The Great Exchange of Worship
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When I was a kid growing up in Southern California, • • my favorite game to play was hide and seek. And for a nine year old boy, there was nothing more exciting nor intriguing on a warm, uh, summer night than playing hide and seek with your friends long after curfew, annoying the neighbor's dogs, hopping over their pets, just causing a ruckus around the neighborhood. • • • • • And I was a master at the game of Hideandseek. I could have been on the Wheaties box for Hideandseek players. And as a master of that game, I quickly came to learn that the secret to a really good hiding place is it had to be dark and it had to be confined. • • • Now, to most kids, something like that would be frightening, but in the middle of the game, it's really exciting. • • • • And the other thing I knew about the hiding place is that once you get into the hiding place, • • don't, uh, move. • • • • • • Now, what does all that have to do with worship? • • I'll explain that in just a minute. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Well, we have to start • • by going back to our basic understanding of what worship is. Remember, worship is declaring the worth or the value of God. • • And we do that not just in the things we say, but by the way that we live. Living our whole lives is an act of worship. • • • • • And I want us to focus really now on what I call the great exchange of worship, • • why worship is important to God and, uh, why it's important to us, and what happens as believers when we worship God. • • • • The Bible says in Psalm 22, verse three, says, you, Lord, are enthroned on the praises of Israel. • • • • In other words, • • • God is enthroned on the praises of his people. Well, now, what does that mean, enthroned? We don't talk much about thrones anymore. Well, every kingdom has a king, and every king has a throne. And the Bible is telling us that the throne of God rests on the praises of his people. • • • There's another passage of scripture that basically says the same thing, only in a picture. It's in Isaiah, chapter six. And Isaiah six, one says, in the year King Uziah died, I saw the Lord • • seated on a throne, and the train of his robe filled the temple. • • Now, what Isaiah is saying and experiencing in this passage is that the king of the country, the king of the nation has died. So the nation is in a crisis. And Isaiah says, at that time, in the middle of a crisis, I had a vision of God, • • • and he was seated on his throne, • • and the train of his robe or the hem of his garment, • • filled the temple. • • Now, let's think about that picture. • • • God is on his throne, • • and the hem of his garment is filling the temple, the place of worship. So where then is the throne in relationship to the temple? It's above the temple. It's aligned with the place of worship. • • • Isaiah is seeing the same thing that the psalmist said, that the Lord is enthroned on the praises of his people. Now, does that mean that if people don't praise Him, there's no place where God's throne no, that's not what that means. What it does mean, though, is that when you worship God, when you declare his worth, his value, you are God. I am not. You are my provider. You are my king. You are my savior. You're my friend. When you declare worship and • • offer it to God, you are coming under the throne of his authority. You're aligning your life with his rulership, his authority, his will. • • You are coming under the throne of God. And God's throne is a throne of grace. • • • • Everything that we need in life • • is available through the grace of God. • • Now, am I saying that you have to say nice things and kind of butter God up to get Him to do nice things for you? Not at all. That's not what I'm saying. What I am saying, though, is that • • you're more likely to feast at the King's table if you sit at the King's feet. • • • You're more likely to get wet if you stand in a river than if you wait out in the desert • • • and praising God, offering, uh, • • Him. Your worship places you in the river of God's grace. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Now, uh, let's look at another verse from the Scriptures. This one is from Psalm 89. It's verse 15 • • and Psalm 80. 915 is a really easy verse to miss if you're racing your way through Scripture, because Psalm 89 is one of those page and a halfrs. But it's a key verse in an understanding of the role of worship in the life of a believer. This is what the verse says. • • Bless those who have learned to acclaim, you who walk in the light of your presence, O Lord. • • • • • Now, let's unpack some of those words for a minute here. • • What does the word acclaim mean? Acclaim is kind of a funny word. I mean, how many of you have used the word acclaim in a sentence in the last week? • • Well, here's what a claim means. • • It means to welcome joyfully with a loud shout. • • • To welcome joyfully with a loud shout. Now, here's the picture. The picture of acclaiming is Sunday, uh, • • morning, the football game. • • And when the home team takes the field • • and the people jump up out of their seats and they welcome the team onto the field with a loud shout, that's what it means to acclaim. We acclaim the Lord by welcoming Him into our circumstances, into our life situations, welcoming him because we know that when he takes a field of our life, the job's going to get done. • • So the Bible says, blessed are those who have learned to acclaim. • • It's a learned experience, • • • • um, a learned behavior, and it comes with practice, it comes over time. • • • Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim. You. • • • Why? Because they walk in the light of your presence. • • • • Often in scripture, when you see the word walk, what it's referring to is not just putting 1ft in front of the other. What it's talking about is how you live your life, your whole lifestyle, the way you converse, the way you work, the way you live in the world. And the Bible is saying that those who welcome the Lord into their situation and their circumstances, that then they live, they move, they have their being, they walk in the light of God's presence. • • • And isn't that what we all want as believers? To live • • • in God's presence? • • A constant awareness of his presence, not just a moment over here and a moment over there, but a constant walking and living in the light of God's presence? • • Well, the Bible is telling us that if that's what you want in your life, • • then it starts by learning to welcome the Lord in worship, welcome him daily into your situation and your circumstances. • • • Well, now I want to get back to, uh, my little game of Hideandseek. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Only this time, • • it's about 25 years later. • • • • • I was 34 years old • • • and, uh, a young husband and father. And like a lot of guys my age at that time, my worth, my identity was caught up in • • my work and my successes in my • • career. • • • • • • But there came a time when the company I was with, we brought in a new president. And I guess like any good new president, he started asking some questions. Do we have the right people doing the right things in the right way, in the right places? • • • • • • So when the time came for him to kind of take a look at me, he took a look a couple of times • • • and, uh, it started to seem that maybe I wasn't in the right place doing the right thing. • • • He began to ask me if there was maybe something else I'd want to do either there with the company or outside of the company. He was giving me time to think and process. Well, to me, • • I didn't see how he was trying to find the best thing for me to do. To me, it was like an attack, a threat to me. I took it all the wrong way. And that whole period became very dark for me. And I felt like I was in a dark, confined place. • • • And it seemed like I couldn't get out of it because I didn't want to leave. • • • • But I didn't see how I could stay. • • • • You know, the Bible says in Proverbs three six, if you commit your way to the Lord, he'll direct your path. I had committed my way to the Lord every day, and I had to believe that he was directing my path. And yet here I was, unable to move, not knowing what the future held • • and feeling this sense of darkness and confinement and kind of uselessness. • • But I also knew this. • • I knew the things we've talked about. I knew that the Lord is enthroned on the praises of his people. I knew that when you worship God, it aligns you with his throne. • • • I also knew that • • if you welcome Him into your situation, • • • that you will walk in the light of his presence. So I made a determination, a decision • • that I was going to just worship God through this. I decided I wasn't even going to ask Him for anything, but instead, I was just going to • • praise Him and worship Him. • • And so every day when I would drive into work, I turned the radio off and I turned my car into a sanctuary. And I just began to worship the Lord, reminding Him of who he is, reminding myself of who he is. Lord, I praise you because you're my king, you're my creator. Lord, I praise you. And I thank you because I know that you care more about my family even than I do. • • You're my provider, and you know what this situation is that I'm facing. And, Lord, I just want to thank you today. I thank you for what You've given me. I thank you for what you have not given me. And I would just talk to the Lord like that sometimes. I would sing to him and throughout the day, I would continue to just worship Him. Even when I drove home from work. • • There were days when I took the long way home just so I could spend more time with God. • • • Now, I'd like to say that the m darkness lifted and the problems went away and that everything just became wonderful overnight. • • • But it didn't. • • It persisted. In fact, it seemed to get darker. It seemed like heaven was silent. • • • • But I knew in my heart that I needed to keep worshiping. • • • Somebody once said that • • the heart knows reasons that reason never knows. • • And in my heart, I knew I had to worship God. And so I just decided to be stubborn about it and to do everything I could just to get in God's way. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • And then early one fall morning, in fact, it was about 04:00, • • I woke up with this question • • in my head. It woke me up. And the question was, • • when did you learn to fear a hiding place? • • • • • • And I sat up in bed • • and I heard the question again, • • when did you learn to fear a hiding place? • • • • • • • • • I got up, I walked into the kitchen to try to clear my head, and I began to pray, just, Lord, are you wanting to say something to me? Help me understand this. And then my memories of Hideandseek as a kid came back to me. • • • • • And then the Lord whispered deep into my heart. • • • • • • He said, the darkness is a fold in my cloak. • • • • • • I've been hiding you. • • • What are you so afraid of? • • • • • • • • • • • • • I didn't know what to say to the Lord. That was more than I ever could have imagined • • • that all this time I had been so afraid. And yet • • now, with a new perspective, I could see how God had been shielding me, protecting me, keeping me in this secret place. • • • • • • I think I learned that morning what the psalmist meant in Psalm 91 when he said, he who dwells in the secret place of the most High will abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, uh, he is my refuge, my fortress, my God, and whom I will trust. • • • • • • • I found such freedom that morning at that table, • • hearing those words in my heart, • • • • • because I knew that God had been true to his word, that in my crisis, I had offered worship. I had brought myself under the throne of God and surrendered to his authority in my life by offering Him praise and worship. And then I saw the grace of God manifested in my life. • • • • Now, let me ask you a question. • • • • • Are you in a dark, confined place right now in your life? Are you feeling like you can't move? • • • • • • • Are you facing a crisis? • • • • • • Let me encourage you to worship God. • • • Offer Him your praise and your worship. Offer yourself to God in praise. • • • • • Come and stand in a river of his grace. • • Surrender your life to him. Come underneath his throne. Welcome Him into your circumstance by worshiping Him. • • • • • Jesus said in John 423, • • he said, the Father is looking for worshipers. • • • So if you're looking for God and you just can't seem to find Him, • • then stop what you're doing and worship Him, • • and he will come find you. • • • • • • • •
Speaker B
I will give you all my worship, • • and I will give • • you all my pray • • • • • you alone • • how long to worship? Ah, you alone • • are worthy of, uh, my pray • • • • • you. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
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