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“The Heart of Worship”

 

Scripture:  Romans 11: 33 - Romans 12: 1-2

 

Can you recall a time in your life when you were overwhelmed by the glory of God?   Perhaps  when you held a newborn in your arms for the first time…or when you heard an exquisite piece of music played or sung so beautifully, or when you saw a tree canopy ablaze with colour, beside a crystal-clear lake shimmering in the sun. Experiencing the glory of God can take our breath away…words can seem woefully inadequate…a holy hush descends on us…often tears will flow in the presence of  the glory of his majesty…and our response is …to worship God! 

 

Fellowship…discipleship…and worship.  Over the past two weeks, we have learned about the new life that Christians share as it’s reflected in our fellowship and discipleship.  Today, we’re going to look at another dimension to this new life in Christ, which is reflected in our worship.   I’ve borrowed the title of this message  “The Heart of Worship” from Matt Redmond’s song of the same name.

 

In the first eleven chapters of Romans, Paul gives an outline of salvation history, and he explains how the gospel shines into the darkness of our sin and guilt.  He highlights God’s great mercy towards both Jew and Gentile…and then he ends Chapter 11 with this expression of worship…

In Romans 12, Paul transitions to say …given who this merciful God is,  how are we to then live as Christians?  

 

Paul answers this question in Romans 12: 1-2. “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God…this is your true and proper worship.  Do not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.  Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is…his good, pleasing, and perfect will.”

 

If we look closely, we will see that all the elements of true worship are summed up in these two verses.  In view of God’s mercy…meaning in view of the gifts that God has given us that we don’t deserve…for example his love,  grace,  joy, forgiveness, hope and salvation and the list goes on….In appreciation for the gifts of God freely given to us, our hearts are moved to praise him for his undeserved favour towards us…and so to worship him.

 

And we worship him by offering ourselves to him as a living and holy sacrifice!  What does this mean?    This use of the term “sacrifice” would have been familiar to the people of Paul’s day because of their  understanding of the Jewish sacrificial system in worship.  Twice daily, animal sacrifices were made in the Temple as a part of their regular worship liturgy.   But once a year, on Yom Kippur…the Day of Atonement, multiple sacrifices were made… The high priest sacrificed a bull as a sin offering for himself, and then went on to choose  two goats as  sin offerings...one goat as a burnt offering, and the second goat as a “scapegoat” upon which the priest figuratively put all of the accumulated sins of the people during the whole year,  before banishing the scapegoat out beyond the confines of Jerusalem.

 

But in the New Testament, Jesus himself fulfills what the Old Testament sacrifice was intended to do.  Jesus himself was our one and only sacrifice.   Jesus’ death provided the atonement for our sins once and for all so that by believing in him,  we could be reconciled to him… He saved us, not by the righteous deeds we have done, but according to His mercy, through the washing of new birth and renewal by the Holy Spirit. (Titus 3: 5)

 

Therefore, Paul admonishes us to  present ourselves as a “living sacrifice”…in other words, offering our whole selves…all of our humanness…our bodies and souls, our hearts and minds, our thoughts, and attitudes… surrendering ourselves to God daily in order to fulfill God’s  purposes for us… this is the  living sacrifice that is holy and pleasing to God.  This is our spiritual, or reasonable worship.  

 

Eugene Peterson says it this way in the Message…”take your everyday, ordinary life…your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life…and place it before God as an offering.  Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him.” (Romans 12: 1)

 

But we also need to be careful not to conform to the patterns of this world but rather to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. (Romans 12: 2)   Matthew Ruttan explains that we need to guard against being shaped by the morality of our culture,  the morality which sadly is also creeping into the Church, without any reference to the Lord.    The societal  pressure to conform is so strong that we need to mount a strong defense against it by the continual  transformation of our minds.  Then  we will be able to know, test and prove God’s good, pleasing, and perfect will.

 

Let’s pause and take a moment to reflect on the significance of the  sermon title slide.  It is a word picture of the meaning of “The Heart of Worship.”  You will notice two interrelated images… underpinning the words “Heart of Worship” is the open Bible, representing the revealed truth of the Word of God.  On top of the open Bible and formed out of the pages of the Word of God,  the heart represents worshipping God in Spirit.  

Do you remember that when Jesus was talking to the Samaritan woman at the well, he said to her, “yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks.  God is Spirit and his worshippers must worship in Spirit and in truth.” (John 4: 23-24) In order for our spiritual transformation to be fruitful, we must  ask God the Holy Spirit to nurture our spiritual hunger to read, meditate on  and understand God’s Word.    

 

So, all of our lives are to be lived out in reliance on God and in love for others …showing the worth of God above all things and worshipping him in our daily life.   Worship encompasses what happens in the sanctuary on a Sunday morning to be sure, but it is also much broader than that…as we live in relationship with Jesus, the quality of our worship is the expression of the quality of our relationship with him …as we surrender our lives to him for his purposes, moment by moment and hour by hour.  

 

John Piper sums it up in this way… “The inner essence of worship is to know God truly and to respond from the heart to that knowledge by valuing God, treasuring God, prizing God, enjoying God and being satisfied with God above all earthly things.” And then that deep, restful, joyful satisfaction in God overflows in demonstrable acts of praise from the lips and demonstrable acts of love in serving others for the sake of Christ.”

 

This idea is echoed in the Westminster Shorter Catechism Question #1  where we read…”The chief end of mankind is to glorify God AND to enjoy him forever.”  For God has purposely created us in his image, so that our image would reflect his glory.  And true worship serves, above all else, “the praise of God’s glory.”   Worship means ascribing worth to God…and the desire and ability to worship God is a gift of God’s grace to us.  

 

Notably, God does not need OUR praises, but rather it is we who need to praise him. In the book of Acts we read that “the God who made the world and everything in it,  is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands.  And he is not served by human hands as if he needed anything.  Rather he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.” (Acts 17: 25)   Therefore, we do not  worship God to impress him or others, nor to earn his favour, nor to try to reach a spiritual high, but rather as a loving response to the mercy of God showered upon us.

 

On Sundays we gather to worship as the Body of Christ.   So, what happens during Sunday worship?

 

In corporate worship, simply thirsting and hungering after God becomes  our reasonable sacrifice of praise.  We resolve to fix our eyes on Christ, as we renew our satisfaction in him. 

During worship, through the power of the Holy Spirit, we are transformed more and more into the image of God, to the glory of God.  During worship our hearts are cleansed through the confession of our sin, and we are changed.   Our minds are renewed through prayer, through the reading and study of God’s Word, through offering our gifts and through singing God’s praises.   In worship,  God’s will for us is also confirmed.   The highest form of worship is our obedience to God and to his will for us and it’s through our obedience that God is praised and glorified. 

 

When our worship gathering disperses, and we scatter to our own homes, we continue to live in relationship with God in Jesus.  As we allow Jesus to become the heart of our worship, the more Jesus becomes the heart of our lives and the more we become our authentic selves.  When we let our light  shine before others that they may see our good deeds and give glory to our Father in heaven (Matthew 5:16), this too, is an act of worship…worshipping him with our lives.

 

Perhaps at this stage, some of you are thinking…how are we supposed to worship God like this?  You might even be so bold as to remark, “wishful thinking!”  Maybe you are thinking of some obstacles that are standing in your way of surrendering your life to God in worship. Let me just bring a few that come to mind.

 

 First of all, It is possible that we come to worship with a wrong image of God….we may see God as sort of a cosmic killjoy, who leans over the balcony of heaven looking for someone who is enjoying life, and shouts “Cut that out!”  If we live in fear of God’s disapproval of us, or we think that God cannot possibly forgive us given the mess we’ve made of things,  we can get stuck and stay stuck.   And the devil delights to exploit our vulnerability, doesn’t he?  

 

For those of us who can’t get past our own feelings of unworthiness, let’s listen for God’s invitation to surrender all of our guilt and shame to him…to confess our sin, and to ask for God’s forgiveness… In her book Tramp for the Lord, Corrie Ten Boom says her favorite mental picture is of forgiven sins thrown into the sea. Corrie says, “When we confess our sins, God casts them into the deepest ocean, gone forever.”  She says, “I believe God then places a sign out there that says, “No Fishing Allowed.”  Sometimes we fail to grasp this fundamental truth—that when God forgives our wrongdoing, we’re fully forgiven!  There is no need to keep dredging up and reliving our guilt and shame when in God’s eyes our debts have been cancelled in full.  What a glorious and liberating thought! 

 

God will help us to release our regrets, hurts, and judgments into “the sea of God’s forgetfulness” and to accept the cleansing and healing that is offered through Jesus’ sacrifice for us… Then we will be able to joyously affirm beyond a shadow of a doubt, that we are beloved children of God.    When we surrender to God in this way, we will be free to genuinely worship God in spirit and in truth and follow him in freedom.

 

 Secondly, having unconfessed sin in our hearts is another obstacle to worshipping God.   In Isaiah 59: 1-2, it says, “Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear.  But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.”   The Psalmist reminds us of the same thing  in Psalm 66: 18, “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.” This was the experience of King David when he arranged for the death of Uriah and then  committed adultery with Bathsheba… For twelve long months, David was miserable.  He fought against the conviction that what he had done was wrong.  Although he was still in a relationship with God, the fellowship that he had enjoyed with God was broken.  But in Psalm 32 we read about David’s confession.  “Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is put out of sight!  Yes, what joy for those whose record the Lord has cleared of guilt, whose lives are lived in complete honesty!”  David said,   “When I refused to confess my sin, my body wasted away, and I groaned all day long.  Finally, I confessed all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide my guilt…  I will confess my rebellion to the Lord!  And God forgave me.  All my guilt is gone.” 

 

 My Dad was fond of saying, “Keep short accounts with God.”  This means to make it a daily habit to confess our shortcomings, sins, and failures to God.  When we do so,  we will rejoice as we hear him say, “I forgive you my child and I love you with an everlasting love.”  

 

Thirdly, unresolved conflict with others can also be an obstacle to our worship of God. 

Jesus says, “therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar.  First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.”  (Matthew 5:23-24)   The same principal holds true when WE have something against our brother and sister…we are called to talk to that person directly and to seek to forgive and to be forgiven. (Matthew 18: 15-17)  Many misunderstandings can be resolved by simply taking a step towards our brother or sister in love.    We must always strive for unity in the church, and as far as it depends on us,  live at peace with everyone. (Romans 12: 18)

 

And finally,  in Matthew 6, Jesus warns us that we cannot serve two masters. “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. (Matthew 6: 24-26)  Mammon might  represent wealth, property, possessions, fame, status, hobbies, leisure activities, or whatever we value more than our relationship with the Lord.  In our fast-paced society, where we are spoiled for choice,  we know that it is not possible to have it all.  We must establish priorities.   Let’s not lose sight of Jesus’ admonishment and promise to “Seek God’s kingdom first above all things, and God will provide everything else.” (Matthew 6: 33)

 

So, how do we summarize what true worship is?    It is an authentic experience of the heart which rightly values God’s worth above all things and  displays the supreme worth of God.  In Hebrews we read, ^“Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name.  And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased. (Hebrew’s 13: 15-16)

 

As we pause for a time of reflection, I invite everyone to spend a few moments seeking God’s face…perhaps in praise and adoration for his goodness to you, perhaps in confession, perhaps in prayer for ourselves or  for another. 

 If you’d like to stay after the service and have someone pray for you, please remain in your seat and you will be joined by someone who would be happy to pray with you or for you. For those of us who hesitate to stay for prayer because we have  FOMO…Fear Of Missing Out, not to worry…  I’m told that a  whole plate of delicious muffins will be saved for those of us who are a little bit later coming into the hall.  Is there something about the last being first? To God be the glory!!!!  AMEN