Listening Through Worship
A certain Jewish couple, looking forward to the birth of their first son, began to argue about what name should be given to their little boy. Ultimately they asked their rabbi to intervene. The exasperated mom-to-be said, "I want to name my child after my father, but my husband wants to name him after his father."
"What is your father’s name?" the rabbi asked the woman. "Joseph," she said. "And what is your father’s name?" the rabbi asked the man. "Joseph," he answered. "Then what’s the problem?" asked the rabbi. "The problem," said the woman, "is that his father was a horse thief, while my father was a righteous man. If we call our son Joseph, how will I know that we didn’t end up naming him after the wrong father?"
The rabbi thought for a moment, then said, "Go ahead and name your son Joseph. Wait until he grows up and see if he turns out to be a horse thief or a righteous man: Then you’ll know which father he’s named for!"
The question we need to ask is this: Which God are we actually identifying with when we come to worship? Is it the God who is Lord of the universe and Lord of our lives? Or is it the "God" who is not much more than a distant name, a manageable deity who is summoned to appear at holidays and at really tough times when all of our other resources have let us down? The one day in seven God.
This is the God Chuck Swindoll described in his book, Improving Your Serve--“I would like to buy $3 worth of God, please, not enough to explode my soul or disturb my sleep, but just enough to equal a cup of warm milk or a snooze in the sunshine. I don’t want enough of him to make me like a black manor pick beets with a migrant. I want ecstasy, not transformation; I want a pound of the eternal in a paper sack. I would like to buy $3 worth of God please."
Worship comes from the old English worth-ship which means "to ascribe worth or value to something or someone." It is startling to realize that everyone worships! Everybody! Everywhere! Worship is the fundamental drive of life. Atheists worship. Infidels worship. Skeptics worship. Even Republicans and Democrats worship. Lawyers, insurance agents, and even Internal Revenue Service agents worship! All people worship for worship is the fundamental difference between humans and animals. Animals do not worship.
The aspect of worship I could cover today could be praise, music style, flow, any number of things, but instead I’m going to speak on the relationship between fact and faith. It is a fact that you are sitting here in the sanctuary. It is also a fact that I am standing here speaking. But it is faith that makes me believe that you might be listening to what I have to say."
LISTENING IN WORSHIP
Where is listening in worship? One person once said..."The Christian is one who listens to God speak before speaking - the Church is a group of listening people." But not listening to the music or sermon merely-- I covered that last week... In a book, Encountering Jesus, the author speaks about "Preaching congregation and the listening pastor"
ILLUS: Listening--Two men were talking over coffee one day. One said: "I’m concerned about my wife. She talks to herself a lot these days." The other said: "Mine does too, but she doesn’t know it. She thinks I’m listening.”
Is Worship primarily about God listening to us, or us listening to God??
1 Samuel 3:1-10 (11-20)
Notice the bible says “Speak Lord, for your servant is listening...not Listen Lord for your servant is speaking.” Is it possible to be so close to the temple, to spend our lives in the church...and yet miss listening to the voice of God. Is it possible that God is trying to speak to us and we’re pretending to listen? I want to worship in music, and I like to hear inspiring preaching– but I need to work hard at listening to the voice of God. Listening to the voice of God is the most active, most participatory part of any worship service.
Listening doesn’t always mean quietness, but attentiveness. Our senses during worship are more drawn to spiritual things. In the midst of a powerful song, God may speak to you about something in your life. In the midst of a sermon, your mind may be drawn to something the Spirit is trying to speak to you. Go with it... Listening is not about the sermon– but an encounter with God– tuning in to the Spirit.
Much of the church today is based on speaking before listening. There are lots of policies and procedures for speaking in the church but none for listening. Not necessarily quietness– but attentiveness.
Recently KGO talk radio in San Francisco conducted a call-in poll. Ronn Owens invited listeners to express their opinion. Thirty-five percent said yes, 33 percent said no and 32 percent were undecided. One listener, aghast at the large number of undecideds, protested, "It’s this sort of apathy that’s ruining America."
The only problem with all these responses was that the radio station had never posed any question. The people were listening, but they weren’t attentive. They really weren’t tuned in. Often our bodies are in church, our mouths are singing, but we aren’t really tuned in. If that’s your habit, or experience– even today. Don’t be hard on yourself– it takes us all practice to be attentive and listen.
Philip Yancey tells the story of a friend of his who went swimming in a large lake at dusk. "As he was paddling at a leisurely pace about a hundred yards offshore, a freak evening fog rolled in across the water. Suddenly he could see nothing: no horizon, no landmarks, no objects or lights on shore. Because the fog diffused all light, he could not even make out the direction of the setting sun." Yancey then tells how his friend splashed about in absolute panic. "He would start off in one direction, lose confidence, and turn 90 degrees to the right. Or left - it made no difference which way he turned. He could feel his heart racing uncontrollably. He would stop and float, trying to conserve energy and force himself to breathe slower. Then he would blindly strike out again. At last he heard a faint voice calling from shore. He pointed his body to the sounds and followed them to safety." Our natural instinct is busyness. Our natural spiritual instinct is noise and talking.
Speak to Us God, For we are listening? When we listen to God’s voice to us first, then we are able to speak and sing and make music. I would say that worship involves us listening to God and then responding back to God. Making music together.
ILLUS: Music historians inform us that on many Bach manuscripts can be found certain Latin letters. At the beginning of a manuscript are often the letters "J.J." and at the end are "S.D.G." The "J.J." stands for Jesu juva ("Jesus, help me") and the "S.D.G." stands for Soli Deo gloria ("To God alone be the glory"). In between the "J.J." and "S.D.G." are some of the most uplifting music phrases and compositions ever heard by human ear.
GOD LISTENS TO US
Yes God listens to our songs and prayers.
(1) Songs JDG 5:3 "Hear this, you kings! Listen, you rulers! I will sing to the LORD, I will sing; I will make music to the LORD, the God of Israel.
PS 100:2 Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.
(2) Prayers
PS 34:17 The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles.
(3) Our lives are music to God.
RO 12:1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship.
The hit movie Mr. Holland’s Opus was built on the theme of this sermon: "Look around you. We are the notes and the melody of your opus. We are the music of your life."
We are the notes that make music to God. So listen to the music and voice God is sending you, apply what you hear to your circumstances, and write new music back to God, because He does listen.
