Personal Worship

  At this point in our study of the doctrine of worship, we have spent a great deal of time on lofty, theological issues so that we could answer the questions of who we worship, why we should worship, and what worship is. Now we turn to more practical matters of worship. I’ve already told you multiple times that worship is more than just a Sunday morning event. Worship is the purpose for which we were created, and worship is a life-long, every-day act. But, there are also specific times and ways in which God has commanded us to worship. Over the next four weeks I want to understand the when and where of worship by looking at a very famous passage from Deut. 6, known as the “Shema”. From that passage and complementary passages in Ephesians 4 and 5, I want you to see the personal, family, and congregational aspects of worship. Each week are also going to answer some questions based on the definitions of worship that we just finished. They are as follows: “How do I magnify the Lordship of Christ through this aspect of worship?”, “How do I draw near to God through this aspect of worship?”, “How do I give of my life through this aspect of worship?” and “How do I praise God through this aspect of worship?”

So, this morning, let’s read Deut. 6:4-15 together as we seek to understand the aspect of personal worship. From this passage, I want you to understand that personal worship is the heart-felt, daily obedience to Our Lord’s commands. I want to understand this passage from three points: The attitude for personal worship, the actions of personal worship, and the anchor of personal worship.

Before we get into those points, I do need to address a common misconception about personal worship. It has become popular to speak of personal worship as an individualized version of what we do on Sunday morning. Many popular teachers have portrayed personal worship as the Sunday worship service, shrunk to fit in our pocket (or in our ear buds). The error in this is not so much with the actions (it’s great to listen to a sermon on your iPhone or sing praise songs in your car). The problem is with a tendency to equate personal worship with congregational worship, as if I can do one in leu of the other. Understand that this is not an “either/or” question. The faithful Christian is a person who is committed to personal, family, AND congregational worship.

With that said, let’s consider the attitude of personal worship in verses 4-5. To set the scene, you need to understand that all of Deuteronomy is a sermon given by Moses before the people of Israel entered the promised land. It’s also important to understand that chapter 6 is heavily dependent on chapter 5, where Moses reiterates the Ten Commandments. After reminding the people of these commandments, Moses begins this famous passage with the exhortation to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and strength.” This is what Jesus, in Matt. 22:37, would call the “Greatest Commandment” along with the command to love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus’ reason for saying that these two were the greatest is because “on these two commandments depend all of the Law”. In other words, think about how the 10 commandments begin: “you shall have no other gods before me, you shall not make graven images, you shall not take the Lord’s name in vain, honor the Sabbath day.” If you love God with everything you are, then you will not desire anything else above him. If you love God with all of your being, then it is impossible to worship other gods or make idols or take his name in vain or forsake corporate worship. So, our personal worship of God starts with our inner desires. Each one of us worships the Lord when we set our hearts upon the Lord. We worship God when the whole of our being (our soul) is shaped by him. We worship God when we commit all of our energies to his glory.

Second, let’s consider the actions of personal worship. In verse 6, Moses goes on to tell the Israelites, “these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.” When we see this, we have to ask, “What words?” Moses is referring to the Ten Commandments back up in Chapter 5. Notice in this that love for God is intertwined with a deep devotion to the Word of God. Understand that there is no way to separate love for God from knowledge of God. It is popular in our day to make a distinction between head knowledge and heart knowledge, but, in Scripture, they are both related to each other. Let’s say I came up to you and started telling you about how much I loved my wife. Intrigued, you decide to ask me some fact about her, like “what’s her favorite type of vacation?” What would you think of my love for Leah if I responded by saying, “Oh, I don’t care to know anything about her, but I just love her so much?” That wouldn’t seem very loving, would it? In a greater sense, if we are to love God, we must know him. So, personal worship involves growing in our knowledge of and obedience to His Word.

Finally, let’s consider the anchor of personal worship in verses 12-15. In those verses, Moses reminds the Israelites that God delivered them from the “house of slavery.” That grace of God ought to anchor them in a commitment to the Lord that is evidenced in their obedience. And, it is because of that grace that they must now serve the Lord in fear and reverence. In freeing the people of Israel from their bondage, the Lord was establishing himself as their true king. They had been saved to serve their loving, steadfast, patient God.

The concept of the “heart” figures heavily into the book of Deuteronomy. Moses would, time and again, warn the people to guard their hearts. He would tell them in chapter 10:16, “circumcise your hearts and no longer be stubborn.” Yet, the people would fail to love the Lord with all of their hearts. Moses would say, in Deut. 29:4, that the problem was that “the Lord has not given you a heart to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear”, and it was apparent in the ways that they continued to rebel against God, even when he judged them with the total destruction of Jerusalem and exile in Babylon. The problem was, they needed a new heart. And, God promised, in Ezekiel 36:26, that there would come a day when he would give them a new heart and he would make them to obey his laws.

God would ultimately fulfill his promise to give his people a new heart and a new spirit through His Son, Jesus Christ. It is because of Jesus that we are able to have a true and faithful heart that desires the things of God. To see that, turn with me to Eph. 4:17-32. Paul begins this passage by telling the Gentile Christians within the church of Ephesus to turn away from their old pagan way of life and instead walk in the light of Christ. Notice that in verse 22 he says that the presence of Christ in the life of the believer enables him to be “renewed in the spirit of your minds”. In Christ, we have been given a “new self” that has been made in the likeness of God and is righteous and holy. This means that we can now love God as we should, with all of our heart, soul, and might.

With that in mind, let’s end by answering the four questions about personal worship, which I gave at the beginning, and let’s use this passage to do that. First, how do I magnify the Lordship of Christ through my personal worship? We do this by “putting on Christ.” We find our identity, not in our old life, but in Christ. Our society is obsessed with identity. We are told that our race, sexual orientation, gender identity, and political persuasion are the most important identities we have. But, if you are in Christ, all of that fades to the background as Christ becomes supreme in your life.

Second, how do I draw near to God through personal worship? Paul tells the Ephesians in verse 30, “do not grieve the Holy Spirit, by whom you were sealed.” Because of the work of Christ, we have the presence of God within us through the Holy Spirit. So, when we sin, we grieve the Spirit. I am often asked, “how do I know that I am saved?” My answer to that question is always the same: “Do you hate your sin?” The clearest evidence that you are saved is the fact that God’s Spirit will not let you love your sin. And you will hate the fact that you grieve the Spirit. So, to draw near to God, we must live in obedience to his commands.

Third, how do I give of my life through personal worship? Paul lists a number of ways that we do this, but I want to drill down on one. In verse 25, he says that we should “put away falsehood” and instead “speak the truth”. Then, down in verse 29 he says, “let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up.” Both of these statements get at the same idea. We should sacrifice what we do and what we say for the sake of our brother and sisters in Christ. Oh, this is so hard! We so badly want to be right! We so badly want to be first! We so badly want to be recognized! But, in the family of God, our first concern should not be for our own standing, but for the good of our brothers and sisters. We should sacrifice for the sake of our brother’s good.

Finally, how do I praise God through personal worship? Again, Paul lists a number of ways, but I want to note two. In verse 28, he tells the thief to turn away from that old life and instead to work hard with his hands so that he might be able to share with those in need. In this we find that our work honors God. Making good things that benefit others is an act of praise to God. Making an honest wage so that you can support those in need is also a way that we praise God. Also, in verse 32, Paul encourages the Ephesians to “forgive one another as God in Christ forgave you.” In Matt. 5:7, Jesus says that the merciful are blessed. So, forgiveness is a way that we praise God. 

Brothers and sisters, personal worship is more than just singing along to a Gaither’s song in the car or reading a devotional book each morning. Certainly, these can be acts of worship, but, if we listen to Christian music and then while finding our identity in our sexuality or our work, then we are not worshiping. If we have a quiet time while harboring and reveling in our sin, we are not worshipping. May we live with hearts that are devoted to the daily worship of God as we seek to be obedient to him in all things.