Rediscovering Worship – Part 2

Review and Renew

Understanding Last Week’s Principles

God’s original idea for His people was for them to be a nation of priests.

Old Testament

• “‘you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation’” (Exodus 19:6)

New Testament

• “him who loved us. . . made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father” (Revelation 1:5-6)
• “you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation” (I Peter 2:9)

Priests are designated worshippers and representatives.

• As worshippers, they to the Lord.
• As representatives, they represent God to the people and the people to God.
• God could extend to the entire nation if the priest followed the protocols.

Priests were a special group within a special group within a special group.

• Israel is a chosen nation among other nations.
• Levites are a chosen tribe among other Jewish tribes.
• Priests have chosen roles among other Levitical roles.

When God calls us priests today, He is extending to us a similar kind of specialness.

This specialness means two things:

• Expanded
• Expanded

Expanded Privilege

• Hebrews 4:14 
  • We have a high priest who is elevated above us.
  • His priesthood and sacrifice are perfect and permanent.

• Hebrews 4:15 
  • Jesus retains his identity as both God and man—He’s one of us!
  • Jesus is the bridge: He has what we have so we can have what He has.
  • We can be priests because Jesus is a priest.

• Hebrews 4:16
  • We can make appeals in God’s presence.
  • We can receive timely assistance from God: mercy and grace.
  • Now we only have one protocol:

Expanded Responsibility

I Peter 2:4-5 

• Because of Jesus, we are both the temple and the priests. 
• Instead of bringing sacrifices of animals, we bring sacrifices of .
• We are chosen. . .to

I Peter 2:9

• We are chosen. . .that
• Our specialness has an end game: .

Story Time

While we worship God with a different temple and different sacrifices, we have the same challenges that Israel had.

Saul vs. David

• Saul was tall, handsome and had the outward look of a king (I Samuel 9:1-2)
• David was God’s choice, but did not look like a king on the outside (I Samuel 16:6-13)
• Saul represents the worship experience: a focus on the
• David represents heart for worship: a focus on the

The Search for the Cheat Code

In a post-Covid church world, the emphasis on production quality is higher than ever.

Everyone wants the cheat code to a great worship service.

The million-dollar question: How do you attract eyeballs?

Churches measure their success against the most popular YouTube content.

One coveted prize: concert-quality music.

The Problems with Cheating Worship

• We confuse great worship with great music and great performance.
• We hire to worship for us.
• We skip worship to focus on the Word.
• The musical talent of the worship team our spiritual .
• Musical talent gets used to bribe people to church.
• Church members get turned into consumers.
• We only sing songs that are marketable.

God is Still the Smartest Person in the Room

Praise is the worship cheat code.

We can’t worship corporately until we are praising individually.

We won’t praise God until we value the Spirit over the flesh.

The sacrifice of praise is the sacrifice of our .

Our struggle is between two competing forces:

• The Flesh is what our bodies and minds demand.
• The Spirit is what God demands of our bodies and minds.

© Joshua D. Smith, Ph.D., 2021