Trading Spaces I, The Uncomfortable Savior

Father, we thank you for the fact that we are your covenant people based on your promises, Lord. And we stand here before you today secure only because you never fail or forsake us. And we thank you that we can be strengthened today for the things that we face and be not afraid because our God is with us. Help us now as we endeavor in these next weeks to understand what kind of worship pleases you and what makes a difference in our lives when we align ourselves with what your word teaches us. Bless us now we pray. Open your word to us in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, I'm going to invite you this morning to go ahead and take your outline out of your notes, please. And as I mentioned, I had so many things that, as is normal when you get an extended period of time just to get quiet and still and listen to God, things start taking perspective. But when I kept being drawn back to this subject of worship, I knew that the Lord was clearly nudging me to come to the congregation and say, we have not looked at this in a while. And even though we haven't, I want you to know, folks, that that doesn't mean it's not important. In some respects, you know how we take some things for granted that we always have? If you're accustomed to always having good food in your home and then suddenly it's not there, you realize, wow, all these years I've taken my wife for granted in what she's prepared and that kind of thing. Well, I did a little research about how we established this church. And we built this church 20-some years ago on one of the highest priorities of worship. In fact, when I looked at this, how many of you know where to find the North Way Statement of Faith? If someone were to say to you, well, what do you guys believe, what are the details of your Statement of Faith? A lot of you say, well, I'm not sure. Well, we have it out in the foyer there in the Info Center, but we also have it on the homepage of our website. And look at Article No. 9 of the 10 Articles. Here's what No. 9 says. We believe that worship is our number one priority. Now, I read that and I had to say, well, based on the amount of energy and investment in terms of time that we give to teaching in this subject, I had to repent and say, no, Lord, I've not really made that a number one priority in our teaching for a while. And so I came under a lot of conviction. We need to look at this, folks, because, you see, it's worship that kind of drives what we do. Worship and how a church worship, if you're going to take some notes, I encourage you to do that, reflects the heart of that church or person. It accurately reflects their highest affection. And so people that come in here know, they sense what our true affection as a church and as a people are by the nature of our worship. And if you go into a, quote, quote, struggling or dead church, right away you say, boy, there's not much of a heart here if worship's not alive. Worship and how a church worship reflects that heart. And the number one question I've asked God for the last 21 years, I've walked off the platform wherever it has been, was not, you know, how is the music and how is the sermon and how is the video and how is the air? The number one question that stirs in my head is, Lord, did we please you today? Did you sense a smile in your heart? Did we bring pleasure to you as worshipers, as we gather? Now, you see, churches today are doing a lot of right things. I can take you all across America. This church is doing a lot of right things. But if you do right things, great ministries to help people, you know, wonderful relational type things and so on. But you don't keep the core, the heart of the church soft through worship. You know what happens? People burn out. People pull out. People just, they wear out. Because worship is what enlivens you to the power of God. And that's why I want to look at this today. And by the way, lest you think this is just going to be an intellectual exercise, I trust that by the time I'm done for these next three weeks, you're going to see how absolutely relevant this is to what empowers your daily journey with the Lord. And by the way, worshipers never run out of things to say to God. They never get tired of it. It's not something, you know, I learned that 20 years ago. Every time you bow your knee in your heart in worship, something new is revealed to you. Now, a little background about us, because I know the church fairly well. When I said that word worship, or maybe you heard Frank say it, you said, oh, well, immediately images come to your mind. Some of you grew up in a very traditional kind of, maybe even liturgical church, where things were maybe very formal. Maybe that represents your background. In case you don't know our story, we started in a little restaurant with a little flat ceiling and little chairs, and it was not very religious looking at all. And then God, just by his sort of sense of humor, made us move as a whole church down to, at that point, the abandoned old St. Teresa's Church up on Perrysville Avenue down there. And it kind of looked like that. Do you remember, folks? I mean, it wasn't quite that pretty, but it was like that. I mean, it was real formal, and so we had to realize that where we were didn't matter about how we worshiped. But for some of you, that's the image. Others of you come with an image of, well, something extremely expressive. Maybe you came from a Pentecostal background, and you're just hoping people around here would get freed up. You know? They're just really, man, I wish you guys would really understand. So we have this gamut of understanding what worship is. But perhaps, let's see what sort of the middle of this is all about. Let's look at the definition. Worship is denoting the worthiness of an individual or object to receive special honor. That's what the English word means. You ascribe to them, you apply to them a certain sense of honor, because of the worth that you see in them. In our culture, this can take a lot of different forms. I saw a guy at the car cruise the other night who had a t-shirt that said, I love my wife, and on the back it said, but I worship my car. Now, hopefully it was not a member here, but anyhow, I think that in our culture we worship all kinds of things. We ascribe worth, don't we, to athletes and superstars, and some people worship their kids. Some people worship stuff, and it used to be corporate CEOs until recently, but things are changing. You see, worship is raising up the value of something. Now, the Greek word, proskeneo, means to prostrate oneself before a person, to kiss their feet. By the way, this was prior to the usage that we see in the New Testament. This is what the Greeks, the early Greeks, understood worship as being a, listen now, this is not a mysterious kind of thing, what do you notice about those images? Bowing down, kissing feet, what? Their physical expression. So one thing you need to understand right out of the gate is, worship has to do with a physical expression. That's why it is not inappropriate when you see various demonstrations of people worshipping, whether it's closing their eyes or maybe lifting their hands, or in some cases, kneeling down or bowing down or whatever. That is implicit in the meaning of the original word. Over time, we've tended to make it a little more mysterious and ethereal and spiritual, and that's why I hear people say so often, well, you know, I just worship in my own way. Oh, what does that mean? Well, I just do what I kind of feel like doing. But the problem is that that means that you've taken the word and just taken the meaning away from it, because the word obviously has some clear implications. And in fact, I'd have to say this, what do you really do in your own way that doesn't affect somebody else? Do you drive your car in your own way? Well, yeah, well, until maybe you're sideways into somebody else or you've got 50 people behind you. We all have to adapt, don't we? Do you eat? Do you exercise? Well, only to a point. And you see, worship is the same thing. Yes, there's some things that are inherent in your personality, I understand that. But to really worship has to align yourself with how God has described it. And we're going to look at that in some detail in the days and weeks ahead. Now, look at the definition I want to use for this series. We'll see this again and again. Worship is recognizing and responding appropriately to the greatness of God. Why don't you write that down? Let's say it together. Worship is recognizing and responding appropriately to the greatness of God. And by the way, history, teaching over the centuries, all these different kinds of input that we have available to us help inform us as to what is appropriate. Let's look at it. Are you seeing the logical progression here? There is a way that God's called us to worship. And recognizing and responding to that is what true worship is all about. Now, let's look at what this is very interesting to me. Little is said descriptively or prescriptively in the New Testament concerning worship. Did you know that? I can't really point you to a series of passages that say, here are some specific things that you should do in order to worship appropriately. That's very interesting when you compare that to the Old Testament. Now, how many of you know that in the Old Testament there's a whole lot that's written about how to worship specifically? How many of you have ever read, I'm going to read through the Bible, and you got yourself into Leviticus? And it tells you exactly what to do and all these ceremonial things and when to show up and what to do while you're there and then how to clean up and then where to go afterwards and where to put the stuff. It's just very, very detailed. But the New Testament doesn't have any of that. Nothing. In fact, I noted the only two passages really that had anything to say at all about worship. And there, it really is just obliquely mentioned. I mean, it just talks about how to use spiritual gifts appropriately and another place, how gender roles apply. That's all it is. Very, very little is defined. Now, that's very interesting to me. Why would God do that? Why would he be so explicit in the Old Testament and just so general in the New Testament? Because you see, the New Testament is the newer revelation. It fulfills the old, but it doesn't tell us how. Paul and Peter in their epistles really never came out and said, this is what you're to do when you're together. This is how you're to do it. This is what is pleasing to God. Now, one thing that is common to all worship from the Old Testament, New Testament, and even, by the way, pagan worship, was worship took place where the presence of the one being worshipped was considered to be. In other words, do you understand what I'm saying? The physical presence of the one being worshipped is generally the locus or place of that worship. So in the Old Testament, where was the presence of the one that was to be worshipped? Where was it normally understood to be? In the temple, that's right, or the tabernacle, prior to the temple days. So the Jews would gather in this place of God's presence, and it was magnificent. The Holy of Holies, and the curtain, and all those things, and the Ark of the Covenant, and that's where they would present their worship. And when Jesus walked on the earth, and people had a revelation of who He was, what did they appropriately do? What did we see glimpses of as we read through the Gospels? People would come, and when they encountered Him, and their eyes were open, they understood who He was, what would they often do? They'd fall at His feet. Remember the woman that was freed from her sin, and Jesus mercifully forgave her, and she fell at her feet, and she washed His feet with her tears, and wiped them with her hair, and she just demonstrated love. And in the book of Revelation, when the Apostle John has this amazing revelation, and Jesus' presence comes to him, and the Bible says, He fell at His feet as though dead. So the place of worship, and the person of worship, are common. But right now, we are in an age when, now this is what's really fascinating, Jesus isn't really here in the physical sense. Now how many believe He's here in spirit? We understand the Bible teaches that. When two or more gathered in His name, Jesus said, I am here in the midst of you. So we know He's here by His spirit, but He's not really here so that you can see Him, and touch Him, and feel Him. So we're in this sort of in-between state. My old seminary professor, George Eldon Ladd, used to say it this way, he said, we're in a kingdom that now is, but not yet is. It's now, yes, it really is here, the kingdom of God has come, but it's not fully come. How many know there's going to come a day when Jesus will be present with us? There's going to come a day, and it's going to be an amazing moment, when the one that we've only understood just sort of through our faith, through our eyes of faith, is here. And we can say, Jesus, would you like to step up here to the platform? How many think you're going to have a difficult time worshiping on that day? You'll be distracted by someone that's coughing all the time, or there's little kids. Everybody is going to be like, oh, it's going to be an incredible moment. That day's coming. That day is coming. And we're, in the meantime, we're just kind of looking for ways to understand his presence. We're looking for ways to get ready for the moment that he's going to show up and change us to be worshipers of the moment. In the meantime, it's just hard, because he's not here, and sometimes our mind wanders, and it's not the same. You know, I have a son, some of you know, who, my oldest son, David, is living in France right now. And last Sunday, I haven't talked to him for the whole month I was gone, I couldn't get through to him. So he called us on the phone. And we had this wonderful 20 or so minute call, and it was so good to hear his voice, and it was so neat to hear his stories and what's going on. But he wasn't here. Do you know what I mean? I could sense him. I mean, I knew his voice. We could tell he sounded pretty up and all that kind of stuff, but he wasn't here. It's the same way with the Lord. You know he's here. But one day, one day he's going to be here in his full glory. And Philippians 2, 9-11 says that at that moment, what? Every knee will, and every tongue will confess. That means to agree with, to declare, that Jesus Christ is Lord. Those are the days that we have to look forward to. So in this meantime, what do we do? I mean, how do we prepare ourselves? Well, the core of this issue is found in this story of the woman at the well. I would encourage you to take out your Bibles. Maybe you forgot to bring it today. It's okay. But if you could remember to bring your Bible when you come to church regularly, please do. Having things in the outline is helpful, but it's not the same as having your own Bible. Let's look at John 4. It'll be on the side screens if you don't have your Bible with you. John 4. The story of the woman at the well. Who knows her name? Wouldn't it be kind of a bum deal to be one of the major personalities of the Bible and your name's not in there? Ah, gee. I'm going to come up to this woman someday and have her say, what was your name, anyhow? Hilda? Or what was it? I mean, who knows? All right. Do we have John 4? All right. Well, the first verses here just give the background. Let me tell you about it rather than read all the way through it. In the Old Testament, when the Jews broke apart, the Northern Kingdom and the Southern Kingdom, the Northern Kingdom, there was some rebellion going on, and the Northern Kingdom splintered out, and they intermarried with the people of the area that they had been conquering. One of those groups was the Assyrians, so when the Jews married the Assyrians, the Samaritan people came into being. Now, the true Jews, the ones who stayed true to the original covenant, were the Southern Kingdom. Those were the Jews of Judah. The Jews of Judah, they despised the other Jews for their intermingling, and they really hated the Samaritans because they were basically half-breeds that sort of polluted the purity of the seed. And so the Bible says, you remember reading it, the Jews had, what, no dealings with Samaritans. On top of that, to be a woman in that culture was a very low status. Folks, I won't digress, but no one has done more to elevate the status of women in society than Jesus Christ. If you hear people say, well, I couldn't possibly be a Christian because, you know, women are so put down, and there's all this submission, no, you don't understand. Jesus elevated the person. For Jesus to talk to this Samaritan woman was so counter-cultural, I can't tell you, so counter-cultural. And so he's walking, he's in Samaria, it's the middle of the day, and by the way, people don't go out in the middle of the day in the Middle East because it's hot. So she was out there at a time she shouldn't have been, and we'll find out later it's because she was an outcast. She'd had, you know, a very unsavory lifestyle. Jesus encounters her, the disciples have gone off to get some food, and he says, woman, give me something to drink. And she's astounded. She said, how in the, I mean, you're a Jew, verse 9, and I'm a Samaritan woman, how can you ask me for a drink? She just can't even get over the fact that he's approached her. Jesus said, well, you know what? If you ask me back for the gift, and he tells her about the living water, and she's getting really intrigued here. Let's jump down to verse 15, sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming back here to draw water. He told her, well, go call your husband and come back. Folks, here's one of those moments where Jesus takes an ordinary encounter and makes it into a divine encounter. In verse 17, she replies, I have had, I have no husband, she replied. Jesus said to her, you're right when you say you have no husband. The fact is you've had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you've just said is quite true. How would you like to be that lady right at that moment? Suddenly feeling like, oh my gosh, this man knows, what is this? He knows everything about me. The woman, kind of an interesting response, sir, I can see that you're a prophet. In other words, you've got something going that I don't see very often. And right here, something happens that's happened to every one of us in the room who's tried to share our faith with somebody else. You've tried to talk about something that really matters personally. What does she do? She moves the subject from a personal issue about her life, and she said, verse 20, by the way, since I have you here, Jesus, and you're obviously a prophet, our fathers worshipped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem. She moves it from a personal issue to a theological question. How many of you have had somebody deflect a personal kind of issue onto a religious one? Ever have someone do that? You'll be talking about the issues that are going on in life, and they'll say, well, I'm a Catholic. Like, that's the end of the conversation. Or, I'm a Presbyterian. I don't go to church. Well, it wasn't about Presbyterian or Catholic or church in the first place. It was about you and your relationship to God. Church and living faith aren't the same thing. And for this woman, Jesus talking about what's going on in her heart and where to worship aren't the same thing. And I love Jesus' response. Verse 21, believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father, neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. In other words, that's not really going to be the issue. Verse 22 says, now, you Samaritans worship what you do not know. So, he's telling her, to be honest with you, ma'am, the Jews had it right. We worship what we do know for salvation is from the Jews. So he answers her question, but then he goes on to say, yet a time is coming and now has come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. Put it down in your notes, please. The worshipers, true worshipers, worship in spirit and in truth. Now, I want to talk about that for just a few moments because you see, this is everything to us. Here, he's telling us what worshipers in waiting, worshipers in this gap time between the present and the not yet, how they truly are to worship. What are they supposed to do? Here's what Jesus says. What does it mean to worship in spirit? I mean, what is true spiritual worship? Is it lifting your hands? Is it singing choruses or hymns? Is it like being demonstrative? Is it being still? What is true worshiping in spirit? There are people here today who would say, well, you know what? I came from a church where they really knew how to worship in spirit. And we'd go on for an hour and 15 minutes in worship and this church hasn't really gotten freed up yet. And there are other people who would say, well, I'm not sure what it means to worship in spirit. It sounds kind of mysterious. Let me just share it with you. Here's what I believe the Bible would teach. To worship in spirit, number one, is to demonstrate an appropriate internal response to the great greatness of God. In other words, it's not about the external, it's about what happens inside of you when you encounter the greatness of God. And it has to do with things like humility, surrender, gratitude, acknowledging that God is who He is. And this can happen anytime, anyplace, anywhere you want it to. You see, when we're all together singing and worshiping, as we have this morning already and will continue to, we ought to be encouraging one another to encounter the greatness of God. The words up on the screens are just meant to remind you of who God is. And they should move your heart toward submission and obedience and gratitude. When the word is preached, your ears should perk up and say, that's who God is, that's right, that's who He is. When you hear a testimony appear, as we often do, you should say, wow, there's evidence that God is who He is. How many of you have loved this weather we've had? I mean, this has been an awesome, I mean, some people say, oh, my grass is dying. Get over it. It'll come back, all right? It'll come back. You know, at least we're not just like locked inside. And, but wouldn't it be, isn't it awesome to awaken and say, Lord, thanks for giving me another beautiful day to walk with you. When we see somebody's life changing, see, these are all, listen, these are all just little evidences that the God that we know is coming is already here and working. That's what that is. And that should cause in you worship to begin to well up. Not just on Sunday morning, but day by day, even moment by moment. These are little scraps, little bits of, little bits of evidence that God, the God that we say is alive and well, is alive and well. And when you hold a little baby, or you see a person who was once ill and is now healed, or you see somebody who was depressed and is now free, your heart should begin to well up and say, Lord, thank you that these are evidences that you're alive and that you're great and that you have things under control. Worshippers in waiting love these glimpses of his greatness now because they assure him that that day is coming. So it's not just a service. It's not just six, nine, and 11 on the weekends, but it's day in and day out, moment by moment. And it's not in one particular expression that's right or wrong. It's not just what you're comfortable with. It's what wells up inside of your heart. It's a lifestyle. And you know what? Sometimes you're not even sure how you're going to respond. Sometimes you'll find tears well up because you're just so overwhelmed by the reality of that presence. Worshippers in waiting respond daily to the greatness of God. And by the way, since, you know, worship, here's what happens. Worship invariably brings our focus back to who God is. And what happens is this. That can be an uncomfortable thing for people. When people say to me, well, I don't, I don't like to go to church. I just sort of worship on my own outside or take a nature walk or whatever. What that tells me is this. Generally speaking, they are uncomfortable with what worship makes them face about themselves. Because you see, when you see God for who He really is, you can't help but put the mirror of your own self next to it. And you say, you know, I don't have that same purity. I don't have that same holiness. I don't have that same mercy and forgiveness in my life. And we get uncomfortable. Jesus didn't come to make us comfortable. He came to make us holy. He's an uncomfortable Savior. But that's why we need to be here week in and week out. And can I just begin today to tell you that every weekend you're going to find a reason not to come. Every small group, you're going to find a reason to stay away. Because every time there's going to be worship, something in you is going to want to resist that because it doesn't want to align with what God's will is. How many of you know that thing in you still fights? Or am I the only one? It's always more comfortable to stay away unless you're a worshiper who's worshiping in spirit. Then you can't wait to see that mirror come up because you want to draw closer and you want to be more like Him. You want to know Him better. And by the way, that's, you know, I'll make a true confession here. When I have this kind of extended time, I usually spend a little bit of it reading secular books to find out what the world's thinking about. And I am so intrigued by the number of people who buy these self-help books. I mean, it just changed the packaging over all the years. The packaging is the same, but the message is always this. You can do it, Kent. The force is in you to make all the changes in your life. And I keep thinking, well, you know what? And they sell millions of these books. And at the end of every book, you're empty because there's no real way to tap into any power but what power you might have inside of you. And we Christians have the greatest power in all the universe living inside of us. We, of all people, ought to be saying to the world, here's the place to find help. It's in the presence of God. We have the grace of God, His power to change us. Don't waste your time buying all this stuff. They just don't work. I mean, they might sound good and they tickle the mind. The power that we have available to us through Jesus Christ to transform us, that's where we ought to direct people. So, that's what it means to worship in spirit. That's what it means to come before God appropriately. Now, let me just say, secondly, on this, what does it mean to worship in truth? Truth's full on hard times, hasn't it? There are so many people out there that are trying to sort of modify it. And the postmodernists are telling us that truth is relative and so on. I can't digress. In fact, I have to speed along here. Let me just say this. To worship in truth is to be correctly informed about the greatness of God. The starting point of all true worship is to know who God really is, not who you might have created Him to be in your mind. How many times have you ascribed something to God that is not really true about Him? This has been a while ago now, maybe a couple of years. I was out in the lobby greeting people after service. A North Way family came and said, Oh, I wanted you to meet our family from somewhere out in the Midwest. And they came over and they said, Oh, Pastor, we've been looking forward to meeting you. We have so enjoyed getting your tapes. And they said, Your teachings helped us. And they said, This one particular message. And they went on for about a minute. As I was listening and going on about this tape, I said, Mm-hmm. Man, I don't remember that. And the more they went on, the more I realized I didn't give that message. In fact, I don't even believe it was on that tape. What they were saying about inner healing and some kind of stuff that I just don't think that happened. So after a couple of minutes, I said, Thank you so much for your compliments. But I don't think that was my message. Oh, yeah, it was. No, I don't think so. And it was kind of an awkward moment because they were ascribing to me all this. This is such a wonderful. You've helped me so much. But it wasn't me. I said, Well, you know what? I hope you stay and just enjoy this service for whatever comes out. But don't ascribe to me something that really wasn't me. And we do that with God. Sometimes we withhold our worship because God didn't come through for us. We ascribe to God. God, you let me lose that deal. God, you didn't heal me. I've been hurting. And you just stayed away. And you don't care. And you know this, and you know that. And you know what? We ascribe to God things that aren't true about him. We have to be correctly informed. Our God is loving and merciful and kind and generous. And he'll give us everything we need for godliness and right living, 1 Peter 1.3 says. And so we need to be correctly informed as to who God is in our lives. Because if we think of him as not great or majestic or gracious or caring, then our worship will just sort of subside. And we won't have any reason to bring to him the glory that's due his name. Our worship, our minds are very important. Let me just read this one last quote as I move to the close here on this. This is out of Dallas Willard's new book called Renovation of the Heart. Here's what he says. To bring the mind to dwell intelligently, it's up on the screen, intelligently upon God as he is presented in his word, will have the effect of causing us to love God passionately. And this love will in turn bring us to think of God steadily. And thus he will always be before our minds. People say, how do you think about God all the time? Well, you begin to let your mind be informed by his word. And as I close this message today, let me leave you with just a few ways that you can build back up your correct thinking about who God is. Because here's the bottom line. If you're worshipping God in spirit and truth, here's what the Bible says. The Lord is looking for you. He is seeking, John 4, 24 says, he's seeking people who will worship me this way. There is no other place in the Bible where the Bible says, in the New Testament, at least I know for sure, that he is seeking people. In other words, the Lord is looking down and saying, oh, there's somebody that's worshipping in spirit and truth. What would God say if a whole church set itself to worship in spirit and truth? Do you think God might have some special blessing for a church like that? I do. I just want to urge you to get in and look around and say, Lord, have I been submitting in my heart to you when I see the evidence of your presence? And then am I correctly informed? And if you're not, then closing these three things. Number one, make time every day to consider the greatness of God. And folks, here's what I do. I write down my observations. I don't just, you know, it doesn't work for me just to think about it for 30 seconds. I write the thing down. I say, Lord, thank you for your faithfulness in coming through for this person this way. Or thank you for the way you showed me of your love in this particular circumstance. It's so helpful to journal. Number two, if you've lost your passion, many of you here have been believers for a long time. If you're just sort of ho-hum about this, may I urge you to create some space for the word of God in your daily routine. And here's my little challenge over the next four weeks as we talk about worship. Read a gospel a week and just say, Lord, show me about yourself. Show me about how great you are. Take you about 10 minutes a day to read through the whole thing. And finally, learn to ascribe to him every day the glory due his name. In the circumstances, in and out that you see, ascribe him. When you see it happen, right then say, Lord, I give you praise for that because I see you in that person. I see you in that moment in nature. I see you in that thing that you've just worked out because you see, Lord, that's what you want me to do. You want me to have the eyes to see your work. Let's just read this together at the bottom of your outline. To worship is to recognize and appropriately respond to the