Thank you, Ken, for the introduction and for the privilege of being here again with you and sharing in your worship service tonight. I would direct your attention to two scripture passages, first in the Old Testament, Nehemiah chapter 8. If you have a Bible there, I'd be glad if you would turn with me to that passage. The page number is 587 in the Pew Bible. We're going to be focused tonight on worship, God-pleasing worship, and this is a lovely example in the Old Testament of where this took place. I'll be reading verses 1 to 6 only in Nehemiah chapter 8, so give attention to God's Word. When the seventh month came and the Israelites had settled in their towns, all the people assembled as one man in the square before the water gate. And they told Ezra the scribe to bring out the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded for Israel. So on the first day of the seventh month, Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly, which was made up of men and women and all who were able to understand. He read it aloud from daybreak till noon. as he faced the square before the water gate in the presence of the men, women, and others who could understand. And all the people listened attentively to the Book of the Law. Ezra the scribe stood on a high wooden platform built for the occasion, and beside him on his right side stood Mattithiah, Shema, Ananiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, Masaiah, and on his left, Padaiah, Mishiel, Malkijah, Hashem, Hashpadnah, Zechariah, and Meshelem. Ezra opened the book. All the people could see him because he was standing above them. And as he opened it, the people all stood up. Ezra praised the Lord, the great God. All the people lifted their hands and responded, Amen, Amen. And then they bowed down and worship the Lord with their faces to the ground. Wonderful example of true worship in that situation. And then turn please to John chapter four, where Jesus spoke to the woman at the well and in that conversation had some interesting things to say about worship. I'll read in John This is on page 1263. John 4, I'll begin at verse 13 and then read through 26. And you'll remember the story of how he asked her for a drink of water and that preceded where we're reading now. Verse 13, Jesus answered, everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. The water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. The woman said to him, Sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water. He told her, Go call your husband and come back. I have no husband, she replied. Jesus said to her, You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true." Sir, the woman said, I can see that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem. Jesus declared, Believe me, woman. A time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know. We worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. And yet a time is coming, and has now come, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth. The woman said, I know that Messiah called Christ is coming, and when he comes, he will explain everything to us. And Jesus declared, I who speak to you am he. May God instruct us as we think about these words and about the matter of worship. I think when any congregation or any church begins to think about its purpose of why do we exist and what is our reason for serving, they could make a list of many things. One would be the proclamation of the gospel. Certainly that's one of the high ones. Fellowship of God's people. Worship would be in there. Discipleship. We could talk about a number of those. Our testimony, the RP testimony, which goes along with the Confession of Faith, says this, it is the mission of the Church to preserve, maintain, and proclaim to the whole world the gospel of Jesus Christ and the whole counsel of God. So there's the proclamation part of it. And then to gather into her fellowship those of every race and people who accept Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. and promise obedience to him, so there's the fellowship aspect of it, to build them up in their most holy faith and train them to be faithful witnesses for Christ in all his offices, to maintain the ordinances of divine worship in their purity, witness against all evil, and in every way seek the advancement of the kingdom of God on earth. Now, that certainly is a very large undertaking. You take all of those and begin to say, how can we fulfill all of those? And if you would attempt to prioritize these different aspects of church life, it might be hard to set which one is number one. We might have a discussion of that and have different opinions, certainly, about which one was the top. But I'd like to say tonight that worship ought to be well toward the top. of those purposes of the church. The reason I say that is that worship is something God directly desires from His people. He says so. The Father is seeking men to worship Him, and men and women to worship Him. And also, it's one of the most direct and primary ways that we have for glorifying God. And we say that our chief end is to glorify God, and so worship is one of the direct ways we are able to do that. In the Ten Commandments, the first four commandments all deal with worship. And God only gave us ten, and four of them have to do with worship. That shows how important, in His perspective, this truly is. Now, active worship is something we experience regularly. We repeat it every week. And not only in church, but we have worship in our homes. We have family worship. We have times where we meet together as different people. We have private worship where we go in our closet and just by ourselves worship God and commune with him. Sometimes in larger settings, presbytery camps or international conferences and so on. So this is something we do a lot. And I just want you to focus with me tonight. on it, on this practice of worship, that we might truly be God-pleasing. We want to deal with what is worship, how should we worship, where should we worship. Actually, the where question is what the woman asked Jesus, wasn't it? Is it in this mountain or is it in Jerusalem? And Jesus basically said, pretty soon the where is not going to be a significant question at all. And it won't be a matter, but in his answer about worship, he talks more about the essence of worship, the object of the worship, who is it that we worship, and also the manner of it in which it should be done. And all of that speaks to us today. What Jesus says about worship directly affects us in our worship activities. That's what we want to explore tonight. I want to do it on a very simple outline. This is sort of a topical sermon. First, what is worship? Secondly, what is corporate worship? Third, what is corporate worship in spirit and in truth? So that's the way we're going tonight. What is worship? The dictionary would define worship simply by saying it is homage or service paid to a being or a power regarded as divine. It's a good dictionary definition, is it? It's homage or service paid to a being or power regarded, that you regard as divine. And the dictionary would use other terms. They would use adoration. They would use devotion. The Hebrew and Greek words that are translated worship in English give more the idea, the physical idea of bowing down. or prostrating oneself before another, and certainly it signifies also the spiritual attitude of submission, the spiritual attitude of adoration. Worship is an activity that includes a wide range of emotion, and when we come to worship, many of these emotions should be evidence, reverence, fear, joy, devotion, attentiveness, confidence, appreciation. The psalmist in Psalm 5 verse 7 says this, as for me in the abundance of my loving kindness, I will come to your house, the abundance of your loving kindness. So it's a love relationship expressed there. And he says, in fear of thee, I will worship toward your holy temple. So fear. was also an aspect, there's the loving kindness aspect, there's the fear aspect, and these are involved in his worship experience. Duncan Lowe, whom some of you know, had written an article back years ago in The Witness, and he says this, and I'd like to quote him, the fear of the Lord, he takes this one aspect and it kind of spells it out, the fear of the Lord operates both on the lower plane, of our properly being afraid to break God's laws or to act presumptuously with him in any way. There is an afraidness, a fear that goes into that. But he says also on the higher plane of our feeling the deep and inexpressible awe of God as God, the infinite and the holy one. And that's the end of that quotation. So worship certainly includes reverence, It also includes love and affection that we're expressing through our acts of worship. We love him because he first loved us and we've experienced his grace and an appreciation for that grace. We want to honor him. We want to glorify him. We want to express from our hearts that great appreciation that we feel. I'd like to say that worship is an act. And that is, it is something that has a beginning and it's something that has an ending. So worship is an act that has a beginning and an ending. It's a distinct and calculated activity of one's soul. And I think some people have broadened that out or tried to claim that, wait a minute, all of life is worship. And there's a certain amount of truth in that. Romans 12 verse 1 says, present your bodies as a living and fully sacrificed, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. So there is a sense in which all of life is kind of this overhaul worship of God. But I've known people who kind of adopted that concept, but never darken the door of a church. to assemble with God's people to enter into an act of worship that has a beginning and an ending. And that's not good. In fact, I think you can get sort of, you know, I appreciate nature. I can sort of worship out in the open field or in the woods or whatever. And I can appreciate all of that. But it's so nebulous. It's so general that really, I think it It almost gets to the place of ignoring the God who created it all together. So there's something wrong, I think, when a person says, well, everything that I do is worship, but I just never gather with God's people or I never enter into personal devotion before God or worship him. Now, the opposite is also true. That is, the person who comes to church every week and goes through the acts of worship, but maybe Monday to Friday or Monday to Saturday shows no really evidence that Christ is Lord of your life or honoring in your life. I think the Pharisees had a lot of that. Make show, make public display of your piety, supposedly, but it really doesn't carry through in the rest of your behavior. Jesus said you take advantage of widows and you steal from this and so on. That would be an abomination, and the Bible severely condemns the hypocrisy of sham religion. I just come to worship, I do that regularly, and I go through the motions. Allow me to quote Mr. Lowe one more time. He says, to serve the Lord in worship is an implicit declaration that one serves Him in the rest of life as well, and therefore to reduce worship to a mere ceremonial which does not express a true life devotion and obedience is a sinful anomaly and an abomination of hypocrisy. On the other hand, a life lived in obedience and love for the Lord would be unthinkably strange if it did not seek to honor and enjoy him in the fellowship of his appointed worship." Now, what he's saying is, The person who says, well, I can be a Christian, but I never go to church. He says, that's unthinkably strange. That's strange for a person to talk like that and never be in the presence of God for acts of worship. It just doesn't make sense to say, I love God. I love Jesus, but I don't pay any attention to what Jesus said about worship, about the act of worship. Wasn't it Jesus who said, thou shalt worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve? Yes, he did say those things. Jesus tells the woman at the well, those who worship in spirit and truth are the kind of worshipers that God is seeking from among his people. How can a person claim to love the Lord and yet ignore What God says, he is seeking from his people. It's just unthinkably strange. It's not right at all. Now, all men worship something. And if you're not worshiping the true God, if you're not worshiping the God who has created, the God who sent his son Jesus into the world, the true and only living and true God, then you are acting out devotion to some other God. It's just one or the other, because all of us are worshiping something. So let's go back to the original question. What is worship? It's expressing the worship of God in specific acts of homage and devotion. It's a time when we meet with God. It's a time when we commune and he meets with us and we commune together. Jesus said he says of Jesus, he would go up to the synagogue as his custom was. He was always there because that was a time of the act of devotion before God. Now, when we come to church on the Lord's Day to worship him, our acts of worship do involve both active and passive elements. And what I mean by that is passively we listen to the Word of God. We're doing that basically right now. You're doing that. You listen to the reading of the word, you listen to the preaching of the word. You're passive when you receive the benediction at the end of the service. It is actually presented to you or spoken to you and about you. But we are active in the worship when we offer praise, when we join in united prayer, when we give an offering to the Lord. When we share in responsive readings, maybe there's the recitation of the creed where we declare the faith and so on. Now we're active in those aspects. And in both parts of that worship, there needs to be this responsiveness of heart to God. That is, there's a communion that's there. In fact, one writer said these acts have as their specific purpose the cultivation of communion with God. And so whether it's passive and hearing the Word of God read and preached, or the benediction pronounced, or whether it's active in singing praise and prayer and so on, we want to be sure that we're communing with God in those events. So worship then is meeting with God to express our homage to Him, show Him our fear and our love submit to him and be attentive to his voice and then to elevate his glory through these specific acts of devotion. So that's what worship is. Now let's expand it to what is corporate worship. Corporate worship is something God's people do, of course, together. It's not simply individuals who come to church and I kind of hear as individuals scattered throughout an auditorium. In the public services, the body worships as a body. There is a unitedness that happens when we worship together. The Bible says things like there is one spirit and one faith and one baptism. And many members, yes, but they form one body. And it's this one body made up of many members, that comes together then to offer these acts of devotion to God. It becomes an event in our life when we gather for this particular purpose. And that's why the Bible basically says, don't forsake the assembling of yourselves together. Come together. And so much the more, or actually it actually says, exhort one another. So there's an interrelationship there. and so much the more as you see the day approaching. R.B. Kuyper, who has a book on the Church, The Glorious Body of Christ, says this, and I'm quoting him, whenever a congregation is worshiping, it does this not as an aggregate of individuals, but as a body. Those present sing the same songs, pray the same prayers, attend to the same word, contribute to the same offering, receive the same benediction, and they perform all of these activities under the control of the one Spirit. To be sure, there may be in attendance some who participate only in appearance, not in reality, but those aside, the Church engages in public worship unitedly." End of quotation. This means that any one of us who's a member of a congregation cannot be casual about this. When we come to worship, we come to unite with the body in offering that praise before God. I think somewhere in our individualistic society, we've kind of lost this idea. I came across a comment of a young boy who was taking a survey about worship, and listen to his words. These are his words. Each member seems to participate to the extent that he is able, though I do not think that my presence is necessary at the services for anyone's benefit other than my own. Now think about that. I don't think my presence is necessary at the services for anyone's benefit other than my own." Now, there's some big problems in that kind of a statement. I think it's sad for two reasons. One, it reveals that this young person doesn't recognize his place or his value to the body, or his involvement with the body, and he doesn't realize that. And secondly, that the rest of the body, maybe the adults especially, have not conveyed to him the importance of his place and the importance of his presence in the body at that worship time. Now it seems that most of us, I think, instead of seeing our worship as active and passive, almost move to where it's mostly passive. In other words, We come to church to get something. What can I get out of the service if I come to a worship service and so on? And we shift over to that idea and we forget that we're giving worship to God and we are uniting with the body to offer that praise and adoration, which is pleasing to him. And I think the person who has shifted And when he sits in worship, thinks this way, feed me, interest me, perhaps even entertain me. When I come to worship, I expect those things. And such persons can become fairly critical of the church program or the person in the pulpit if they're not as good as R.C. Sproul or Billy Graham. because they're thinking only of this selfish, I want to receive something for myself as I come into the fellowship of the body. On the other hand, the one who sees worship as something active, as well as passage, comes to the service with this attitude. How can I glorify God in this service tonight, let's say? How can I do that? How can I contribute to the glory of God as I come to worship Him And whenever I get an opportunity to be active in the service, whether it's in singing or in the prayer time or whatever, how can I put myself into it? If it's singing, then am I enthusiastic? Am I attentive? Am I expressing that praise to God? Am I thinking about those words that I'm singing and singing them with meaning? If I'm in the prayer time and the person at the front is praying, as happened just a few moments ago, am I praying every petition and saying, Amen, Lord, let that be so. I want to see that happen, Lord, answer that prayer. And I'm actively involved. I'm not thinking, is he praying well or is he saying the right words? Rather, am I praying those prayers along with him? And if I'm, if it's preaching, or if it's reading the word of God, is my Bible open? Am I thinking about what God is saying? Am I trying to relate that to my life? Or is it maybe, will the preacher hold my interest tonight? Something like that instead. So corporate worship includes this attitude toward God and toward God's people. So we have this twofold aspect to the worship of God. And the body comes together then to worship God in spirit and in truth. So then I want to say a word about what is corporate worship in spirit and in truth. So let's go on to that. I think if it were left to us, we could no doubt be very creative in what we might think would constitute a meaningful experience of worship. That is, I could think of different things and different ways by which this can be done and so on. And I think we're seeing that in a lot of churches today. All kinds of things introduced, different kinds of music and drama maybe and processionals and tongue speaking perhaps and other kinds of things, even to the extent of holy laughing in some fellowships. I mean, it can go any range of ways if we're trying to be basically creative. But what happens is that we're really turning to think about what's pleasing to man in this worship experience. What will please the audience, the group, rather than how can I bring honor and glory and what will please my heavenly father? So we're thankful that Jesus does put down here for us in this passage. some clear guidelines. We are to worship in spirit and in truth. And that means that we're to come in the right attitude, the right spirit. We are to be happy to be here. We are focused to be here. We are bringing my attitude is to want to offer praise and honor to my Heavenly Father. And I will use the guideline of truth, which is the Word of God is truth. I will use that as the guideline for what will be pleasing to my God. Dr. John Murray has this comment about this, and I'll quote him again. The principle in spirit and in truth bears directly on the content of worship. If worship must be consonant with the triune God, the nature of God, it must be in accord with what God has revealed himself to be and regulated as the content and mowed by the revelation God has given in the Holy Scripture. The sanction enunciated in Spirit and in Truth excludes all human invention, imagination, and warns us against the offense and peril of offering strange fire to the Lord. And then he has this additional comment, acceptable worship requires not only conformity to divine prescription in content and form, but the frame of mind also on the part of the worship must be taken into account. So he's saying truth, yes, but also spirit, the right spirit, the right attitude, the frame of mind that you bring to this situation. Calvin says it again. maybe a little stronger, he says, those who introduce newly invented methods of worshiping God really worship and adore the creature of their own distempered imaginations. He said it was stronger, it is stronger, quite a bit stronger as he's thinking there. So we're not to introduce areas just from our own imaginations to what would please ourselves I'd rather use the guidelines in the scripture. Jesus points out to this lady at the well. She says, you Samaritans worship whom you do not know. So what he's saying is your worship is confused here. You're worshiping in Mount Gerizim, but but your worship is not. You really don't know what you're doing. That's pretty strong language from Jesus. But that is what he said. They may have been sincere, but they had lost the truth. And so Jesus says your worship is in vain. It's not doing what you want it to be. The Westminster Confession probably has the clearest statement regarding our worship that I know of anywhere. It says this, the acceptable way of worshiping the true God is instituted by himself and so limited by his own revealed will. that he may not be worshipped according to the imaginations and devices of men, or the suggestions of Satan under any visible representation, or any other way not prescribed in Holy Scripture." So there is the truth. We worship according to the truth, and we bring to that truth the right spirit and attitude that God desires to see. So we must remember that worship is God-centric. not me-centered. I don't ask what pleases me, what satisfies me, what feeds me or entertains me, but rather what is pleasing to God. And I always channel the activities that are involved, the passive and active activities in worship, according to the perimeters, I would say, that God has set up in His Word. Now, certain patterns of worship can become very comfortable to us. I think that's true for most of us. You get into a certain habit pattern and this flows this way and so on. We must be very careful not to get so comfortable that we get stale or get lifeless in our worship. That's bringing the wrong attitude to the worship of God. But rather seek to reevaluate my participation in worship. That's the purpose of our message tonight. to let you think about worship more seriously and re-evaluate your participation in that worship, making the most of the active and passive elements of worship in which you're there involved, and thinking more about the corporate nature, the involvement of the body and my involvement in the body. When you're not there in the body, worshiping God in your place, everybody in the group feels it. I'm sure when you guys were away for a long period, this congregation was very much aware that there's a kind of a vacancy that is there because the body is not complete in this particular situation. So think about it. Are you worshiping in spirit and in truth, sure that your heart attitude is sincere, motivated by the spirit of God, God-centered in every aspect of your worship? following the truth that he has revealed, and in a corporate body engaged in this worship which is truly in spirit and in truth. This is one of the most important activities that you and I engage in. It is one of the most important aspects of the church life, so let's make it all that it can be as we honor our God in worship. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, We confess that we can go through the motions too easily. We can allow our own spirit to be stale in worship. We can allow ourselves to become sort of routine and and not really putting our heart in it. And we sort of don't see the importance we have to the body as we engage together in worship. So bless this body as they come week by week to unite together to honor your name. And maybe different aspects of worship, the active aspects, may they be truly involved in every way with enthusiasm and joy. And in the listening and being attentive to the preaching and reading of your word, Lord, may our ears be open to receive what you would speak to us. So we thank you for giving us counsel. for giving us examples in the scripture that guide us, and we pray that we might truly worship you in spirit and in truth. For Christ's sake, we pray in His name, Amen.