The Heart of Worship

Nikolle Bauder • Apr 21, 2021

Summary of sermon on Matthew 15:1-19 from Pastor Lance Shumake..

Every so often, Jesus gives us a warning that causes us to sit up straight and examine ourselves.

Such a time occurs in our text this week, Matthew 15:1-9, where Jesus calls out the Pharisees and scribes for being “hypocrites!” and honoring God only with their lips, and not their hearts. He tells them their worship is in vain.


On Sunday, Pastor Shu called to mind the story of the Prodigal Son.


The father in the story has two sons, (1) the son who ran far from his father, who pursued his flesh and all the ways of the world, who eventually realized the road he was on was a dead end, so he went back to his Father. And (2) the son who remained with his father the entire time, but could not forgive his father for letting his brother back into the family at the end of the story.


The picture painted here gives us two examples of how your heart can be far from God: 


(1) You can be far away and chasing your own fleshly desires; or 


(2) you can be right where you’re supposed to be… attending church, serving, singing the songs… but subtly believing that God owes you something. This person might think, “If I do enough good things, God is going to owe me some blessings and a good life.” 


When our hearts are far from God…


...we become more concerned with traditions than honoring God’s word.


...we tend to be judgemental toward others.


...we focus on ourselves more than God.


...we worship in vain.

The truth is, Jesus is after our HEARTS. We are called to “love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength.” This starts with the heart; our core; our emotional being.


A song that we worship with together on Sunday mornings calls us to sing, “from the moment that I wake up, until I lay down my head. I will sing the goodness of God.”


Another to sing, “I won't bow to idols, I'll stand strong and worship You

And if it puts me in the fire, I'll rejoice 'cause You're there too

I won't be formed by feelings, I hold fast to what is true

If the cross brings transformation then I'll be crucified with You”


When we sing these words on Sunday mornings, we must ask… do we mean them with our hearts?


Amos 5:21-24 tells us, “I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them. Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”


Jesus wants our worship to be genuine. He wants it to be from the heart.


Thankfully, He did not leave us hanging on what this looks like. The Psalms overflow with true, heart-felt worship and we can learn a lot from what they tell us.


First, that genuine worship  is grounded in God’s word. Worship comes from understanding who God is, what He has done for us, what He’s doing, and what He is calling us to. When we are centered on the Word of God, His truth informs our hearts and the worship that pours out.


Genuine worship looks like...


—grieving over our sin


“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” - Psalm 51:17


—longing for God


“O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.” - Psalm 63:1


—being in awe of God


“Let all the earth fear the LORD; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him!” - Psalm 33:8


—giving thanks to God


“Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!” - Psalm 100:4


—rejoicing in God


“Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!” - Psalm 32:11


—hoping in the Lord


“My soul longs for your salvation; I hope in your word.” - Psalm 119:81



Genuine worship is a response to God.


When we think about the truth of who God is and what He has done for us, and we let this truth inform our hearts, it overflows into a life of genuine awe and worship.


When we are focused on the truth of the gospel and how God forgives us, pursues us, and loves us, our hearts follow. 


Our whole beings rejoice! 


And we get to worship God in response… with our songs, with our service, with our attendance, and with our lives!

The New Way of The Spirit

12 Jun, 2024
Notes from Ky Martin's sermon on Sunday, June 9, 2024. Sermon text: Romans 7:1-12 We follow God in the “new way of the Spirit” (Romans 7:6) What was wrong with the old way? The law aroused sinful desires The law made us more accountable Paul clearly believes that the coming of the law made the human situation worse by turning sin into “transgression”: disobedience of a definite command. -Douglas Moo Sin used the law to bring death Romas 5:13-14a For sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses Freedom from the law does not mean the end of God’s claim on us. That claim is exerted in a new and powerful way through his Spirit. -Douglas Moo Romans 7:6 But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code. What is the “new way of the Spirit” like? We have the Holy Spirit Following a person, not a script Marriage Marriage does entail a significant loss of freedom and independence… But, on the other hand, there is now the possibility of an experience of love, intimacy, acceptance and security that you could not have as a single person. Because of this love and intimacy, our loss of freedom is a joy, not a burden. In a good marriage, your whole life is affected and changed by the wishes and desires of the person you love. - Timothy Keller How do we engage life in the Spirit? Believe we are loved by God. “Through setting his love on human beings, God has voluntarily bound up his own final happiness with theirs… God’s happiness will not be complete till all His beloved ones are finally out of trouble” J.I. Packer Pursue knowing God, not just knowing about God. Pursue God’s interests. Discipleship Questions: Why do you think Paul keeps repeating and re-illustrating the idea that we are free from the law? In what ways was the old way of the law falling short? Paul uses an illustration of us being married to Christ. Do you even think of Christ in those terms? Why or why not? In Romans 7:6, Paul contrasts the “written code” to the “new way of the Spirit”. What do you think he meant by that contrast? What does it look like for us to walk in the “new way of the Spirit” instead of the “written code?”

Better Than We Deserve

04 Jun, 2024
Notes from Lance Shumake's sermon on Sunday, June 2, 2024. Sermon text: Romans 6:15-23 Our obedience shows we have a new ruler And so the question becomes, to whom or to what do you want to be enslaved? To sin, reaping eternal death as the consequence? Or to obedience, which brings righteousness? To continue to live a life of sin would be to reveal that we are still slaves to sin. The only alternative is to obey God and thereby reveal that he is now truly our master —Douglas J. Moo, Encountering the Book of Romans Our obedience is a response from the heart Our obedience to God brings much better results “He is referring to brokenness of life. Here’s how that works: if you don’t obey the law of God, you become a slave to selfishness, lust, bitterness, pride, materialism, worry, driven-ness, fear, etc. The specific enslaving sins depend on whatever particular “bottom line” you have offered yourself to instead of God. For example, if you are enslaved to approval, you will constantly experience self-pity, envy, hurt feelings, inadequacy. If you are enslaved to success, you will experience driven-ness, fatigue, worry and fear, and so on. Anything you worship besides God promises much, but delivers worse than nothing. It is slavery: a constant treadmill of seeking to grasp, or keep hold of, something which can never really deliver. The only benefit of idolatry is brokenness.” —Tim Keller, Romans For You Galatians 5:19–23 [19] Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, [20] idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, [21] envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. [22] But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, [23] gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Discipleship Questions: In what ways do you think freedom is an illusion? How is true freedom found in being a slave/servant to God? What can help us to see our obedience as a response to God’s grace? Describe the results in your life from times where you chose to obey sin. What are some better results you have experienced from obeying God? Spend a few moments praying for our CCC graduating seniors we recognized in our services.

As Sure As He Lives

29 May, 2024
Notes from Ky Martin's sermon on Sunday, May 26, 2024. Sermon text: Romans 6:8-14 Because… Our resurrection is as certain as Christ’s We are alive to God in Jesus Christ. We must learn to be who we are Holiness is not something we are called upon to do in order that we may become something; it is something we are to do because of what we already are. - Martin Lloyd Jones How we should live: Don’t let sin reign. Offer your life to God’s purposes Work heartily 1 Thessalonians 4:10b-12 But we urge you, brothers, to do this more and more, 11 and to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, 12 so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one. Col. 3:23 Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, Serve the church Eph. 4:16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. Love your family. Discipleship Questions:  How confident are you that Jesus was raised and is alive? How confident are you that you have a new life that is dead to sin? How does this passage use Jesus’s death and resurrection to assure us of our death to sin and life in Christ How is living out our new life “learning to be who we are”? Verse 13 says “present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.”. How do we do that? Every member of the church should be building up the church. Are you doing that? If no, what next step do you need to take in that direction?
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