Peter Tan-Chi - Live a Life of Worship
- Watch
- Donate
Summary
In this closing sermon on worship, the preacher emphasizes that true worship isn’t just rituals or songs but a whole life response to who God is, what He’s done, and what He’ll do, based on Psalm 96. He stresses that God rejects hypocritical worship where hearts and lives don’t match obedience and righteousness, drawing from Amos 5 and Jesus' words in Mark 7. Ultimately, living a life of worship means joyful singing, proclaiming the gospel, generous giving, and eagerly anticipating Christ’s return with holiness.
Ending the Series on Worship
Now, ladies and gentlemen, today is our last series on this topic of worship. Why are we ending this series on worship? Life should be a life of worship, but we will start a new topic in the coming weeks. In the meantime, can I ask you a question? Is worship important to you? Yes or no? Why is it important? Why?
In the book of Amos, chapter 5:21–22, God is saying, I don’t like your worship because it matters to God how you worship. Everybody, let’s read together. «I hate, I reject your festivals, nor do I delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer up to me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them; I will not even look at the peace offerings of your fatlings.»
Let’s read the next verse. «Take away from me the noise of your songs. I will not even listen to the sound of your harps. But let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.»
God Rejects Hypocritical Worship
You know what God is saying? God is telling the Jewish people I don’t like your worship or your sacrifices; it doesn’t mean anything. What’s the problem? The problem is their lives do not match their worship.
Let’s look at what Jesus has to say about worship. Everybody read together with me please. He said to them, «Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites!» He’s now calling these people hypocrites. Why? Everybody read, 'This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far away from Me.'
In other words, God looks at your heart. Today you came, you sang, praise God! But God is saying, I’m looking at your heart. What is the proof that you are worshipping God properly? What is the proof?
True Worship from the Heart
Let’s read the next verse. Everybody, «In vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men. Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men.» In other words, true worship is loving God and obeying Him. It’s the heart.
What is true worship? True worship, as we close this series, everybody read, «Worship is our proper response to who God is, what He has done and what He will do.»
Do you notice, it’s our response, number one to who God is. Therefore, you cannot worship God properly if you and I don’t know Him. So who is God to you? Number two is our response not only to who God is, but what He has done. If you have not experienced the grace of God, the forgiveness of God, the mercies of God, it’s hard to worship.
Number three, worship is our response to who God is, what He has done, and what He will do. If you don’t understand the promises of God, what He plans to do, it’s hard to worship Him especially if you are having problems, because many times what you are encountering today may not be pleasant, but God gives you an amazing promise. Are you aware of God’s promises?
Living a Life of Worship: Four Realities
Today we will discuss all of the above. So what’s the topic today? Live a life of worship. Based on Psalm 96, I want to bring out 4 important realities. When you live a life of worship, what does it look like?
Number 1, a life of worship is singing; it’s joyfulness. A life of worship means proclaiming, declaring the gospel, the good news of God based on Psalm 96. A life of worship means giving. It is more than just singing, it is more than just proclaiming, it has to do with giving, generosity, giving of your life, time, talent, treasure. And lastly, a life of worship is about anticipating.
How do you see that? Are you ready? All right. Let’s read the Bible. Now Psalm 96:1 and 2. Everybody, let’s read that together.
A Life of Singing
A life of singing. Notice what the Bible says about worship. Together, «Sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD all the earth. Sing to the LORD, bless His name;» What do you notice? The word sing is a command. You are to sing to the Lord.
Let me ask you a question: when you come, do you sing to the Lord or do you sing to yourself? The Bible tells us, you sing to the Lord. It does not matter whether you are out of tune or you are in tune. Does not matter. You come, you sing to whom? To the Lord. What if you don’t feel like singing? I will talk about it soon.
In the meantime, a life of worship has to do with delight in God. You sing to the Lord because you delight in Him. You sing to the Lord because you count your blessings. It is not automatic.
You see, worship is also a thermostat. It is also a thermometer; a thermometer measures your relationship with God. Praise God, you love Him, but at the same time, it’s a thermostat. It will adjust your spiritual life. If you realize worship is singing, you cannot sing if you don’t know the Lord. You know why? Why will you sing to Him?
By the way, you can sing without worship, but you cannot worship God without having joy in your heart. Notice this amazing verse. «Sing to the LORD—» everybody, «a new song;»
Sing a New Song
Why did I emphasize a new song? Because many of us have encountered the Lord. Your experience with God is all about past tense. If I ask you, how are you doing with the Lord? You have nothing new to say because you have not been walking with the Lord. All you have is past tense.
The Bible says, sing to the Lord a new song. It reminds me my relationship with God must be fresh. And how do you maintain that? You be conscious of His presence. You be conscious of His involvement in your life.
Let me give you an example. A few weeks ago, my wife and I, we flew to Canada. We checked in, and to my shock, after getting our boarding pass, my wife went to the immigration counter because she has to present her iCard. Anyway, the immigration officer said, ma’am, you cannot leave the country. Something’s wrong with your iCard because she has not been up to date in her payment.
So my wife said, no problem, I will pay. The immigration officer said no, you cannot pay here. It has to be done through the internet. When my wife heard internet website, payment through the internet—do you know my wife and I belong to the Jurassic period? So when we hear the word internet, payment on internet, it’s a problem. But my problem is I’m already inside but my wife is still in the immigration office.
God’s Hand in Everyday Life
Now, what is the probability of my son, Paul, checking in the same counter, going through the same airport when he is not traveling to Canada? So he was there with us in the airport and boom! Hallelujah! The genius son is there. So my wife explained to him and Paul said, no problem.
Now remember it’s Sunday night. Internet, payment on the internet, you know. But what’s so amazing is I saw God’s hand. The probability of Paul being in the same airport at the same time, even though different flight. Is God good? Yes or no? Praise God! Now these are small things. People will say that’s coincidence. In Tagalog, tsamba 'yan, tsamba. (It’s by chance)
Alright, let me tell you, I have so many tsamba in my life. This last trip, after training the Canadian pastors and leaders, I made a side trip with my other family. When I say family, meaning Candy and her children to Yellowstone. We need to take two flights.
Now, you and I know when you take a connecting flight, the danger is you will miss the connection because there’s going to be a delay. I was so happy the plane left on time. Except there’s a problem. When we landed at this airport to connect to the next flight, there is no available gate space. In other words, our plane cannot disembark. Why? Because all the gates are occupied by airplanes. I looked at my watch and it’d be a problem.
Counting Your Blessings
So I talked to the stewardess. The stewardess said, Sir, we will do our best. You know when they say we will do our best, I’m always scared. Your best may not be good enough. Make a long story short, we waited and waited and waited. And it’s boarding time already and we are still inside the airplane.
So what did I do? When you are worried, when you’re anxious, what must you do? Pray. So we prayed. I told my family I’m going to do something: once we are allowed to get out of the airplane, I’m going to run. I’m going to run. Now, we don’t have any check-in baggage. Ok. We just brought our baggage with us because we know we have to be fast.
Would you believe it? The gate is in the next terminal. So what you have to do, you have to take those shuttle-like, you know, shuttle train. So I took it. I ran and I ran and I ran. When I went into the gate, I spoke to the lady in charge. I still have people behind me. Is the plane still here? Can we make it? She said, no worries Sir, the connecting flight is late also.
Now you will say, that’s coincidence right? Coincidence. Let me tell you, I have so many coincidences in my life. Can you imagine that? I was able to go there, took a shower. Now you will say, Tsamba, tsamba. Listen to me. You call it coincidence. You know what I call it? Praise the Lord. Amen?
Alright. So worship is singing. You have to learn to count your blessings. Now, it’s not easy to do it. You know why? Look at Ephesians. I will teach you how to do this.
Be Filled with the Spirit
Ephesians chapter 5 tells us, in order to be able to worship, sing to the Lord. Number one, you have to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Meaning you are very conscious of God’s presence in your life, the Holy Spirit. Be full, be filled with the Holy Spirit.
What are the symptoms? What are the signs? «Speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord.» You see, when you are filled with the Spirit of God, something happens. Your perspective changes. «Always giving thanks for all things.»
Notice what it says, always what? Louder, always giving thanks. Do you see the word always? What does it mean? Always means all the time. Recently I read an article about the Nigerian pastor whose church was burned down, and his house was burned down.
The next week, he gathered the congregation a few meters away from the existing church. And he told his congregation, this is a Nigerian pastor, he said, «We need to praise God». The church members were shocked. «Number 1, We did not take revenge. They want to hurt us, but we did not retaliate. Number 2, the church was not burned. The church building was burned, but the church was not burned. You are the church. We were not burned. Praise God»!
And he said, «Number 3. My house was burned and not your house. The Lord taught me how to sympathize, how to understand the hurt of other people». This pastor understood you can count your blessings all the time.
Proclaiming the Good News
You see, to worship God, you must be able to make it a habit of what? Singing, delighting in the Lord by being conscious of God’s presence, by counting your blessings. Number 2, a life of worship is what? Proclaiming, proclaiming the good news.
Look at the Bible verse. Let’s read that again. Everybody read. «Proclaim good tidings of His salvation, » Notice, «day to day». The word good tidings is where you have the Greek word evangelism. You are to proclaim the good news of God’s salvation day by day. Amazing. «Tell of His glory among the nations, His wonderful deeds among all the peoples».
In other words, worship is proclaiming the goodness of God, the faithfulness of God, the salvation of the Lord. What a privilege! Let’s read the next verse. What does it say, together. «For great is the LORD—» Why do we declare? Why do we proclaim the good news about God? Because «great is the LORD, greatly to be praised. He is to be feared above all gods».
All the people, «All the gods of the peoples are idols». He’s now making a contrast, the uniqueness of our faith; if we worship the true God, the creator of heavens. He’s our creator. Others are manmade objects. «Splendor and majesty are before Him. Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary».
Notice the combination, strength, beauty, all in God. My friend, do you make it a habit of declaring, proclaiming the gospel of God? See, worship is not just singing. Worship is what? Proclaiming the goodness of God.
Sharing the Gospel with Family
A few months ago, I brought our entire family. You know, we’re a big family. I brought all of them to visit their heritage. We went back to China. I’ve not been there for many years. Now, when we travel, it’s like a baranggay (village), so many of us.
So I brought them to see our ancestral home. Our ancestral home is deep inside China but the beauty is this, we were able to visit our ancestral home. I saw the picture of my grandfather. But then the family members, the older generations met us.
And what? Can you guess what I did when I met them? I talked about Jesus, I proclaimed the gospel. But what made me sad and cry was when I was talking to them about Jesus, they gave me a funny look, all of them. So I asked them, have you not heard about Jesus? They all looked at me, they said no. Who is Jesus?
And I just realized in this country we know Jesus but there are parts in the world where people have not even heard about Jesus. You can see how it broke my heart. Proclaim the gospel. I realized proclaiming the gospel is an act of worship.
Worship Even in Tragedy
Now, let me ask you, what if you don’t feel like proclaiming the gospel because tragedy happened? You see, you don’t feel like singing, you don’t feel like proclaiming because something bad happened.
Let me tell you the story of this man by the name of Horatio Spafford. Born in New York, he is a lawyer. He’s a millionaire. He had 5 wonderful children. Would you believe it? Tragedy after tragedy happened to Horatio.
When his eldest son, Horatio Junior, was 4 years old, Horatio Junior suddenly developed scarlet fever, and he died. One year later, the Great Chicago fire burned many of his buildings.
Two years later, he brought his entire family to have a vacation in England because Dwight L. Moody was his friend and they wanted to hear Dwight L. Moody preach in England. On that day, they were supposed to sail. He had business issue, so he had to stay behind. He told his family, you go first and I will catch up.
When they were sailing to England from the States, they crossed the Atlantic Ocean, something happened. The ship where their children and the wife was in had a collision accident. In less than 15 minutes, the whole ship sank. 200+ people died, and the wife was the only survivor.
So the wife sent a telegram. You know what was the telegram? I alone, I alone am saved.
It Is Well with My Soul
Now, if you are Horatio, you have lost your son. Now you have lost all your children. I want you to tell me, how will you react? Think about it. You are Horatio, you have lost all your children, your business was affected. How will you react?
The most amazing thing happened on his way to England to see the wife as they were crossing the Atlantic Ocean on the spot where the boat sank. He wrote a song. You know what song he wrote? Would you like to know?
That song, which we sang. When peace like a river attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll; whatever my lot Thou hast taught me to say, It is well, it is well with my soul. It is well with your soul? Is it well? How is your soul today? Can you honestly say, no matter what it is well, it is well with my soul.
If you worship God, live a life of worship. Turn to your neighbor, tell your neighbor, Live a life of worship. You know what’s going to happen to you? You’ll be singing. You’ll be proclaiming.
Worship Involves Giving
The 3rd thing you need to learn, worship is giving. What do I mean, giving? Well, look at Psalm 96. «Ascribe to the LORD, O families of the peoples, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength. Ascribe to the LORD the glory of His name. Bring an offering and come into His courts».
The Bible talks about ascribe. The word ascribe means give. Recognize who God is. You give to Him what is due to Him. It’s a command. Ascribe. Ascribe glory, strength, recognize God’s glory.
In other words, when you ascribe something to God, you are not adding anything. You are simply recognizing God’s greatness, God’s goodness. But he added something on top of ascribing to God His attributes. You are to bring something. Everybody read «Bring an offering—»
In other words, to worship God always involves giving something. What’s my point? Look at Deuteronomy. Let’s read that together. Deuteronomy chapter 16. Everybody. «Three times a year, all your males shall appear before the LORD your God in the place which He chooses».
God chose Jerusalem for the Jewish people to worship God. And this is mandatory. You bring your offerings. Let’s read together. «They shall not appear before the LORD empty handed». Nobody will worship God without bringing anything. That’s Old Testament.
What should you bring? Let’s read together ready go. «Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the LORD your God, which He has given you». According to the blessing. Giving is always proportionate according to your blessing, according to what God has done for you.
The Widow’s Offering
Look, I want you to look at Jesus. How He was observing people worshiping God. He was looking. What was He looking at? Ready, go read. «He looked up and saw, He saw a poor widow putting in two small copper coins».
The copper coins are the smallest unit of money. Read the next verse. He said, «Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all of them; for they all out of their surplus put in their offering; but she out of her poverty, put in all that she had to live on».
God did not rebuke this woman for giving everything. In fact, God commended her. You see, it is not the amount you give. God looks at the heart.
Let me ask you, when you offer to God, is it from your heart? You see in CCF we don’t pass offering boxes. We want you to give from your heart. But worship always includes giving.
I always tell people, do you know what happens when you come to Jesus? The first thing is your mind is transformed, theologically you understand, and then your heart is transformed. And lastly, your pocketbook is transformed. Until the pocketbook is transformed, you better check.
Let me repeat, God does not need your money. He does not need my money. But why is He giving you the privilege of giving? Because it is worship.
New Testament Giving
Look at the New Testament. I want to share something with you «Concerning the collection for the saints, as I directed the churches of Galatia».
Notice, Paul is saying I’m telling all the churches what they must do. What must they do? «On the first day of every week, » Sunday. «each one of you— each one of you is to put aside and save, as he may prosper, so that no collections be made when I come».
In the New Testament, giving is based on what? Proportionate. In the Old Testament it’s 10%. The word 'tithe', everybody read. Say that with me tithe. Tithe means 10%. No need to argue, that’s the literal meaning of the Hebrew word 10th, 10th, tithe.
However, in the New Testament, how much should you give? Very simple. If the Old Testament wants me to give minimum 10%, what about the new? Let’s look New Testament. «This I say, he who sows sparingly will reap sparingly, he who sows bountifully will reap bountifully. Each one must do as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, God loves a cheerful giver».
That word cheerful is where you have the word hilarion, hilarious giver. In fact, when you give your tithe, you should laugh. Ha ha ha ha ha! Praise the Lord!
In Africa, the most exciting part of their church service is during giving. People bring their chicken, they bring their eggs, they bring their vegetable, and they start dancing. Okay? They start dancing and then they bring it to the front of the church. It is the most exciting part. Of course, here we don’t want to be legalistic.
Let me repeat, giving is a privilege and you can never outgive God. I’ve been a follower of Jesus for many years. I practice my giving and I’m telling you, 10% to me is not yet giving, because in the New Testament, in the Old Testament, the 10th belongs to God. God says the 10th is all Mine. But I want you to know that. Anyway whatever it is, worship is what? Giving.
Worship in Holiness
Next, Let’s continue reading. «Worship the LORD in holy attire». Now if you see the word attire, you will think it’s a garment. Literally the meaning of the word attire is to honor, to adorn, to put on His holiness. So the other translation of the other version is this, «Worship the LORD in the splendor of His holiness;»
In other words, you worship God and you be holy. That’s how you worship God in the splendor, in the beauty of His holiness. So when you come on Sunday, you not only bring something, you bring your life as a holy offering.
What is my proof? Romans chapter 12. Let’s read it together. Romans chapter 12:1. «I urge you, brethren—» referring to Christians, «by the mercies of God, » because of all that God has done, because of what He has done, what must you do? «Present» give, offer «your bodies a living and holy sacrifice which is acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship».
So worshiping God in the New Testament is giving your entire life. My friend, you cannot worship God if you are living a sinful life. That’s hypocrisy. I’m telling everybody here now, give your body as a living holy sacrifice. It is your act of worship. Don’t think you are just giving money. Sure, it’s part of worship, but more than that, God wants your life, your body.
Anticipating Christ’s Return
And lastly, Worship is what? Is anticipating. What do I mean, anticipating? God wants you to know that He’s coming soon. The anticipation of His coming to judge. You see, anticipation is important. You must understand what’s going to happen someday. It has tremendous power to help you live a holy life.
«Say among the nations, 'the LORD reigns; the world is firmly established'» In other words, who God is, He’s the King of kings. «'He will judge the peoples with equity.' „Let—“ notice now, because God is going to come again to judge. „Let the heavens be glad, and the earth rejoice. Let the sea roar, “ In other words, notice. The psalmist is telling the entire universe the heavens, the earth, the sea.
Let’s read the next verse. „The field exult, and all that is in it. The trees of the forest will sing—“ In other words, because God is coming again, let the entire universe, the earth, the sea, the forest, the— everything. Worship the Lord „before the LORD, for He is coming. He is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in His faithfulness“.
This is the certainty, the assurance that everything wrong will be made right. Why am I emphatic? The Bible says, the day will come when the King of Kings will bring justice.
You see, today you are all bothered. Why is there unfairness? Why is there injustice? I have good news to tell you, the day will come. That’s why the book of Romans tells us, when God will take vengeance. „Never take your own revenge, leave room for the wrath of God, It is written, vengeance is Mine, I will repay“.
The Day of Reckoning
Ladies and gentlemen, I have good news for you. Those who took advantage of you, you tell them, „may araw ka rin“. (your day will come) Tell your neighbor, may araw. But they are your friend. Can I tell you something? The day will come. What is that in English? May araw ka rin. Clint Eastwood would say, „make my day“. But the English version is, There will be a day of reckoning.
When Jesus comes again, 2 possibilities. Those who don’t know Him, will be full of terror. You’ll be scared to death. And the other group of people, you’ll be rejoicing. Someday, you have 2 kinds of people. In this room, 2 kinds. Some of you will be full of terror, some of you be full of rejoicing. And God’s people will be rewarded.
What’s my proof? The Bible is very clear. Look at the book of Malachi. What does it say on that day? On that day when he comes again, What will God do? Listen, „You will again distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve—“
God is telling you today those of you who are serving God, keep serving Him, because someday He will make a distinction between the righteous and those who are not righteous, between those who serve God and those who don’t serve God.
In this room today, you have 2 kinds of people. You will have 2 kinds of reception on that day. My prayer is you anticipate with great joy, the second coming of Jesus. A life of worship will guarantee you to be joyful when He comes again. But if you don’t live a life of worship, I’m scared for you.
Loving His Appearing
I want you to look at what Paul said. You know Paul, at the end of his life, he wrote the following. Let’s read this together. You know what Paul said? „In the future there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day, not only to me, but to all who have loved His appearing“.
May I ask you a question? Do you love? Do you anticipate the second coming of Jesus? You know, my prayer is every day when my wife and I pray, I remind myself, Jesus you can come today. I want to be ready when You come. I don’t want to live a life of regret.
Day by day you live a life of worship. A life of worship is what, you sing. Find your joy in the Lord. What is a life of worship? To live a life of worship means what? You proclaim good things about God. Tell people about Him. Don’t be ashamed of Him.
A life of worship, be generous. The truth is, God owns everything. You don’t own anything and you cannot take it with you. So recognize God’s ownership. And lastly, anticipate. Be excited about His coming. Are you ready? Will you live a life of worship?
Alright. The promise, „the righteous Judge will award to me, “ Paul said „on that day, not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing“.
Invitation and Prayer
Let’s bow our heads and pray. If God has spoken to you and you realize you are not living a life of worship. You are not very sincere in your relationship with God or with Jesus. You are not ready. Today you like to be ready. I want you to pray with me, I will help you. So you will surrender your life to Him and live a life of worship.
If that’s who you are, you like to get right with God today, will you raise your hands? Anybody else? Praise God! Higher. God has spoken to you and God is telling you you have been a hypocrite. You have been cheating privately. I want you to repent today. I want you to surrender your all. Anybody else, raise your hand higher.
Between you and the Lord, remember, you are not doing me a favor, if you surrender your life to the Lord. You are doing yourself a favor. You are not doing God a favor, You are acknowledging Him. Anybody else?
Alright, with your hands raised up, I want you to pray with me. In fact, you know what? The Lord just impressed upon my heart, to make your commitment real, why don’t you stand up? Those of you who raised your hand, stand up and pray with me. Wherever you are, stand up.
The others you don’t have to look around. You pray for yourself. But to those of you who want to be serious with God today. Stand up and pray this prayer with me. Anybody else? It’s never too late. I want you to surrender your life to Him. I want us to live a life of worship. So pray something like this.
Lord Jesus, I’m tired of cheating. I’m tired of being a hypocrite. Today I surrender my all to You. Help me, Jesus, to live a life of true worship which is recognizing who You really are. My God, my Savior. I give You my life. Thank You for all that You have done. I surrender my future, I commit in humility to follow You and to live a life that’s pleasing to You.
Lord Jesus, I pray for my brothers and sisters who have made a decision today. Assure them that when they surrender their lives to You, their sins are forgiven and help them to live a life that is pleasing to You. From this day onward. And help us not to play games. Not to play, take You seriously, but always to take You seriously because You are our God. You have asked us to tremble, to live in reverence before You. In Jesus' name we all pray, Amen, Amen.