Identity Crisis

In 2012, a survey was done within a prominent Baptist organization’s churches. In all, 15,000 local Baptist churches took part in this survey of all different types of people from all walks of life.

In this survey, one question was asked:

“What is worship?”

Should’ve been an easy question to answer, right?

When all the research and responses were collected and tallied, the results were astounding.

Of all the people in the 15,000 churches that took part in this survey, a record 87 percent of people could not give a proper definition of worship. 87 percent!

Of that 87 percent, over half (57 percent), adults ages 35-55, both male and female, gave answers like “singing slow songs to Jesus,” or “worship means to feel guilty about your sins during the slow songs,” or even “worship is the music we sing before the preaching.”

Young adults, ages 18-35, both male and female, in typical millennial fashion, were more likely to gave answers like, “worship is a lifestyle,” which is half a sentence - a lifestyle of what? And that still fails to answer the question.

Of the senior adults, over the age of 55, both male and female, their answers were a bit more biblical. Their answers included statements like, “worship means to bow,” which is a proper interpretation of a Greek or Hebrew word in the bible that is translated “worship,” but still falls very short of what God intended worship to be.

Worship is a fog. Even pastors and worship leaders don’t really understand it. And, sadly, most seem to be OK with that.

Here is why this is important:

As Worship Pastor Zach Neese said,

“My question is, if even the leaders don’t fully understand worship, how can they expect to teach people about it?

And if they do not teach people about worship, how can they expect people to participate in it?

And if people don’t engage in worship, how can we expect to invite God’s presence into our churches?

And if we do not invite God’s presence into our churches, how can we expect His power to operate in people’s lives?

And if His power is not operating in people’s lives, how can we expect to have anything other than a lifeless church?

And if a church is lifeless, how can it change the world?

Worship motivates all effective Christian action and lasting achievement.

Worship is the soil out of which all meaningful Christian endeavors grow.

Evangelism begins as worship. Teaching and preaching begin as worship.

Prayer and prophecy, healing and deliverance, discipleship and missions, charity and kindness,

patience and everything else—when done God’s way—all begin and end with worship.

Without worship we are simply religious people working dutifully at religious tasks.

Worship is the motivation that turns every task into a demonstration of our love for God.”

Main Text

Okay so, 1 Peter chapter 2, beginning in verse 4:

1 Peter 2:4–10 NASB95

4 And coming to Him as to a living stone which has been rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God, 5 you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For this is contained in Scripture: “Behold, I lay in Zion a choice stone, a precious corner stone, And he who believes in Him will not be disappointed.” 7 This precious value, then, is for you who believe; but for those who disbelieve, “The stone which the builders rejected, This became the very corner stone,” 8 and, “A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense”; for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this doom they were also appointed. 9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; 10 for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Okay so, we are talking about worship, and how to worship, what it means and why it’s important.

However, before we dive into all of that, we have to lay a foundation for why it matters to each of us personally.

The title of today’s message is:

“Identity Crisis.”

I. Our Identity As Worshippers

Okay, so point number 1 is, we need to know “Our Identity As Worshippers.”

Our identity is important because our identity determines our function.

If we have a pianist, they might consider themself a pianist because they’re playing the piano.

But if they’re not playing the piano anymore, suddenly their Identity is damaged, they don’t know what to do with themselves and they feel rejection on a deep level.

They will have an identity crisis.

When our identity is damaged, it takes away our sense of value and usefulness.

But scripture teaches us the opposite, that our IDENTITY determines our function.

Religion, by comparison, says that function and worth determine identity.

If you asked, most people would say, “I want to be used by God!”

Do you want to be used by your spouse?

Do you want to be used by your friends?

Do you want to be used by the church?

Would you like to be used by the government?

No way!

Using someone makes the into a tool rather than a person.

But, there is GOOD NEWS!

God doesn’t want to use us, he wants to know us.

He wants to be known by us.

God didn’t create us so that He could use us.

He created us so that He could know us.

Worship is the opposite of religion.

The heart of worship says, “Jesus proved I am of value to God. I serve Him because He is of value to me.”

Religion teaches us that our function determines our worth and our identity

(I am because I do).

Relationship teaches us that our identity determines our worth and our function

(I do because I am).

God determines our identity. The bible has a lot to say about our identity. We are:

children of God

chosen and dearly loved

But for our purposes here today, we are focused on the identity given to us in our main text today.

1 Peter 2:5 NASB95

5 you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

1 Peter 2:9 NASB95

9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;

vv.5, 9 call us “priests,” and for our purposes here today, this is what we are focusing on.

Everybody say it out loud with me...

I’ll say: “What are you?”

You say: “a priest.”

What are you?

(A PRIEST)

One more time, what are you?

(A PRIEST!!!)

The reformation gave us a lot of great things.

For instance, we have God’s breathed-out, living and active word in our hands because of the reformation.

It also gave us some bad things.

It created a dichotomy between the clergy and the lay person.

Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (Eleventh Edition) Dichotomy

di•chot•o•my \dī-ˈkä-tə-mē also də-\ noun

plural -mies [Greek dichotomia, from dichotomos] 1610

1: a division into two especially mutually exclusive or contradictory groups or entities 〈the dichotomy between theory and practice〉 also: the process or practice of making such a division 〈dichotomy of the population into two opposed classes〉

Concise Oxford English Dictionary Dichotomy

dichotomy /dʌɪˈkɒtəmi, dɪ-/

■ noun (plural dichotomies)

1 a division or contrast between two things that are opposed or entirely different.

I cannot count the number of people I have had come up to me and ask me to pray for them because they felt as if they weren’t “spiritual” enough to pray for themselves.

But if they were to define themselves the way that the bible defines them, they way that God defines them, they would understand that they can come boldly!

So we must learn to identify ourselves the way God identifies us, the way the bible identifies us.

The biggest abomination in the church today says that only the people on the platform are priests. That only the “clergy” can do the work of the ministry.

And that the “congregation” has nothing better to do than to “congregate” or “applaud” while the clergy “perform” their gifts.

The truth of the matter is that every single on of us is called by Jesus Christ:

Son’s and Daughters, and

Priests of the most high God

Who are you?

(PRIESTS)

This separation between the clergy and the laity should not exist. There must be a culture shift, and it starts with how we see ourselves.

The reformation gave us 500 years of a dysfunctional ministry.

It’s dysfunctional in that the clergy are the only ones who can marry, bury, counsel, moderate every business meeting, be on every committee, be in Sunday school every week, oversee every service, be in every men’s or women’s meeting, oversee every small group, take care of the budget, evangelize, run a soup kitchen, keep up with the denominational requirements like meetings and conferences and the like, yet, he has to keep office hours, and still be expected to bring fresh bread every weekend.

And we wonder why pastors are leaving the ministry in droves every year.

And yet still, church members are failing morally, they’re dry, malnourished, under-qualified, ill-equipped and starving for sound biblical doctrine and teaching,

The church members, the body of Christ, which makes up every person who is saved on this earth, are the hands and feet of Jesus Christ.

Yet his arms aren’t reaching, his hands aren’t healing, his words aren’t teaching, his feet aren’t going, and his love is not showing people that He is the way.

So, 500 years of a dysfunctional ministry says that the people on the platform are the ones responsible for “ministering” to every person in the world. That is impossible, by the way. We don’t have the strength to minister to every lost person.

But scripture tells us in Ephesians 4 that WE are the priesthood, and that it is the church members who have the privilege of doing the work of the ministry, and it is the job of the clergy to equip the church members to do it.

Ephesians 4:11–13 NASB95

11 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.

Okay, so who are we?

(PRIESTS)

What do we do with that information?

Well, that brings us to point number 2

II. Our Calling As Worshippers

Okay, now before we go into this, we need to establish something...

This is from the English Standard Version:

2 Timothy 3:16–17 ESV

16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

The word “inspired” in other translations no longer means what it once did.

The word translated “inspired” is the Greek word “theopneustos.” It literally means “breathed out by God.”

If you notice, this says, “All Scripture,” which in the Greek is “ola graphe.” Paul was the author of 1 & 2 Timothy, and was also a Jew. Also notice that in your translation, the first letter may be capitalized.

So, when Paul said “all Scripture,” (ola graphe), as a Jew speaking to other Jews, Paul is specifically speaking of the Old Testament, saying that the Old Testament “is breathed out by God,” and that The Old Testament “is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.

Also, the New Testament wasn’t completed yet.

Some people say that “because we are under grace now, I will therefore reject the Old Testament because the Old Testament is under the law.”

According to Paul, though, it is just as profitable for teaching as the New Testament.

That being said, grab your marker, or your “ribbon” or whatever it is that you use and let’s go to Deuteronomy chapter 10.

How To Worship a King: Prepare Your Heart. Prepare Your World. Prepare The Way. Chapter 2: So What Do I Do Now?

Priests are meant to worship God and to help other people worship God. Here’s how they did it in Bible times.

Deuteronomy 10:8–9 NASB95

8 At that time the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant of the Lord, to stand before the Lord to serve Him and to bless in His name until this day. 9 Therefore, Levi does not have a portion or inheritance with his brothers; the Lord is his inheritance, just as the Lord your God spoke to him.)

A. We Build Tabernacle

Only priests were allowed to build tabernacle.

It is the responsibility of the priests to set up, tear down, transport, guard, and attend to the ministry of the tabernacle.

By the way, the word “tabernacle” simply means “tent.”

In Scripture it is referred to as the “tent of meeting” and the “tent of congregation.”

This is the place that God set apart and consecrated as a meeting place between Himself and His people, which we are going to take a look at in just a moment.

Illustration

I heard a worship leader who was telling this story once about his son. He says:

“I was taking a nap one Sunday afternoon, and all of a sudden, I hear this “BANG!!!” I sit straight up in bed, startled awake, and I look over at the door which is where the sound came from, and my 3-year-old son is standing there...

...in his “underoos,” and a “cape.”

For those of you who don’t know what “underoos” are, “underoos” is a brand of children’s underwear with comic book super heroes, like Superman for boys, or Wonder Woman for the girls, and they’re made to look like the super hero’s costume, so that the child can play make-believe that they are the super hero themselves.

But he says “I’m lying in bed and I hear this “BANG!!!” I sit straight up in bed, startled awake, and I look over at the door which is where the sound came from, and my 3-year-old son is standing there...

...in his “underoos,” and a “cape.”

He had kicked open my door! He then looks at me, and says, “I’m going to kiss your bones off!” To which I say, “bring it on!”

We then begin a wrestling match, playing around like a father and his children will do, because he’s my kid, right?

He can do that kind of stuff because he’s my son.”

Now, me - Don Shotwell, I have a neighbor who lives across the street from me. His name is Mark Thetford. Some of you may know Mark.

Imagine, if you will, Mark comes over to my house. I am sound asleep. He kicks open my bedroom door, and he’s standing there looking at me:

...in his underwear. ...and a cape.

And he says to me, “Don, I’m going to kiss your bones off!”

COMPLETELY DIFFERENT RESPONSE, RIGHT?

As the worship leader said, “my son can do that because he’s my son.”

Only children of God can come into the presence of God.

But only a priest can lead OTHERS into the presence of God.

So, it’s important that we identify ourselves as children of God, but...

It’s even more important that we understand that we are priests

Building tabernacle means to create meeting places between God and people.

I could be at the Walmart checkout line, and the lady’s moving a bit too slow, and I can blast that woman out of the water for taking up my precious time.

Or a priest can host a meeting between that woman and her maker. It also works with the guy on the corner, your boss at work, your grandchildren or your spouse.

Over the next several weeks, we are going to be looking at the Mosaic tabernacle in-depth.

You might say, “why the Mosaic tabernacle?”

Hebrews 8:5 NLT

5 They serve in a system of worship that is only a copy, a shadow of the real one in heaven. For when Moses was getting ready to build the Tabernacle, God gave him this warning: “Be sure that you make everything according to the pattern I have shown you here on the mountain.”

The Mosaic tabernacle is a copy and shadow of what actually goes on in heaven.

But only the priests were allowed to set it up.

We are priests. Therefore, we not only have the right to do what priests do...

we have the responsibility to do what priests do.

So, what is that?

Here in Deuteronomy 10, we see a priests job description.

There were many things they were supposed to do, but these were the most important, these three things:

They...

carry the ark of the covenant of the Lord

stand before the Lord to serve Him

bless in his name

Okay, so let’s look at these:

Deuteronomy 10:8 NASB95

8 At that time the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant of the Lord, to stand before the Lord to serve Him and to bless in His name until this day.

v.8 “…The Lord set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant of the Lord, ...“

a. carry the ark of the covenant of the Lord

The ark of the covenant represented God’s throne here on earth and God’s presence among his people.

We will talk about the ark of the covenant in-depth in a later message, but for right now, this is what we need to know:

God’s throne on earth and his presence here among his people was only to be carried by the priests.

Psalm 22:3 NASB95

3 Yet You are holy, O You who are enthroned upon the praises of Israel.

B. We carry the presence of God

Here’s a problem. If a person in the congregation doesn’t see themselves as a priest and only sees the people on the platform as priests, then in order for the presence of God to come into their lives, they are going to have to come to someone they consider to be a priest in order for that to happen.

That’s why there are people in the church who always have to come to somebody else to pray for them.

Someone else has to be leading them in worship, because they can’t lead themselves.

Someone else always has to divide the word for them because they can’t do it for themselves.

Because the entire responsibility of carrying the presence of God Has been elevated to the clergy in their minds, because they only see the clergy as the priesthood, and they don't realize that they are it

1. It works like diplomatic immunity.

2 Corinthians 5:20 NASB95

20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

v.20 “Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ...”

Have you ever heard of diplomatic immunity? This is how diplomatic immunity works. Let’s say that I'm an ambassador or I'm a diplomat working in Japan, and my diplomatic responsibility and authority works like this:

because I'm a diplomat or I'm an ambassador, I carry the authority of the country that I came from.

At the same time, every place that I step foot as a diplomat or an ambassador, that place, even though it is Japanese soil, becomes the United States of America – Even in the grocery store in Japan.

Diplomatic immunity ALSO means that wherever I'm standing the laws of my sovereign nation apply in that place where I'm standing.

Even in the grocery store, or driving down the road, everywhere I step foot in Japan, even though it’s still Japanese soil, the laws of the United States of America apply in that place.

Hear me: as a priest who is carrying the presence of God, I am an ambassador and a diplomat from the Kingdom of God to the Kingdom of this world.

As a priest who is carrying the presence of God, YOU are an ambassador and a diplomat from the Kingdom of God to the Kingdom of this world.

That means everywhere we set our feet becomes the Kingdom of God

When we walk into the room, the Kingdom of God comes into that room.

When I come on the platform, I can guarantee you the Spirit of God comes on the platform because I carry him out with me!

That means when I lay my hands on someone who's sick, or hurting, or broken hearted, or has a lack of understanding;

When I lay my hands on that person, the laws of this fallen world no longer hold sway and reign because the Kingdom of God has just touched that person.

The power is not in the hands, nor is it in the person who lays the hands on.

The power is in the person of the Holy Spirit – the same power that raised Christ from the dead – that lives in us.

Romans 8:11 NLT

11 The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.

3. We Minister to God

Deuteronomy 10:8 NASB95

8 At that time the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant of the Lord, to stand before the Lord to serve Him and to bless in His name until this day.

v8 “...to stand before the Lord to serve Him...”

The NKJV says “...to stand before the Lord to minister to Him...”

Deuteronomy 10:8 NKJV

8 At that time the Lord separated the tribe of Levi to bear the ark of the covenant of the Lord, to stand before the Lord to minister to Him and to bless in His name, to this day.

To “minister” to the Lord means to serve him.

The word “minister” is the Hebrew word šrt (Share - eet) and it means to serve the Lord by worshipping him.

To minister to God means to serve:

His desires,

His pleasure,

His glory,

His will, and

His entertainment

We are to stand before the Lord to serve HIM

This is important, because if we get this backwards, we end up thinking that our primary responsibility is to minister to man.

Hear me: Our primary responsibility is NOT to minister to mankind.

That means our primary concern MUST be the WILL of the Lord himself; the PLEASURE of the Lord himself.

We say, “God, what do you want to have accomplished here?”

“How can we please your heart?”

When we get this backwards, what happens is, we submit the ministry we are trying to bring to the culture and the preferences of man. And the culture and the preferences of man are a fallen culture and fallen preferences.

We will always have ministry that falls short as long as the target of our ministry are people’s tastes when they are fallen people. We want to focus our ministry upon the Lord and His tastes.

Did you know there is not a single word for worship in the bible that has anything to do with ministering to people? Not a one.

When we live our lives to minister to God, we no longer have the fear of man. The fear of man has plagued MANY churches, and it’s unfortunate because worship is for God and God alone.

Guess what happens when we minister to God?

God shows up. God can handle the needs of man.

A dysfunctional ministry says that the clergy on the platform is responsible for ministering to mankind. That is impossible. It cannot be done. The clergy cannot bear that kind of weight.

Pastors are leavIng the ministry in DROVES because of burnout and unhealthy situations in the churches they shepherd.

But when God shows up, HE can meet the needs of all of those people.

4. We Bless In His Name

Deuteronomy 10:8 NASB95

8 At that time the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant of the Lord, to stand before the Lord to serve Him and to bless in His name until this day.

v8 “...to bless in His name...”

This is not the typical “blessing.”

This is the Hebrew word “brk” and it means, among other things, to: bless, to praise, or to adore someone.

But it also means, according to some scholars, to consecrate.

To consecrate something means:

to set it apart; to make or to declare holy.

When we think of blessing someone, we think of giving them pleasure, making them happy, doing something for them, giving them a gift they really like, etc...

I’ve had people come up to me and ask me, “would you sing (this song), it would really bless me if you would sing this song. What they’re really meaning is, “it would really nurture my soul and appease my desires if you sang (this song).”

What they don’t understand is that I am not too terribly concerned about what they think about the song IN CONTRAST TO what God thins about the song.

I want to give you a different perspective of what it means to bless.

If you think about blessing someone, try it this way:

When we bless someone, we could do it the way God instructed Aaron to do it:

Numbers 6:24–27 NASB95

24 The Lord bless you, and keep you; 25 The Lord make His face shine on you, And be gracious to you; 26 The Lord lift up His countenance on you, And give you peace.’ 27 “So they shall invoke My name on the sons of Israel, and I then will bless them.”

This is not just praying over people what they want to hear, but it’s praying over people what they need for the future.

So, I’d like to give you a different definition of what it means to bless people - When I bless people, I catalyze their destiny.

It would be easy for me to think that in order to bless a congregation full of people, I need to minister to what their tastes are.

But, is that going to set them up to be who God has called them to be?

If that's not going to set them up to be who God has called them to be then that's not blessing those people.

But if I am able to see through the eyes of God and see who God has intended for those people to be and in my blessing pull that out of those people...

If I'm able to help them walk into their destiny with the Lord

THAT is blessing those people.

III. Our Purpose As Worshippers

Why did he instruct moses to build a tabernacle?

God’s plan and purpose hasn’t changed just because we call the first half of the bible the “Old Testament” and the second half the “New Testament.”

From the very beginning, God had a redemptive plan.

The purpose for the tabernacle is very simple:

God wanted to be near his people.

BUT… he needed to teach them how to ACCESS HIM.

Exodus 25:8 NASB95

8 “Let them construct a sanctuary for Me, that I may dwell among them.

Exodus 29:44–46 NASB95

44 “I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar; I will also consecrate Aaron and his sons to minister as priests to Me. 45 “I will dwell among the sons of Israel and will be their God. 46 “They shall know that I am the Lord their God who brought them out of the land of Egypt, that I might dwell among them; I am the Lord their God.

God says, “You consecrate a place where we can meet, and you consecrate a priesthood to serve me, and I’ll come dwell among you.”

Here me, beloved:

You consecrate a place, whether it’s your bedroom, your living room or Walmart. You consecrate yourself and the people you have influence over as a priesthood, and you have a God who says “I WILL dwell among you, and they will KNOW that THE living God is in the camp.”

No other religion has a living God.

When Israel’s enemies tried to attack Israel, they did so with fear and trembling because God’s glory shone brightly in their midst.

We need the glory of God shining in our midst today, amen?

You know why the earth is not afraid of the church as a whole? The earth is not afraid of the church because the glory of God is not dwelling in the center of our camp.

Could you imagine...

If we had the fire of God shooting out of this ceiling right now, I guarantee you that everybody within visual distance would show up to this place trying to figure out what’s going on.

Would that be okay with you guys, if every person within visual distance came to Friendship Church?

CONCLUSION

So who are we?

(PRIESTS)

Our job description is to:

build tabernacle

carry the presence of God everywhere we go

Minister to God

Bless people

And what’s the purpose?:

God want’s to dwell among his people.

He want’s to dwell among YOU!

He wants to be NEAR you.

Let’s stand together...

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