Worship in the Church

Dr. Charles Stanley: When you and I are worshiping God and our life is Christ centered and God, listen, when he is overflowing in your life and mine by our conversation, our conduct, by our love and devotion to him, you can't hide one of God's children. You can't cover the radiance. You can't cover the countenance of the face of a child of God who has learned to worship the Lord, who loves God, who cares, who's willing to give, willing to pay the price, willing to sacrifice their own person, their possessions, and all that they have to Jesus Christ.
Guest (Male): Do you tend to view church attendance as just another activity in your busy week? If so, then you might be missing out on one of the primary functions of the church. Welcome to In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley. Today, we continue Dr. Stanley's series to help us realize the importance of participating in the praising of God with other believers. Stay with us to refine your understanding of the church worshiping.
Dr. Charles Stanley: Would you turn please to Acts chapter 2, and we're continuing our series on the church, and the title of this message, The Church Worshiping. And if you'll recall in chapter 2 that Peter has preached his famous sermon at Pentecost and their response was men and brethren, what shall we do? And of course, 3,000 people or more were saved, lives are being changed, they were worshiping in the temple and also in the homes, and if you'll notice beginning in this 46th verse, he tells us in verse 46 what was happening as they were worshiping together. They were breaking bread together, they were selling the things that they had and they were having all things in common, and he says in verse 46, and day by day, that is day after day, continually with one mind in the temple and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people, and the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved. Now, the first function of the church is worship. That is a priority over evangelism and a priority over missions. Worship is the first function. Now, God wants his people worshiping together. He says forsake not the assembling of yourselves together, and when you come together, he says you are to encourage one another. What I want us to look at today, I want us to look at three facets of worship in the body of Christ, in the church. And in this chapter here in verse 46 and 47, here they are. First of all, the activity of worship in the church. And I believe according to the scriptures, there are two activities that are involved in true worship. That is, true worship is going to involve two activities on our part. And the first activity is there is going to be praise of God with our lips. If we really and truly are worshiping him, we're going to praise him with our lips. All through the Old Testament, he says let the redeemed of the Lord say so. He says come let us bow down and worship him. Psalm after Psalm speaking of praising him. So when we praise him with our lips, we praise him in song, we praise him in prayer, we adore him, and so there are many, many ways to express that adoration and praise. Now, in the body of Christ, you and I must make room and allow for people to worship the Lord in the way God leads them. And if God is leading them, they will not be pompous, they'll not be egotistical and it'll not be a matter of pride. They won't be expressing themselves, it'll be an expression out of their spirit, of their love and devotion to Jesus Christ, whatever form that takes. It will never cause confusion in the body nor will it ever violate the principles of this book if it is worship according to Scripture. But we cannot force other people into our mold. And you see, this is where we are. Most of us came out of a culture and out of a background that when you go to church to worship, you sit, you be quiet, you certainly do not smile, you don't raise your voice, you wouldn't dare clap, in fact, you just wouldn't do anything at all to make anybody feel uncomfortable. When in reality, there ought to be a freedom and a liberty in our worship and that is exactly what is true in the New Testament church. They not only worshiped in the temple, the Bible says they were going from house to house, they cooked big wonderful meals and excited, they were eating, they were praising, they were singing, they were studying the Word of God. They were having a wonderful, beautiful, exciting time worshiping the Lord God. So the first activity is praise from our lips. The second activity is service in our life. Lip service only and calling that worship is far removed from the Word of God. All of us know the hundredth Psalm. Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. He says come before his courts with singing, serve the Lord. Serving and praising him are two aspects of worship. Our life is to be an expression of service and worship. In Ephesians chapter 1, look there if you will and verse 12. In verse 11, he says we've obtained a tremendous inheritance, having been predestined, listen now, according to his purpose. That is, he predetermined something wonderful for us according to his purpose, who works all things after the counsel of his will to this end. That is, this is what he's predestined. That we who were the first to hope in Christ should live or be to the praise of his glory. He says that he has predestined us to live to the praise of his glory, that our life should be an expression of worship and praise and adoration of who God Almighty is. So if we're going to worship the Lord God, we must praise him with our lips, but likewise we must serve him with our life. And how do you serve the Lord God? By humbling ourselves and serving other people. That's the way we serve him. So he says true, genuine worship is going to result in the praise from my lips and likewise the service of my life. The second thing I want you to notice here in the activity is that there are two motivations involved in the body of Christ worshiping him. What is the first motivation? Well, somebody would say, well, surely the first motivation is that you love God and that is not the first motivation. Now, I want you to get this very, very clearly and listen to me. The foundation of all motivation for worshiping Almighty God is knowing God. One of the primary reasons that there are many people who meet together and they come together on Sunday and they sit and listen to a sermon, sing a couple of songs, pray and give and go home and never feel, never experience, never sense genuine Holy Spirit worship. Now, the reason is this, that so few people really and truly know God. There are lots of folks who've been to church 20, 30, 40, 50 years, they know all kind of facts about him, but listen, you can know facts about God without knowing God. But to know him is to know him through a personal experience with Jesus Christ, whereby we discover the ways of God, we discover the principles of God, we discover the way he works in the human heart, we discover the love of God, we discover the forgiveness of God, we discover the majesty of God, the greatness, the omnipotence, the omniscience, the omnipresence, the glory. We discover the love of God, the mercy of God, the justice of God, the holiness of God, the righteousness of God, the attributes of God only when you and I begin to understand a little bit of who he really is, only then will we worship God. And remember this, that all worship that is not directed toward Jehovah, Yahweh, Elohim, Adonai, God, all worship that is not directed toward him is not worship, but it is pure human superstition. And the world is full of superstition. In the occult, there is a tremendous amount of superstition. They talk about worshiping God when somebody tells you they worship God and they're in the occult or this branch or that branch or the other branch, you ask them one simple question: which God is it that you are worshiping? There is only one God and the only way to worship that God is to worship him, the Bible says, in spirit and in truth. In spirit, not in flesh, in truth, not in error. So you see that the foundation of all true worship is knowing the truth about God. Now think about this, once you know who he is by personal experience, he's not somebody just up there, out there, over here, in there. He isn't somebody you call on in case of an emergency. He's somebody that invokes something from you because once you discover who he is, something begins to happen. You see, the man who comes to church week after week and does not know God, he doesn't understand why we want to sing and pray and go on and on and not go home at 12 o'clock. He looks at his watch: 12 o'clock, time to go home. Listen, when a man understands who God is, when a man is praising God with his lips, when a woman is understanding who God is and serving him, we don't check the time, we check God. The focus of attention is God, not time. We're the ones who've come out of the culture and have contributed to the idea that you worship God from 11 o'clock to 12 o'clock on Sunday and that's it. When true, genuine worship is anything and everything you and I do to the glory of Almighty God in the name of Jesus Christ, in keeping with his principles, in line with his Word, it is worshiping God because it is praise from my lips and it is service in my life. It can be done in a church building or standing at the sink washing dirty dishes. It is the attitude of the human heart because you see worship is an expression. It is an expression of worth that I place upon something. I value something, I praise that, it is worth something because of its value to me. Almighty God is worthy of my praise, worthy of your praise. He saved us, sustains us, keeps us and is taking us to heaven. When you and I get down to the hard, cold facts of whether we know God and love him and worship him or not, friend, so many things that we talk about wouldn't even be in our vocabulary if we really and truly knew God and knew how to worship him. The second motivation is love. Listen, the more I know about him, the more I'm going to love him. The more I love him, the more I'm going to worship him. The more I worship him, the more I'm going to want to pour out my life into the lives of others. You think about this if you will. Can any honest man or woman say I'm saved, know the Lord, love God, without worshiping the Lord? And can a man ever rationalize or excuse himself for not giving to God first of all his life, his family, his possessions, his time, his talent, his gifts that God has given to him? How can we ever withhold that? Listen, if Almighty God is God, he deserves my worship and if I do not give it, what is my excuse? Let's pray together. Our Father, we thank you and praise you and bless your holy name. We bow before you in submission and subjection willingly, voluntarily, lovingly, desiring that our lips praise you and honor you and adore you and that our life serve you by pouring ourselves out into the lives of other people. I pray in the name of Jesus Christ, your Son, our Savior, our access to you, our hope in you, our better understanding of you, your reflection of yourself. I pray in Jesus' name that today that you will have spoken to every single heart personally, piercingly, unforgettably, that each one of us would have to evaluate to whom we really and truly belong according to our actions. And this I ask in Jesus' name and for his sake, Amen.
Guest (Male): Worship is so much more than songs and sermons. Worship is an attitude of the heart. Today on In Touch, Dr. Stanley's message challenged us to expand the scope of our worship beyond the walls of the church building and to make our lives an expression of devotion to the Lord. To learn more about worship and its place in the believer's life, visit intouch.org. If you'd like to listen to today's message again, click today on radio. And if you'd like to have a copy of this complete message, you can order online at the store. The title is The Church Worshiping. Or order the complete series titled Uniquely a People of God. Our web address again is intouch.org. Call or text to 1-800-INTOUCH. If you prefer, you can write to us at In Touch, Post Office Box 7900, Atlanta, Georgia 30357. Satan tried to tempt Jesus and he's also trying to use these same old tricks on you. Learn to spot his deceptions coming up in today's moment with Charles Stanley. We've all experienced seasons of loss, times when we are thriving and moments when things seem to fall apart. These stages can often leave us feeling unsure of how to move forward, needing to rebuild. The In Touch Rebuild workbook is a resource that will help you rebuild informed by a life of sustaining faith and intimacy with God. Begin your journey today. Visit intouch.org/rebuild. There is an inexplicable joy that comes from understanding scripture and learning how to apply it in our own lives. The Charles F. Stanley Life Principles Bible includes 30 foundational truths that Dr. Stanley has learned from over 60 years of ministry. It's available in the New King James Version, New International Version, the King James Version and New American Standard Bible version. To order, call 1-800-INTOUCH or go to intouch.org/store. You're listening to In Touch. Be careful who you give your worship to. A reminder about the goal of the devil in a moment with Charles Stanley. This program is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia, and remains on this station through the grace of God and your faithful prayers and gifts.
Dr. Charles Stanley: When Satan had tempted the Lord Jesus Christ out in the wilderness, you recall he tempted him first of all to use his power in the wrong fashion, that is to change stones into bread. Then to tempt the Father by casting himself off the high pinnacle of the temple and saying to him while the angels will take care of you, take charge of you. Then he said in one last attempt to cause Jesus Christ to bow down to him and each one of these was an attempt by Satan to cause Jesus Christ to yield to Satan's appeal rather than to be obedient to his Father. He said look at all the kingdoms of the world, if you'll bow down and worship me then I will give you the kingdoms of the world. Did you know that Satan has the same line he's always had? If you really want to have a good time, you do what I tell you. If you really want to accomplish and achieve and have position and fame in the world, if you really want to feel good, if you really want to have a great time in life, if you really want to experience the pleasures of life, you do it the way I tell you to do it. That is exactly what Satan did to Jesus Christ. That is to tempt us to bow down before something other than God Almighty.
Guest (Male): You can learn more about how to live for God when you visit us at intouch.org. And if you have a story about what you've learned through this program, please share it with us. Upcoming on In Touch, Jesus told his followers to sit down and wait for the coming of the Holy Spirit. Learn more about the divine power of the church when our series continues on In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley.