What's Important; Part IV The Final Piece

This is the last part of my sermon. It was too long for one blog post, but I did the whole thing as one piece on Sunday morning. I never claim to have any type of special insight, but wanted to share my passion for music and how I use it in my life to glorify God.

My view of church today.
I no longer see worship as just the singing part as I did when I was 5 years old. Of course the songs have a special place in my heart, but Worship is a more complete image for me.  I just talked about the church un-simplified. Now here is my view of Church Worship simplified. I see four elements of a church service that help us in our worship of Christ, as described by many theologians, including Dr. Robert Webber.

1. We gather together and prepare to worship. We come together as described in Ephesians chapter 4. "So Christ himself gave the apostles, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ." But what happens if we don't do that? Paul goes on to say "Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is Christ. (in case you missed who he was talking about) From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does in work." Here Paul uses very specific language that is so detailed. Gather together.

2. We hear God speak. God has much to say for the church, even today. We also hear God speak as we read from scripture. We then listen to God's word interpreted through a sermon. This is all included in the God speaks section.

3. We respond to God. We respond to his word through prayers. We also respond to God by being obedient in the offering and Eucharist. We gather at the Lord's table to respond to his promises.

4. We are sent out. After gathering to hear God's word and respond, we then go to make disciples. We are sent into the world not to go back as we came, but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12) It says we will be able to test and approve what God's will is.

There are two questions to ask with regards to what is important. The first is; what is important to me? The second is; what is important to God?
In answering the first question, we can look at the story I told about my re-enactment of church. I did the things that were important to me. Even today we come to church with the attitude of looking for things that are meaningful to ourselves. For some of us the sermon is the most important. There are certain criteria that need to be met to have an effective sermon. There are time constraints. There is the presentation of the Gospel. You get the idea. For others the music is so important. We love to sing. Not always at 8 o'clock in the morning, but we love to sing. What style of music do you like? Can a church use drums? Electric guitar? Piano? Organ? How long should the singing go on? For some people I see on Sundays this is also the most uncomfortable time of the service. Some people would be happy to just say the lyrics in the form of a prayer. "I love you, I love you, I love You. Lord, Lord Lord." Other people say communion is the holiest part of the service. It is where we participate in one of the Sacraments. But some churches don't even have communion every week or some not at all.
Time to look at question two. What is important to God. In order to figure out what God wants from us, we need to know him more. We need to read His word in the Bible. We need to seek His voice in prayer. In order to do that we must expect to meet God. God speaks and acts today. He is interested in every one of us. God redeems our lives, for those who believe.
The world tells us what we do defines who we are. God says no; who we are defines what we do. Who are you? The church is your stage. Today is the scene. The story? We were designed for worship. Ready....action!