| Today is the third in our series on The Great
Ends of the Church which are found in our Book of Order.
Since "the Great Ends of the Church" doesn’t necessarily
inspire, we’ve entitled the series "It’s What We Do." The Great
Ends are really markers to what we as a church are to do, they
are our identity, our purpose. It should be in our DNA. Recall
where we’ve been so far: The first "great end," the first thing
we are to do is the Proclamation of the Gospel for the
Salvation of Humankind; then last week, Shelter, Nurture,
and Spiritual Fellowship of the Children of God. And today
our topic is worship, the Maintenance of Divine Worship.
Our Scripture reading comes from Israel’s worshipbook, Psalms,
where there are many passages we could’ve selected. But for
today, Psalm 95:1-7. (Read)
As most of you know, we are in the middle of a process
exploring becoming a more missional church. Hopefully you know
that by now if you’ve been around for, say, more than a
month. In fact, a brief sidebar moment here, the Session met in
a special meeting last Thursday night to begin a discernment
process seeking God’s direction for next steps in becoming more
missional. A simple definition of missional would be outward
focused, or connecting with the community around the church. So,
we are in the middle of that process. Of the six Great Ends
of the Church, the topic for today, worship, is the least
missional. That’s not to say worship can’t be missional, but it
is the least missional of the Great Ends of the Church.
And I need to say here that when using the word "worship" this
morning, I am speaking about corporate worship—that time,
normally on Sunday morning, when a church gathers together and
offers its worship to God. We’ve spoken many times of how we
live our lives the rest of the week is also an act of worship to
God, particularly because, in the Great Ends of the Church,
that is what God calls us to do! Proclaiming the Gospel,
Sheltering and Nurturing the Children of God, Preserving the
Truth, Promoting Social Righteousness and Exhibiting the Kingdom
of Heaven are all, first of all, very missional and,
secondly, acts of worship because that is what God calls us to
do. But for today, by "worship" we mean our corporate worship
here on Sunday morning. And that is not very missional. I
suppose we could take our worship out on the road, outdoors
somewhere in a public place and that would make it more
missional. It might also get us arrested, sad to say, but it
would make our corporate worship more missional. But, as long as
our corporate worship takes place here, in this sanctuary, on
Sunday morning...or any other day and time of the week for that
matter, but as long as it takes place here in this sanctuary,
it’s not very missional. Which is perfectly okay. Missional and
"attractive" is not an either/or proposition. It is a both/and.
We seek, as a church, to be both attractive and missional, both
inward focused—ministering to our members and visitors—and
outward focused—seeking to learn more about the community out
there that might otherwise never darken our church doors and
explore ways we can connect with it. So that we might
effectively...proclaim the gospel, shelter and nurture, preserve
truth, promote social righteousness and exhibit the kingdom of
heaven to the world. It’s important we understand fulfilling the
Great Ends of the Church as both an attractional and
a missional process. Both/end, not either/or. And of the six
Great Ends of the Church, our "maintenance of divine
worship" is the least missional.
It is so because our corporate worship is what identifies us
as distinctively Christian. We can certainly stand alongside
someone of another faith, or no faith, and promote social
righteousness. So also can we provide shelter or nurturing for
others without necessarily showing our Christian faith. We can
exhibit the kingdom of heaven in a generic way, the message of
Christ not being proclaimed. There’s lots of good news we might
talk about without necessarily bringing up the good news of the
gospel. And we might point to a variety of truths without
pointing to Christ. But, worship, worship is all about the God
we serve and our relationship with Him through Jesus Christ.
Worship is what marks us distinctively as Christian. Worship is
what we do.
In fact, we could say—as our Call to Worship this morning
did—that we were made to worship God. Whether in how we live our
lives (the private and missional worship we offer), or in our
corporate worship, we were made to worship God. First of all,
because God alone is worthy of our worship. Time and time again,
in the Psalms—Israel’s worshipbook—and throughout Scripture the
people are called to worship God because of all that He has done
and, therefore, He alone is worthy of our worship. It’s the one
thing we can offer to God...our worship. We cannot thank God
enough for all that He has done for us, but the one thing we can
do is worship Him. We were created to worship God. In fact, if
we don’t worship God we will worship other things. We were made
for worship and the focus of our worship is God. Remember, the
spectator in our worship is God. The question we ask each Sunday
about our worship is not, what did I get out of worship today,
but, what did God get out of my worship. We were made to worship
God. It’s the one thing I can offer to God.
Yet, we also benefit from our worship. Worship reminds us of
who is God. Not us. Not others. Not things. God alone. He is,
the Psalmist reminds us, "the great God, the great King above
all gods" (Psalm 95:3). He is God...and we are not. The very
act of worship is an acknowledgment of that truth.
We also benefit from our worship in that worship draws us
closer to God. There is a sense of the holy, of the presence of
God in our worship. Through the words and tunes of hymns and
songs, through the prayers, through the Word proclaimed, through
the Sacraments of baptism and communion, through the silence
there is a sense of God’s presence. We benefit from worship that
draws us closer to God.
And we also benefit from our worship in that it re-focuses
us, it re-energizes us. Life away from worship can be draining,
circumstances drawing our attention away from God. Worship
brings God back into focus and His Spirit re-energizes us in our
worship together.
So, worship is what we do. The third Great End of the
Church calls us to the "maintenance of divine worship." That
word "maintenance" isn’t a particularly inspiring word.
Maintenance can bring to mind the patching and repairing of
something old and worn, an old automobile for example, in an
effort to keep it running. That is not what we’re being called
to do in this Great End of the Church. In fact, the
church’s worship is always changing and evolving to reflect the
time and place of a particular people of God. It is not the
maintenance of a particular style or type of worship. As Howard
Rice points out in his book on this third Great End of the
Church—[Worship] is not preservation of all that has been
done by those who came before us. Otherwise, we Presbyterians
would still be limited to singing the Psalms without
accompaniment, to hour-long sermons, or even to a Latin mass"
(p.7). Rather, the "maintenance of divine worship" means that a
mark of the Christian church will always include worship. It’s
what we do. It’s what we maintain, wherever the church gathers
in whatever time and place.
So, come let us worship the Lord. Wherever our journeys might
take us throughout the week, come and worship the Lord. Whatever
we might discover and pursue in our effort to become a more
missional church, come, let us worship the Lord. Always
there is that.
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