August 3, 2008
Sun Oak Baptist Church

Introduction

        Web visitors please note: this is a multi-part series that our pastor plans to continue on the last Sunday of each month when we celebrate the Lord’s Table.

        One of the challenges faced by Christians today: just what is worship? What comes to mind when you hear the word “worship?” Define the word “worship” in 1 or 2 sentences.

        Research has shows that the majority of Christians today are:

                #1. confused about what the Bible teaches or are totally                 ignorant about what the Bible teaches.

                #2. do not view worship Biblically and that their expectations of                 worship are un-Biblical

        4 of the Ten Commandments directly address worship. See Ex. 20:1-8.

        Worship not meeting God’s standards is sin. See Lev. 9:11-10:3.

I. Worship cannot be defined apart from the objective truth of God’s Word, nor can it be defined by culture.

        A. The Samaritan woman’s understanding of worship was defined by         the Pentateuch alone; it was shaped and directed by the teaching of         Samaritan pastors or priests; and it was liberally seasoned with her         culture.

                1. 2,000 years ago: Samaritan worship was pagan. They had a                 twisted view of God; a twisted view of worship; a twisted view                 of the Scriptures; their pastors had determined that the                 Pentateuch, the first 5 books of the Bible alone were                 authoritative; their pastors (priests) had mixed into the Samaritan                 definition and practice of worship pagan worship practices of                 the false religions around them; worship had been re-defined                 and this false view of worship was the Samaritan understanding                 of worship and by the time Jesus met this woman it had been                 practiced for over 700 years.

                2. Today: if all someone knows is rock-and-roll worship, and                 the spiritual leaders (the priests or pastors) in churches don’t do                 anything to Biblically define worship, then that is what and how                 the people will view worship.

        B. The Samaritan woman’s concept of worship was influenced by         what her pastors taught and modeled that worship was; and her         concept of worship had been liberally seasoned by the culture of that         day.

II. Worship must be defined by all of God’s Word, beginning with all of the OT.

Conclusion

        After attending church with his father one Sunday morning, before getting into bed that evening a little boy kneeled at his bedside and prayed, “Dear God, we had a good time at church today, but I wish you had been there.”

        One theologian narrowed down all of what the Bible teaches about worship to this simple definition: “engaging with God.”

        David defined worship as: “magnifying the Lord.” See Ps. 34:3.