STARTING OFF RIGHT AND RIGHTEOUS
Bible Passage:
Psalm 32:1 7
Pastor:
Pastor Glen
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Sermon Date:
2009-09-26
What is your definition of public worship? For the elements of worship we can look for examples in the Bible. Abraham called on the Lord and offered sacrifices. The children of Israel were commanded to worship God in a public way with special offerings and attending certain festivals. Jesus went to the temple and synagogue. His worship consisted of reading the Scriptures or hearing them read, prayers and psalms. In the New Testament Church they included the celebration of the sacraments of the Lord’s Supper and baptism. For a definition of a public worship we will probably use a simple definition such as: Public worship is a gathering of Christians who come together to praise the one true God by praising, praying hearing and receiving God’s Word and his sacraments. You can add musical instruments and singing and a special place to meet. We can certainly add the many things that can make worship meaningful and memorable and heartfelt. Public worship is a gathering of Christians who come together to praise the one true God by praising, praying hearing and receiving God’s Word and his sacraments.
On a hospital call this past week a member I spoke with a spouse of a member who was hospitalized. This person was at the service last week. She was confused by the message by Pastor Mike on what worship is. As he mentioned in his sermon we often think of our definition of worship as what we do on a Sunday morning or Monday evening. What Pastor Mike pointed out and will continue to be an important emphasis of the sermon series on the Ways of Worship is that God wants to to worship him at all times and in every place. Romans 12:1-2 “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God-- this is your spiritual act of worship. 2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is-- his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Cards were handed out and are available again today to put a card where you work at your computer, home. car or backpack. Each card says: “This is My Church.” We worship God in all that we do as we live our lives according to his will.
Today we focus on what we do in our public worship. If you were to write down you experiences of bad public worship you might mention a time when you could not hear the sermon because the sound system failed or there was a baby crying the whole time or it was very hot or too cold. My friends take a look at some examples of bad public worship in the Bible. Cain and Abel brought sacrifices to the Lord. They both brought their offerings or sacrifices to the one true God. God accepted Abel’s offering but he did not accept Cain’s offering. Cain gave the offering and the time for worship but his heart and attitude were not right. In 1Kings 18 two groups gathered to worship their God. The prophets of Baal offered a sacrifice to Baal and were not heard because he did not exist. There example was an example of bad worship. Bad worship is worship not centered on the true God. Elijah offered a sacrifice to the true God and he heard their prayer. That was an example of proper focused worship on the true God. Today as we take a look at what we do in our public worship we consider this reminder as we worship. STARTING OFF RIGHT AND RIGHTEOUS
The parts of the service that we focus on today are the invocation, confession of sins and absolution. The invocation is not always the same. Sometimes you have the words used in our service today. Please look at the words that the pastor began the service with today. “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Sometimes we begin with the Apostolic blessing with the words: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. Both groups of words focus on the one true God. The words we used today remind us of our baptism and what ws said when we were washed of our sins and brought into the kingdom of God by his grace. The invocation is a reminder that we focus on the one true God who revealed himself in the Scriptures. We start off our worship right by acknowledging who is truly our God and his worth. We are gathered here to declare his greatness.
If you take a look at the order of service we used today you will find the confession of sins and the absolution after the invocation. Understanding what happens in the confession of sins and absolution can define what is at the essence of good or bad worship. The context of Psalm 32 is believed to the time when the prophet Nathan came to point out the public sin of adultery and the cover up of that sin by having Bathsheba’s husband sent into the thick of battle to be killed. In that period of impenitence of over a year David describes what was happing in his relationship to God: “When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. 4 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer.” Every time we confess our sins whether privately to a pastor or a person we have sinned against, during a church service or in our own bedroom; we are admitting that have rebelled our holy God. We deserve his eternal punishment. We are not right before God. We are not righteous as he demands we be to be in his presence or enter his heaven. On this very point Jesus told the story about two people who went to God to pray. The one was practicing bad worship and the other was practicing good worship. The Pharisee did not admit his sin and condemned the man next to him with out knowing his heart. The other man did not look up to God and confessed that he was a sinner.
When the prophet Nathan pointed out his sin, David confessed that he had sinned against God. That is when he received the immediate absolution or forgiveness of sins from Nathan who spoke as God’s representative. That is why David wrote the words of Psalm 32 in verses 5-6: “Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the LORD’-- and you forgave the guilt of my sin.” David understood clearly the total and complete forgiveness by his mercy in the promised Messiah we know as the Christ Jesus.
My dear friends do not miss what is happening in this part of the service. We come to grips with who God is. He is our Holy God. We have no hope of forgiveness and salvation. We confess our sins. On the basis of what he already did in the person of his Son who gave his life as a ransom price that is a sacrifice for our sins he declares that we are not guilty. Each time we hear that absolution ni the public worship or n private we rejoice in the mercy of God who has sent his son to live a perfect life for us and take away all our sins. God declares you a sinful human by birth and in actual sins to be holy and righteous in his sight. That is why David began Psalm 32 the way he did: “How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, Whose sin is covered! 2 How blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity, And in whose spirit there is no deceit!”
The more we are understand what takes place in the public worship service the better we will worship the Lord in every place in every time slot of our life. Worship is offering our life as a living sacrifice in view of God’s mercy. God’s mercy is declared to us in the person of his Son Jesus and his gift of himself on the cross. As redeemed children of God we stand holy and righteous in his sight though faith in Christ. May our public worship encourage us in our daily worship as we live in view of God’s mercy.
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