Why'd They Do That?

WHY’D THEY DO THAT?

I Corinthians 14:40

S: Worship

C: Elements of corporate worship

Th: A Passionate Pursuit of God

Pr: GOD IS WORTHY OF OUR ATTENTION AND PRAISE.

?: How? How do we demonstrate it?

KW: Elements

TS: We will find in our study of worship elements that we use to communicate the worthiness of God.

Type: Propositional

The ____ element of our corporate worship is the…

I. PREPARATION

II. COMMUNITY

III. PRAYER

IV. MUSIC

V. TESTIMONY

VI. GIVING

VII. PROCLAMATION

VIII. COMMUNION

PA: How is the change to be observed?

Version: ESV

RMBC 06 March 05 AM

INTRODUCTION:

ILL Worship: 8:30 or 10:30 service

One Sunday morning, the pastor noticed little Johnny was standing and staring up at the large plaque that hung in the foyer of the church. The young man of seven has been staring at the plaque for some time, so the pastor walked up and stood beside him and, gazing up at the plaque, he said quietly, “Good morning, son.”

“Good morning, pastor,” replied the young man not taking his eyes off the plaque. “Sir, what is this?” Johnny asked.

“Well, son, these are all the people who have died in the service,” replied the pastor. Soberly, they stood together staring up at the large plaque.

Little Johnny’s voice barely broke the silence when he asked quietly, “Which one sir, the 8:30 or the 10:30 service?”

You know…

If we are “dying” during our worship, something is amiss.

In our purpose statement, we communicate that Randall Baptist Church is gathering of believers who celebrate the person of God.

In other words, we are a people that worship.

In the big picture of things, we know that worship is both a private and public affair.

But in our discussion today, we are going to give consideration to worship in the public and corporate realm.

Through the centuries the Church has gone through a lot of transition.

As far as its location, it has moved from synagogues to houses to monasteries to cathedrals.

As far as its music, it has moved from Gregorian chats to just psalms to classical masterpieces.

And it has moved from no instruments to organs to pianos to bands.

The mentioning of these transitions alone should tell us that through the years there has been a lot of variety of expression when it comes to worship, that has both reflected the culture and personality of the people of that time.

This is still true today.

Let us be honest with ourselves, there are certain styles of worship, particularly when we talk about music, that we like best.

The tendency is to like ours best, and in turn, toss out the rest.

And if we really don’t like it, we will accuse it of being unbiblical and heretical.

TRANSITION:

But here is what we absolutely must remember…

1. When we gather for worship, it is not for ourselves.

We are not the audience.

Our audience is an audience of One.

So when come together for public worship, our attention is to be focused on God.

We are not to be focused on how we want things to be or on what we want to hear.

Our corporate worship is not about customer service as if we are the customers.

The words of a song we sing from time to time captures this well:

I’m coming back to the heart of worship

And it’s all about You, all about You Jesus

I’m sorry Lord for the thing I’ve made it

When it’s all about You, all about You Jesus.

You see…

Together, we affirm that God alone matters.

In the midst of our community, we need have this perspective…

2. GOD IS WORTHY OF OUR ATTENTION AND PRAISE.

A. W. Tozer says in his book Whatever Happened to Worship?...

In some circles, God has been abridged, reduced, modified, edited, changed and amended until He is no longer the God…(that is) high and lifted up.

We must recognize that there is something about God that is different.

He is above us.

He is beyond us.

He is transcendent, and because this is true, we can be delighted in the presence of this (as Tozer puts it) “utter, infinite excellence.”

3. Therefore, how we worship is of supreme importance (I Corinthians 14:40).

When we studied the 14th chapter of I Corinthians back in January, we saw that the context of this verse…

But all things should be done decently and in order.

…was a matter of bringing order and organization to their worship.

In a word, it had become chaotic.

But through the years, this verse has been abused when it comes to worship and the church.

For anytime an aspect of worship falls outside the norm, it comes out as a weapon.

The watchword is fear.