing. But now notice verse 4.

And when the Lord saw that he did what? Turned aside to see God called unto him out of the midst of the bush. That's significant. When God saw that Moses turned aside, then and only then did God speak to him. The reason God is not speaking to some of us is because we've never turned aside to worship him. It is a call to turn aside from everything else, from everything else, to realize that at this moment there is nothing as important on earth

as my relationship to Jesus Christ. And I must give this call of God to my heart as a top priority. I turn aside from everything else. Worship is, in the first place, responding to God's call. Secondly, it is a reverence for God's character. Look at the fifth verse. He said, Draw not nigh hither, put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. Moreover, he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God.

Worship is reverence for God's character. The putting off of shoes was a custom in those days of respect and reverence for another person. In the book of Joshua, just before they go to conquer Jericho, Joshua meets someone that he had never seen before. Verse 13 of Joshua chapter 5, And it came to pass when Joshua was by Jericho that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, there stood a man over against him

with the sword drawn in his hand. And Joshua went unto him and said unto him, Art thou for us or for our adversaries? And he said, Nay. He answered no to both questions. This doesn't have anything to do with the sermon tonight, but it's a very interesting point here. Joshua said, Are you for us, or are you for them?

Are you friend or foe? The captain of the host said, I'm neither. But as the captain of the host of the Lord am I now come. The Lord doesn't take sides, he takes over. And he said, I'm neither your friend or your enemy. He said, I've come to take over. Now here's what I want you to do. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and did worship and said unto him, What saith my Lord unto his servant? Now, what is the first thing you would assume

the Lord would say to his servant? What great revelation, what great command. I'd like to interview Joshua some day and say, Joshua, what did you expect the Lord to say to you? Notice what he said, And the captain of the Lord's host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot, for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so. He worshipped, and he said, What would you say to me? And he says, First, take your shoes off.

I have a message for you, but first you've got to take your shoes off. God has a message, a marvelous message of deliverance for Moses. But first of all, Moses' heart must be prepared. God never speaks to unprepared hearts in worship. And so he says to Joshua, Before I can give to you the way of victory, take your shoes off your feet, get your heart right, get prepared. He says to Moses, before I can say to you

what is on my heart and bring to you this message of commission and deliverance, take your shoes off your feet. Worship is reverence for God's character. He says, Don't draw an eye hither. We are not to come into God's presence hurriedly and heedlessly and hastily. It takes preparation. I think it's at this point that most of us sin in our worship. How do you come to church on Sunday morning? I'll tell you, it's so hard to come to church on Sunday morning if you have shouted at the kids and fought with your wife and griped at the driver in front of you and done all of this, and you rush in at the last minute in the service and you try to worship God. I think most of us sin when we come through that door because our hearts have never been

prepared to worship. We just rush into God's presence. You never rush into God's presence, friend. You are coming into the presence of the Holy of Holies, the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings. You don't rush into his presence like you rush into the 7-Eleven and grab something and leave again. If there is anything that our generation needs, it is a baptism of holiness and reverence

for God's character. I think the Spirit of God is grieved with our flippant, lighthearted, frivolous attitude toward God. If genuine revival ever comes, what will happen is that all of us, like Moses, will hide our face and, like John on the Isle of Patmos, we will fall at his feet as dead. Holiness, reverence for God's character. Take your shoes off your feet, for this is holy ground, holy ground, because God is here, because God is here. And Moses approached God not only in holiness, he approached him in humility. He hid his face. Let me close with this.

Worship is in the third place. And this is so important, a responsibility in God's cause. Did you know that worship does not end with your meditating about God and thinking thoughts about God? But worship always, in the Word of God, worship always results in the people who experience that worship taking a responsibility in the service and the work of God. Notice what he says in verse 12. Now, after Moses has prepared his heart, shoes are off his feet,

he's approached God in holiness and humility, then God brings to him a message. In verse 2, he says, Certainly I will be with thee, and this shall be a token unto thee that I have sent thee. When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God up on this mountain. And when Moses came into God's presence and worshiped, the end of that worship was that

God gave Moses something to do in God's cause. He commissioned Moses to serve him. I read a story about a man who one day slipped into a Quaker worship service. And the Quakers are so much different in their worship than we are. And they sit quietly, just sit quietly. This man had never been to one of these services, and he slipped in, sat down at the back, and he kept waiting for the service to begin, kept waiting for the service to begin. Everybody just sat there with their heads bowed and meditating.

Finally, he got up enough courage to nudge the fellow next to him and he said, Excuse me, sir, but when does the service begin? And the man answered, As soon as the meeting is over. When does the service begin? As soon as the meeting is over. I challenge you to read through the word of God all the men that ever worshiped God. It always resulted in a fresh commissioning to service, to labor in his vineyard, to witness and to share Jesus with him. Let's worship. It is when I realize that God has called me to turn aside from everything else and I come

into his presence and receive there a new revelation of God's character and of God's holiness. And I listen as God speaks. And God says, now this is what I want you to do. I'm going to prepare you to lead. I'm going to prepare you to serve. I'm going to prepare you to share. And Moses walked away a different person, a new man, never the same again, but with a new power of anointing upon him to serve the Lord. Did you worship the Lord this morning when you came to church? Did you have a personal encounter with God? Did you get a new glimpse of God's holiness and common reverence for his character? Did you leave with a new

sense of commission that God has called you to be co-laborers with him in his vineyard? That's real worship. If you will study the men in the Old Testament and the New Testament that worship God, you will find those same three characteristics every time. Those same three characteristics every time. God always said something to them, gave them something to do, and gave them a fresh anointing in which to do it. Let's bow together. The Ron Dunn Podcast is available only for personal edification, not to be duplicated, uploaded to the web, or resold without prior written consent. It is managed and operated by Sherwood Baptist Church.

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