What did you do to prepare for worship this morning? Aside from the obvious what did you do to prepare for worship? What are your hopes and your expectations of worship this morning? Aside from being finished by 11 a.m. what do you want from worship? Aside from your monetary offering what are planning to give in worship?

A while back the message on our church sign read, “Come in for a faith lift!” Is that what you are here for, a faith lift?

It has been said that going to church at the start of the week is comparable to a batter crossing himself before stepping into the batters box. This to me contradicts what the Bible says about worship.

The Bible has numerous stories and appeals to worship.

When the Ark of the Covenant was brought to Jerusalem, David offered a psalm of thanks, which is found in 1 Chronicles 16. In that psalm David praises God for God’s character and attributes of power, mercy, majesty and love. Verse 29 reads

Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name.
Bring an offering and come before Him;
worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness.

Does that describe what you want from worship, an opportunity to ascribe glory to God and opportunity to experience the splendor of God’s holiness?

The anonymous author of Psalm 100 wrote,

Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.
Worship the Lord with gladness;
come before Him with joyful songs.

Did you come to worship to shout for joy to God and to raise your voice in songs of gladness?

During the discourse that Jesus had with the Samaritan woman at the well Jesus responded to the woman’s remarks about worship,

“Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. Yet a time is coming and has now come
when the true worshippers will worship the Father
in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks.  God is spirit, and His worshippers
must worship in spirit and in truth.

Did you come seeking the Spirit and truth of God?

The Bible makes it very clear that worship has always been an essential part of God’s relationship with humanity. It also makes it very clear that the object of worship is God, not the worshippers. It is a tendency of every congregation to think that they are the audience in worship. In fact the audience in worship is an audience of one, that one being God.

True worship is not dependent on hymns or anthems it is not dependent on liturgies and sermon. True worship is not about being in the mood to worship. True worship occurs when you meet God in prayer and God is your only focus.

Have you ever thought of worship as prayer? Worship is specific prayer that lifts heartfelt love and praise based upon one thing alone – who God is!

Ron Susek wrote, “Worship is the deepest expression of love to God. Worship is the meeting of two hearts in prayer – yours and God’s. Worship begins by intelligently and willingly honoring God for His attributes, character, acts, and ways. It’s the time when the entire world is made to wait outside as you enter God’s throne room.”

Psalm 95 ends very differently from how it began.

“So I declared on oath in my anger,
‘They shall never enter my rest.”

This refers to God’s response to the Israelites quarreling with and testing of God. But it does raise an interesting question what is it your worship that is keeping you from God’s ultimate blessings?

As we review Psalm 95 we can see a number of possibilities.

Do you come with a grateful or ungrateful heart?

“Come, let us bow down in worship,
let us kneel before the Lord our Maker(6).”

Do you come wanting and willing to submit to God?

“Do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah
as you did that day at Massah in the desert(8).
Where your father tested and tried me,
though they had seen what I did(9).”

Do you come with a hard and stubborn heart?

There is a beautiful song from West Side Story that for me describes what worship is. The words of the song are ‘Make of our hearts one heart.’ When we prayerfully worship God we are allowing God to make our heart, one heart with His.