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HINDRANCES TO WORSHIP–PART 1

Introduction

I want us to think about the matter of worship this morning. We say that we have come to worship today. But, what is “worship”?

The Hebrew word translated as “worship” has the idea of “prostrating oneself, especially reflexively, in homage to royalty or God.”

“Prostrate” means “to lay flat; to throw down; to throw one’s self down or to fall in humility or adoration; to bow in humble reverence.”

The Greek word translated as “worship” has the same idea of “prostrating oneself in homage (to do reverence to, adore).”

Webster says that “worship” means “to adore; to pay divine honors to; to reverence with supreme respect and veneration. To honor with extravagant love and extreme submission.”

I want to share with you some brief introductory thoughts about worship before we get into the meat of the message today:

1.         The LORD is worthy of our worship.

Psalm 29:2–“Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.”

            Psalm 99:5–“Exalt ye the LORD our God, and worship at his footstool; for he is holy.”

Revelation 5:12–“Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.”

2.         The LORD alone is worthy of our worship.

            Psalm 86:10–“For thou art great, and doest wondrous things: thou art God alone.”

Psalm 148:3–“Let them praise the name of the LORD: for his name alone is excellent; his glory is above the earth and heaven.

            Matthew 4:10–“ Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.”

3.         The LORD tells us how we are to worship Him.

1 Chronicles 16:29–“Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name: bring an offering, and come before him: worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness. 30Fear before him, all the earth:”

John 4:23-24– “But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. 24God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.”

This morning I want us to consider some things that hinder our worship of God. We are to worship God, but there are some things that block our ability to worship God as we should. What are they? Let’s see what the Scripture says:

I.         SELF-WILL CAN HINDER WORSHIP! (Leviticus 10:1-2)

What do we mean by self-will? Self-will is when we choose the who, what, when, where, or how we want to do things–in this instance, worship.

Some might be thinking, well isn’t the important thing that we just worship and be sincere about our worship? I don’t know where that idea came from, but it certainly wasn’t from God!

            A.        Nadab and Abihu knew what God expected in worship (God told them!), but they chose to do things their own way and the result was devastating!

So many people think they can just come worship God just any old way they want to and it will be OK with God, but that is just not true!

            B.        Although there are different ways in which we can worship the LORD, we can not violate God's principles and expect our worship to be acceptable to the LORD!

                        What am I saying? The LORD, decides what is and is not proper worship, not us!

            C.        In our text, we see the importance that our worship be in spirit and in truth.

                        1.         We must worship God in spirit–i.e. Worship that doesn’t come from our heart is improper worship. God is not primarily focused on our outward display.

2.We must worship God in truth–i.e. Worship that does not line up with God's Word (truth) is improper worship!

II.       WORLDLINESS CAN HINDER WORSHIP. (1 John 2:15-16)

In 2 Timothy 4:10, Paul said,“Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world.”

            Look at Jesus’ prayer in John 17:14-17.

            A.        We are in the world, but we are not of the world.

            B.        Someone illustrated this way: Christians are like a boat that is in the water.

A boat in the water is no problem. But when a boat begins to take on water then you have a real problem. If that problem is not corrected it will eventually sink the boat.

            C.        Understand that “worldly” does not always mean things that are outward, it also has to do with our inward attitudes.

            Demas allowed worldliness to divert him from God’s purposes for his life.

            Demas allowed worldliness to exchange his Godly desires for worldly ambitions.

            SELF-WILL CAN HINDER WORSHIP.

            WORLDLINESS CAN HINDER WORSHIP.

III.      DOUBLE MINDEDNESS CAN HINDER WORSHIP. (Joshua 24:14-20)

In this passage, Joshua is coming to the end of his life. The LORD has given one last message for him to give to Israel. In verses 2-13, Joshua delivers that message where the LORD gives His people a brief history of the many benefits He has given to them from the time of Terah (Abraham’s father) until where they are at now in the Promised Land.

In verses 14-15, Joshua challenges them to renew their covenant with the LORD.

            The words “in sincerity” here means “entirely in integrity, truth.”

The words “in truth” here means in “in stability; certainty, truth, trustworthiness.”

The LORD was looking for that whole hearted worship as recorded in the “Shema.” Deuteronomy 6:4-5–“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: 5And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.”

Now the people were interested in having a form of worship. But that is just what it was –a form. What they were not interested in was giving themselves wholly to God.

What they wanted was a comfortable Sabbath day only religion. They wanted to worship God the way they wanted to worship Him and then they wanted to live the way they wanted to the other days. They were double minded!

Joshua knew that the people of God were double minded. They said that they wanted to serve the LORD, but they had a problem that continued to surface–

They weren’t true to the LORD! They weren’t true in either their worship or their living!

            They easily strayed because their mind was not single upon the LORD their God.

May I tell you that things haven’t much changed since the days of Joshua. Many people are still satisfied with just a form of worship on Sunday. They want to worship God in the way they want to worship Him. And then they want to live the way they want to live the rest of the time.

Maybe they’ll attend church if its not too much trouble. They make more of an effort to do the things they like to do (like recreation) or have obligated themselves to do (like work) than they do the things they should do (worship).

Maybe they’ll sing a song if its one they know and if it is one they like as long as they don’t have to sing more than a verse or two of it.

Some who have a place of service in the Church show up not fully prepared, and/or their heart is not in what they are doing. They may even show up late. Or they may show up without any expectation of seeing God work (after all, they only told the preacher they would do it because he couldn’t get anyone else to do it. That doesn’t mean they’ve got to apply themselves to what they’re doing, does it? Well, it certainly doesn’t mean that they have to like it!)

Maybe they’ll give at least a semblance of an offering (it may not be a tithe, but after all it’s the best they think they can do. Please don’t ask them to trust the LORD for any more than that. If they’ve not been to Church in a while, well please don’t ask them to catch up on their giving.)

Maybe they’ll half listen to a sermon but don’t expect them to say “Amen” to anything. And especially don’t ask them to make any sort of commitment to do anything about what’s been preached! After all, the altar is for those real wicked sinners, not for people like them!

Some of you might be thinking “Now Preacher, you’ve gone too far” but the sad part of it is that I could go further than that. I won’t but I could!

If we were honest with ourselves and with God, we would acknowledge that, just like the Israelites, we have a problem with giving ourselves wholly to the LORD! Think about it!

            I challenge you to honestly think about!

How much of our lives this week was lived selfishly with us in mind instead of God in mind?

            Our lives are unstable and we wonder why when God has said:

            James 1:8–“A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.”

            What do we need to do?

James 4:8–“Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.”

            SELF-WILL CAN HINDER WORSHIP.

            WORLDLINESS CAN HINDER WORSHIP.

            DOUBLE MINDEDNESS CAN HINDER WORSHIP. 

I’m not through with this message but the hour is getting late and I don’t want to lose you, so we’ll drive a peg here and pick up next week.

Conclusion

There are other attitudes and practices that can hinder our true worship of the Lord, but what about these we’ve dealt with today? As the LORD looks at our worship what does He see?

Number one, are you saved? Do you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour?

That is the greatest hindrance to worship that there is!

If you are a Christian, does the Lord see anything that we’ve dealt with in your life today?

SELF-WILL, WORLDLINESS, DOUBLE MINDEDNESS.

We must break through these and other barriers that prevent us from approaching God with honesty and humility. Will you do business with God today?

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NOTICE:   THESE SERMONS ARE FREE TO BE USED BUT ARE NOT TO BE SOLD!