Gateway’s Core Values 2008

Worship

Romans 12:1

INTRODUCTION: There was a story that ran in a small Midwestern town’s weekly paper a few years ago that quoted an official who said, “We are pleased to announce that the tornado which blew away First Church last Friday did no real damage to the town.”

Kind of scary isn’t it?

Could a similar commentary be made about us? What would happen if Gateway Community Church were “blown away,” if we ceased to exist? What if something happened in the near future that caused us to no longer be a church? Would our presence as salt and light in this community be missed? If Gateway were gone, would the city and area around us feel a sense of loss, or would we simply be forgotten? Do we make a difference? Are we making an impact? Are we supposed to, and if so, how?

Last week we saw Jesus pay a visit to the Temple in Jerusalem. His visit was dramatic and unexpected by the people of His day. “His behavior that day gives us amazing insight into the heart of God. Jesus was and is adamantly opposed to anything that gets in the way of people encountering Him.”[i] The temple had the appearance of being a place where people could and would find God, but it failed to deliver. The Temple had fallen into the abyss of “religion,” rather than the pursuit of God. The church, and the people going to it, had lost their focus.

In his book, Confronting Casual Christianity, Charles Stanley asks, “Why do you suppose that there are close to 100 million church members in America yet they are not making more of a moral and spiritual impact? Why do less than half of those members attend church on any given Sunday? Why is it that on Sunday morning thousands of church have more empty pews than full? Why is the average worship service attendance in the United States just 84 people?”

Tough questions. I’m sure we could come up with lots of reasons why those statements are true. I suspect most of those reasons, however, would be more like “excuses” than answers. I believe there is an answer. Like the Temple of Jesus’ day, the church today has lost its focus. We’re doing the “religion” thing, but we’re missing the most important priorities.

Why is the church here? [Make disciples!]

During these weeks we are examining the Core Values of Gateway Community Church. Our primary mission is to “Make Disciples,” and if we are going to produce disciples of Jesus Christ, then we had sure better BE disciples of Jesus Christ! So what does a disciple do? What drives them? What are the passions, and values of a disciple of Jesus?

I believe that, like the Temple in Jesus’ day, the church of our day has lost its ability to worship.

How would you define worship? [solicit responses from the congregation]

There are lots of ways we describe worship, aren’t there? Many of us think of music, and some churches describe their music portion of the service as the “worship time.” Some would describe worship as listening to a sermon, taking communion, giving an offering, praying, reading the Bible, fasting or being moved to tears by the needs of others. But I’ll tell you a secret – you can do each of those things, and not worship at all. Those things are not worship collectively or separately. At best they are only extensions of genuine worship – an evidence that we are worshiping, at worst they are nothing more than a “religious act.”

Let me give you what I believe to be a Biblical definition of worship. “Worship is the natural response of a human being to the presence of God.” As you look through the Biblical record, you will see this demonstrated in many different ways, but it is always worship. Some fall on their face in fear, they cover their heads in humility, they cry out for mercy, they sense their own sinfulness, they rejoice in their forgiveness, they sing songs of praise, they dance, erupt in words of praise. Some worship God with hearts full of love – others bow before Him in fear and reverence. I believe that when any person truly encounters God, they will react in worship – overwhelmed at His awesome power, glory and holiness. Their worship may differ in its expression, but they will worship.

I believe that when people really worship, their entire being will be radically altered. They will be that “salt and light” that Jesus called us to be. They will make a huge difference in their communities. And they won’t be able to stay away from their churches! They will love coming together with others who know Him to celebrate and worship Him as a family. They will live in the glow of His love every day of the week, worshiping Him every day, anywhere, not just for an hour on Sunday.

I believe that when churches really worship, they will become the kind of culture-impacting, life-changing centers of God-connection that we see described in the book of Acts – reaching thousands of people, making disciples, and impacting their entire culture in profound ways. This is what Gateway Community Church ought to be, and needs to be. This is the primary core value of our church. We are here to worship!

So what is worship? If the church has really lost a sense of genuine worship, how do we regain it?

Did you know that there is a verse in the Bible that tells us exactly what worship is, what it looks like? It’s there, and we’re going to see it this morning. Turn to Romans chapter 12, verse 1. For some of us, this might be a familiar verse – but don’t let that familiarity turn to contempt – this verse is full of profound meaning – and is the key to our lives and our church being what God created them to be.

Romans 12:1 In the King James Bible, this verse reads, “I beseech ye therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.” The NIV puts it this way, and they got this one exactly right: “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God–this is your spiritual act of worship.”

Do you see it? That last phrase, “This is your spiritual act of worship.” This is it! This is what worship looks like! In the KJV, they use the word “reasonable” to describe worship – the word used there in the Greek by Paul was the word “logikos” – it is the logical, natural, next act.

And what is “this?” What is that reasonable, natural act of worship? “To present our bodies as living sacrifices.” And what does that mean? It means that I give myself completely to Him – every single part – that is what it means to worship…I humble myself, and offer myself completely to God.

Why so you suppose God asks us to present our bodies, rather than our souls, spirits, wills, or hearts? I wonder if its not because the “spiritual” is somehow easier to agree with. We can easily proclaim that we’ve given our heart to Jesus – who can argue? We’re glad to give God our hearts, as long as our eyes, hands, feet and tongues are allowed to do what they please. On the other hand, if we give God our bodies, we in effect give Him all we are. You can’t offer your body to God and withhold your heart. First Corinthians 6:19 says, “Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought with a price. Therefore honor God with your body.” If our body is Gods, our heart is too.

We offer our bodies a “living sacrifice.” These verses would have brought up vivid images to the believers in Rome of the work done by the priests at the temple. The verb “to offer” is actually the same word used to describe the work of offering sacrifices at the temple. The word “service,” is also a word that was used to describe the work of a priest before God. William Barclay writes,

True worship is the offering to God of one’s body and all that one does every day with it. Real worship is not the offering to God of a liturgy, however noble, nor a ritual, however magnificent. Real worship is the offering of everyday life to Him. Take your body; take all the tasks that you have to do every day; take the ordinary work of the shop, the factory, the office, the home; and offer that all as an act of worship to God.

But there is a huge difference between the offerings the priests gave at the temple and the offering Paul talks about here. The difference is that God is now calling for living sacrifices, not dead ones.

I imagine that if I asked around the room this morning, “how many are willing to die for Christ?” the answer might be impressive. I would imagine a number of us would raise our hands, mostly because we see the question as hypothetical. But the question God asks us today is, “How many are willing to live for me?” That is not a hypothetical question. It is very practical.

You may be familiar with the story of the chicken and the pig. While walking past the local church, they noticed the name of this week’s sermon, “What can we do to help the poor?” They pondered if for a few minutes and the chicken exclaimed, “I know! We’ll do a ham and egg breakfast for all the poor in the city!” After a moment’s thought, the pig said, “Hey, wait a minute, for you that’s just a contribution, for me it’s total commitment!”

After thinking about this verse for a few minutes we might feel like that pig – “Hey, worship is no longer a contribution, giving my body as a living sacrifice is total commitment!” We can make all sorts of contributions – sing, teach, clean, help in nursery – but God wants more from us than a contribution, He wants total commitment! Our entire body, every day.

Finally, what is the motive? Why do we do this? Why would we be driven to offer our bodies to God as living sacrifices? The beginning of the verse says, “In view of God’s mercy…” When we truly understand what God has done for us, and remember His goodness to us, we will worship.

Now before you start grumbling to me about how rough your life is, and how unfair the world has been to you, you’d better just stop. Somehow we’ve developed this spiritual entitlement mentality that tells us that God owes us! That our lives are supposed to be conflict free, stress free and trouble free. You think life is unfair? Really? Do you want fair? Do you really want what you deserve? Trust me, you don’t!

What we deserve is an eternity separated from God! What we deserve is His judgment and punishment for the things we do – the attitudes, the actions, the pettiness, rebellion and sin. In Romans, Paul has spent the previous 11 chapters outlining what we deserve – he points out that we all have sinned and come short of the glory of God (3:23). He further states that the wages – the fair payment for that sin – is death (6:23). He then points out that the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord, and that those of us who are in Christ Jesus are no longer condemned – but we have eternal life in Him (8:1)! That’s what he’s referring to when he says, “therefore, in view of God’s mercy…”

I’ll tell you something that’s very important - You can’t worship if you don’t recognize God’s mercy. You can’t worship if you aren’t aware of His love for you. You can’t worship if you take your eyes off His mercy and grace and put your eyes on your circumstances. You can come to church, you can sing a song, and all the rest, but you’re not going to worship.

Last week, we closed the service with one of the most worshipful songs written in modern times – In Christ Alone. Do you know why that song is so powerful, so worshipful? Because it reminds us of the immeasurable greatness of God’s mercy!

Have you ever made microwave popcorn? If so, you probably have noticed something I have. Some kernels don’t pop. They experience the same radiation in the same bag at the same time, but some kernels don’t pop. Do you know what causes some to pop and others to just sit there? The environment. Somewhere along the line, those kernels dried too much. They were exposed to excessive heat or dry conditions, and they are simply dead…no life.

Many Christians read the same Bible passages, but some don’t pop. They hear the same spiritual songs, but some don’t pop. They hear the same sermon, but some don’t pop. They are issued the same challenge to witness, but some don’t pop. They hear the same call to service, but some don’t pop. They come to church, the attend Bible studies, they are surrounded by Christian fiends, but there’s no pop. Why? Because they’ve allowed their environment to suck the life out of them. They’ve forgotten the grace and mercy of God, and it has left them dry and lifeless.

The remedy is to remember – That’s the reason Paul wrote this verse in the first place – to remind us of God’s mercy. He’s just spent 11 chapters outlining the amazing love, mercy and grace of God, and he wraps it up by calling us to worship Him. Our worship – giving ourselves completely to him – will be the reasonable, logical response when we remember His mercy. When we offer our bodies to the Lord, as a living sacrifice, every day is a worship service; every place is a sanctuary; every thought, action and movement of our bodies is an act of worship.

As we close, we are going to sing that song I mentioned earlier, In Christ Alone. Allow the words of this song to remind you of the amazing mercy and love of God for you. Allow that realization to move you to the next logical, reasonable step – and worship God by offering your body, everything you are, to Him.