Wwjd In Worship - Meeting Jesus Series

OPEN: A man walked into a gift shop that sold religious items. Near the cash register he saw a display of caps with “WWJD” printed on all of them. He was puzzled over what the letters could mean, but couldn’t figure it out, so he asked the clerk.

The clerk replied that the letters stood for “What Would Jesus Do”, and was meant to inspire people to not make rash decisions, but rather to imagine what Jesus would do in the same situation.

The man thought a moment and then replied, “Well, I’m pretty sure Jesus wouldn’t pay $17.95 for one of these caps.”

Whoever came up with that clever term (WWJD) created an easy way for us Christians to examine our lives and our every day decisions.

I want to rent a certain movie or buy a specific magazine – What would Jesus do?

There’s someone at work that I have a hard time dealing with. – What would Jesus do?

My child is difficult to handle and is frequently disobedient – What would Jesus do?

Now, just because I ask that question (WWJD)

– that doesn’t mean that I’m always going to make the right decisions

– OR even that I’ll always be able to determine precisely what He would have done

But once I’ve asked that question - WWJD? - I’ve committed myself to changing my priorities. I committed myself to building my life around the question of what does Jesus think is important?

I. For example, WWJD in worship?

ILLUS: This sermon was inspirted by a lesson from the Boy Scout “God and Country” study book. One of the boys of our church asked me to mentor him in his effort to attain that badge. And I was so impressed with the topics in that study book that I formed this sermon series around the topics he and I studied together.

One of the lessons in the Scout study book asked was entitled: Learning How Jesus Worshipped God. And I have to admit… I’d never thought about that before. How would Jesus worship in our churches?

Almost from the very beginning of Jesus’ recorded life, we find that worship was very important to Jesus.

When Jesus was 12 years old, His parents “misplaced” Him. They had gone to Jerusalem for the feast of the Passover, and on their way home they discovered, he was missing. They hurried back to Jerusalem and “after three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.” Luke 2:46

“When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.”

“Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” Luke 2:48-49

From the very beginning, Jesus considered all other commitments to be secondary to His relationship to the Father. Jesus never missed being in worship.

Look with me at Luke 4:16 “He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, (and what?) AS WAS HIS CUSTOM....”

Did you catch that? Jesus never missed church!!! It was His CUSTOM to be in the synagogue every Sabbath. Why? Why would Jesus never miss church? He was God - after all – you’d think He could have skipped out a couple of times!

Well, Jesus never skipped worship because – as He told Mary – He had to be in His Father’s house. Being in church was important to Jesus and so He set us an example for us to follow.

ILLUS: One of the preachers I meet with on Wednesdays told of the firestorm he created in his congregation when he wrote an article taking parents to task for letting their kids take jobs that required them to work on Sunday mornings throughout the summer.

Some of the parents complained that this was only way their kids could raise money for college.

He responded: “What you’re telling me is that you’re going to teach your children that there’s something more important than being with Jesus on Sunday mornings. Then when your child goes away to college and has loses their faith… you’re going to ask ‘WHAT HAPPENED?’”

Being in Church was important to Jesus - more important than any other earthly activity.

ILLUS: When Jesus was at the home of Mary & Martha, Mary sat at Jesus’ feet while He taught

Luke 10:40-42 tells us “Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, ‘Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!’