Lesson Notes

Introduction

• Based on Don Whitney’s Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life
• We’re focused on developing spiritual habits for the purpose of godliness – growing nearer to Christ and growing more like Christ
• 1 Timothy 4: 7-8 – “Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.“
• Tonight we consider worship – public, private, and family
  • This is an extraordinary time for us as Christians and as a church to really reflect deeply on what it means to worship God!
  • My prayer is that the experience of the coming weeks will lead us to develop really healthy habits of personal worship, create opportunities for family worship that we’ve never really had, and fill us with a craving to once again gather in person to worship the Lord with our brothers and sisters in Christ.

First Things First – What is Worship?

• Psalm 95: 1-7
• We worship because God created us to worship
  • Matthew 4: 10 – Jesus – “You shall worship the Lord your god and him only shall you serve.“
  • Hebrews 12: 28, “Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.“
• However, not all worship is true worship – it’s possible to worship in vain 
  • Matthew 15: 8-9, “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.“
  • Worship isn’t coming to church on Sunday morning – that’s when we worship
  • Worship isn’t a noun – it’s a verb – an action we must each choose to take
• True Worship
  • Whitney, “To worship God means to ascribe the proper worth to God, to magnify His worthiness of praise, or better, to approach and address God as He is worthy. As the holy and almighty God, the Creator and Sustainer of the universe, the Sovereign Judge to whom we must give an account, He is worthy of all the worth and honor we can give Him and then infinitely more.”
  • Example, Revelation 4: 11
  • True worship = deep focus on God. The more we focus on Him, the more we understand and appreciate His infinite worth.
    • The more we understand/appreciate, the more we can’t help but respond!
    • Whitney, “Worship is focusing on and responding to God.”
    • We see God revealed in nature, in Scripture, in Jesus Christ – and we must let these move us to worship God!
    • Every form of worship must be based on Scripture – because it’s focused on and accurately reveals God and Christ…
      • Biblical reading and preaching in public worship
      • Biblical reading and meditation in private worship
      • Singing biblically based songs – whether hymns or contemporary
      • Prayer based on our devotion and dependence on God as He is revealed in Scripture
  • Matthew 22: 37, “And he said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment.”
    • Worship – wherever it takes place – should find us engaging our heart, soul, and mind – emotions as well as intellect
    • We need to put ourselves fully into our worship
    • If you aren’t thinking about God, you aren’t worshiping!
      • Whether it’s during sermon, prayer, or singing
      • Taking the Lord’s name in vain when we aren’t actually meaning it when we sing it!

Public Worship

• Public worship is what we’re most familiar with – gathering in a place to worship
  • Could be a building, a park, a home
  • Point is, worshiping alongside others,  not alone
• Hebrews 10: 24-25, “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”
• Gathered worship is vitally important because the church is one body – 1 Corinthians 12: 12-14, “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body – Jews or Greeks, slaves or free – and all were made to drink of one Spirit. For the body does not consist of one member but of many.“
• No matter how good your personal devotional life, you need to worship with others!
• Certain graces and blessings are only given when we “meet together”
  • Currently, we are forced to be apart for awhile
  • At least for now, you’re allowed to gather in small groups – with appropriate use of disinfectants – to watch our stream and worship together in groups of 10 or less
  • We will worship on Sundays during this! But my hope and prayer is that our time apart will build a great hunger to be together again for worship!

Private Worship

• Just as Jesus would withdraw to desolate places and pray (Luke 5: 16), we are called to have a private worship life daily
• Matthew Henry, “Public worship will not excuse us from secret worship.”
• Don’t expect to have an awesome experience of worshiping God in public once a week if you aren’t worshiping Him daily on your own!
  • My heart for gathered worship is stoked by my quiet time each morning
  • Geoffrey Thomas, “There is no way that those who neglect secret worship can know communion with God in the public services of the Lord’s Day.”
  • A. W. Tozer, “If you will not worship God seven days a week, you do not worship Him on one day a week.”
• God expects us to worship privately so He can bless us through our experience with Him
  • God’s mercies are new every day – Lamentations 3: 23
  • Give us this day our daily bread…
  • God operates on the day, not the week – our experience of His presence must work on the same schedule!
• So what does private worship look like?
  • Reading some Scripture – reading plans are helpful for that
  • Meditation on Scripture
  • Prayer
  • Music and singing if you can – favorite hymns or contemporary songs
    • YouTube Music, Prime Music, Spotify, etc…

Family Worship

• This pandemic offers a unique opportunity to NoVA families that are normally over-scheduled and under-interactive
  
  • An opportunity for parents to discipline children, to bind hearts together and influence your children toward God
  • If you don’t have kids but have a spouse – you can do this as a couple
  • Because God deserves to be worshiped daily in our homes!
• Whitney, “It is unlikely that exposure to the church once or twice a week will impress your children enough with the greatness and glory of God that they will want to pursue him once they leave your home.”
• Deuteronomy 6: 4-7 – family worship can be an important part of obeying this
• Psalm 78: 1-8
• Ephesians 6: 4 – “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.“
• Matthew Henry, “Turn your families into little churches” and “The way of family worshp is a good old way, no new thing, but the ancient usage of the saints.”
• Indeed! John Chrysostom, archbishop of Constantinople in the late 300’s, “urged that every house should be church, and every head of a family a spiritual shepherd, remembering the account he must give even for his children.”
• How does family worship work?
  • Three elements: read the Bible, pray, sing
  • You don’t even have to prepare in advance!
  • Read the Bible
    • Read through the Bible chapter by chapter
    • With younger kids, read narratives and shorter sections
    • Read well – with enthusiasm and inflection – NO MONOTONES – so you might need to read in advance
    • Explain any words the kids don’t understand
    • Perhaps ask the kids to explain a verse or phrase to you and let them pick one for you to explain
  • Pray
    • Could be by one designated person or each person in turn
    • Pray together – consider a prayer list to help
    • Include at least one thing suggested by the passage you read
    • You could also read a psalm and use t hose words to form the prayer
  • Sing
    • The most awkward part for many
    • Let people pick – youtube has lots of lyric videos for contemporray songs
  • The earliest records of Christian family worship is built around these three elements – read, pray, and sing
  • These are the biblical elements of worship that are suitable for the home – preaching is awkward, though certainly parents could teach; the Lord’s Supper is meant really to be done by the gathered church
  • You could use this as a time to work on Scripture memorization as a family
  • Tips
    • Be brief! You can do this in like 10 minutes or less
    • Be regular! Establish a consistent time of day
    • Be flexible when you must about the schedule
    • Be Patient – they’ll probably grumble at first, but part of the gift of this time together is learning to do new things together

Concluding Thoughts

• To worship God throughout a lifetime requires discipline
  • There will be dry seasons when we aren’t “feeling” worship or worshipful
  • We must worship anyway – to break through to the lush next level of experiencing God in worship!
  • If worship seems tedious or wearisome, it’s a problem with us,  not God. God is endlessly fascinating and worthy of worship. We won’t tire of worship in heaven
• True worship is the response of a heart moved by the beauty, glory, and allure of God
  • Worship is an end in itself – it’s why we exist
  • Worship is also the means by which God makes us more godly because we become like the focus of our attention
• David Clarkson, “What you do in public worship, do it with all your might. Shake off that slothful, indifferent, lukewarm temper, which is so odious to God…Think it not enough to present your bodies before the Lord…The worship of the body is but the carcass of worship; it is soul worship that is the soul of worship. Those that draw near with their lips only shall find God far enough from them; not only lips, and mouth, and tongue, but mind, and heart, and affections; not only knee, and hand, and eye, but heart, and conscience, and memory, must be pressed to attend upon God in public worship. David says, not only ‘my flesh longs for Thee,’ but ‘my soul thirsts for Thee.’ Then will all the Lord draw near, when our whole man waits on Him; then will the Lord be found, when we seek Him with our whole heart.”

Homework

• Make time for private worship at least twice before next Wednesday
• If you have kids at home – try family worship at least once
• Gather with us online at 10:30 Sunday morning