Title: Perfect Worship / John 4:21-26
Content Full worship / John 4:21-26
This week is celebrated as Christmas Week.
A few days before Christmas, we have a few things to prepare. That is worship full of sincerity. Of course, whenever we worship, we must do so with all our heart, will, and sincerity.
However, I know that the Christmas service requires more devotion. The reason is that the Lord came to this world to save us from our sins.
This is because he came to this low and lowly earth as a sinner to receive the punishment of our sins and eternal torment instead of us, to save us, and to give us true joy, peace, and all kinds of grace and blessings.
In Genesis, Adam and Eve sinned before God and were expelled from the Garden of Eden. In other words, fellowship with God was cut off. In other words, worship was lost. The altar of worship collapsed. Our Lord came to restore the broken altar and to restore lost worship.
Worship is a spiritual fellowship between God and His children, the saints. So, through worship, God meets us and we have fellowship with God.
Fellowship speaks of a relationship of love. Through worship, which is a spiritual fellowship, we dedicate our bodies and minds to thank God for His grace and love. And God grants us boundless grace and blessings.
Therefore, to lose worship is a separation from God, a curse, eternal punishment, and hell. On the other hand, the restoration of worship means God's grace, infinite blessings, eternal joy, peace, and the blessings of heaven. Considering this meaning, it is impossible for believers who are celebrating Christmas to worship normally. That is why the churches around the world are preparing for Christmas worship with such sincerity and joy and gratitude.
If we imply a life of faith, we can say that it is a life of worship.
If the worship life is right, his religious life will be right, and if the worship life isn't right, his religious life won't be right. Therefore, we must remember once again that worship is so important. This is because no one can become a true saint unless the relationship with God is right.
In the Old Testament, Abraham placed great importance on worship and, wherever he was, he built an altar with all his heart before God. At that time, I received God's guidance and protection, and I prospered in everything. However, when he neglected worship and neglected it, he went down to Egypt, and he did it his own way. What happened as a result? Not only did he cause damage to strangers, but he also lost his beloved wife there, and he came back with great disgrace and shame.
The thing to be thankful for before Christmas is that in the Old Testament, whenever we worshiped, we worshiped by slaughtering pigeons, sheep, or cattle and offering sacrifices to God. But now, anyone can come to God and worship in the name of Jesus.
This is because Jesus came to this earth as a lamb and became the perfect sacrifice and fulfilled the perfect worship. Until then, the sacrifice blood had to be offered instead of the atoning blood of Jesus. Words cannot express how grateful I am when I think of these things.
As I said before, worship is spiritual fellowship with God. Friends also become friends when there is fellowship. A family becomes a family when there is fellowship. Relatives also become relatives when they have fellowship. Neighbors also become neighbors when there is fellowship. As the old saying goes, “neighbors are cousins.” Without fellowship, you cannot be a relative or a neighbor. Likewise, believers become saints when they have fellowship with God.
But fellowship is pleasant and joyful. Because it is the fellowship of love. Business fellowship for the sake of profit is really exhausting.
The fellowship between God and the saints is a fellowship of grace, love, and blessing. Therefore, there is true joy, contentment, and peace here. That's right. If you are a member of a right relationship with God, worship is enjoyable and welcome. Complete worship, worship that is pleasing to God, is worship in spirit and truth.
In other words, it is a worship service that is filled with the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and is offered with all our heart and mind.
Here it is surely overflowing with joy and gratitude. Therefore, there should be joy and thanksgiving in perfect worship.
1. There must be joy in giving.
Worship is about giving, not seeing. why drop? It is because the grace and blessings received from God are so great. When children realize that they are receiving grace and love from their parents and know it, there is joy and gratitude.
We need to know this. There is the joy of receiving, but the greater joy is the joy of giving. It is something that cannot be experienced without loving it. When you are in a loving relationship, there is always greater joy in giving.
Therefore, when I give thanks and reciprocate to the one who has given me grace, my heart that has received grace is so happy and bright. The joy of worship is just that.
Worship is to give thanks and glory to God who has given grace to the saints who are living with grace, so it is inevitable that the heart of the worshiper will overflow with joy. I hope that this morning too, this joy will overflow in the hearts of all of you who worship us.
Some of us may have had a successful, positive life experience during the week. On the other hand, there will be others who have had failures and negative experiences.
However, those who succeed should give thanks and glory to God for giving him undeserved grace, and those with failures and negative factors should give thanks and praise to the Lord for His mercy, who does not give up such insufficient life and continues to admonish us today. will do
2. There must be joy in receiving.
In the fall, the plants and trees of mountains and streams suffer and wither, but the grains of grass and the leaves of trees that are satisfied with the rain will bloom freshly on every leaf.
The joy of worship is the same, in a harsh world, the souls who are weary of life come to church with heavy steps on Sunday mornings, and through the Bible read and preached sermons during worship, the word of God can be felt sweeter than honey and honey from clusters of honey. will be The comfort and joy of God will overflow in such a heart as if welling up.
Of course, there are words of comfort in God's words and words of reproof.
However, it is a benefit and a blessing to those who receive it with faith and humility at any time. Words of praise and consolation will be encouraging to me, and the more I hear them, the more joy I will hear. The words of reproof will become a stimulant for me to pursue a new life, and the more I hear, the more grace and benefits I hear.
Therefore, you must open your heart to the word preached during worship and receive it with an attitude of listening to God's voice. Such people will always have the joy of receiving. Not only that, you will receive the comfort of God, and you will receive courage and hope through the Word.
That's right. To those who receive the word of God, grace always overflows in their heart. It is full of joy and gratitude.
3. There must be joy in being together.
When we worship before God in spirit and in truth, we are moved by the Holy Spirit.
In 2 Timothy 3:16 it says, "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness."
So, you will realize and experience the love of God. As a result, your heart will be warmed, and you will be overflowing with emotion and joy.
Doing anything alone is tedious and tedious. There is no special interest.
It's a sight, and so is a job. You can clearly see how great a blessing it is to be together. No matter how good you are on a deserted island and no matter how much fun you have, there is nothing more tedious and painful than that. True joy is a blessing that comes from being together.
Worship is similar to this, and when a large number of people gather to worship together, more grace and joy can be obtained than when a few people sit and worship in a large chapel.
A hymn becomes more grace when several people sing together with one accord, prayer gains strength when several people pray together, and a sermon receives more grace than when many people listen to it.
So, in Hebrews 10:25, we are told to strive to gather together, but Satan knows this, so he works in the way he has to abolish the gathering. Therefore, we must do our best to gather together to pray, sing, and worship.
Then we should keep at least three things in mind and work hard.
First, we must strive for personal evangelism.
Only then can we worship together with many saints, and the joy and rewards of those who are together will be great.
Second, we must be sincere in worship.
At that time, God will fully receive the worship service and bestow abundant grace and blessings through the worship service.
Third, there must be a fellowship of love with the saints.
In other words, it should be a relationship where we can cry with those who cry and laugh with those who laugh. Only then will it be the perfect worship that God accepts. We experience God's love through a loving relationship where we love each other and help each other.
Mark 12:33 says, "It is better to love God with all your heart, with all your wisdom, and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself, than all burnt offerings and other sacrifices offered as a whole."
Matthew 5:23-24 says, "Therefore, if you are offering your gift on the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift at the altar and go first, be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift." .
That's right. Worship without brotherly love is not acceptable to God. Therefore, true worship always begins with brotherly love.
God accepts the worship of God in spirit and in truth. That worship is established by giving thanks for God's grace, truly loving the saints, and forming beautiful fellowship.
Dear saints, The Lord came to this world to restore worship.
Therefore, worship is a blessing in the womb. I hope that your hearts will be filled with grace and joy as you cherish worship, do your best, and offer living sacrifices to God with one heart and one will. And it should be the day we all look forward to on Sunday, and it should be a blessed worship service that the saints want to see and come to church.
Through this morning worship service, I pray in the name of the Lord that it may be glory to God and wonderful joy and peace to all of us.