CHAZOWN

Each year at this time I normally gear my message toward the new year. It seems to make sense to do that. This year, I knew far in advance that I would be using biblical principles that I was gaining in my own personal study. I have been reading the book: Chazown, by Craig Groeschel. It has been a great help and challenge to my spiritual growth, especially as it pertains to fulfilling the plan God has for me. Chazown is the Hebrew word for "vision", and the book is to help people find the vision God has for their life and motivates them to pursue the fulfillment of it.

So, I felt led several weeks ago to prepare this message for the new year. I chose a few biblical stories that seemed to fit the idea of God giving a vision and man going after it. I always find that when I have applied a message to myself first, it has a greater impact on me and God seems to use it on others as well. This message was preached yesterday, December 30, 2007.


CHAZOWN

Videos:
· New Year’s Resolutions: Kid’s Edition [1.25 minutes]
· What About Resolutions? [1.5 minutes]

Please turn in your Bible to Genesis 12. The first book of the Bible – Genesis, and find chapter 12.

I don’t know if you feel like New Year’s Resolutions as those on the video characterized them; but this can be the time of year when we decide on whether or not we are going to make resolutions. And most people see it as the videos showed – almost laughable. They are hard to make because very rarely do we actually keep them. Most of us have come to the place where we don’t even give New Year’s Resolutions a second thought. This morning, I am not going to try to change your mind. But, what I am going to do is use a few biblical examples to challenge you – not to go after New Year’s Resolutions, but to go after your CHAZOWN.

The title of this message is taken from the book: Chazown: A Different Way To See Your Life by Craig Groeschel. It is a book that has been a great challenge to me. It is the basic idea from this book that I want to share with you today. And in doing so, I want to share some of my life and heart with you today – what God is doing in me. And, as always, I am going to challenge you to apply the principles of God’s Word as you consider, not just where you are headed for this next year, but the direction of your life.

Chazown (Khaw-Zone), is a Hebrew word that means “dream” or “revelation” or “vision”. Today, I am using it as it relates to the vision that God has for your life; and the vision that you receive from Him. Today, I am going to challenge you, not to think of New Year’s Resolutions that are supposed to last a year but normally last 2 weeks. I am going to ask you to begin the process of thinking about what God wants you to accomplish, from now until you die. That may sound like a big job; but it really is a process, with some beginning steps that all of us can do.

Craig Groeschel, the author of the book Chazown, said – “Everyone ends up somewhere. But few people end up somewhere on purpose.” He encourages every reader to consider the vision that God can give you for your life. He lists some of the benefits he believes come with the vision God gives you:

· Focus to your life
· Endurance for tough times
· Peace to know who you are and why you’re here
· Passion

A very helpful exercise that I have used before and read before is also mentioned in the book: think about what you want to be known for at the end of your life in order to understand how to pursue that vision for the rest of your life. What would you want your epitaph, written on your tombstone, to say? If what was written was a true summary of your character, of what you accomplished in life, from today forward, what would you like it to say?

Let’s consider some of the real epitaphs out there from some famous people who once lived. Listen to these epitaphs and consider what was important to them. Here is how their epitaphs read:

That’s all folks! The man of a thousand voices
Mel Blanc – Hollywood Memorial Park – Hollywood, CA

Truth and history. 21 men. The boy bandit king. He died as he lived
William H. Bonney - Billy the Kid
Fort Sumner Cemetery – Fort Sumner, New Mexico

My Jesus. Mercy.
Alphonse Capone
Mt. Carmel Cemetery – Chicago, ILL

The entertainer. He did it all.
Sammy Davis, Jr.
Forest Lawn – Glendale, CA

The body of B. Franklin, printer
Like the cover of an old book, its contents turn out
And stript of its lettering and gilding, lies here, food for worms
For, it will as he believed, appear once more
In a new and more elegant edition, corrected and improved by the Author
Benjamin Franklin
Christ Church burial grounds – Philadelphia, PA

A genius of comedy
His talent brought joy and laughter to all the world
Oliver Hardy
Pierce Brothers – Valhalla Memorial Park – CA

Here was buried Thomas Jefferson
Author of the Declaration of American Independence
Of the statute of Virginia for religious freedom
And father of the University of Virginia
Thomas Jefferson
Monticello, Virginia

The Cowboy’s Prayer
Oh Lord, I reckon I’m not much just by myself
I fail to do a lot of things I ought to do
But Lord when trails are steep and passes high
Help me to ride it straight the whole way through
And when in the falling dusk I get the final call
I do not care how many flowers they send
Above all else the happiest trail would be
For you to say to me – Let’s ride my friend
Amen.
Roy Rogers
Sunset Hills Memorial park, Apple Valley, CA

What do you want said of you, remembered about you, when you are gone? Do you want it to be a good character quality or something you have accomplished? Whatever that is, it will help you begin to find the vision that God has for your life.

The author of Chazown provides us with some thought provoking questions in order to consider what you would like your epitaph to say. These are on the back of your outline:

Plan your epitaph:
· The thing that was most important to me was…
· People say I stood for…
· I made a difference in my world by…
· God was glorified because I …
· People knew I loved them because…
· The reason I expect God to say ‘well done’ is…

The first main area that the epitaph challenges us to consider is that of: core values. You may be familiar with businesses that have core values. Churches, us included, have core values. It is a list of what is most important to you. And as you consider what is most important to you, you begin to capture the vision God has for your life.

Here are some of the questions from the book that helped me determine my personal core values: These are on the back of your outline:
Core Values:
· What makes you angry?
· What makes you happy?
· What do you treasure?
· What do you stand for?
· What would you fight for?
· What do you know is so important that you’ll let go of everything else in order to grasp it?

And here is what I came up with:
My core values:
· Grace
· Mercy
· Preaching
· Friendship
· Lasting spiritual impact
· Family

This was a beginning step in helping me see God’s vision for my life. Let’s take a look at our first biblical story of a man that was given a chazown by God.

We begin with Abraham.
Genesis 12:1-3 – “Now the LORD said to Abram, Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

This is a truly amazing thing that God gave to Abraham. Understand that many times, when God gives you a vision for your life, it will include incredible sacrifice, and it will definitely include a process of walking by faith. You will not always know what the vision of God will look like in detail or what it will require of you in the end. In this case, God made one thing clear: Abraham was to leave his home and just follow God’s leading. Do you understand what He was saying?

It would be like God asking you, today, to sell all you have, get in the car with your family, and begin driving. He promises that He will let you know when and where to stop and for how long. Can you even imagine? You are to leave your home, your extended family and your friends. You are to leave everything familiar to you. But, what Abraham did not understand at the time, was that the Chazown, the vision that God was calling Him to, would not only change his life and that of his family, but it would have a lasting impact on the world. In fact, since Abraham is the father of the nation of Israel, he is having a major impact in our world today.

There were 3 major things God promised Abraham here in Genesis 12; and He repeats these promises in chapters 15 and 17 as well. God said: I will give you land, seed (children that will grow to be uncountable) and blessing (for you, your people, and those who are kind to you).

Now, here is the hard part. Not only did Abraham have to leave and go to an undesignated place somewhere out there; but he also had no children and no human hope of having any. He could not see any of God’s vision for his life as anywhere close to becoming a reality.

But, God continued to confirm this vision for Abraham. In Genesis 15, Abraham thought he needed to take things into his own hands in order to see God’s promises come to fruition. Since he did not have children of his own, perhaps he could make his servant boy his heir. But God said:

Genesis 15:4 – “…This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir. And he brought him outside and said, Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them. Then he said to him, So shall your offspring be. And he believed the LORD…”

God said – no – I told you – you will have your own son and from you will come this new nation – a greater number than the stars in the sky! And then the key phrase that indicated the faith of Abraham - although sometimes faulty, he did believe in the vision God gave him. Even though he still could not see it. In fact, Abraham still took things in his own hands. At the advice of his wife Sarah, he took one of her handmaids (Hagar) and had a child (Ishmael) through her, thinking that is how the promises of the LORD would be fulfilled. But again, God said no.

Genesis 17:16 – “…I will give you a son by her [Sarah]…”

Genesis 17:17-19 – “Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child? And Abraham said to God, Oh that Ishmael may live before you! God said, No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac…”

God kept telling him the vision, and Abraham kept believing, but trying to bring God’s vision about his own way. Abraham was human and failed, just like us. But, the Bible tells us that he was a man of faith, believing in God’s vision; and that gives us hope, that we can do the same.

Hebrews 11:8– “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.”

Not only that, once God gave him his son, Isaac, he then asked Abraham to sacrifice his son by killing him. And Abraham responded to this unbelievable request this way:

Hebrews 11:17-19 – By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, of whom it was said, Through Isaac shall your offspring be named. He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead...”

No, Abraham didn’t follow perfectly; but he did keep taking the next step by faith, knowing that God would fulfill his vision in His way and time. The nation of Israel was born, and the world would never be the same.

Please turn in your Bible to Acts 16. In the Bible in front of you, it is page 960 or 983.

In our history as a nation, many people have had a vision of what they could see in the future. And in some cases, their dreams are still being fulfilled and remembered today. Do you remember this Chazown?

“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal.’

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood…

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today…

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together…

When we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: ‘Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last’!”

Those words were spoken by the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. His vision was so powerful that it is often referred to; and on January 21st of every year, Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday is observed. There is power in a life vision.

God is in control. He loves you. He knows you, and His plans and vision is going to be accomplished through you. Listen to what God says about Himself:

Isaiah 46:9,10 – “…I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose.”

Listen to what God says about you. David said this to God:
Psalm 139:13-16 – “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there were none of them.”

God has a vision, a plan for your life. He wants you to find it, embrace it, and pursue it. The worst thing you could do is just float through the rest of your life, and just kind of “see what happens.” That is pretty easy to do going into a new year as well. If you don’t know what you are shooting for, you may hit the wrong target.

Did you watch the 2004 Summer Olympics? If you did, you might have seen an American athlete named Matthew Emmons. He was solidly on track for the gold in the 50 meter three position rifle final. Emmons was up for his final shot. He was so far ahead of the other competitors that all he had to do was send a bullet anywhere through the inner ring of the target. That would seal his gold medal. He prepared himself mentally. He paused his breathing. He took aim. Then he fired. The bullet passed right through the bull’s-eye.

But he was puzzled when the tone indicating a hit didn’t sound. Emmons then realized that the bull’s-eye he had hit was on the wrong target. He dropped from first place, and a virtually guaranteed gold medal, to eighth. The right shot hit the wrong target.

Many people are aiming at what seems to be a good target. It looks good to them. But, they are not shooting at the right target, because it is not God’s chazown for them. They have not consulted and followed God’s vision for their lives. Don’t let that happen to you.

Beside the area of core values, the author of Chazown also challenged me to look at my spiritual gifts as a part of the process of finding God’s vision for my life. The Bible tells us about the importance of finding how God has gifted us and using them for His service and glory.

Romans 12:6 – “Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them…”
I Peter 4:10,11 – “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies – in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.”

He asked the following questions to get the reader thinking about how God has gifted them:

Spiritual Gifts:
· What do you absolutely love to do?
· What do you do that has a significant impact on others?
· What do you do often that is a blessing to others?
· What do you secretly believe you can do, but have never tried?

In answering these questions and in looking at a list of spiritual gifts in the Bible, I came up with this list for me:
My Spiritual Gifts:
· Preaching
· Teaching
· Listening
· Administration
· Leadership

There is another biblical example of a man that understood God’s vision for his life, and pursued it with everything that he had. At one time, he was a murderer, Killing people who claimed to be Christians. But God changed his life around and gave him a Chazown that would have an eternal impact on many. Because of his faith in Christ, he was now persecuted for it. His name was Paul – the Apostle Paul. And I want you to see how his vision from God affected how he lived. In Acts 16, Paul and his missionary partner Silas were put into prison for their faith. In those tough, unfair, circumstances, here is what they did:

Acts 16:25 – “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.”

When an earthquake released all the prisoners, a jailor was ready to commit suicide, when he saw that Paul had remained behind. Because of Paul’s testimony, the jailor asked:
Acts 16:30 – “…Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

Look at:
Acts 17:16,17 – “Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols. So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there.”

Paul’s heart went out to people who did not have a relationship with Jesus Christ; and that led him to constantly put himself in danger by talking openly about how to become a Christian. In fact, he went through incredible trials and suffering because of it. Paul describes a little of what he went through:

II Corinthians 11:23-27– “…imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. Five times I received…forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked…in danger from rivers…from robbers…my own people…in the city…in the wilderness…at sea…from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.”

And that is just a partial list! Why would Paul go through all of this? One reason. God had given him a Chazown that motivated him to keep going, no matter what. Look at Acts 20 to see what it was that motivated him to this extent:

Acts 20:24 – “But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.”

This is what drove him – to tell others of the grace of God. And he was willing to go anywhere God led him, and to go through anything God allowed, in order to share the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ with another person. In fact, if you will go to the next book of the Bible and look at chapter 1. He was willing to give his life for this vision, because he believed in its eternal impact:

Romans 1:16 – “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”

God used the Apostle Paul to write the majority of the books of the New Testament. God’s chazown ruled his life. What about you? What are you willing to die for? What are you living for? Have you allowed yourself to be conformed into the mold of doing what everyone else is doing, following the course that everyone else travels down, just seeing where life leads? Don’t waste the rest of your life doing that!

Please turn in your Bible to John 6. In the Bible in front of you, it is page 924 or 944.

In the book Chazown, the third area to consider in recognizing God’s vision for life is to take into consideration your past experiences. Here were 3 key questions asked:

Past Experiences:
· What painful experience might God want to use?
· What good experiences have you had that God might want to use?
· What do your good and bad experiences have in common?

To think that our past experiences, even difficult ones can lead to an exciting chazown from God means that we have to fully believe:

Romans 8:28 – “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for God, for those who are called according to his purpose.”

It means that we have to take the example of a guy like Joseph, who experienced all kinds of unfair things, even from the people that he loved the most. He was cast off, left for dead, sold into slavery, rejected by his brothers, lied about, cast in prison and much more. But, God used Joseph to rescue the nation of Israel; and in the midst of being put in position where Joseph could have had revenge, he wisely saw God’s vision for his life. He said this to his brothers who had hurt him:

Joseph: Genesis 50:20 – “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.”

The only way you could say things like this is if you fully trust God by faith. You must keep taking steps of faith toward the vision God has given, even if you cannot fully understand it, or see how it will turn out. Our decisions now do make a difference for our future. Our view of God’s plan for our lives make a huge impact, not only for the rest of our lives, but for the lives of others. Teaching pastor Rob Wegner uses a childhood game he played to speak to the importance of the decisions we are making:

DOMINOE VIDEO [ 5.5 minutes]

Don’t concentrate on your past mistakes. Consider your life from today forward. Your decisions. Your actions. Your words – will make an impact. Are you ready to plug into God’s design for your life? Are you ready to capture His vision for you? Are you willing to do the hard preparation work to see God’s vision and to pursue it?

Have you ever heard the statement: God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life? Well, it also seems true that Everyone else also has a wonderful plan for our life! Other people think they know what God has for us. We all need wise counsel, including our parents and others; but God has a unique vision for you – for you to recognize and pursue. You must not allow the plans others have for your life to interfere with God’s vision for you.

The final and greatest example of someone who lived according to God’s vision was God in the flesh – Jesus Christ. Did you know that while Jesus carried out his public earthly ministry, that many others thought they knew what was best for Jesus? They had some wonderful plans for Him. However, He was focused, and was not willing to follow any other vision for His life than the one given by God the Father.

After Jesus performed an incredible miracle of feeding 5,000 men plus women and children with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish:

John 6:14,15 – “When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world! Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.”

Turn back 2 books to the book of Mark and chapter 8.

There were times when the people who witnessed Jesus’ great power and miracles, thought it would be great if Jesus would become their king and overthrow the Roman authorities! But, Jesus would not allow the excitement and plans of the people distract Him from what He was there to do. Many times, Jesus repeated why He was on Earth:

Luke 19:10 – “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

Jesus said this in the midst of criticism that He was spending time with sinners. Jesus said: this is why I am here. The reason I am spending time with sinful people is because I came to deliver them from their sins. That is my Chazown! Just after that:

Luke 19:11 – “As they heard these things, he proceeded to tell a parable, because he was near to Jerusalem, and because they supposed that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately.”

They thought Jesus would set up His Kingdom right away; but instead, Jesus told a story about a future Kingdom, and first He would have to go away. This was not the time. The time would come for Jesus to come and reign as king; but that was not the time. Jesus remained focused on the vision He had been given. Look at:

Mark 8:31-33 – “And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

Even Jesus’ closest friends, His disciples, had plans for Jesus’ life. And when Jesus revealed His vision, they didn’t like it. Peter rebuked the king of kings and lord of lords for His plan to save the world! Jesus would not be distracted. And before you judge Peter too harshly, have you always agreed with God’s plan for your life? Or have you sometimes complained that things are not the way you want them to be? Are you really willing to follow whatever God calls you to do?

One thing I love is that Jesus Christ, although fully God, was also fully human; and He was honest with the Father about His coming sacrifice:

Matthew 26:39,42 – “And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”…Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.”

“Not my will, but yours be done.” A great example for us. Yes, tell God what you would like. Yes, tell God exactly how you feel. But, follow Christ’s example and make sure that you are committed and that God knows that more than anything else, you want His will to be done; and you are willing to pursue it.

Keep in mind, that in the end, this is still the work of God. It is the work of God in you, but it is the work of God. This is not something you can do on your own.

Philippians 2:13 – “For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”

After looking at my 3 main areas (the book calls circles): core values, spiritual gifts and past experiences, the book helped me figure out God’s vision for me with this instruction: Bring your three circles together, and find the place where they converge. Then, finish this statement:

God has created me with a dream for my life, and I think it might be…

Also, there were 2 main questions the author posed for me to think about:

Question 1: If money were no object and I could do anything I wanted for the rest of my life, what would I do?

Question 2: Besides loving, caring for, and ministering to those who are most important to me, what is the number one thing that I believe God wants to accomplish through me?

Based on working through this process, and after a lot of prayer and counsel, I want to share with you the vision I believe has come from God for my life at this time:

My dream is to help people take the next step in their spiritual journey

This allows me quite a bit of flexibility but it also narrows my focus on what I want to accomplish in my life. Anything that gets in the way of this has to be set aside. I want nothing more than to help other people find out what their next step is toward Christ, and help them take that step. Right now, for me, that means focusing on my family, my close friends and my ministry here at Grace.

Craig Groeschel, the author of Chazown, says: “God’s vision for you is bigger than you can imagine and impossible for you to do on your own”

I agree. This vision is too big for me to handle on my own. I need His help. I need the support, encouragement and accountability of others.

Now, I know that I said this was not about New Year’s resolutions; but the fact is, once you find God’s vision for you, you will need to have some goals and action steps in order to pursue that vision. For today, my goal was to challenge you to ask God what, specifically, he would like for you to accomplish for Him. Don’t be general. Ask God for a specific vision that will narrow your focus and give you something to live for.

Will you take the challenge? I challenge you, for one week, to pray every day about the vision God wants to give you. If, after one week, you sense that God is giving you release from that and does not expect you to pursue it, then keep going the direction you are going. But, if He instead, gives you the sense that has something greater for you than what you are pursuing right now, then take the next step to pursue it.

On the back of your outline this morning, I have given you some suggested resources to assist you in pursuing God’s vision for you. And of course, the greatest resource is the Word of God, where we have story after story of God giving someone a vision for life, and the results of that pursuit.

Prayer Requests and Praises for January

Greg’s
Prayer Requests and Praises
January, 2008

Praises

1.Isaiah 9:6 – “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, prince of peace.”

2. Everything went very smoothly with our Christmas program; and the truth of the gospel was proclaimed through music and narration.

3. Alex was able to get his braces on because of a generous gift from friends.

4. We were able to time after Christmas with Teresa’s sister, her family, and Teresa’s parents.

5. Our church is very close to reaching our budget numbers for the year (in giving)!

Requests

1.That once I receive my rough draft back this month, I will be able to make a plan to write and complete the final draft on time.

2. A group of men will be meeting on Wednesday mornings, at 6 AM, beginning January 9th, for 3 months, to discuss a book and share our lives together. Pray we will grow in Christ.

3. We continue to work through our constitution revision as a church. There are many details to consider and it is not proving to be an easy process. Please pray as we continue this month, that we will have God’s guidance and be wise in our conclusions.

4. Our outreach basketball league begins this month (games on Tuesday nights). All the guys on my team are non-believers. Please pray that God would see fit to use me in sharing the gospel with them this year.

5. Upcoming messages: January
6- BURN THE SHIPS – The commitment of discipleship
13– GROWING IN GRACE –Step 1 – Rooted in Christ
20– GROWING IN GRACE – Step 2 – Built up in Him
27 – GROWING IN GRACE – Step 3 – Established in the Faith

THE CHRISTMAS WAR

I really struggled with what to preach during this Christmas season. This was the only really Christmas oriented message the whole month. And the content, along with the title, may seem a little strange. But, at the heart of it all, there is a spiritual battle that takes place every Christmas. It is the battle for supremacy: is this about Jesus Christ or about something or someone else? There is, of course, a daily battle, a life long battle for kingship: who rules in our hearts? These are the questions I felt led to pose to myself and to our people 2 days before Christmas, with this message:

THE CHRISTMAS WAR
Matthew 2

Please turn in your Bible to Luke 2.
I need your help here, as we think about Christmas. When you think of Christmas, what comes to your mind? Just shout it out… [give time for people to respond]

Those are all good things, great things, enjoyable things. Christmas is a great time of year. But, for those of us who are followers of Jesus Christ, we get concerned that at this time of year, all the frills and thrills of the human side of Christmas time overshadows the real reason to celebrate: the birth of Jesus Christ. But, even for those of us who celebrate the birth of Christ during this time of year, we still fail to recognize one of the key aspects to that first Christmas 2,000 years ago that still impacts us today.

Every Christmas season, we view a Christmas war. It the war of advertisers to convince you that you need to spend the money you are going to spend at Christmas time on THEIR product. So, right around Thanksgiving, we begin to hear the Christmas music in the stores and we begin to see all the advertisements for the new toys coming out and the great prices that this particular store is offering. In fact, one of the discussions most people have around Thanksgiving time was the same one we had: What is being offered by stores at midnight after Thanksgiving? What stores are opening at 5 AM and is there anything worth standing in line and driving and shopping on Black Friday (as it is called)? The war is about money; and every year the advertisers have to figure out how to get the most shoppers and the most money. But, this is not the Christmas war I am speaking of this morning.

A headline in the USA Today a couple weeks ago read: “For Clinton and Obama, war of words rages on.” Two of the Democratic candidates, who are seen as the best possible choices for the Democratic party next November, are having a war of words. With a Presidential election coming next year, the heat of political talk this Christmas season is turned way up. Mud is slung from all directions; and at least right now, people within the major parties are trying to convince us that their candidate is the most electable for a certain political party. There is a war of words at this Christmas time. But, this is not the Christmas war I am speaking of.

Out of all the things you mentioned this morning that you think about with Christmas, I think you forgot a very important topic. None of you said when you think of Christmas, you think of war. Now, some of you might think about that in terms of the Iraq war and the fact that we still have men and women fighting for our freedom even over this Christmas holiday. But, that is not the type of fighting and war that I am referring to. I want you to consider with me, this morning, a type of war that started 2,000 years ago and a war you are still fighting this Christmas season.

We are in Luke, chapter 2, and I will read the beginning of the famous and true Christmas story:

Luke 2:1-7 – “In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all went to be registered, each to his own town. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her first-born son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.”

If you have ever looked at this story before, and many of you have heard and read this many times – at least once a year at Christmas - then perhaps you have been amazed as I am, at all the circumstances that came together in this story: All of the people, the decisions of government leadership, and the prophecies that were fulfilled in detail, when all the odds would have been against it.

In this passage, circumstances brought Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem, a small village of no significance at that time. Mary was pregnant and ready to deliver soon; but had not formally married Joseph. Not only were those circumstances scandalous, but the story was that she was pregnant without having sex. How does that happen? The story was that the Holy Spirit created the baby in her womb. And what about the atmosphere of the birth itself? With no room in the inn, they were most likely in a shepherd’s cave, to give birth to their first baby – a true miracle of God.

But, our focus, this morning, is not on all of these details. Instead, I want to focus on two individuals that entered us into a life long war at that time. Because as soon as this baby was born in Bethlehem, this issue of power and control became a prominent one, not only for a nation, but for every person who would come to live in the future. Who was involved in this war? Let’s find out.

Please turn back two books to Matthew, chapter 2.

Had you picked up a daily newspaper in 1809, you would have read the big news that Napoleon I, emperor of France, had conquered Austria at Wagram, annexed the Illyrian Provinces (now part of Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the Federal republic of Yugoslavia), and abolished the Papal States.

But in that same year:
· In France, Louis Braille, who devised a way for the blind to read, was born
· In Germany, Felix Mendelssohn the great composer of symphonies was born
· In England, William Gladstone, the four-time prime minister and the father of public education, was born
· And Alfred Lord Tennyson, the poet laureate of Great Britain, was born
· Also in England, Charles Darwin, the most influential scientist of the 19th century was born
· In America, Edgar Allen Poe, the master poet and storyteller, was born
· And Oliver Wendell Holmes, the writer and physician who developed surgical techniques still in use today, was born
· Also, in America, Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States, was born

But at the end of the year 1809, the only event anyone thought to be important was Napoleon’s conquest of Austria. That was the big news. Today, who remembers the “big news” of 1809? Hardly anyone. Napoleon’s conquest is just a tiny blip on the big screen of history. But the world was changed forever by a few, seemingly, insignificant births that took place that same year.

And so it was with the birth that we read about in Luke 2 and that is recorded here in Matthew. Many other things were of concern to people in that day. And the man we are about to introduce would have been one of the main stories. But, there was a birth that year that changed the world forever. The story continues:

Matthew 2:1 – “Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king…”

Let’s stop there for a moment. We get so wrapped up in the details of how Joseph and Mary found out they were going to have a baby, without having sex, and then of course, the travel to Bethlehem, the place where the baby was born and the actual birth. We love the story in Luke 2 about the Shepherds and then we come to Matthew 2 concerning the wise men. We might even talk about Simeon and Anna, two key figures that saw the Christ child and fulfilled prophecy.

But what about this character, mentioned in Matthew 2:1 – Herod the king. He was sometimes referred to as Herod the Great, he was King of the Jews at that time. However, he was not Jewish. Herod was born in Indumea and had Edomite blood in his veins. He had married into the Jewish royal line. He had become governor in 47 B.C. Herod had gained the support of the Romans during the wars and civil wars in Palestine. They saw him as someone who could rule in their favor. In 40 B.C., he received the title of King. According to commentator William Barclay, “Herod was the only ruler of Palestine who ever succeeded in keeping the peace and in bringing order into disorder.”

I love the video series, That The World May Know. Focus on the Family produced it and the historian and teacher, Ray Vander Laan went over to Israel to film it. He takes tours with people and walks them through the Holy Land to help them see some of what is talked about in the Scriptures. On his tape, The True Christmas Story, Ray Vander Laan introduces us to the palace and the power of King Herod.
Take a look.

Video clip – 2.5 minutes

HEROD THE KING
· Lived in a palace
· Lived to be worshiped

In that day, what Herod had built showed his greatness. He had power and vision. He was seen as a great man and had built a good reputation. He had built a fortress palace, the Herodium. It was at the edge of the Judean wilderness, a few miles from a tiny village named Bethlehem. This unbelievable fortress is what people would have noticed as they travelled to Bethlehem, which at that time may have been a town of 300 people, at the most.

So, think about this. When Joseph and Mary travelled to Bethlehem, they most likely viewed the 120 foot high tower, 55 feet in diameter, and saw the picture of power and the greatness of the King of the Jews. I wonder what they thought about that. What did the Shepherds, who saw the angels and heard the incredible news that the Messiah, the Savior of Israel had been born – what did they think as they saw the incredible fortress, a tribute to the honor of Herod, the King of the Jews?

This is the type of place for a king. But, those people who travelled to where Jesus was born, experienced something that didn’t fit their mind pictures of a king’s palace. The pictures and stories of Jesus’ birth today give us the idea that this little barn where Jesus was born was a nice, quaint place, where there were some clean animals, and a nice spot for a beautiful manger, with clean straw, and a clean, quiet, new born baby, smiling along with the proud parents!

But, this was probably more like a dark, shepherds cave, not as pretty as we have made it. It was dirty and dark and probably without fresh straw. It had soot built up on the ceiling where the shepherds would have burned their fires. Most likely, there would be manure spread all over, and a very distinctive smell because of it. This was the place where the new King was born. This was the place where the Savior of the world, the promised Messiah, was born. Unbelievable!

This began a war! Let’s come back, now, to Matthew 2:
Matthew 2:1-3 – “Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him. When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled…”

This shouldn’t be surprising. Herod hears from the traveling wise men that a new king has been born. Do you see why he may have been a little troubled? Think about what he had built. Think about his power and renown. Think about some new born, stinky baby, taking all of the attention away from him! No way. This was troubling for Herod. This was war! And we see the real issue here, in what the Wise Men said about their intentions. What did they say: we have come to _______________ _____ - what? We have come to worship him.

I suppose Herod could have had a different response, such as: “The Messiah, the future king of the Jews has been born? That’s amazing! We have been waiting for this. The Jewish people have been waiting their entire existence for this event to take place. We have been praying for this to happen!” Not quite. But, with the news from the wise men, Herod pretended to be very interested in worshipping this new king as well.
Matthew 2:4-8 – “And assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. They told him, In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet: ‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’ Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him.”

Did you hear Herod’s words? “That I too may come and worship him.” I wonder if the wise men believed him at the time. Later, God told them not to go back to Herod once they found the baby Messiah:

Matthew 2:12 – “And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.”

JESUS CHRIST THE KING
· Born in a cave
· Worthy of worship

You see: this was an issue of worship. This was a real worship war. When Herod heard that there was a new king born; and that these learned men were on their way to worship Him, that sealed the deal for Herod. He had to find this supposed king and dispose of Him – no question about it. Herod was the king and the only one that should be honored and worshipped as such.

In fact, Herod was so set on destroying this coming king, that when the wise men never came back or sent him word, he took matters into his own hands, to make sure of it – or so he thought:

Matthew 2:16 – “Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men.”

He had it figured out – that Jesus was still under 2 years old at the time. So, why take chances? Kill all the male babies 2 years and younger. Unbelievable! Herod’s pride and self concern had gotten to the point that killing “innocent” children was worth it for him, if he could kill that one child – the promised Messiah – the coming King. But, this was no surprise to God. Just before Herod’s men came to do their dirty work of murder:

Matthew 2:13 – “Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.”

And that baby, Jesus Christ, was delivered from Herod’s hand. Jesus Christ won that battle; and it was the sign of what would come: Jesus Christ would win the war. But, the war still rages on today.

Here, at Christmas time, we war with all the other stuff that comes with this season:
· The newspaper reported that a California woman thought she had been pricked by pine needles when she reached into her Christmas tree. Turns out, a live bat had hitched a ride in the branches. No one wants to battle at bat in their living room!
· Or did you hear about the 12 year boy in South Carolina that was arrested because his mother called the police on him. And why? Because he opened a Christmas present too early. Yes, you heard that right. He opened his Christmas present too early, his mom called the police, and he was charged as a juvenile for petty larceny. But, according to police spolesman Jerry Warldrop, he was released the next day because (quote): “We couldn’t hold a 12 year old.”!

Did all of you kids hear that story – be warned! Crazy things happen at this time of year, because we are wrapped up in all the temporal and secular stuff that surrounds us. There is a war every Christmas as to what we are going to pay the most attention to. Are we going to enjoy this time as a time to worship Jesus Christ, or as a time to worship materialism? Food, family, decorations and presents can be a lot of fun at Christmas. But, we can be tempted to allow those things to capture our attention and divert our praise and worship from the only One who deserves it.

This is all connected to the true Christmas story of that little baby boy born to be king. In fact, if God had not come to earth as a baby: Jesus Christ, then we would not be singing praises to Him today in our worship services. If Jesus had not died for our sins and rose again from the grave, we would not be concerned with worship at all. But, Jesus Christ is risen from the dead; and we await His coming, to take us back to be with Him forever; and then to set up His Kingdom of peace.

While we wait for that day to come, we fight the battle of life worship, and we fight by singing and giving and serving the one and only God. Gerrit Gustafson, in his book: Adventure of Worship wrote:

“Let’s try to understand. Ever since the Great Sacrifice, a process of coronation has been underway. According to Philippians 2, the Father has already exalted Christ above every name, and at the name of Jesus every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that He is Lord. But like the gap of time between when Samuel anointed David king and when he actually took his throne, there’s also a gap of time between the declaration of Jesus’ kingship and its actual taking effect in history. As the writer of Hebrews declared:

Hebrews 2:8: “In putting everything under him, God left nothing that is not subject to him. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to him”

When Jesus Christ was born, the Wise Men were going to worship a king. But, he was not to be in the position of a king – not yet. As Jesus grew, there were people who wanted, who expected Jesus to set up His kingdom and overthrow the Roman government. But, the time had not yet come. Jesus’ future is to reign as King. But, presently, there is a war raging. We do battle every day, living as though Christ is king of our lives or someone or something else. When we meet together on Sunday, we proclaim that Jesus is our King – and we fight the spiritual war by giving of our praise and giving of our money and giving of our service and giving of our selves.

Please turn in your Bible to Romans 10. In the Bible in front of you, it is page 982 or 1007.

We can easily get caught up with the secular enjoyments of the season. So much so, that the joy is wrapped up in the moment of food and gifts, and does not last past December 25th. I came across this Post - Christmas poem:

“Twas the day after Christmas, When all through the place
There were arguments and depression – Even mom had a long face
The stockings hung empty, And the house was a mess;
The new clothes didn’t fit…And Dad was under stress.
The family was irritable, And the children – no one could please;
Because the instructions for the new toys were written in Chinese!
The bells no longer jingled, And no carolers came around;
The sink was stacked with dishes, And the tree was turning brown.

The stores were full of people, returning things that fizzled and failed,
And the shoppers were discouraged;
Because everything they’d bought was now on half-price sale!

Twas the day after Christmas – The spirit of joy had disappeared;
The only hope on the horizon was 12 football games coming New Years!”

Many people fight the wars of Christmas time that only have to do with a particular day: the war of finances to buy gifts, the war of traffic to get the best gifts first; the war of who is going to give what gift to whom; and then losing the war after its over. Things have to be taken back, credit cards that were maxed out have to be paid, some are not happy with their gifts; and the gifts that were so coveted, are used for a few weeks and then put away forever.

You have probably heard that many people attempt or commit suicide at this time of year.Some statistics say 17% of Americans struggle with major depression and much of that happens at this Christmas time. Government figures say that there are about 30,000 suicides committed each year; and it seems many are done around this time. It is the time when we most want to experience love, and yet our society tries to fill that with a love for things – and it never satisfies. Even those who claim that it is all about human relationships – being with family at Christmas time. Even that is temporal. Human relationships eventually fail, and people eventually die.

I remember my grandfather had died in March of 1989and I was hoping to see my grandmother at Christmas time that year. But, when I mentioned to her in the summer that I was looking forward to Christmas and seeing her, she didn’t respond. She had battled cancer, she was ready to go home to be with her king and Savior Jesus Christ, and I think she knew she would not be around for Christmas. She died December 4, 1989. Our human relationships, even at Christmas time, are truly temporal. There is only one relationship that is eternal, one which we have a great opportunity to emphasize at this time of year. And there is a war fought every year, as to what and whom will be worshiped – at Christmas time.


One of the things can be easily overlooked in Matthew 1,2 with the story of Jesus’ birth and the hunt of Herod for Jesus are all the fulfilled prophecies of Scripture. These were not just circumstances that all took place at just the right time and in the exact manner that Scripture had said. This was not fate. These events were fulfillments of biblical prophecies that had been made hundreds of years earlier.

Here is a sampling of them:
· When it says that Mary gave birth to Jesus
Matthew 1:22 – “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet”
· The Wise Men were able to tell Herod where Jesus was going to be born:
Matthew 2:5 – “They told him, In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet”
· God told Joseph to take Jesus to Egypt until it was safe:
Matthew 2:15 – “…This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, Out of Egypt I called my son.”
· The fact that Herod would kill the young children in trying to kill Jesus:
Matthew 2:17 – “Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah”
· Was it a surprise that Joseph, then, instead of returning to Bethlehem, went to Nazareth? The Bible told us it would happen:
Matthew 2:23 – “And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled: He shall be called a Nazarene.”

SO WHAT ABOUT YOU?
· Trust the Word of God

Here is a key player in this Christmas war: are the Scriptures true or not? If they are not true, then we cannot depend on what it says about Jesus Christ and our need for Him. If they are true, then the only way to God is Jesus Christ. If the Bible is true, then we must make a decision to make Jesus Christ the king of our life. Some of the greatest pieces of evidence for the reliability of the Scriptures is the fact that every prophecy of Scripture has come true. And the ones we just looked at in Matthew 1 and 2 have to do with what we celebrate at Christmas time. You can trust the Bible to be right – every time. And the most important information the Scriptures give us concerns how to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. And it all began with the war that was won 2,000 years ago.

Today, people look at the ruins that King Herod left behind. Yes, they are impressive ruins, but ruins nonetheless. Herod had a great vision. Herod had built for himself; and wanted to be remembered. But, that vision is dead and buried there near Bethlehem.

HEROD THE KING
· Died
· His vision died

The child, however, that was born and hunted down by Herod, was not here to build buildings or a name for himself. He was here to be born as a man, to live by faith, and to die for the sins of the world.

Mark 10:45 – “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

JESUS CHRIST THE KING
· Lived to serve by dying for our sins

People tried to get him to make himself king, but the time was not right. Yes, one day He will return as the coming king; but for now, the way He rules as king is in the hearts of His people.

One day, 30 plus years after the miraculous birth and King Herod’s attempt to destroy him, people would hail Jesus as the King of the Jews; but they would do so in jest, mocking His claim to be the Messiah. It was a sign placed above him as he hung on the cross: King of the Jews.

But, it was as he hung on the cross, dying for our sins, in his humility, that we have the opportunity for eternal life. This is where your most important Christmas decision comes in. It is possible that you are here this morning and would admit that you do not have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. You have the opportunity today to make the future King of the world the king of your life. You have the opportunity, today, to accept the greatest Christmas gift ever: eternal life. And there is absolutely nothing you can do to earn it. The Bible says:

Romans 10:9,10 – “Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

SO WHAT ABOUT YOU?
· Trust in Jesus Christ alone for salvation and give Him your life
If you believe that the Word of God is true. If you believe that Jesus Christ died for your sins and rose from the dead, as the Bible claims. If you admit that Jesus Christ is the master of your life as you give your life to Him, you can receive the free gift of eternal life. This is where the war rages – for your heart.

Our human nature tells us that we can make our own path, and make it to God by being moral, doing enough good works, and being a part of some religious system. Our world tells us there are many great people to worship, many great things to go after and have, many things to achieve and glory for yourself to be gained. Most people go these ways. But, God is calling you to something different. He wants your heart. He wants your life.

JESUS CHRIST THE KING
· Rose from the dead
· Will be worshiped by all one day

One day, all will say these words:
Revelation 4:11 – “You are worthy, O Lord, To receive glory and honor and power; For you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”
In the days when the Book of Revelation was written, the Romans were still at the height of their power. Any time a king was conquered by the Roman legions, he was either brought to Rome to prostrate himself before the emperor, or, failing that, he was required to bow and cast down his crown before a massive image of Caesar. The Romans demanded that any conquered king demonstrate his acknowledgment of the Roman Emperor’s superiority. The elders in John’s vision wear crowns, but they show the same total submission to the King of kings and Lord of Lords.

This is a war; and you have to decide you will get your allegiance. A new study by the The Barna Group, conducted among 16-29 year olds, shows that a new generation is more skeptical of and resistant to Christianity than were people of the same age just a decade ago. The study explored twenty specific images related to Christianity, including 10 favorable and 10 unfavorable perceptions. Among young non-Christians, 9 out of the top 12 perceptions were negative, including perceptions that present-day Christianity is judgmental (87%), hypocritical (85%), old-fashioned (78%) and too involved in politics (75%).

Regardless of your age, it possible that some of these negative perceptions might be an obstacle for you to give your life to Jesus Christ. But, that is a part of this spiritual, Christmas war. You cannot allow your perceptions of Christians to stop you from deciding who you will allow to win the war of your heart. Those perceptions are a part of Satan’s strategy to keep you from following Christ, the one and only true King.

One day, you will bow before this king. You can wait until then, when it too late to follow Him; or you can do it today.The real war wages for your eternal life. Today is the day to give your heart to Jesus Christ. You can do that right there in your seat. You pray to Him without saying anything out loud. You can accept His gift of eternal life. If you have any questions at all, we are here to help you answer those; and even pray with you.

SO WHAT ABOUT YOU?
· Worship Him by living for Him
· Worship Him at Christmas time

For those of you who already have a relationship with Jesus Christ, you still are involved in a spiritual war. Not only now at Christmas time, but each and every day, you are tempted to get caught up in our world’s system and to worship something other or someone other than Jesus Christ. Each day, you must die to yourself; and perhaps today, you can identify something that tends to take you away from your total devotion to Jesus Christ.

In our family, we enjoy Christmas trees, music, decorations and giving presents. We love it. But, it is our desire to keep our focus on whom is worthy of our worship this and every time of year. For us, that means reading the Christmas story of Luke 2 before we open presents. It means using other resources, like stories and Christ themed decorations, to remember what this is really all about. It means we emphasize the giving over the receiving. It means we pray and thank God for all the gifts He has given us, especially His Son, Jesus Christ. What are you doing to make sure that Christ wins the war of your heart on Christmas day?

Let’s pray.

Oh be careful little hands what you blog

I began this blog so that I would pursue personal growth. I needed to discipline myself to write down my thoughts and communicate my heart to others who are interested. My goal has been to post at least 2 blogs each week. The only one I know for sure that has been reading my blog is my mom - and that's good enough for me. When I post a blog, there is a comment section, so that if those reading it choose to, they can comment on my blog and others can read what they said about it. I haven't really been paying much attention, except to see that no one had been posting comments.

Then, yesterday, as I was learning some other things that could be done on a blog, I saw that 2 of my posts had a comment attached. I had no idea who one person was that commented on one of my messages on worship. The other comment had to do with a book I recentlly read: In A Pit With a Lion On A Snowy Day. I was surprised to read the comment from that books author. It was very nice - encouraging.

I learned something new - that I probably should have already known: When you are dealing with the wide world of the internet, information is out there for all to see - including people you may write about that you never thought would see it. I'm glad I didn't trash this guy! But the other thing I learned is that the recent vision I received for my life is possible in more ways than I imagined:

My dream is to help people take the next step in their spiritual journey

Although my writings are mostly for myself (and my mom), it is possible that I might be able to help some anonymous reader out there to take his/her next step toward Christ.

Don't forget that God is in control of your life as well. He may choose to use you to have an impact on someone else, whose life you never thought you could touch. Be encouraged; and be open to what God might want to do through you - today.

BACK TO THE FUTURE

This was the 10th and final message in the Heart of Worship message series. This was intended to give a look at how we plan to carry out the foundational principles laid during the series. It is much more about a philosophy of biblical application and heart attitude than it is a list of specific guarantees of how the worship services will look in the next few years. It was my desire to be clear on heart attitude and motivation, but leave a lot of flexibility and freedom for how God might lead us in the future.

BACK TO THE FUTURE
Vision for Worship at Grace

Please turn in your Bible to Romans 11.
Last week, we look at how the principles of worship in the Scriptures affect what we do in our worship services. We have spent a couple of months working our way through just some of what the Bible has to say about worship – how it applies to our lives and how it applies to corporate worship. This morning, we conclude our message series on worship by giving a vision for what our worship can be.

Because of our human nature, we tend to want things, including how things are at church, to be what we want – for our benefit and enjoyment. But, as we begin this last message of our Heart of Worship series this morning, we need to remember that Church corporate worship, including the musical part of worship, is all about one person and that person is not me and it’s not you – it’s all about God! Our highest priorities and desires in this area of worship has to be about God and not about pleasing people. This is what the Psalmist invited us to do.

Would you please stand with me? I can’t think of a better way to begin this message than to have us read together a Psalm, a part of Israel’s song book, inviting us to come to worship God with all we have because of who He is: When I point to your side (and the balcony side is included), please read in unison:

Psalm 100 – “Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth!
Serve the LORD with gladness!

Come into his presence with singing!
Know that the LORD, he is God!

It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise!
Give thanks to him; bless his name!

For the LORD is good;
his steadfast love endures forever,
[all together]: and his faithfulness to all generations.”

This is about coming to God to praise and worship Him!

We have used Romans 12 in our worship series already, but I want you to take a look at it in its greater context. Remembering that when the Apostle Paul wrote Romans, there were no chapter divisions, please note his words just before chapter 12. Please look with me in your Bibles at:

Romans 11:33-36 – “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor? Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid? For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.”

Romans 12:1 – “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.”

This passage lays the foundation for the principles of worship vision that I want to share with you today:
· This is about God

This is all about Him. Our worship is about Him. It is for His glory. We cannot always figure Him out; or understand why He does what He chooses to do. But, we choose to trust Him and we choose to praise Him – in our worship services and in life. We showed this the first week of our Heart of Worship Series and it is appropriate to be reminded of its message today:

VIDEO: GIFT OF WORSHIP

And this leads us to the working definition we have had during our Heart of Worship message series. Say it with me if you know it:

“Worship is responding to God for who He is and what He has done by giving ourselves completely to Him.”

Let’s put it on the screen and say it one more time together:
“Worship is responding to God for who He is and what He has done by giving ourselves completely to Him.”

Its all about God; but as our working definition states and as Romans 12: 1 tells us:

· This is about life worship

But also, as we talk about the vision for worship, we must consider the vision for our church as a whole. Let me remind you of our purpose statement as a church:

Growing together in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, we are walking with God, pursuing relationships with His people, and reaching out to those who do not know Him.

All aspects of our purpose statement are connected to this issue of worship.

· This is about growing in grace

It is about spiritual growth. The worship we participate in here is to help you grow in your faith as you take your next steps in your relationship with God, other believers and those who do not yet know Him. This is about you not only learning how to appreciate God’s grace given to you, but also about you offering grace to others. This is about heart attitude. This is about God’s Word. And that is all reflected in this purpose statement.

I gave this message this strange title for a reason: BACK TO THE FUTURE. When it comes to church ministry and accomplishing God’s purposes, the past and the present are important. We must learn from the past, respect the past, and appreciate the past. We could spend hours talking about the rich heritage of Grace Baptist Church in her past. We could list and describe the wonderful ministries of each of its pastors. We could talk about the buildings, the numbers of people and the programs of the past.

But the past I am speaking of today is the biblical past. Because although our church history has a lot to do with where we are today, it is biblical truth that will be our guide to the future. As we move into the future here at Grace, including the important area of corporate worship, it is the Bible that we look to for principles that lead us. Although we want to be sensitive to our church history, we are much more concerned with what will please God in pursuing His purposes for us.

Please turn in your Bible to Psalm 150. In the Bible in front of you, it is page 547 or 559.

In our Core Values for our ministry, we include this statement:

AUTHENTIC WORSHIP
We believe it is crucial to sincerely exalt God in our personal lives and corporate gatherings. We believe worship happens twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, as we seek to honor God in our lives. Corporately, we desire to lift up the glory of God through our prayers, testimonies, giving, teaching and singing. To be real before God is our humble, heart’s desire.
[Psalm 100; John 4:21-24; Romans 12:1,2; Ephesians 5:19-21; Colossians 3:16,17]

So, this morning, I want to present principles from the Scriptures that give us a vision for where we are headed as a church, as it pertains to corporate worship. I realize in talking to a group of this size, that many of you have differing opinions, and even may have different visions for worship. Some of you will think what I have to say today is too much change: too wild, too progressive. Some of you, coming from a different perspective will think I am too vague and too conservative.

With all of that said, let me share with you statements of vision for our worship. Keep in mind that a vision does not state what is already present in every way, but the hope for the future. This is what I see in our future as it relates to our corporate worship:

1. We will worship with excellence

Colossians 3:17 – “And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

“Whatever we do” includes our corporate worship service. Doing it in the name of the Lord Jesus means doing it with excellence. Is excellence important? Well, its not the most important thing, but based on the foundational beliefs we have already mentioned, it is crucial:

Stan Toler and Alan Nelson put it this way: “We need to strive for excellence and care about our church property, programming and publicity because God deserves our best. We, as the local church, are His local franchise within a community. We represent Him. The Bible says that all Christians are to act as ambassadors, as liaisons between God and others. When we do things that reflect a shabby mind-set, we are certainly not representing Him well, because God does things with excellence. Look at creation. After everything was created, He looked at it and said, It is good. When we offer mediocre music, have unfriendly ushers and ho-hum services, and then present ourselves as a reflection of God’s love and character, we insult Him.”

The vision is that when people experience our worship services, they will see a reflection of God’s excellence. The vision is that when people think about serving here at Grace, part of the reason they are drawn to serve is because they see that we are doing the best we can with what we have for the glory of God; and they want to be a part of that!

Understand something. Another reason for excellence here is because this morning worship service is the main entry point for people to Grace. Most new people to Grace come first to our morning worship service. This is where they first meet us, see what is important to us, and experience our values as it relates to our worship of God.

Therefore, we plan what is going to take place in our services. We practice. We try to keep things flexible and use variety. We know that the first impressions people have as they visit one of our worship services is going to make a huge impact on whether or not they will come back; and whether or not they want to be a part of what is going on here.

This also must affect our budget. If we are going to glorify God by reflecting excellence in our services, we will need to put our money where our mouth is. This is the service where our church meets all together. There is no other program or service we have that has more of our people meeting together. This service must receive our attention and must be the best thing that we offer here at Grace. That takes money – it takes prioritizing.

As we speak, we have over $20,000 worth of needs to make the sound the best it can be, to improve all of our equipment, in some cases replacing some, and in some cases, getting new, needed equipment all for the area of our worship service. Our budget for this next year reflects less than 2% dedicated to improving this service and helping us toward excellence. Now, there are many reasons for that. But, our budget does reflect what is important to us at this time. My dream would be that we would be closer to 10% that would dedicated to making this service as excellent and God glorifying as it can be. It will help us in assisting people in growing in their faith and in reaching new people who have not yet attended our service, but will in the future. Another part of our vision:

2. We will have blended worship

By blended worship, we mean that our worship service will reflect the past and the present, the conservative and the progressive, the old and the new, the soft and the loud, meditation and celebration.

In talking about this issue in his book : When God builds a Church, Bob Russell wrote: “The failure to understand these two sides of worship and their corresponding musical styles is at the heart of much controversy in churches today. If you come from a formal, liturgical background, you are used to an emphasis on the reverence and awe side of worship. When you enter a church, you expect quietness and an atmosphere of holiness. The leader quotes Psalm 46:10 – “Be still and know that I am God,” and Hebrews 12:28,29 – “Let us…worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.” So if you visit a congregation where people are talking and laughing loudly when you enter, where they clap after a special song and some even raise their hands during the singing, you think it’s inappropriate and irreverent.

But if you grew up in a more charismatic church, you’re accustomed to the emphasis on the joy of worship. The leader quotes Psalm 47:1 – “Clap your hands, all you nations; shout to God with cries of joy” and Psalm 5:11 – “But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you.’ A charismatic who visits a church that’s more liturgical thinks, This church is dead! Jesus Christ is alive! Come on, you all, get with it!”

Two passages of Scripture illustrate the diversity. Consider the diversity here:

Psalm 150
“Praise the LORD! Praise God in his sanctuary; Praise him in his mighty heavens! Praise him for his mighty deeds; Praise him according to his excellent greatness!
Praise him with trumpet sound; Praise him with lute and harp! Praise him with tambourine and dance; Praise him with strings and pipe! Praise him with sounding cymbals; Praise him with loud clashing cymbals! Let everything that has breath praise the LORD! Praise the LORD!”

In this passage, there are instruments that normally lend to more somber, reflective, softer music and instruments that are going to lead to celebratory, loud and raucous praise! Another passage we have looked at in the past remind us of some different types of songs and styles that can be used in worship:

Colossians 3:16 – “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”

Again, we will be guided by the truths of the Word of God; but in communicating those truths, we will do it in differing styles with a variety of music.

Some might think our worship is already blended because we normally sing a few hymns and a few praise songs. But, there is much more to being truly blended than that, and we will continue to go that direction. It will mean that we will have to sacrifice some of our own preferences. It will mean that we will have to open our arms to people who respond in worship differently than we do. In other words, it means we will need to be the Body of Christ and reflect God’s love!

When we took our all church survey this past year, here is what we found, representing the opinions of our congregation in the area of music and worship:

The music I want to worship to (corporately) is:
· All hymns – 8%
· All praise songs – 12%
· Not sure or no opinion– 20%
· Blended – 60%

I believe the atmosphere of worship should be:
· Loud and celebratory – 4%
· Quiet and somber – 9%
· Not sure or no opinion– 22%
· Some of Both (Blended)– 65%

There are great positives to consider: A blended service will mean that we will have younger and older people worshipping together and loving it. It will mean that we will have people from different Baptist backgrounds, Catholic backgrounds, Methodist backgrounds, Charismatic backgrounds and other backgrounds, all worshiping together (because we have all come to trust in Jesus Christ alone for salvation!) It means we will have those who prefer the old and those who prefer the new – together in worship. It will mean that we will reflect the true nature of the Body of Christ, in its variety, diversity and unity!

Please turn back now to Psalm 19.

3. We will all participate in worship

We will encourage everyone to participate rather then spectate. We will emphasize participation over performance. We live in a spectator world.

A.W. Tozer said: “In the average church service the most real thing is the shadowy unreality of everything. The worshipper sits in a state of suspended mentation; a kind of dreamy numbness creeps upon him; he hears words but they do not register, he cannot relate them to anything on his own life-level.”

We don’t want people to come and just sit and just leave – no impact – no change – no real worship. You probably agree that we live in a spectator world. We are used to going somewhere, taking it all in as a consumer, and then leaving. But, it can’t be that way in our corporate worship.

As I have said in the past, you are not the audience and this is not the auditorium. This is the worship center, and when you come, you are expected to worship. We , up front, are not the performers and you are not the audience. We all are the worshipers, and God is the audience. It has always been this way.

That is why God wants to make sure our heart attitudes and motivations are right when we come to worship Him corporately:

Isaiah 29:13 – “And the Lord said: Because this people, draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men.”

God is concerned with the heart attitude of all the worshippers who come, not just those who are speaking or singing. Our prayer for each of us as worshippers, every time we meet for corporate worship, should be:

Psalm 19:14 – “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.”

Robert Webber, in his book, Worship is a Verb, wrote: “To worship is to do something. Worship is interactive. You do not just listen passively – you engage actively…For many people, church is characterized mostly as an exercise in sitting and listening…worship…is catalyzing participation and expression.”

I agree. I think this is true. So, the question is: If you are not preaching or singing in the choir or on the worship team or doing special music, how can you be participating throughout the service? Let me give you several suggestions:

· Bring with you a humble, God honoring attitude and expectation
· Talk with one another (fellowship) before the service.
As you talk with each other, laugh with one another, cry with one another, you are honoring God, joyfully anticipating our corporate worship – you are participating in worship.
· Sing with all of your heart
Participate by singing the songs that are chosen whether they are your favorite or not.
· Serve during the service
Participate by using your God given abilities in worship: playing an instrument, singing in the choir or on the worship team, doing specials, being an usher, etc.
· Listen to the music sung and played by others, considering the truth of what is played and appreciating those who are communicating those truths.
· Respond with your voice and/or body in worship as led by the Holy Spirit. This might mean raising a hand, closing your eyes, saying Amen, etc.
· Give to God through the offering. This is an important part of participating in worship. It is your response to what God has done for you; and used by God to further His work through this local church.
· When someone is praying during the service, pray silently with them, agreeing with them.
· During the teaching of God’s Word, listen attentively, thinking about how God would want you to apply His Word to your everyday life.
The idea here is that you are always thinking about how to participate in what is going on, whether that is listening, considering something in your heart and mind, singing, praying, talking with others, or applying God’s Word. If you are participating with the right heart attitude, you are worshiping for God’s glory.
One of my applications to this is that I often ask you to answer me or take a quiz or read Scripture in our message time. The point is that you are the worshipper and we are doing it together.

Please turn to Matthew 28. In the Bible in front of you, it is page 864 or 881.
The next aspect of our corporate worship vision is this:

4. We will worship to make disciples in our community

I want to you think about this statement with me. First, let’s consider the biblical basis for it; and then let’s consider its ramifications for us today:

Matthew 28:19,20 – “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

These were the last words of Jesus before He ascended back to Heaven, after He had died and risen from the dead and met with His followers. This was the primary command He decided to leave us with. The things mentioned in these verses that we need to be doing, such as baptizing and teaching, are all descriptions of how to obey this one command: MAKE DISCIPLES.

We will worship to make disciples in our community by:
· Helping believers connect with Christ

So, when we think about the music we are going to use and the type of worship service we are going to have, we must keep this command in mind. This includes people who have been here for a long time and have been Christians for a long time. They know and appreciate worship that came from Bible days and the Reformation period and 30 years ago. We do keep in mind that we are responsible to make disciples of people who already know Christ; and we will consider their backgrounds and what best connects with them.

This is what normally is called tradition. People who have been in a church with tradition expect it to continue. This is sometimes a challenge when tradition, that can be a good thing, becomes traditionalism, which can be destructive.

Matt Redman, a worship leader and song writer said: “Tradition alone can become lifeless, existing to please itself, and leave no room for spontaneous love. When we meet to worship God, although structure is important, it must never be allowed to strangle life.”

Warren Wiersbe, in his book: Real Worship, said: “The problem really isn’t tradition, because tradition is simply the content of what one generation hands to another.The problem is traditionalism, which is the worship of traditions to such an extent that few people dare to examine them or try to change them. The familiar epigram comes to mind: ‘Tradition is the living faith of the dead; traditionalism is the dead faith of the living’.”

And we are committed to appreciating tradition, even starting some ourselves; and yet running from an attitude of traditionalism – worshiping tradition.

We will worship to make disciples in our community by:

· Helping non-believers connect to Christ

This also includes people who are coming to church without knowing anything about how worship was done 10 years ago let alone 200 years ago. They know their culture but they don’t know Jesus. We are responsible to introduce them to Him. We are called by God to make disciples in Westlake, Ohio and its surrounding communities in 2007 and beyond. So, although we use whatever we can from the past, our primary focus is on using whatever God has given us today to reach today’s people in order to make disciples today.

This means we will use anything within the boundaries of God’s Word to make disciples through corporate worship. When it comes to singing, we will use choirs and solos and worship teams and whatever will make the connection with people today. We will use organs and guitars and violins and drums, if we have people to play these instruments and if they can be done in an honoring way – to communicate God’s truth today.

We are not necessarily going to change everything we do just so non-believers will like it; but we will keep in mind that non-believers do come to Grace and will come and will be watching us worship! Is it our purpose to worship in a way that they cannot understand at all because it comes from another century that we hold dear? We know that non-believers cannot truly worship because they do not have the Holy Spirit within them.

Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Community Church in Southern California said: “Although unbelievers cannot truly worship, they can watch believers worship. They can observe the joy that we feel. They can see how we value God’s Word and how we respond to it. They can hear how the Bible answers the problems and questions of life. They can notice how worship encourages, strengthens, and changes us. They can sense when God is supernaturally moving in a service, although they won’t be able to explain it. When unbelievers watch genuine worship, it becomes a powerful witness.”

We want people to experience our love and worship and be able to say what Paul wanted non-believers to say about the worship in those biblical churches:

I Corinthians 14:25 – “God is truly among you…”

We will worship to make disciples in our community by:

· Making disciples of Christ, not of particular people, churches or denominations.

So, just because some people would rather live and worship in a day gone by, we cannot let that stop us from using all God has given us today to reach people and worship Him. This means we will use sound systems, CD’s, background tapes, video, drama, congregational participation in a variety of ways; and anything else God has given us to be able to help make disciples in this generation in this community. It affects how we do announcements, how we do worship music and how we communicate the Word of God to today’s people. It affects how we dress.

Now, I know that there are just as many strong opinions about how we dress in church as there are about the kind of music we use. That may be for another sermon at another time. But, let me at least give this simple principle: Dress in a way that you feel comfortable with, but that will also not be distracting or discouraging to those who come to our church from the outside. That means we are not going to have a specific dress code.

In know of people who have made it their priority to teach women that if they ever wear pants, they are disobeying Scripture and dishonoring God; and any church that allows women to wear pants is dishonoring God. Really? People have even tried to make the Scriptures say that. Not long ago, I had someone quote Deuteronomy and tell me this. However, the Bible doesn’t tell us these details. It gives us principles to go by.

We expect you to dress in a way people dress in 2007 in our community – in an appropriate and modest way. That is going to look different depending on who you are. That’s ok! There is diversity and variety in dress as well!

This also means that we will do things that other people and groups have done, with whom we do not fully agree. For example, a couple weeks ago, we found out that the organ was used in the Catholic Church well before the Christian Church, and that the Reformers wanted nothing to do with it because others might think they were like the Catholics. We don’t have that fear today because of the organ; but we fear other things for the same reasons.

One reason people are concerned about raising your hands in worship has nothing to do with whether or not it will honor God. They are just concerned that people might think we’re charismatic. Who cares? This is about making disciples of Christ not Baptist disciples or charismatic or Presbyterian disciples. Right? Just because a Catholic wrote a song; or a Methodist wrote a drama; or an instrument is also used in a nightclub – all of these, used appropriately within the church can bring glory to Him. So, we have stained glass windows like many dead churches around the world. Does that mean we are dead and dishonoring to God? And we cannot worry that someone is going to call us names or say that we are worldly because we use something the world uses for their own purposes.

We will worship to make disciples in our community by:
· Engaging people with the truths of God

In seeking to engage people in discussion and considering the truths of God, we will use what we have to honor God, including the area of music.

Our music might be criticized – for being too worldly or being too churchy. Some might think its too progressive and some too conservative; and neither side can understand how the other side can see it that way! People might complain that some of the music we sing has a lot of repetition in it; but they fail to recognize that not only is repetition a great teaching tool (and we have learned from the Bible that part of the purpose of music is teaching); but also that the worship in the Scriptures, including the Psalms, used quite a bit of repetition.

Someone might call us worldly because we use videos, dramas and other teaching styles in order to communicate God’s unchanging truth to our changing times. We use a variety of resources to communicate with today’s people. Sometimes, the criticism is given: You’re just about entertainment. That was entertainment, not worship. Well, can you really judge that? I believe if Jesus lived here today, many people would accuse him of entertainment. Why? Because his main teaching method was simply telling stories – good stories, entertaining stories, challenging stories. He didn’t parse Hebrew verbs or walk them verse by verse through Leviticus. Now, I believe one of the best ways we can teach God’s Word is by teaching the books of the Bible. But, we use methods that engage. Our desire is to engage people with God’s truth, not entertain. But, some who are critical may still view it that way. That’s o.k.!

This brings us to the fun topic of separation. Without getting into detail, many take God’s command to be separate from the world’s philosophy to mean that we should not use anything the world uses for good. So, if you use a certain drama or video or instrument or song, you will be accused of being worldly. Let’s be very careful how we use that term. Let’s use it in its biblical context to describe a world view that opposes Christ rather than using “worldly” to describe something that can be used for good or evil.

Warren Wiersbe – Real Worship – “I was told that separation was the secret to a successful church. But then I saw ‘separated churches’ fight among themselves, split and splinter, and sometimes hurt the testimony of Christ in a community…Separation apart from worship can- and usually does – become a brittle piety that breeds arrogance, legalism, and an unbiblical isolation from both the world and the church.”

But I had someone tell me recently that separation was really the important thing. We will separate from the world’s philosophy, but we are not afraid to be accused of being worldly just because we are using what God has made available to reach people and to worship for His glory. We will not apologize for that!

We are not closed. We are flexible. We are concerned more about people than programs. It is our highest desire to glorify God and through worship encourage people to take their next steps toward Him.

Let’s stand together.
I would like us to close our worship series with the song we were introduced to in the first message of this series, and that we sang together last week. It is a song of commitment for each of us. Think about what you are singing. Believe it. And then, live it out.

HEART OF WORSHIP

ITS SUNDAY MORNING - SO WHAT?

This was the 9th message in the Heart of Worship Series. After talking about music for 2 consecutive weeks, it was time to apply the principles of the Scriptures to our particular worship service. It was my desire to explain how the different aspects of our service are built on the foundational principles of worship in Scripture.

ITS SUNDAY MORNING
SO WHAT?

Please turn in your Bible to Hebrews 10.

We have been working our way through this Heart of Worship series, looking at what the Bible has to say about worship. We have been considering a working definition on worship. Before we put it on the screen, if you know it, say it with me:

“Worship is responding to who God is and what He has done by giving ourselves completely to Him.”

Now, let’s put it on the screen and say it together:

“Worship is responding to who God is and what He has done by giving ourselves completely to Him.”

This truly has to do with how we live our lives. But, it also has to do with our corporate worship. The past couple of weeks, we have looked at the issue of worship music, and this morning, we want to consider our worship service. Just as music can be controversial, so can all the elements of a worship service. This is because, again, we all have opinions, experiences and preferences we have brought from our past. What if each of us could choose what church is like on a Sunday morning?

ME CHURCH VIDEO

No one, probably, would demand the same things they demanded in the video; but you probably know that people are picky about what they experience in church. And, if they don’t like what they are seeing, there is another church down the road. A lot of this has to do with expectations people have when they come to a worship service. And the church leadership has a huge challenge in deciding what our services will be like – with a limited amount of time, what we will choose to do.

Just like with worship music, God gives us a lot of flexibility concerning the details we choose to include. Let’s consider some important biblical principles and the application for us today.
1. Meet each week to worship God together

You may know that in the Old Testament days, God’s people were to take Saturday, the Sabbath as their day of rest. Many people still continue that today. And although we have record in Acts that believers met daily, it is evident that the early church began to meet on Sundays for worship, celebrating the fact that Jesus Christ rose again on the first day of the week. The Apostle Paul spoke of the fact that churches met together on the first day of the week. That tradition has stuck with most churches even until today. It doesn’t mean that churches who have worship services on Saturday or Wednesday are sinning. But, we have chosen to make our main corporate worship service Sunday morning.

We meet at other times as well, but this is our main corporate worship service, when the majority of our people are able to come together. That is not true everywhere. When I visited our missionaries, the Richners, in Brazil this summer, they met on Sunday nights rather than mornings, because that is when the majority of their people could come. There is nothing holy about the time of 10:45, but it is the time we currently meet for corporate worship. We believe one of the principles of Scripture is that we would have a corporate worship service each week to worship God together.

I think one of the best ways to consider what we do on Sundays together is to remember one of the very first principles we found in this Heart of Worship series several weeks ago. And that truth is found in several places, including:

I Peter 2:5 – “You yourselves…are to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”

As we saw weeks ago, God’s intention was that all of His people would approach him as a priest, coming to God personally with their sacrifices and leading their families to Him. However, they were not ready to do so, and a system of priests, representatives for the people, was set up. God appointed the Levites to offer sacrifices, and the High Priest was the only one allowed to go into the Holy of Holies, where God’s presence was.

But, here in I Peter, we are reminded that every believer is a priest, to offer spiritual sacrifices to God.

You are in Hebrews 10. Let’s see what it says to every believer – what it says about us this morning:

Hebrews 10:19-25 – “Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”

Because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, He became our High Priest and remains the only one who can bring us to God. But when we come to God through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, we then become priests as well, and are welcomed to approach God directly through prayer. In fact, instead of being afraid of losing our lives, as anyone who approached God directly in the Old Testament sacrificial system, we are to approach God with full confidence. What did these verses say? “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith…Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful!” Yes!

Because we have a faithful God who keeps His promises, we can go to Him directly, through His Son Jesus Christ, to offer the sacrifice of our life worship. But, did you notice the full context of these verses? Right after that, it says: “Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together…”

In the context of being able to go directly to God through Jesus Christ, we are to meet together with other believers on a regular basis in order to help one another grow in relationship to Christ. So, it is not enough just to privately have a devotional, worship time on your own at home. But, we are also to meet together with other believers at church in order to worship God and be built up in our faith.

Now, please turn back to the first book of the New Testament, the book of Matthew 6. In the Bible in front of you, it is page 837 or 853.

So, let’s consider the aspects of our worship service from the perspective of bringing our sacrifices to offer to God. We are to sacrifice in our life worship every moment of every day, and we are to sacrifice in our corporate worship when we meet together, like we do on Sunday mornings, at 10:45.

Part of the sacrifice of coming together on Sunday morning, is that it is not necessarily easy to do so. Some of you miss work in order to come Sunday mornings for worship. Now, I realize that not everyone can work that out and they have to find other times for corporate worship; but I have found that the majority of us, sometimes at great sacrifice, can make it possible not to work on Sunday mornings in order to corporately worship.

It is also a sacrifice because there are many other great things to do on a Sunday morning, aren’t there? There is sleeping in, going to the park, working out, putting in overtime at work, playing sports and many other enjoyable things. But, we decide to sacrifice these other good things to come together to worship God.

There is even the sacrifice that comes on Saturday night. What do you mean Greg? Well, if you stay up all night Saturday night, it is unlikely you will be alert enough to truly give all of yourself in worship on Sunday mornings. Again, it is not always possible, but making sure you get the rest you need on Saturday night can be a great sacrifice, but also a great way to be prepared to worship God on Sunday.

Another principle of sacrifice that is crucial for corporate worship is to:
2. Pray

A.W. Tozer – “Prayer at its best is the expression of the total life…all things being equal, our prayers are only as powerful as our lives.”

This relates to the whole life worship thing. Prayer is a part of our corporate worship, but it is to be a reflection, an overflow of our life worship. In worship King David said:

Psalm 141:2 – “Let my prayer be counted as incense before you…”

David saw prayer and thought God saw prayer as a sacrifice that we give to Him.
We believe in the importance of prayer, including corporate prayer. There are some things to consider here. Jesus gave a warning about this when He said:

Matthew 6:5-7 – “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”

God is not interested in us standing here and praying long, flowery prayers. That does not impress God. He would much rather have you pray in the privacy of your own room. And let me say that it is important that you pray for our services even before you come to church. Cry out to God in private that He would do something great in people’s hearts during our worship services.

During our worship services, you normally will not hear a long, impressive prayer. But, we are encouraged in the Scriptures to pray in public worship and we will. We probably pray 3-4 times in our corporate worship services. It will sometimes be more, sometimes less. It may be a prayer for a certain person, a certain event, for the service itself, for the offering or for a closing prayer of commitment or dismissal. We do like variety, but we will definitely pray.

We have a corporate prayer meeting on Wednesday nights, but you may not realize that we also have a corporate prayer meeting on Sunday mornings. We begin our ministry day with an opportunity for everyone to come together to pray for our services, asking God to move in a mighty way. We meet at 8:45 in my office and you are welcome to come. After that prayer time, we then get ready for Sunday school. Prayer is important as it relates to our morning service: your private prayer time before you come, our corporate prayer time at 8:45 every Sunday morning, and our times of prayer during our service.

There is sacrifice involved here as well. Some of you have to sacrifice in order to take time for personal prayer. It would be a sacrifice for you to come early in order to pray with others before our services. And for some of you, staying alert and praying silently while someone else is praying publicly in a service is a sacrifice and hard work for you. Worship involves our sacrifices.

Please turn in your Bible to II Corinthians 9. In the Bible in front of you, it is page 1005 or 1030.

Another principle to apply here is to:

3. Encourage others with joyful anticipation
Do you remember what the Bible said we are to be doing when we come together, in Hebrews 10:24,25 – “Stir up one another to love and good works…encourage one another.” When are we supposed to do that when most of our worship service is spent singing and listening to other people preach, sing and give announcements? I think one of the best times to apply this principle is just before the service begins.

I realize I am going against some people’s preferences and traditions. Some would prefer what I grew up in: You were to enter the holy sanctuary, as it was called, and you were to be quiet. You were to prepare your heart for worship, and sometimes that would even be announced from the pulpit or appear in the bulletin. Kids who were talking were SHHHHHHed and people were expected to open their Bibles, meditate and pray until the service started. By the way, some of our people still do that, and there is nothing wrong with that.

But, we have chosen a different path here at Grace, at least for now. Most of the service, you are not talking. You are singing, hopefully, led by our worship team. But, the majority of the time you are listening to me preach, listening to our choir, special music and announcements. You are quietly worshiping God, hopefully meditating on the message from the music and the Word of God.

So, we have chosen to make the time just before the service a great time to anticipate the celebration and corporate worship of God that we are about to enter into. We have chosen this as the time, as well as just after the service, for people to greet one another, and to encourage one another by talking! While we joyfully anticipate the service, we vary the background music with organ or CD playing.

As you talk and encourage each other, we are eagerly anticipating the opportunity to continue our worship in other ways. But, make no mistake about it: fellowshipping together before the service is worship to God! I think He loves hearing our talking and laughing and encouragement – I really do. For about an hour and a half, most of us will be silently worshiping. For those 15 or so minutes before the service, our worship is through the encouraging talk among ourselves.

Romans 16:16 –“Greet one another…”

This is one of the best times to apply this principle. Yes, in the Bible days, they greeted one another in that culture with a kiss. Some cultures and traditions still do that and that is fine. Here, in our culture, we greet one another with a hug, or most of us go with a kind word and handshake. Every other service or so, we take a few minutes to let you greet one another after we get started; but your greatest opportunities for encouragement with one another is before the service gets started and afterward.

It is one of my best opportunities to talk with those who come to our services; and I love hearing people fellowshipping as we prepare to come to God with our other sacrifices. And by the way, some of us have to sacrifice to do this. We would rather be quiet and not talk to anyone. It’s hard for some of us. We would rather stay to ourselves and not go talk to a new guest or anyone for that matter. It might be a sacrifice for you to think of others and spend time encouraging them.

I saw a comic strip recently that illustrates a sacrifice some of us must face when we come into the worship center and prepare to find our seats:

In the comic, you see church pews, with a fairly young couple (new guests) sitting in a one of the pews by the aisle. You see a little older couple standing in the aisle, looking at this new couple with frowns on their faces and arms clutching their Bibles to their chests. Other people around are looking back at what is going on. And the caption says: “The whole church watched with nervous anticipation as the visitors sat where the Jones’ have sat for 42 years.” I loved that!

What else is an application of our sacrificial worship on Sunday morning? What is another principle to apply here?

4. Give voluntarily, joyfully and sacrificially

A part of our corporate worship is giving financially in what we call the offering. I would like the ushers to go ahead and come forward to prepare to receive the offering this morning.

Now, this is one of those things that is hard for people. We easily come to believe that our money is our money; and we easily forget that everything we have is a gift from God. And He has asked us to give part of it back to Him to be used through the church for His glory. This is normally known as the tithe. Tithe means 10%. If you study the Old Testament, you will find that sometimes the giving was more like 20%; but the tithe of 10% of what God had given was always expected to be given back to Him.

In fact, God took it so seriously, that He accused His people of robbing Him. And when they asked how in the world they had robbed Him, He said:

Malachi 3:8 – “Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, How have we robbed you? In your tithes and contributions.”

In the Old Testament, as it related to sacrifices for those going to worship Him:
Deuteronomy 16:16 – “…They shall not appear before the LORD empty-handed. Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the LORD your God that he has given you.”

It was expected that when people went to worship, they would have an offering, a sacrifice to give to God.

Someone wanted to give King David the sacrifice needed so he did not need to offer anything of his own. But his response:

II Samuel 24:24 – “…The king said…No, but I will buy it from you for a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God that cost me nothing.”

No doubt, there is sacrifice involved when we speak of financially giving in our worship. This is something that is very hard for many of us to do. I think the basic principle is that we give, at the very least, 10% to God from the total of what He has given us – setting it aside off the top. Then, there may be additional offerings and contributions to give to God through the church or to send to other missionaries or organizations that we also might choose to support as individuals or families.

So, if I were to get $10 this week for all my hard work, or from some other source, I take the first 10% ($1) and set it aside first to place in the offering plate. Normally, since I get paid every twice a month, I put my tithe envelope in the offering plate twice a month, giving the amount of 10% or above that I have determined in my heart. Some give 20% because that is what they feel led to give. That would be $2 if I have $10. Then, some money goes to taxes, some to paying my bills, maybe some to savings and some to spending. The Bible talks about the tithe and then extra offerings or contributions. Perhaps, after my tithe, I decide to give 10% to go toward a special need in the church facility (Mike Yager); or maybe 10% to a missionary I have a burden for (Glicks) or some other ministry or person. This is all based on believing God’s promises, including this one:
Philippians 4:19 – “And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”

Believing that God will meet all of my true needs, I can give even if I feel I don’t have money to give. I trust in God’s promises. You might ask: What does the New Testament say about how much to give? Instead of concentrating on specific amounts, it concentrates on heart attitude, which as we have learned, is most important in our worship.

II Corinthians 9:6-9 – “The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he had made up his mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”

Between you and God, knowing the principles from the Scripture, you are to determine what you will give – voluntarily, joyfully and sacrificially. And we feel it is important to take the time in our service to practice this sacrifice of giving together. Let’s apply that right now with our offering. We have not taken it yet and this is a great time to do it. Men, will you please come forward, preparing to receive the offering. As we take the offering, please remain seated and sing with us a song of thanksgiving to God. Let’s pray. (ushers come forward)

Song – Give Thanks (choir come up)

I know that some question why we would sing or have special music during the offering. There are some who like it to be quiet during the offering or to just have the organ play quietly. We do that about once a month. But, giving is a great celebration of worship – a joyful, sacrificial celebration. What better way to give than while we are singing or listening to a special or listening to the choir? Music accompanying our gifts of worship to God! How appropriate – How fitting!

Please turn to one more passage with me. Turn in your Bible to Nehemiah 8. In the Bible in front of you, it is page 424 or 435.

5. Sing to God with all your heart

Psalm 69:30 – “I will praise the name of God with a song; I will magnify him with thanksgiving.”

Psalm 100:1,2 - “Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth! Serve the LORD with gladness! Come into his presence with singing!”

We have already spoken of worship music and how important it is in our corporate worship. We know it includes Psalms, Hymns, spiritual songs and all kinds of different music and style and instrumentation and singers. We take time each worship service to give of ourselves in singing and in listening to others sing; and playing praise songs to and about our God.

How does this relate to a sacrifice?
Hebrews 13:15 – “…Let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God…”

Praising Him through music is a sacrifice for many. Why? Several reasons: Some don’t like to sing. For you to actually sing is a sacrifice. Some are self conscious about their singing because they don’t have a good voice. Good thing God rejoices in a “joyful noise”! Some of you sacrifice during singing because you don’t like the music that is chosen or the special that is sung or the choir number. Some of you don’t prefer the instrumentation or even the people that are leading or singing, for whatever reasons. In those cases, you must sacrifice your preferences in order to give all of yourself in musical worship – whether you are the one singing or the one listening.

Now, let’s consider a principle that may be the most uncomfortable one for us:

6. Respond to God with your body
Many of us are used to going to churches where we expect people to be fairly quiet and their bodies to be fairly motionless during worship. We get a little nervous when someone expresses worship with their bodies in ways we are not used to or in ways we do not prefer. I have asked the choir to remind us of a very biblical word, from which we need to consider this principle:

Choir – AMEN

Did you hear the message of the song. Obviously the theme was Amen, but the reason Amen was sung was because of the story of Christ, beginning with His birth and leading to when He would die for our sins and rise again. There is a great reason to say Amen, which means “so be it.” It is a term of agreement. I realize there is some stigma with this word. It makes us a little uncomfortable is someone is saying it all the time and loudly. And we are concerned what others might think if we say something out loud. But, despite our fears, it does have a biblical basis and the key, as always, is the heart attitude in which we respond. You are turned to

Nehemiah 8:5,6 – “And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all people, for he was above all the people, and as he opened it all the people stood. And Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God, and all the people answered, Amen, Amen, lifting up their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground.”

According to pastor John Piper: “The amen meant, Yes, we agree with your blessing! We join in your blessing! All you have said of God’s greatness we let it echo in our Amen. We say, True, and firm and reliable is what you have said.”

Perhaps you would choose to say amen or Yes or something else that communicates that after a song, after a prayer after a spoken word. If you have the right heart attitude, it is an appropriate thing. How about if we practice? ON three, let’s all say “Amen.” Ready? 1…2…3… AMEN! Now, on a count of three, let’s say “yes.” Ready? 1…2…3…YES! That wasn’t too difficult, was it? Most of us are ok with that. But, what about the other responses with our bodies mentioned in Scripture?

Psalm 149:3 – “Let them praise his name with dancing, making melody to him with tambourine and lyre!”

Psalm 95:6 – “Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker!”

Psalm 47:1- “Clap your hands, all people! Shout to God with loud songs of joy!”

Psalm 63:3,4 – “Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands.”

I know this makes some of you nervous. But don’t be. These were responses of worship in the Bible. These were appropriate ways in which people sacrificed in their worship. And you can imagine that for many, responding with vocal responses or body responses like the ones we just read are huge sacrifices for some people. Again, just like with the worship music, there is a lot of flexibility here, depending on your particular church, the culture in which you live and the community in which you worship.

I very much doubt if we will do much dancing here. Not because the bible condemns it. In fact, we know it was used in Hebrew worship. But, in our culture, today’s American culture and in our church culture, it would be extremely difficult for dance to have a positive impact in our services. It is hard to have dance without thoughts of seductive moves or actions. I am open to it, but you will have to prove to me it can be done with honor to God in our circumstances here. Probably the way we have used it is in kid’s programs, where they are moving to the music (doing choreography) as they sing – in worship to God!

But, I do believe that we can be free and give others some freedom to respond to God with body and voice action. Maybe you close your eyes, sit down, kneel down, raise your hands. Not all of these have to be done; but they are permissible; and should be considered. O.k. Stand with me for a moment. Raise your right hand with me – now your left hand. Uh-Oh. You’re raising your hands in worship! Does it feel uncomfortable? It might if you were singing and raising your hands at the same time. You may be seated. But, there will be those, including myself, that might raise our hands in response to God. As long as we have the right heart attitude, that can be a biblical, great response to Him. But, its not required.

In what ways are you willing to sacrifice in your worship? Are there any ways in which you are not willing – things you are not willing to give to God? One last principle this morning:

7. Apply the teaching of God’s Word to your life

Martin Luther: “When I declare the Word of God I offer sacrifice; when thou hearest the Word of God with all thy heart, thou dost offer sacrifice.”

One of the key components of our corporate worship service is the time that we preach the Word of God. But, it is not just about me or someone else talking. It is about you having a receptive heart to the Word of God and the willingness to apply it to life. The Word of God is not primarily preached so that we can learn more and have more knowledge than anyone else. The Apostle Paul tells us the emphasis:

II Timothy 3:16– “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.”

This Word of God that we teach from every Sunday is about life transformation. The Word of God is powerful and is able, being utilized by the Holy Spirit, to change our lives. But, we must give ourselves to it – not only listening carefully, or even just agreeing with what is being said; but actually applying it to every day life. Sometimes we need help with that – others who can listen to us, and challenge us in ways it can be applied – people who can pray for us and keep us accountable for applying it. That is what our life groups are all about.

I know there are people who are used to altar calls at the end of services. The idea for many years has been that God moves in people’s lives, a song is sung, an invitation is given, people walk the aisle and make a decision of some kind. There is nothing wrong with that. We have decided to take a different route, but I think for good reasons.

I don’t think walking an aisle is the key. The key is taking the Word of God and applying it to life. It can be done just as effectively without walking an aisle. In fact, if someone thinks walking an aisle is the decisive key, I think they are missing it. The real proof that God is working is…changed lives, not people coming forward. I expect that in your hearts, you all will come forward every single week – along with me. In other words, every time God’s Word is preached, we should be responding to what God wants us to do in response to His Word. His Word is clear – it changes us, every time we experience it and humbly submit to it. I challenge you to apply it every week and that is true worship.

However, for those of you who want to have someone to talk to or pray with you about a decision, there is an open invitation every week. I remain here at the front after our services are over. Although I am open to talking to anyone about anything you would like to talk about, I am also here if you want to talk about a decision you need to make or have me pray with you. I would love to do that. The only difference is that you will not be walking down while others are singing and looking at you. I believe this leads to the idea that we all need to apply God’s Word to life every time the Word is preached, not just when we feel moved to walk an aisle.

Announcements are a needed part of our service, but sometimes hard to place. We have tried them in a variety of places in our order of service. Right now, we are doing them at the end of the service. Some people like them at the beginning, some in the middle and some in the end. There are positives and negatives about all of them. But, our goal is that the announcements we do make are relevant to the majority of our congregation and that we feel need to be said publicly and not just written in the bulletin. Most of the announcements are just in the bulletin or made in Sunday school classes or other communication. We don’t want waste time; but there are some things we need to say and want people to remember as they leave.

SO WHAT is a question I ask quite often at the end of a message time. And it is an important question. Our desire is that you will not leave our service unchanged by God’s Word. But, that you will be challenged by it and go away with one thing that you want to do in order to honor God in your life worship and apply His Word to daily life. So, I ask you, today:

SO WHAT? are you going to do with God’s Word today?
Take a moment to quiet your heart before Him and commit yourself to applying anything that He is asking you to apply from His Word.

I LOVE YOU LORD


Prayer