What does it mean to worship? The heading on the inside of our bulletin states, “Gathered to Worship.” We call what we do during this hour “ our worship service.” In describing this time to our children, we sometimes refer to it as “Big Church,” because they have their children’s church. So what is the purpose of this time spent gathered together corporately, where we sing hymns, offer prayers, and bring forth a sermon?
Let me start with what it’s not…it’s not entertainment; it’s not a performance. Whenever an individual or a group sings, the purpose is not to entertain us. Our Spring Follies is geared toward entertainment, be it satirical or serious. The purpose of the Follies is to provide an evening of entertainment.
Our worship service is not entertainment. Yes, we want what is sung to be pleasing. Yes, we want the handbells to be crisp and uplifting. Yes, those who sing or play the handbells or an instrument want to do their very best. Our choirs and musicians put forth a great deal of effort in preparing their music, much as I do in preparing sermons, but each aspect of what takes place during this service is not geared toward entertaining those in attendance. Those who are leading and participating are not looking for applause or recognition, and those who seek recognition or desire to be entertained through the venue of worship have perverted its true purpose.
This is not to say that worship should not be fun. This is not to say that worship should be stuffy and stale. This is not to say that the music shouldn’t bring a smile to our face or set our foot to tapping, or that a sermon should not be thought provoking, relevant, or touch our hearts, because we should be moved through the worship experience, but we should be moved because of the reverence, adoration, and honor we have for the Living God.
Worship is about focusing our hearts, our minds, and our energy upon God. The music, the prayers, and the sermons are merely tools for cultivating the ground upon which the seeds of our lives are nurtured through the worship of God. This is an hour to be reenergized. This is an hour to find comfort and peace. This is an hour to spiritually prepare ourselves, and we accomplish this by offering ourselves in worship to God. Hear again the words of Paul…verse 1.
What do his words mean for us today…“present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is you spiritual worship.” Offering ourselves as a living sacrifice means giving ourselves completely to God without holding anything back, for there is no such thing as a partial sacrifice.
Surveys indicate that the overwhelming majority of Americans consider themselves to be Christians, but that overwhelming majority hasn’t translated into worshipping, committed members of God’s Church. There are too many people, both inside and outside the church, who have made a decision for Christ, but have not committed to Christ. Presenting ourselves as a living sacrifice to God is so much more than a decision…it’s a commitment, for there’s no such thing as a partial sacrifice or partial commitment. It’s impossible to be “sort of” committed. Either you’re committed or you’re not.
There’s the story of a pig and a chicken walking down the road together. As they walked along, they read a sign advertising a breakfast to benefit the poor. The chicken turned to the pig and said, “You and I should donate a ham and egg breakfast.” The pig replied, “Not so fast, for you an egg is just a contribution, but for me a ham is a total commitment.”
Too many churches are filled with folks who may be willing to make the occasional contribution of their presence or opinion, but not a full fledged commitment. I liken it an airplane ready for take-off, sitting on the runway gunning its engine, making noise, but getting nowhere. They’ve been planning on it, meaning to, wanting to, trying to, going to, aiming to, hoping to, but they remain on the runway and never got off the ground. This morning I want to echo Paul’s words and challenge you to get off the ground. Present yourself as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. Don’t just make a contribution, make a commitment.
This great country of ours would not be where it is today if our foremothers and forefathers had only made contributions and not commitments. For instance, fifty-six men signed the Declaration of Independence. Their conviction resulted in untold sufferings for themselves and their families. Of the 56 men, five were captured by the British and tortured before they died. Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons in the Revolutionary Army. Another had two sons captured. Nine of the fifty-six fought and died from wounds or hardships of the war.
Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships sunk by the British navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts and died in poverty. At the battle of Yorktown, the British General Cornwallis had taken over Thomas Nelson’s home for his headquarters. Nelson quietly ordered General George Washington to open fire on his own home. The home was destroyed and Nelson died bankrupt. John Hart was driven from his wife’s bedside as she was dying. Their thirteen children fled for their lives as well. His fields and mill were destroyed. For over a year, he lived in forest and caves, returning home only to find his wife dead and his children vanished. A few weeks later, he died from exhaustion.
Each of those men made much more than a decision and a contribution, they made a commitment. They presented themselves as a living sacrifice in commitment to their newly formed country. When you come to worship God, you’ve made a decision and your being here is a contribution to the body as a whole, and we’re thankful for that. God is thankful for that, but I hope you’ve done more. I hope you’ve made a commitment to offer yourself as a living sacrifice to God, holy and acceptable, that it might serve as your spiritual worship.
Worship starts here on the Sabbath day; the day the Lord consecrated as holy, the day that the Lord requires that we maintain as holy, but real worship is the offering of everyday life to God. I’d like to suggest that real worship is not something transacted in a church, though it is important, but rather, real worship is something that sees the whole world as the temple of the living God.
It is in verse two that Paul instructs us in how to see the whole world as the temple of the living God…verse 2. To worship and serve God, we must be transformed, and that’s not an outward transformation, noted by attendance or contribution, but as Paul says, an inward transformation of the mind, which for the first century Greek meant the soul, the inward being.
We just had the roof replaced on our home. It was beginning to wear and show its age. Replacing a roof isn’t merely a job of pulling off the old shingles and putting on new ones. It’s a job where in addition to removing the shingles, what you see on the outside, the felt that is underneath must be replaced. It’s a job where the flashing must be replaced. It’s a job where any boards that are warped or rotting must be replaced. The new shingles certainly look nice and that’s what we see, but what truly transformed our roof is what’s underneath…the felt, the flashing, and the carpentry.
Paul is saying the same thing…be transformed by the renewing of your mind, for when your mind is transformed, when your inner being is transformed, it is then that you can truly make a commitment to God and not just a contribution. The most difficult thing for any Christian believer is to make that transformation. I imagine that everyone here believes that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, but the difficulty is in allowing that belief to transform our lives, changing and eliminating old patterns.
Motor homes have become very popular, allowing folks to put all the conveniences of home on wheels. Today’s camper no longer needs to contend with sleeping in a sleeping bag, cooking over a fire, or hauling water from a stream. Now he can park a fully equipped home on a cement slab in the midst of a few pine trees and hook up to a water line, a sewer line and electricity. Some motor homes even come equipped with a satellite dish attached on top. No more bother with dirt, no more smoke from the fire, no more drudgery of walking to the stream. Now it is possible to go camping and never have to go outside. Some of you would say, “That’s my kind of camping.”
Many folks buy a motor home with the hope of seeing new places, of getting out into the world. Yet we deck it out with the same furnishings as in our living room. Thus nothing really changes. We may drive to a new place, set ourselves in new surroundings, but the newness goes unnoticed, for we’ve only carried along our old setting.
I’m not bemoaning campers, but hopefully illustrating for you the fact that new surroundings combined with old habits, does not equal the type of transformation Paul is speaking about. Stating your beliefs, but having your words and deeds and actions not in alignment with those beliefs is conforming to this world and not transforming. Paul said, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed so that you may discern the will of God.”
I don’t know of any task more difficult than discerning the will of God. On the one hand, it’s frustrating that He’s entrusted us as the stewards of His Creation, because if we take that seriously, it is truly agonizing to discern and follow the will of God. On the other hand, it’s awe inspiring that He’s invited us to be part of His creative process.
Struggling with the discernment of the will of God is one of the most heart wrenching, yet ultimately, rewarding experiences any of us can have, for it is through the struggle that we determine what we’re made of…are you one who will make a contribution, or are you one who will make a commitment?
When Christ becomes the center of your life, you can then truly worship the Living God, which is the offering of every moment and every action unto God. It begins here, but it’s lived out there. Contribute or commit? Amen.
