Christlike Church Membership - wk 2 - Committed to Worship

Committed to Worship

So much truth to that video.

We get more excited, more committed to sports, and other things in life than we do to God and what He is doing in and around us.

Listen to the commitment of this person in this story.

Johnny made the decision to attend.

He would not miss it.

The weather was terrible that day - steady rain, temperatures in the forties, and Johnny still got out in the weather.

Because of the bad weather Johnny did not quite make it on time.

It was difficult to get to his seat as well.

But he persevered.

His seat was not comfortable, but he neither left nor complained.

His presence vividly demonstrated his love and commitment.

He was joyous the entire time.

He enjoyed the presence of others.

His attitude, his attendance, and his enthusiasm all reflected his deep and abiding commitment.

Johnny was at a college football game on Saturday afternoon.

Now the next morning, Sunday morning, Johnny did not attend church worship service.

He was tired from the ball game.

And there was a 40 percent chance of rain.

This is just a story of a fictional character, but it holds so much truth in it.

So many times we will brave the elements to do things that are entertaining like sports, fishing, hunting or just stay in bed.

But when it comes to church, we can make an excuse to not go.

We should be more committed to God than we are any thing else in life.

As we look at Christlike church membership, we are going to look at the first church in the book of Acts this morning.

Jesus has risen, ascended, instructed the disciples to go to Jerusalem and wait for the coming promise.

The disciples go to the upper room where they hold a prayer meeting for 10 days while they wait for the coming of the Holy Spirit.

Then the Day of Pentecost comes, the Holy Spirit empowers the disciples, and they go out into the streets.

Peter preaches a message, as the rest interpret the message into all the known languages of the world, as people were in Jerusalem from all over the world.

When Peter finishes his message, the people are convicted and ask what do we do with all of this.

Peter responds in Acts 2:38

Acts 2:38 NASB95

38 Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Repent, be baptized, and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

We are then told in verse 41 that 3,000 people got saved and baptized that day.

Are text this morning is found in Acts 2:46-47

Acts 2:46–47 NASB95

46 Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.

Pray

In this text we see three things about worship.

I. True Worship

True worship flows from the heart in recognition and response to the magnificence of Christ, and because of an understanding of the grace found solely in the gospel.

While true worship always manifests itself in the individual’s response to the majesty of God, true biblical worship manifests itself in experience with other believers as well.

We call that corporate worship.

Listen to how the Christian Standard Bible translates our text.

Acts 2:46–47 CSB

46 Every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple, and broke bread from house to house. They ate their food with joyful and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. Every day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

1. They were Devoted

It says there in the CSB, Every day they devoted themselves.

The early Christians, the disciples were devoted, or committed to worshipping together.

Let’s look at this word worship for a minute.

Many times when the word worship is mentioned, many people immediately think of the time of singing before the preaching.

The form or presentation of worship has changed over the thousands of years this world has been around.

But the essence or the heart of worship has not, the essence of worship is listening to God’s Word, prayer, and sacrifice.

Listening to God’s Word, is not just at church when the pastor is preaching, or during Bible study at church, but even our own time spent reading and studying the Word of God.

Pray should be something that we are doing throughout the day, not just saying grace for our meal.

Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 5:17

1 Thessalonians 5:17 NASB95

17 pray without ceasing;

He tells us to pray without ceasing, this does not mean we are praying 24/7, but like a person with a chronic cough, they cough often throughout the day, we are to be praying often throughout the day.

The early Christians were committed to God’s Word, to prayer, and meeting together, which could be seen as a way of sacrifice.

They were committed to sacrifice, in that they were willing to do whatever God led them to do, even selling their own belongings so that others would be taken care of.

This devotion or commitment was a motive of a passion, heart, and desire.

That is they were passionate about worshipping God.

They did not meet together with the other believers to just check off some legalistic guideline.

The people were joyful in their worship to God.

They were joyful, because their focus was on God.

They did not go for a worship experience, they went so that they could experience God in worship.

They had humble attitudes.

That means they put others before themselves.

They were not there to complain that the music was not their preference, that the sermon went too long, or that someone had their seat.

They were there in humility before God and others.

God used the people’s passion, and joyfulness as a witness and attitude of the believer for an incredible result.

Listen to how verse 47 ends.

Acts 2:47 NASB95

47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.

Because of the peoples passion, devotion, and joyfulness, the Lord was adding to the church membership day by day.

We should not go to church to get our self-centered needs met.

Instead we go to worship the one true God as we serve alongside other believers.

II. Joyful Worship

Going back to how people are committed to other things besides church.

I am reminded of the times I have seen pictures, or video of guys at football games with it snowing pretty good, and they do not have shirts on.

They are joyfully cheering for their favorite team.

They are not worried about the temperature, or getting sick, they are going to root for their team.

Now let the a/c go out, and people are not going to be at church that Sunday.

If the a/c is not cold enough or is to cold they will complain.

We can suffer and sacrifice for our favorite team, or to go hunting or fishing, but not if it is church.

For many Christians, all other activities have become mandatory all while the church service has become an optional afterthought.

In John chapter 4, Jesus met a Samaritan woman at the well.

Jesus knew her story, and she was amazed.

John 4:19–24 NASB95

19 The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. 20 “Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.” 21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22 “You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 “But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. 24 “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

Jesus spent some time with this woman, as the disciples went into town to get food for them.

He tells the woman that He is the living water, and then tells her to get her husband.

The woman responds, I do not have a husband, Jesus says, you are right, you have had 5 husbands, but the man you are living with now is not your husband.

Then verse 19, the woman tells Jesus she thinks He is a prophet.

Then she tells Jesus how her people have worshipped in the mountain there.

Jesus responds that an hour or time is coming when they will not worship God the Father in the mountain or in Jerusalem.

The time He is speaking of is His death on the cross, which would inaugurate a new phase of worship God.

After Jesus death and resurrection and the coming of the Holy Spirit, worship is no longer centered in temples like in Jerusalem.

Before Jesus, the Ark of the Covenant was considered God’s presence, and the people had to go to the temple to worship.

Now the Holy Spirit is God’s presence in the life of every believer, and we can worship God wherever we are at.

In verse 23 Jesus states that true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth.

This true worshipper are those who realize that Jesus is the Truth of God, and the one and only Way to the Father.

John 14:6 NASB95

6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.

To worship in truth is to worship God through Jesus.

To worship in Spirit is to worship in the new realm which God has revealed to His people.

Every person is a worshipper, but because of sin many are blind and constantly putting their trust in worthless objects.

That is every person worships something, if it is not God, it may be money, it may be their family, or their favorite sports team.

As believers, followers of Jesus Christ, we must worship and put Jesus before anything else at all times.

Worship is not to be one option among many.

It should be a consistent and persistent practice of all believers.

III. Corporate Worship

Hebrews 10:23–25 NASB95

23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; 24 and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, 25 not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.

Here we see that we are to hold fast to the confession of our hope.

That is we are to hold fast, be rooted in our faith and belief in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of our life.

Listen to the last two verses from the CSB

Hebrews 10:24–25 CSB

24 And let us consider one another in order to provoke love and good works, 25 not neglecting to gather together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day approaching.

Let us encourage each other in the faith, and commitment to Jesus.

We do this through love and good works.

There was and still is an urgent need for mutual concern and exhortation within the church.

The writer tells us not to abandon meeting together, as some were and are doing.

Our efforts to encourage and help each other grow spiritually should be increasing as we see the Day of the Lord, that is Jesus coming for His people getting closer.

We are to commit and come together for corporate worship.

One of the many variations of the definition of corporate is: “pertaining to a united group assembled for a greater good.”

When we worship, we are focusing on God alongside other believers.

There is something powerful, even miraculous, about believers united together to worship God.

We might ask how are we to be committed to worship, especially corporate worship?

We can do that by committing to praying for the church, the church service, pray that we will have an attitude of worship.

Ask God to speak to you through the service.

Pray for the others that will be in the service.

Pray for unbelievers to clearly hear the gospel, and that God’s Spirit will convict them of sin and the need for a Savior.

Pray that all distractions would be removed.

It is time for a corporate worship revolution.

It is time to make that moment of gathering believers a priority in our lives.

It is time to stop making worship attendance an optional activity.

It is time to ask God to get our hearts right so we will desire to worship Him in a corporate setting, not because we have some legalistic obligations to do so.

I pray that you will commit to this not just today, but every day.

That we as a body of believers will have a passion to worship God, and to see God work.