"We Worship Better Together!" - Message 5

40 Days of Community, week 6

Revelation 5:11-13

If somebody asked you what God want from us more than anything else, how would you answer? If you said moral devotion, if you talked about ethical behavior or mentioned religious ritual, you’d be wrong. God wants to have a love affair with you.

The Bible says that you and I were created to be objects of God’s love. The most important thing you can know in life is that God loves you, and the most important thing that you can do in life is to love God back. Jesus said it like this in Matthew 22:37, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment." Nothing is more important. If you learn to love God and to let God love you, you will fulfill your primary purpose in life. If you miss this part of your life, you will miss the very reason God created you and put you on earth - to love and be loved.

There’s a term in the Bible for expressing love to God: "worship." At it’s deepest level, worship is not about what kind of music the choir sings, or even if there is a choir. True worship has nothing to do with the beat, the rhythm, tempo, or style of a song. True worship isn’t limited to certain denominations or types of churches. What makes worship is not the beautiful windows or the wonderful organ. Worship isn’t about a building, no matter how beautiful or plain it might be. We might gather in a building, but the building doesn’t make worship. Rather worship is what turns the building into a sanctuary. What creates worship is you... and me... and the presence of God in this very room. Worship is about expressing our love to the God who first loved us.

This week in 40 Days of Community we have been learning that expressing our love to God - worship - is not only something we do individually, it is something we do together. One example of that corporate worship is described in the book of Revelation 5:11-13. Listen to how John describes this great scene surrounding the very throne of God: "Then I looked again, and I heard the singing of thousands and millions of angels around the throne and the living beings and the elders. And they sang in a mighty chorus: "The Lamb is worthy - the Lamb who was killed. He is worthy to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing." And then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea. They also sang: "Blessing and honor and glory and power belong to the one sitting on the throne, and to the Lamb, forever and ever."

Can you imagine such a scene? It is mind boggling to try and imagine what that day will be like when we will be able to join in that unending chorus with everyone singing and worshiping God in their own way. In the meantime, we as a church get to practice for that great day every week as we come together in worship and express our love to God. We do worship better together!

In some ways, this seems to go against our culture. More and more we are becoming an individualistic society. Our children and youth are growing up with iPods, PSP’s, and text messaging, allowing them to isolate themselves from one another more and more. Adults are faced with so much religious programming on TV and the radio, and so many Christian books, videos, and CDs, that it is becoming easier all the time to receive religious input while seated in our den sofa. Church attendance begins to drop as members begin to say, "Why go to church when I can get better preaching on TV, better teaching from these books, and better worship music from my CDs? For that matter, I can get more inspiring views from my condo on the lake." Slowly but surely, God’s children become isolated, content to surround themselves with substitutes to real worship and fellowship.

Friends, during the past few weeks we’ve had some great worship services. We had Mark Carpenter sharing his testimony of what God has done in his life. We have had the worship team leading the music in the First Light service, and the choir bringing beautiful anthems during the sanctuary service. Greg and Linda have used the talents God has given them to draw us into God’s presence. We been able to share as a family in baptism and the receiving of new members. Mary Depper and Margaret Pierce shared with us some beautiful music last Sunday, and together we gave thanks to God for the ministries of several of our members. Friends, it is possible to worship God on your own. You can certainly love God away from the church. However, you couldn’t have done by yourself all that we have done together. When we gather and share our talents and gifts with one another, we really do worship better together!

Friends, at its best, worship is not a spectator sport or an individual activity. Rather, it is active and corporate. Listen to Psalm 95:1-7, "Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song. For the LORD is the great God, the great King above all gods. In his hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to him. The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land. Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker; for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care. Did you hear the corporate words: "Come, let us sing. . . let us shout. . . let us bow... let us kneel, let us come before him..."

I’ve noticed this: when I least feel like singing or praying, that’s when I most need to do it. When I don’t feel like participating in worship, when I don’t feel like getting involved, when I just want to stand still and be a spectator, that means my heart has grown cold and needs to be warmed up. It means that I need to get more involved and let my mood as well as my heart be lifted in worship. It certainly means that I need to focus more on giving my love to God. We help everyone when we worship together.

Worship is not meant to be done alone. We support each other in worship with our gifts and talents. We also support each other with our very presence. Listen to these words from Jesus in Matthew 5:14-15. "You are the light of the world, like a city on a mountain, glowing in the night for all to see. Don't hide your light under a basket! Instead, put it on a stand and let it shine for all."

When we gather together, we are letting our light shine for all to see. We are saying, "I’m not ashamed of Christ or my faith. I want the world to know that this is important to me." Can you imagine how Patty would have felt if, years ago when we were dating I said, "Let’s get married, but let’s keep it a secret. I’ll be committed to you and you’ll be committed to me, but when we’re in public let’s pretend like we don’t know each other. OK?" Patty would have rightly said, "Uh...no!" That would be no kind of love at all. When you really love somebody you’re not ashamed of them; quite the opposite. You take on a name. You become family and you identify with each other.

In the same way, when you love God, you take on the name "Christian." You become part of family. You identify with him. Corporate worship helps us do that. When I see others taking their stand for Christ, it give me courage to do the same. When I see others sharing their love for Christ publically, it gives me courage to do the same. The fact is, it is easier for me to let the flashlight of my faith shine when I know you have your flashlight turned on too. "Courage" and "together" go hand in hand. Every team, every platoon, every group knows this to be true. So don’t be afraid. Publicly identify yourself with Christ.

"Come, let us sing to the Lord! Let us give a joyous shout to the rock of our salvation!" "Let the whole world bless our God and sing aloud his praises." Never forget: we always worship better together!