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Content type: Sermon Poem / Prayer Service / Tribute Incomplete Biography
Body: **George Fox on Worship** George Fox, founder of the Religious Society of Friends, taught that true worship is not confined to manmade temples or rituals, but is a personal, inward experience of God’s presence. His writings and sermons emphasize that God dwells in the heart, not in external structures. One of his most direct statements on worship is: **“The Lord showed me, so that I did see clearly, that he did not dwell in these temples which men had commanded and set up, but in people's hearts… his people were his temple, and he dwelt in them”** en.wikiquote.org**+1**. Fox believed that worship should be lived out in the way a person carries themselves and their life, so that their actions and character become a “preaching” to others. He urged followers to be **“patterns, be examples in all countries, places, islands, nations wherever you come; that your carriage and life may preach among all sorts of people”** en.wikiquote.org**+1**. For Fox, worship was inseparable from living in the spirit of Christ, obeying the “light” within, and rejecting external authorities that claim to govern faith. He warned against being drawn away from the teachings within by false teachers, saying: **“When they say, 'lo here', or 'lo there' is Christ; go not** **forth; for Christ is within you”** SermonIndex.net. In essence, Fox’s view of worship was **experiential, relational, and outward****directed** — a continual alignment of life with God’s presence, expressed through love, integrity, and service to others. Worship is the response of the human spirit to the presence of the divine and eternal, to the God who first seeks us. The sense of wonder and awe of the finite before the infinite leads naturally to thanksgiving and adoration. Worship is essentially an act of adoration, adoration of the one true God in whom we live and move and have our being. Forgetting our little selves, our petty ambitions, our puny triumphs, our foolish cares and fretful anxieties, we reach out towards the beauty and majesty of God. The religious life is not a dull, grim drive towards moral virtues, but a response to a vision of greatness. Thomas F Green, 1952 To me, worship is recognizing and communing with the divine, whether it is within myself, in others, or in the world. The pre-condition of worship is my belief in worth-ship, my own and that of other people. **(****“worth ship" is the original meaning of worship,** **signifying the act of recognizing and giving honor to** **someone as worthy, especially God.****)** A member of the Quaker Women’s Group, 1986 All true worship is inspired by God. The place of worship is the place of dependence, the place of wonder and of power, the place of fellowship and of communion… Worship links us to God and implies faith in a God who is in some sense personal. Personality is the highest category we know, and we cannot worship a Being who is less than the highest of which we conceive… Thus, the act of worship presupposes on our part a sense of dependence on God and the acknowledgment of our need of him, and this means that the element of adoration and thanksgiving should always be present in worship. Worship in Christian experience is our response to the God of Love. Robert Davis, 1933 True worship may be experienced at any time; in any place – alone on the hills or in the busy daily life – we may find God, in whom we live and move and have our being. But this individual experience is not sufficient, and in a meeting held in the Spirit there is a giving and receiving between its members, one helping another with or without words. So that there may come a wider vision and a deeper experience. 1925; 1994 **Worship in the Bible is the reverent response of humans to God, expressed through heart, mind, body, and actions, acknowledging His ultimate worth and sovereignty.** **We probably all have some kind of mental picture of what it means to worship. Depending on your church background, when you think of worship you may think of** **a great choir, singing the Hallelujah chorus. Or perhaps what comes to mind is the image of a church on a Sunday morning, filled with people singing the great hymns of the faith - "A Might****y****Fortress is Our God", or "How Great Thou Art". Maybe you’ve been to a charismatic or Pentecostal church, and you envision a scene with hands raised, eyes closed, people singing praise choruses, or eve****n****- hands clapping, feet moving, shouts of "Hallelujah!" and "Amen!" Or you may not think of singing at all. Perhaps for you, the word "worship" brings up images of people sitting quietly in church with their heads bowed. Or even someone bowing down or kneeling.** **B****ecause people have many different ideas of what worship looks like, I’d like to begin by defining what it is. What****are****we doing when we sing, or pray, or raise our hands, or****kneel****? What makes those activities "worship"?** **W****orship is attributing ultimate worth to something - whether it’s an object, or a person, or even an idea. Worship is valuing one thing above all else.** **So,****when we sing praises to God, we are worshipping, because we are proclaiming that He has the greatest possible worth; that His value is above that of gold, or silver, or jewels, or houses, or land. We are testifying that His power exceeds that of every king, President, or dictator in history****.****When we worship God, we are saying that nothing compares to Him. He is above****all;****He is greater than all. Everything in creation pales to insignificance next to the sovereign Lord of the universe. Listen to what the Scriptures tell us:** **"You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being." - Revelation 4:11 (NIV)** **"In a loud voice they sang: ’Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!’" - Revelation 5:12 (NIV)** **God alone is worthy of our praise, and our love, and our devotion, and our service; both because of who He is, and because of what He has done.****Just s****aying that is worship.** **But worship is not just making an objective judgement that one thing excels all others; it’s actively desiring and seeking after that thing.** **To worship something is to make the pursuit and enjoyment of it the overriding goal of our li****ves****. That’s what Jesus was talking about when he said, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’" (Mark 12:30) That’s worship****.** **Is it possible to worship someone or something other than God? Of course****it is****! In fact, everyone worships something, because God created us to be worshippers. It’s hard-wired into us, it’s part of what it means to be a human being made in God’s image. If we refuse to worship God, then we will be driven to find something else to worship. And****so,****it’s not a matter of whether we will worship, but what we will worship. As Paul writes:** **" . . . although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles . . . They exchanged the truth of God for a****lie and****worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator--who is forever praised." - Romans 1:21-25 (NIV)** **As Americans, we don’t see people literally bowing down before idols. Most of our neighbors don’t have a little statue of Buddha or Zeus on the mantelpiece. Instead, our culture tends to worship other things****–****money****, s****uccess****, p****hysical beauty****, h****ealth and fitness. Safety and security. Recreation. Whatever we organize our lives around; whatever we put first; whatever we seek above all else; that’s what we worship.****W****e are by nature worshippers of self, seeking after our own welfare and happiness as****the****greatest good in life. And****so,****the God-given drive to worship is perverted; it is turned in on itself and becomes the urge to make oneself a little god, to place oneself at the center of the universe.** **Therefore, this morning isn’t really to stimulate****us** to**worship.****We****are already worshipping, whether the object of our devotion is God or something else. But****the****goal is to help****us****worship the only one who is truly worthy of being worshipped: Jesus Christ.** **So****how do we worship? What kind of worship pleases God?** **T****rue worship comes from the heart. God-pleasing worship****com****es from the heart. Listen to what Jesus told the woman he met at the well in Samaria:** **"’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 in Jerusalem.’** **Jesus declared, ’Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. . . 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.’" - John 4:19-24 (NIV)** **What does this mean? It means that God doesn’t care about where you worship, or what kind of building you worship in.** **I****f****we****are not worshiping God from our heart, then it doesn’t accomplish anything. It’s empty. It’s worthless. God only wants the real thing.** **Listen to what the Lord says through the prophet Isaiah:** **"These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me." - Isaiah 29:13 (NIV)** **The only kind of worshipers God****wants****for are those who worship****H****im from the heart, in spirit and in truth. If God doesn’t have our heart, then nothing else****we****do on Sunday morning matters.** **What then, do you do if you find yourself in this position? What do****we****do?** **Don’t wait until 1****1:00****on Sunday morning to get ready for worship. Unless you are unusually receptive spiritually,****begin centering down at least****half an****hour before****to get your mind off the bills you need to pay, to get your attitude adjusted so that you’re not stewing over that thing****that he or she****said last night, or that thing****the kids****did this morning. It probably takes longer than thirty minutes just for the fog to clear. And by that time, the singing is over and we’re half-way through****open worship****.** **So,****here’s what****we****need to do: don’t wait until you arrive at church to start preparing for worship. Get up a few minutes early on Sunday and pray. Ask God to prepare your heart. Read a Psalm. Listen to some worship music. Start the process a couple of hours ahead of time. That way, when the****music****starts at 1****1:00****, our heart****s** **are****ready to worship God. If****we** **will do****that, it****will****transform our worship experience. In fact, you don’t need to wait until Sunday morning. Even better, start Saturday night before you go to bed. Pray. Read a Psalm. Listen.** **Or even better than that, don’t wait until Saturday night. If****we****really want to be prepared to worship on Sunday morning, then****we****need to be synchronizing our heart****s****with the Spirit every day of the week.****P****raying,** **reading, listening, and worshiping privately every day, Monday through Saturday. And if everyone did that, it would not only transform our worship,****but it would also****transform this****meeting****.** **Sometimes we****may be unable to worship God in spirit and truth because something else, or someone else, has first place in our heart. And if that’s the case,****we****won’t be able to worship God, because there’s only room in our heart****s****for one "first"****, and t****hat first****must****be occupied by Him.** **A****lthough we tend to focus on****the music****, in which the emotional aspect of worship is prominent,****worship****involves the mind and body as well. Listen to what Paul tells us:** **"Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God-this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this****world but****be transformed by the renewing of your mind." - Romans 12:1-2 (NIV)** **So, for instance, listening to the sermon; giving your full attention to the Word of God as it’s being preached is just as much a part of worship as singing. Taking notes on the message is an act of worship. Anything****we do t****o engage our mind****s****with the Scriptures is an act of worship. Discussing the sermon with****someone****. That’s worshipping God with your mind. By the same token, those who serve God with their bodies****–** **doing the bulletin, working in the office, repairing the door, updating the sign****,****working in the kitchen****- that’s worship also.** **W****hy worship? There are several reasons: God commands and invites us to worship, and our worship blesses and pleases Him. Worship encourages us and lifts our spirits****, and****worship is a transforming activity. I’m not talking about just coming to church, or singing the songs, or sitting through the sermon. That may leave you completely unchanged. But true worship, authentic worship, worship that comes from the heart, worship in spirit and truth - that kind of worship is transforming. It changes us, because it is a law of human nature that we become like that which we worship; we become like that which we value the most.** **Those who worship Jesus Christ will become like Jesus Christ.** **If you are regularly turning your heart toward Christ in worship, you will****,****over time be conformed to his character, his values, his wisdom, and his power.** **"And we, who with unveiled faces all [contemplate] the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with every-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit." - 2 Corinthians 3:18 (NIV)** **". . . we know that when He appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure."****–** **1 John 3:2-3 (NIV)** **The more we contemplate the person and****works****of Christ, the more we lift him up and exalt him, the more we sing his praises and testify to his work in our li****ves****, the more we will become like him. It’s that simple. Do you want to be like Christ? Do you want to have his peace, and joy, and wisdom, and power? Do you want to know God the Father like****Jesus****did?** **Then****we must****worship.**
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