I. Introduction

A. Illustration – In a more formal, liturgical church a visitor showed up one Sunday and got excited about something the minister said, and declared, “Amen, praise the Lord!” Someone tapped him on the shoulder and whispered, “We don’t praise the Lord in here.” Another member nearby said, “Yes we do, on page 15 of the Lectionary” (from Robert Leone, as cited on SermonCentral.com).

B. Context – When we think about worship, we tend to think of a specific time or a style or a location. But worship is what we were created for. And what exactly is worship? Loving God. Let’s read more about it in 2 Corinthians 7:1, and I’m reading from The Message.

II. Scripture Passage

A. 2 Corinthians 7:1 (from The Message) – (NEW SLIDE) With promises like this to pull us on, dear friends, let’s make a clean break with everything that defiles or distracts us, both within and without. Let’s make our entire lives fit and holy temples for the worship of God.

III. Worship Is What We Were Created for

A. It’s appropriate as we close this Christmas season to focus on why we are here – why our church exists, and why God created us. As I said a few minutes ago, we were created to worship God, to love Him. A. W. Tozer wrote, (NEW SLIDE) God wants us to worship Him. He doesn't need us, for He couldn't be a self-sufficient God and need anything or anybody, but He wants us. When Adam sinned it was not he who cried, "God, where art Thou?" It was God who cried, "Adam, where art thou?" (as cited on PreachingToday.com) God desires that we worship Him. Why? Because God desires relationship with us. And that’s what makes today’s Scripture so important to us. Listen as I read it again. With promises like this to pull us on, dear friends, let’s make a clean break with everything that defiles or distracts us, both within and without. Let’s make our entire lives fit and holy temples for the worship of God.

B. That’s a powerful passage. Let’s unpack it a bit. What are the promises Paul is writing about? Anyone? I’ll give you a hint - look at the last few verses of chapter 6. God will be our God and we will be our people. God will welcome us as we leave sin behind. God will be our Father and we will be His children. Those are the promises. (NEW SLIDE) So what Paul’s saying is, “Look, we’ve got all this to look forward to, so we’d better figure out what this holiness thing is all about.” How do I get that? Listen again to what Paul says, let’s make a clean break with everything that defiles or distracts us, both within and without. Let’s make our entire lives fit and holy temples for the worship of God. (NEW SLIDE) Or, as the NIV puts it, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God. What are those things that defile or distract us? Idols. Idols are anything we worship other than God. Anything that we value above God. Anything that we place in a level of higher importance than God.

C. Now all of us would probably argue that we place God as the highest priority in our lives. So did the Corinthian Christians. But there were things in their lives and in their worship and in the workings of their church that showed they placed God on a lower level of importance than the top. I won’t go into those things right now, but the believers allowed themselves to be distracted by sins that polluted their souls. Idols took the place of God, and the Corinthians didn’t even realize it. (NEW SLIDE) Idolatry is such an ugly word, but it happens so easily to all of us at different times in our lives and quenches our ability to worship God, to love Him, the way He deserves.

D. Illustration – Kevin Bidwell writes, The guinea worm is a parasite found in certain areas of central Africa. It begins its life as a larvae and often hitches a ride in a millimeter-long crustacean called cyclops. When a human drinks water from a stream, the cyclops enters the stomach where gastric juices make short work of the cyclops. The larvae of the guinea worm, however, are not destroyed. The worms poke holes in the human's intestine and go for a swim. After about three months, the male and female larvae get together. About one year later a full-grown guinea, the width of a paper clip wire and up to three feet long, begins to move through the body of its human host, causing tremendous pain. Finally, the worm pokes out of the host's body—probably through the foot. If not removed, the parasite will eventually lead to its host's death. Once the worm exposes itself, it can only be removed a few centimeters a day. Otherwise the worm will pull apart and die, resulting in infection and possibly death for its host. Sometimes the painful process takes weeks or months. The guinea worm is like sin in three important ways: First, sin is easy to get involved in. Just like drinking the water from a stream seems simple and harmless, so often does sin. Second, sin is difficult to get rid of once it has taken hold. When sin "pokes its head" out of our lives, and we recognize it has to be dealt with, we should act. Forgiveness comes quickly, but many times the process of getting free from its pull is slow and agonizing. Finally, like the guinea worm, sin when left unchecked can kill you (as cited on PreachingToday.com).

E. Kind of gross, isn’t it? But sin is gross, even when we don’t realize it’s there. (NEW SLIDE) Jesus said in John 4:24 “For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.” Worshipping in truth means loving God and showing that love in ways that agree with His Word, the Bible. The Bible says over and over again that sin separates us from God, so sin will keep us from worshipping and kill our relationship with God. (NEW SLIDE) The only way we’re going to worship God in ways He can accept is to get rid of anything that comes between us and God. Or as 2 Corinthians 7 tells us, anything that defiles or distracts us. As Mother Teresa said, (NEW SLIDE) Our progress in holiness depends on God and ourselves--on God's grace and our will to be holy. We must have a real living determination to reach holiness (as cited on PreachingToday.com). Becoming holy so that we can truly love God depends on whether or not we want to be holy badly enough that we place God as the highest priority in our lives. As A. W. Tozer put it, (NEW SLIDE) We are called to an everlasting preoccupation with God (as cited on PreachingToday.com).

F. So how does all this flesh out? How do we make it a reality in our lives? Paul wrote, Let’s make our entire lives fit and holy temples for the worship of God. Easier said than done, but notice that these words require action. I found out something interesting when I was researching the Greek words used to describe worship in the New Testament. All of the words indicate active participation. Whether it’s service in the church or prayer or bowing down before God or living faith in the workplace, active participation is the key. It’s too easy for us to just sit back and relax during our services here at the church and become spectators instead of active participants. (NEW SLIDE) Ben Merold said this about worship: “In most churches we have the preacher performing, with God as the prompter, and the people as the audience. In truth, worship should be the people performing, with the preacher as the prompter, and God as the audience” (as cited on SermonCentral.com). I know that sometimes our life circumstances make it difficult for us to worship. Tough times are definitely a distraction. But when we think of worship in terms of our whole lives, rather than just at church, we can overcome those distractions.

G. You see, when we worship, or love, God with our whole lives, we look to Him every minute of every day. We offer up praise for the little things. We offer up thanks for His sustaining presence. We look to Him to meet all of our needs. I think we get this idea in our minds that we have to offer up some flowing, flowery, properly phrased prayer if God’s going to listen. Yet Jesus Himself said in a parable that the simple prayer of a tax collector, “Have mercy on me, a sinner,” was accepted. Why? It came from the heart. (NEW SLIDE) Worship has got to come from our hearts. Loving God is a heart thing as well as an action thing. Notice I didn’t say it was an emotional thing. Wonderful emotions can and do come from worshipping God, but when we offer Him our hearts, we offer all of who we are to Him. It all comes down to something we talked about last week – surrender. (NEW SLIDE) Surrender’s tough, but by the power of the Spirit we can make the choices necessary to surrender to the Spirit so that we can truly love God, worship Him, with everything we are.

H. Let me share something else that A. W. Tozer shared about worship. Tozer wrote, (NEW SLIDE) Worship is to feel in your heart and express in some appropriate manner a humbling but delightful sense of admiring awe and astonished wonder and overpowering love in the presence of that most ancient Mystery, that Majesty which philosophers call the First Cause, but which we call Our Father Which Are in Heaven (as cited on SermonCentral.com). That, in a nutshell, is what worshipping God, loving Him, 24/7 is all about. We’re going to put to practice right now an ancient form of worship used in Psalm 136. There were two ways the Jews used this Psalm. First, they would have two choirs of priests, one on either side of the Temple courtyard, and one would sing or shout out what God had done for them, and the other would sing or shout back, “His faithful love endures forever.” The other way was for the song-leading priest to either sing or shout what God had done for them, and then the worshippers gathered at the Temple would reply, “His faithful love endures forever.” (NEW SLIDE) Now notice one important truth – the word translated “faithful love” is “hesed” which roughly means, as I’ve shared before, “love on steroids.” By repeating Psalm 136, the Jews were trying to give back to God some of the hesed He had given them. So we’re going to do the same thing. I will say a phrase, and you reply (NEW SLIDE) “His faithful love endures forever.” Say it with great joy as you listen to these words and reflect on them and on what God has done in your own life.

I. Psalm 136 (from the New Living) - Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever. 2 Give thanks to the God of gods. His faithful love endures forever. 3 Give thanks to the Lord of lords. His faithful love endures forever. 4 Give thanks to him who alone does mighty miracles. His faithful love endures forever. 5 Give thanks to him who made the heavens so skillfully. His faithful love endures forever. 6 Give thanks to him who placed the earth on the water. His faithful love endures forever. 7 Give thanks to him who made the heavenly lights— His faithful love endures forever. 8 the sun to rule the day, His faithful love endures forever. 9 and the moon and stars to rule the night. His faithful love endures forever. 10 Give thanks to him who killed the firstborn of Egypt. His faithful love endures forever. 11 He brought Israel out of Egypt. His faithful love endures forever. 12 He acted with a strong hand and powerful arm. His faithful love endures forever. 13 Give thanks to him who parted the Red Sea. His faithful love endures forever. 14 He led Israel safely through, His faithful love endures forever. 15 but he hurled Pharaoh and his army into the sea. His faithful love endures forever. 16 Give thanks to him who led his people through the wilderness. His faithful love endures forever. 17 Give thanks to him who struck down mighty kings. His faithful love endures forever. 18 He killed powerful kings— His faithful love endures forever. 19 Sihon king of the Amorites, His faithful love endures forever. 20 and Og king of Bashan. His faithful love endures forever. 21 God gave the land of these kings as an inheritance— His faithful love endures forever. 22 a special possession to his servant Israel. His faithful love endures forever. 23 He remembered our utter weakness. His faithful love endures forever. 24 He saved us from our enemies. His faithful love endures forever. 25 He gives food to every living thing. His faithful love endures forever. 26 Give thanks to the God of heaven. His faithful love endures forever.

J. Now shout out something that God has done for you or should be worshipped for, and we’ll all cry out, “His faithful love endures forever.”

IV. Conclusion

A. Will you join me in making our lives into lives where we love God, worship Him, every day and in every part of our church and our lives? Let’s pray.