Sermon Tone Analysis
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So I did a quick google search and discovered that there are now more than 2500 personality test available for you to take.
We are a people who are fascinated with what makes us tick.
Some personalities value truth and logic above all else, whiles others long for joy and happiness
Some are governed by moral right and wrongs, while others are governed by relational harmony.
Some are concrete thinkers - and some are abstract thinkings
Some are assertive while others are more accommodating
Our personalities are indeed fascinating and each personality reflects the manifold witness of God’s divine image.
It would not be hard to distinguish and group together all the different personality types where we have.
all the logical thinkers over here
all the feeling feelers over there
and so on
However, if we were to drill down through the differences between us… what would bond us together?
What is one thing that we all have in common that make us tick?
At the end of day one thing we all have in common is that we are all worshippers.
No matter who you are, at your core you are designed to worship - There is no one on earth who is not a worshipper…
The question then we must all ask ourselves and ask each other is, “who or what do we worship”?
Worship is always controversial.
The evangelical church has been engaged in worship wars from the beginning…
Everyone has an opinion on worship, because we are all worshippers at our core.
And typically when people disagree about worship they are actually disagree about the form or style of worship - mainly, music.
Drums or no drums
hymns or modern praise
What about singing the psalms?
even chanting the Psalms.
However, we need to understand that...
Worship is far more than just the songs we sing on a Sunday morning
Its more than a feeling, its more than words, its deeper and far more profound than we often think.
At Exodus, there is a lot of intentionality that goes into our worship time each week.
We strive to be faithful worshippers.
so, for us to be faithful worshippers of God, we must ask the question...
What is Worship?
Now, answering this question is far more challenging than it seems.
There are a few anchor we can hold to:
Our worship will be God centered
It will be under the authority of God’s word
It will be in Spirit and Truth.
But Its interesting, the bible never defines worship for us.
But rather it describes worship.
We see worship as song, we see worship as work, we see worship as warfare.
We could have a whole series on worshipping God through
Singleness or marriage
Retirement and parenting
How we worship God at work, and how we worship God through rest.
And this is why the bible does not define worship, for any single definition will fail to see the scope of this thing called worship.
So this morning I want narrow it down and help you understand why we worship the way we do here at Exodus Church.
Why do we move through the service the way we do?
For many of you the liturgical movements of our service are strange and unsettling.
I understand that
For some, it provides a sense of comfort and assurance.
This morning, I want to walk through our Liturgy, explain its movements, and why we choose to worship together in this way.
And to do this it is first important to understand worship...
Not as an experience…
Not as an expression...
But as formation.
Worship as Formation
Worship is formative.
Always.
God has actually created us to be formed by that which we worship.
And this is true no matter who or what you worship.
As a worshiper you are always being formed into the image of that which you worship.
For good, or for bad.
Speaking of idols the psalmist says in Ps. 135:18...
All those who make, those who worship them, become like them.
Example: Golden Calf
The Golden Calf
Do you all remember the story in Exodus 32 when the people of Israel made the golden calf for themselves to worship?
Moses was delayed coming down from mount Sinai, for he was up on the mountain receiving the word of God for the people.
The people grew tired of waiting for Moses so they told Aaron to make them gods who would go before them and lead them.
So Aaron took their gold and formed for them a golden calf,
the people worshipped the golden calf and even proclaimed that it was this golden calf that brought them up out of the land of Egypt.
they feasted with and sacrificed to it.
they danced and played before it as a celebration of their deliverance.
While Moses is on the mountain, God tells him what the people are doing.
Do you remember what God called the people?
He calls them a stiff-necked people.
Its a strange name indeed… He could have called them rebellious, depraved, forgetful, impatient idolators
But he calls them a stiff necked people.
Why?
God is telling Moses the people have become like what they worship.
In the same way that the golden calf had a stick neck, as it was made of gold, so the people have become like what they worship.
When Moses came down the mountain he burned with the anger of the Lord and took the golden calf and melted it down, ground it to dust and threw it on the water and made the people of Israel drink it.
This was a symbolic act to say, “you want to worship a golden calf, then drink the gold that you might become like what you worship.”
You see, worship is formative, no matter what.
You are always formed into the image of that which you worship.
In the positive sense, Paul explains the formative power of worship in 2 Cor 3
Beholding (contemplating, reflecting) the glory of the Lord = Worship
We are being changed into his likeness = This requires the blade of scripture and the fire of the Spirit.
To be changed into his likeness is a death and resurrection, it is to walk the path of the sacrifice.
It is to let the Spirit due his work on us.
WHich is what Paul says next.
For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit = God’s active work in worship.
This is Key, Worship is formative, because it is God who is actively at work on us in our worship.
How does this happen?
How is it that God works on us in worship?
God is the one who rolls up his sleeves to work on us, and he does so as our great high priest.
And we are to present ourselves to him as living sacrifices.
God stands ready as our high priest, knife in hand, ready to do what priests do with their sacrifices.
He is the high priest wielding the sword of the Spirit where he divides us into pieces with the sharp blade of God’s word...
cutting away the unclean aspects of our lives like,
Pride, jealously, bitterness, anger, envy, lust, fear, and doubt…
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