Walking in the Way of Jesus... Worship

Feb. 2, 2014              

Matt 4:1-11 

A congregation was excited about its new, young pastor. He was energetic, preached inspiring sermons and worked with the youth. Then one night he was late for the church council meeting. Another time, he failed to show up for a committee meeting. He even started coming late to worship. Then one Sunday, he failed to show up at all for worship.

The council voted to dismiss the pastor. Then the council had the following message posted at the church entrance: “We have fired our pastor for acting like the rest of us.”

PRAYER:

We continue in our series; “Walking in the Way of Jesus… 6 Values of Discipleship… or as I like to say, “Followership”. These are fundamental values… the modus operandi… that every faith community should be about. They are… Prayer… Worship… Learning… Serving… Relationship Building… and Generosity. Last time we reflected on the importance of Prayer and why the community needs to be speaking and listening to God thru prayer as it discerns God’s direction for ministry.

And I also invited you start a Prayer Team that prays for Cana’s discernment of her ministry. I believe this is a very important part of your transition. You need to be listening and discerning the future of this congregation.

Today our focused value is “Worship” 

Over the past 30-40 maybe 50 years worship has been anything but an experience of God in many churches. In part, when churches have the conversation about adding to or making changes in worship it is all but an all out war… so much so that you’d think the world was coming to an end. For many churches, worship has been a lightning-rod of conflict. The Style… Music… Forms have all caused conflicts in the church.
                  Why is it so difficult to get along when it comes to worship.

                               Why is it so difficult for us to be open to other forms of worship?

                               Why have we made worship our own personal cult activity?

                               Why so much divisiveness?

      A week and half ago your Worship Team & Learning Team, about 20 of us met to continue the conversation of Cana creating a Contemporary Worship Experience.. Having SS during that Worship Time.... And Changing the Worship Times to 9 & 11.

I was inspired and excited for the future of Cana as we had healthy, open, and honest conversation about these topics. We all honored each other’s feelings and concerns and all came to the understanding that Cana needs to take a more missional stance to her ministries. It was a great meeting and healthy conversation.

You See… Worship is but one of a whole host of temptations Satan exploits to take our focus away from God.

In our story today, Jesus is tempted to take his focus off his father/God by Satan. Satan is giving his best effort to shift Jesus’ focus towards him. Looking at our story… Jesus fasts… Satan tempts with food. Jesus is taken to the top of the temple… tempted with status. Jesus stands on the top of a mountain looking out over the world… Satan tempts with power. Satan says, “Jesus… you can have it all”… tempted to only worship & focus on Satan. Jesus says, NO!!! “Worship & Serve only God.”

What are you being tempted to worship today?

This is a true story...Several years ago I interviewed in Appleton, Wisc. And was asked the preverbal question, “How Long are your Sermons?” I responded, “Why is this important to you?” The person said, “The Packers play at noon and I must be home at 11 to prepare.” Worship started at 10:00 and the person had a 15 minute drive home. I was told later he always leaves early during football season.

For this person… there wasn’t much worshipping and serving only God.

Much of the churches worship has often tended to reflect what we want or like… our traditions… our way of doing things, and what we get out of it… Rather than giving our total devotion to God. Rather than being welcoming and inviting towards others.

It seems God has to compete with our preferences, our sports team… or our children’s activities, or our golf game, or even our vacations. It seems it’s not all that hard not to worship God.

Why is Worship such a Core Value?

Rabi Abraham J. Heschel says,
“Worship is more than paying homage. To worship is to join the cosmos in praising God. The whole cosmos, every living being sings, the Psalmists insist. Neither joy nor sorrow but song is the ground plan of being. It is the foundation of life. To praise is to call forth the promise and presence of the divine. We live for the sake of a song. We praise for the privilege of being. Worship is the climax of living. There is no knowledge without love, no truth without praise. At the beginning was the song, and praise is man's response to the never-ending beginning.”

Worship is a core value because the scriptures talk about worship of God all the time.

Psalm 95...

-        Emphasis is Sing Joyful Songs… Praise God… Worship

              w/Thanksgiving… Bow Down & Worship… and Listen to God’s Voice.

Acts 2…

-       Meeting Together… Praying… Learning… Sharing … Selling Possessions… Breaking Bread… and Praising God.

Eph. 5: 19…

-       When you meet together, Sing Psalms, Hymns, Spiritual Songs, and Praise the Lord with all your Heart.

Worship… if you’ve noticed my friends in these passages and there are others… isn’t about getting anything… worship is about giving to God. Worship is our response to a loving and a graceful God.

You may not know this… in fact many Lutherans believe there is a prescribed order to worship in the bible… but there are no prescribed ways of doing or orders of worship in the bible. None. Paul states in Corinthian’s  that worship should be orderly, but there are no particular styles… types… or liturgical forms that we should follow.

Luther states in the Book of Concord that worship must have 4 elements for worship to be God Honoring & Worshipful. Luther’s elements of Worship are, Gather, Word, Sacrament, Sending. What we do in between these elements, Luther called Adiaphora or Not Essential.. they might be good things to do, but they are not needed to grow in faith. They might be good things to do, but having those things doesn’t make it worship. There’s no mention of having the Lord’s Prayer, Creeds, Confessions… in our worship. I believe these elements are good and have meaning, but there’s no prescription that they be part of worship. So… if you go to a Pentecostal church and they don’t use them… it’s okay… it’s still worship. No matter if you come to Cana and they are part of the worship… it’s okay… it’s still worship. You see… Our worship of God isn’t meant for us to hold on to the goods. And because of this understanding, I believe our worship needs to have a missional focus. If our worship is not missional we are no longer a community of faith focused on God. Because our God is a missional God… meaning God is for others.

What does it mean for worship to be Missional Worship?

Missional worship… is worship where the Spirit empowers us to share our God stories. To share our stories of how God’s love and grace has impacted our lives. In worship the Spirit stirs us to be compassionate. Worship stirs us to care for others and to share with others. In worship the Spirit moves us to be creative in our mission. In worship the Spirit engages us to look beyond this place and to serve others in our community. And… in worship we have the opportunity to experience the Love & Grace of God. Why wouldn’t we want our worship to be inviting and welcoming to other people?

My friends… God doesn’t need our worship… God demands our worship not out of duty, but out of our gratitude for what God has given us. God has blessed all of us and we should be coming to this place full of praise. Our worship shouldn’t be what we get out it, but what I give so that others can experience the grace of God. When our worship is focused on God worship will be Engaging… Relevant… Vibrant… Authentic… Inviting us to experience the Love & Grace of God.

At the end of the day… Cana must embrace Worship as a Core Value and a Missional Model to create opportunities for all people to experience Jesus.

At the end of the day… Jesus says, “Worship and Serve only God.”