1. Disciplining ourselves for the purpose of godliness
2. The discipline of hearing God’s Word regularly
3. The discipline of
Public Prayer
4. The Discipline
of Public Worship
“To the King of the
ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honour and glory forever and ever.
Amen.” (1 Timothy 1:17).
This is a great
statement, made by a worshipping heart, the apostle Paul, to his son in the
faith, Timothy, who is pastor of the church at Ephesus.
In this, the last of our January series, we meditate on the nature
of corporate worship.What is worship? What does the word mean?
The
word is derived from the English word ‘worth-ship‘.
It means to ascribe ‘worth’ to someone.
The human heart longs to worship.
The reason for that is that
the human race was designed and created by God to worship Him alone (Genesis 1&2). However, the fall in Genesis 3 has turned every person from a God- worshipper into an
idol-worshipper. John Calvin observed
that every human heart is an idol factory[1].
Solomon comments, “See this alone I have
found, that God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes.” (Eccl.
7:29)
Whilst the world now worships in many different ways (mainly
that, which itself creates), we Christians are primarily interested in the
recovery of the worth-ship of God. For the Christian, God is of the highest
worth. Therefore the Christian pursues the worship of God as his or her highest
goal. But where shall we learn how to worship God? The
Bible informs us concerning the essence and nature of true worship. It also
exposes the nature and folly and consequences of false worship. Our pulpit
ministry at Eastside, in tandem with all the true church in history, deliberately aims to align our thinking with the
Scriptures, and so aims to help us to worship God. This is hard work. It
requires, as we have seen, robust training in godliness (1 Timothy 4:7 – see
first sermon[2])
Paul’s letters to Timothy are essentially instructions on how
the church ought to worship. The church at Ephesus, of which Timothy was the
pastor, was born in an environment of strong idol worship. The temple of
Artemis or Diana was found right here, in Ephesus. It was once considered to be
one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.[3]
But here in Ephesus the gospel had taken root and people were brought back to the
worship of the true Creator God. It one thing for people to get out of that
environment, but it is never easy to get the environment out of people. The enemy
of our souls, the tempter, prowls around like a roaring lion (1 Peter 5:8). Paul frequently draws attention to his
work in his letters to Timothy.[4]
In order to deal with that perpetual problem, namely allowing our hearts to worship that which cannot save us, we have chosen to take counsel
from Paul’s first letter to Timothy. There we have considered,
1. The importance of training ourselves in godliness (1 Tim. 4:7-8). By
disciplining ourselves in godliness, we honour God; we learn to worship
God.
2. The discipline of hearing and reading God’s Word regularly (1 Tim 4:13). The Bible
teaches us to worship God
according to the pattern given to us, and not just according to the
fancies of our own thinking.
3. The Discipline of Prayer (1 Tim 2:1-4). Prayer is the highest act of worship,
for in prayer we declare our dependence upon God.
4. The Discipline of Worship. (1 Tim 1:17).
This is what we shall consider now
Paul’s statement in1
Timothy 1:17
a. A statement that expresses the heart of worship (1:17)
b. How Paul is lead to make that statement:
How he became a worshipper (1:12-16)
c. What that statement leads to: A life
of worship, expressed in the corporate life of the church (2:
1-15 and the rest of the letter)
THE HEART OF WORSHIP
(1:17)
Here we find Paul sinking on to his knees before God in
worship as he makes this statement (cf.
Romans 11:33-36)
WHAT LEADS HIM TO WORSHIP?
(1:12-16)
It is very clear! Here it is the thought of what Jesus Christ
(not only his Lord but OUR Lord) has done for him! Paul here thanks God
for giving him the strength (Gr.dunamis)
for this service of being an apostle (1:1). The phrase ’because he judged me faithful’ (pistis) needs to be understood in a passive sense. It was not that
Paul was a faithful man and that upon this merit God judged him to be faithful,
appointing him to this service. No, it is God that empowered him (i.e. gave him
that dunamis) to be faithful and THAT
is why Paul is a faithful servant and
apostle of the church. The glory and worship therefore belong to God and not to
Paul. Paul knows himself only too well.
As he recites his history, he writes ”formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor and
insolent[5] opponent”. He knows that he was anything
but faithful to God in himself. He knows that it was on the basis of God’s grace
and love and mercy in Jesus ALONE
that He became what he was – the apostle
by command of God our Saviour and of Christ Jesus our hope (1:1).
It is that thought of God’s free, loving, unmerited grace and mercy to
him, the foremost of sinners (1:15) , that leads him to express this great doxology- this utterance of praise and worship to God. True worship of God begins
when we know that we are made by God and kept by God.
Let us rehearse this question again: Why can we truly worship the one true God of
the Universe? We can worship Him because He makes Himself known to us. Paul
writes to the Galatians and says that “it
pleased God to reveal his Son in me” (Gal. 1:16). We see that in our text. In his letter to
Timothy Paul thinks about the way in which Jesus saved him, despite the fact
that he was once a blasphemer, a persecutor and an insolent opponent of the
gospel. And he bursts into that great
statement of worship.
At the extreme end of our
experience of worship there can be a falling down, and even an experience of fear, and even losing
consciousness, or the ability to see. The apostle Paul experienced that in Acts 9:3-9. The apostle Peter
experienced that in Lk 5:8. The
apostle Thomas experienced that in John
20:21[6].
The apostle John experience that in Revelation
1:17.
But many more times we find people just simply dropping on to
their knees when they encounter Jesus. The ESV
and NIV describe this act simply as kneeling
before Jesus, but the KJV captures
the sense of gravitas better when
it says
that they worshipped (proskuneo – lit. to bow down before) Jesus. In this sense Jesus is frequently worshipped or bowed down to. Each time, Jesus accepted the worship. Here are some examples from Matthew,
·
Matthew 8:2 - A healed leper knelt before- i.e. worshipped Jesus.
·
Matthew 9:18- A ruler knelt before (worshipped) Jesus after He had healed his Son.
· Matthew 14:33- The disciples worshipped Jesus after
He had walked on water. "Those in
the boat worshipped him, saying, 'Truly you are the Son of God.'" (Here
the ESV translates proskuneo as worship)
·
Matthew 15:25: “A Canaanite woman came and knelt before him (worshipped), saying, 'Lord, help me.'"
·
Matthew 20:20, "Then
the mother of the sons of Zebedee came up to him with her sons, and kneeling
(worshipping) before him she asked him
for something."
Do we still worship God when
we do not feel anything?
The giving of the
glory God, when His felt presence is near is our
best experience, and yet there may be times when we need to worship in a principled fashion, like...
·
Habakkuk 3:17,18
·
Job 13:15a “Though
he slay me, I will hope in him”
·
Matthew 26: 39,42,44 - Jesus, now forsaken of the Father in the Garden, and yet praying, "Your will be done".
We can worship, because the truth still remains the truth. I may not feel God’s love, but that does not prove that He
does not love me and care for me. I still worship Him. He is still my Father. Following the devastating news of the death of his baby boy, David, sore depressed, got up from his bed, washed his face and went to the sanctuary to worship
God (2 Sam 12:20).
APPLICATION: THE
CONTEXT OF WORSHIP
We have begun our meditation with the personal encounter of
God that leads to worship. But private worship is not the highest form or expression of
worship. The highest form of worship ends
in public worship.
We have already noted
that Paul does not privatise God or the Lord Jesus Christ. He refers to God our Saviour and Jesus
Christ our hope (1:1); Jesus our Lord (1:2, 12,14). And so, the corporate worship service of the church is the highest expression of
human worship, and the highest exclamation of our worship can be that which 1 Timothy 1:17 reveals,
“To the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God,
be honour and glory forever and
ever. Amen.“
That is, incidentally the language of the worship of heaven. This is
what the people gathered before the throne from all tribes, tongues, languages and
nations are saying: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne and to the Lamb… blessing and glory and wisdom
and thanksgiving and honour and power and might be to our God forever and ever!
Amen. (Rev. 7:10-12).
And so as we survey the greater context of Paul’s letter to Timothy, we see the corporate effect of public worship worked out in 1 Timothy 2, as Paul explains what the church in Ephesus should be doing corporately
in worship. The first thing is prayer (2:1-7). The second thing is and right and submissive attitudes in worship (2: 8-15). Furthermore, the church ought to be led by worshipping elders and deacons, leading the church by the examples of their own worshipping lives (Chapter 3) etc …I trust the point is made. The thought of Godleads to practical applications of worship.
Beloved brothers and sisters. Let the church worship! Come together regularly
and praise the Lord, with all that He has given you. Do this in prayer, in song, by hearing
the Word together and by doing what it says. Do it in in participating in the
life of this body to the glory of God.
The common worship that we seek is
biblical, reverent, joyful, edifying and filled with praise to God.
One last plea, particularly to the
younger parents. Do not let your children miss out on this worship. Let the
children worship. There is plenty of biblical evidence that children are
included in public worship. Jesus wanted
to see the little children not neglected in our midst. Let them be present
in the means of grace. Let them hear the Word preached; let them see the
Lord’s supper and baptism administered, and let them ask their parents, what do these things mean? Let them be
prayed for publically and let them participate in prayer; let them sit with
their parents in worship and let them experience what demonstrates our weekly priority. And God
will respond to your faithful worship by giving them true life. Amen.
[3] By
401 AD it had been ruined or destroyed. Only foundations and fragments now remain at the site.
[5] showing
a rude and arrogant lack of respect.
