Sunday 23rd February 2020
Today we start a new series, we will go through the poem that David found in the style of Martin Luther King’s I have a dream poem. Today we look at the first two verses and look at a worshipping and Biblical Church.
I dream of a worshipping church:
Where worship is exciting and invigorating,
Where people expect to encounter God,
Where Sunday is a day not to be missed,
Where celebration is a hallmark, and yet where awe and humility are to be found,
Where worship is structured and yet free and flowing,
Where the Lord's Supper is central,
Where children, as well as adults, sense the life of the Spirit.
I dream of a biblical church:
Where the Word of God is at the centre,
Where the exposition of God's word holds the place of honour,
Where the whole counsel of God is preached,
Where people expect to hear God speaking to them,
Where study is combined with devotion,
Where a wide range of 'electives' is offered,
Where all are encouraged to keep on learning.
We heard in our reading today from Psalm 33
Sing joyfully to the Lord, you righteous;
it is fitting for the upright to praise him.
2 Praise the Lord with the harp;
make music to him on the ten-stringed lyre.
3 Sing to him a new song;
play skillfully, and shout for joy.”
It’s right to praise God and to sing his praises but a worshipping Church is more that just singing.
In 1 Chronicles 16:29 we here
Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; bring an offering and come before him. Worship the Lord in the splendour of his holiness.
John 4:24
. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth
And so many Psalms tell us the way we should worship and the attitude in which we should come.
But what is sure is that we should give our whole attention and life in the worshipping of God.
When we see the vastness and the majesty of God I always think that it is easy to worship. When I walk the hills or coast on my own I give myself over to the beauty of creation around me. I empty my mind of all the things that distract me from worshipping fully and it strikes me that the God of creation calls me to worship not just in the solitude of creation, or the study of his word and prayer on my own but worship takes place also within the company of a community of faith.
A worshipping Church the dream says where worship is invigorating and exciting and people expect to encounter God. Sunday not to missed all are welcome and sense God’s spirit working in their lives. That people come around the Lord’s table and are in communion with him.
The starting point of our worship, the focus on our worship should be God and only God. Number one in our thoughts. It’s easy to come with our wants and worries and focus on what we need but for a worshipping Church when we make God number one we change our focus away from us to God who is so much bigger and powerful and abundant that we can ever imagine.
When we shift our focus and expect to encounter God it become a truer expression of worship. When worship becomes about God and not what we want we listen and wait to truly see God show up in our worship.
Again the psalms remind us:
Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.
When we worship together in expectation of God moving and changing us , we get to know each other, we support each other and have deeper relationships with others in our community of faith and are more able to be in communion with others. We sit at the table together.
Henri Nouwen says:
The table is the place of intimacy. Around the table we discover each other. It’s the place where we pray. It’s the place where we ask: “How was your day?” It’s the place where we eat and drink together and say: “Come on, take some more!” It is the place of old and new stories. It is the place of smiles and tears. The table, too, is the place where distance is most painfully felt. It is the place where the children feel the tension between the parents, where brothers and sisters express their anger and jealousies, where accusations are made, and where plates and cups become instruments of violence. Around the table, we know whether there is friendship and community or hatred and division. Precisely because the table is the place of intimacy for all the members of the household, it is also the place where the absence of that intimacy is most painfully revealed.
Worship that is focused on God is intimate, but it is only when we join our worship, with the worship of others that we are truly the community of God. A place where through that very worship we learn and grow and change and encourage each other.
In a worshipping church encountering God, encouraging and learning together and all are welcome. Where the community are in communion with God, there is also an importance of the scripture and this being at the centre of the Church.
I dream of a biblical church:
Where the Word of God is at the centre,
Where the exposition of God's word holds the place of honour,
Where the whole counsel of God is preached,
Where people expect to hear God speaking to them,
Where study is combined with devotion,
Where a wide range of 'electives' is offered,
Where all are encouraged to keep on learning.
What does a biblical Church look like?
Scripture gives us many examples but in
Acts 1:41-42 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls. And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.
Matthew 28:18-20 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Ephesians 2:19-22 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
1 Peter 2:9-10 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
We see examples of the early Church, people’s lives transformed by an encounter with God and they came together and studied scripture and learned from each other. Being devoted to each other.
They prayed for each other and cared for each other and became our example of Church.
They followed the example of Jesus and went out with their Church and baptised and made disciples and their numbers grew.
They knew that they joined in with Jesus in his mission and that they were chosen and called to proclaim the story of what God had done in their lives and proclaim the gospel in word and deed.
They would have been learning everyday, everyday a school day, everyday expecting God to show up and everyday more folk would join them.
A people transformed by God transforming those around them.
Do we believe in a worshipping Church, being excited to come and never wanting to miss a Sunday. To come and join with brothers and sisters in Christ and wait in anticipation of God and what he will do. Where all are welcome and we are in communion with God.
Do we believe in a Biblical Church, where the word is central, where we preach each part of scripture, where we learn together and that we are devoted to each other and make disciples.
It’s easy today to be caught up in the doom and gloom of decline. But in every age and generation there has been change but the Church and God’s people have been the constant.
We may stand at the crossroads and wait and look for the ancient paths to walk in but we know the way to go. As a community of God we come together and we pray and encourage each other.
We give thanks for what God has done in the past and we wait with anticipation as to what he will do again.
We seek counsel from scripture and listen for God to help us discern the future for ourselves and for the Church as a whole.
We I believe are living through exciting times in the history of the Church. We may never see the end of what we start but one thing we must do is to leave behind a legacy of faith for the next generation.
You, Lord, reign forever; your throne endures from generation to generation.
To God the Father
God the Son
God the Holy Spirit
Amen.