A Tour through Acts ~ part 8
A Great Church is a Joyously Worshiping Church
Acts 2:46-47a
Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. (+ NIV)
I read a story about someone visiting a small Baptist church in Houston. Back then it was a small church, located downtown. He said that when he walked in there were few people in a dimly lit sanctuary. The service was very depressing. They were singing songs that were like funeral dirges — "Day Is Dying In The West." Later that day he was walking around the downtown area and saw a jewelry store having a grand opening. He went in and it was bright and cheerful inside. There was upbeat and happy music playing. There were friendly and enthusiastic people who greeted him. They offered him some punch to drink and showed him around the store. He remarked that if they had given an invitation, he would have joined the jewelry store, not the church.
Have you ever wondered why so many church services are so morbid? What is the reason that we think that when we come into a church building we need to act in some religiously solemn way. Church, for many, is more like a memorial service than a celebration. But it isn’t a memorial service for the dead. Jesus did die, but He didn’t stay dead! So a church service should not be like a funeral. Someone suggested that it is a memorial service, not for the dead, but by the dead! Perhaps that explains it.
But I think that there are other explanations as well. The primary reason we do what we do is that we have always done it that way. Most of us were brought up in churches that followed the traditions handed down by other churches, who followed the traditions handed down to them. Tradition has a great deal to do with why we do what we do.
We are all creatures of habit. We’ve become accustomed to doing things the same way. All you have to do is think about your own personal ritual for getting up in the morning. Most people go through the same motions every morning when they arise. Some cut the alarm clock off and lie there for just a few moments. Others sit on the side of the bed for a minute or two. Still others immediately spring forth to greet the new day. I’ll bet you put your socks on the same way every morning. I’ll bet that you put a shoe on the same foot first every day. We all get into our routines. There’s nothing wrong with that. It simplifies life somewhat and it makes us feel more comfortable.
Now there is nothing wrong with tradition. Some traditions are important. They are valuable in communicating to us truth about God and truth about ourselves. One of my favorite movies has been "Fiddler on the Roof." I particularly like the opening scene when Tevya sings the theme song, "Tradition." As he does, he explains to the audience the value of tradition as he sees it. He says, "Our tradition tells us who God is and who we are." When tradition can do that, it is good tradition.
Back To the Bible
Unfortunately there are traditions which are not necessarily Biblical traditions that permeate most churches today and tragically are thought of as essential. In fact, some things become almost holy and unchangeable. When those things are changed, people become very upset. It is as if we have willfully flaunted a commandment of the Lord when we tamper with these things. I have known people to be upset over where the piano was placed, where the Doxology was sung, even how the offering was taken. It is amazing the baggage we can build up in the church, and it doesn’t take long to do it.
Our challenge today, as in any other day, is to be faithful to the Scripture. Some people like Baptist churches because they are known for sticking to the Bible. They’ve been called "People of the Book" because of their stubborn determination not to have any other rule than the Bible to live by. Yet many times they’d rather have tradition inform us concerning "doing church" than the Bible.
Think about this. If we did not have any previous tradition, no denominations, or anyone to tell us how to do things; if all we had was the Bible, how would we do church? I know that we would do things differently. But that is the point! We should be doing things because we have been informed by the Bible rather than by traditions, however well intentioned.
A Biblical Example
In the early church we have a wonderful example of the way they came together as a church.
Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. (Acts 2:46-47a)
Notice the emphasis here on gladness and on praise to God. Here is a joyously worshipping church. The mark of a great church is that it is a joyful church. It is a church which is characterized by praise. It is a worshipping church. Here are Christians who are gathering together for worship every day. But it wasn’t drudgery. They were coming together because they had experienced the joy of knowing Jesus Christ. Here were Christians who were excited about their relationship with God. Their services and their lives were characterized by praise to God. When people entered their midst, they knew these people were excited and alive. No sour-faced Christianity here. Here were people who had come to know the joy of Jesus because they knew the peace which passes all understanding.
You know, it does make a great difference when you come to a service in which people are excited, in which people are praising the Lord, where there is a real celebration of Christ’s victory over sin and of His love for us. Someone used to say that too many services start at eleven o’clock sharp and end at twelve o’clock dull. One of our hymns says, "Let the Amen be heard from His people again." When you are excited, it shows.
And we have something to be excited about. We serve a Savior who loves us, a God who has forgiven us, a Lord who provides for our true needs, a Spirit who empowers us. When you think of all He has done for you, how can you not be excited about Him? The only way I know not to be excited is either not to know Him, or to have drifted away from Him. And today, before you leave here, you can make sure that neither one of those situations is yours. If you don’t know Him, you can come to know Him today. And if you’ve drifted away from Him, you can return to Him today.
Those of us who know Jesus ought to be an example of enthusiasm in the church. Some of you may know that the etymology of the word enthusiasm traces it back to the Greek entheos, which is a compound of en (meaning in) and theos (meaning God). So enthusiasm means that we are filled with God. Enthusiasm is how someone filled with God acts. To be filled with God is to be filled with life, to be filled with love, to be filled with joy, to be filled with hope, to be filled with faith, to be filled with peace, to be filled with power. How would that make anyone feel and act? Well, they certainly would not act like they were in mourning, would they. No! They would demonstrate life.
This was true of the early church when they came together. Notice, it says that they had glad and sincere hearts, and that they were praising God. They were involved in joyous worship. So should our worship be.
Of course, the worship of these early Christians was nothing new to them. They did not invent something new. They were informed by another Biblical tradition, from what we call the Old Testament. It was the only Scriptures they had.
Jewish worship was a celebration. They would sing, lift their hands, clap their hands, and even dance! This, of course has a great precedent in the Old Testament Scriptures. Here are but a few:
Sing joyfully to the LORD, you righteous; it is fitting for the upright to praise him. Praise the LORD with the harp; make music to him on the ten-stringed lyre. Sing to him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy. (Psalm 33:1-3)
Clap your hands, all you nations; shout to God with cries of joy. (Psalm 47:1)
Shout with joy to God, all the earth! Sing the glory of his name; make his praise glorious! (Psalm 66:1-2)
My lips will shout for joy when I sing praise to you— I, whom you have redeemed. (Psalm 71:23)
Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song. (Psalm 95:1-2)
Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music; make music to the LORD with the harp, with the harp and the sound of singing, with trumpets and the blast of the ram’s horn— shout for joy before the LORD, the King. (Psalm 98:4-6)
Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations. (Psalm 100)
Let them praise his name with dancing and make music to him with tambourine and harp. (Psalm 149:3)
Praise the Lord! Praise God in His sanctuary;
Praise Him in His mighty expanse.
Praise Him for His mighty deeds;
Praise Him according to His excellent greatness.
Praise Him with trumpet sound;
Praise Him with harp and lyre.
Praise Him with timbrel and dancing;
Praise Him with stringed instruments and pipe.
Praise Him with loud cymbals;
Praise Him with resounding cymbals.
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord! (Psalm 150)
There is no way you can read the Psalms without being gripped by the celebratory aspect of worship. God is a God who wants us to praise Him with our whole heart, mind, soul, and emotions.
It has always struck me a funny how people change when they come to church services. In church they are all solemn and grave. But you take these same people to a social gathering like an office party, birthday party, block party, or ball game, and they suddenly become excited and enthusiastic, and in the case of the ball game, raving lunatics. We are emotional people and emotions are good. In church, we should be free to be enthusiastic in our praise to God. We certainly should be joyful and happy. There is much to be excited about.
A Needed Example
Our text also says that they not only were involved in a joyously celebratory worship, but that they were enjoying the favor of all the people. People were impressed with this early band of joyful, loving, giving, united disciples.
The world needs to see that we are excited about Jesus. So often the image that is portrayed is of a group of people having no fun and seeking to keep anyone else from having any either. But that is not Christianity, the Biblical kind.
What the church needs is a real revelation of the greatness of God and of the sheer number of things that this God has done for His people. We walk around many times totally unaware of even a fraction of the blessings we have received. If we could somehow catch a glimpse of just a small portion of the multitude of ways we have already been blessed by God, it would blow us away. And it’s true! We are the most blessed of all people. Think about it.
Pray about it. Ask God to show you how He has blessed you. Ask Him to reveal to you the things for which you should be thankful. Ask Him to give you a glimpse of His glory and a glimpse of His love for you. Such a revelation will change the way you worship. Such a revelation will change the way you live.
I love how those in heaven praise the Lord in the book of Revelation. Throughout the book of Revelation we catch a glimpse of heavenly worship. They are in the literal presence of the living God. John’s vision transports us into heaven itself and there we see that a chief activity is praise. Consider this passage from Revelation 5:11-12,
"Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they sang: ‘Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!’"
When you think of how we will be able to praise God when we get to heaven, it is exciting. And what is more exciting than that thought, is the thought that we get to start now!
Maybe if we really begin to do that, people will not want to join the jewelry store instead of the church.
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