This sermon addresses the meaning of worship and what causes a person to express their praise to God. Greg also explains why worship is so crucial to our life in God and what it means to worship God in our daily lives with how we act on a day-to-day basis. 
In this sermon, Greg Boyd calls our attention to how all of God’s creatures are worshipping around the throne. There is a seven-fold reference to different claims about God’s greatness demonstrating how exhaustive and complete their worship actually is. They literally fall on their faces in worship. This sermon addresses four aspects of their worship and challenges us with three ways to integrate this kind of worship into our lives.
The first observation pertains to why they fall on the ground this way. This is a natural response to what they are seeing, the lamb who reigns on the throne. This is not about a needy God who demands adulation. As the worshippers behold the beauty of the transcendent God, they fall in wonder. The glory of what they see causes them to spontaneously bow in worship.
The second point examines the nature of these loud praises. Why exactly do they proclaim these seven-fold praises? This is not about informing God of these things. It’s for our sake. C.S. Lewis wrote: “I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation.” When we see something spectacular and truly exceptional, we naturally exclaim it. The expression of joy is part of the joy itself. Expressing joy or amazement culminates it. This is why inhabitants of the throne room prostrate themselves on the ground, cast their crowns before the throne, and exclaim God’s praises. In proclaiming the truth about who God is, they are pouring themselves out to God in response to God pouring himself out for them in the slain Lamb. Thereby participating in the pouring out dance that God eternally is.
The third point is that everything that they proclaim in worship is also protest. The inhabitants of the throne room counter the world’s lies and the claims that the beast rules the world.
The fourth aspect is that worship is not merely expressed with words. It is about our lives (Romans 12:1-2). We are not to be conformed to the patterns of this world, which is under the influence of the lies of the beast. Adopting the mind of Christ isn’t a one-time decision. It’s a life-long process, and it involves being transformed by the renewing of our mind to become conformed to the image of Christ.
There are three takeaways Greg shares with us about worship. First, we need to wake up to the beast. We do this by becoming aware of the lie that we must pursue the accumulation of more and more. Second, stop feeding the beast. We must learn to simplify our lives and be content with what we have. The practice of gratitude is one way of putting a stop to the perpetual growth trap. We can do things to de-clutter our lives so that we are not living into the lies of the world. Third, be transformed by the renewing of your mind. We must put intentional effort into the choices we make about how we think and act. If we are not intentional, we will find ourselves falling into the flow of the lies of the beast.
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