" 'IN' THE GROUP FOLLOWING JESUS "
Look Up:
John 4:19-24
Sermon preached by Dr. Wayne
Poplin, Senior Pastor of
Carmel Baptist Church, Matthews, NC
INTRODUCTION:
When my birthday
came this summer, I made it easy on my family. Prior to my birthday, my
children started asking my wife, “What does Dad want? We need an
idea for a gift.” I am considered hard to buy for [I don’t think I
really need anything]. So, I helped them out. I went out and bought
a $300 driver that I wanted and told my wife and children what they owed. I
was happy, and they were happy. Try it. It is a great way to get
what you want.
But what do you give a person who has everything? Who really has
everything? I mean God? You give Him what He desires the most.
Worship. Why?
1. Because it is right for Him. He is worthy of it. It due Him.
Because He is so marvelous, majestic, holy, gracious, good, powerful, merciful,
saving, etc. He is to be worshiped, because all things were made by Him
and for Him
2. Because it is best for us. He knows that unless we truly worship Him our
lives will not be fulfilled, and we will not realize our purpose in being here.
He knows that if we go after anything else and value it more,
we will miss the fullness of life. He commands worship, because that is
the most loving thing He can do.
He
deserves our worship. But, He wants us to give it, because it makes the
center of our lives right. He wants the best for me and for you.
Now, Jesus said that God is making an all out
search—looking for worshipers. He is looking at you and looking at me
wanting to find a worshiper.
“Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a
prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that
the place where we must worship is
Jesus declared, “Believe Me, woman, a time is
coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in
He sees us in here. He is searching through this
congregation. He’s been watching. He is present and watching
[children, students, adults]. He is watching our lives as we leave here
and walk through the week. As He watches, does He announce to the host of
heaven: “I’ve found one?” “I have found another one.”
Folks, understand that God is not looking for
worshipers. He is looking for true worshipers. If He were
just looking for worshipers, then everybody would qualify. Everybody on this
planet worships. We have been wired to worship. Everybody has
passion for something and gives value to something [worship is responding to
what we value]. Worship is about saying “This person, this thing, this
experience is what matters most to me.” That is true of a church-goer
and a non church-goer. Everybody has an altar. Everybody has that
which is worthy of their affection, attention and their allegiance. And
whatever that is, fuels our actions and drives us. True, not too many
people walk around saying, “I worship my stuff, my job, this pleasure, my
body, me.” But it still is true [See Giglio, The Air I Breathe,
pp. 10-11]. People say they don’t worship cars, jobs, homes, money,
etc., but if that is the most important thing in your life, that’s what they
worship. Outside these walls, worship is going on right now, and most of
it has nothing to do with the Father. People never cease to worship, but
often they switch their worship from the Creator to something He created [Romans
Worship is very COMPETITIVE. Amid all the competition,
God is looking for a true worshiper—one who worships Him in spirit and in
truth. When He sees you does He say, “I’ve found one?”
Do you qualify? How do you know if you qualify? “Worship” is a
big word and it has a multitude of meanings. But God is looking for a
particular person. Let’s try to identify what that true worshiper looks
like—so you will know if He has found one in you. A true worshiper (1)
values Him most, above everything else, and because of that wants to please Him
and (2) responds to Him because of Who He is and What He has done.
Let me show you the value part with Cain and Abel. Do you remember the
story [Gen. 4:2-5]? This is a story about two people worshiping.
Cain brought fruits from the soil as an offering to the Lord. He performed
a duty. He went to church. He went through the order of worship.
But when you looked at his life, he didn’t value God the most. But Abel
went out of his way to please God. It was all about what each valued.
One was a worshiper. One was a true worshiper. When God saw
Abel, He said, “I’ve found one.” Do you value God more than anything
such that you desire to please Him? Is that what got you out of bed this
morning? Is that why you are giving Him your all in here?
True worship also is about responding to God because of Who He is and What He
has done. Let me share with you three pairs of responses.
But worship is also beyond here. Worship involves all
of life. It is about reflecting [glorifying] Him out there. You have heard
the old saying: It isn’t how high you jump [in here] but how straight
you walk [out there]. That is true. Worship happens in here and out
there. Worship is COMPREHENSIVE. It involves all of life.
Unless our worship is comprehensive, He hasn’t “Found One” in us.
It is about
communing with
God [That was God’s intended purpose from the
beginning until sin entered the picture—Walked with Adam and Eve].
Communion with God is at the heart of all worship. We commune personally and
corporately. God has provided places where we can commune with Him—from
the tabernacle [called God’s dwelling place] to this worship center. He
doesn’t need a place. We are the ones who need a place to meet with Him.
The faithful earnestly desire to be at the communing place [Ps. 63:1]
O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my
body longs for you….
I want this place to be a communing place. I would
want nothing more than for each of you to truly experience that each time we are
in here. I would want you to leave here each time changed and motivated.
If I could control that, I would. That burden is too much for me to carry.
You have to carry it with me. You have to come ready to meet and commune
with Him.
If you
have children, do they see you valuing God above everything else? You may
think that you could worship better if your children were not with you. I
understand that. It takes work to involve them [ask them questions about
the service, about the message, etc.]. But they need to see mom and dad
worship. They need to see how you value God. They need to see you
give because you value God. They need to see you give Him praise.
They need to see you unashamedly respond to Him in conviction. That is
your responsibility as a parent. God is looking for a true worshiper in
you. But He is also looking for one in your child. He has put you in
charge of raising up a true worshiper
I believe
that a true worshiper is found “in” the group following Jesus. If the
Father is going to find a true worshiper, He will find that person in the group
following Jesus. Why? Because Jesus valued the Father the most.
He said “my meat is to do the will of my Father.” His response to the
Father was, “I must be about His business—not my will but yours be done.”
He knew that worship was competitive. That is why He said to the devil who
was trying to steal His worship from God,
“Away from Me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord
your God, and serve Him only’” [Mt.
He knew that worship was comprehensive. His whole life
was dedicated to glorifying the Father.
If we follow Jesus, we’ll do as He did. That is when
the Father will be able to say, “I’ve found one.”
We are going to see over the next several weeks that if we
accept the invitation of Jesus to “Come, follow Him,” we will worship,
connect, grow and serve. That is why we have narrowed our ministry focus
to these four things, because they speak to the avenue of a Jesus follower—not
just a
Having watched you today, what does the Father say? “I’ve found one”
or does He just keep on searching?
Can you imagine what would happen if He found a bunch of true worshipers here?
I would like to be a part of that, wouldn’t you?