Reminders: Worship is a Sacrifice of obedience to God that encompasses many aspects of our life, including time, finances, desires, and pride.
Worship is based on Grace, and recognizing it as it is given from God daily. We worship in response to God’s Grace.
We are to shine our light to others so that they will shine theirs back to us.
Religion and Tradition in Worship have their place, but we must be willing to cut off the excess and allow the true meaning of Religion and Tradition to come through without all the “pork fat”.
Questions to ponder from last time:
Am I stuck in “pork fat” Religion or Tradition?
Am I willing to let God change me?
Do I come to worship on my terms, or God’s terms?
One of the myths of the church as it is happens to be that the “Worship” portion of the service is the music.
Worship is NOT music. Music is a RESOURCE for worship, but it is just one of many “tools in the shed”.
There's a story about a church in England that had a great group of 5 young Christian men who were in a band. Their pastor saw that the 5 of them had something special, and gave them every opportunity to use their talents in worship. When they wrote a song, they were able to bring it to the congregation. They led on a regular basis, and the church started growing at a very impressive rate. Problem was, the pastor noticed that people would leave once the music was finished. He saw that people were coming for the entertainment value, rather than out of a heart to serve God.
The pastor brought the 5 young men into his office shortly after this revelation, and sat them down. He told them about his observations, and about how he was feeling because of what was going on. He then said that he'd like them to break their worship down to the bare minimum for a while, and really get back to the basic reasons of why they were coming to worship. 4 of those young men that this pastor had poured into turned on him, told him exactly what they thought, and stormed out of the office never to be seen again at that church.
The purest form of Worship is to come before God with a broken heart and a contrite spirit that is not caught up in anything of its own doing.
We should not worship because of the contributions we offer, but because of what God has immeasurably given to us.
Let's get back to the story. There were 5 young men in that office that day, and all but one decided to bail. That one young man humbled himself and was submissive to his pastor's wishes. He went home and started to pray and read scripture. Eventually, the words of a song came to him. The pastor heard that song, and had him use it as their anthem for a while. It caused the church to fall on their knees and remember why they came together each week.
The young man? Matt Redman. The song? The Heart Of Worship.
I know that almost all of us have sung this song at one time or another in our lives as believers. This song is sung all over the world in many languages. Matt has gone on to write well over 100 songs used in worship today, and many countless others for his local body that he still serves in England. Does anyone know the name of the other 4 young men who left? Not really... Matt came with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, and God blessed him immeasurably.
Philippians 3:3 – For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and put no confidence in the flesh.
We worship through the Spirit of God that indwells us when we become a full fledged follower of Jesus.
We glory in what Christ did for us by His sacrifice on the cross.
We put no confidence in the flesh (our own thoughts, dreams, and desires) because we know that it will ultimately seek its own way, not God’s way.
Paul adopts the Old Testament word Circumcision when it comes to speaking about those who are in Christ. Instead of an earthly ritual that physically signifies a Jew from a Gentile, but a circumcision of the heart.
Colossians 2:11-14 - In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.
When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.
We look at the book of Romans and see a reference to Abraham and the beginning of the ritual of circumcision.
Romans 4:11-12 - And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. So then, he is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them. And he is also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.
Walking the path of Abraham is to walk a path of Worship. From the beginning of his story in Genesis chapter 12 through the end of it in chapter 24, we see altar after altar after altar for worship being built, and we also see alter experiences in Abraham’s life.
Experiences at the ALTAR can ALTER us for life. As we continue a path of Worship, we are continually called to sacrifice as God commands us, just as Abraham did.
Just as physical circumcision was required under the old covenant in order to unite yourself with God, a circumcision of the heart is required today under the new covenant.
Ultimately, it comes down to a sacrifice of my life. Remember the verse we started with a few weeks ago:
Romans 12:1 - 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 (or reasonable ) act of worship.
There is an emotional response (I urge you)
There is a physical response (offer your bodies as living sacrifices)
There is a mental response (this is your spiritual, or reasonable act of worship)
There is a spiritual response (this is your spiritual, or reasonable act of worship)
It is a full and complete response from us, and whenever that happens, there is a cutting into the flesh that has hold on us.
In the Old Covenant, that small amount of blood that would flow from a circumcision was a sacrifice of self. There was pain and discomfort.
There was a sacrifice of his identity. A change to a part of him that stated what he was from the day he was born.
There was a sacrifice of his privacy. A ritual that made him expose his most private place.
There was a sacrifice of his creativity. A surrendering of his future, as that part of the body is God’s plan for procreation and continuing Abraham’s lineage.
Under the New Covenant, we are still required to sacrifice ourselves.
God’s truth cuts to the core of our identity, and changes who we have been.
God’s teachings make it clear that we are to forsake our comfortable privacy and share our experience with the world.
God’s great commission for us demands that we use our creativity as a tool to bring others to Him, and not let it become the center of our attention and effort.
The pathway of faith calls us to sacrifice ourselves. The path itself has never changed… merely the method by which we follow it.
Let us worship with:
Our Regenerated Spirit
Our Renewed Mind
Our Revived Emotions
Our Rededicated Body
Questions to ponder:
What pathway am I on when I come to worship?
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