Believe #11 Worship RUMC January 8, 2017

Believe #11 Worship

RUMC January 8, 2017

WORSHIP TEST:

(slides used to give choices)

 Which of these is not an act of worship?

  Which of these is not a place of worship?

  

 Which person is not a worship leader?

  

Which face is not a person in worship?

 All of them are part of the great mosaic of different styles and preferences of Christian worship. None is more right or wrong, or more pleasing to God or less pleasing to God. There are as many different worship preferences as there are people.

I used to lead worship with a fog machine, gobo lights, and a live band. That is no less worship, and no more worship than an orthodox service surrounded by icons and gold statues and filled with incense, which is no more and no less worship than sitting in pews and singing hymns and listening to the preacher.

As we journey through this 10 weeks of BELIEVE we will focus on spiritual practices. If you learn nothing else, I want you to learn that there are as many practices of Christian spirituality as there are Christians in the world. Whether that is worship, prayer, use of the Bible, or stewardship, there as infinite variety of practices and combinations of spiritual practices, that bring someone closer to experiencing and living the transformative power of the gospel. Your job is to find the combination of practices that work for you at this time in your life.

Unlike the first ten weeks of believe where I laid out the basic doctrines of the faith and said we all have to believe these things in one way or another, this 10 weeks is more of a smorgasbord. We are not going to come anywhere near talking about all of the spiritual practices. But these 10 represent some of the most common practices that help people to experience and live in the transformative power of God. My prayer is that you will be affirmed in the practices you already use, and be stretched to add 1 or 2 new practices that help you to grow closer to Jesus.

  This week we start with one of the most visible spiritual practices, worship. We all think we know what worship is. After all, we have been doing it together for a long time.

So, What is worship…<<<>>>

When most people are asked about worship, they talk about

•             music and

•             prayer and

•             community and

•             scripture and

•             preaching

 Those things are the outward trappings of worship, but they are not in themselves worship.  They reflect your personal preferences of how you worship.

In order to get to the heart of worship, let’s go to the scripture for the day, because Jesus is discussing the nature of worship  with the Samaritan woman at the well.

The Samaritans were fundamentally Jews with a Pagan influence. After the return from Exile, this group called the Samaritans decided God should be worshipped on Mt. Gerazim. Notice I said THEY decided. They followed the attitude of the evil king Jeroboam. In I Kings 12. He made two golden calves and said, “You have gone up to Jerusalem long enough. Here are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.” 29 He set one (calf) in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan. 30 And this thing became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one at Bethel and before the other as far as Dan.”

From that time on, there was hatred between the Jews and the Samaritans. Why? Because they had differing preferences for the  proper location for worship.

It was a scandal that Jesus was even talking to this Samaritan woman. He finally says, “Woman, … believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.” (Then Jesus goes on to say, by the way, the Jews are right and the Samaritans are wrong, but that is not important because) “A time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.” In other words, Jesus tells her that the Jews got it right worshipping on mount Zion, but in the long run, it isn’t going to matter because worship is not about the location.  So what is it about?

 Jesus says worship is about SPIRIT. To say that worship is spiritual is to say that it is not earthly. 

We have to remember that the writer of  John had a dualistic approach to life.  There was dark and light. Good and evil. There was flesh and there was spirit. 

To say worship is Spiritual is to say that worship has more to do with heaven than earth. Spiritual worship is a rehearsal for the day when like the 4 mysterious all powerful, all knowing, creatures in Revelation 4, we will worship God in person “day and night saying, ‘HOLY, HOLY, HOLY IS THE LORD GOD, THE ALMIGHTY, WHO WAS AND WHO IS AND WHO IS TO COME.’” Spiritual worship is a rehearsal for heaven.

Spiritual worship is when fleshly creatures get a glimpse of the eternal and experience a bit of the spiritual reality.

 God’s presence and power surrounds us all the time. In the business of our day-to-day lives, we don’t often take time to experience it. When we come to worship we step back from our earthly living long enough to experience being in the presence of the one who created us, sustains us, and loves us more than we will ever know.

•             Spiritual worship is taking time to experience the awe and power that is our God,

•             Spiritual worship is taking time to experience an explosion of awe and praise as we stand in God’s presence.

Sometimes we come here to worship, and other times worship sneaks up on us. Sometimes heaven breaks into our experience when we aren’t expecting it.

•             It happens on my deck on a starry summer night when the world fades away and there is nothing but God, that is worship.

•             Heaven might break into your walk on a wooded path where God is peeking out from behind every tree. That too is worship.

•             Heaven might sneak up on you  in your living room where God envelopes you like a warm afghan. That is the spiritual  worship.

Whether we come to find heaven or heaven comes to find us that is worship.

Of course, we know that God is always with us. We also know that we are too often oblivious to God presence and power. Worship happens when our fleshly eyes are opened to the spiritual reality which  surrounds.  Our hearts flutter with the awareness, our mouths are filled with praise, and our spirits soar in awe as we simple flesh and blood earthly creatures stand in the presence of  the almighty God.

 Jesus goes on to say that we must worship in truth. Jesus says he is the way, the truth, and the life, but truth is harder for us.

We all wear masks. That is part of how we get along with each other. Worship, however, is the time to take off your mask for God. It is time to come to God humbly and honestly. After all, do you really think you are going to fool God anyway? We worship in truth standing completely exposed in all of our glory and all of our shame before the one who knows us better than we know ourselves.

•             Jesus was hard on the Pharisees who faked worship in order to be seen by others.

•             Jesus called those who acted out worship like a play “whitewashed tombs,” appearing clean on the outside but filthy and full of dead bones on the inside.

•             Jesus warned that faking prayer by using all kinds of fancy words doesn’t impress God.

•             He warned faking the offering by making a big show of it isn’t nearly as precious to God as true sacrifice.

•             Finally, Jesus warned that those who come to worship for false reasons like the Pharisee who prayed “God I thank you that I am not like that tax collector” are not worshipping in truth, but worshiping themselves.

On the other hand, the one who comes in complete truth saying God forgive me I am a sinner is the one who is truly worshipping God.

•             Fancy clothes will not fool God.

•             A fake smile will not hide the struggle you are having at home from God.

•             Going through the motions of worship will not fool God.

WE might be fooled, but not God. Nothing can be hidden from Jesus who is the truth. Nothing can be hidden from the God who created you. Worship is an encounter with God in complete and utter humility and honest truth. Worship is being vulnerable to the one who is truth… more vulnerable than we can be with other people and more honest than we usually are with ourselves.

 Finally, when glory of heaven touches the most vulnerable places of our lives, we are  transformed.  It is impossible to truly stand in the presence of God and walk away unchanged.

The conversation with the woman at the well ends like this. She says to Jesus “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.” Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who is speaking to you.”

Then the disciples came into the picture, but John comes right back to the woman saying “Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city. She said to the people, “Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?”

She didn’t quite understand what had happened to her, but she did not walk away from the experience as the same woman.

1.            In her conversation with Jesus she experienced of spirit of the living God face to face-

2.            In her conversation with Jesus, the truth of her life was exposed in all of its ugly details.

3.            And she could never be the same again.

Like an athlete training for a marathon, day by day we might not notice the change, but surely the spiritual practices, like worship, change us for ever. If we are not prepared to be changed we should not venture into any of the spiritual practices, because that is a given… you will be changed.

Many people come to worship with the idea that we come in order to be filled up for the coming week or encouraged, or uplifted, or strengthened. Sometimes that happens. But that is not why we come.  Worship is not about us.  It is about God.  Worship is about God breaking into the truth of our existence, We can’t help but be changed by that. But maybe not in the way we want.

•             You might leave worship with a whole new burden on your heart for the persecuted church. That is change.

•             You might leave with a new sense of your own guilt in the breakdown of a relationship. That is change.

•             You might leave worship with a conviction that someone has to do something… and a sick feeling that the someone might be you.

You can’t expect to encounter God in any kind of honest way and not be changed… and that change will not always be what you expect. It will be, however, what you need. That is the risk you take when you come to worship in spirit and truth. That is the risk you take when you experience the living God and truly expose yourself to God’s transforming power.

 The truth is everybody worships something. That’s why you can go to any culture in the world and find people worshipping. If you don’t worship God, believe me, you’re going to find a something to worship real quick, even if it is just yourself.

Jesus calls us, however not to worship ourselves or anything of this world… he calls us to worship in spirit and truth.  And that changes us forever.

The greatest  commandment is what… to love the lord you God. Worship is how we show our love. God wants us show him love in worship for two reasons.

1. because he deserves it.

2. Because when we are vulnerable to the power of the spirit of God, we are made new creatures in the image of God.

If you think about it, Worship is the only gift that the creature Can give to the creator.

Most of you are parents so you will understand this. A man told a story about his son’s 6th birthday. The boy always knew what he wanted so he asked him what he could get him.

He expected a well-planned reply, but his son’s request was a bit different.

He said, “Dad, I’d like a ball to play with for my birthday.” The dad said, “Great, what kind of ball?” “Oh, I don’t know, either a football or a soccer ball.”

“Well, which would you want more?”

He said, “Well,” and thought about it. Then he said, “If you have some time to play ball with me this year, I’d really like a football so we could throw it back and forth in the back yard. But if you’re gonna be real busy this year, maybe you just better get me a soccer ball, because I can kick the soccer ball around by myself.”

At the risk of over simplifying it, God just wants to be in relationship with you. He’ll settle for a soccer ball if he has to. But God would really prefer that football because he wants more than anything for you to take the time to play with him. Spend time with him. Worship him.

What kind of gift can you offer to God this week?

“Count me in” RUMC 1/1/17

“Count me in”

RUMC 1/1/17

One of our family jokes is about the time we took an aerial tour of the Grand Canyon in a little 6-seater plane. Amber was fine as long as we were over the trees on the rim. As soon as we dropped over the rim of the canyon, she became violently airsick. Robyn had to deal with the details (which I prefer not to think about) because Richie and I were sitting in the rear seats oo-ing and ah-ing over the beauty around us. The thing I remember is Amber crying, “Make it stop, daddy. Make it stop. “

In spite of Amber’s protest, stopping the plane stop in mid air, of course, was not an option. If you aren’t flying, you’re crashing.

Some things you cannot do half way.

You can test out some things. You can go half say into the swimming pool (up to your knees) to check the temperature, or to taste half a bite of a new food. Those are OK.

Nevertheless, there are other things that are either all or nothing.

•           They say you cannot be sort of pregnant.

•           Once you jump out of the airplane, it is pretty hard to go back.

•           You can’t quit half way through a haircut.

•           I don’t know about you, but I can’t mow half my yard.

There are things you just can’t do half way.

Faith is one of those things.

People have tried to have half way faith.

•           The rich young ruler wanted to have eternal life, but didn’t want to give up his stuff.

•           Peter wanted to walk on the water, but didn’t want to keep his eyes on Jesus.

•           Paul tells us that the Corinthians wanted to be Christian, but they didn’t want to give up their pagan worship.

They wanted to go half way in the faith. However, going half way in faith is not an option.

•           Today, many people say, “I love Jesus, but I don’t like the church.” That’s half way faith.” It doesn’t work.

•           Some say, I want to be a member of the church, but I just want to come on Sunday morning. That’s half way faith. There is more to the church than what happens on Sunday.

Half way faith does not work for us or for God. God gives us an all or nothing choice, and calls us to an ALL IN faith.

Abram’s story is the perfect example.

Abram is 99 years old in when God speaks to him in today’s scripture.

•           It has been 5 chapters since God told Abram to “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.”

There were three parts to that covenant.

         God said, “Abram move,” and Abram moved.

         God said, “I’ll give you land.” and God gave him land.

         God said Abram I’ll make you a father of many… but this one promise of a male heir was left hanging.

In today’s reading from chapter 17, God asks Abram to renew the covenant they made many years before.

God starts out identifying himself. I am THE LORD. The Hebrew is El Shaddai, I am God all-sufficient. I am everything you need. God continues, “I will make my covenant between me and you.” Actually, the covenant was made 5 chapters ago, so God is asking Abram to renew it.

Let’s stop there because we have a hard time understanding covenants today. They are not the same thing as a contract. There are two fundamental differences between a covenant and a contract.

 1. The covenant is initiated unilaterally. It does not require the signature of two parties. It is imitated by the more powerful party on behalf of the less powerful one. In this case, God renews a covenant with Abram. He never asks Abram If he is OK with it.

 2. A covenant cannot be broken. A contract is broken when one party fails to live up to their end of the bargain. If someone breaks a contract with the bank by missing a few car payments, the contract is void. The bank is not obligated to let them keep the car. They simply come pick it up and take it away. A covenant however remains binding even if one side fails to uphold their side of the bargain. The marriage covenant is supposed to be like that. “Till death do us part,” no matter what kind of bone headed things I might do, Robyn is stuck with me “until death do us part.”

So back to our passage, God comes to have Abram renew the covenant. God says, “Walk before me.” In the typical covenant making ceremony, pigeons or goats or other animals were cut in half and laid half on one side of the path and half on the other. The parties would walk through the middle of the carcasses, in essence saying, “If I don’t live up to my end of the covenant, let me be cut in half like these animals.” So God says, “Walk before me to renew this covenant.”

Then God laid out the three points of the covenant. God says you are my people and I will

1.         Renew the covenant to make your descendants exceedingly numerous…

2.         I will change your name from Abram to Abraham, which means father of many.

3.         And I will give you a place to live.

Remember, these are solid 'till death do us part promises to Abram and all of this descendants.

           

Now God did not give Abram smorgasbord of options. It wasn’t a pick and chose proposition.

o          Abraham was not allowed to say, “I like the kids and the home, but really you want to call me ‘Abraham?’ … how about great name like Cedric.”

o          Abram was not allowed to say, “The name and the home are great… but I’m NOT becoming a father again at the age of 99.”

No. It was all or nothing. There was no going half way.

Abram said yes, count me in!

•           He followed where God lead,

•           He took the name Abraham,

•           And was eventually he and Sarah blessed with Isaac from whom all the people of Israel descended.

Well, here we are at the beginning of a new year. 2017 lies before us brand spanking new and with great new potential.

•           Potential for joy and sadness.

•           Potential for great prosperity and unexpected job loss, or financial problems.

•           Potential to forgive and renew broken relationships.

•           Potential to try new things and go new places.

2017 also comes to us full of brand spanking new mew potential for renewed faithfulness. God is bound by covenant to be our loving and forgiving God forever and ever no matter what.

•           We, however, could some reminding.

•           We are the ones who need renewal.

•           We are the ones who need a fresh start.

So how about it? Will 2017 be the year you go all in for God?

•           Will 2017 be the year that you look at your life and discover that you have been in ministry all this time, but you just didn’t think of it that way?

•           Or will it be the year that you try a different way of serving.

•           Or will it be the year that you follow a dream or a passion and lead the way to a ministry of which we have not yet dreamt.

•           Will 2017 be the year you take responsibility for growing closer to Jesus? You will have an opportunity to practice some ways of doing that as we begin the Believe next week.

•           Will 2017 be the year that you finally get up the courage to invite that neighbor, or your spouse, or your child to return to church?

•           Will 2017 be the year that you say, If Abraham can say, “Count me in” at 99 years of age, maybe I’m not too old.

•           Will 2017 be your year, or will it be the year that you completely hand your life over to God.

Remember ½ way doesn’t work. Either you are all in or you are not.

I’m not asking you to have a child at the age of 99, or pick up and move, or change you name as God asked Abraham.

•           But I am asking you what it would mean for you to invest your whole self in God this year?

•           What would it mean to trust your whole life to God this year?

•           What would it mean to go the whole way for God this year? Are you in?

Let me suggest a prayer for this year. It was first prayed by Bobby Richardson, former New York Yankee second baseman. At a fellowship of Christian athletes event he prayed, "Dear God, Your will, nothing more, nothing less, nothing else. Amen."

 Listen again "Dear God, Your will, nothing more, nothing less, nothing else. Amen." Let that be our prayer for 2017, as a church and as individual disciples. "Dear God, Your will, nothing more, nothing less, nothing else. Amen.” Can I count you in?