This is an exciting week around Brushy Creek Baptist Church Taylors, where I have the opportunity to serve as pastor. Our new worship pastor, Tim Bottoms, starts today!
Brushy Creek has gone through a unique transition of leadership. I became pastor of the church in November 2017, following an under-shepherd, Dr. Ralph Carter, who faithfully served for 25 years. Alongside Dr. Carter, Robbie Sox served 25 years as worship pastor.
Today is the first day Brushy Creek has had a new worship pastor in 25+ years. This truth has caused me to think about the three most important things pertaining to biblical worship.
John 4:19–24 says, 19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” 21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
I. The Importance of Worship: Priority
A. God Desires it (v. 23)
John 4:23 says, But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.
Proverbs 23:6 says, Do not eat the bread of a man who is stingy; do not desire his delicacies.
Mark 12:30 says, And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.
B. God Deserves It
Exodus 34:14 says, For you shall worship no other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.
C. God Requires It
II. The Ingredient of Worship: Principles
A. Sphere
B. Spirit
2 Corinthians 3:17 says, Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the lord is, there is freedom.
Romans 5:11 says, More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
C. Sincerity
John 4:22 says, You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.
Matthew 23:25–26 says, 25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.
III. The Implication of Worship: Practice
John 4:23b–24 says, For the Father is seeking such people to worship Him. 24God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
Matthew 4:10 says, Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, ‘you shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve.’”
We must PRIORITIZE worship. We must grasp the PRINCIPLES of worship. Finally, we must PRACTICE it.
The original article appeared here.
