Worship, Worship & Worship!

A district party conference was under way in Moscow Province. It was presided over by a new secretary of the District Party Committee, replacing one recently arrested. At the conclusion of the conference, a tribute to Comrade Stalin was called for. Of course, everyone stood up (just as everyone had leaped to his feet during the conference with every mention of his name). The hall echoed with ¡stormy applause, rising to an ovation.¡¨ For three minutes, four minutes, five minutes, the ¡stormy applause, rising to an ovation,¡¨ continued. But palms were getting sore and raised arms were already aching. And the older people were panting from exhaustion. It was becoming insufferably silly even to those who adored Stalin. However, who would dare to be the first to stop? The secretary of the District Party could have done it. He was standing on the platform, and it was he who had just called for the ovation. But he was a newcomer. He had taken the place of a man who’d been arrested. He was afraid! After all, NKVD men were standing in the hall applauding and watching to see who would quit first! And in the obscure, small hall, unknown to the leader, the applause went on six, seven, eight minutes! They were done for! Their goose was cooked! They couldn’t stop now till they collapsed with heart attacks! At the rear of the hall, which was crowded, they could of course cheat a bit, clap less frequently, less vigorously, not so eagerly, but up there with the presidium where everyone could see them?

The director of the local paper factor, an independent and strong-minded man, stood with the presidium. Aware of all the falsity and all the impossibility of the situation, he still kept on applauding! Nine minutes! Ten! In anguish he watched the secretary of the District Party Committee, but the latter dared not stop. Insanity! To the last man! With make-believe enthusiasm on their faces, looking at each other with faint hope, the district leaders were just going to go on and on applauding till they fell where they stood, till they were carried out of the hall on stretchers! And even then those who were left would not falter Then, after eleven minutes, the director of the paper factory assumed a businesslike expression and sat down in his seat. And, oh, a miracle took place! Where had the universal, uninhibited, indescribable enthusiasm gone?

To a man, everyone else stopped dead and sat down. They had been saved! The squirrel had been smart enough to jump off his revolving wheel. That, however, was how they discovered who the independent people were. And that was how they went about eliminating them. That same night the factory director was arrested. They easily pasted ten years on him on the pretext of something quite different. But after he had signed Form 206, the final document of the interrogation, his interrogator reminded him: Don’t ever be the first to stop applauding![i]

We all remember the television images of huge crowds of people in Iraq protesting against America and pledging loyalty to Sadam Hussein. It was only through secret channels, and by talking to people in the last year, that we have learned that attending those rallies, and enthusiastically showing your support of the Dictator, were the only way to get vouchers for food for your family! With the threat of prison or starvation hanging over a person, they will do just about anything.

You might be surprised to find out how many people feel the same way about church that the people of the Old Soviet Union felt about that Party Meeting, or at the rally in Baghdad! They might never say it, but they are in church because they are afraid of the consequences of not attending! They are afraid that if they don’t go to church they will go to hell. If they don’t go and worship Him, He will punish them and their life will fall apart – they might lose their job, their health, or their happiness.

So let me ask you – does a person who attends church with that mindset really worship God? Is God impressed by their attendance? Does their attendance in church earn them a place in heaven? The answer to each of those questions is a resounding “No!” Going to church does not earn you passage to heaven. Singing and praising is not worship. God does not keep track of your attendance record at church and dole out positions in heaven based on the good works you have done like some dictator watching a crowd of his citizens for the disloyal.

These Days at Gateway Community Church we are examining the memoirs of a man who walked with Jesus for three years. His name was John, and he was known as “the Disciple Jesus loved.” He was perhaps the closest of Jesus’ friends on this earth, and years after the death of his friend, John set out to record a collection of his most memorable times with Jesus. He tells us at the end of the book that he could have written much, much more – but he specifically chose these things to show us that Jesus is the Son of God, and to show us why we should believe in Him.

In John’s memoirs, we have heard Jesus make direct claims to be the Son of God. We have seen Jesus perform miraculous signs that show He is who He claims to be. We have watched Him attack the religious stuff shirts, and have compassion on those who were shut out from the church because of their sin. He has fed peoples bellies, and nourished their souls. He has given sight to the blind, raised the dead, and accused the religious leaders of the day of being both blind and dead. In short, Jesus has caused quite a stir in Israel. His popularity has grown among the masses to huge proportions, but that growth has been matched by hatred among the religious and political leaders.

In chapter 12 of John’s memoirs, we see three very distinct snapshots of what it means to really worship God – and none of them have anything to do with fear, compulsion or selfish gain. In fact, as we will see, when we really worship, we don’t focus on ourselves at all.

Let’s begin by reading the first few verses of John chapter 12. [Read vs. 1-8]

This first snapshot is what I call Passionate Worship.

Mary is overwhelmed by complete abandonment as she takes this most precious item she owns and lavishly pours it out for her Lord. It would have taken a common laborer in that city a year to earn enough money to purchased a pint of pure nard, and yet she selflessly pours it out on Jesus. As Randy mentioned a couple of weeks ago, Bethany was just a few miles outside the walls of Jerusalem, and was not a real affluent neighborhood – for Mary to pour out this perfume on Jesus was a passionate, private act of worship that showed that she was broken before Him. The letting down of her hair showed absolute humility, the wiping of his feet showed total submission.

Mary could have simply dabbed a little of the perfume on Jesus, she could have reserved some of this beautiful fragrance for herself, but she did not. She could have wiped his feet with a towel, and not taken down her hair, but in taking down her hair she humbled herself and laid her glory down at his feet – she poured it all out for Him, and she poured herself out at His feet.

She had to know that there would be those around who would question her motives, who would criticize her actions – but she did not care – she would not give anything less than her all. She would not dare to worship the Lord by going through the motions – she would not dishonor him by giving him something that cost her nothing – she gave her most precious possession – she gave herself to Him in a Passionate act of Worship.

How much does that sound like our worship? When was the last time we worshiped the Lord with that kind of passion? Have we ever done so?

The second snapshot of Worship in this chapter is an act of Public Worship.

Beginning at verse 12 we read of what is called The Triumphal Entry. It is the incredible day when Jesus road on a donkey into the city of Jerusalem and the people greeted Him as their Messiah and King. Follow along as I read these verses [read vs. 12-19].

Here’s a worship service that is anything but private. This is a group of people who are excited by the presence of Jesus in their midst! A great crowd has gathered in Jerusalem for the Feast of Passover, and they have heard that Jesus is on his way to the city from Bethany, where he has been staying with Mary, Martha and Lazarus. So they went out to see him pass by. Just 10 days ago or so, President Bush went through West Bend on a bus and crowds gathered to greet him, wave at him and welcome him to the city – this event is not at all unlike that event.

The people of Jerusalem are welcoming the one who they believe is their new king – and he’s not riding a Greyhound, he’s riding a donkey! They don’t wave political signs, they wave palm branches. And instead of chanting political slogans, they are chanting, “Hosanna, Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the King of Israel!”

Verse 17 says that the people who were with Jesus when He raised Lazarus from the dead were going through the crowd telling them what He had done, celebrating the presence of God and His work in their lives – “Hey, have you heard? Jesus is here! He is the Son of God! He has raised the dead! He’s our King!”

Before we begin to equate this to our normal church services, let me ask you this – how often does your church service sound like this? Joy, excitement, enthusiasm, people sharing what God has done in their lives – hmmmm – seems to be missing from far too many churches, I think. I gotta tell you, folks, I think our public worship times in the church today need some help – and not because we need to put on some kind of a show – but because we need to recognize again, with real joy, the presence of God in our midst. We need to celebrate what He has done, and what He is doing all around us. We need to be going to the people in the street, and saying, “Hey – have you heard? Jesus is here! He is the Son of God! He loves you! He wants to know you personally!”

The third snapshot of worship I see here is Personal Worship.

In verses 20 through 26, we see that some Gentiles were among the people who were in Jerusalem. And when they heard all this talk about Jesus, they wanted to know more – they wanted a personal visit with Jesus. Listen as I read verses 20-26.

Can you hear the intimate, personal level on which Jesus is speaking? He is talking about the deepest things of the heart – our priorities, our loyalties, our commitments.

“Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant will also be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.” (vs. 26)

It is not enough to simply join in the crowd – yes, worshiping is having those private, passionate times of worship, and it is times of great celebration in public, but worship is also personal commitment and giving of ourselves to Jesus to serve Him and to be about His mission for us.

Worship through service is a step beyond the private – those quiet times of prayer and adoration that we have for Him. It is far beyond the Public – when we gather in a group of like-minded people and sing and celebrate. It is a time of risk, or sacrifice, of obedience, and it is a type of worship that honors God – and He in turn honors those who worship Him in such a way.

So if we were to take a snapshot of your worship – what would it look like? Would it resemble any of these three here? Or would it look more like those folks who were afraid of the powerful ogre who ruled over them? Is our worship genuine, or forced? Is it heart felt, or is it based on fear or greed? God doesn’t want you worship if it is forced – He wants worship that comes from your heart – worship that is the natural, passionate, enthusiastic, response of a heart that has experienced His love.

If you’ve never worshiped Him like that before, maybe it’s because you’ve never met Him on that level before. He loves you with a love that is beyond anything you’ve ever experienced. He loves you so much that he actually laid aside the benefits of heaven to come and live as a human being, and lived a perfect life so that he could be a perfect sacrificial payment for the wrong things you have done, the mistakes you have made, and the sins you’ve committed.

He can and H will give you a new life, if you will place your trust in Him for your life now, and eternal life to come. If you’ve never done that, I encourage you to do so today, and you will be able to worship from the heart.

Prayer.