Worshiping the Triune God (Revelation 4:1-5:14)

[Read Revelation 4:1-5:14]

Imagine that you enter into a conversation with a random person on the street. You begin talking about a number of things, but eventually you say something about attending Faith Community Church. Then they ask, “What’s your church all about?” How would you answer them? 

It’s an interesting question because it forces us to think about the core values of our church. What ARE we all about? WHO are we? These questions get down into the very essence of our being—into the DNA of this congregation. What is it that makes this congregation US? 

I’ve been here for a little over a year, and I’ve been spending a decent amount of time looking for the answer to that question. I’ve found various documents that work toward answering the question. During the calling process, this congregation put together a few pages in order to describe who you are and what you want to be. Those pages were very helpful in showing me who this congregation is and it’s desires for the future. Larry Meyer also helped to capture some of this by providing a one-page summary, using the acronym WELCOME. Over the past year, I’ve spent time reading, and re-reading these documents—along with listening to the congregation—in order to get a better handle on who we are and who we want to be. 

In doing this, I’ve been working on condensing all of this information into one sentence—something that is easy to remember, something that can help give us guidance as we do life together. I presented it to counsel a couple months ago and it received approval. Now, we’re going to spend some time working through the statement, understanding its roots from scripture, and allowing it to center the focus of our congregation. 

This is the essence of our congregation:

Worshiping the Triune God in community, as a community, for the community.

Like any short sentence, every word is there for a reason, and there is a lot of meaning packed into each word. So, we’re going to spend some time looking at the various elements of this statement. 

In order to help us get this further into our DNA, I’ve also created a study booklet to go along with the series. Each week, it provides the basic concept, some scripture to show where the concept comes from, and some questions to help us further think about the application of that concept. The Adult Sunday School class will be using this study booklet for their sessions. I have also created some extra copies, for anyone who would like to bring it home and dive in deeper throughout the week. It’s our prayer that this will be a time that re-centers us around God’s desire for our congregation. 

This morning we will be looking at: Worshiping the Triune God.

“Worship has always been and will always be the ultimate purpose of God in the universe” (John Piper). That is a statement that should cause us to sit back and think for a minute. God’s ultimate purpose in the world is worship. If you ask why God created the world in the first place, the answer would be worship. If you ask why God decided to redeem mankind, the answer would be worship. If you ask why certain things happen at certain times, the answer would be worship.

Yet, to some degree, this is a difficult concept for us to grasp. In our culture today, we’ve severely limited the concept of worship. For some, worship has become limited to something we do on Sunday mornings. Throughout the week, we do our jobs, but on Sunday mornings we worship. For others, they have restricted it even further, so that worship is ONLY the music that we sing. So, we’ve really restricted the idea of worship. What I want to do this morning, is take us to scripture in order to get a fuller picture of what worship is. 

This is why I took us to the book of Revelation. I realize that many people shy away from the book of Revelation because there are aspects of it that are difficult to understand and interpret. However, there are many aspects of this book that are easy to understand and are only complicated because we make them that way. So, let’s take a look at these chapters and see what they have to teach us about worship. 

Chapter four begins with an amazing picture. As I describe this picture, refrain from trying to figure out every detail (or interpret any of it), but simply allow the picture to form in your mind. John is taken, in the Spirit, into heaven to see a vision. In that vision he sees a throne with someone sitting on it. That person has the appearance of shiny jewels. Around him is a rainbow of many colors that is shining. Around him is a group of people who were also sitting on thrones, who were dressed in white and wearing crowns of their own. From the throne comes flashes of lightning and booms of thunder. Lamps of fire are blazing in front of the throne and there is a sea of glass in front of him. There are amazing creatures surrounding the throne who continually shout the character of God: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.” (Revelation 4:8, NIV). 

Now, without having to understand what each detail of this vision means, what is it trying to communicate? It’s an amazing picture isn’t it? Without even having to understand every detail of the picture, it starts to put us in awe. We easily understand that the one who is sitting upon the throne is God, and this God is amazing. He is powerful, and beautiful, and ruling and reigning over the earth. He is a Holy, almighty God who never had a beginning and will never have an end. 

In beginning to understand that picture, what is happening in your heart? In looking at this glorious, beautiful, powerful, awe inspiring depiction of God, what is happening in your heart? John goes on to show us how the elders respond to this picture. He says, “Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne, and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say:” (Revelation 4:9–10, NIV). When they see this picture of God, they fall down and worship. 

Think about that for a moment. When people truly see God for who he is, their natural instinct is to fall on their faces and worship. That’s how glorious He is. That’s how worthy He is. The gut reaction to seeing Him is to fall down and worship. 

Now, take a moment to think about this for a minute. If you were to grab a concordance and look up the word “worship” in your English bible, you would find many instances of that word. The majority of those instances would be from the Greek and Hebrew words that mean “to prostrate oneself, i.e., make a low stance as a sign of honor, worship, homage…” That’s the meaning of the words that are often translated “worship” in our English bibles. So, take a moment to picture this in your head. What are you saying—or what is the meaning—when you prostrate yourself in front of someone? What is your body language saying, when you see this amazing, beautiful, glorious, awe inspiring, picture of God that brings you to your knees before Him? That act is a response of adoration, submission, trust, and joy. That begins to give us a definition of what worship is. To start with, Worship is a response of adoration, submission, trust, and joy to who God is.

We see that in the response of the elders around the throne. They fall down before God and say, “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).  They fall down in worship because God is worthy of all worship.

Yet, this incredible vision continues. John sees a scroll in God’s hand. An angel searches throughout the earth for someone worthy to open the scroll. No one. No one is worthy. Then someone steps forward. The Lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, the one who had triumphed, steps forward as the only one worthy to open the scroll. As he steps forward the image changes a bit, no longer a lion, but a lamb—a lamb that appears to have been slain but is no longer. The lamb victoriously steps forward and takes hold of the scroll that was in the Father’s hand.

Then what happens? “And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song…” (Revelation 5:8–9, NIV). They worshiped! Again, this beautiful, powerful picture of Jesus Christ, the only one worthy to take the scroll, the Lion of Judah, the root of David, the lamb that was slain, causes the people to fall down on their faces in worship. They fall down in adoration, submission, trust, and joy. 

They say, “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.” (Revelation 5:9–10, NIV). A few verses later they cry out, “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). Then the chapter ends with: “Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing: “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!” The four living creatures said, “Amen”, and the elders fell down and worshipped.” (Revelation 5:13–14, NIV). 

Again, this helps us expand our definition of worship a bit. In these instances, they are not falling on their faces only in response to WHO He is, but also in response to WHAT He has done. They are worshiping Him because he has redeemed a people for himself by his blood and has made them a kingdom. Even in the instance from chapter four, they were worshiping God because of What He did in creation, and what He continues to do by sustaining that creation. So, our definition of worship expands to: Worship is a response of adoration, submission, trust, and joy to who God is and what He has done. 

I want to take this a little further, because you may have noticed that we are not continually falling on our face before God—in this worship service or at any point in our lives. Why not? In short, it’s because of something that Jesus said.

As Jesus traveled through Samaria, he found himself in a conversation with a woman at a well. Many of you are probably pretty familiar with this story. During his conversation with her, she asked him a question: ““Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”” (John 4:19–20, NIV). Jesus responded to her by saying, “Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks.” (John 4:23, NIV). Jesus says that true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. To say it another way: Those who will truly fall on their faces before God, will fall on their faces before God in spirit and truth—not in a particular location or with a particular body position, but in spirit and in truth.

The reality is that someone can be physically showing submission through an outward act, but in their heart they are rebellious. Someone can be showing adoration through an outward act, but can be harboring hatred in their heart. Someone can be showing trust and joy through an outward action, but in their heart can be harboring fear and anxiety. Jesus said that those who are truly worshiping, will worship in spirit and truth. 

That takes things to a-whole-nother level. That means that it’s not simply about the outward act. That means that you can be here, on a Sunday morning, singing worshipful words out of your mouth, but in your heart/spirit not worshiping at all. You can physically attend a worship service—diligently every week—and not actually be worshiping at all because in your heart you are not responding in adoration, submission, trust, and joy to who God is and what He has done. All true worship flows from our spirit and then works itself out through our bodies—through our actions and words. 

This is the ultimate purpose of God in the universe—and in turn, the ultimate purpose of the church. This is the central purpose of this congregation. We are to be worshipers of the Triune God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We can easily get sidetracked by other things. We can easily get distracted by programs and policies and politics, but the primary thing this church must do is Worship. Our primary task is to see the Triune God has beautiful and worthy and respond in adoration, by laying down our lives, by trusting Him, and overflowing in joy. Our primary task it to be reminded that the Triune God has created the world and sustains it, and that through Jesus Christ has brought redemption and forgiveness of sins, calling a people to himself, and respond to that work in adoration, by laying our lives at his feet, by trusting Him, and overflowing in joy from our heart. This is worship and this is the primary purpose of this congregation.