“What’s with all the hand raising?” (Worship)

Intro: We were all created with the universal desire to worship someone or something.

Bill Maher Religulous: Devout secularists often portray religious people in their moments of frenzy, speaking in tongues or hands raised in the air, worshipping their God, going for the “lunatic fringe.”

Just when you may think it’s only those “crazy Christians” who get all caught up and lost in the moment…

Think about similar moments we’ve seen at any number of events down through the years:

Young girls swooning at mere glimpses of the Beatles, Elvis, 'N Sync or Justin Bieber, fans of JFK or Reagan, crazy sports fans…

Or how about those who regularly faint in the presence of our first African-American president, Barrack Obama.

Whoa…let’s slow down and think about what is really worth our devotion and worship.

I’m not saying you can’t have fun at your favorites event, but let’s keep it all in perspective here.

Text: Psalm 95:1-3, 6-7

Big Pic: The God of the universe is the only thing worthy of our worship, praise, adoration and “craziness.”

So what is worship? Let’s take a look at various passages throughout the Bible.

Deuteronomy 10:20-21

Fear equals love and respect in the same way you fear and respect something big and powerful.

Serve him, hold fast to him, by his name you shall swear. These are things you only do to something/someone as powerful as God.

Only God is worth serving, clinging tight to and committing to.

“He is your praise. He is your God.” True words of worship.

“The Ninja”

1 Chronicles 16:29

When we worship God we are ascribing to him the glory due his name.

Ascribe: “to credit or assign, as to a cause or source; attribute, impute”

When we bring an offering it needs to start with ourselves, coming in with the right attitude.

Watched a funny episode of “The Middle” where they were trying to “get church over with.”

Psalm 29:1-2

Even the heavenly beings worship God.

Glory and strength, ascribe…

“To acknowledge that these are true of God and that he deserves admiration for them.”

We worship the “splendor of God’s holiness”

Ever had “God moments?” Things that wake us up to the reality of God…that helps us to worship God…

We also need to remember that worship should happen all the time, anywhere and all throughout the Sunday morning service…

“The Half & Half”

Psalm 40:3

Why all the singing in church?

That comes with time. Think about how easy it is to hear a favorite song on the radio from your past and to start singing it.

Or singing in the shower, or whatever.

“He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise.”

Even the “classic” hymns were considered too much when first introduced in the church…

For many years acceptable church music consisted primarily of Catholic monks singing Gregorian Chant Latin hymns.

For 2,000 years songs of praise, old and new have been rising from the collective heart and mouth of the worldwide Christian Church.

“Music can initiate the souls encounter with an aspect of reality for which reason has no concepts and language has no name.” Abraham Heschel

“The Pound Cake”

Philippians 2:9-11

As you grow and mature in your faith, you learn the importance of worshipping God.

We need to remember that a correct posture for worship starts in the heart and mind.

You aren’t necessarily more worshipful if you’ve got your hands raised.

We can even do that with a wrong attitude.

I have good Christian friends on both sides of the spectrum.

At my dad’s memorial service I think I may have been the only guy out of 500 to raise my hands..

These verses remind us thought that at some point, every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord.

So, we might want to get used to worshipping him now.

“The Double High Five”

Psalm 150

And, that my friends is your justification for instruments in church.

Song, “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord…”

“The YMCA”

The next time you see people with their eyes closed and hands raised to God, and begin to think it strange, remind yourself that the desire to worship and praise is a universal one, that there's nothing strange about it at all and that one way or another, whether it's in church, at an Obama rally, a Chargers game or a Green Day concert, most of us do it, and all things being equal, I'd say the God of the universe is more deserving of that praise than Phillip Rivers or Billie Joe Armstrong.

Conclusion:

“Awesome” video