Gospel-Centered Worship

Introduction

Mr Bean and Worship:

"The Best Bits of Mr. Bean": Lifeless Worship

Mr. Bean is a British TV comedy full of dry humor. This particular episode pokes fun at the lifeless worship so many people experience in church.

The scene opens as Mr. Bean slips into a church service during a hymn. The tune is incomprehensible, and the stoic people mumble the words without an ounce of passion. Mr. Bean cannot even find the right page in the hymnal, and by the time his neighbor shares his hymnal, the song is over and everyone sits in unison.

Mr. Bean settles into his pew with a smile on his face, anticipating the sermon—but the rest of the congregation blankly stares straight ahead. Then the preaching begins in a nonsensical blah blah blah monotone that is hilarious—the preacher sounds like the teacher on the old Charlie Brown specials. But even funnier is the congregation—their eyes are locked in position, and the only sign that they are even conscious is the occasional eyebrow that they raise at Mr. Bean.

As the sermon proceeds on endlessly, Mr. Bean fidgets, dawdles, and distracts himself to the annoyance of those seated nearby, until he finally succumbs to the boredom. His eyes roll into his head, and he nearly collapses into slumber, only to jerk himself awake at the last moment. The sermon plods on, the people stare on, and Mr. Bean tries to fight off sleep again. But this time he fails completely. He slumps further and further downwards, eventually sprawling onto his neighbor's lap and finally onto the floor.

Gospel-Centered Worship. . .

John 4:1-8

English Standard Version Chapter 4

Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John 2(although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples), 3 he left Judea and departed again for Galilee. 4 And he had to pass through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour.

7 A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 8 (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)

1 Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than (although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples), 3 he left Judea and departed again for Galilee. 4 And he had to pass through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour. 7 A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 8 (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.)

7 A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 8 (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” 11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” 13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

Gospel-Centered Worship. . .

Gospel-Centered Worship. . .

is not separate from everyday life. (1-8)

We are made to worship so we are always worshipping\

Notice the issue of worship wasn’t happening in the synagogue but during the activities of everyday life

The expression of your worship has less to do with your religious actions and more to do with your daily activities.

There is no sacred / secular divide. There is no ‘place for Jesus’ and ‘place for everything else.’

There is no division in the world like that - the only place a division like this could exist is in your heart.

The only boundaries set on how / when we worship are boundaries we set - not God.

The OT Law included not only regulations for religious activities but for daily activities as well

Worship is more of a lifestyle than it is an event or song.

Romans 12:1

1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

R. Kent Hughes

“There is something profoundly hypocritical about praising God for God’s mighty deeds of salvation and cooperating at the same time with the demons of destruction, whether by neglecting to do good or bu actively doing evil. Only those who help the Jews may sing the Gregorian chant, Dietrich Bonhoeffer rightly said, in the context of Nazi Germany. . . Without action in the world, the adoration of God is empty and hypocritical, and degenerates into irresponsible and godless quietism.”

“Because worship is a way of life, you cannot worship corporately on the Lord’s Day if you haven’t been worshiping throughout the week — apart from repentance! Christians don’t have a Sunday “worship switch,” despite what is sometimes portrayed on television.”

Worship By The Book, by D. A. Carson, ed., p. 141

Worship is not manufactured during an hour on a Sunday, it is cultivated every hour during the week.

Does your daily life play out as worship?

Two takeaways:

Evaluate the sincerity of our worship by our daily activities

What were you doing at 8:30 last night?

What were you thinking about?

What was your attitude like? Your tone of v

oice?

Would it fit in a worship service?

Leverage our daily activities as an act of worship

Even your daily activities can point people to Jesus

MOST people don’t try to distract from a worship service, why are we not just as serious about not distracting from a life of worship?

9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” 11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” 13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”

Worship is not separate from everyday life.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

begins (and ends) with Jesus. (9-15)

Jesus is the focus of our worship-

‘if you really knew. . .’

If you could spend time with Jesus would you really get distracted by the items of the day?

If you had a focused time with Jesus, would you really worry about your everyday activities, or would you pause to make the most of your time in the presence of Jesus?

How often we get distracted even on a Sunday morning with the everyday, the externals, instead of focusing in on Jesus and his presence.

- we can worship in a way that does not focus on Jesus

Jesus is the one who makes us able to worship

There were many reasons why this event with Jesus should NOT have taken place:

She was a Samaritan and he was a Jew

A woman from Samaria came. . . The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)

This woman already had three strikes against her:

Woman

Samaritan

Adulterer

And yet, Jesus believes she is worthy of his time.

She was a woman and he was a man

She was a sinner and he was God

- this woman was a sinner, but Jesus met her in a way that makes true worship possible

We can’t miss Jesus in the worship.

D. A. Carson:

“Although there are things that can be done to enhance corporate worship, there is a profound sense in which excellent worship cannot be attained merely by pursuing excellent worship. In the same way that, according to Jesus, you cannot find yourself until you lose yourself, so also you cannot find excellent corporate worship until you stop trying to find excellent corporate worship and pursue God himself. Despite the protestations, one sometimes wonders if we are beginning to worship worship rather than worship God.”

Worship By The Book, p. 30-31

16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” 17 The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” 19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” 21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on 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 the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25 The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

is more about the heart than hallelujahs. (16-26)

Our worship is as much internal as external

Jesus brings up an issue in her life that is keeping her from truly worshiping and instead of allowing Jesus to point out the issue with her heart, she diverts to an issue with the church.

In Jesus’ day and before, worship was closely linked to a physical place. More than 700 years prior, Israel was divided. Assyrians conquered the northern kingdom of Israel, they left some of the Israelites behind and also populated the area with conquered peoples from other countries.

Jews saw Samaritans as impure half breeds. In addition, the Samaritans interpreted the law differently than the Jews. While both groups claimed to worship the one true God, the Samaritans believed they were to worship at Mt. Gerizim, a mountain in Shechem which is understood to be the first place Abraham built an altar once he entered the Promised Land.

Jews believed they were to worship in Jerusalem where David had authorized his son to build the Temple. And the worship wars raged for hundreds of years.

Satan chuckles when people become so distracted by the external mode and method of worship that they miss the internal impact that worship is supposed to have.

How many of us come to church really hoping Jesus will expose the deepest parts of us?

Like the woman at the well - it may not be ill-intentioned, but we can easily become

Gospel-centered worship

- I wonder if the woman asks the question honestly seeking the truth or if she asks the question either as a diversion or out of despair.

— Diversion because Jesus exposed her sinful life.

— Despair because she had never found anything that satisfied and was skeptical Jesus could.

Either way, she attempts to focus more on external debates about worship than her own internal deficiencies in worship.

Like the woman at the well - it may not be ill-intentioned, but we can easily become more focused on external aspects of worship than on the internal affects.

Gospel-centered worship

Don’t we tend to focus more on the external aspects of worship than the internal affect it should bear on our heart?

When we do this, we are implicitly stating that worship is about us and not God. It becomes Jason-centered instead of gospel-centered.

Sometimes we become more concerned with the mode of worship than the object of worship.

Our corporate worship is important.

Christians have joyful, stirring songs that celebrate the wonder of our relation with God. This is especially true during the Christmas season with songs such as the spine-tingling Handel’s Messiah. In contrast to this, in 2011 comedian Steve Martin performed a song on The Late Show with David Letterman that he called “the entire atheist hymnal” (on one page of paper). He called it: “Atheists Don’t Have No Songs.”

Christians have their hymns and pages, Hava Nagila’s for the Jews, Baptists have the rock of ages, Atheists just sing the blues.

Romantics play Claire de Lune, Born agains sing “He is risen,” But no one ever wrote a tune, For godless existentialism.

For Atheists there’s no good news. They’ll never sing a song of faith. In their songs they have one rule: The “he” is always lowercase.

Gospel-centered worship

The filter for our worship:

Theological

Accessible

Balanced

Are we more concerned about seeking God’s presence, or satisfying our own desires?

If we truly desire God’s presence, then would he not meet us no matter the circumstance?

If we were thrust into a foreign church, would we not look to see the heart of worship rather than the externals?

A. W. Tozer:

“Has it ever occurred to you that one hundred pianos all tuned to the same fork are automatically tuned to each other? They are of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but to another standard to which each one must individually bow. So one hundred worshipers met together, each one looking away to Christ, are in heart nearer to each other than they could possibly be were they to become “unity” conscious and turn their eyes away from God to strive for closer fellowship.”

The Pursuit of God, A. W. Tozer, p. 97

What happens when only three pianos play and the rest are silent?

When we as a faith family gather for corporate worship to what degree to truly expect to experience the presence of God?

Test: If it hasn’t happened are you content to leave?

To what degree are you experiencing worship rather than participating in worship?

Test: If you were to not attend, do you believe the corporate worship would be diminished?

Too often when Jesus exposes our hearts we divert to external issues, but gospel-centered worship is more about the heart than hallelujahs.

27 Just then his disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you seek?” or, “Why are you talking with her?” 28 So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” 30 They went out of the town and were coming to him.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

39 Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. 41 And many more believed because of his word. 42 They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.”

leads to evangelism which leads to worship. (27-42)

the woman went back into the town

‘Missions exists because worship does not’ and when worship becomes all, missions will end.

I love what the woman says, ‘Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. (Fearful) Can this be the Christ? (Grace)’

She was so affected by the presence of God that she couldn’t contain it. Gospel-centered worship is both attractive and effective.

We are called to be witnesses. The Samaritan woman gives us an example of a witness.

The best evangelistic message you can have is the story of how Jesus met you in your darkest place and has changed your life.

Conclusion

Christians have joyful, stirring songs that celebrate the wonder of our relation with God. This is especially true during the Christmas season with songs such as the spine-tingling Handel’s Messiah. In contrast to this, in 2011 comedian Steve Martin performed a song on The Late Show with David Letterman that he called “the entire atheist hymnal” (on one page of paper). He called it: “Atheists Don’t Have No Songs.”

A. W. Tozer:

Christians have their hymns and pages, Hava Nagila’s for the Jews, Baptists have the rock of ages, Atheists just sing the blues.

“Has it ever occurred to you that one hundred pianos all tuned to the same fork are automatically tuned to each other? They are of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but to another standard to which each one must individually bow. So one hundred worshipers met together, each one looking away to Christ, are in heart nearer to each other than they could possibly be were they to become “unity” conscious and turn their eyes away from God to strive for closer fellowship.”

Romantics play Claire de Lune, Born agains sing “He is risen,” But no one ever wrote a tune, For godless existentialism.

For Atheists there’s no good news. They’ll never sing a song of faith. In their songs they have one rule: The “he” is always lowercase.

The Pursuit of God, A. W. Tozer, p. 97

What happens when only three pianos play and the rest are silent?

What would happen if we were all fully devoted to gospel-centered worship?

Do you worship any other day than Sunday?

What would that look like in our church?

How badly do you want Jesus and how badly do you want to be religiously entertained?

Do you want the presence of Jesus now more than food?

What would be exposed in our lives if the presence of Jesus met us here right now? Would you want that?