Throughout the current sermon series on worship, I have used
the story of Dorothy and friends from “The Wizard of Oz”
(check out this orignal trailer from 1939) as a metaphor for our own worship experience.
Dorothy’s desire all along was to go home to
Kansas … Worship is, at heart, an expression
of a God-given desire to “go home” and enjoy fellowship with God.
The psalmist said it well,
My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts
of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. Even the sparrow
has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her
young—a place near your altar, O LORD Almighty, my King and my God. Blessed are those who dwell in your house;
they are ever praising you.
(Psalm
84:2-4). As New Testament Christians, we have the assistance of God’s Holy
Spirit within us to remind and enable us to draw near to God (.
The Bible tells us
that heaven will not have sun or moon because God’s continual presence will
light the place up!
Worship reminds us
what we were made for and what make this life worth living.
But, like Dorothy’s traveling companions in the Wizard of
Oz, we are lacking some critical elements … we need brains, heart, and
c-c-c-c-courage.
Brains – we need to
more fully know the God we serve.
We
live in an exceedingly spiritual but Biblically illiterate culture where
personal views of “my God” trump biblical revelation.
Personal experience is exalted over spiritual
reality (there is change occurring rapidly around us that is altering the
philosophical landscape which guides how people determine what is true and
valuable… but more about that another day).
I would recommend a daily devotional study of the names of God, (Lord I Want to Know You), to grow in your knowledge of God …as you do, you will find depth, dimension and
honesty in your worship like you may not have experienced before.
You will be able to purchase one of these
from Cross Training in the Atrium next Sunday if you like.
Heart – I love the
zeal that young believers bring to worship … un-jaded by the harsh realities of
life, they have a thirst and idealism we need not lose. Their zeal for singing new songs to God is a
reminder that the Lord’s mercies are new every morning and He wants to give us
something new to sing about every day.
Sometimes we lose the passion and zeal … the joy … that overflows from a
heart of gratitude and dependence upon God.
The joy of the Lord is available to us regardless of the circumstances
we are facing. In
1
Chronicles 16:26-28 King David is singing a song of worship to God that
expresses this idea.
On those
dark days we can stand before a God who loves us, is in control and working His
own plan.
When we start being grateful
to God we take the first step away from being the God of our own lives.
When we celebrate who He is and what He has
done, we are rewarded with a joy straight from God.
Courage – because
worship includes presenting ourselves to God for service, we face the prospect
of an assignment that we may initially find unpleasant, uncomfortable or
down-right frightening. True worship
puts its “Yes” on the table before knowing what God wants from us. It is the ultimate statement of love,
dependence and trust! In light of all
God has done to provide for your sin and make you part of His family, Paul
concluded that the only right response was to offer yourself fully, completely
in return … no conditions, no deals or bargains (.
When you worship,
there should be an expectation that God may call upon you to give, do, go,
forgive, serve, grow, etc. in ways that will further stretch you and require
you to lean even more completely Him.
Suddenly worship isn’t about song selection, pew
construction, music volume or instrumentation, is it? God wants each of us to live lives of worship
where we “walk with Him:” adoring Hi m for who He has revealed Himself to be,
wholeheartedly and passionately and with the courage to say ‘I trust you.’