Title: Worship God / Revelation 19:1-8
If we lead a normal life of faith during the year, the number of official worship services gathered at the church is more than 100 times. From my point of view, it is abnormal if it is less than 100. And if you count the worship services offered by attending Darakbang, you are worshiping God more than 150 times a year. Some of you may think that we worship more than 150 times a year, as if we only worship for the whole year, but in reality, it is not.
I saw someone do an interesting calculation with 70 years of our lives. Looking at life as 70 years, 20 years at work, 20 years sleeping, 6 years eating and drinking, 7 years resting and having fun, 3 years waiting for others, and 1 year It means holding the phone and sending it. I think it's a very plausible story. However, he set aside about a year and a half for believers in Jesus to spend worshiping before God. One and a half years out of 70 years may seem like a no-brainer. But it takes a lot of effort to fill a year and a half.
According to his calculations, in order to fill a year and a half, one must get up every morning and kneel before God for at least five minutes to meet and worship God, and God’s grace for keeping the day well spent for at least five minutes after the end of the day You should take time to be grateful. And it is said that every Sunday worship and Wednesday worship service should be held for at least 3 hours. Only then can we give to God for a year and a half out of 70 years of worship.
But what about our case? Isn't it our reality that we can't even have 10 minutes a day to approach God even if we change our minds a little bit? And for these and other reasons, aren't there many cases where you can't even come to God and sit down to worship even 3 hours a week? If we do that, it is easy for us to enter the kingdom of heaven without worshiping properly even for a year and a half in our 70 lifetimes. No, I doubt that I will even be able to enter heaven well. Therefore, we should not take worship lightly. Even if you try to fill a year and a half, you have to pour your utmost devotion into worship.
In fact, worshiping God is not a cumbersome duty, but the most glorious, rewarding, and thrilling privilege that only saved believers can do. It is something that no one can do without the saints. Therefore, worship should be prioritized and valued above any other work. The 19th chapter of Revelation we read today shows how glorious our worship is. In addition, we can learn a very important lesson about the elements of worship from the text.
The first thing we need to think about is who the target of worship is. In other words, who is the God who receives our worship? See verse 1. "Salvation and glory and power belong to our God." The God we worship is the God of salvation. We worship the God who saved us. And look at verse 2. “His judgments are true and righteous.” God is the God who judges the world. We worship the God of all, who judges the wicked and all rebels in this world. Finally, look at verse 6. "The Lord our God Almighty reigns." God is a God who reigns forever.
Therefore, we worship the God who saved us and made his bride, the God who made his people, and the God who judges the world, the high and great God who reigns forever. This is our worship.
Second, we can clearly see who the worshipers are from the text. Verse 1 says that 'a great multitude in heaven' is worshiping. In verse 5, the word 'servants of God' is sometimes changed. These refer to the people who believed in Jesus and were justified and became children of God. In this sense, worship is not something anyone can offer. Only those who are children of God can give. This is why we call worship a privilege.
Third, we can learn a clear lesson about how to worship. The worshipers mentioned in the text all worshiped with 'Hallelujah'. See the text. How many times does the word 'Hallelujah' come out? To worship with Hallelujah simply means to worship God with praise and worship. We, too, should worship God with praise and worship. And they all worshiped with a loud voice (verses 1, 6). Not only that, they bowed down and worshiped and worshiped with great joy (vv. 4, 7). Our attitude to worshiping God today should be the same.
Worship is something we must do forever when we go to the kingdom of God. In a sense, our worship on earth is a rehearsal of that work in this world. It is one aspect of the heavenly life we enjoy and live on this earth. Therefore, there is nothing more beautiful and precious in the world than to worship God, who has given us salvation, glory, and power. Look at Romans 1:21. Why do you say God is angry with the people of this world? It is because they do not glorify God or give thanks to God even though they know Him. The people of this world do not glorify God. In other words, they are not worshipers.
But we are different. God has specially chosen us from among the countless people and made us His children. He did this to make us worshipers. Therefore, we must worship.
Break away from self-centered worship.
There are a few things we should be careful about when we worship God as worshipers. First, we must not worship with subjective interests. What this means is that we should not have a worship service centered on me. If we can't, I can be the center. Depending on my mood, I open or close my heart, actively participate in worship, or become a bystander. But this is very dangerous. Also, there is a problem in worshiping with the stubbornness that God must grant those wishes, considering worship as if it were an opportunity to fulfill the wishes of one's heart. God is not worshiped to meet our needs.
We worship God because He is worthy to be worshiped, not because of our subjective interests.
In this sense, it is also problematic to say, 'I received a lot of grace' or 'I did not receive' about worship. Grace should not be a condition of worship. Even if you do not receive much grace, you must worship. Because we already have enough conditions to worship. We worship because He is the God who saved us. Today we bow down and worship the Lord because He is in glory.
Therefore, regardless of whether we receive grace or not, we must worship. Worship must begin with God and His glory. If any of you are worshiping with grace conditional, I hope the Holy Spirit will heal you.
Second, we must not let our worship become sick worship. As the lead pastor, I am always worried that the worship we offer is a sick worship service. How many sick worship services are found in the Bible? There are too many worship services in which God has turned his face away from worshiping in a magnificent temple wearing fancy ceremonies and costumes. This is true even if we look back on Christian history. There is no guarantee that we will not do such a sick worship service. So I'm afraid that will be the case.
The church must live in worship. There must be a presence of God through worship. The river of grace must overflow through healthy worship. Worship is the heart of the church. Only when God's work takes place powerfully through worship will new blood be delivered to each part of the church to gain vitality. And furthermore, the vitality will overflow into the homes and lives of each member of the church. In doing so, every program can bring fruit and every service can be acceptable to God.
However, if worship is sick, no matter how loudly a good program is laid out, we cannot glorify God. It goes without saying that not receiving grace. In order for the church to live, worship must be alive and pulsing constantly and move by supplying new blood to each part of the church.
There are still many of us who came out with all their heart and sincerity. There are many people who drive more than 2 hours. However, if we make a mistake, even though we have come a long way, we may not be able to worship God and just sit and go. We should always look at ourselves so that our worship does not become such a sick worship.
Worship with the heart The worship that God receives is the worship that our heart follows. It is worship that follows the heart. Simply put, worship with the heart is acceptable to God. In the book of Proverbs God says: “Give me your heart, my son” (Proverbs 23:26). What God wants is not in any order. What God wants is our hearts to worship. Our God requires us to do this. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” When God asks for anything, He wants our heart, our whole person, to be contained in it. God does not look at our outward appearance, but at the heart. There is no one in the world as burdensome as someone who looks inside.
But surprisingly, it is said that God sees all the depths of us. So, if we don't give our hearts to worship, God turns his face away. When I looked into my heart, my heart was all in the wrong place, how could I receive such worship?
There was a little girl in Sunday School Kindergarten. This girl was going to church one day and was getting on the scale and weighing herself. So, my mother thought it was strange and said: "You weighed yesterday, and you're still going today?" Then the girl said: