OPEN: Reporters and city officials gathered at a Chicago railroad station one afternoon in 1953. The person they were meeting was the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize winner. A few minutes after the train came to a stop, a giant of a man - six feet four inches with bushy hair and a large mustache stepped from the train. Cameras flashed. City officials approached him with hands outstretched. Various people began telling him how honored they were to meet him.
The man politely thanked them and then, looking over their heads, asked if he could be excused for a moment. He quickly walked through the crowd until he reached the side of an elderly black woman who was struggling with two large suitcases. He picked up the bags and with a smile, escorted the woman to a bus. After helping her aboard, he wished her a safe journey. As he returned to the greeting party he apologized, "Sorry to have kept you waiting."
The man was Dr. Albert Schweitzer, the famous missionary doctor who had spent his life helping the poor in Africa. In response to Schweitzer’s action, one member of the reception committee said with great admiration to the reporter standing next to him, "That’s the first time I ever saw a sermon walking."
APPLY: What is worship? Over the past few weeks we’ve covered several aspects of worship: Singing Praises, Taking of Communion, Studying Scripture…
AND all of these different methods of worship were expressions of love to God. But if one particular form of worship is missing, the form of worship we’re talking about today:
– Our worship will be incomplete
– Our expression of love for God will inadequate
In our text today, Jesus tells us it is not enough for us to say “Lord Lord” (in other words, attempt to offer worship). It takes more than expressions of worship to be pleasing to God.
We can do all the religious things we want & still offer up empty expressions of love to God if our worship doesn’t yield a specific result = a “sermon that walks” (repeat)
Worship that pleases God is a worship that makes a difference in how we live.
I. Without a “sermon that walks,” we have a dead religion.
There are many Christians that feel that worship is “showing up on Sunday Morning” and going through the motions.
1. Singing the songs
2. Taking Communion
3. Listening to the sermon
4. And so on, and so on
Now, these are all good things to do in worship. But if that’s ALL our Christianity turns out to be – we can become a lot like Jeremy Bentham, founder of London’s University College. Before he died in 1832, he left instructions that when he died, his body was to be preserved and placed on display in the meeting room of the board of governors for the college. So, when he died, his skeleton was reconstructed, given a wax head, dressed in his best suit, and placed in a glass case in the meeting room of the college’s board of governors.
For several years after his death, Jeremy Bentham faithfully attended every meeting of the board and was described in the minutes as “present, but not voting.”
If our worship doesn’t lead us to have a “sermon that walks,” we might be present in worship, but we’re not voting. Our worship isn’t doing us any good.
Jesus said, You know a tree by its fruits. You can tell whether you’ve actually worshipped, by the fruit it produces in you
II. One of the least understood forms of worship found in scripture doing good to others.
It’s true – turn to Hebrews 13:14-16
"For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come. Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise-the fruit of lips that confess his name.(a description of worship) And do not forget to do good & to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.
Thus, when we do good & share with others – we’re worshipping. To drive that point home, Jesus, on the night He was betrayed, taught His disciples that very lesson.
(Read John 13:1ff and bring out basin of water and towel).
I need a volunteer from the audience (I volunteered our youth minister). When Jesus was finished washing his disciples feet he said:
"Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you." John 13:14-15
Now, there are churches that read this and feel that Jesus intended to set up ritual. There’s nothing wrong with that, I suppose but… aside from fact that there’s no evidence the early church performed such a ritual, I think it misses the point.
The point that Jesus was trying to teach His disciples was that they were to stop thinking like a guest of honor at the meal and start thinking like servant of others at table.
ILLUS: One church in Santa Fe, NM has only one door in their building: “Servant’s Entrance.” The only way in or out of their house of worship is through the “servant’s entrance.” That’s the only way our worship is really acceptable to God.
III. Now, there’s a reason why Jesus would so strongly teach His disciples this lesson
Jesus summed it in His Sermon on the Mount when He said:
"… let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and… praise your Father in heaven." Mt 5:16
In other words…when you & I do good works, we are not only expressing ourselves in worship of God, BUT, our good works lead others to worship God (praise your Fatherin heaven.”)
That’s another way of saying that when you worship God through good deeds, you become a “sermon that walks”
CLOSE: - Doug Nichols, Bothell, Washington wrote: While serving with Operation Mobilization in India in 1967, tuberculosis forced me into a sanitarium for several months. I did not yet speak the language, but I tried to give Christian literature written in their language to the patients, doctors, and nurses.
Everyone politely refused. I sensed many weren’t happy about a rich American (to them all Americans are rich) being in a free, government-run sanitarium. (They didn’t know I was just as broke as they were!)
The first few nights I woke around 2:00 A.M. coughing. One morning during my coughing spell, I noticed one of the older and sicker patients across the aisle trying to get out of bed. He would sit up on the edge of the bed and try to stand, but in weakness would fall back into bed. I didn’t understand what he was trying to do. He finally fell back into bed exhausted. I heard him crying softly.
The next morning I realized what the man had been trying to do. He had been trying to get up and walk to the bathroom! The stench in our ward was awful. Other patients yelled insults at the man. Angry nurses moved him roughly from side to side as they cleaned up the mess. One nurse even slapped him. The old man curled into a ball and wept. The next night i again woke up coughing. I noticed the man across the aisle sit up and again try to stand. Like the night before, he fell back whimpering.
I don’t like bad smells, and I didn’t want to become involved, but I got out of bed and went over to him. When I touched his shoulder, his eyes opened wide with fear. I smiled, put my arms under him, and picked him up. He was very light due to old age and advanced TB. I carried him to the washroom, which was just a filthy, small room with a hole in the floor. I stood behind him with my arms under his armpits as he took care of himself. After he finished, I picked him up, and carried him back to his bed. As I laid him down, he kissed me on the cheek, smiled, and said something I couldn’t understand.
The next morning another patient woke me and handed me a steaming cup of tea. He motioned with his hands that he wanted a tract. As the sun rose, other patients approached and indicated they also wanted the booklets I had tried to distribute before. Throughout the day nurses, interns, and doctors asked for literature.
Weeks later an evangelist who spoke the language visited me, and as he talked to others he discovered that several had learned about the love of Christ of His offer of Salvation as a result of reading the literature. What did it take to reach these people with the gospel? It wasn’t health, the ability to speak their language, or a persuasive talk. I simply took a trip to the bathroom.
HE BECAME A SERMON THAT WALKED.
