A Life for Worship

Today, as we continue to discuss how we are a liturgical people, we will focus on why we worship. Why do we gather every Sunday to centre our time, energy and words, on putting God first and lifting up his name? This seems contrary to most of the world, as many would think it massively unproductive. Others would look at it and scoff saying, “What vain and selfish God would demand his people to worship him so much?” I think these sentiments are all too common, but I think the most common would be, “I have better things to do”. Yet, when we really understand Christian worship, and even more, when we understand our God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, who makes himself known through worship, we will realize that there is no better thing than worship. No task is more productive, fulfilling and life-giving than connecting with and up lifting our God. It is the all powerful, definition of love, and goodness that we worship. So whole hearted worship is a natural response to meeting and getting to know our wonderful God.

So, first, a definition: Christian worship very simply is about recognizing and proclaiming the true and magnificent realities about God.

If worship is about recognizing and proclaiming the truth, as I have said, then we should realize that worship is natural to us. Worship should be as natural to us as our heart beating. We live in the realities of our worship, as God surrounds us and works through the world - everything points to his glory. God is the nutrients, blessings and life that flows in us. If it wasn’t for our sin and the brokenness of the world, it would be easy for us to see that everything reflects his magnificent character, work and love. This natural inclination to worship is why, even when we get images of heaven or eternity, as in the book of Revelation, we see that worship is a central part of real relationship with God, in fact, they praise Jesus without ceasing, because everything they do speaks to the glory of God.

This brings us to our worship in the present reality. I don’t know if you have felt this or seen it in others, but there can be a great need and desire for worship - a desire to lift something up (but sadly when we worship anything that isn’t God, it almost always fills his place). This desire for worship is many fold. Our Psalmist speaks to what God reveals about this worship. We were meant for something more than this world, as Jesus says, “We do not belong to this world”. So, we are longing for that heavenly reality to become manifest on earth. We long for the truth, to know it, to live in it. We were also created for a relationship with our community God. This means that all of that longing for closeness, all that unfulfilled romantic love, all of those relationships and communities that don’t measure up to what we need, all of that lack is actually pointing us towards the one relationship we were always meant for. That community of three that as Jesus reminds us, are continually glorifying one another. A lot of our longing can be misplaced on things in this world. We try to fill that longing in our soul with things that don’t work or last, so soon our souls are back to searching for something to fill what can feel like an insatiable hunger. That is because we long for belonging in that community of three that is mutual love, sacrifice and glorification - nothing else will measure up to that love we were meant for that is bigger than this world.

We have come to know God in Jesus, through the work of the Holy Spirit, through Scriptures, through His people and in all the ways he reveals himself in our lives. Yet, even with the thousands and thousands of testimonials about Jesus, we still don’t know him completely and we don’t always trust in the knowledge we do have. Our worship then is something more for us, worship is about reaching up to see the glory of God. In every moment of true praise and yearning, it is like the vail is lifted, or the curtain is opened. In worship, we are invited to peak into the mysteries that the rest of creation only points to. In this we both discover more about our God who is bigger than everything combined at the same time that we are grounded in the true knowledge we already have.

I grew up in the Anglican Church. I had the great privilege to live in and develop through this liturgy, as well as heartfelt praise and faithful teaching. There were a lot of things I knew without completely understanding - as if my spirit knew the truth before my mind or heart did. This was almost painfully evident in my seminary experience, as I was training to be a priest. As I learned, I continually had this strange experience, it was as if my teachers were putting words to things God had already planted in my heart. Suddenly, I could describe and speak to things that I had known and experienced and yet were bigger than anything in this world. Our liturgy when we enter and let it become true worship bring us there, because we proclaim the truth of God and the experience of God. As we speak these stories, as we practice the practices given to us by Jesus, as we gather together faithfulfully, as we sing about the wonders of God, we are being drawn into the realities that these things speak of. Worship is a kind of miracle or sacrament, where God empowers us and becomes present as we speak about him. Our worship draws us into an experience and reality that our minds may take years to understand. We are like children that experience thirst and the comfort and energy of that thirst being satiated. Often like children we don’t understand why we need water or what that water is doing to our bodies. Even when we are adults and understand the need for water or worship, this doesn’t remove our need or thirst, instead it just helps us direct it.

Okay, again, I want to look at the practicals of why this liturgical reality of worship shapes us. To look at it practically I want to briefly show how heartfelt worship leads to knowledge, peace and love. Just before continuing, I want to remind us that worship is one of the important means that we get to knowledge, peace and love, but worship is not the only godly practice.

So first, knowledge. We have already talked about how worship is about the truth of God, as it is our recognition and grounding in the glory of God. This knowledge of God is true and all effecting knowledge, because it pours out into a knowledge of all creation and even this broken world. As we come to know God, we come to know what he has created. We see how his hand has worked in everything. It shouldn’t be surprising then that this knowledge goes beyond theological ideas, as the truth of God shows us the truth in science (our ordered creation), it shows us the truth of society (our ordered relationships), it shows us the truth of our needs (an ordered life) and more. Look through the history of scientific thought, even look at the hyper politicised moment like Galaleio saying the earth is not the centre of our galaxy and you will find that Christian belief and ideas are the grounding for scientific thought - as a simple example it is often recognized that we needed to believe in an ordered world before science could even start - which wasn’t the case for the majority of human history. Or look at godly social movements, like the abolition of slavery in most countries, again you will find Christian beliefs and ideas are the grounding. As we come to know goodness and the purpose of God, we also come to understand the contrast of evil, its presentation and limitations as well as the power and potency of God’s goodness. I think we all desire after this knowledge, which in part comes through purposeful worship of God.

Next, I hope you are beginning to see how this leads to peace. We know we don’t live in a peaceful world, so the peace we long after can only be filled by something bigger than the world. Thank God, that when we worship, we meet and come to know a God who is so faithful and trustworthy and whose goodness and love is greater than anything. He is someone we can always depend on. He is someone who will always show up and support us. He is the only lasting foundation that will never crack or break down. When we worship, we come to know how trustworthy he is, we come to see how he has worked, is working and will work. Worship can help our minds and hearts to catch up to our spirits that already believe God to be trustworthy, slowly dissolving away that stress that we know doesn’t solve anything. Our worship is already an act of trust as it is our embodying, speaking to, and giving ourselves over to a God who always deserves the fullness of our trust. Through true and devoted worship this leads us to a peace that surpasses understanding, because we are grounded, protected, and upheld by such a God and in such a way that nothing in this world can move us. Just like the house built upon the rock, we build our lives upon God’s word, so that even when the storms of the world rage, we might feel the storms, but we are not moved - instead we can find peace like resting to the clatter of rain on our rooves. .

Lastly, love. I don’t know if you have ever heard the saying, “We have a God sized hole in our heart nothing can fill but God”, this is part of that. That desire in our hearts comes from that hole, that purpose, that shape of our lives that lacks something. Love often comes from a yearning. A yearning for romance, a yearning to care for someone, a yearning to change the world, a yearning to uphold. That yearning finds its perfect solution in God. Yet, love is more than just that yearning. Love actually has an identity. And love’s identity is Jesus Christ. As we come to know Jesus, we see what love is and we experience it. We see the self-sacrificial love that would die for us and the world. We see the love of accountability that would challenge the pharisees and religious leaders, so that they would better lead people towards God and take burdens off their shoulders. We see the ever present love, that would empty himself and bear our burdens so that we would meet him, know him and grow with him. In the worship of Jesus, we see the true and perfect reality of love that we have longed for and as we do, we have the chance to experience it, live in it and live it out. Worship, is probably, in it’s purest form an expression of our love for God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit - just like how we often see Jesus’ love for the Father expressed in worship.

So to bring this all together, we are a people meant for worship, because we are a people meant to meet, acknowledge and lift up the truth about God; God’s glorious character is so worthy of praise that it should come natural. Worship in our broken world also becomes an important means for us to come to that full realization as we are introduced and grounded in the truth. But true and heartfelt worship doesn’t just change our relationship with God, it changes our relationship with everything as it leads to the realities of God such as knowledge, peace and love. Let us spir one another to ever increasing worship. Rejoice always, again I will say, Rejoice. AMEN

Children’s story - Two houses built out of blocks (one weaker and one stronger - one has a base and is interlocked)

Have the kids tell me which one they think is stronger? Why?

Have them test out which one is stronger.

Walk them through how, lifting up one as stronger and then testing it, helped them to better understand the truth

This is how praising God and learning about him, help us to better understand the truth

It might start out with just knowing that he is good, but praise is about proclaiming and lifting up the truth so that it shapes us as we come to understand it better.

Christian worship very simply is about recognizing and proclaiming the true and magnificent realities about God.

Which should include public and communal worship (sharing and sharing in the glory of God)

A desire, a hunger for worship - to serve, to lift up

Everyone serves something, everyone worships something

Blessed is the man who dwells in your house

Strength to strength - thy way - well in misery

One day in thy courts is better than a thousand elsewhere

Better a door keeper

Worship is about reaching out to God

In not full understanding

Dwelling in the truth we know

For relationship and closeness

Near, richly dwell with

The consequence

Knowledge - eternal life is knowing God - which comes through their glorification

Peace

Trust - prayer, letting go

A greater love - care, gentleness

Knowing the good things - true, pure, honourable, commendable, pleasurable, excellent, worthy of praise

Jesus is glorified in part due to his glorifying of the Father

As those that belong to God - Jesus should be glorified in us (natural byproduct)

The name

I have spoken so that they might have my joy

We do not belong to the world

Sanctified in the truth