[Music]
welcome back to the SS ajahn podcast
we're gonna end the week with a simple
question and often the best ones are
Pamela Kahn a listener to the podcast
simply asks this pastor John what is
worship let's start with the inner
essence of worship and then work out to
the more public expressions of worship
services or daily acts of love which
Paul calls our spiritual worship the
reason I make the distinction between
the inner essence of worship and the
external expression of it is because I
think Jesus did in matthew 15:8 this
people honors me with their lips but
their heart is far from me in vain do
they worship Me
so for Jesus worship amounts to zero
that's what vain means in vain they
worship means zero it's not worship is
this a zero worship it's zero if there's
no heart dimension to it so you can do
as many deeds as you want and go to as
many church services as you want and
never be worshiping if it's all external
and nothing is happening in your heart
toward God so all true worship is in
essence a matter of the heart it's more
more but it's not less so then the
question becomes what is this inner
authentic God word experience of the
heart that we call the the essence of
worship and Jesus pointed us toward an
answer in John 4 23 and 24 when he said
the hour is coming and is now here he's
here when the true worshipers will
worship the father in spirit and truth
for the father is seeking such people to
worship Him God his spirit and those who
worship Him must worship in spirit
and in truth now notice that worshiping
in spirit is not contrasted with
worshiping in the body or with the body
instead it's put alongside worshiping in
truth so what would that mean that we
are to be spirit worshipers worshiping
from the spirit and truth
driven by truth well I think the point
is that when we worship right worship
good worship pleasing worship depends on
a right mental grasp of the way God
really is truth if we worship an idol of
our own creation we're not really
worshiping God and secondly worship
depends on a right spiritual or
emotional or affectional heart grasp of
God supreme value so true worship is
based on a right understanding of God's
nature and it is a right valuing of
God's Worth and of course his worth is
infinite and thus true worship is a
valuing or a treasuring of God above all
things that be the closest I'm going to
give to a definition I suppose true
worship is a valuing or a treasuring of
God above all things so the inner
essence of worship is the response of
the heart to the knowledge of the mind
when the mind is rightly understanding
God and the heart is rightly valuing God
or you could use words like treasuring
or prising God or delighting in God or
reverence in God or being satisfied
we've got all of these inner responses
to God reflect His infinite Worth and
beauty and that's what worship was
designed to do
put the supreme worth of God on display
in fact the English word worship comes
from worth-ship
that is worse
is showing displaying the worth of God
so we worship God authentically when we
know him truly and treasure him duly
then
the word worship refers to that valuing
that inner valuing becoming visible in
the world in two basic ways in the New
Testament one is acts of the mouth acts
of praise and repentance in worship
services or small group gatherings and
the other is acts of love with with the
body and the hands and the feet acts of
love that show the supreme value of God
by what we're willing to sacrifice for
the good of others and I get those two
things from Hebrews chapter 13 verses 15
to 16 listen to this amazing summary it
says through him then through Christ let
us continually offer up a sacrifice of
praise to God that is the fruit of lips
that acknowledge his name do not neglect
to do good to share what you have for
such sacrifices are pleasing to God so
those two verses begin and end with the
term sacrifice and of course the
sacrifice is a echo from the Old
Testament sacrifices which was the
center of the worship and was to display
the value of God as we gave up a bull or
a goat and showed that God is precious
to us and we value his Redemption that
comes to us through the sacrifice and
now through the sacrifice of Christ so
through Christ two things become
worshipful sacrifices in our life the
fruit of lips that acknowledge his name
that's worship services and singing and
praying and repenting and confessing and
secondly the fruit of deeds don't
neglect to do good share what you have
such sacrifices are pleasing to God
so
both of those are acts of worship you
see it again in in Romans 12:1 I appeal
to you therefore brothers by the mercies
of God present your bodies as a living
sacrifice holy and acceptable which is
your spiritual service of worship so all
of our bodily life done in love for
others and in reliance upon God display
the worth of God above all things and
make us worshipers in our daily life so
here's my summary the inner essence of
worship is to know God truly and then
respond from the heart to that knowledge
by valuing God treasuring God prising
God enjoying God being satisfied with
God above all earthly things and then
that deep restful joyful satisfaction in
God overflows in demonstrable acts of
praise from the lips and demonstrable
acts of love in serving others for the
sake of Christ beautiful
that's a robust survey the theme at the
very core of why God made us and what
desiring God is all about thank you
Pastor John we're gonna break for the
weekend now you can look back on the
episodes from the week search our
archive of hundreds of episodes that we
have released in this podcast to date
and you can download our podcast app
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precise question of your own go to
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pastor and John well pastor John has a
new book that launches next week it's
titled living in the light money sex and
power
it's a noteworthy book and it will be
our theme all next week and on Monday
I'll ask him about money sex and power
and what makes him think of these things
in a completely new light we'll talk
about that don't miss it I'm your host
Tony rakey I'll see you on Monday
you