ONE AUDIENCE:
LIVING THE UNITY WE HAVE BEEN GIVEN
John 4.24
S: Unity
C: Worship
Th: Living the Unity We Have Been Given
Pr: WE LIVE OUT ONENESS BY KEEPING OUR FOCUS ON GOD.
?: How? How do we focus on God?
KW: Elements
TS: Based on our understanding of John 4.24, we will review three elements around which our worship is planned and applied.
Type: Inductive
The ____ element is…
I. PURPOSE
II. PHILOSOPHY
III. PRACTICES
PA: How is the change to be observed?
• Honor the diversity; refuse the division
• Be aware of self-inflicted distractions
• Keep your focus on God
Version: ESV
RMBC 21 January 07 AM
INTRODUCTION:
ILL Boredom (H)
There was a guest speaker that was going on and on, monotone in nature, and never making any eye contact with his audience, looking, rather, above them. As he continued to speak, the audience was giving up. One by one, people began to leave. Eventually, everybody left - except for one man.
As he winds up his message, he finally looks down and discovers that everybody is gone, except for this one man. And so he asks, "Where did everybody go?"
"They all left."
"Why didn’t you leave?"
"I’m the next speaker."
Well, there is no doubt that listening is work.
And some are harder to listen to than others.
Which reminds us that…
Worship is work.
And sometimes it is harder work than at other times.
It takes effort.
Sometimes, it just takes effort to get here on Sunday mornings, doesn’t it?
Sometimes, our mornings are more chaotic than peaceful, aren’t they?
Satan loves that, by the way.
He would have us coming into the church full of restlessness.
And he is all the more pleased if we come angry, hurt, mad, resentful, and full of unforgiveness.
For when this happens, we may gather, but our hearts are not together.
He has successfully sown the seeds of discord and discontent, and worship is not achieved.
TRANSITION:
Our theme for 2007 is “Come…Together.”
As I made mention two weeks ago, we were driven to this specific theme for two main reasons.
Our latest results from Natural Church Development showed that we still have work to do in the area of worship, so we know we need to work on that some more.
Along with that, we know that a corresponding area that we must grow in as a church family is the area of unity, which is a matter of attitude and effort.
Unity does not happen if we possess attitudes that are critical and complaining.
And unity does not happen if we are not willing to work at it.
With that in mind…
1. Our corresponding theme for this month is “Living the Unity We Have Been Given.”
We have been noting for the past weeks the truth that the church has been given unity.
Randall has been given unity.
It is not something we created.
It is, instead, a gift that we either apply or we don’t.
We either choose to preserve unity or we do not.
Two weeks ago, we described how our oneness is based on standing firm regarding the truth about Jesus.
In other words, what we believe, our doctrine, serves as a basis for our meeting together.
It unites us.
Last week, we described how our oneness is based on fulfilling our purpose, and more specifically, living it out according to the vital characteristics of faith, hope and love.
We discussed that what we believe is validated by being a church that is living by faith, known by love, and a voice of hope.
This week, we turn to the relationship of worship and oneness.
And here in John 4.24…
2. Jesus describes for us how worship is to be accomplished (John 4.24).
“God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
When it comes to worship, the two emphases we had the last two weeks are brought together.
Let’s admit that the subject that we are speaking about today has been brought up before, and we have spent a lot of time in our past talking about places, styles, methods and modes.
But Jesus gets right to the heart of the matter.
He tells us what God wants.
He wants spirit and truth.
So Jesus is telling us that…
3. Our worship begins with our relationship with God.
God is the “with us God.”
He does not play “hide and seek” with us.
So it is possible to have a personal relationship with Him.
In fact, He desires it.
He has made Himself known so we can respond to Him.
And that is what worship is all about.
It is spiritual.
It is the connection…it is the relationship, between Him and us.
What is important to understand here is that worship is a matter of the inside.
We tend to focus on the externals when we think about worship services, but the deciding factor about worship is what is happening on the inside of each one of us.
Jesus tells us then what keeps our heart in line, for…
4. Our worship maintains its direction by being based on the truth about God.
In other words, worship comes out of an understanding of the truth about who God is.
We get that understanding from the Scripture.
And we get that understanding by possessing an encounter with God.
And, thus, we are back to spirit.
At this point, I want to explain what drives us when it comes to planning the worship experience here at Randall.
So…
5. Based on our understanding of John 4.24, we will review three elements around which our worship is planned and applied.
OUR STUDY:
I. The first element is PURPOSE.
1. Our purpose is to glorify God and make disciples.
Our purpose is to glorify God and make disciples.
Let’s read again the purpose statement of Randall…
Randall Memorial Baptist Church is a fellowship of believers in the Lord Jesus Christ who are determined to love God and make committed followers of Jesus Christ by:
Celebrating the person of God;
Cultivating spiritual growth in Christ;
Caring for one another in Christ; and,
Communicating the Gospel to the world.
So how do we accomplish glorifying God and making disciples?
One of the ways is the beginning of that second half of the statement…
2. We accomplish this purpose by “celebrating the person of God.”
We believe God is worth celebrating.
And we recognize that God has given us the opportunity to worship Him corporately.
It is a gathering that we are to respect and appreciate, because in it we find strength and encouragement.
It is a charging of our batteries to prepare us for the opportunities of ministry that present themselves throughout the week.
Worship, though, is not just a Sunday affair.
We celebrate God’s person everyday of the week.
Think of your best friend for a moment.
Suppose you saw him or her on Monday and you said, “Can I talk to you for a moment?” and they responded, “No, I’ve got to go do something right now.”
Now suppose this happened again on Tuesday, and Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.
But on Sunday, the moment he or she saw you, you got a big hug and they carried on as though Monday through Saturday did not count.
Do we really think it’s possible to ignore a person all week long, and then get excited about being with the person and have the person be happy with you?
You’d say, that’s pretty hypocritical.
(Gillespie-Mobley)
In the same way, we do a disservice to ourselves and to our corporate worship (thus, each other) if our relationship with the Lord is not a matter of spirit and truth throughout the week.
II. The second element is PHILOSOPHY.
At Randall, we have two basic philosophies that drive our planning in regard to worship.
The first is…
1. We worship an audience of One.
As I have mentioned before, even though the architecture of our room makes it look that those on the stage are the performers and those in the seats are the audience, there is in reality only an “audience of one.”
It is God who is the audience, and all that we do, whether in our seats or here on the platform, it is to be done in such a way that pleases God, or else we fail in our worship.
That being said, when we plan the worship services, our ultimate goal is not to make you feel good.
Rather, it is to honor God.
It is to make God feel good.
Now, the neat thing about this, is that when we get this right, we do feel good, because our greatest pleasure is being in right relationship with Him.
The second aspect of our philosophy is that…
2. We blend styles because of our eclectic and multigenerational church family.
Eclectic is a good word to describe our church family, because we are so different.
Of the four congregations I have served in, this is the least homogenous, and I like that, but it is harder to lead.
We are so full of ex-somethings here at Randall.
Not many of us have been Baptists for a lifetime, and so we are quite diverse.
We purposely design our worship services to be a blend of styles, especially musically, which includes traditional, contemporary and classical elements.
We follow this practice in the belief that no one style should dominate, but rather our worship should reflect the heart-responses of our various generations.
We believe that the older generation has much to teach the younger.
There is a wealth of experience that is to be tapped into.
We believe that the younger generations have much to teach the older, including how we can help them reach their peers.
We are constantly to learn from one another.
III. The third element is PRACTICES.
ILL Music (S)
Our society has been divided up into a thousand musical styles and tastes.
For example, the satellite company, Sirius, has 69 music channels – 13 of Pop, 21 of Rock, 5 of Dance, 6 of R & B, 5 of Country, 3 of Christian, 5 of Jazz, 2 of standards, 3 of classical and 5 of Latin.
Talk about consumer-oriented!
The problems surrounding music, and its variety, are not a new problem.
Not at all…
ILL Music (S)
In the 17th century, Baptists in England opposed singing in worship and developed intricate arguments against what they called "a carnal exercise." Thomas Grantham, an English Baptist pastor, fiercely opposed the singing of hymns in worship. Grantham conceded that the singing of Psalms or biblical texts in worship might be acceptable, but he saw hymns as human innovations and called on Baptists not to use these questionable innovations in worship. After all, "set songs" were as bad as "set prayers."
So hymns at one time were considered worldly, but that is not all…
“Silent Night” (1818) was called “vulgar mischief and void of all religious and Christian feelings” by George Weber music director of the Mainz Cathedral.
Handel’s Messiah was criticized for its repetition of the word “Hallelujah.”
If there is anything consistent about the church through the ages is that the change that comes with music has been controversial.
Here at Randall…
1. We sing both hymns and choruses.
One of the comments that is often heard is that we should sing hymns because they are more meaty, filled with good theology.
Well, I believe that is an overgeneralization because I could pick on some familiar hymns that aren’t so meaty and their theology is not so good.
Many hymns, though, are meaty.
They are very good, and we attempt to pick those kind of hymns.
But you know, no one eats meat alone.
You wash it down with something that is easier to digest.
Often the more contemporary songs fit that bill.
They help us to center our thoughts more simply and more directly onto our relationship with God.
In fact, they often make good preparation for the more theologically-oriented songs.
But not all the new music is simpler.
In Christ Alone, How Deep the Love of Christ, and We Declare His Majesty are all examples of contemporary songs that are thoughtful and rich biblically.
To be fair, a lot of the music I grew up on was pretty thin as well, like Do Lord, Heavenly Sunshine, and Rolled Away.
The songs were fun, but not too profound.
And a lot of the older music was repetitious as well, like The Joy of the Lord Is My Strength, Alleluia, and Deep and Wide.
Perhaps that is the point.
All these differing kinds of music serve the church well.
And to discount a particular kind because it is different from what we are used to or what we like, is really an unfair criticism.
I have spoken before about the first church I served.
It was in Little Falls, NY, a small town in a rural setting.
Much to my annoyance, they loved gospel hymns and country music there.
But I learned an important thing about worship there.
It wasn’t about me.
It was what was being brought before the Lord, and the blessing people received as their hearts were full of worship.
I learned to set my personal preferences behind and enjoy music that I would have normally enjoyed.
Two more things about our singing…
We are going to continue to use the hymnbook.
There are songs there that have literally stood the test of time, some even back to the first millennium.
It is a useful tool, especially as we sing parts.
We are also going to continue sing contemporary music.
It is not going away either.
We sing them because the same God that inspired those of old, still inspires people today.
And as we grow in our technological savvy, you are going to find that we will be projecting more and more songs up front.
It makes sense, because you can look up and sing out, plus it gets your hands and arms free, just in case…yes, just in case someone you might want to worship the Lord with an arm raised.
Next…
2. We enjoy a variety of instrumentation.
You can see that the organ is front and center, and we are truly blessed to have a pipe organ.
It is a fantastic instrument.
We enjoy other instruments as well, including brass (I am partial to the trombone), strings (I am partial to the cello there), wind instruments and percussion.
And we also enjoy some of the modern instruments – the guitars, bass and synthesizer, as well as the drum set.
You know, we stand on solid ground when it comes to the variety.
Note how Psalm 150 states it…
Praise him with trumpet sound;
praise him with lute and harp!
Praise him with tambourine and dance;
praise him with strings and pipe!
Praise him with sounding cymbals;
praise him with loud clashing cymbals!
We are right in our variety.
Next, here at Randall…
3. We stand for Scripture reading.
Many years ago, when our youth came back from Niagara, they were impacted about the respect God’s Word was given during the conference, for they stood every time it was read.
And we were asked why we did not stand.
So, we have been standing ever since, as a matter of respect and as a matter of privilege, for these are God’s words to us.
Next…
4. We give an offering that is both public and private.
It is public, because we give everybody an opportunity to give.
It is a matter of worship.
It is also private, because if you come prepared to give, no one needs to see how much you are giving.
Next…
5. We encourage creativity in order for the message to be heard.
From time to time, we have used drama, dance and drawings created right before us.
Last week, we tried something new with a film clip, and there are some bugs to work out, but I plan on doing more of that.
We use these different means, because God gives a variety of gifts and talents, just as He provides different ways for us to receive the good news about Him.
In principle, we should be creative, because we serve and worship a creative God, and so we are Godlike when we do so.
It is, in part, being in the image of God.
Next…
6. We minimize announcements.
Although it was controversial, we stepped away from doing these for two reasons.
First, no matter what we seemed to do, we could not seem to control the amount of time it took to do them.
Second, and more importantly, they distract us away from our main focus of worship.
Some were concerned that if their ministry events did not get pushed or mentioned every week, nobody would come, but that has not proven to be true.
We are relearning as a church family to read the bulletin and announcements in our mailboxes, and we are still getting our mission accomplished, and people are coming to the events.
Finally…
7. We place Scripture front and center.
We study God’s Word.
It is proclaimed.
It is explained.
And it is always good news, even when it is tough on us, even when it calls on us to change.
APPLICATION:
So, as you have come here today, has it been successful in terms of being focused on the Lord?
You see…
1. WE LIVE OUT ONENESS BY KEEPING OUR FOCUS ON GOD.
Again, we have an audience of One.
If what we bring in our worship is not pleasing to Him, we can do whatever we like, but it doesn’t make any difference.
If we don’t have spirit and truth, it doesn’t matter what we do, because worship begins on the inside.
With that said…
2. We must work to limit the distractions.
Since we do worship together, it is important that we practice a certain worship etiquette that respects the people around us.
This means that the service is not a time for incessant talking.
It is not a time for coming and going.
It is not a time for passing notes.
Each one of us is responsible to see that the environment of worship gatherings is conducive for each other’s growth in the faith.
That being said, we must remember to not distract ourselves.
Much more often than not, our ability or inability to worship is a matter of what we have brought into the room.
It is what is on the inside of us.
Through my tenure as pastor, I have observed people focus on the mistakes…focus on the missed note…or on the mispronunciation…or the misspelling…or something that they personally did not like.
The critical nature overcomes us, and we miss what was brought as worship to the Lord, and we miss what God wanted to give us.
I must admit, there is one distraction I love – babies.
It is a sign of a healthy, growing church.
And when I hear a baby cry, my heart leaps for joy!
But, as I like to say, crying babies are like New Year’s resolutions – they should be carried out.
Finally…
3. We must celebrate our diversity and never give in to division.
It is our responsibility to maintain the unity we have been given.
It is a gift that we preserve.
So we work at unity because we are different, not the same.
And it is God who has given us the differences
ILL Worship (S)
Marva Dawn, has written several books on the subject of worship. In Reaching Out Without Dumbing Down, [in defense of the blended style of worship we practice] she writes: “We’re all going to sing together in heaven, so let’s practice now by teaching each other the songs we love. This teaches us what it means to be the whole church — that there’s neither baby boomer or Gen-Xer, neither lover of jazz or traditionalist, organist or guitar player. All have gifts for the good of the community. I’ll gladly sing songs I may not like for the sake of the community. . . The world was astonished by early Christians because slaves and owners ate together. Should the church split up now because one likes contemporary and another traditional hymns? What are we modeling to the world — and ourselves?"
Marva Dawn in Reaching Out Without Dumbing Down
If we are critical of our differences, it is a cancer among us.
Instead, let us learn to practice the art of submission.
Remember how I taught it this past October.
Submission is not so much about being under, as it is about raising up.
In our worship, we need to be looking out for each other, enabling each other to come before God in spirit and truth, for this is the kind of worship God desires.
BENEDICTION:
Let us be a people that is known for worshipping in a spirit of unity, acknowledging our differences but rejoicing in God’s plan to bring us together to serve Him.
And…let us be a people that is known for worshipping in spirit and truth, that we worship God because we have a relationship with Him, and we worship God because the truth about Him is too great to be silent about.
Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.
RESOURCES:
Durso, Pamela R. “LEARNING FROM BAPTIST HISTORY: The Long History of Baptist Worship Wars.” 12-21-06,
http://www.ethicsdaily.com/article_detail.cfm?AID=8314, January 20, 2007
Sermoncentral:
Bishop, Wesley Can Worship Change?
Cuddeford, John The Community at Worship
Cuddeford, John The Requirements for Worship
Gillespie-Mobley, Rick Worship That’s Pleasing to God
May, James True Worship
