WORSHIP

I do it almost every morning.  Some mornings I enjoy it a little more than others.  Let me tell you about our morning routine. 

When my beautiful wife, Keva gets ready to go to work, my little dog, Gracie and I and sometimes the old cat, Sissy, walk out and sit on the steps leading to the car port.  We sit on the steps and wave to her as she drives up the driveway. Loaded down with briefcase, boxes, envelopes and her lunch, she comes out and puts her stuff in the car.  Then she comes over to the steps puts her arm around my shoulders and prays for our day.  She mentions our kids and grandkids, she mentions some of you from time to time, she prays for God’s blessings and safe-keeping then gets in her car and goes to work.

As I write this, it is the last week in June 2017.  One day this week the humidity was very low making the morning feel more like fall than summer.  I sat there on the steps, and enjoyed the comfortable climate.  I sipped on my hot cup of coffee.  I looked out across the yard, with the big ole oak trees and the grass that had actually been cut this week.  I contemplated the work that I had ahead of me for that day and in the quietness of the morning I just felt God slip up on the steps and sit down beside me.

I worshiped.

For several years now I have been trying to get a handle on this thing called worship.  We say we do it all the time.  We sing praise and worship courses.  We have worship services and yet I’m not sure that I know how to worship.  But as I sat there on the steps I realized that I was indeed worshiping.

I want you to notice what I didn’t do.

1. I did not raise my hands toward heaven

2. I did not shout out loud to the Lord

3. I did not run joyfully around the house

4. I did not sing

5. I did not cry

6. I did not take up an offering

I simply sat there on the steps but I worshiped.  

Let me share with you what I did and I believe it will give us an insight into some of the components of worship. 

1.  I RECOGNIZED.  Many people who say they have nothing to “worship” God about simply do not recognize all that God has given them.  Perhaps they are looking for the big stuff.  Perhaps they think they need a new house in order to worship God.  Perhaps the money to purchase a new car would do it. Maybe, if someone gave them an expense paid vacation to some exotic place they could worship.

But worshiping God for the simple, little daily things just does not cross their mind.  They don’t RECOGNIZE the blessings that God gives them. 

I believe the first step in actually worshiping God is to come to a conscious recognition of what it is that God has given you.  I don’t care who you are or what kind of “stuff” you have. The list is long.  And it is not just “stuff”.  It’s family, friends, acquaintances; it’s the grace of God that provides you with     freedom from the quilt of sin and freedom from the chains of sin.  It’s the promises that God gives you.  It’s the future that has been planned for you.  If you take the time, if you make the time, you will have a very extensive list.

There is an old song that says “Count your blessings, name them one by one”.  Take time to RECOGNIZE what God has given you.   

 2. I RECEIVED. If I were so inclined to give you something, if I were able and was of the notion to bestow upon you some elaborate gift. If I spent the money to purchase it, wrapped it, got in my car and delivered it to your house. If I walked up to your door and with loving and unselfish arms reached out and handed it to you, it would not be YOURS until you take possession of it.  You would have to RECEIVE it.

It is amazing to me that God lays things right in our laps and we fail to take possession of them.   

Let’s go back to the grace of God for a moment.  The unspeakable gift of salvation was made so evident to me this week. My brother-in-law Bo’s father was in the hospital dying.  He had lived 89 years and as Bo said he had believed in God but never accepted Him as his Lord and Savior.  But once Bo asked presented him with the gift from God and explained what it means to accept Jesus into your heart, Mr. Winslett received that gift  and was adopted into the family of God.  And when he died, no matter what he had done in his life and how many times he had rejected God and ignored His blessings and His grace, he was ushered into the presence of God and the blessings of heaven a few days later when he passed. 

But I am sure there were others in that hospital that week, there were others, in that town who faced  death just as Mr. Winslett did and they did not RECEIVE the gift.  

The pastor can stand at the pulpit and proclaim salvation and sanctification to you and you can nod your head and say amen but until you RECEIVE it, it is not yours and you cannot worship God because of it. 

3.  I REPEATED IT. What does that mean?  I shared it. I told someone about my blessings and what God had done for me.  I mentioned it in conversation.  I acknowledged it. 

God can bless you britches off and you can recognize it and receive it and bask in the blessing of it but if you AND I are so selfish and self-centered, and are so intent on how I want to feel and what I want to do that we do not share those blessing with other, we do not tell others what God has done for us we cannot truly worship God. 

Let me give you a couple of examples.   

God has blessed us with, what I think is a beautiful place to live and raise our kids and grandkids.  When I was young my dad bought a 60 acre farm up on the Shelby/Chilton county line.  I often heard him say, “This is the prettiest place in the state of Alabama”. He felt that way.  I guess lots of people feel that way about their house and land.  

I do.  I clearly remember seeing the place where we live now as I drove by it many times as a medic on ambulance calls.  I would admire it and see the smoke coming from the chimney in the winter and the apple and pear trees blooming in the spring and thought (and prayed) “Lord, I sure would like to have a place like that someday”. (Mom and Dad had always told us not to say, “I want THAT” but to say “I want one like that”).

And over the years God has allowed us the jobs, the pay, and the opportunity to purchase that exact house and land.  Just last month someone stood in my yard and said “What a beautiful place you have here”.  I was able to tell them, “Thank you, God gave this to us”.  And in doing so I REPEATED the blessings that God had given us.  

My friend Lee Davis and I were talking not long ago.  In mentioning how health he was,  He said, “God has always blessed me with good health”.  He could have talked about how he developed good eating habits or how fine of a doctor he has or how much he exercises but instead he chose to REPEAT the blessing that God had given him of good health.  

I am convinced that we don’t REPEAT, we don’t mention, we don’t tell people about the blessings that we receive.  We need worship God by doing that.   

4.  I REJOICED IN IT.  I understand that all of us are different.  I understand that how I REJOICE or worship is different from how you rejoice or worship. But I doubt that there is anyone that does not somehow and in some way REJOICE.   

HOW COULD YOU RECOGNIZE WHAT GOD HAS GIVEN YOU, RECEIVE IT AS A GIFT FROM HIM, REPEAT IT TO SOMEONE-IF IT’S NO ONE BUT GOD HIMSELF…HOW COULD YOU DO THAT AND NOT REJOICE?!!! HOW COULD YOU DO THAT AND NOT WORSHIP?!!! 

Let’s look at some synonyms of the word rejoice.  Celebrate, cheer, exalt, delight, express joy, be pleased, be glad 

When you look up the word WORSHIP it says “the ACT of showing respect and love to God" 

And when you look up the word “act” it says, “Something that is DONE”. 

When your favorite football team wins an important game, some jump up and down and wave their hands in the air.  Some jump up on the couch and cheer, some call their neighbors or family and gloat, some just say “good game” and go about their business.  We are all different and to expect you to rejoice OR WORSHIP the same as I do is foolish. To think that just because they don’t worship or rejoice as I do does not mean that either of us are doing it wrong or are not doing it at all.   

 So as Keva drove away, and Gracie hunted squirrels in the front yard and I drained the last drop from my coffee cup and the cool morning air drifted through the yard, I worshiped.  

I RECOGNIZED, RECEIVED, REPEATED, AND REJOICED and that’s worship.   

Maybe that’s what we need to do in our church services.  

I’m not advocating this exact way of doing it but here is one way to put this into play.  

1.  We take a few minutes to focus on our blessings with quite time and soft music

2.  We pray, either led by someone or pray privately. We tell God that we gratefully receive what He has provided for us.

3.  We repeat.  We stand and  we share.   

4.  We rejoice, sing together, join each other around the alter for praise prayers,  

 Could it work here?  Maybe

Could per chance we learn to actually worship God?  Perhaps.

Could you put it into action in your daily devotions?  (It would take time, it would take effort, but if you did, it may just spill over into our corporate worship as well.   

And you know what just might happen?  It may be that we don’t sing three songs; it may be that we don’t take up offering; it may be that the preacher doesn’t preach.  It may be that we can simply WORSHIP.