We continue our Generosity: Possible series this morning discovering what it means to be generous with our presence. When we became a Christian, and one who chose to walk the faith journey as United Methodist, not only did we commit to support the body of Christ with our prayers and witness, but also with our presence. Oh! No! Here we go. Preacher’s about to get onto us for not coming to worship enough! No, I’m not. That’s another sermon. I’m going to share with you a deeper meaning of being present with the body of Christ. Certainly, presence in worship is part of that, but it is so much more. Being present is gathering together to encourage one another, share faith, pass on the faith, grow up in the faith…to be present with each other and to be present before God, and that may well happen AT the church, but it also happens at work, at the hospital, at the nursing home, at school and even at our home when we gather with others who share the faith journey with us. Being generous with our presence means to be present every moment of every day with others, living faithfully the essence of our faith so that our life becomes a testimony of God’s goodness, faithfulness and love.
The late Adrian Rogers said:
“the curse of the 20th Century is Sunday-morning religion. Now, there’s nothing wrong with Sunday-morning religion, but the problem is that so many people have only a Sunday-morning religion. Somebody wrote these words: ‘They’re praising God on Sunday, but they’ll be all right on Monday. It’s just a little habit they’ve acquired.’ Well then, we come to church, then, to worship God on Sunday—and, well we ought. But, folks, we ought not simply come to worship; we ought to bring our worship to church. And, when we leave this building, we ought to take our worship with us, because, you see, the Bible teaches that when we’re right with God, every day is a holy day, every act is to be a sacred deed, and everything we do we’re to do to the glory of God.”
I would say that what was true for the 20th century is equally as true for the 21st century.
Please don’t misunderstand me, though. Worship together is imperative to the life of faithful discipleship. We will never worship “out there” until we’ve first worshipped in here. There is something incredibly life-changing that happens when the body of Christ worships together. That’s the essence of what the Apostle Paul is trying to communicate to the church in a city called Colossae. He says in verse 16 to “Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts.” Paul is talking about worship, and did you know, this is the closest thing we have in the New Testament to describing what a worship service is supposed to look like? The New Testament does not give any pattern for conducting a specific corporate worship service in churches. It does not tell how long the services are to be, how many psalms, hymns or spiritual songs are to be sung and it does not tell us how long to stand or sit down. The New Testament does not tell us the styles, types of music or what instruments can be used. The traditions of preceding generations tell us, but the New Testament does not. Paul only points out the necessity of and the power in worship.
Why is our presence here for worship important? First, and obviously, because God alone is worthy of our worship, but secondly, worship is what we are created to do, and we become like what we worship. One preacher said, “The man molds the idol, and then, the idol molds the man.” If we worship the Lord Jesus, we’ll become like the Lord Jesus. I also like to think that when we worship, we discover, as we said a few weeks ago, the level ground of Calvary. Somebody may be here this morning who can give more money than I can, or someone can sing better, or someone can understand the Bible better than me; and some can teach the Bible better, but no one can worship better than me. Think about that! No one can worship better than you. No one can give more of themselves to God than any other person. I can give all of myself and you can give all of yourself in worship. And, even any child here can worship God with a full heart, and can please God, and be blessed.
Worship doesn’t end when we leave this building, though. Worship extends to all of life. Worship extends to every deed every day. That’s what Paul is saying in verse 17: And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father. Worship is doing everything in the name of Jesus and giving God thanks for it. “Well, Pastor, why is that?” Well, what is worship? Isn’t worship glorifying God? Well, if we do everything in the name of Jesus, and give God thanks for it, wouldn’t that glorify God?
Two verses confirm this. 1 Peter 4:11 says, “That God in all things may be glorified.” That is, in everything you do, God is to be glorified. Or, here’s a great verse: 1 Corinthians 10:31 says, “So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” Eating your lunch today ought to be for the glory of God. And, after lunch today, if we get to do the dishes, doing dishes ought to be for the glory of God. One home had this sign up over the kitchen sink: “Divine services held here three times a day, doing dishes.”
That’s the same thing Nicholas Herman discovered. Nicholas was an up-and-coming young soldier when he had a dramatic religious conversion. He was compelled to join a monastery, and he spent the rest of his life working in a kitchen and repairing his brothers’ sandals. During his decades of doing seemingly menial jobs, Nicholas discovered a profound truth about having a relationship with God: Experiencing His presence can—and should—happen everywhere. His discoveries were recorded for us over three hundred years ago in a little treatise entitled Practicing the Presence of God. That’s right, Nicholas Herman became known as Brother Lawrence, who showed us that God can be found and worshipped even washing the dishes.
Now, when we do this, here’s what happens: The secular is made sacred; the everyday is edified; the mundane is made majestic, and God is glorified. The secular is made sacred; the everyday is edified; the mundane is made majestic, and God is glorified. So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Now, we’ll walk out of this beautiful, amazing sanctuary, and we’ll go out into the cathedral of the skies, and we’ll take the worship that we have in our hearts, right here, and we will carry it with us. That’s what it means to be generous with our presence. There is no ground that isn’t holy ground. There is no time that is not sacred time. We don’t have to come to church to turn our worship on. We bring the worship of our week to the body of Christ when we gather here on Sunday morning.
A woman was working in her front yard one day planting new bushes and flowers. She was dressed in her work clothes and had dirt all over her hands. She looked up and saw a moving van pulling into the driveway next door. Behind the van was a car and a nice looking family got out of the car.
The new family noticed the woman and came over to introduce themselves to her. They spoke for a few moments and the woman in the yard invited the new family over for a welcome dinner that evening. Then, she went inside and told her husband to start getting ready, and she began dying her hair. As she was getting dressed and putting on her false eyelashes and false fingernails the husband asked her why she was so dolled up just for a dinner. She told him, “Oh, honey! They saw me all dirty today. I want them to see the real me!”
My friend, the “real” me is the same me out there as the me in here. That’s being generous with our presence.
Who is that “me” supposed to be? Paul gives us the answer to that question, too. It has all to do with how we live in relationship with others. Theologian William Barclay said, “But the great basic Christian virtues are those which govern human relationships. Christianity is community. It has on its divine side the amazing gift of peace with God and on its human side the triumphant solution of the problem of living together.” We don’t just live together in here, but we spend more of our life out there, and Paul, in his inimitable way, gives the Christian at Colossae a list of graces they were to live as they lived in community. Let us note that each of these graces has to do with our relationships with one another. What are those graces?
Understand that each of these graces could be a message on its own. In the interest of time, I’m simply going to give the list Paul gives:
• Mercy
• Kindness
• Humility
• Patience
• Forgiveness
• Love
• Harmony
• Peace
Paul had earlier in Colossians given another list—a list of those behaviors the disciple was to lay down. Of course, the image Paul uses is one of changing clothes. “Take off,” Paul says, “these behaviors:”
• Sexual immorality
• Evil desires
• Lust
• Greed
• Idolatry
• Anger
• Rage
• Slander
• Lying
When we became followers of Jesus Christ, in baptism we took off all those behaviors and we put on a new set of clothes. In the early church, converts took off their old clothes and put on a new white robe before their baptism to symbolize their new relationship. Our new relationship with Christ indicates we also have a new relationship with others. It changes everything! It’s like in baptism, Christ has put his name on us—like an athlete endorsing a baseball glove or basketball shoes. Michael Jordan has his name on Nike shoes, and in so doing says, “These shoes are consistent with who I am.” Of course, we know Nike paid him millions of dollars to say that, but still the shoes are called “Air Jordans.” If they’re a bad product he doesn’t want his name attached to them. Likewise, when a person’s character fails to reflect a company’s values, the company will drop the endorsement deal like a hot potato—ask Tiger Woods or Ryan Lochte.
The difference for us, though, is that Christ will never drop us! That’s the power of his cross! That fact ought to give us more incentive to live lives that reflect his character—in here and out there. Does that mean we’ll never sin again? Heavens no! Sometimes we put on the new clothes of baptism only to rise up and put the old dirty clothes right back on. The devil is good about getting all up in our business. Worship in here prepares us for worship out there, and worship out there sets the table for worship in here. Giving God the glory through Jesus Christ the Son in the power of the Holy Spirit enable us to overcome every attack of the Enemy, and everything that divides us as the body of Christ.
Generosity with our presence is to be present with the body here, but also to be present with the body out there—to be Christ in the world. There really is no distinction. If we’ll do that then the secular will become sacred; the everyday will be edified; the mundane will be majestic, and God will be glorified.
