Intro: How many of you came here today by accident? Really, how many of you just happened to be out for a nice Sunday morning walk, and just happened to end up here in the service? No one! How many of you came here on purpose? Everyone. You might think it odd that I ask that question. After all, we know that we are all here on purpose. Yet, what is our purpose in coming?
Some people go to church to see friends; some go to ease their conscience; some go to feel good; so go to get hope for making it through the week; so go to encounter the living God. What is our purpose for coming to church?
As I said last week, we do not really come “to church” but we come together “as the church.” We are the church, and we meet corporately in this building. But, as we come together, what is it that we are to be doing? Far too often we meet without having a real “purpose” for meeting. We say, “we always come out on Sunday” -- but why? What is our purpose for meeting as the church?
I would say to you that as the church, we need to be intentional about what we do: we need to have a purpose for meeting together. Over the next few weeks, we want to talk about the purpose of the church. Union Chapel has met together here on this corner far longer than any of us have been alive. Yet, what is our purpose in continuing? If we don’t have a purpose for meeting, we might as well disband today and save ourselves a lot of time and effort. What is the purpose of the church?
As I said last week, the purpose of the church is found in two commands Jesus left with his disciples to do and to pass on to their followers to be doing: the great commandment and the great commission.
Matt. 22 - ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
Matt 28 - All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
As a church, we need to focus on what is really important. In these two commands we find five purposes for the church. We are going to look at the first one today: worship. In the great commandment we find the concept of worship expressed: to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
What is worship? The concept of worship is really the idea of “worth-ship” To express the worth of someone or something. When we worship God we express to him his worth. When I got engaged to Ronda, I gave her a diamond ring. It was an expensive ring, to say the least. Yet, if I gave her a 25¢ ring, she would be insulted. The ring is an expression of her worth to me. How do we show God his worth? We do it by giving him our love. The greatest commandment we were ever given is to love God completely. Some have said that the greatest sin we could ever commit would be to not keep the greatest commandment, to not love the Lord our God completely.
As the gathered church, one of our purposes is to Worship God! Some of you are familiar with the Westminster Catechism, a training tool for children. To the question, “What is the chief end of man” the answer is “To glorify God.” Final Answer!
Look with me in Genesis 4. (Read 4:1-16)
Here we find an account shortly after the Garden of Eden. Here are Cain and Abel, the two sons of Adam and Eve. And we see them doing something very significant. The are bringing offerings to the Lord. And the Lord met with them. We don’t have all the details of what has gone before us. Yet we can clearly tell from the text that they knew what they were supposed to do. The bring offerings before the Lord as a means of worship. And part of the aspect of worship we see here is being in the presence of God.
I. Worship involves celebrating the Presence of God.
One of the key reasons we come together to worship God is because we believe in a very real way that the presence of God is here in our midst. Now, maybe you don’t believe that. Often we fail to think about that. But it is true that as we gather in his name, He is present. That is one of the reasons Greek Orthodox and Catholic Cathedrals are so majestic: a reminder of the majesty of the presence of God in our midst. One of the complaints of Cain after receiving punishment from God is that he will fail to be in the presence of God.
A. As a body - Our worship as a body focuses on enjoying the presence of God. As we worship God together as a body, we realize that God is in our midst. In the Old Testament you remember that God would come in visions and dreams - he would send messages through the prophets. Then his presence came to inhabit the temple at Jerusalem. We are told in 2 Cor. 6 For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people." Just as the presence of God was in Solomon’s temple, so he also meets with us in our presence today.
As we meet together to worship, we realize we are coming into the presence of God himself. He meets with us. Matt. 18:20 - For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them." Ps. 100 - 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 for ever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.
We come corporately to worship, being in the presence of the Most High God. Ps. 52:9 - I will praise you for ever for what you have done; in your name I will hope, for your name is good. I will praise you in the presence of your saints. Yet, this is also something that we also can do individually.
B. As individuals - In 1 Cor. 6 it tells us Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.
As individuals who possess the Spirit of God, we also enjoy God’s presence with us each day, wherever we go, whatever we do. If you think about doing something questionable today, remember that God goes with you as you do it. You carry around God’s spirit inside you. Ps. 89:5 - Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you, who walk in the light of your presence, O LORD. They rejoice in your name all day long; they exult in your righteousness.
Heb. 4:16 reminds us that Jesus has prepared the way for each of us to come into the presence of the most High God - Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. . . Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
We worship God by celebrating His presence, as a body, and daily as individuals. Remember worship is not something that we can just do on Sunday mornings, but rather something we do daily.
II. Worship also involves Committing to the Priorities of God -
Look back again in Genesis 4 - Cain & Abel - two different priorities. Cain brought one type of offering and Abel brought another. Only one was accepted. Why? Because God had already told them what to do. God says “If you do what is right, will you not be accepted?” Both sons would have had their offerings accepted if they worshipped as God wanted them to. Yet Cain did not offer that which God asked him to.
A. Obedience - The priority of worship is Obedience to God’s commands. We cannot worship God and yet disobey his commands. For worship, expressing the worth of God, is an attitude and action of the heart. Luke 6 reminds us "Why do you call me, `Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? How did Jesus say others would see we are his disciples - by our love and by our obedience. I John 5:3 - This is love for God: to obey his commands.
Ps 64 says Let the righteous rejoice in the LORD and take refuge in him; let all the upright in heart praise him! If we come to worship the Lord, we need to obey the Lord.
I don’t perform marriages for those who are sleeping together and who want to keep on doing it until they get married. The reason is that they are saying they want to disobey God’s commands for a length of time and then seek God to bless their lives. It’s foolishness. It’s like the boy who killed his father and mother and plead for mercy because he was an orphan.
If we want to truly worship God, we need to have an obedient heart.
What does the Bible tell us about what type of worship we are to have. Not a lot. It never says if we need to dress formally or casually; it never says if we are to sing hymns or choruses; --but it does tell us the requirements God has for worship. John 4:24 - God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."
We come with a right spirit, and in truth, in obedience to God’s commands. No matter what we pretend to be true about ourselves, God sees us as we really are. He wants us to be real as we worship him. “How are you today brother -- Oh, just wonderful, praise the Lord” --God sees us for the truth of how we really are, not what we pretend to be.
God would rather have us humbly admit the truth that pretend to be something we are not. Remember the story of the Pharisee and the tax collector. One was pious and boasted of his glories; one was humble and begged for mercy. The one who said, God be merciful to me a sinner was the one who went back home with God’s forgiveness.
If we want to worship God, we must obey God’s commands. What would you think of a spouse who claimed to love you and yet never did anything you wanted him to do? You’d wonder if he really loved you. Remember the skit we had a few months ago: Honey, would you dry the dishes -- Oh, I love you! If we love God, we will show it by our obedience.
We also show God is priority in our lives
B. By Sacrifice - What is it that Cain and Abel bring to God: a sacrifice, an offering. Giving up that which has value as a way of honoring God. Some people say, well I’d come to church but Sunday is the only day I get to sleep in. That just shows the value they place on God and on sleep. If we love God, we will sacrifice to honor him. In 1 Kings 21 King David declares I will not take for the LORD what is yours, or sacrifice a burnt offering that costs me nothing." As we worship God, we honor him by sacrificing to show his worth. That’s where the money comes in. Some people might say, “Aha, the pastor’s talking about money again.” That’s true, I am. God desires to be worshiped by our giving the first portion back to him. The first part of everything we make is the Lord’s, and he desires us to honor him by giving it back to him as an offering.
God is worshiped by celebrating his presence, by commitment to his priorities, and
III. By Continuing to Give Him Praise
What does it mean to Praise God - well literally to Praise means, “to bless, shine, or boast”
We praise God when we boast about him. When we let our light shine about who He is and What he has done. Worship of God is not about just a deep study of the book of Zephaniah, as much as it is about joyful, glad, excitement about how God has helped us. Praise is attributing the credit for all the good in our lives to God.
Think about football games, after a big bowl game they interview the star player and he says, “I just want to give all the glory to Jesus Christ.” That’s what praise is. The times when we might boast of what we have or what we have done, and we instead give all the credit to our God.
As we look through the bible, over and over again we see this idea of giving all the credit to God. We give him praise for who he is. Many names are given to express his greatness. We make his name great.
Ps. 34:3 - Glorify the LORD with me: let us exalt his name together.
Ps 96 - Sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth. Sing to the LORD, praise his name; proclaim his salvation day after day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples. For great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; . . .the LORD made the heavens. Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and glory are in his sanctuary. Ascribe to the LORD glory and strength. Ascribe to the LORD the glory due to his name; bring an offering and come into his courts. Worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness.
As we worship, we praise God for who he is. We also praise him for what he has done. Over and over again in the Old Testament, the people relived the great events of God’s deliverance: he is the God who parted the Red Sea, the God who knocked down the walls of Jericho, the God who defeated the enemy nations all around the Jews.
In the New Testament, we again see praise for what God has done. He is the God who has provided us salvation; he has defeated the power of death and hell; he has prepared a home in heaven for us; God has raised the crucified Christ to new life again.
We are going to celebrate the Lord’s supper in a few moments: a reminder of what our God has done for us.
Concl: As a church, our primary purpose is to worship God. We celebrate his presence among us; we commit to following His priorities; and we Continually praise him for who he is and what he has done. The early Church did a great job of worshiping God both corporately and individually: they met daily “in the temple courts and from house to house.” We need also to let worship be a priority as we meet together, but also to let worship be a priority in our daily lives. It’s normally fairly easy to worship God in a sanctuary, dressed up, holding a Bible in our hands: May we commit to worshiping God just as strongly Monday afternoon, as we are struggling to balance our checkbook, as the boss is giving us more work to do, and as the neighbors are yelling at us. May we be people of worship: may we give God the glory he deserves. It is one of the ways we show Him and show the world that we truly love Him with all our heart, soul, and mind.
Shall we pray.
