Suing God (Malachi 1)

Posted by Chris on May 1, 2005 under Sermons

      One day in the fall of 1951, Lydia McGuire decided to sue her husband. She and her husband, Charles, had been married for 32 years. When they married she was a young widow in her early thirties with two daughters. He was a frugal bachelor farmer in northeastern Nebraska.
      Lydia was a dutiful and obedient wife. Like many other Nebraska farmwives she treated her husband as the boss and didn’t argue with his rules. As was typical of her time, she raised her own money to pay for household goods with her farm chores. When Charles drove her to the town of Wayne to visit her mother she paid for the trip with money she earned selling eggs. It wasn’t a comfortable or enjoyable trip. Charles owned a 1929 Model A Ford with a broken heater.
      Life for the McGuires was rather ordinary and routine. Though they didn’t talk about finances or their feelings they weren’t worried about them either. In 1951, Charles owned 398 acres of land, had nearly $13,000 in the local bank, and owned government bonds worth $104,000. Perhaps Lydia decided to sue her husband because, despite their wealth, they lived in house without indoor plumbing, her kitchen had no sink and the furnace in the house did not work very well. On Charles’ insistence, they never participated in community organizations and he only allowed Lydia to make local telephone calls.
      Lydia decided to sue her husband, but she didn’t want a divorce. It wasn’t that she was unhappy or didn’t love her husband. That wasn’t the issue. She simply wanted the court to make Charles do his duty as husband as she had faithfully done her duty as a wife. Lydia didn’t want a divorce, she just thought that their situation could be better and she knew Charles had the means – she just wanted Charles to provide decent furniture, a few more visits to relatives, a heated automobile, and flush toilet. She was just asking for her husband to meet his obligations in their relationship.

About 450 B.C., the people of Jerusalem decided to sue God. These weren’t particularly bad times for the people in Jerusalem. They had returned to the land and the holy city nearly 100 years earlier. They had reconstructed the temple and the priests were re-established in the kingdom. But Israel was disappointed thinking that things could be much better. It was a time of malaise, boredom, and stagnation. Life was rather ordinary and routine: they paid tithes to support the priests, they went to temple worship, they offered their sacrifices; they practiced all the ancient acts of worship just as they had been taught – but why? The years of their exile in Babylon still stung them and the Edomites, the descendants of Esau, still seemed to be profiting from Israel’s losses in those days. This didn’t seem to be the sort of conditions that "chosen people of God" should have to endure. They felt that they should be the mighty nation they were before the exile and they knew that God had the means. So, they took God to court and intended to ask the court to make God do his duty as God and meet his obligation in their relationship.

The setting for the court is a sort of Israelite version of the Supreme Court. God is on trial. The Law of Moses allowed for judicial matters to be tried by the leaders of the city at the city gates. But situations that were difficult were taken to the priests:
"If a judicial decision is too difficult for you to make between one kind of bloodshed and another, one kind of legal right and another, or one kind of assault and another-any such matters of dispute in your towns-then you shall immediately go up to the place that the Lord your God will choose, where you shall consult with the levitical priests and the judge who is in office in those days; they shall announce to you the decision in the case." (Deut. 17:8-9)
This is the setting of Malachi 1. We enter into a courtroom drama in which God has just taken the stand. Israel, like Lydia McGuire, doesn’t want a divorce, they just want God to fulfill his covenant obligation and they have sued God in court to get him to pay up and start acting like God. And so God speaks from the stand …
Read Malachi 1

God begins his defense by affirming his love for his people. He addresses their question which asks, "How have you loved us? What have you done for us lately, God?" God says, "You might not be able to see it right now but you will! I have loved you and I always will." And as for the accusation that God doesn’t seem concerned about the Edomites and the way they profited from Israel’s exile: God reminds them that Edom was punished and they will never be the great nation Israel will be. Which is true; they had been ransacked by invaders and relocated to the south of Edom. 300 years after this courtroom drama, Edom was absorbed into the Jewish commonwealth.

The rest of the drama unfolds with God making his case that he has loved the people and along the way they are the ones who find themselves on trial. He turns the tables on them. They are questioning God, but he cross-examines them. This isn’t because God is a crafty old fellow or because he can yell louder and smokes and fumes. It is because out of the dark clouds of Israel’s conflict with God comes a beam of light: Israel gets a glimpse into the heart of God.

Have you ever noticed how a good honest argument might actually lead us to be more genuine with the people we love than going thru the motions and playing nice? God makes a claim of his own, a counter-suit: "You’ve despised me." The people are shocked, "How have we despised you?" Israel had been going through the motions when it came to worship. They were mailing it in. They didn’t expect much to happen in worship, so they didn’t put much effort into it. They didn’t expect to live as chosen people, so they weren’t really devoted to it. They went to worship, but it was so half-hearted and weak that God says, "I wish you would just cancel it and close the doors!" They were offering crippled, diseased lambs and calves as tributes to the lord. They gave the first fruits of the harvest – the ones that had gotten sort of fuzzy with mold and pinpricked with wormholes. "Try paying your taxes and honoring your officials with that sort of effort!" says God. See how it is received! God’s people didn’t expect much to happen – they didn’t really think God was at worship, so they didn’t invest a lot into worship.

This sort of worship despises God and it despises his name because it is weak and there is no change in the lives of the people. No wonder their lives are so uninspired and routine. Furthermore, if Israel is so bland and lifeless (just like their worship) then how can they bee the light to the nations that God wants them to be? One of the glimpses we get into the heart of God on trial is that God has visions for the people: He longs for the day when people in all nations "from the rising to the setting of the sun" will call upon God as a great king. He desires that people everywhere know him and give pure and sincere offerings. That was Israel’s purpose in being chosen. To model for the world what it means to be God’s people. The temple in Jerusalem wasn’t just a worship machine so Jerusalem could crank out a few blessings – it was to be God’s lighthouse to the world and everyone would come to it. But instead, the people of God are going through the motions and giving God leftovers and the food that is stale or has been in the pantry since they bought they house, and though that is bad enough they have the audacity to say to God, "So what have you really done for us lately, God?"

Lydia McGuire’s case went fairly well and lower courts ordered her cheap husband to pay for plumbing and buy a car with a heater. Eventually, Charles appealed the case to the Nebraska Supreme Court. They ruled that there was no basis for the law to get involved in the private marriage of the McGuires. But Justice Frederick Messmore, stated the court’s opinion on the matter. Although they may have seemed to legally side with Charles, they really didn’t have much respect for either party or for their vision of the marriage relationship. They admitted that the court was being asked to define marriage and thought they said that Charles attitude toward his wife said little about his character, they also said that marriage certainly wasn’t the quid pro quo relationship that Lydia and her lawyers made it out to be. To reduce marriage to nothing more than instrumental calculation would deny its true significance.

How often do we reduce our relationship with God to nothing more than instrumental calculation? How often do we reduce it to mechanical obligation? Dear God, we’ve have followed the five steps and we keep the five acts of worship on the first day of the week – and Wednesday – now what have you done for us? Do we gather to take care of church business and make certain we have a little worship for God’s sake, but in our collective heart we really don’t expect anything to happen in worship (or we don’t want anything to happen) and as a result we don’t invest much into worship. Like Lydia McGuire, do we stay in an uninspired relationship just so we can inherit the wealth?

Once I heard a good man tell me that he didn’t intend to miss Sunday’s worship but he felt as if he could worship God in the beauty of nature on the lake or in the woods. I confess to you that at the time I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t feel compelled to say to him, "Well the Bible says you better show up or you are in trouble." How inspiring is that? How is that love? Looking back I now realize why I didn’t have an answer for him (other than obligation and rule-keeping): I confess that I didn’t really expect much from worship myself. So why should I ask anyone else to be a part of it. If I could go back I know what I would say! I would say, "But God has invited us to his house to enjoy a meal with him. Yes, he has given us the beauty of nature and yes we can worship him there. But he has invited us to the family reunion and I believe that something even greater will happen when we get there – something even greater than the awe we feel at the sunset and the serenity in nature. You will see ordinary, imperfect people shaped into the children of God and even more you will be awed by a glimpse into the heart of God."

God has opened his heart to us. Dare we listen to what he has to say? Can we stand to be inspired by his imagination? I warn you that God’s vision for us is not simply to make us happy or to fulfill our fondest dreams. God has something much greater than that in mind for us. Nor is his intent to damn us to hell if we don’t get it right. God has something more hopeful and adventurous in store for us. He has a vision that involves the whole world and his rule over all the earth. God envisions a time when all of his children from far and near, the good ones and bad ones, the rich and poor, the clean and dirty, all give honor to him as the Great King. We can mail this song in and go on our way being routine, but ask yourself if that sort of calculating relationship is really what God intends for his covenant people. I invite you to lift up your voices in to honor your Father, the Almighty King who deserves our praise and let this be your way of presenting "your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship." (Romans 12:1)

Notes:
• The case of Charles and Lydia McGuire is taken from chapter 1 of Man and Wife in America: A History (Harvard Univ. Press, 2000) by Hendrik Hartog.
• I am indebted to Elizabeth Achtemeier’s commentary on Malachi in the Interpretation series for the observation that Malachi takes place in a Jerusalem priestly court setting.

Earning, Income, and Credit

Posted by Chris on April 24, 2005 under Sermons

Review: Jesus is Lord and we believe he is Lord over every area of our lives. This is challenging and it is the reason why we need be changed through worship and prayer to surrender all things to the Lord. This is why we have spent some time learning from our Lord; hearing his teaching and his word about money, wealth, and trust.
      We live in a market-driven culture. It is a consumer culture. Because of that, our lives are often centered on finances. This is true for the poor, the rich and everyone in between. Our economy and culture create a "Cash Values" lifestyle and regardless of our financial health we need to conform to the Lord’s teaching on money.
      I want to say a special word to those of you who may be struggling financially or may have questions about your money and how to manage it. Financial struggles are a source of stress and a distraction from life in the kingdom. The solution to financial troubles is not more money, nor should we assume that God is a genie in the sky who blesses us if we learn the secrets of how to get rich God’s way. Yet, I am not saying that we as the people of Christ cannot work with one another to overcome problems created by debt and wealth. In fact, it is very biblical for us to do so and it is critical we do so because of the age we live in.
      There are many people in this congregation that we can all learn from when it comes to managing our finances. Don’t be afraid to ask around. You may have noticed in the announcements that there is a financial workshop planned Saturday, May 7. There are many people in this congregation that we can all learn from when it comes to developing a spiritual view of wealth and money.
      What I want to say to all of us is this: We need to be dealing with this matter in many ways and in many settings and we cannot limit it to three sermons. How we use money and the way we shape our lifestyles are not issues outside the scope of what it means to be a disciple of Christ. This is a vital teaching in the Scriptures and it was a matter Jesus addressed often. And for good reason, because as we have said already …

1. Money is not a neutral, secular commodity. It is a power that operates like a god; if we surrender and submit to this power and give it our heart and let it cloud our vision. Rather than use God in the service of money, let us use money in the service of God.
2. Rather than quibble about tithes and funds and how we spend the Lord’s money, let us give beautifully and understand how our discipleship and giving are matters of the heart and not just line items in our check registers or church budgets.
3. As Americans living in the materialistic, consumerist culture of our age, we need to hear the word that Moses preached to the Israelites as they entered the promise Land. It is a message that Jesus exemplified in his life and teaching …

Read Deuteronomy 8.

Explanation:
      Moses’ words are for a future generation that knows only prosperity. They didn’t live through the depression years of the wilderness trek. When you live through the wilderness you realize how much you depend on God. Manna falls from the sky. Water comes from a rock of all places. Quail show up to provide proper nutrition for a wandering people. The wilderness days are tough going lean years but somehow folk just happen to make it. They keep on living and keep on moving. They overcame the danger of snakes and scorpions. Even their shoes and clothes hold up during the journey. They just seem to survive the hard times, but those who saw the waters open up so they could cross over on dry land tell it to the rest. God provided and he still provides. He rescued us with a mighty hand and he sustains us with a mighty hand.
      Now Moses is making this testimony a part of his last words because the generations to follow won’t have first hand experience of the wilderness. They won’t recall what it was like to be slaves and be rescued. They won’t recall what it was like to walk through the sea. They won’t remember what it was like to collect the morning manna. They won’t remember how the quail gathered or how the rock, of all things, started spewing water. All they will know is what it is like to earn a living on the good land and enjoy a decent income from their work. And when they forget about God, who will get the credit for their blessings?

In the classic western movie Shenandoah, Jimmy Stewart stars as Charlie Anderson, a Virginian farmer trying to keep his family out of the Civil War. With one empty place set for his dead wife and his children gathered around the supper table, Charlie begins a litany they obviously have heard before: “Now your mother wanted all of you raised as good Christians, and I might not be able to do that thorny job as well as she could, but I can do a little something about your manners.”

He gestures that they all should bow their heads and continues: “Lord, we cleared this land, we plowed it, sowed it, and harvested it. We cooked the harvest. We wouldn’t be here, we wouldn’t be eatin’, if we hadn’t done it all ourselves. We worked dog-boned hard for every crumb and morsel, but we thank you just the same anyway, Lord, for the food we’re about to eat. Amen.”

At least Charlie Anderson paused to speak the name of the Lord. At least he thanks the Lord "just the same." He makes some sort of connection between God and his earnings – even if it is the wrong one. Because of the materialistic, consumer-driven age we live in, we have effectively removed God from any discussion or thought about our ability to earn and our income. Because we live in a land where food is plentiful and nothing is lacking we too easily forget to bless the Lord our God for all he has given …

Citation: 2000 Phoenix Wealth Management Survey; USA Today “Snapshots” (11-13-00), B1
Percentage of senior corporate executives with a high net worth (defined as having a net worth of $1 million or more, not including primary residence) who credit their current financial status to …
Hard Work – 99%
Intelligence and good sense – 97%
Higher-than-average I.Q. – 83%
Being the best in every situation – 62%
Luck – 32%

If we are pressed on the issue we would surely all agree that it is God that makes it possible for us to earn a living. We would surely all agree that God not only created the opportunity for us to earn a living and enjoy an income, but that he also sustains us. If we were pressed on the issue we would absolutely give God the credit.
But why must we be pressed on the issue? Why? Because it is so easy to forget what it was like in the wilderness. Some of us don’t even know what it means to live in the wilderness. And so we forget and though we don’t intend to say it, we begin to say "My power and the might of my own hand have gotten me this wealth." Perhaps we don’t say it so boldly, but there are other, more subtle ways to say it and live it.
Who remembers the old TV ad of actor John Houseman speaking on behalf of the financial firm Smith-Barney? At the end of the ad Houseman confidently spoke to the camera saying that at Smith-Barney they earn money the old fashion way – "We earned it!"

Cash Values

Posted by Chris on under Sermons

CASH VALUES or KINGDOM TREASURES
Matthew 6:19-34

In the news this week we have been given a rare look into the treasures of the Vatican. The museums of the Vatican are filled with artwork by Giotto, Caravaggio, Michaelangelo, Leonardo, and Raphael among others. The libraries of the Vatican hold ancient manuscripts of the Bible and other literature – in some cases the only copy of a certain work. The buildings of the Vatican, especially St. Peter’s Basilica are ornamented with gold, silver, precious stones, and fine marble. Some say that it is impossible to calculate the value of the immense wealth in the Vatican, but it has been done. What would be the value of these treasures? According to its official books, all of the artwork and the ornate, grand buildings (including the Sistine Chapel) are valued at $1.29 (or 1 euro). How is that possible? The Vatican can never sell its masterpieces and these treasures are held in trust for all humanity. Add to that the fact that it would be impossible to assign them a market or replacement value because no amount of cash can replace the significance of these treasures. It is the Vatican’s way of indicating that it prizes the religious and artistic significance of the treasures over their financial worth. Just another of looking at it right? Of course, but then why do we often tend to look at such objects in terms of their monetary value?

We live in an age of cash values. The author of the book “Cash Values” (Craig Gay, p. 17) says that money has become one of the most important measures in determination of value in our world. The very idea of what something is “worth” is often expressed in terms of money. This “money metric” has given us what we assume is an objective standard in calculating value and worth. This supposed objective, secular standard enters into our lives at so many levels and we may think that we live in a rational, calculated, and enlightened society than doesn’t give into emotionalism, fanaticism, or subjectivity but in fact we are being seduced by powers and influences that we may not recognize because we are too close to the situation to see correctly.

For example, what makes for a good book these days? Often we are told it is the #1 book on the “best-sellers” list. We are interested in movies or music when they are box-offices hits or win an song title goes “gold or platinum.” What do these mean? How are we determining the value of a movie or music? Have you ever noticed how interested we seem to be in how much it takes to make a movie? We are amazed when a movie becomes popular and we find out that it was made with a budget less than $10 million. Does more money mean a better product? A report came out the other day stating that the average baseball pro makes $2.6 million. First of all, why do we care what they make? Second, has it improved the game?

Outside the sphere of entertainment and sports (which can be a bit extreme) we find the same forces and powers at work. Our rational, unbiased, secular standard of calculation has changed the definition of justice. Often cases that cannot be settled in a criminal court are now settled in a civil court. Justice may not be served but a huge check may be. Politics is influenced by this rational, impartial standard so that we have been told by politicians and spin doctors in no uncertain terms that “It is the economy, stupid.” Two of the key issues facing politicians right now have to do with money – the rising “cost” of health care (notice that it isn’t the quality) and social “security.” And what is it that makes one socially secure? Money! Homeland security is something else, but social security is really about money. Think about the words and images we use when we talk about it: most interesting of which is the social security “lock-box.” Don’t you picture this big huge treasure box somewhere in Washington with a padlock on it. Can’t you se someone going up to it with an iron key and popping the lid open only to see a spider web in it and a moth fluttering out?

Maybe there’s a lesson in that image about this so-called impartial and rational measure called money and the way it lulls us into misplacing our trust, our sense of security, and our devotion. I want to proclaim today that money and cash values are not secular and impartial. It is a force and power that demands our attention and wants to rule us if it were a god – and it often does. This is the word that Jesus proclaims in Matthew 6:19-33 … [read text]

There are three images here that Jesus is using to open our eyes so we can get beyond the cash values that prevent us from seeing real value and worth. It leads up to his final statement in verse 24 that we cannot serve two masters. Money is more than dollar and cents it is mammon, it is the Almighty Buck that will rule us in place of Almighty God!

The first image is treasure. Maybe it is good that social security has been portrayed as a lock box because one of the truths we all learn about treasures and wealth is that they are never secure. There’s always a problem with moths, rust, and thieves. In ancient times a bride’s dowry was a roll of exquisite fabric, but what tragedy when the bride unrolls the fabric only to find it full of holes and worms. In ancient times a family’s wealth could be amassed as coins or precious jewelry, how tragic when a thief finds these wonderful heirlooms and simply takes them away. In a moment the treasure of generations is simply gone. So, it made sense to hide the treasure, to lock it a strong box and maybe even bury the box in a secret location. But even then it could be tragic when the wealth that has been stored and saved for ages is needed and after the box is dug up and opened the metal is crusted with orange build-up and brittle to the touch. The treasure is transformed into trash.
We are so much more sophisticated these days however. Our treasures are much more permanent. We have stainless steal bank vaults with humidity controlled air conditioners. We have encrypted passwords and secure servers to save our virtual treasures that are really nothing more that numbers and lines of credit. Our treasures and treasure boxes are much better. And yet we have hackers and dishonest managers who can steal these treasures away and consume them even better than thieves and moths. Rust is only one force of nature we have to contend with and even if we can guard against it we have to deal with its kin that come in the form of tornados and tsunamis.
Yet, we still store up treasures on earth … or at least “stuff” on earth …
One of the signs of our times is the prevalence of TV shows, books, and services that help people with the problem of having too much. Have you ever seen these? A group of people come into a house that is about to pop at the seams because the family has too much stuff. This team helps the people get rid of their excess and it makes for good drama because inevitably someone, an adult, will be crying or upset because they don’t won’t to let go of a limited edition Star Trek Barbie doll that they bought on eBay. And when the potential monetary value of the item fails to be convincing the next strategy is to cite the sentimental value. “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
The false god named mammon, the Almighty Dollar, demands your heart! It will take your heart and lock it up in a treasure box or a stainless steel vault or a 16-layer secure digital encrypted server. Jesus calls us to give our heart to God and give these things away. Have a lighthearted attachment to the treasures of earth and a whole hearted devotion to the treasures of heaven.

The second image is the eye. The ancients knew more about eyes than we seem to with all of our modern science. They understood that the eye was about more than seeing. We still have that wisdom if we will pay attention to it and it shows up in some of the most uncanny places. Have you ever seen a cartoon where a character’s eyes fill with dollar signs? That’s the opposite of the good eye or single eye that Jesus speaks about. What catches our eye? What symbol of cash values clouds our vision? Money is a spiritual force, not a secular force and it can give us a sort of spiritual glaucoma that keeps us from seeing people and the world the way he sees it. It makes us miserly and stingy. It makes us worry about not having enough to eat, to drink, or to wear. It gives us anxiety about the future because we cannot see the light of God’s goodness and hope.
The Almighty Dollar will cloud your eyes! It will skew your vision so that you see all things through dollar shaped lenses, and such a darkened vision will extinguish the light of the body. Don’t live a darkened, worried life anxious about the future. Let the light of God open your eyes and fill your soul.

The final image is that of a master. Mammon is an Aramaic word. When Jesus uses this word for money he personalizes it. He lets us know that money is not just something we use but that it is something powerful enough to use us if we let it. Maybe we don’t speak Aramaic, but we have ways of personalizing the power of money: Dead Presidents, Benjamins (my name is now slang for money), bread and cabbage (our slang for money is attached to food, the basics of survival). The divine power of money is best reflected in our slang “The Almighty Buck.”
We would do well to pay attention to our slang. It should remind us that the Almighty Buck not only demands our heart and our vision but it also wants us to bow our knees. How much of our energy and effort is devoted to the Almighty Buck and much of it is devoted to Almighty God? Think carefully about this – which master sets our priorities, determines our choices, and schedules our time.

Our master determines what we use and what we serve. If God is our master, then we serve him and others and we use money. If money is our master then we use God and others and we serve wealth. These change our values and it isn’t just an individual problem. We live in a conflicted culture that is divided between two masters. Even if you declare that God is your master and Lord, this week someone has tried to convince you of what is truly valuable. Maybe you heard the truth or maybe not. Someone or something may have tried to convince you of what you are really worth. Maybe you heard the truth or maybe not. Money is still a force in our lives and we encounter it daily. Don’t treat money as if it is just material and secular and so acts as if it is nothing. Treat it as if it is spiritual and powerful and then treat it like nothing! That’s how we break the power of worry and wealth. We need Jesus to teach us how to treat wealth in a godly way — to use it rather than be used by it.

Trust in God and Give! Jesus your heart, your eyes, your energy and mammon will be left empty-handed. Give your wealth away generously and it cannot control you.

Engaging the Culture: The Context of Worship

Posted by Chris on April 3, 2005 under Sermons

In recent years there has been a lot of discussion about the "worship wars." This refers to the conflicts among churches over the style and order of worship. Some congregations have gone to two or more worship services to allow for different styles of worship – styles that some people want and styles that other people do not want. There are many reasons given for the cause of the worship wars: generational conflict, the rise of contemporary Christian music, the breakup of denominational structures, the influence of mass media and an entertainment culture. All of these have some validity, but I want to lay my cards on the table and tell my view. This is just my view and I invite discussion of other viewpoints: I think that many of the reasons I stated describe some of the reason for the worship wars, but the core reason we are in the mess called the Worship Wars is that we have made too much distinction between private worship and public worship. Or another way to put it is this: We have pushed worship to the margins of human experience and allowed it to be judged ultimately as a private and personal experience rather than a collective, communal experience. The blame cannot go completely on the church – it is a symptom of our age and our American culture.

For instance, in the case of Terry Schiavo, much can be said about this situation in terms of medical science, ethics, sanctity of life and quality of life. But one significant development has been the distinction between public policy and private choice. What do we do when public policy and private choice are in conflict? I agree with the President that perhaps we should err on the side of life. I wish our public policy always did so in all cases and not just in terms of euthanasia rather than simply give in to partisan preference on media-driven hot topics. But consider how the conflict between public policy and private choice is often at the root of our legal and political debates. How should the needs or desires of the individual be weighed against the needs or desires of the community?

We have played this question out in church as well. How do you balance the needs and desires of the individual member against the needs and desires of the church? Biblically, we are taught to have the mind of Christ (Philippians 2:5-11; see also Matthew 18 and 1 Corinthians 1-4). If each of us is seeking the good of the other, just as God seeks our good, then we are at peace. This has never been easy, not since the time of Paul when he pleaded with Euodia and Syntyche at the church in Philippi to agree with one another (Philippians 4). Even before that Jesus was often settling conflicts between his followers by showing them how to take on the role of a servant (John 13).

In some ways it is even harder for us to have the mind of Christ and seek the good of others because we live in a culture of individualism and consumerism. The spirit of consumerism teaches us that the "customer is always right." I have heard people twist the teaching of Jesus to be a servant by approaching church leaders and imploring them to give into their concerns because they are the weaker, offended member and elders and minister are supposed to be their servants (or in this case customer-service managers)! That attitude of "demanding my rights as an immature Christian" is completely foreign to the mind of Christ. Christ did not call us to be servants so we would capitulate to immaturity and consumerism. [Of course this doesn’t mean we shouldn’t ever go to our leaders with our problems, but let’s go to them to seek their help in managing ourselves rather than managing others. Paul urged the church leaders at Philippi to help their feuding factions to work out the differences – Philippians 4.]

The spirit of individualism has had an effect on church life and the worship in a much more subtle way. The spirit of individualism has taught us to view worship and discipleship as a personal and private matter. We cannot simply reject that. It is true that we must have a personal faith and there is an element of our worship and faith that is very private. What we must reject is the notion that worship is completely or totally personal and private. In fact, Jesus teaches us how to be persons who relate properly to others. However, there is a strong tendency in our culture to push matters of spirituality and faith completely into the realm of the private. In the private realm one avoids offended others with their own personal preferences and avoids intolerant conflicts or disagreements. (Stephen Carter calls this a "Culture of Disbelief.") So, any public expression of worship must be tame and bland. It should be safe for all and not disturbing. This is sort of the "social contract" we have developed so that "We can all just get along." The irony is that most of us are crying out for something to be passionate about, something to stake our lives on, something inspiring – even if have different opinions on how to get there. Such a "truth worth dying for" or a "God so awe-inspiring" cannot be limited to the private realm. In fact, many of the cultures in other places and other times who are not hindered by consumerism and extreme individualism realize that this is something that has to "go public." If you examine the history of worship (and not only Christian worship) we find that it is in fact a public act that calls the individual to something greater than himself or herself.

Just by its nature such worship is very public. For example, ancient worship, in Israel and elsewhere, often involved sacrifice. Can you imagine a pagan worshipper describing the sacrifice of an animal as "a very intimate and personal experience?" The festivals and events that mark ancient worship are very communal and they shape the identity of a people. They are not separate and apart from politics but intimately wed to politics – to war and government. In many cultures, the ruler was a sort of deity! They are not separate and apart from the private lives of families but they are intertwined with family issues as intimate as fertility! Pagan worship can be criticized and condemned on many levels but there is one thing that they did not do that we do: they did not compartmentalize human experience into artificial categories called religious and secular. Instead, they understand how "the religious" and the "everyday" are intertwined and interconnected. I think we would be better off if we understood that life cannot and should not be compartmentalized into boxes labeled "spiritual" and "material," or "church" and "business," or "private faith" and "public work." It doesn’t fit with what we believe about God. [Observe that in the Terry Schiavo case it is not an issue that one can easily separate from faith. Some will try, but this issue goes to the core of what is of ultimate worth and isn’t our worship the focus on what is worthy?]

Scripture will not allow such a distinction between our worship and our life. (Amos 5:21-26) Adapting this OT text for our age, we should agree that God is speaking through Amos to make it clear that our worship on Sunday cannot be separated from our life on Monday through Saturday. Worship of God turns us inside out. The test of worship is not "Did we follow the book with decency and order?" The test of worship is not "Do I feel better and happier?" The test of worship is "Have we allowed God to shape us into a people who are happy to live by his word and are better at bringing decency and order to our world?" Worship, according to Amos, is the source of a mighty flooding river that brings justice and righteousness to a parched land.

In the Old Testament, the faith of the Hebrews was public. It had to be! This was what shaped them as a people. [Exodus 8:1] When they were slaves in Egypt, Moses went to Pharaoh and said "Let my people go!" God had a purpose for their release – "So that they may worship me!" That is public and it is the mission of God connected with worship. The Almighty God is confronting the lesser god known as Pharaoh. This is a fight and it is public. The result is the plagues. Not private, personal plagues. The result of the plagues is not a bland secular statement that tolerates religious freedom. This is a conflict! Think about the worship of the Hebrews when they ate the Passover lamb dressed in their traveling clothes and eating bread baked quickly. They painted their door posts with blood. This is all very public and "in the open." Not to be spectacular! Not to be showy! But because it is real and the power of God and the mission of God involve shaping a people and saving the world. Now if the mission of God is so universally public, why do we think worship is somehow private and hidden?

I don’t want to suggest that the public worship of the people of God is always at odds with the culture. I only suggest that it ENGAGES the culture and that engagement can happen in many ways. In the book of Acts we have a brief description of worship that shows how the public worship of the church is attractive to the larger community. (Acts 2:42) The early church is worshipping daily in the temple and in their homes and their public worship invites those in their context to worship with them. The worship in Acts often transforms culture.

Review the Layers of Participating in Worship … Engaging the Culture: The inner layers are unchanging and fairly set (especially the inside). The outer layer is the most variable but not “anything goes.” In order to engage the culture we have to pay attention to the way the content and structure of our worship engage our cultural context

The engagement with culture in worship is complex: There are aspects of the culture we will embrace, but some we must reject. There are aspects we might transform and change and some we might adapt. (For more discussion see Rodney Clapp, A Peculiar People, p. 176.) This is an on-going process because our context is fluid; the culture changes even though the gospel does not. (For instance, Paul told believers in Rome that the ruler was God’s agent, but John in the Revelation describes the ruler as enemy. Did the truth change or did context change?) Christianity is able to move into many different cultures and languages and thus it is viable in all contexts (unlike some belief systems). But the engagement with culture is always public as well as personal.

Our cultural context is going to play a part in determining the styles with which we worship. Not absolutely, but there’s no way to avoid it. Let me tell you some of the ways our cultural context is involved in our worship: We use English, I am not wearing special garments, our auditorium is arranged with the pulpit at the front center, we are used to the auditorium, we sing mostly songs that harmonize different parts, we serve the Lord’s Supper from the front and not sitting around tables, we worship on Sunday morning rather than only Sunday evening or afternoon, we feel it is important to dress well for worship as a sign of respect (you may say that is not just cultural) perhaps, but the clothes we determine as those that show respect are culturally based. [How many of our women are wearing gloves and hats? How many of our men are wearing tuxedos?]

If you think that my message is that these things are unimportant and to say that they are just culturally means that they are trivial then you misunderstand me. That is not what I am saying. I am saying that we should be thoughtful and intentional about the content and structure of our faith and how it should interact with our context. This will allow us to avoid the worship wars and focus on God and even call the public to focus on God because we are worshipping publicly in a way that engages our culture effectively and appropriately. I am not saying this is trivial. Certainly there are some things that venture on the edge of minutia and it is unfortunate that churches have split and disgruntled members have left congregations because someone used Good Value brand grape juice instead of Welch’s in the communion. Those are things we can talk about and the rule of love should guide us. But there are issues that have to do with our context that demand we are very thoughtful about the way we engage our culture in worship – especially if we are going to be true to the content of our worship

The downside of what could have been an even more heroic and Christ-like engagement with the culture of that time is that Lipscomb and other church leaders of the time conceded that Scriptures did not teach very much on social conditions and that segregated congregations were inevitable and unavoidable. This concession to the culture permitted Harris to reply to Lipscomb: "If it was right to build a house for the Negroes to worship in, then is it wrong to ask a Negro to go to that house after it has been prepared for them?" [Ultimately, Lipscomb declared his position that churches built upon racial lines of discrimination were contrary to the New Testament teaching. – Narrative Source: David Lipscomb & E. A. Elam, Gospel Advocate 49 (1907): 424-425, 488, 521.]

Perhaps this story illustrates why it is important that we intentionally, seriously, and publicly engage the cultural context in which we live in a way that is formed and shaped by the content and structure of our worship with God. God is engaging all cultures and we, the church, are those who have responded to his engagement with us.

A Matter of Life and Death

Posted by Chris on March 27, 2005 under Sermons

Song – “Jesus Loves Me”

Welcome and Call to Worship

Song #2 – “We Praise Thee O God”
Song #3 – “Hallelujah Praise Jehovah”
Song #4 – “To God Be the Glory”

Prayer

Song #294 – “You’re the One”
Song #296 – “We Have Come Into His House”

A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH

Part 1 – This reading and reflection should prepare us for the Lord’s Supper. It should gather us around the table and proclaim encouragement and hope! What is proclaimed in the bread and the wine? What is preached? What do we believe?

Reading and Reflection: Acts 20:1-12

Luke takes up the account of their journeys after a riot in Ephesus …
      When it was all over, Paul sent for the believers and encouraged them. Then he said good-bye and left for Macedonia. Along the way, he encouraged the believers in all the towns he passed through. Then he traveled down to Greece, where he stayed for three months. He was preparing to sail back to Syria when he discovered a plot by some Jews against his life, so he decided to return through Macedonia. Several men were traveling with him. They were Sopater of Berea, the son of Pyrrhus; Aristarchus and Secundus, from Thessalonica; Gaius, from Derbe; Timothy; and Tychicus and Trophimus, who were from the province of Asia. They went ahead and waited for us at Troas. As soon as the Passover season ended, we boarded a ship at Philippi in Macedonia and five days later arrived in Troas, where we stayed a week.
      On the first day of the week, we gathered to observe the Lord’s Supper. Paul was preaching; and since he was leaving the next day, he talked until midnight. The upstairs room where we met was lighted with many flickering lamps. As Paul spoke on and on, a young man named Eutychus, sitting on the window sill, became very drowsy. Finally, he sank into a deep sleep and fell three stories to his death below. Paul went down, bent over him, and took him into his arms. “Don’t worry,” he said, “he’s alive!” Then they all went back upstairs and ate the Lord’s Supper together. And Paul continued talking to them until dawn; then he left. Meanwhile, the young man was taken home alive and unhurt, and everyone was not just a little encouraged.

For many of us, verse 7 of this chapter is quite familiar – "On the first day of the week, we gathered to observe the Lord’s Supper." It is an important scripture that we have used to verify why we observe the communion supper weekly. But do we anticipate our gathering on the first day of the week to break bread? I am glad we have this story, not only to give us a glimpse into how important the first day of the week was for the early church, but also so we can anticipate that day as they did. I am glad we have this story, not only to show us how the gathering to break bread was something the early church did frequently, but also so we can anticipate the eating and drinking of the Lord’s Supper together, just as they did. Luke does not end with a simple instruction in verse 7; he records an event of special significance. I believe the sharing of this story should help with more than knowledge of what to do, it also builds our anticipation of what we do.

Don’t misunderstand, anticipation cannot be manufactured. It is not something we can produce with a crafty build up or emotional pep rally. Anticipation is the experience of waiting for something that is truly special. In Troas, the anticipation of the Sunday gathering is there because the church gathers together to be encouraged. These spiritually hungry souls long for the common meal that sustains their faith in the harsh environment where they live. Stories will be told around the Lord’s Supper table. Not idle talk, but experiences of how the living Lord has challenged and blessed them during the week. For many of the believers in Troas, this is the first honest and sincere talk they have encountered all week. They will share, along with the bread and wine, confession of weaknesses and need for help – sometimes real material needs. This is a new kind of family and in their eating and drinking together, in their honest talk they enact and embody the gospel. And they encounter the spirit of Christ in their midst.

As much as they anticipated every Sunday, on the Sunday Paul spoke at Troas they were reminded that communion is a matter of life and death – not just Christ’s but their own! The atmosphere of worship changes when someone falls out of a window to their death. Death has invaded the environment of encouragement. Like a sniper’s bullet that tears through a schoolyard or a holiday parade, death sneaks into the church house and makes its presence known. All hope would seem to be lost. A special Sunday is ruined. No pep rally can sustain artificial joy and enthusiasm at that point. But the gathering in Troas is not artificial. The real presence and spirit of Jesus Christ is there. They speak his words and eat his meal. Not even death can interrupt or distract a worship that is focused on the living Christ.

After his miraculous resuscitation, every eye must have been on Eutychus as he ate the bread and drank from the cup. He became a symbol of the meal and a very real participant in the significance of the meal too. His revived life was a testimony to the gospel of Christ and the power of the resurrection. Sunday after Sunday in Troas they must have told this story – and here we are telling it this Sunday! How has the power of the gospel and the presence of Christ revived you? How can he revive you? Death is all around us and it does more than yank us out of three story windows to our death. It can poison us slowly with fear, lies, guilt, and sin. Our worries and anxieties cause us to fall asleep and grow deaf to the truth, so much so that death creeps into our lives as a paralysis and we are dead long before our funeral. But, into our immobility and deadness comes a reviving embrace. It is the love of God. In Christ, there is life and hope – and that hope can grow Sunday after Sunday. Our meal witnesses that death does not hold a monopoly on the future. In Christ there is life and the worst things are never the last things!
Let us also be revived as we gather to hear the truth, to remember the promises, to eat and drink. Let’s anticipate new life and also anticipate the hope of eating and drinking in the kingdom that is to come.
"On the First Day of the Week, we gathered to break bread. – "as often as we eat this bread and drink this cup we preach – we proclaim – the Lord’s death … until he comes!"

A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH

Part 2 – This sermon should call us to respond to the word of the gospel. What have we just proclaimed? What encouragement do we need? How have we grown weary, tired? How have we fallen? How have we been mortally wounded? What forces conspire against us? We can be encouraged – "not a little comforted."
Eutychus went home alive and unhurt (see NLT). How will you go home today? The Lord is risen.

It is all about encouragement. That’s the beginning and end of this text. Paul starts off on a journey to encourage the churches. Encouragement is not secondary to evangelism. It is a vital part of the evangelistic mission. Christians are not simply birthed, they must also be nurtured. (Let us never forget that the Great Commission involves "making disciples" which includes baptizing them and teaching them.) This is why God has given us not only baptism, but also preaching of the Word and the Lord’s Supper – the word and the meal sustains and nurtures those who have been baptized. It shapes our faith and our life together. It encourages us.

Paul and his associates came to Troas from Greece via Macedonia. That is like going from Texas to Florida by way of Ohio. Why? Because Paul was a wanted man. There were plots against him and his life was in danger. The Christians Paul meets with live in hostile environments. The encouragement they need is found through encountering Jesus Christ in the preaching and the common meal. They are strengthened spiritually and sustained. Paul does not preach for a long, long time because he cannot get to his point. Paul preaches until midnight because these Christians who live in unfriendly territory desperately need this encouragement. They are not concerned about how late it is – – persecuted churches don’t watch the clock, they watch the door.

It is ironic and tragic that the gathering for Sunday worship is sometimes viewed as (at worst) a necessary intrusion into "our time" and (at best) an obligation. When our persecuted brothers and sisters gather in their various meeting places around the world, many of them in secret, I suspect that they long for the fellowship. They welcome the opportunity to breathe a sigh of relief, or to gain encouragement for as long as possible. I suspect they linger in the place where they meet for nothing is better than what they are doing now.

We are not persecuted by the government in our own nation, but here in our own community, there are some of us who feel that way. For some of us, the places we reside during the week, the places we work in during the week are not places of encouragement. At best they may be stale and neutral environments. They are a network of uninspiring connections in which we fit like a cog in a machine or a worker bee. We plod through the aimless chores and responsibilities without much encouragement. At worst, our connections are sources of discouragement. We are filled daily with anxieties about the future. We are distressed by the inappropriate and unsettling behavior of others. We may even feel threatened or alienated. We come away from these connections wounded and hurt.

Remember that I said that this is how some of us feel. Praise God if you are blessed to dwell within an environment in which you are often inspired, encouraged, and given purpose. Perhaps what you have experienced is the result of God working in your situation to revive and resurrect. Perhaps you know the joy of having God transform your connections with your family, your work, your neighbors, even your brothers and sisters in the church. This is the encouragement of Lord. Do not feel guilty. Only give thanks and seek to extend and share the blessings and the word of encouragement that you have with those who are still dying for hope and meaning.

When Eutychus falls out the window to his death, everyone is ready to give up on him. But not Paul, he knows his Bible. He’s heard the stories of a widow in Zarapheth and a prophet named Elijah. He has heard the stories of a Shunnamite woman and a prophet named Elisha. He knows the story of a woman from Nain and a Messiah named Jesus. He has heard of Mary, Martha and how Jesus wept when they told him Lazarus died. Paul was surrounded by a cloud of witnesses. They all received back their dead – now are these just myths? Are these just wishful thinking or does the gospel really have power over death? Paul knows his gospel. He knows that death’s top agent – the cross – has defected to the other side. Paul knows that the purpose of gathering to break bread is about more than keeping a duty. It is about sustaining life and restoring health. This is why he is bold in his proclamation (really just a continuation of his sermon) that "The boy is alive." I love it that people don’t just get up and walk out after this – they eat the Lord’s Supper together. What better things do they have to do? And the result of the gathering for worship in Troas is encouragement. Luke is the master of understatement when he says, "they were not just a little encouraged."

Eutychus went home alive and unhurt. The disciples were encouraged. Perhaps you have fallen. Perhaps you’ve been hurt. Perhaps you dwell in an uninspiring or hostile environment. Maybe you have some connections with others that are hurting you. Did you know that you can leave here today alive and unhurt? You can find here the spirit that revived Eutychus. We preach and proclaim the story and the faith that Paul preached. We eat the same spiritual food that sustained the churches in Troas. None of have to leave here today dead, dying or wounded.

Representing God

Posted by David on March 20, 2005 under Sermons

This evening I want to do something I have wanted to do for some time. This evening we will discuss the concept of integrity.” I want us to think from the scripture together much as we would in a class. I want you involved in our thinking together. I want some verbal response from you–I want you to talk to me. I am not looking for any specific response. I just want to stimulate your thinking.

If speaking to me violates your conscience, do not speak. All I ask you to do is to listen carefully to the responses. If sharing with/speaking to me does not violate your conscience, speak to me. I want all of us to focus on our personal concepts of integrity. If there are differences in our concepts, I want you to note them.

This evening as we think about the concept of “integrity,” I need you to get your minds in gear by thinking about what “integrity” means to you. I want to give you a specific context, and I will ask you what “integrity” means to you in that specific context. I want you to share with me your perspective.

Let’s begin with a simple one: when you think of a person’s work, his or her job, what does the word ‘integrity’ mean to you in a job situation?

When you think of making a purchase, when you are buying a car or a heating system or a new appliance, what does the word ‘integrity’ mean in regard to someone selling you something?

Think with me just a moment about friendship. What does the word ‘integrity’ mean to you in friendship?

What does the word ‘integrity’ mean to you in regard to husbands? In this situation, I want you to note that a woman’s concept and a man’s concept of ‘integrity’ in this relationship are often quite different.

What does the word ‘integrity’ mean in regard to wives?

What does the word ‘integrity’ mean in regard to being a parent?

In the dictionary I use, “integrity” is defined as “1. soundness; 2. adherence to a code of values; 3. the state of being complete or undivided.” In “every day” terms, it is an honest person who is true to his or her honesty and consistent with what his or her values are all the time.

1. When I use the word “blameless,” what do you think?
   1. Everyone who thinks this, hold up your hand: “When I hear the word ‘blameless,’ I think of a person who is never guilty of making a mistake.”
   2. Everyone who thinks this, hold up your hand: “When I hear the word ‘blameless,’ I think of a person that no one justly can find fault with.”
   3. Everyone who thinks this, hold up your hand: “When I hear the word ‘blameless,’ I think of ‘integrity.'”
   4. The Hebrew concept of “blameless” is being a person of integrity.

2. I want to call your attention to several scriptures.
   1. Consider these scriptures:
      • Genesis 6:9 (Noah) These are the records of the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God.
      • Genesis 17:1 (Abraham) Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; Walk before Me, and be blameless.“
      • Deuteronomy 18:13 (Israel’s Levitical priests) You shall be blameless before the Lord your God.
      • 2 Samuel 22 (a psalm of praise to God from David):
        24 I was also blameless toward Him, And I kept myself from my iniquity.
        26 With the kind You show Yourself kind, the blameless You show Yourself blameless;
        31 As for God, His way is blameless; The word of the Lord is tested; He is a shield to all who take refuge in Him.
        33 God is my strong fortress; And He sets the blameless in His way.
      • Job 1:1 There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job; and that man was blameless, upright, fearing God and turning away from evil.
        1:8–The Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil.”
        2:3–The Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man fearing God and turning away from evil. And he still holds fast his integrity, although you incited Me against him to ruin him without cause.”
   2. Note these things:
      1. Noah was a person of integrity in a world without integrity.
      2. For Abraham to walk with God, he must be a person of integrity.
      3. For the priests to minister before God, they must be a people of integrity.
      4. When David praised God, he spoke of the importance of integrity to God.
      5. The book of Job verifies the importance of integrity to God.
      6. In being this person of integrity, God’s values and character are the standard.
   3. There are at least four Greek words translated ‘blameless.’ Consider some of the uses of ‘blameless’ in the New Testament.
      • 1 Corinthians 1:8 (Christians at Corinth) who will also confirm you to the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
      • Ephesians 1:4 (Christians at Ephesus) just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him.
      • Ephesians 5:27 (the church) that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.
      • Philippians 2:15 (Christians at Philippi) so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world,
      • Colossians 1:22 (Christians at Colosse) yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach.
   4. The emphasis in the New Testament is a carry over from the Old Testament with a focus on the nature of sacrifice.
      1. Sacrifices presented to God must come from the best because He is worthy of the best.
      2. Only people who are devoted to integrity can present themselves to the God of integrity.
      3. God made the person who enters Christ ‘blameless’; it is our responsibility to become what He made us.

3. The God Who justifies me purifies me; as the justified and purified, we are consistently devoted to good.
   1. Because God calls me to integrity, the world is blessed through my existence.
      1. My family should be a better family because God directs me toward being His person of integrity.
      2. My neighborhood should be a better neighborhood because God directs me toward being a person of integrity.
      3. My workplace should be a better workplace because God directs me toward being a person of integrity.
      4. My friends should receive a blessing in their lives because God directs me toward being a person of integrity.
      5. The church should be a kinder, more thoughtful, more caring group of people as a Christian community because God directs me toward being a person of integrity.
   2. Who should be blessed because God has called me to integrity?
      1. Everybody who has contact with my life should be exposed to potential blessing!
      2. Look at Jesus our savior and guide to God: contact with him always was a potential blessing to others–if the blessing did not occur, it was not because it was not available!
      3. Even people who do not like me should be blessed because of me.
      4. I want us to consider a statement made by Jesus.
         Matthew 5:44-48 But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
         1. Jesus is not talking about our acting belligerently.
         2. He is talking about our being a different kind of people.
         3. He does not compare his disciples to ‘good people’, but to what his audience considered extremely ‘bad people’.
         4. Those who follow Jesus are different.
            1. They are not like society–culture does not give them their values.
            2. They are not like people who do not acknowledge God and are not known for their compassion.
            3. Their standard is Jesus; they want to reflect God in their lives as did Jesus.
            4. They do not want to be like everyone else–they want to be a blessing to everyone else.

One of the treasured gifts and blessings God has given me is to be a part of this congregation. You commonly express great compassion and generosity. This is a truly caring community of Christian people.

I am also just like most of you. There are some things that deeply grieve me. Let me share three.

1. It grieves me when Christians are kinder to people they do not know [and likely never will know] than they are to Christians they do know. That is not consistent with Christian integrity.

2. It grieves me when Christians fail to realize different Christians have different needs. I commonly see two major groups among Christians. I see Christians [this is not an age matter!] who are blessed by circumstances that permit them an existence that does not have to interact with a godless world on a daily basis. I also see Christians who have no choice. They must interface/interact with a godless world on a daily basis. The first group of Christians is rarely bruised and battered by the godless world. The second group of Christians is bruised and battered almost every week by the godless world. Rarely is there a week that passes that does not demand that I encourage and seek to help a Christian who is bruised, battered, and blooded from doing battle with life in a godless world. Needs in those two groups of Christians are very different. Christian integrity gives us the responsibility to recognize those differences.

3. It grieves me when a Christian fails to distinguish between preference and God’s will. Having preferences is quite okay. Imposing personal preferences on other Christians as if those preferences were God’s will is extremely destructive. Christian integrity demands that we allow God to teach us to distinguish between preference and God’s will. The issue is never, “What do I like,” but the issue is always “What does God like.” Too often things that are emotional matters to us are not matters of concern to God.

Are you a person of integrity? Are people blessed because you follow Jesus Christ?

Embodying the Gospel: The Structure of Worship

Posted by Chris on under Sermons

Review: Content, Structure, Context

Worship has three layers that involve our heart, mind, body, and collective
In worship we not only enact the gospel (re-experience it), we also embody it what we do in worship. We are able to do this because worship has a structure, but what do we mean by structure? Are we talking about a set program for worship? Are we talking about certain elements or acts of worship? We are going to look at some scriptural examples for our final answer, but before we do that let’s introduce the concept with some examples of structure from God’s creation and then from our “everyday” experiences as embodied creatures.

Structure in Nature and Experience
Structure of trees (same but different)
Structure of human skeletons, human bodies (same but different)
Structure of time and seasons (Read Genesis 1:14-19) – In the creation of all things tangible and intangibleGod is bringing structure to the shapeless and dark earth – [In the beginning when God created theheavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while awind from God swept over the face of the waters – Gen. 1:1-2

Structure creates certain boundaries than define and shape objects and events. But within and around thatstructure there is still variation and uncertainty. This combination of unity and diversity is what makessomething natural and wonderful. This is the secret that good musicians know. They can improvise, butthey don’t just play anything. They follow certain patterns, scales, and modes. Even musicians whocannot understand musical notation follow these structures. And even if an orchestra plays a veryprecisely laid out piece of sheet music, they must still interpret what it sounds like because there are somany variables in musical performance.

The combination of structure and variety is what makes sport and games interesting. Take March Madnessand basketball as a current example. Basketball is a game with defined rules. We give a referee a hardtime when he makes a bad call not simply because it is against our team, but because we know he isfollowing the rules. We know the rules and we want him to enforce them – unless the bad call favors ourside and then we ignore it! The referee is there because the players have to work within the rules andboundaries. But within those boundaries and rules there is opportunity for great variety, and chance, andplay. (This is why predictable games or simple games are boring – there’s no creative element). Thetournament is another example of structure and variety. The tournament of 64 teams begins as a veryprecise structure. The #1 plays the #16, #2 plays #15, etc. and so on. Yet, the uncertainty and themystery of it all that creates the great moments high and low – the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat!

Now let’s go from the lesser to the greater. If there is such a wonderful and beautiful and combination ofstructure and variety, unity and diversity in nature and human experience, shouldn’t we expect that we willfind and even more wonderful combination in worship. I think we should. And if we ignore this, then weignore the combination of structure and variety, unity and diversity that allows the human and the divine tointersect – what allows us to encounter God! As a result we reduce worship to a ritual or an obligation. Ourworship has a structure because we are embodied creature. We are bound by time and space. But theGod we praise is not limited in that way. Our worship embodies the gospel because the gospel itself is anintersection of the certain and the unexpected.

Consider the gospel event: Jesus is crucified, he is buried. Every explanation we give for that part of thegospel simply affirms the reality we know – we are sinful, we do not recognize God’s love, there is sufferingand cruelty in the world. But what part of the gospel event did I not mention? The resurrection! Theresurrection is unexpected and surprising! It is mysterious and powerful! Now there is hope where we hadnone. Now there is possibility where previously we had despair. And it is all because of God and who heis. (See Romans 11:33-36, the precursor to our spiritual act of worship)

Our worship embodies this experience with a certain structure. But we cannot experience the depth andthe riches of God’s grace if we are just ticking off a list of worship duties. Those are just daily chores – [Isn’t it interesting that a child that will balk at doing routine chores and will finish those chores off only to goand submit himself or herself to the rules of a game with other children – or the rigid structure of a videogame or the chapters of a book!] Without some understanding of how we “move” within the structure, wewill miss the opportunities to encounter God and enact his gospel together.

As an illustration, let’s talk about what we do when we have guests over to our house for dinner. There arecertain structures that are basically the same no matter the occasion. And we can even think of these interms of movement through the rooms of a house . . . Foyer, Living Room, Dining Room. Consider the waywe talk and converse in each of these. We move and talk in appropriate ways as we move from the foyerto the living room. Then we move in certain ways as we go from the living room to the dining room. In thefoyer we greet. In the living room we share news and tell stories. When do you bring up a serious subject? Certainly not in the foyer! Whether it is a cookout, a formal dinner with new friends, or PBJ sandwicheswith old friends, we have these little conventions that allow us to commune. Why? Because we arebodies, not shapeless minds floating thru space.

There is a basic structure of worship that enables us to encounter the God who is spirit and to communewith one another. Story and Feast. – Exodus 24:3-11 and Acts 2:42-47 demonstrates this basicstructure.

The “field of play” (or boundary) for worship that embodies the gospel is, I suggest, sort of like agravitational field. That is to say that it is the structure that orders the elements of worship in a naturalstructure that is sensitive to the gospel and our experience and we move through this field. We are shapedand order by it, even as we are allowed to move in it (like gravity). The structure of word and suppercommunicates our embodied similarities. It also enables us to embody the gospel and thus enact thegospel.

The gospel is real and so worship should be real. The death burial and resurrection of Jesus are real. Itwasn’t a myth or an act or a dream. God went through physical actions; he made a movement to show hislove. And we do the same in worship and mission (discipleship). Our faith is not just something to agreewith. It is an agreement that demands action. The images we use to describe our relationship (sheep andshepherd) are bodily, physical images. Just as our real baptism is a death and new birth.

Recommended Reading: I am indebted to Robert E. Webber for recognizing the Story & Feast structure ofworship in both the Old Testament and New Testament. Dr. Webber has discussed this structure in manybooks and seminars. Among these is Worship Old & New, Zondervan, 1994.

Enacting the Gospel: The Content of Worship

Posted by Chris on March 6, 2005 under Sermons

Review: Worship is "because of." That is to say that worship is our response to what God has done/is doing/will do. Not only do we respond to what God does, we respond to who he is. Our Response to God involves three elements. On the one hand we have the substance of worship. On the other hand, there is the experience of the worshipper and the worshipping church. When the substance of worship and the experience of the worshipper combine, worth is ascribed to God. Combined, these elements represent our way of participating together in our worshipful response to God. For simplicity we will call these the content of worship, the structure of worship, and the context (or style) of worship.

Preparation for worship is to prepare us as a collective group to participate. We are not always good at coming together. We have different opinions and different ideas, different tastes and preferences (which we often project on God assuming that he likes what we like). But our response is not simply individual. (If this were the case, then we could all "home church" and be done with assembly). God, however, intends for all of us to come to his banquet table. We experience his presence and activity among us not only as persons, but as a people.

The content, structure, and context of worship are layers of worship. Content is the most essential layer – the core or kernel. The content of worship is the gospel – we enact it. The structure of worship embodies the gospel we enact (or participate in), and the context is the level or layer at which we engage the specifics of our culture and context. This involves language, style, time, seasons, etc. (One of the amazing characteristics of the gospel is that it engages any culture, not without challenges, but the gospel is an "incarnated" witness and message from God. It can be translated into any language; it can speak hope and promises in any culture. It challenges all earthly powers and institutions. It is not bound by temporal or regional limitations.)

Content: Enacting the Gospel. In worship, everything we do "enacts" the gospel. By that we mean that everything participates in and communicates the gospel event. Baptism is connected to the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. The Lord’s Supper is a proclamation of the death, burial and resurrection. Preaching affirms the gospel event and gives testimony to how that gospel power is worked out in our lives. Likewise, prayer and praise proclaim the gospel and affirm it. They assume it! We also re-experience the gospel that saves us and we are challenged to continue living it out so that we become better people.

• Do we believe that a dead marriage can be resurrected? When we enact the gospel in worship, we do.
• Do we believe that broken relationships can be reconciled? When we enact the gospel in worship we do.
• Do we believe that God can give us strength to endure suffering? When we enact the gospel in worship we do.
• Do we have hope that all things can be made new? When we enact the gospel in worship we do.
• Do we know that God’s power can help us overcome sin and temptation? When we enact the gospel of Christ in worship we do.

When we enact the gospel in worship we participate in the same gospel that is at the heart of God’s missions. We encounter the risen Christ whom the gospel proclaims. Read Luke 24.

Notice what happened as the gospel is enacted in this Journey to Emmaus: They encountered the risen Jesus. Before they recognize him are sad and downcast (v. 17). Their hope is expressed in the past tense (v. 21). There troubled and disturbed by the news of resurrection, they are not able to hear it as good news (v. 22 – 24); they are confused. The women saw him raised but our companions did not. What’s going on? They wonder.

1. Jesus teaches them, he opens the Scriptures to them. Through this teaching the news that Cleopas and his friends assume everyone knows is transformed into "good" news. Later they will remember that this encouraged them and their hearts were burning within them.
2. Jesus fellowships with them. It takes place in the context of hospitality and an invitation for continued company. He takes the bread, he blesses it, he breaks it, and he gives it to them. These are the same verbs used in describing what Jesus did with the apostles at the Last Supper. ("Do this in remembrance of me!") And they do remember him; it is at this point that they recognize him as Lord and Messiah.
3. Everything comes together in these events: meeting Jesus, teaching from the Scripture that explains their experience, the substance of the meal and the remembrance of Jesus. The action of God, in the gospel is at the center of this event. The presence of God in Jesus Christ is real. God’s action determines whether or not these disciples can see Jesus as Lord and Messiah. Just as the Holy Spirit empowers the hearing of the word, so the Spirit of God empowers the "seeing" of Jesus in worship.
4. The disciples ascribe worth to God and respond to what God has done. They are filled with faith and hope – consider how different they are now after encountering Jesus than how they were before. They are sent out to tell the good news that they not only believe, but that they themselves have experienced in worship. Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?" It is a gospel moment!

We respond to the gospel that is enacted in our worship. Who enacts it? God enacts it and we participate in it just as Cleopas and his friend did. Why do we get obsessed on what others are doing in worship? Do we ever consider what God is doing? Consider how we are surrounded by the gospel in our worship: We remember what God has done. We anticipate what he will do.
We may journey to worship downcast or confused. But the encounter with God and our re-experience of the gospel has a way of changing us and changing how we feel, what we do, but most importantly who we are!

Why Content is Important … (So What?)
Encounter with Christ. We often try to respond to human needs with the gospel, but the gospel – what God has done and is doing – has a way of drawing out needs we didn’t know we had. (Just as it did with Cleopas and friend). If the gospel is the content of worship, then all needs will be met by God and just left up to us! When we invite each other to prayer and baptism and confession, we invite people to get right with God and we invite people to be ministered to by God and the Spirit of Christ. Worship isn’t our time to take care of "church business."

The gospel content affirms what God has done, is doing and will do. Our worship will be a response to God’s action rather than an experience of our self-interests. The gospel meets us in our culture and in our context, but it also challenges our context and culture also. When we come together in worship, the living Christ meets us on a journey as he did the Emmaus travelers, and we may find that our hearts are burning within us as the Lord opens the gospel to us!