May 26
7:28 AM
How to Worship
May 26
7:28 AM
May 26
7:28 AM
Monday, May 24, 2021
Psalm 51:10, 12, 15-17
Today, I want to talk to you about worshiping God. How do you actually worship God? When we talk about worship, it's usually associated with the music portion of the service. When you come in, everyone's singing a song of praise, hands are being raised, things are going on, etc. It is a great experience, but worshiping God is not always just about that experience for 20-30 minutes on a Sunday morning. Worshiping God is a lifestyle. Worshiping God is is how we conduct ourselves and what we're allowing God to do in our own lives.
Today, I want to look at a psalm that I think really is a great starting point for how we are to worship God. It's written by David, it's Psalm 51. And I'm going to read some select verses from Psalm 51. Starting in verse 10, he says, "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me." And then verse 12, "Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain me with a willing spirit." And then jumping ahead to verses 15-17, "Oh, Lord, open my lips, that my mouth may declare your praise. For you do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise, I would give it; You are not pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart, Oh God, you will not despise."
David wrote this at a very difficult time in his life, when he was filled with grief. He was completely humbled and ashamed because he had just committed adultery, and he comes back to God, and he's begging through this prayer for forgiveness. He's doing a couple different things here. First, he says, "Create in me a clean heart, O God, renew a steadfast spirit within me." He's like, God, I know, I screwed up. I know, I screwed up, God cleanse my heart, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Then, he says, "Restore to me the joy of your salvation, sustain me with a willing spirit." He is longing for what God's going to do in his life, how God is going to continue to pull him through. Then, he says, "Lord opened my lips, that my mouth may declare your praise. For you do not delight and sacrifice, otherwise, I would give it. You're not pleased in a burnt offering."
He's saying, God, I know that I'm going to give you offerings, but that's not what you want. That's not what you care about in this moment. He says, "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, Oh, God, that you will not despise." God is looking for our humility. But he's also looking for us to be able to admit that we're broken, for us to be willing to take a step to surrender to Him. Then, ultimately, we're going to follow him through obedience. God is not looking for you to do something. Maybe you're struggling with a sin in your life. Maybe something's going on in your life that you just feel absolutely guilty about because you know it is against God. Please understand, God has already forgiven you through the blood of Jesus Christ, but God is not looking for you to do something to to pay him back, so to speak. He's looking for you to admit that you're broken, and that you can't do this without Him. God does not ask us to ever be perfect, especially when we worship Him. He asks us to come to him, realizing it is not about us. It is about him. It is not about how strong we are. It's about how strong he is.
I want to close with these words from 2 Corinthians 12:8. Paul is speaking and says, "Concerning this, I implored the Lord three times, that it might leave me." He had something that he was really struggling with, and he asked God to take it away from him three times. And this is what God's response was, " 'My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.' Most gladly, therefore, I [Paul] will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell within me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, I am strong." Why? Because God shows up in our weaknesses. And that's only when he can do it, not on our own strength. So wherever you are, and if you're trying to consider this whole thing, asking how do I worship God? It's coming to him broken, realizing that he's the only one that can do it. And then realizing that it is your weakness that makes you strong, because God shines through that, and Christ's righteousness comes through that. So, I don't know where you are today. I don't know what you're wrestling with. I don't know what you're struggling with. But as your first step, your action of worship for today, just recognize that you are broken, and come to God like that. He will honor it, and he will be made known because of it.
Let me pray for you. Father, thank you so much for the gift of your word, and just how clear it is that we don't need to be perfect. Lord, we just ask that you give us that clean spirit, the willing spirit, that we would recognize we are broken. We surrender to you, and pray that we would be obedient. Whoever's reading right now, whatever they're struggling with right now Lord, I pray that they would just have the courage to say, "God we know that we are broken and we give it to you." In Jesus' name, amen.