Sunday, November 04, 2007

The Worshipping Idolater

1 Samuel 15:17-31 tells the story of the the turning point of King Saul's reign over Israel. It speaks about how Saul disobeyed God's command and ultimately paid the price for it. Saul's flaw was that he tried to replace worship with obedience. His actions didn't reflect the worship he tried to demonstrate and this misunderstanding with God prevented him from truly repenting for his mistakes. So how do we define worship in our Christian lives?
  1. Expression of Life - Worship is not a concept that is caged inside the four walls of a church. It is not bounded by some magical forces that prevent it from existing beyond Sundays. Yet so many of us treat it as if it was. Worship, in it's truest form, is an extension of our life. It lives as an expression of our lives, reflecting day-to-day how we carry ourselves through the constant trials of temptations.
  2. Complete Obedience - In v20-21 when Saul is asked why he didn't carry out God's command and destroy everything, he says "But I did obey the LORD... I went on the mission the LORD assigned me. I completely destroyed the Amalekites and brought back Agag their king. The soldiers took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of what was devoted to God, in order to sacrifice them to the LORD your God at Gilgal." Saul tries to justify his actions by skewing the very command God has given him. In his mind he felt that partial obedience was enough. However in God's eyes, partial obedience is just as bad as disobedience. The danger of partial obedience is that you are ultimately trying to negotiate with God's mercy. As if you can bribe God into letting you get away with your sins if you can "offer" God something in return.
  3. Genuine Repentance - From v24-30 we see Saul continually trying to repent for his sins, but God ultimately rejects him. There is a huge difference between regret and repentance. John Ortberg describes this syndrome as pain avoidance. Do you repent in fear of God's wrath? Do you rationalize that if I go to church, read the bible, do all my QTs then God will look the other way as I commit my sins? If so then your view of repentance is greatly skewed. True repentance is when you realize that what you are doing is wrong and you ask the Lord to help you overcome your urges to commit them.

Worship is an expression of life characterized by complete obedience and genuine repentance. If your worship doesn't reflect your daily life, then it will become disguise you wear to conceal your actions and ultimately you will fall away from God. There's nothing that God hates more than lukewarmness. What does your worship of God say about you?

--from Nakwon EM November 4th 2007 Sunday Worship Service
*To listen to this sermon in its entirety, please contact James Kim

Saul and his 3 BMWs

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

nicely done, ray!!!

thanks.

"This then is worship in its largest sense: petition as well as praise, preaching as well as prayer, hearing as well as speaking, actions as well as words, obeying as well as offering, loving people as well as loving God." -- J.I. Packer