True Liturgy

Luther, in his "Preface to the Letter of Saint Paul to the Romans" says,

In chapter 12, St. Paul teaches the true liturgy and makes all Christians priests, so that they may offer, not money or cattle, as priests do in the Law, but their own bodies, by putting their desires to death.

As you know, Inspiring Worship Service is made up of three parts; Praise, Teaching and what the people bring (or as NCD calls it, Liturgy).

When we think of liturgy we usually think of order of service and prayers and responses but Luther (and NCD) don't think that way. That is why Luther's statement stood out. He makes it clear that we must bring something to offer in the worship service each week. Usually it is our money, voices (in Praise), and our minds as we engage in the Teaching. However, Luther says that a better offering is our own body and subdued desires.

We studied the verses, Luther referred to, in our lesson last week, Romans 12:1,2:

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy acceptable to God, which is your reasonable (rational) service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of you mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

That was the NKJV, the New Living Translation makes it even clearer:

And so, dear brother and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice - the kind He will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship Him (your spiritual worship). Don't copy the behaviour and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

For eleven chapters, Paul has shown us what God has done for us, His mercy, love and abundant grace. Now Paul asks something of us; not works of the law, he's already said they are stumbling stones (9:30) and surprisingly, not even stronger faith as that is God's gift (4:20, 12:3) but Paul says we need to offer true, spiritual reasonable Worship. Or, in other words, Inspired Worship.

Paul defines such worship as complete surrender of body and mind to God. A return of the whole person and our desires to the Creator. Then God can completely renovate our thinking so we reflect His will not the behaviour and customs of the world.

Luther suggests that the liturgy of an Inspiring Worship Service is something far bigger and much more than just meeting God for an hour each Sabbath, it means giving God all that we are and co-operating with Him as He transforms us from the inside out.

Read the whole of Luther's Preface to Romans

Contentment, Joy and Confidence

"You must arrange to live with deep contentment, joy, and confidence in your everyday experience of life with God."

This is how Dallas Willard describes our first duty, in an interview that John Ortberg reports on in his excellent short article, "What I Learned on My Sabbatical".

Some things I learned from the article are:

1. Learning spiritual lessons happen best when we are "unplugged" for Sabbath (or sabbaticals). This is another reason Sabbath is important.
   
2. Simplicity is valuable - "I'd like to live in his time zone." What time-zone does God live in?
   
3. Fellowship with others is valuable, but only if we slow down long enough to listen.
   
4. "There is a large difference between having deep contentment in my everyday experience with God versus being in a good mood."

But there are two more points that relate especially to Inspiring Worship Service:

The first is "My main job is to live with deep contentment, joy, and confidence in my everyday experience of life with God. Everything else is job number two." If I live confident that God will do what's best, I will find joy and God's presence in even the most simple of worship experiences.

What surprised me most and made me realise that this was about Inspiring Worship was the in the last paragraph: "I do not want to have to receive from my congregation what I can only get from God." How often do I go to church expecting the sermon or the music to inspire me when it only God who can inspire. Simply put, to be inspired on Sabbath means doing my main job for the previous week.

God is Active

An Inspiring Worship Service is one where we know we have met with God. One of the ways we can prepare for this is by looking at God at work in our lives during the week. In their book "Experiencing God: Knowing and Doing the Will of God", Henry T. Blackaby & Claude V. King say:

Experiencing God means assuming that God is always active in and around your life.

Jesus included a method of knowing God's will that is not often found in books on guidance. John.5:17, 19-20 show us that He accepted that God the Father was always active, and that because the Father loved him he showed him what he was doing. Then Jesus joined in. This may sound quite simplistic, but one of the fundamental ways that Jesus knew what to do was by discerning God's activity, and then joining in with it. For us this means that one of the most fundamental ways to experience God is to watch and see where He is working and then join in.

What can you see God doing in the lives of people around you, your family, work mates, neighbours? God loves them much more than we do and He is working for their salvation.

Will God show us what we should do each day? John 5: 17, 19,20 says:

But Jesus answered them, "My Father has been working until now, and I have been working." ... Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel."

Does this apply to us? In Desire of Ages

... the Son of God was surrendered to the Father's will, and dependent upon His power. So utterly was Christ emptied of self that He made no plans for Himself. He accepted God's plans for Him, and day by day the Father unfolded His plans. So should we depend upon God, that our lives may be the simple outworking of His will. p208

...Whatever our position, we are dependent upon God, who holds all destinies in His hands. He has appointed us our work, and has endowed us with faculties and means for that work. So long as we surrender the will to God, and trust in His strength and wisdom, we shall be guided in safe paths, to fulfill our appointed part in His great plan. But the one who depends upon his own wisdom and power is separating himself from God. Instead of working in unison with Christ, he is fulfilling the purpose of the enemy of God and man. p209

Start looking for God's activity...and prepare for Inspiring Worship.

No Differences

Continuing on in 6 Testimonies' chapter, "The Observance of the Sabbath", in the section "Preparation for the Sabbath"

There is another work that should receive attention on the preparation day (Friday). On this day all differences between brethren, whether in the family or in the church, should be put away. Let all bitterness and wrath and malice be expelled from the soul. In a humble spirit, "confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed." James 5:16. 6Testimonies p 356

This is a rephrasing of what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount "Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. (Matthew 5:23,24)

In Jesus' saying, the implication is that God doesn't reconcile with us if we don't reconcile with our "brother" first. In Mrs White's the implication is that we aren't healed unless we get rid of our bitterness, anger and spite by humble confession and prayer.

If God is unable to bring reconciliation and healing into a worship service, will we see Him at all? If we are so busy thinking evil of our "brethren" are we going to be able to really worship? How much of the "coldness" and formalism of some church services is really just a result of differences in the congregation?

Undoubtedly one of the most Inspiring Worship Services ever was recorded in Acts 2. The Holy Spirit not only came visibly and audibly but thousands of passersby were convicted, repented and were baptised! At least one reason this happened was that they were "all with one accord" or "together".

Imagine what would happen if everyone who attends Toronto church spent Friday making sure that we had nothing against anyone "in the family or in the church" so we could all seek God in unity on Sabbath morning. Maybe Jesus' prayer to His Father that "the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one:" (John 17:22), would come true. Maybe there would be a new Pentecost and Toronto would be "made perfect in one" with the inevitable outcome that all Toronto would know that Jesus is the Son of God and that God loves His church as He loves His Son (John 17:23).

Now that would be inspiring!

Prepare to Worship!

Is there a special blessing available to Sabbath keepers that is not available to those who worship on Sunday? This is a question I asked last month and we will continue to find answers in 6 Testimonies and the chapter entitled "The Observance of the Sabbath". This week we'll look at some paragraphs from page 354, in the section "Preparation for the Sabbath" and comment on them.

In all that pertains to the success of God's work, the very first victories are to be won in the home life. Here the preparation for the Sabbath must begin. Throughout the week let parents remember that their home is to be a school in which their children shall be prepared for the courts above. Let their words be right words. No words which their children should not hear are to escape their lips. Let the spirit be kept free from irritation. Parents, during the week live as in the sight of a holy God, who has given you children to train for Him. Train for Him the little church in your home, that on the Sabbath all may be prepared to worship in the Lord's sanctuary. Each morning and evening present your children to God as His blood-bought heritage. Teach them that it is their highest duty and privilege to love and serve God.

Parents should be particular to make the worship of God an object lesson for their children. Passages of Scripture should be more often on their lips, especially those passages that prepare the heart for religious service. The precious words might well be often repeated: "My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from Him." Psalm 62:5.

"In all that pertains to the success of God's work, the very first victories are to be won in the home life." Success starts in what we do during the week, at home. This is asking quite a bit. Here we are particularly looking at Inspiring Worship and according to this principle, if we don't worship God and live in His presence during the week, we won't be able to find and worship Him on Sabbath morning.

"Let their words be right words. No words which their children should not hear are to escape their lips." While this is directed at parents, it is something we all need to do to be prepared for Inspiring Worship, we need to control what we say. Our words can prevent us, and those we live with, from having a fulfilling worship experience on Sabbath morning. The next paragraph describes "right words" as being "passages of Scripture.. often on our lips"

"Let the spirit be kept free from irritation." Not only words are important, but also the emotions and motives that inspire them. Especially be careful to avoid irritation.

"Parents, during the week live as in the sight of a holy God, who has given you children to train for Him." Part of preparing for worship is realising that God is not just real but "holy". And watching us! This can drive us away from Him in fear, or if we understand the verse in the next paragraph (Ps 62:5) correctly, it can draw us near, expecting His presence to bless us and reflexly, make us holy too. By living in the sight of God, we can avoid the irritation of life's little problems.

"Train for Him the little church in your home, that on the Sabbath all may be prepared to worship in the Lord's sanctuary." We are to worship during the week as a preparation for Sabbath worship. This training in worship is essential, it should include all the aspects of Inspiring Worship (praise, teaching, what the people bring) because the next two sentences are about intercessory prayer and teaching.

"Parents should be particular to make the worship of God an object lesson for their children." During the week, our worship should be an example of what true worship should be. We are to be 'particular' about this. In other words our worship during the week shouldn't be careless or unplanned but something we put our thought and effort into.

So one of the the blessings of Sabbath worship is that to be truly inspiring we must prepare for it by worshipping throughout the week.

Worship Before Victory

Inspiring Worship consists of three parts

1. What the people bring
   
2. Praise
   
3. Teaching
   

One place where all of these things come together in the Bible is 2 Chronicles 20. This is the story of the time that Judea was attacked by "a great multitude" of Moabites, Ammorites and their allies the people of Mount Seir.

Good King Jehoshaphat called for an assembly to "seek the LORD" (v3,4) where he prayed a really wonderful prayer that starts with praise for the Lord God and ends with the words (v 12) "For we have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon You." That is the prayer and praise part of worship.

Then the prophet Jahaziel does some teaching and says things like "Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God's"(v15) and "Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, who is with you...Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them for the Lord is with you."(v17)

More worship and praise came as Jehoshaphat and the people bowed low "worshipping the Lord" while the the Levites "stood up to praise the LORD God of Israel with voices loud and high"(v18,19)

The next day they rose early and went out towards the invading army and king Jehoshaphat did some teaching "Believe in the LORD your God, and you shall be established, believe His prophets , and you shall prosper."(v20) Then he appointed singers to go ahead of the army singing "Praise the LORD, For His mercy endures forever." (v21)

The next verse is pretty clear "Now when they began to sing and praise, the LORD set ambushes against the people of Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah and they were defeated.

It is a good story, worth the ten minutes it takes to read.

I wondered if you noticed something?... The story is long on praise and teaching but short on what the people bring and yet the Lord was obviously with them. (which is the definition of Inspiring Worship). So what did the people bring?

There are three thing I saw in the story

1. They all came to "seek the Lord"
   
2. Their "eyes were upon God".
   
3. They positioned themselves to see God's salvation
   

To sum up: If you want to enjoy an inspiring worship service then you need to come:

1. Hungering for God
   
2. Trusting in God
   
3. Expecting to see God's salvation
   

Not only will you realise God's presence but you may solve a few of the problems you face as well.

And by the way, can you think of any other instances where worship to God preceded victory?

Try:

• 1 Samuel 17:45-51 - David and Goliath
  
• Daniel 2:16-31 - Daniel and the dream
  
• Daniel 3:13-26 - The fiery furnace
  
• John 17:4 and 19:28-30 - Christ's life and salvation through His death
  
• Acts 2:46-47 - Church praise then growth
  
• Pr Aaron told us about the worship scenes of Revelation the other week, have a look at them and see what follows each one.
  

Can you think of any more?

Such a Heart

Last time, I finished with a quote from Luther's Preface to Romans. Here's some more:

In chapter 7, St. Paul says, "The law is spiritual." What does that mean? If the law were physical, then it could be satisfied by works, but since it is spiritual, no one can satisfy it unless everything he does springs from the depths of the heart. But no one can give such a heart except the Spirit of God, who makes the person be like the law, so that he actually conceives a heartfelt longing for the law and henceforward does everything, not through fear or coercion, but from a free heart. Such a law is spiritual since it can only be loved and fulfilled by such a heart and such a spirit...

This is one of the most enlightening parts of Luther's Preface. "Spiritual" means, at least in Romans, "whole-hearted", from the "depths of the heart" or in modern terms "our motives". Luther says we can only get such a heart from the Holy Spirit, who can actually change our motives and give us a "free heart".

In John 4:23, Jesus says "...the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him."

God wants us to worship Him from the depth of our hearts, whole-heartedly and freely.

Mrs White in the chapter "The Observance of the Sabbath" in 6 Testimonies says:

We do not obtain a hundredth part of the blessing we should obtain from assembling together to worship God. Our perceptive faculties need sharpening. Fellowship with one another should make us glad. With such a hope as we have, why are not our hearts all aglow with the love of God?

We must carry to every religious gathering a quickened spiritual consciousness that God and His angels are there, co-operating with all true worshipers. As you enter the place of worship, ask the Lord to remove all evil from your heart. Bring to His house only that which He can bless. Kneel before God in His temple, and consecrate to Him His own, which He has purchased with the blood of Christ. Pray for the speaker or the leader of the meeting. Pray that great blessing may come through the one who is to hold forth the word of life. Strive earnestly to lay hold of a blessing for yourself. 6Testimonies 362, 363

How would you like a 99% increase in blessing (and inspiration) from the Sabbath service? Would you like a heart aglow with love of God? Would you enjoy being aware of God and His angels working and worshipping with you? Jesus said that God is looking for such people to worship Him.

To have this Inspiring Worship experience:

1. Ask God for new heart, new motives, so you can worship Him from the depths of your heart.
   
2. Ask God to sharpen your perceptions so you recognise His presence.
   
3. Pray earnestly for blessing
   

Then when you get to church:

1. Ask God to remove all evil from your heart (so your motives are purely to worship Him)
   
2. Give yourself totally to God
   
3. Pray earnestly for the speaker.
   
4. Watch God at work on others
   
5. Expect happy fellowship, renewed hope and a heart aglow with God's love,
   

That sounds like Inspiring Worship!