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