Football season! Cold nights. Hot chocolates in the stands. Cider donuts from Edward’s Orchard. Sunday afternoon armchair quarterbacking. Some people get pretty caught up in all of it.
Have you ever noticed the way that every stadium is put together, no matter what the sport, the stands are a whole lot bigger than the playing field? 22 guys and a few referees are all that’s allowed on the football field, but the stands have seats for thousands. Soldier Field used to seat over 100,000 people, Lambeau Field, over 80,000 – all to watch 22 guys running around down below.
That tells me something: there are a lot more of us who like watching sports more than playing them! Last year’s Super Bowl, #48, was watched by over 111 mil. people. So, the ratio of professional players to spectators was like 1 player to every 2.5 mil. fans! Armchair quarterbacking is a whole lot easier than the real thing!
There are some very interesting parallels between sports and the Church in the US, and we’ve known it all along. Some of them are on purpose. Some just seemed to happen over the years.
Let me point them out. We build places to gather, with carefully planned parking and seating, and people come together at a scheduled time and take their place in “the stands.” Some even have reserved seating! The number of players, compared to the number in the crowd is relatively small. In fact, there’s typically a small team of a few people, and then what seems to be one main guy, kind of like a quarterback, all on the field. He has a group of coaches that keep him on his toes. The team performs, the crowds cheer or jeer, and after the game is over everyone goes their separate ways, talking about the game and what they thought of the team’s performance that day. Now, if you’re a spectator, you don’t have to feel responsible for what happens from week to week. So, if you’re not there, it’s OK. The game will go on without you anyway. And, if you ever grow tired or impatient with the team, you can just leave and take your loyalties and your revenue and your cheers to a different team, at a different stadium. There are a lot of them, aren’t there?!
In too many churches, too many Sundays, for too many years, that’s the way it is. We have taken our consumer mentality to church. Sometimes, we make it about ourselves. We settle into the stands, evaluate the team, and hang on to our ability to change loyalties if we feel the need. It’s great when the team wins, and it’s a disappointment when it doesn’t perform well. But, in the end, after the game is over, we can just go home and back to reality on Monday.
I know a lot of you who are die-hard fans of sports teams. You talk about them, wear their colors, and devote a lot of emotional energy to them. Imagine if we could harness some of that for the Church! Rather than crying over the way things are, I’d like to see if we can take these parallels between the church and the stadium and use them for some good.
I’d like to invite you over the next month to what I think will be a powerful picture – one that I think is closer to what God intends for you and me and His Church in Rockford today.
Most all of us know what it’s like to go to a game and sit in the stands, or watch from the armchair at home.
Have you ever been to the game and wondered what it’s like to be down on the field? Have you ever wondered what the quarterback was saying to the guys in the huddle? Have you ever wondered what it was like to toe the line with a guy who was bigger than you? Have you ever imagined yourself feeling all the intensity of the moment when all of the training and practice comes together? Have you ever wondered what it felt like to leave it all on the field, or the euphoria of winning a big game with the team? Have you ever imagined yourself running away with the ball – the 40, 30, 20, the 10, touchdown – and the crowd goes wild? Have you ever seen yourself, risking loss and injury, for the sake of the team name? Haven’t you ever, just once at least, dreamed about getting out of the stands and being one of the players?
Take a look around “the stadium” this morning. Where are you in this picture? There’s a field, with players. There are cheerleaders, coaches, reporters, sports medicine people, and there’s a whole crowd of spectators. Which one are you in that picture?
Paul used sports to help his listeners understand their role. He talked about running and boxing and wrestling and physical training. Could it be that we could take a look at a real familiar sight from our culture and learn something about our role in today’s world? Cause we’re not here to talk about football. We’re here to talk about worship.
Rather than trying to erase what is, I want to take it and turn it on its ear. I want to convince us to take what is and change our place in it; for you to be so dissatisfied with sitting in the stands or the armchair that you can’t stand it. Starting today, I want to create such a culture at CCC that when we gather here to worship together on Sundays, it’s not to be a big audience to a few players. I want us to come with the attitude that we’re here to be the players – all of us together bringing our training and preparation for these moments that we’re here. I want us to realize that there’s an audience who comes to be here with us…from Heaven, and our performance is for His name and His pleasure. And there are coaches to help us. There is even a great cloud of cheerleaders cheering us on.
I don’t expect that to happen in 1 hour. I hope, though, that we can really make some changes with the 4 weeks that we’re going to spend on it, and that it will begin right now.
I’ve had to use up a bunch of my time to paint this scene for the next 4 weeks. Now, let me get to what we’re talking about today:
Church, as a whole, we’ve lost our sense of AWE.
We aren’t as amazed as we would have been a few years ago – back when cartoons were drawn by hand. There are no longer just "7 wonders" - the world has produced a million wonders, and in the process we’ve lost our sense of wonder, our sense of AWE.
Always Wowed Enormously
Our word AWE – is related to Scandinavian word for "fear," GK word for "pain" - we don't like fear or pain, especially when it's on account of someone else. No wonder we’ve lost it. That lost sense of awe has touched the way we approach worship.
Quote - C.H. Spurgeon - "I believe a very large majority of churchgoers are merely unthinking, slumbering worshipers of an unknown God." Ouch! By the way, he said that over 100 yrs ago.
One of the earliest descriptions of the Church is found in Acts 2:42. We often quote 2:42 and stop. We shouldn’t.
Acts 2:42-43
They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe…
"Wonder," said Thomas Carlyle, "is the basis of worship." If that’s true, and we lose our sense of wonder, then we’ve lost our basis for worship. To regain it, we need to regain our sense of AWE. We need to become always wowed enormously by God once again.
One of the places in the Bible that we can work on that is the book of Psalms. Today, let’s take one – Psalm 139 and I want to real quick look at just some words that describe God. God is…
1. Transcendent (beyond us in every way)
Ill - There are around 100 isolated tribes in the world today – small groups that have kept themselves in the rainforests, apart from civilization. Some have lived that way for generations. 2008, photos were taken of one tribe in Brazil. These are people who’ve never seen a smart phone, a TV, or a computer. Some have no word for sea or ocean in their language. Imagine, just for a moment, trying to explain modern technology to someone from one of these tribes. Imagine trying to explain video or an iPad. David says in vv 5-6…
Psalm 139:5-6 - You hem me in--behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.
That’s God. We really can’t adequately explain Him with words. He’s too lofty, too wonderful.
2. Self-existing (without origin)
When Moses wanted to know God's name "Whom shall I say sent me?" God told him, "This is what you are to say to the Israelites: 'I Am has sent me to you.'"
Superficially, that sounds like not much help for poor ol’ Moses: “Thanks a lot, God. Now I’m supposed to go and tell them that Your name is ‘I Am!’” But that name and what it implies are really a wonderful truth about God.
He exists without anyone creating Him.
3. Eternal (not affected by time)
Isaiah 40:28 - The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.
Psalm 90:4 - For a thousand years in Your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night.
God has all of history laid out before Him. He sees it all at the same time. Our human minds can’t even wrap around the idea of forever in the future. Try to grasp the idea of forever not only meaning never ending, but, in God’s case, never beginning either. We’re going to need some more brain cells for this one!
4. Immutable (unchanging)
We’re all changing. It doesn’t matter what age you are, it will be older by the end of this day. Attempt not to change all you want to. We’re changing.
Change means something different - either for better or for worse - but nothing about God can be improved, neither will anything be made bad. He doesn’t change.
Psalm 102:25-27 - In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth and the heavens are the work of Your hands. They will perish, but You remain; they will all wear out like a garment. Like clothing You will change them and they will be discarded. But You remain the same, and Your years will never end."
If you’re a follower of Jesus, that’s good news. I often find myself saying in prayer, “Lord, I’m so thankful that You don’t change!”
5. Always present (not limited by space)
Psalm 139:7-10 - Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.
Jonah 1:3 says, "But Jonah ran away from the Lord..." You can't do that. There's nowhere to run that's "away" from the Lord.
If you’re a follower of Jesus, that’s good news. If you're going in for a surgery, He's there; if on a long trip; starting school; alone; afraid; angry; betrayed.
And for the person who’s living outside of Jesus, that's bad news, because there's no escaping God. Rev 6 pictures men crying out for the rocks and mountains to fall on them and cover them as they try to hide from God's wrath. But you can't escape His presence. He’s always present.
6. All-knowing (unlimited knowledge)
Psalm 139:1-4, 11-16 - O LORD, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely…My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.
Ill – Our daughter Jenni, age 6: "I know my numbers, my letters, and I know what sin is. I know everything now!"
Go ahead and laugh. It has to be just as humorous to God when we begin to think we know something.
If you’re living for Jesus, that’s good news. It means that God knows your needs. But it also means there's no snow-job-ing God. He sees through every false front and every lie.
7. All-powerful (unlimited power)
56x's "Almighty" appears in the Bible. Every time, it's in reference to God.
-Ill - our galaxy, The Milky Way, has about 100 billion stars. If you could travel at the speed of light, it would take you about 100,000 years to travel across it. That’s just our galaxy, of which our solar system is just a tiny part. There are close to 100 billion galaxies in the observable universe.
The Scriptures tell us God spoke it into existence with a word!
A very patient man once counted the "feathers" on one butterfly's wings - 794,544. It was an all-powerful God who numbered and put those into place too.
For the person who’s following Jesus, that's good news - Nothing against you is so great or difficult that God can't deal with it. Remember that.
If you’re choosing to live outside Him, I’m sorry. That promise doesn’t apply to you yet. It could, but right now, you’re choosing to live without it.
Let’s review real quickly…
God is beyond us, He is without origin, He is not affected by time or space, has unlimited knowledge, unlimited power.
Don't try to paint Him in a picture. Don't try to put Him in a box. Don't bother trying to see if He has limits. He is God Almighty. One right response to such a God: Be amazed in His presence. Be in AWE.
Now, we could just stop there. We could sing “Isn’t He wonderful?” a few times, pack up and leave. Or, we could ask now what we should do about it. Especially this morning, as we talk about worship,
what does our sense of awe have to do with worship? Everything!
I. A Right Sense of Awe Makes God the Center of Worship
Ill – Imagine that you have secured 2 tickets to a Bears/Packers game. As long as you’re imagining, imagine that it’s in the final playoffs, and that the winner of this game will be going to the Superbowl. So, it’s 4th quarter, tied, with only 6 minutes to go. There you sit with your good friend. But all your friend watches is the stadium and the fans. All he wants to talk about is the size of the bleachers, how many thousands of people there are packed in there, how noisy and exciting it is. He really could care less about what's going on down on the field! He's just enjoying the visit with you and seeing all those thousands of fans. Now, it would be nice that he's enjoying the crowd, but what's supposed to really matter is what's going on down on the field.
Sometimes we become preoccupied with what's going on with the surroundings and the people around us and we forget that the main event is the Father and what He does for His people. The Scriptures call that worshiping the thing created, rather than The Creator.
Focusing on God's power makes our own seem insignificant. Focusing on God's knowledge makes us long to learn from Him. Focusing on God's timelessness makes us long to understand eternity. Focusing on God's transcendence makes us wonder that He is present with us as we are gathered together. Our sense of awe is what makes worship God-centered.
Too many “attend worship services" concerned with what it will do for them. They've forgotten the kind of God they serve, and forgotten that He's to be the center of attention. Who deserves your thoughts, your concentration, your energy? Who created whom - and for what reason?
Refocus on those attributes of God that make Him the main attraction.
II. A Right Sense of Awe Makes Worship an Imperative
The essence of God is dangerous! God Himself says that no one can look at all of His glory and live. There should be a sense of awe that leads us to fall down.
Through the Scriptures we get to see the reactions of people who get a taste of the wonder of the Father:
Isaiah - (ch 6) "'Woe to me!' I cried, 'I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.'"
Ezekiel - (ch1) after seeing the appearance of God's glory: "When I saw it, I fell facedown." (3:23b) "…and I fell facedown." (44:4) "I looked and I saw the glory of the Lord filling the temple, and I fell facedown."
John - Rev 1:17a - John, when He saw the Lord in heaven, "When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as though dead…
When people come into the presence of God, when they come before Him and just begin to recognize Who He is, worship’s no longer an option - it's something you have to do.
When we focus on the wonder of God, when we stand in awe of all that He is, we compare ourselves to His holiness and His power and knowledge and we too must fall on faces. Worship becomes something we HAVE to do.
If you're having trouble making worship a priority in your life, you need to restudy Who God is over and over and rekindle that sense of awe that will lead you to worship.
III. A Right Sense of Awe Makes Worship A Response
We're a consumer-driven society. We want choices and good treatment. If something isn't the way we like it, we'll take our business elsewhere.
Listen: Worship isn't something that's served or that we watch or have done to us. The experience of worship isn’t like a haircut - where, afterwards, we go look in the mirror and judge how well the "leader" did. "Oh, he needed to take more off the top..." No. Worship is your response to what God is and God has done.
His love makes us respond with love ("We love because He first loved us." I Jn 4:19). The wonder of His essence, His attributes, should cause us to respond with worship.
In Psalm 139 David writes his thoughts about God, and then he writes his response: it’s worship
Psalm 139:17-18
How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you.
Conclusion:
A few years ago, as Carrie was teaching children about creation on a Wed. night, she was explaining about the power of God and how that same God loves you, personally. One of the boys said, “Wow!”
Wow.
Do you still say that about God? You know, Jesus said we have to become like children to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. I think that’s probably one of the things Jesus was talking about.
Saying that someone has impressed you takes humility, doesn’t it?
We need to be people who are constantly looking toward God and saying, “Wow!”
Lose the sense of wonder, and you have lost your reason to worship God.
William Quayle - "When wonder is dead the soul becomes a dry bone."
You want to get out of the armchair and onto the field? Get Always Wowed Enormously by God again. Are you really satisfied with sitting in the stands or the armchair when it comes to worshiping God? Are you really satisfied with just being an observer, while around you are people who have chosen to be real participants in the game?
That can be changed…
