Crazy Worship Church

In a service about a year ago, I said, “I’m okay if we’re known as a crazy worship church.” Today, I want to dive in to what I meant by that and some of the Biblical reasoning for the expressions of worship that you might see in our church.

• “Praise Him for His mighty acts; Praise Him according to His excellent greatness!” Psalm 150:2 NKJV

  • Two reasons why we worship:

    • For what He does (has done/is going to do)

    • For who He is

• ³ And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. ⁴ So Judah gathered together to ask help from the Lord; and from all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord. ⁵ Then Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the Lord, before the new court, ⁶ and said: “O Lord God of our fathers, are You not God in heaven, and do You not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations, and in Your hand is there not power and might, so that no one is able to withstand You? ⁷ Are You not our God, who drove out the inhabitants of this land before Your people Israel, and gave it to the descendants of Abraham Your friend forever? ⁸ And they dwell in it, and have built You a sanctuary in it for Your name, saying, ⁹ ‘If disaster comes upon us—sword, judgment, pestilence, or famine—we will stand before this temple and in Your presence (for Your name is in this temple), and cry out to You in our affliction, and You will hear and save.’ ¹⁰ And now, here are the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir—whom You would not let Israel invade when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned from them and did not destroy them— ¹¹ here they are, rewarding us by coming to throw us out of Your possession which You have given us to inherit. ¹² O our God, will You not judge them? For we have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon You.” ¹³ Now all Judah, with their little ones, their wives, and their children, stood before the Lord. ¹⁴ Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, in the midst of the assembly. ¹⁵ And he said, “Listen, all you of Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you, King Jehoshaphat! Thus says the Lord to you: ‘Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s. ¹⁶ Tomorrow go down against them. They will surely come up by the Ascent of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the ^[d]brook before the Wilderness of Jeruel. ¹⁷ You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem!’ Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, for the Lord is with you.” ¹⁸ And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem bowed before the Lord, worshiping the Lord. ¹⁹ Then the Levites of the children of the Kohathites and of the children of the Korahites stood up to praise the Lord God of Israel with voices loud and high. ²⁰ So they rose early in the morning and went out into the Wilderness of Tekoa; and as they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Hear me, O Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem: Believe in the Lord your God, and you shall be established; believe His prophets, and you shall prosper.” ²¹ And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who should sing to the Lord, and who should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army and were saying: “Praise the Lord, For His mercy endures forever.” ²² Now when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushes against the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; and they were defeated. ²³ For the people of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir to utterly kill and destroy them. And when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, they helped to destroy one another. ²⁴ So when Judah came to a place overlooking the wilderness, they looked toward the multitude; and there were their dead bodies, fallen on the earth. No one had escaped. ²⁵ When Jehoshaphat and his people came to take away their spoil, they found among them an abundance of valuables on the dead bodies, and precious jewelry, which they stripped off for themselves, more than they could carry away; and they were three days gathering the spoil because there was so much. ²⁶ And on the fourth day they assembled in the Valley of Berachah, for there they blessed the Lord; therefore the name of that place was called The Valley of Berachah until this day. ²⁷ Then they returned, every man of Judah and Jerusalem, with Jehoshaphat in front of them, to go back to Jerusalem with joy, for the Lord had made them rejoice over their enemies. ²⁸ So they came to Jerusalem, with stringed instruments and harps and trumpets, to the house of the Lord. ²⁹ And the fear of God was on all the kingdoms of those countries when they heard that the Lord had fought against the enemies of Israel. ³⁰ Then the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet, for his God gave him rest all around. 2 Chronicles 20:3-30
  • V. 3 Jehoshaphat’s first response when he felt fear was to seek the Lord.
  • V. 6 Praise His promises back to Him.
  • V. 9 He WILL hear & save
  • V. 12 “nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon You.”
  • V. 17 “Go out against them” They had to move.
    • V. 18-19 Bowing/standing to praise
      • “Worship” Saha (H7812) – prostrate, bow down, humbly beseech, do reverence; implies   respect
      • “Praise” Halal (H1984) – to shine forth, boast, glory, celebrate (root of “hallelujah”)
      • Worship is about submission; praise is about exhalation.
  • V. 21 1st “Praise” Halal (H1984) – to shine forth, boast, glory, celebrate (Root for hallelujah); 2nd “Praise” Yada (H3034) – to give thanks, laud, confess, cast praise with lifted hands
  • V. 22-23 Worship creates chaos in the ranks of the enemy.
• Worship is a warfare.
  • “Worship is a declaration of war against anything that says God can’t.”

• We worship:

  • For what He does

  • For who He is

    • We often get this backwards…
• We can easily relate to God through the things we see Him do around us (tangible things), battles we’ve seen Him win, or things we’re still believing Him for. But we truly have no point of reference for the glory of our God…He paves His streets paved with gold–He walks on one of our most valued assets.
  • If we’re not careful, our worship starts looking a lot like consumerism…songs about Him, not songs to Him. If I’m not careful, I become the object of the sentence.

• Our word “worship,” comes from an Old English word “worth-ship,” meaning “to give something worth; to demonstratively attribute value.” What you worship is what you ascribe worth to.
  • Worship isn’t about me. Worship is for Him.

• Worship is a motivation (attitude) that informs every act of our lives.
• Worship is an expression of affection (act).
  • Expression: the process of making known, conveying, or putting into words one’s thoughts, feelings, emotions, or opinions
    • Over half of communication is body language.
      • Example: stone-faced “I love you,” vs. passionate “I love you.” Which speaks more to your heart?

• What does worship in Heaven look like?  If we want Heaven to come on the earth, then we better start doing the things of Heaven on earth.
  • ⁸ The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying: “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!” Revelation 4:8 NKJV
  • ¹¹ “You are worthy, O Lord, To receive glory and honor and power; For You created all things, And by Your will they exist and were created.” Revelation 4:11 NKJV
  • ¹² saying with a loud voice: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain To receive power and riches and wisdom, And strength and honor and glory and blessing!” ¹³ And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying: “Blessing and honor and glory and power Be to Him who sits on the throne, And to the Lamb, forever and ever!” Revelation 5:12-13 NKJV
  • ³ They sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying: “Great and marvelous are Your works, Lord God Almighty! Just and true are Your ways, O King of the saints! ⁴ Who shall not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy. For all nations shall come and worship before You, For Your judgments have been manifested.” Revelation 15:3-4 NKJV
  • ¹ After these things I heard a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, “Alleluia! Salvation and glory and honor and power belong to the Lord our God! ² For true and righteous are His judgments… Revelation 19:1-2a NKJV
• The emphasis is on who God is…less about what He does & more about who He is. We get it backward…
  • When we magnify who He is, we shouldn’t be surprised when He does things in our midst, because what He does is intrinsically tied to who He is.
    • Psalm 22:3 KJV  God “inabitest the praises of Israel”
      • When you inhabit a place, that place is home. What do you do at home? You come in, kick your shoes off, let your hair down, act like yourself. We shouldn’t be surprised when God shows up and acts like Himself when we worship Him. We don’t have to chase what we need Him to do. We just have to go after Him, and He will show up and do what He does because of who He is.

• ³⁰ I will praise the name of God with a song, And will magnify Him with thanksgiving. ³¹ This also shall please the Lord better than an ox or bull… Psalm 69:30-31 NKJV
  • Magnify: make bigger
  • Sacrifice
• JESUS IS WORTH IT.  He doesn’t change. I can worship Him even when my circumstances   suck, because He’s always good, and He’s always worthy, and He’s always worth is. The cross was the ultimate expression of love.
  • Jehovah: He is that He is. He can’t NOT be.
  • Jehovah Jireh – the Lord will provide
  • Jehovah Shammah – the Lord is there (present)
  • Jehovah Rapha – the Lord Who heals you
  • Jehovah Tsidkenu – the Lord our Righteousness
  • Jehovah Nissi – the Lord our banner (victory)
  • Jehovah Shalom – the Lord our peace
  • Jehovah Raa – the Lord our shepherd
    • Why would I not want to worship (bow low) and praise a God like that???
• “Accuse me of being demonstrative, but never accuse me of withholding from God the affection He is due.” – Zach Neese, How to Worship A King

• ⁶ …“Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns! ⁷ Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.” Revelation 19:6b-7 NKJV
  • Jesus is coming back for His bride. Let us be a people who have made ourselves ready; who    are wholly devoted. Who are expressive of our love, affection, and thankfulness.
    • Jesus has done way too much for me for me to be quiet.
• “Every knee should bow… and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord”
  • When was the last time you bowed before the Lord? Why would I wait till judgement day to bow low before the Lord who did everything for me?
• If we hold our peace, the stones will cry out. God’s going to get His glory. Let it come from me.

That’s why I’m okay with us maybe being known as a CRAZY WORSHIP CHURCH.