Leverage Point #10.2 - Worship in the Spirit Part 2: Philippians 3:1-11, Romans 2:28-29 - Philippians: Joy Leverage

You're listening to the road with Pastor Teacher Steve Cole.

When you walk in this room, probably with most of you here, you don't want to worship.

You don't want to worship.

You've got your job on your mind.

You're an American Christian, then you fought with your spouse all the way to church, and and then they ran out of donuts in there, the favorite ones that you always like, and then somebody got them all.

And you're five minutes late, so you should be on time if you want to have those nutty kind of nuts, because those go really fast.

And whatever it is that we came in with, we come in with stuff, right?

So what do you have to do?

You have to intentionally decide I'm gonna worship.

At The Road, our vision is to raise up whole-hearted disciples of Jesus Christ.

For more information on the road, visit the road.org.

We hope you are encouraged by today's message from Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.

Turning your Bibles to Philippians chapter 3.

Philippians 3 · chapter mention

Because in Philippians chapter 3, Paul, probably the most religious missionary there ever was, who had gotten saved out of Judaism.

Philippians 3 · chapter mention

He was a Pharisee of Pharisees.

He was a Hebrew of Hebrews.

He was of the tribe of Benjamin.

We talked about this last week.

And then he had an encounter with Jesus Christ in a vision.

And for the next 17 years in Arabia, he's having this massive paradigm shift.

And this is what he says.

This is, by the way, Philippians 3 is probably the most vulnerable passage or chapter.

As remember, there were no chapter titles back in the day when he wrote this, but he's the most vulnerable of any place in the Bible about his background.

But in verse 3, he says, For we are the circumcision, meaning that men and women, I talked about this last week, the circumcision of the heart, not physical circumcision, because what he's doing, he's talking to the Judaizers, which he just called dogs, evil workers, and the mutilation in verse 2.

You can listen, go back and listen to that from last week's message.

I'm not going to cover it now.

But he says, We are the circumcision who worship God in the Spirit.

Worship God in the Spirit.

Paul's had a revolution in his life from worshiping God in ritual through Judaism and Jewish religion into now being able to say one of the most important things he says in all of his letters, he says, I worship God in the Spirit.

Well, what does he mean by that?

So turn in your Bibles now to John chapter 4.

John 4 · chapter mention

In John chapter 4, we have the only passage in Scripture where Jesus defines worship.

John 4 · chapter mention

It's the most important passage in the Bible on worship.

And men and women, you were made for worship.

You're gonna worship something.

Bob Dylan got it right as a new believer when he said, You're gonna serve somebody.

You worship things.

And so C.S.

Lewis, who's going through the Psalms and he's studying the Psalms, said this the world rings with praise.

Lovers praise their relationship, readers their favorite poet.

Walkers praise the countryside, players praise their favorite team.

My whole, more general, difficulty about praise depended on my absurdity denying to us as regards the supremely valuable.

What we delight to do, what indeed we can't help doing about everything that we value.

And then he said this I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses, but it completes the enjoyment of it.

It is the appointed consummation.

Now that's a lot of words, but here's what he's saying.

He's saying that you praise what you worship.

But when you praise something, and he doesn't mean this negatively, but when you praise something, you're actually bringing about into full circle the consummation of your own personal joy.

In other words, when you there's something missing when you come to the top of that vista, and you've climbed that 14er, and you get up to the top, and you just look out, you know, from from Yale or from Print from Harvard, Mount Harvard, or one of those places, and nobody's there.

And you're like, uh, wow.

So what do you do?

You take out your phone and you take a picture and then you go into the lobby on Sunday morning and you show it to all your friends and you praise that vista then.

Because there's a consummation.

There's something full circle that happens in your life when you praise something.

And so, men and women, when we go into worship and you're praising the majestic God, the God that can move mountains, you're actually bringing the consummation of your own personal joy.

If you don't worship, you won't experience that aspect of the joy of the Holy Spirit.

You have to praise.

You have to, you're born for it.

God put it in your DNA to praise Him.

And so when you get in your car, you're kind of pumped about something, you should just go for it.

You should just praise the Lord because you're just think of it this way: I'm I'm bringing to full circle the consummation of my own personal joy.

This is what I was made for.

And that's why love and joy are the first two products of the fruit of the power of the ministry of the Holy Spirit, because you're rejoicing in your love for God, and He's completing His joy when you do it.

And so Jesus here in John chapter 4 explains and defines how that joy happens in our life.

John 4 · chapter mention

He's talking to this Samaritan woman.

She's very religious.

She's very religious, and she wants to start a religious argument.

So in verse 20, she says this our fathers worship on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where we ought to worship.

And then Jesus said to her, Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem worship the Father.

So, like all the religious wars, and I would call them the worship wars of the last 25 years, everybody's all consumed about ritual, about where to worship or what kind of worship to be involved in.

And it's and it's dumb.

It's a dumb argument.

Because he's gonna say in a moment, that that doesn't matter anymore.

So for 2,000 years, worship has changed, church.

Now we didn't have myssiological definitions like we do today, where we're blessed with those that study it and understand.

Okay, it's culturally different.

I mean, Karl Marx said this.

Karl Marx, the father of communism, said this.

Give me the poets and musicians, and I will control a nation.

I don't care who writes the laws.

That's the power of worship.

That's the power of poetry, that's the power of the written word that touches our heart and our soul.

And so this woman, she wants to argue about, okay, is it over at Shechem near Mount Gerizim?

That's what the Samaritans believe, or is it what you Jews say and it's over at Jerusalem at the temple?

And Jesus is saying, look, ma'am, that argument's not even not even a concern to me anymore.

Because there's a new dispensation of worship coming.

And I'm looking for a different kind of worshiper.

And they're not necessarily religious, but they have a personal, vital, dynamic, growing relationship with me.

So then he says this.

You worship what you do not know.

Now that's really interesting.

Do you realize that there's people who worship someone they do not know?

You worship what you do not know.

We know what we worship for salvation is of the Jews.

In other words, it's going to be through the Jewish line that salvation was going to come.

Verse 23.

But the hour is coming.

The hour is coming, so it's not complete yet, but now is when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth.

For the Father is seeking such to worship him.

God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.

So it's not where you worship, it's how you worship, and it's who you worship.

And in worshiping Christ, there is this sense that there's an hour coming.

You know what that hour coming is?

Revelation 4 and 5.

There's an hour coming where the Rolling Stones and the Beatles and DC talk, whoever you're into, will be put to shame with the kind of concerts they have, with the one that's going to be happening in heaven.

It's happening right now in heaven that we're going to join, and it's a rocking good time.

Just read it.

It's loud, it's expressive, it's powerful.

And men and women, whenever you line up your hearts here at the road, or any church for that matter, with God in worship, you're lining yourself up with what's already happening in heaven.

Now that that's pretty good.

Because how many times we say, I don't know God's will, I don't know what God wants me to do.

I don't know if I should move or stay.

I don't know if you should buy that house or not.

I don't know if I should marry that girl or marry that guy or whatever it is.

They're struggling with start worshiping.

Just start worshiping the Lord.

Just start worshiping Him because you know this.

You know you're lining up with the perfect will of God when you worship because that's what Jesus really digs.

I mean, it's his living room.

And I've given this illustration many times before, so for the sake of redundancy, I'll say it again.

But, you know, at my house, I got the furniture the way I like it.

It's my house.

Now I should say it's it's the way Liz likes it.

Um but I like it too because I like her and I like peace in my house.

So anything she wants to do is fine with me.

And we've had many times when she's put stuff in place, and I've gone, what are we having for dinner?

I do not get that, you know.

But but Liz, I should say Liz has a living room that she really enjoys.

And then I learned to enjoy it too.

But it's our living room.

But when you come to our house, you may not like the way we do our stuff, and we don't care because it's not your living room.

So, but when you come, you know, and if you're kind of smart, and this is a smart group, by the way, we probably have per capita more geeks in this church than any church in Colorado Springs.

Um, but and people are always giving me trajectories and percentages for things, and I'm like, you guys are way smarter than me.

But but you if you came to our house you and you're smart, and you would be, you say, now where do you sit?

Because you don't want to sit in the guy's seat because that's his seat, because that's his living room, right?

Okay, well, Revelation 4 and 5 is heaven.

That's God's living room.

So there's no sin in his living room.

There's no sin in heaven.

So he has designed his living room exactly the way he wants it to be.

And he's got a massive rock concert of praise and worship to himself going on because he loves himself and he loves the glory that's his as the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit in perfect community together, gang.

So when we worship, we're lining ourselves up with God's living room.

So, what does it mean here?

What does it mean to worship in truth?

And by the way, some of you might be saying, why is Steve wearing a tie?

For you that are guests that don't normally wear a tie, it's in honor of Nick, who's graduating from the Air Force Academy.

No, I'm only kidding, Nick, but we love you.

I'm glad you're graduating from the Air Force Academy.

We we're proud of you, brother.

Awesome.

No, it's I've got a wedding right after this.

So if y'all know Josh and Rachel, I'm doing their wedding at Glen Erie.

It's like almost immediately after the service.

So, anyway, how do I look?

All right.

So, worship and truth.

So he says, first of all, worship and truth.

Now don't miss this.

A lot of churches miss this.

Until you have an enlightened mind, you cannot have a fired up heart.

Listen, until you have an enlightened mind, you can't have a fired up heart.

And what I mean by that is that even David understood this.

You look through the Psalms and he commands himself to worship.

He'll say, My soul, I say to my soul, David says, I say to my soul, I'm gonna worship.

When you walked in this room, probably with most of you here, you don't want to worship.

You don't want to worship.

You've got your job on your mind.

If you're an American Christian, then you fought with your spouse all the way to church, and then they ran out of donuts in there, the favorite ones that you always like, and then somebody got them all, and you were five minutes late, so you should be on time if you want to have those nutty kind of nuts, because those go really fast.

And whatever it is that we came in with, we come in with stuff, right?

So what do you have to do?

You have to intentionally decide, I'm gonna worship.

It starts up here.

You have to decide I'm going after God.

You're gonna have to decide, and that's why we didn't have worship at the beginning today, like we normally do, because I want to teach first, and then I'm gonna help you decide.

I'm gonna help you decide.

I'm gonna motivate you to decide.

I'm gonna gaze on Christ in worship today.

I'm gonna take all my stuff, I'm gonna push it aside, and I'm gonna gaze at Jesus because there's healing in Jesus, there's love in Jesus.

He says you're beloved, he says his favor rests upon you, but you just don't believe it.

And so what happens is as you worship, you start to believe it because then your heart gets engaged.

And what's sad though, is when many of us have had worship that gets this far.

So you you you have an intellectual understanding of who Christ is, but you're six inches away from power because it doesn't engage your heart.

So it starts with the mind, and here's what it is.

Men and women, it starts with a right understanding of God.

Do you guys realize in the church today there's there's false understandings?

Somebody posted on our road, and somebody posted on my Facebook uh this week with an address to Amazon.com for Love Wins by Rob Bell.

That's a heretical book.

It's a man who was mightily used by God at one time in his life in Michigan through uh through his church, and then he started slipping and slipping and slipping into universalism.

And so somebody posted that, and man, I got the team on it.

We're blocking that baby.

So we blocked it.

So, folks, you've got to know your doctrine.

You you everybody here, you should get systematic theology by Wayne Grudum.

First of all, because then I won't get quite as many emails asking me all the stuff because I always go to Wayne Grudham to answer your questions.

So, what about this?

And I go, okay, I wonder what Wayne says.

You know?

But you need a systematic theology.

You've got to have right thoughts about God, theologically accurate thoughts about God, Bible thoughts about God.

And so spending time in God's word inflames your mind.

It gets you fired up for the Lord because it's truth.

Truth fires up your mind.

That's why we have outlier university, because we want to make you an outlier.

We are not here to create typical American Christians.

We are here to build radical, transformative, joyful, powerful word and spirit disciples that want to change the world.

And so the word does that.

It's living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword.

It comes in and it pierces heart and soul, it divides soul and spirit.

And what it does is it begins to give you faith.

That's why I put that in, that phrase that we just said, that faith comes from the word.

So if you're a new believer here, or maybe you're an older believer, but you've never spent an inordinate amount of time in God's word, your faith is going to stay anemic.

It'll be all shriveled up.

The way to grow faith is God's word.

And if you want more faith, spend more time in God's word.

You know, we talk about it's quality time.

I don't have much time with my kids, but we have quality time.

That's like the new thing the last 15, 20 years, is quality time.

Not quantity, quality time.

It's an excuse for mainly the men to not spend time with their kids and then to totally ambush them with a bunch of stuff that they don't need so that you can somehow a sewage your conscience for not spending time with your kids.

But here's the deal: we need quantity and quality time with Jesus.

So some of you, God's saying to you, you need to take your Bible and your journal, put it in a backpack, drive up to the mountains and take a day with the Lord.

Just go into a stream or go up and climb a 14 or get up there and just spend time in God's Word.

Or come here during the day.

It's okay.

Come in here in the sanctuary, turn on the light, spend time with the Lord.

We don't care.

I want you to just get to know God through his word.

And some of us don't know what God wants us to do, and we don't have faith to believe God for what we know is the right thing to do because we're not meditating in, dwelling on, memorizing, and loving Jesus through his word.

So that's that's worship in truth.

Well, then he says, worship in spirit.

So let me just say this.

Let me give you this idea.

This is this is a concept that I got from uh Piper.

Worship in truth is the fuel of worship.

Listen, truth is the fuel of worship.

How many of you ever put bad fuel in your lawnmower or bad fuel in your chainsaw or something like that?

Anybody here?

You guys need to get out more often.

Um, I have, and I've had to dump it out and stuff, and we've got a John Deere, a little tractor, and sometimes when it stayed all winter in there, we have to drain it and we have to put it back in.

We've got a blog splitter, same thing with that, because you need the right fuel.

So truth is fuel, but then we worship in spirit, and the spirit is the furnace.

Okay?

You got fuel, you got a furnace.

That is where, because if you notice in the passage, it's small S spirit, it's not capital S spirit.

Not talking about the Holy Spirit here.

He's saying you worship with your spirit now.

In other words, he's saying to the Samaritan woman, look, it's not a location.

It's not even an ethnicity, it's not even the color of your skin, it's worship in every person now in their spirit.

And men and women, listen, if you're born again, you have the Holy Spirit in your spirit.

You have a new heart, you have a new soul, you're a new person that that hardened heart how has a heart of flesh, and you now have the ability to worship in the furnace of your life through your heart.

That's exciting stuff.

Because the Pharisees never got it.

Jesus said of the religious Pharisees, these people honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.

In vain do they worship me.

My friend Sam Storm says this.

This passage is frightening because it tells us that it is possible to think we're honoring God by using the appropriate words, singing orthodox and doctrinally deep songs, and praying articulate and passionate prayers, all the while our heart is miles away.

Think about it for a moment.

You can give every external appearance of drawing near to God in worship when in fact your heart is distant and disengaged, and all that you do actually is dishonor him.

In other words, we we can be honoring God with our lips through our outward religion, but not worshiping him with our spirit.

So, what Jesus is saying to us, I believe, is you have this furnace, and we have this fuel, you've got to have the fuel, or you'll have this empty furnace.

But you got this furnace called your heart, you got a new heart.

And when you start to worship Him from the heart, wholehearted, loving God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength, your neighbor as yourself, when you begin to do that, that pervades your work.

That pervades your job.

That pervades your family.

That pervades your marriage.

That pervades your relationships.

It pervades our worship here.

Because what we do is some of us give up a little bit in the way we worship because it might be distracting to other people, but it's because we're a family and you're still gonna watch Lion King.

Alright.

Man, I want to watch, you know, some action, man.

Let's watch Cinderella Man.

No, we're gonna watch Lion King.

We've watched that 18 times.

We're gonna watch it again.

But we do it because we're a family, and a family sticks together, and we do stuff that helps each other grow, and we do it.

It's more important to do it together than what we actually do.

And so, and so we come with worship in the Spirit because that's this furnace.

But the furnace needs heat.

So turn in your Bible to John 7.

So just turn to the right to John 7, because I believe John 7 completes John 4.

So this is at the Feast of Tabernacles, you guys.

And at the Feast of Tabernacles, what the Jews did was they um they took a golden pitcher to the pool of Saloon and they filled it with water, and on the last day, the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles, everybody's rocking.

These are Jews, man.

These are Jews, and so they're rocking out and they're praising God and they're doing all that, you know, and everything.

And then big golden pitcher comes.

They take this golden pitcher from the pool of Salaam and they pour it on the altar, and everybody goes, ah.

And then Jesus says this on the last day, verse 37.

On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and he cried out, saying, If anyone thirst, let him come to me and drink.

He who believes in me, as the scriptures have said, out of his heart, out of his furnace, will flow rivers, rivers of living water.

Men and women, that's the spark plug, that's the fire.

You can have the furnace and you can have the fuel.

But what lights the fuel is the fire of the Holy Spirit.

Is the Holy Spirit coming, and you're saying, Holy Spirit, engage me today in worship?

I don't have what it takes.

I know I don't have what it takes.

But you have everything that I need.

And so, Holy Spirit, come and fill me with your spirit today.

And God, would you take over my worship and would you turn this furnace into a flaming, flaming fire?

And so, when the flame of the spirit, listen this.

When the flame of the spirit touches the fuel of truth, and it fires up your mind, and we see Christ for who he really is, his worth, his power, his love, his majesty, then our affections are made alive in him by the Spirit and the Word, and the result is powerful, affectionate worship.

Because that's what the heat is.

The heat is exactly those affections that David said, You will make known to me the path of life.

In your presence is fullness of joy.

And in your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

David in Psalm 27 said, One thing I've desired of the Lord that I will seek, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord.

Therefore I will offer sacrifices of joy to the Lord.

So, men and women, there's this furnace.

You've got this furnace, and the fuel is the word, the fuel is truth, the fuel is right thoughts about God, doctrinally right thoughts about God that are true, they're not false, and they're there.

But then the fire is the power of the Holy Spirit.

He lights that up, and then the heat that comes forth are the affections.

You should many times, not all the time, because our affections are so up and down, but many times our affections should be touched when we worship God.

So you say, Well, I don't ever feel anything.

Well, start asking God for that.

God, I want to feel your presence.

Ask Him.

Because He loves to answer that prayer.

Strong affections for God, rooted in Scripture and shaped by the truth of Scripture is the bone and marrow of truth and spirit worship.

Deep convictions rooted in the truth and doctrine of God's word makes the mind come alive.

Lively emotions based in such truth causes the heart to be awakened.

It follows that biblical worship should provide two things: channels of the mind to grasp and understand the reality and love of God through faith, and channels for the heart to respond to the beauty and majesty of that truth.

That awesome.

No, I wrote that.

I think it was inspired.

I believe that's what I believe.

That's where we're going.

That's the kind of church we've got to have.

We've got to have the most powerful word and spirit church that God has created us to be.

Life is too short.

Our culture is changing too drastically and going in the wrong direction.

Why do we want to miss anything that God has given us to be the tools of the advancement of the kingdom of God on earth?

That's our calling minimum.

You've been listening to The Road with Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.

We hope you have been blessed by today's message.

To connect with us further, visit theroad.org.

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Thanks again for tuning in today, and be sure to listen to the next edition of The Road with Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.