October 17, 2010
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I learned a lot about worship at a concert.
Now you already think you know where this is going- young people go to concerts, pay lot’s of money, stand before the band, sing along- it’s a snapshot of worship in pop culture. Sure, it is, but that’s not the point. Track with me for a moment: In the early 90’s I went to see a concert of who was then my favorite band- the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Opening for the Peppers was the Smashing Pumpkins. Opening for the Pumpkins was "opening band." Well that "opening band" turned out to be Pearl Jam. If you have no idea who these bands are, that fine. Just think about seeing your favorite bands in concert for a moment.
Pearl Jam was amazing. We knew that band was going to be HUGE! Then the Pumpkins came on stage. The place went crazy! Then the strangest thing started to happen. They started talking about how great they were, how were we going to tell stories about how we saw the pumpkins on their rise to the top, and how they would be the greatest alternative/grunge band EVER! And while nearly everyone in that arena knew all the words to their songs, everyone started to get quiet. The more they talked about themselves, the more that said how great they were, the less great everyone seemed to find them. By the end of their set some of us were actually booing them off stage.
But the Chili Peppers saved the day. They stepped on stage and immediately connected with the crowd. "We are so excited to be here! You guys are awesome! Are you ready to have a great time? We want to put on the greatest show you’ve ever experienced!" And they went on to work that place up into a frenzy. It was perhaps the most intense concert I’ve ever seen. (Although seeing KISS last summer was pretty cool!)
That experience taught me something VERY important about how worship works, and how worship doesn’t work. Worship doesn’t work when we try to hold onto the glory. Worship somehow works when we reflect the glory, the adoration, the applause, on toward God. You’ve been to a show like the Pumpkins, or know people like that. Groups or people that try to get more glory and hold onto the glory end up diminishing the glory. You know these kinds of people. Glory hounds, conceited, narcissistic jerks. When people try to absorb the glory, the praise, the worship, they become less glorious, even ugly. It’s really weird, you’d think that the more peopel tried to hold onto the glory, the more glorious they’d become.
But it doesn’t work that way at all. It’s when people pay the praise forward, it’s really quite amazing, how they immediately become more praiseworthy. The more you try to praise them, the more they want to put it back on you, or onto the rest of the band, or on to someone or something else. And when people reflect the glory onto God, it’s even more awesome! And it becomes like this upward spiral of glory that grows and grows, because ultimately the only thing, the only one worthy of worship is God alone.
We were made not to take glory, but to give it to God. That's what we're talking about today as we talk about worship. Here are a couple of things to keep in mind as we talk about how worship works:
First, The bible says that we are worshipping creatures. It is in our nature, as creatures, made by a creator, made in the image of the creator, to be worshipping beings. It is who we are what we were made to do. Why does a bee buzz? Why does a wasp sting? Why does bacon taste so good? It’s just in the nature of the thing. We were made to worship, and therefore according to the story of the bible, we will worship. So one of the preeminent themes of the bible is getting worship right.
Second, we will become like that which we worship. We will emulate, imitate, adore, and become more and more like those persons or things that we worship. The bible says that God alone is worthy of worship.That if we don’t worship God, we will worship someone or something else. That worshiping anything other than God is idolatry, and leads to our death. And that worshiping God leads to life and blessing.
Third, ultimately, all of life is to be worship. We practice worship in a gathering like this, and this propels us into a life of worship never ceasing. If you saw the Karate Kid remake you remember that great line from Jackie Chan, "Everything is Kung Fu." For him, all of life was seen and understood through the lenses of Kung Fu. For those who profess faith in Jesus, everything is to be understood and offer as worship to Him. Paul sums up the life of unceasing worship best in 1 Corinthians 10:31, “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”
Ever heard of a thing called a Catechism? It’s a teaching tool used by churches for centuries. They are generally a series of questions, and answers. There is one I love called the Westminster Catechism. The first question: "What is the chief end of humanity?" What’s the purpose of our existence it’s asking? The answer: "To glorify God and enjoy Him forever." To glorify God, to worship him, to reflect all the praise, the adoration, to applause, everything, on to him. And in doing that we discover joy. What is this purpose of our existence- to glorify God, to worship him, and enjoy him forever!
It's all about God's glory. You can't talk about worship and not look to the book of revelation. Here's how it opens:
Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.
~ Revelation 4:11
And it's all about enjoying the glory of God. In fact, it can't really be glorifying to God, from the perescpect if worship, if it is not joyfully offered up to Him.
Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.
~ Revelation 21:3-4
But this theme of worship- glorifying God and enjoying him- is woven throughout the bible. let's go right back to the beginning. Many of us, I hope most of us, have been participating in the E100 Challenge. 100 passages of the bible in the last 100 days of 2010. If you haven’t started yet, no problem! Just start, or catch up! This past week we had our biggest reading, Exodus 6-11. It’s a great passage. Wild stuff. We get all wrapped up in the plagues: blood, frogs, gnats and flies! Death, boils, hail, locust, darkness and killing of the firstborn children. It’s great to go over all the parts of
chapters. But I’m amazing at how many people miss the whole point of the Exodus: worship.
When God calls to Moses and speaks to him from a burning bush he says take off your shoes, humble yourself, for you are standing on holy ground. He is inviting Moses to worship him. He tells Moses to go to Pharaoh, to see his people free. Why? That they may WORSHIP me, God says. Over and over and over again, every time Moses goes to speak with Pharaoh, what does he say? Let my people go to worship me, to make sacrifices to me, to hold a festival to me. It’s all about worshiping God.
Moses goes up the mountain to hear from God. God gives him the commandments. How doe they begin: I am the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 1- You shall have no other Gods before me! 2- "You shall not make for yourself a carved image...
The first two commandments (Exodus 20:1–6) state that there is only one God and that that God alone is to be worshiped. According to Martin Luther, we only break the rest of the commandments after we have broken the first two.
Worshiping God alone does not narrow your view of life and the world. In fact, it broadens it. God is inviting them to broaden their minds, and their hearts, and to embrace a new reality where all of life is going to be worship to God. Go into the land and worship me. Then build homes, because that’s going to be worship to me. Build your families, because that’s going to be worship to me. Plant crops, because that’s going to be worship to me. Teaching your children the story of creation, the patriarchs, and the exodus, because that is going to be worship. God says folks, I’m bringing you into the promised land to worship me, and everything you do is now going to be worship. All of you life is to worship me. To Glorify me. It’s all about worship, and it’s all of life. All of our lives are to be worship.
And sadly, even as this is going on, the people start to complain. As God is bringing them into freedom to to worship him they are enslaving themselves to idolatry. Why did we leave Egypt? It was so great when we were slaves, and making bricks, and they were killing our babies, and we were dying. Those were the good old days. Let’s make an idol, let’s make a idol like the ones in Egypt, the ones were were slaves to, and let’s worship the idol.
Ultimately we see this narrative: worshipping God sets us free. Worshipping idols enslaves. Worshipping God opens our hearts and minds to see all of life as worship of our creator. Idolatry narrows our vision to one aspect of the creation, and then becomes our master. Worshipping God is how we discover and grow in who God is. Worshipping idols, anything in creation, shrinks god, and shrinks our lives. And ultimately, wonderfully for us, in worshipping God, the true god, our creator, redeemer, sustainer and LORD, we discover who we are. We begin to discover our very being.
You know why so many people today struggle with insecurity? They don’t really know who they are because they are worshipping the wrong things. The bible is so abundantly clear on this- you were made to worship, you were made to worship God alone. If you worship anything other than God, you are messing up. You are practicing idolatry, and you are losing, or diminishing your connection with God. If you worship anything, or anyone other than God, it will ultimately let you down. The intittive knowledge of that truth leads to a deep sense of insecurity. Young women who wrap up all their hopes in a boy, end up very insecure, and very hurt. Boys who wrap up all their hopes in a girl, or in a job, or in whatever, when whatever it is let's them down, their sense of security has been stolen.
If you have an identity problem, likewise , you actually have a worship problem. If you don’t really know what to do with your life, you have a worship problem. If you are not a joyful person, you have a worship problem. If you don’t really get your place in the world, where you fit in, you have a worship problem. In fact, all of the problems of the world and of our lives really boil down to a worship problem. If you don’t get worship right, the whole thing falls to pieces, the whole thing goes down the drain. Every problem in the world ultimately boils down to a worship problem.
The seven deadly sins- a worship problem. Greed- it’s a worship problem. Gluttony- it’s a worship problem. Lust- a worship problem. Pride- a worship problem. Sloth- a worship problem. Envy- a worship problem. Wrath- a worship problem. Drug addiction, alcohol addiction, sex addiction, any addiction- it’s a worship problem.
Why does the bible care so much about our worship? Not because god needs it. God is perfect within himself. He does not need our relationship with Him, he is fine on his own- Father, Son, Holy Spirit. He is not a needy, co-dependent God. But he is a jealous God. He desires our worship, and our undivided, unadulterated, unfettered worship. He desires our worship because he knows that we will become like that which we worship. The worshipper, no matter what he or she worships, will become more and more like the person or object of worship.
And more than anything else, God wants us to be like his son Jesus. To be found in him. That is where worship drives us- deeper into the life of our savior Lord, Jesus Christ.
This is one of those truths, that if you know it, you love, and if you don’t I’m praying today is the big break through. You can’t make and idol out of God. You can’t put him in a box and put him out to worship him when you want, then put him away and get on with life. Worshipping God is about worshiping Him in all of our lives. Is it about going to a worship service, going to home groups to study the bible and fellowship, having a daily time in prayer and study, giving your tithe... Yes, it’s all of these things, and so much more! It’s about worshiping God in our families, in our marriage, in rearing our children, in going to work, in playing soccer, going to the movies, or not going to the movies. It’s about everything, EVERYTHING, being done to and for the Glory of God.
So how does this work, this hour of worship, if all of life is to be worship? If you are a Christian here is a set of standards to guide our worship as a church, and as individuals:
Christian worship is Christ-Centered. It’s all about Jesus Christ and his gospel. Everything must connect to him in some form or fashion. Every prayer, every song, every video, every message must ultimately come around to the glory of Jesus Christ and the gospel of our salvation in Him.
Christian worship is Trinitarian. The bigger picture of Jesus our savior, is Jesus the Son of God, and part of our Trinitarian God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In worship we are drawn to God the Father through God the Son Jesus Christ by God the Holy Spirit who lives in us. The trinity is a holy mystery, but one that must be embraced in order to fully glorify God. In fact, we say god is all the more glorious because of the revelation of the trinity.
Christian worship is communal. Yes, we can offer our worship individually to God. But we must always see ourselves as part of the body of Christ. People matter to Jesus, so in Jesus Christ people matter. We pray together, sing together, listen together, offer together, do life together.
Christian worship is Covenantal. Worship reminds us that God is the initiator of our salvation, our life, our future. God creates the covenant, and we agree to take part. In that agreement we know that there is blessing in obedience to the terms of the covenant, and there are curses upon breaking the covenant. Not curses like so many think of them- oh, what what you say, you might get hit by lightening. No, in it’s simplest form, if we desire to be apart from God and the blessing of an abiding relationship with him, he’ll say fine. We can choose to distance ourselves from God and the life and blessing we can have in covenant with him.
Christian worship, as we touched upon two weeks ago in the how religion works message, is hospitable. Just as God welcomes us to himself in Jesus Christ, we welcome others it the name of Jesus Christ. We want to be attractive in worship, to welcome, love, care for people. We pray for the world, and we are intensionally about making this a hospitable place for the world to step in and meet Jesus.
Christian worship is gracious. I had to play off of last week too. Our worship should reflect the glory and grace of God, and God is really glorious and gracious! So we should come to worship, because jesus came to us. We should pour out of best offerings, not holding back anything because God poured out his spirit on us! We should sing our best songs n our best voices because god gave his best for us. We should generous give to God of our money, because God has given everything to us. We should be gracious, because our God is full of grace.
Finally, and what all of these other point toward, is that Christian worship is biblical. I mean two things by that. Coming to worship God as the people of God on a day set aside for God is what the bible teaches us to do. You can’t say that you are a bible believing Christian and not affirm the importance of this gathering in worship. And since this is commanded in the bible, all that goes on here should come should be held to the standard and rule of the bible. And so we sing songs that come right from the bible. We read from the bible. We pray from the bible. We encourage you to do things like keep reading your bible every day of the week.
These are just the broad strokes that mark what is normative for Christian worship. What this didn’t touch upon is an order or pattern for worship. And while our worship may not feel like it has a liturgy, or order, I assure you, it does. We just keep it really simple, really biblical. And it goes like this:
We call you to worship. It’s our opening song. usually something very up beat. But sometimes we mix it up. We do a cover of a song that you might hear on the radio. How does that calls us to worship? I hope you know that we don’t pick those songs casually or flippantly. But we like to find songs for the opening, and sometimes other spots in the service, that remind us that the world is calling out to god, looking for love, purpose, connection. And sometimes we think it’s the best way to start our worship by saying here’s a song that show we are all looking for God. Now, for the next hour or so, we are going to talk about find him in Jesus.
Then we welcome you and welcome one another. this begins our dialog with God, and within the gathering of people.
Then we pray. It’s is a prayer of adoration. It sets us up to sing God’s praises. We just tell God all the glory is going to you!
Then we read the bible, or sing songs that have bible verse right in them. Our worship songs fall into one of three categories, usually: Confession, pardon and praise. Some songs invite us to lay our lives, and our sins, before God. Some songs will assure us of our pardon and forgiveness in Christ. Most songs pick up on one of the countless praiseworthy facets of our God: his grace, his mercy, his compassion, his justice, his love, he creative awesomeness.
Then pray to prepare our hearts for God’s word. Most of the time we’ll use a video to help us creates the space in our hearts and minds to receive the word of God. Then I get on with teaching God word.
Then I’ll pray. I’ll pray that those who have been moved by God’s spirit and word will offer themselves to God. maybe it’s a first time commitment. Maybe a renewed commitment. maybe it’s committing a new aspect of our lives. Sometimes, and if we had our own church I guarantee you we’d do this more, we take communion. Communion is like the ultimate response to the gospel.
Then we send you out with God’s Blessing. With both and song and prayer. We send out out to be God’s people in the world, being his hands, his feet his people. To worship him in all you do. To share the gospel in all you do.
And we always include two VERY important parts to that sending: One, give your gifts to God. Give your offering to one of the ushers. We show our offering of our lives to God by offering our money. Until you give to God, you are not really given over to God. And second, we tell you we’re looking forward to seeing you throughout the week, and next Sunday, because that’s what Christians do and that’s how we worship God. And work and pray so that more will come and give their lives and all glory to God.
Why? Because this is what we were made to do. To glorify God, and enjoy him forever.
Worship works when we learn that all of life is to be worship.
This worship works when we want all of our lives to be worship.
Worship works only when we love God and have given our lives over to him completely.
Three questions to ask yourself regarding worship...
- Do you long to give God glory? (Do you want to be at worship on Sundays? Do you want all of your life to feel like worship? Does all of your life bring God glory?)
- Does your faith bring you joy? (Are you more joyful now than you were a year ago? Are you so joyful that you can’t help but tell others about Jesus? Do others ask you, “What makes you so joyful and worship-ful?”)
- Are you becoming more Christ-like, or more idol-like? (Looking honestly at your life, understanding that we become like that which we worship, are you becoming more like-Christ? Or are you becoming more like other things you are pursuing in this world- things like money, food, power, sex...?)
