1. THE WORSHIP EVENT

Transformation by Christ: the creation of worshipers

2. THE WORSHIP RESPONSES

Transformation of our inner being: the personal response in worship

Transformation of our community: the corporate celebration of worship

When you think of the word worship, where do you imagine this taking place? Don’t we mostly have in mind the Sunday morning worship service? Worship brings to mind what we are doing right now–the entire church comes together and we have an order to our worship. We sing, pray, have announcements and then a sermon. Sometimes we define worship even more narrowly than this. We think of worship as the singing portion of the worship service. If we ask someone from another church about their worship, what you usually mean is: "what is their music like?" The various options available to us are many. Is it contemporary or traditional? Do you use an organ or a keyboard? Do you have a song leader or a worship team? Do you raise your hands or do you fold them in your lap? Do you use hymn books or do you sing off the wall? Do you use drums and electric guitar? Isn’t this usually what we mean when we speak of worship? Some people think these kinds of decisions are the most important thing that a church can do. There is probably more controversy, more church conflict and more church splits over the issue of music than any other issue.

There is a large, healthy church in our area than came extremely close to firing their pastor over the issue of music. There is a large, healthy church in Madison that split into 2 parts–a hymn singing congregation and a worship chorus singing congregation. I go to conferences like the one I just returned from in Green Bay where there are workshops called, Winning the Worship Wars. There are worship wars in churches across the land–churches are splitting, families are leaving, masses are complaining, all over the style of worship music. It’s not just "other" churches that are having problems. We have had our own share of struggles. Nothing life threatening, but some struggles. Is this what worship is all about? When we talk about the core value of Inspiring Worship, do we mean: "I went to church this morning, but I just wasn’t inspired, I didn’t get anything out of it." OR, "I went to church this morning and I really felt like I was worshiping." Is worship just a feeling that you get or the style of music that was played, or is there something much deeper, much more important than these things? Don’t get me wrong. What we do on Sunday morning is very important, but it is the end result of something much deeper, it is not the starting point of the meaning of worship.

What does it really mean to worship God? The foundation and starting point to that question is found in our text this morning from Romans 12. [Read 1-2] When you read these verses, what is the part that stands out the most? Which phrase jumps off the page? (Various responses-living sacrifices, transformed, renewing of mind) All of those things are vital. Did you notice what one word Paul used to summarize these things? Worship. Offering our bodies as living sacrifices, being transformed by the renewing of our minds, all of these things are what it means to worship God. They are what I refer to in the outline as the worship responses. They are a part of how we respond to God in worship. But there is something that comes before this, what I call the worship event and it is based on the phrase which is easily overlooked in this passage –in view of God’s mercy. What is Gods mercy? Mercy is defined as God not giving us what we deserve. As sinful creatures who have rejected God, the thing we all deserve is eternal punishment and eternal separation from God. That is what we deserve, nothing more than that. But instead of getting what we deserve, God had mercy on us through the cross. Jesus died in our place so that we don’t have to. In being transformed by Christ in this way, God has created worshipers of Jesus.

What did you worship before you became a Christian? Some of you worshiped your jobs. Some worshiped money, or sex or pleasure. People throughout the world since the beginning of creation have all worshiped something. Someone has said there is a God-shaped vacuum in each of us. If we don’t fill it with the one true God, we must fill it with something else. There is a longing for something meaningful within us. How did that longing get there? God placed it within us, but we have warped it. We have twisted and mangled by worshiping anything and everything except the one who created us to worship him. But God showed us mercy. He didn’t give us what we deserve and through Jesus’ death has created us to worship him alone. This is the event of worship–the cross. Everything that we dare label worship must be done in response to this event. Paul said it like this, in view of God’s mercy. Paul can say it this way because the first eleven chapters of Romans is an extended explanation of God’s mercy. If you believe that God has been merciful to you, then worship him.

Let’s get back to the issue of music. How do we know if our style of music is truly a form of worship? One question–does it celebrate the event of the cross? If it is done "in view of God’s mercy" and in response to the great gift of salvation he has given us, then it is worship. Worship is a response to the even of the cross and there are two ways to respond in worship. The first is the transformation of our inner being, which is the personal response in worship. How do I respond to God’s mercy? By offering my body, my whole self–mind, emotions and will–as a living sacrifice to God. Paul says this is our spiritual act of worship. Please don’t think that worship is simply singing songs on Sunday morning. Worship begins with us as individuals. If you show up on Sunday morning and expect to worship God when you haven’t been worshiping God the last six days of the week, what do you think is going to happen? Is God suddenly going to show up and make you feel good? Sunday morning worship begins on Monday morning. Sunday morning worship starts on Tuesday morning.

By using the word sacrifice, Paul is intentionally alluding to the Old Testament sacrificial system with all of its animal sacrifices. Why did the priests in the OT kill all of those goats and bulls and sheep and pigeons? They did all of that so that their sins would be atoned for. They offered all of those sacrifices so that they could receive God’s mercy. Do you see the order of the events? First the sacrifice then God’s mercy. But after the death and resurrection of Christ, everything is reversed. First we get mercy then we offer a sacrifice. We don’t DO anything, but are merely responding to what God has already done. To paraphrase John F. Kennedy, "Ask not what you can do for your God, but ask what your God has already done for you." Religion is doing something for God. A relationship with Jesus Christ is responding to what he has already done.

Not only is the order of events different, first mercy and then sacrifice, but the sacrifice itself is vastly different. Instead of a dead goat we offer a living sacrifice of our whole bodies. Ask yourself this question: how much of my life does God want? Does he want my Sunday morning life? Does he want my family life? Does he want my deepest fears and insecurities? A proper response of worship is to give God everything! Some of the things that we have held back are secret sins, things we have held on to for years and haven’t wanted to or haven’t been able to sacrifice them to God. Other things we have held back are not secret sins, but private parts of our life. Some of you live with private pain, enormous hurts that run deep into your inner being. Maybe you have told one person about this, maybe you have never shared it in your life. God knows these things. He is the God of mercy.

We are given some very specific direction in how to respond in personal worship. Look at v. 2.

2Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, To worship Jesus Christ is the very opposite of worshiping the things of this world. We are not to be conformed to the world, we are not to look like the world looks. If you push your hand into a piece of clay, the clay conforms to your hand. The clay becomes a good representation of your actual hand. When the world pushes into us, like the lump of clay, we tend to conform to the pressure exerted on us until we look like the world–we are conformed to its image. We are told how to break free of this mold--but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. We don’t have to stay in the shape of the world, but we can be transformed to increasingly look like Christ. We do this by renewing our minds. This is not just thinking happy thoughts or the power of positive thinking. This is a transformation. The Greek word for transformed is metamorphousthe. Does that sound like a word you know? Metamorphosis–a radical change. In nature one of the great examples of metamorphosis is the butterfly. A caterpillar weaves a cocoon around itself and in a few weeks time, a metamorphosis takes place inside the cocoon. The ugly, crawling caterpillar rapidly turns into a beautiful, flying butterfly.

Unfortunately, the metamorphosis for the Christian is not quite as rapid as the butterfly, but it can be no less dramatic. The transformation takes place through the renewing of our mind. We renew our minds by filling our minds with the truth of God’s word. We daily remind ourselves of God’s mercy. We meditate on the depth of his love, the greatness of his being, the power of his Spirit. This is why we are to have daily devotional times. We renew our minds through reading the Bible and prayer. We understand anew how great God is, we celebrate the cross, we feel loved and forgiven. Is this worship? It is worship, a personal celebration of the cross, but true worship is complete when we leave our prayer closet and enter the world. The test of a renewed mind is if it holds up under the pressure of daily life. When we take the truth with us into a temptation and overcome, then we know we are being transformed. When we face daily trials and respond with love and obedience, then we know that our minds are being renewed. Paul says this is our spiritual act of worship and God gets all the glory.

That is the personal response in worship. But there is another type of response to God’s mercy and that is corporate celebration in worship. Corporate celebration is when private worshipers come celebrate together the mercy of God and the event of the cross. Notice I said private worshipers join together. If you are not a worshiper of God in private, when you get together with other private worshipers, you become a spectator. You are watching others worship, but you can’t enter in yourself. Your attitude on Sunday morning is, "God speak to me", but your attitude the rest of your week is "God, I’m busy". Corporate worship is the bringing together of private worshipers. The two are linked even more closely than that though. Corporate celebration of worship really should inspire the private worshiper. Corporate worship should strengthen an individuals ability to worship in private. Private worship and corporate worship work together like a spiral, strengthening each other.

I realize we still haven’t answered the tough questions about hymns vs choruses, contemporary vs traditional. What does the Bible say about the form and style of worship? The Bible is full of examples. The Psalms speak of singing and clapping. Many instruments were used–trumpets, harps, lyres (campfire guitar). David worshiped the Lord by dancing. Scripture tells us he danced before the Lord with all his might. Ezra fell face down and worshiped through repentance. The apostle John saw a vision of Jesus on the island of Patmos and he fell at the feet of Jesus as though he were dead. Moses worshiped God alone on the mountain. Elijah worshiped God alone in a cave. Abraham worshiped God in the middle of the desert. The disciples saw Jesus walk on the water in the middle of a storm and get into their boat. They all worshiped him right there in the middle of the Sea of Galilee. The book of Ephesians instructs us to speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in our hearts to the Lord. In Ezra’s day the people worshiped in the pouring rain. Paul worshiped in a dark prison.

Rather than limit the form and style of worship, the Bible speaks of a tremendous variety of worship styles. As a church we need to take these principles and apply them with wisdom. We should work hard at our corporate worship, we must be willing to give God our best. We have had a lot of people working behind the scenes in this area. We should be thankful for the ground work that has been laid. We are all growing and learning together. We have some specific plans for continuing to grow. We have invited four different churches or groups to come and lead us in worship, starting next Sunday. With some of them we will have the opportunity to ask questions about how they structure their worship, how much rehearsal time they put in, who is qualified to lead. Also we will be asking some of you to give regular feedback on the morning worship so that we can learn from mistakes and from success. This is part of the challenge and excitement of being in a young church. We don’t know what the future holds, but we get to watch how God works it out.

Worship is a response to the event of the cross because the cross is the place we receive God’s mercy. In view of God’s mercy then, may we become private and public worshipers of Jesus Christ. May our hearts overflow with gratitude at the his gift. Since worship is a response to God’s mercy and truth, we decided to preach first and then sing. We want this time of worship through song to be an extended response. How should you respond to Jesus this morning. Do you want to become a better private worshiper? Do you need to begin the daily renew your mind? Have you been critical of corporate worship and need to confess that?

Rich Maurer

March 10, 2002