“Disciple: Following the Path of Jesus”
Part 4 – Worship
NewSong Church – 09/23/07
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Video: Sportscasters – The Big Sunday [full clip]
The Big Sunday
While that video definitely is intended to be a humorous exaggeration, it sheds more truth than many care to admit on the modern day practice and expression of worship.
For many churches, Sunday is the main day of gathering for church members. The members come to a church service that is set to begin at a specific time each week. They greet others as they arrive, welcoming them and engaging in light conversation about the week gone by. As the beginning of the service draws closer, they make their way into the worship hall and find comfortable seats in which to spend the next hour or so growing closer to God.
Joel Kilpatrick, author of the satirical book “A Field Guide to Evangelicals” writes:
“Welcome to an evangelical church service! Whether you chose a small corner church or a mega-center with reclining theater seats and a Jumbotron, the service will offer nearly identical features: praise and worship time, a sermon, and five opportunities to give money.
The service begins with “praise and worship.” No matter what the style, when worship starts, people will stand up. You may suddenly be surrounded by noisy, clapping, singing evangelicals.
You are now witnessing evangelicals’ most important time of community bonding and expression. In worship they achieve the same state of collective bliss teens experience at a rock concert or Manhattanites experience at the latest Tony Kushner play. The quality of worship time is so important that it sets the mood for evangelicals’ entire week. If worship time is too short or less-than-ecstatic, disappointed evangelicals find themselves in a funk by Wednesday. You might hear them say, “What an awful week. Worship time on Sunday was terrible, and things just went downhill from there.”
While the author’s intent was to gently poke fun, the point is made: many churches and many people, whether believer or seeker, do not understand the purpose and practice of worship.
Formulas
What has happened is this: instead of seeking to continually and constantly develop spiritual lives that are overflowing with sincere awe and fear, admiration and respect – with worship - of God, the Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth
Instead of discovering the depth of expression that we are capable of showing to the One who saved us and redeemed us. Instead of living in the midst of all creation – which the Word of God tells us is proclaiming the greatness of our God at all times – and realizing that we are part of that creation and joining in that proclamation of the majesty and beauty of the One Who is Worthy
We have settled for a formula; we have put together a recipe; we have devised a way to break down the spiritual, supernatural act of faith that is worship into a schematic
I touched on this a couple weeks ago when we were looking at the topic of prayer. There are many people who pray the Lord’s Prayer and every time, no matter how many times throughout the day they recite it, the prayer is fresh and meaningful and they experience through the recitation a powerful experience of God’s presence. There are others who could pray it once a year, twice a month, a few times an hour and it will never become more than 47 seconds of memorized lines.
That’s because formulas have a problem when they are applied to us – go to the self-help or self-improvement section of any bookstore and within moments you will see the latest guides: weight loss tips, marriage and relationship help, career and personal success guidelines, achieving life goals, preventing hair loss, wrinkles and bad breath… the list goes on, each week bringing another best-seller that guarantees to show you the “real” right way and promises that this time it will actually work no matter how many times you’ve tried before.
I was watching a show called “Top Chef” the other day, and the contestants were given a challenge to recreate a famous dish served in a high-end restaurant. The first chef to attempt the recreation was very talented, trained in the best schools, mentored by leading chefs from around the world. His technique was flawless, his recreation of the dish near perfect.
But in interviews with some of his fellow contestant chefs, they all said the same thing: that while he was an excellent technical chef, he lacked “soul” and love for his work. He didn’t have a passion for food. One chef observed, “You can tell a dish that has been made with that extra bit of something that goes beyond the ingredients that are in it. It’s something from the heart.”
Disciple: Worship
This morning we are continuing our series “Disciple” and I want to look at 3 key concepts about worship in the life of a disciple. Worship shouldn’t be a formula; the initial spark has to come from the heart, it has to originate somewhere deep within our soul, from that part of us that is desperately needing to connect with God on an intimate level. Worship has to be a result of that connection with God; a physical and spiritual expression.
A.W. Tozer in answering the question, "What is worship?" said, "Worship is to feel in your heart and express in some appropriate manner a humbling but delightful sense of admiring awe and astonished wonder and overpowering love in the presence of that most ancient Mystery, that Majesty which philosophers call the First Cause, but which we call Our Father Which Are in Heaven."
Worship, on a practical level, is an expression of our understanding of the nature and person of God. In simple terms, it is our response to God based on how He has revealed Himself to us.
It’s not the music that is played. It’s not the songs that we sing on Sunday. It’s not an hour or so on Sunday, or a set time throughout the week when we focus on God.
It’s the way we live life 24/7. In constant, on-going relationship with God through Jesus Christ.
For a disciple, worship plays a vital role. It has three purposes when incorporated into our everyday lives:
1)To remind us of the nature and work of the Almighty God in our lives, and by reminding us, to create in us a desire to experience the power and presence of God continually
2)It is our proclamation and declaration of our relationship with God made known through our internal and external expression and action
3)It is a renewal of our commitment to being disciples of Jesus– it causes us to acknowledge the role of the Almighty God in our lives and to put ourselves in submission to his plans, will and calling.
The first principle of worship is submission.
Worship in Action: Submission
William Temple said it like this: "For worship is the submission of all our nature to God. It is the quickening of conscience by His holiness; the nourishment of mind with His truth; the purifying of imagination by His beauty; the opening of the heart to His love; the surrender of will to His purpose; and all of this gathered up in adoration, the most selfless emotion of which our nature is capable and therefore the chief remedy for that self-centeredness which is our original sin and the source of all actual sin."
One of the hardest experiences that we go through is giving up our way of doing things in favor for someone else’s way. Submitting is hard. It hurts. It’s humiliating. But it is the foundation of our relationship with Jesus and the core of true worship. Submitting means that we present ourselves to God for his purposes.
Worship says it’s not about me. It’s not about my wants or desires. It’s not about my ambitions or plans. It’s about me giving everything up for God.
Present Yourselves
The Apostle Paul said it this way in Romans 12:
And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
Paul is basically saying that everything we do should be worship – our lives should be lived in a way that pleases God and makes him known. It’s an offering of ourselves to God. In sacrifices, something is given, something is presented. In the setting that Paul was dealing with, these were primarily animal sacrifices, meaning that the animal would be offered to the gods, dedicated to them, and then killed. Paul is taking the symbol of offering something up for death and bringing it to a new level – his point is that if we are the sacrifices, then we are voluntarily giving ourselves to God, dedicating ourselves to his cause, and living no longer for ourselves but for him. Our way of living is dead, gone. Sacrificed.
What’s left is a new life found in Jesus Christ – a life of worship. The second principle to worship is obedience. Obedience to the teachings and commands of Jesus. Obedience and dedication to the life of Jesus. Obedience to pursuing the things of God’s Kingdom.
The Jesus Factor
In the Book of Exodus we find some of the history of the Israelites, the people who God chose to follow him. The Israelites have been slaves in Egypt, held in captivity for over 400 years. God tells Moses to go to the Egyptian Pharaoh and say, “Let my people go so that they can worship me.”
God knew that his people could not worship him fully and freely if they were living in captivity, held in bondage, slaves. They would not be able to do what he wanted them to do if they were trying to serve the Pharaoh as well. And so He delivers them and frees them and says, “Now you are free to worship me, to live for me, to be with me.”
Jesus, later talking to his disciples, conveys the same message – he says, “If anyone would want to truly be my disciple, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. Whoever cannot do this cannot be my disciple.
Submission. Obedience. A life of sacrifice that seeks to bring the presence of God into everyday situations. Life lived to please and honor God.
Jesus said it this way a little earlier:
“You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world – let your light shine before all, that they may see you at work and praise the Father in heaven.”
Our worship brings the presence of God into the lives of those around us. We shine his light and love into their lives. Jesus said that no one sticks a light under a basket – we are not just supposed to worship privately, keeping it a secret between us and God. We are not supposed to enter the darkness of our world with our light kept close, hidden. Jesus continued by saying, “They set the light on a stand and it illuminates the entire room. Our worship is to be illuminating. It is to radiate the presence of God into our darkness, whether that darkness is something that we are dealing with personally or whether it is something we are helping someone else deal with. Worship is shared. Worship is practiced and experienced with others. Worship is communal.
Worship in Community
The third key principle of worship is communion – the breaking of bread together in fellowship, a gathering, a community of people who share something in common. When we gather to worship, we are sharing in common our faith in Jesus Christ and we are proclaiming the ways in which we have experienced him – and that means that we may not have the same experiences, or the same expressions. But that is good, because through your actions and words, I discover something new about God and through my actions and words you also discover something new. Our experiences shared, our understanding of God deepens and that causes us to engage in expressing our worship with fresh joy.
Fellowship is important – over and over again, the early church leaders emphasized the need for community for the purpose of worship. To live for Christ; to challenge and encourage others to do the same. This is one of the reasons we have small groups – we don’t have them so that we can put a mark on our ministry checklist. They are not there to keep people from sitting around there home bored on a given night. They are not for “super-Christians” who have reached “that level” – they are for anyone who desires to follow and live for Jesus Christ. They are there to help meet our need for fellowship with those who share our faith in common. They are there to encourage us to live in a way that pleases God. They are there so that we can encourage others. Small groups are part of our worship expression.
Praise Habit
What Scripture teaches us then, is that our lives are meant to be continually revolving around our relationship with Jesus Christ – everything we do is accompanied with the intent to please God and proclaim Jesus.
Wherever I go, if I am living a life presented to God, then I am always looking to bring Jesus into every situation I encounter. When I wake up at the beginning of the day, I am seeking to include God, to bring his presence into my day. At work, I am bringing God’s presence, God-touches, into my life and into the lives of others around me. In my family, in my relationships, in my personal life, in my church, in the social groups that I hang out with, in all things at all times, I am bringing God’s presence. Light into darkness. Salty flavor into bland living.
The Lord’s Prayer
