Tuesday, August 27, 2013

sermon, "Worship... It Does A Body Good", by Pastor Ruth Foss, Stetson Memorial United Methodist Church, August 25, 2013

August 25, 2013
Stetson Memorial United Methodist Church
Cruising Sacred Waters with Jesus”
Sermon 6 of Summer Series
John 4:19-24 the Message Bible
Luke 4:5-8 the Message Bible
Matthew 22:34-37 New Living Translation

Worship. . . It Does A Body Good

A reading from the Gospel of Matthew 22:34-37. I will be reading from the New Living Translation this morning. . .

Matthew 22:34-37 New Living Translation (NLT)

The Most Important Commandment

34 But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees with his reply, they met together to question him again. 35 One of them, an expert in religious law, tried to trap him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?”
37 Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’

Let us pray. . .  (Pray for illumination, a willing heart, and God’s will be done)

I love Sunday mornings. I love to be here in church where my Spirit can join together with other peoples’ Spirits and worship God and join with one voice. There is nowhere else I would want to be. It is such a good feeling for me. I can feel the Spirit of God within me almost leaping for joy! I don’t know about you but there is nowhere else on earth that I would want to be. It is a place where the divine in us reaches and touches the divine in others. When they meet. . . they worship God together in one voice.

Today we are starting our cruise. We are leaving port to start our cruising “Sacred Waters with Jesus.” The first stop we will be making is in the port of Worship. Now I know that we touched on the word worship when we were looking at the resume of our Captain but today we are going to look at it a little differently. This is one of the ports where our Risen Lord Jesus Christ is found. He is the captain of our boat. . . of our journey of faith with him. . . and this is a very important port of His. It what makes us who we are. . . God worshipers. . . we are thankful for all He has done. . . we are thankful for all He is doing. . . and we are thankful for all that is yet to be. Let’s hear a little more about this port we have docked at and why it is so important.

Now I have heard people use the word “worship” in many different ways. I hear people say of their partner that “they worship the ground they walk on”. . . I have heard of people worshiping things like their car or their homes. I have even heard of people worshiping “idols” such as celebrities and money and all sorts of different things and places. I think if I came from another country I would be very confused. We, as a country, have so many different meanings for one word that it can get confusing at time. The word “bad” now means “good”. . . the word sick means something cool. . . the word wicked is good now too. . .  That’s messed up! . . . So, what is worship anyway and why do we worship? (By the way. . . in looking up the definition, I found that worship is also a noun. . . but we’ll stick with the verb today.)

The Bing on-line Dictionary states:
wor·ship [ wúrship ]   is to
1.      treat somebody or something as deity: to treat somebody or something as divine and show respect by engaging in acts of prayer and devotion
2.    take part in religious service: to take part in a religious service
3.    love somebody deeply: to love, admire, or respect somebody or something greatly and perhaps excessively or unquestioningly.
As I said, there are even definitions of worship a noun but for now let’s look at the action verb part. . .

Now. . . how do we really worship God? Well. . . Jesus came to not only free us from sin but to teach humankind how to act towards others. . . how to worship God. . . how to live a life pleasing to God. The scripture from Matthew I just read, gives us the foundation of worship. . . it shows us where worship begins. God is not impressed by the many words we may recite about or to Him. God isn’t impressed by long prayers and skilled words we may use. When we worship God. . . it is not just in words but it is also in action. We give honor to God in our actions towards each other. . . towards the gift of the earth that he has given to us. . . towards the grace we have received through Jesus Christ. When we worship God. . . He is the utmost thing on our minds. . . we want to please and honor Him in all we say. . . all we do. . . with all we are. Worship begins within the heart of those who believe.

From the John scripture this morning. . . we heard what Jesus tell the Samaritan woman what true worship is. It comes from the heart. It doesn’t matter who you are or where you come from. All that matters is the condition of the heart. God doesn’t want us to come before Him with some kind of phony or fakeness about us. God wants us to be our true selves. . . flaws and all. . .  When we worship from the heart. . . we do it not out of obligation but out of thankfulness and joy for the life we are given through Jesus. . . it is out of the wonder of grace that has shown towards us.

Now you may be saying to yourself (I’m just assuming this), “It is so hard to live the way God wants us to live in the world that we live in. It really is hard. I don’t want to make waves with those around me. Can I have God and the world. . . you know, “Have my cake and eat it too”?” Can I have both? Well. . . I did say that Jesus came to show us the way so let’s see how Jesus answered the when faced with temptation himself. The conversation is found in Luke 4:5-8. I will be reading the scripture from the Message Bible. . .

 (Read Scripture)

Satan tried to coerce Jesus into worshipping him. He promised to give Jesus the whole world (as if he really could do that) if He would only just worship him. Jesus knew the answer. . . the right answer. . . to that “gift” Satan was offering Him. “No thanks. . . I’m all set.” Jesus shows us that God wants us to worship and serve only Him. Not our homes, our jobs, our friends. . . even our pastors. . . only Him. The world in which we live offers us many “idols” to worship perhaps we need to reassess. . . re-examine. . .  re-evaluate what we choose to worship. . .
         
You see. . . worship is the human response to God’s goodness and mercy. It is something that we can be thankful for with each and every breath we take. It is our response to the overture. . . the music. . . the symphony. . . the dance. . . of love God has given us that that comes from the heart of God for you and for me.      We can use all the right words, all the right phrases, the right music but still miss the mark. Singing, praying and praising may lead us to worship but true worship comes from the heart. . . its our spirit ignited by the divine fire of God.

We have talked about “living our worship out loud,” as we live out our worship in our daily lives we do so not only because of who God is but also what God has done for us and well as what God has done in the lives of others. Have you ever heard someone’s story of their faith and just praised God for His goodness? Not because of what God has done in your life but for what was done for someone else. . . for humanity. This type of worship and it does a body. . . and soul. . . good! Not just our own body but the body of God.

Worship is also not contained in only one form. There are many forms of worship but they all produce the same product. . . being thankfully in awe as we worship our Creator God. There are many roads to one place but the destination is the same. When we exclude others from our worship because they worship differently there is a riff in the fabric of our worship. We somehow have missed the mark.

I have read some of Brother Lawrence’s writings and they are wonderful and make me stop and think of my own faith journey. He was a monk who practiced living in the presence of God and wrote about his experience in doing so. He wrote:”I cannot imagine how religious persons can live satisfied without the practice of the Presence of God.” He cannot imagine living a life that doesn’t live in the presence of God worshiping and thanking him with every action. . . with every breath.

We as Christians need to enter our worship time, on Sundays as well as living out worship every day of our lives, expecting to meet God. God is there, waiting for us to only expect him to show up. We as Christians have a choice. Maybe we need to live our lives not only expectantly waiting for the presence of God who by the way ALWAYS shows up, but also waiting expectantly, with excitement and awe. Maybe. . . just maybe. . . if we live our lives in the presence of God our lives and our worship would be transformed into something that not only honors God but honors each other. Perhaps we need to reassess our worship to see where the heart of it lies. Is the heart of our worship in the world or is it reaching for the heart of God? Is the heart our worship in the gifts of the world or is it in the ultimate gift that was given humanity through the life, death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ? Where is your heart? Where is it? Maybe there are things that need to be put back into perspective. . . into God’s perspective. Only you can change how you worship. You have to want to change it. Maybe. . . just maybe. . . as we refocus our worship, there will be a shift in the way others worship by our example. Maybe. . . just maybe. . . we, as humanity, can get back to the true heart of worship. . . back to what our Risen Lord, Jesus Christ modeled for us; but it is a choice. . . maybe. . . just maybe. . .

Amen!

August 27, 2013
Worship Theme: “Worship”
Luke 4:5-8 (The Message)
    (extract of Luke 4:1-13)
Matthew 22:34-37 (New Living Translation)
    (extract of 22:34-40)
John 4:19-24 (The Message)
    (extract of John 4:1-42)
children’s message
how to make good decisions
by Pastor Ruth Foss
sermon blog
meditation blog
Sermon 5 of Summer Series
“Cruising Sacred Waters with Jesus”
Stetson Memorial United Methodist Church
Patten, ME
August 25, 2013
&
Worship Theme: “Do We Make Room for God . . .?”
Ephesians 2:11-22 (CEB)
“The reconciliation of God’s people” (CEB)
“One in Christ” (NIV)
2 Samuel 7:1-7 (NLT)
Mark 6:30-44, 53-56 (CEB)
“Jesus feeds five thousand people” (CEB)
 “Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand” (NIV)
children’s message
by Pastor Ruth Foss
and sermon “Make Room for Yahweh”
by Pastor Ruth Foss
Sermon 5 of Summer Series
“Cruising Sacred Waters with Jesus”
Stetson Memorial United Methodist Church
Patten, ME
August 18, 2013
&
Prayer Vigil at the Park
after worship service
7/28/2013
&
Theme: “Do We Worship Only on Sunday?”
Worship song – “I Sing Praises”
Ephesians 1:3-14 (Gods Word Translation)
Ephesians 1:3-14 (The Message)
Acts 2:38-47 (New Revised Standard Version)
children’s message
sharing our joy
by Pastor Ruth Foss
and sermon “Live Your Worship Out Loud!”
“Shout It From the Mountaintops”
by Pastor Ruth Foss
Sermon 4 of Summer Series
“Cruising Sacred Waters with Jesus”
Stetson Memorial United Methodist Church
Patten, ME
July 28, 2013
&
Theme: “Can we see the big picture”
“Big Picture Followers”
1 Corinthians 13:9-12 (GOD’S WORD translation)
Mark 6:1-6 (The Message)
“Just a Carpenter”
Mark 6:1-6 (NRSV)
“Jesus Rejected in Nazareth”
children’s message
sometimes our vision is foggy
by Pastor Ruth Foss
and sermon “Seeing More Clearly. . . ”
by Pastor Ruth Foss
Sermon 3 of Summer Series
“Cruising Sacred Waters with Jesus”
Stetson Memorial United Methodist Church
Patten, ME
July 21, 2013
&
Luke 7:36-47 (The Message)
Mark 5:21-34 (GOD’S WORD Translation)
Matthew 13:44-46
children’s message
We are precious to God
by Pastor Ruth Foss
and sermon “How much does Jesus really matter?”
by Pastor Ruth Foss
Sermon 2 of Summer Series
“Cruising Sacred Waters with Jesus”
Stetson Memorial United Methodist Church
Patten, ME
July 14, 2013
&
Mark 4:35-41 (The Message)
Luke 4:16-21 (Common English Bible)
Matthew 14:22-33
children’s message
We are not alone
by Pastor Ruth Foss
and sermon “Who Is this Captain”
by Pastor Ruth Foss
Sermon 1 of Summer Series
“Cruising Sacred Waters with Jesus”
Stetson Memorial United Methodist Church
Patten, ME
July 7, 2013


All of my poems are copyrighted by Raymond A. Foss, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014. All rights reserved. Contact me at Ray Foss for usage. See all 34,810+ of my poems at www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com Poetry Where You Live.

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