Worship Is Work

Psalm 96:1-13

O sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth.

Sing to the Lord, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day.

Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples.

For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; he is to be revered above all gods.

For all the gods of the peoples are idols, but the Lord made the heavens.

Honor and majesty are before him; strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.

Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.

Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; bring an offering, and come into his courts.

Worship the Lord in holy splendor; tremble before him, all the earth.

Say among the nations, "The Lord is king!

The world is firmly established; it shall never be moved. He will judge the peoples with equity."

Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all that fills it;

let the field exult, and everything in it. Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy

before the Lord; for he is coming, for he is coming to judge the earth.

He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with his truth.

You are here because you want to experience something. You want to feel better. You want to feel closer to God. You come here to take a break from your weekday life. Yet worship is work. Worship is work beyond just the business of showing up at a particular place at a certain on a Sunday. The Latin word liturgy from which we get our word liturgist, literally means work of the people. Today we will explore the connection between the inner spiritual work and the worship of God.

The psalmist's description of worship begins this way: "O sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth." Singing is a joyful activity in which we forget ourselves and join a community of people in working on a specific task. A church choir has a choir director who leads the singing but the song is not sung for the choir director. The song is is sung to the Lord. The psalmist challenges us to sing s a new song to the Lord. What does he mean by a new song? He gives a hint in the next verse when he says: "Sing to the Lord, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day." That day to day salvation is the key to this psalm about worship. Daily inner work on our relationship with God is what will electrify our worship service.

And let's face it, everyone wants a more exciting worship service. The so-called worship wars are fought out in congregations across the country week by week. One faction wants the hymn lyrics displayed on screens and another wants the lyrics read from a hymnal like we've always done it. One faction wants contemporary music with electric guitars and lead singers and another group wants traditional music with the organ and a volunteer choir. Some churches get so caught up in the techniques of worship that they miss the point of worship. Regardless of the method of worship employed, the style of music and how the lyrics are displayed, the deeper question is what is going on inside the worshipers.

Jesus told a parable about this very thing. The story goes like this. Two men went up to the Temple to pray, one a Pharisee, the other a publican. The Pharisee struck a dramatic pose and prayed like this: 'Oh, God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, crooks, adulterers, or, heaven forbid, like this publican. I fast twice a week and tithe on all my income.'

And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. Jesus commented, "This publican, not the other, went home made right with God. If you walk around with your nose in the air, you're going to end up flat on your face, but if you're content to be simply yourself, you will become more than yourself." (Luke 18:11-14, The Message)

We come to worship just as we are and aware that we are not great. We are not perfect. We are in need of spiritual growth. We need to grow in spiritual maturity. The awareness of our own sinfulness and lack is the proper attitude that leads to our being filled by God's Spirit during worship.

Just in case there is any misunderstanding about what he meant in the parable of the Pharisee and the publican, Luke adds this story immediately after Jesus parable. Luke says, "People brought babies to Jesus, hoping he might touch them. When the disciples saw it, they shooed them off. Jesus called them back. "Let these children alone. Don't get between them and me. These children are the kingdom's pride and joy. Mark this: Unless you accept God's kingdom in the simplicity of a child, you'll never get in." (Luke 18:15-17)

Come to worship as a child who expects something to happen. Children do not come to worship to sit back and judge the performance of other worshipers. Children come to worship open and ready to experience whatever may happen. Come to worship open to experience God.

Jesus said we are to worship God in spirit and in truth. We are not to worship God in a spirit of judgment. How good is the children's sermon? How perky is the preacher? How does the choir sound today? These are not the central questions of worship. The central questions of worship are: Are you ready? Are you ready to worship? Did you come hear today with clean heart and a focused mind? God is the only judge of worship and God is judging your performance during worship.

You may recall the story of Jesus and the woman at the well. Their conversation moved from talking about drinking water to talking about living (spiritual) water. This led to a discussion about worship. The woman says where you worship is the most important thing. Jesus insists how you worship is the most important thing. Jesus says we are to worship God in Spirit and in Truth. Worship is more than attendance at a church service. Worship is a way of life. When we are living worshipful lives during the week Sunday morning worship takes on a whole different meaning. It becomes part and parcel of what we are doing with our lives. Suddenly the lyrics to the hymns touch our hearts. The sermon speaks to our souls. Our minds are focused on what God is saying and doing in our lives and the entire experience glorifies God.

Worship is not a spectator sport. It is not about sitting in a pew and being entertained. It is not meant to be like watching a TV reality show in which we judge the actors based on their performance. Worship is called liturgy because it is the work of the people. It's not the duty of the preacher to make you feel something inside. The preacher has no power to do that. If you come to the service with your mind and heart closed, planning to sit in judgment of the service, you are going to leave empty and dissatisfied. I know how that works. I've done that myself when I sat in on other people's sermons. It doesn't feel very good. What you get from the service or the sermon has more to do with you than it does the preacher. If you expect the preacher to live your spiritual life for you, you will continually be disappointed. The preacher cannot live your spiritual life for you. The preacher cannot break your bitterness. The preacher cannot melt your heart. The preacher cannot make you repent. Only the Holy Spirit can do that. If that needs to happen in your life, your issue is not with the preacher. Your issue is with the Holy Spirit. Your relationship with God is your own responsibility. It is not the preacher's responsibility. The preacher cannot repent for you. Reformed theology talks about the "priesthood of believers" which teaches that each believer is to be their own priest. That means you are responsible for your own spiritual growth.

Danish theologian Soren Kierkegaard envisioned worship as the work of the congregation. People in the pews gather not to watch the show but to participate in the play. We are actors in the divine drama of worship. We are not spectators. We are actors. The liturgist is not a performer but a prompter t help you remember your lines. The preacher is part of the production but not the star of the show. God is the audience and the members of the congregation are the performers. God is the audience and will judge your worship performance. How well did you participate? Was your heart really in the performance or were you just going through the motion. Are you sitting in judgement of the actors and performers or focused on your own performance? These are the questions the Holy Spirit has in mind for you during this and every worship service.

Worship flows from a daily lived relationship with God through Christ. Worship is a weekday love affair with God. As the Psalmist says, "Sing to the Lord, less his name; tell of his salvation from day to day." The quality of your relationship with God in Christ during the weekdays will determine the quality of your worship experience on Sunday morning. As Jesus said to the woman at the well: "Those who worship God must do it out of their very being, their spirits, their true selves, in adoration." (John 4:24)

What would it look like for you to "sing to the Lord a new song" as the Psalmist recommends? What would it take for you to become excellent at worship? It would take more than you think. Nothing comes easy in life. Excellence in worship participation takes constant practice. The mistake we make in churches is the way we lower the bar. Anyone who walks through the door is accepted. The barriers to entry are extremely low. Consider the Mormon church in which young adults are required to sacrifice two years of their life doing missionary work. In contrast, we give our young adults those years off. We don't even expect them to attend worship during their college years. We figure they will come to church later, in the 30s or 40s when they have children whom they want to educate in church school. But they rarely come back to church.

Our expectations are too low across the board in the church. Harvard Business Review published a paper called The Making of An Expert which demonstrates the journey to truly superior performance is neither for the faint of heart nor for the impatient. The development of genuine expertise requires struggle, sacrifice, and honest, often painful self-assessment. There are no shortcuts. It will take you at least a decade to achieve expertise, and you will need to invest that time wisely, by engaging in "deliberate" practice— practice that focuses on tasks beyond your current level of competence and comfort. You will need a well-informed coach not only to guide you through deliberate practice but also to help you learn how to coach yourself. Experts are not born they are trained. All the superb performers investigated had practiced intensively, had studied with devoted teachers, and had been supported enthusiastically by their families throughout their developing years. These facts come from more than 100 leading scientists who have studied expertise and top performance in a wide variety of domains: surgery, acting, chess, writing, computer programming, ballet, music, aviation, firefighting, and many others.

Do you want your worship participation to improve? It will take years of concentrated effort. Plan to get up earlier. Learn to meditate. Study the scripture. You may want to practice a spiritual discipline such as fasting. Seek God with all your heart each day during the week. Concentrate on developing your relationship with God. Then your worship experience will improve. You will find the sermon speaks to you. The lyrics of the hymns will take on new meaning. The anthem will seem like a spiritual feast. Worship is the work of the people in the pews. Like any other work, you can't just show up and expect to be an expert at it.

If you do put in the time and effort to improve your worship participation, things will start to come together in a new way in your life. You will begin to "sing a new song to the Lord." This is the Biblical vision for you and me and all of creation. As the psalmist says: "Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy before the Lord; for he is coming, for he is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with his truth."

God will judge your worship performance. Not how well you sing. Not how much money you put in the plate. God will judge your attitude. God will judge your worship performance not by your Sunday worship attendance but by your Wednesday devotional attendance and how you treat your loved ones on Friday night. Worship is work. It's your job 7 days a week. If you think it's easy, you've been misinformed. Nothing is tougher than the self discipline required for spiritual growth. Nothing is harder than becoming an expert in worship as a way of life. That's what Jesus meant when he told his would be disciples to sit down and count the cost before they started following him. The disciples who did their homework, who did the math, they figured out it cost a lot more than they had figured. Some of them never came back. They were among the most honest of all the disciples.

Worship is not about you. It's not about how you feel or what you get out of the service. Worship is about God. Worship is about how well you open yourself up to the Divine Flame within and without. If you are living a worshipful life during the week then you will have a meaningful spiritual experience on Sunday morning. But ultimately worship is not about us. Worship is about God. So sing a new song to the Lord.

O sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth.

Sing to the Lord, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day.

Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples.

For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; he is to be revered above all gods.

For all the gods of the peoples are idols, but the Lord made the heavens. (Psalm 96:1-5)

Let's reach for the stars. Worship starts inside us. That is where the work must start.

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The Rev. Dr. Jonathan L. Burnham preached this sermon on October 16, 2011 at St. John's Presbyterian Church, 5020 West Bellfort Ave, Houston, TX 77035.
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