12_08_96

Union Church of LaHarpe, Illinois, USA

12/08/96

"The Child Who Led the Worship"

Luke 2:8-20

We are spending time this Christmas season looking at the various responses people have to Christmas. It seems to me that the most common response of people today is busyness. We are busy buying presents, busy entertaining, busy attending special Christmas activities. There are also those who are busy battling the memories of the past and the loneliness that plagues them at this time of the year. This was not the most common response of the first participants in the Christmas event. Their common response was one of worship.

Mary glorified the Lord when He gave her the news of her pregnancy

Joseph walked forward in reverence and obedience

Anna and Simeon spoke words of praise in the temple.

Wise men traveled from afar to bow in worship

The Shepherds came in from the fields

How different that first Christmas was from our Christmas celebrations.

I believe it is rightly said,

"Most middle-class Americans tend to worship their work, to work at their play and to play at their worship. As a result, their meanings and values are distorted. Their relationships disintegrate faster than they can keep them in repair, and their lifestyles resemble a cast of characters in search of a plot." (Gordan Dahl) }}}

It is my intention this morning to move us toward a more appropriate list of priorities. I hope to encourage you to let the Christ Child lead you to worship.

Notice several things about the worship that took place that first Christmas

Worship Was a Priority

I suppose the Shepherds could have turned to each other after the angels departed and said, "You know, we need to go see that baby someday." But they didn't. Instead they said we must go NOW.

The Wise Men traveled for weeks, possibly months to worship the Son of God.

Simeon and Anna had waited in the temple for a good portion of their lives in the eager anticipation of this opportunity to worship and adore the Christ Child.

Worship is a natural and appropriate response to the goodness and greatness of God. To worship means to pay tribute to, to honor, to revere God. When one comprehends what He has done for us it is the only appropriate response. Do you realize we will spend the rest of eternity marveling at How great God is?

• Worship is appropriate because in worship we build our relationship with the Father.

Consider a marriage relationship. No matter how much you love your spouse, that love must be nurtured and fed. You must take time to express your love, passion, appreciation for the other. There must be occasional touches, hugs and other expressions of affection. This keeps a marriage vital and fresh.

If these things are not done (and they often are not), then the relationship can get stale. Two people remain married but they grow apart. The "spark" dwindles. The fire needs to be tended.

Guess why so many believers feel stale in their Christian life? Guess why many go through the motions as if it is a mere ritual to be endured? Because they have not tended the fire by regular worship.

• Worship is a way to gain strength for the difficult times of life. As we worship we are reminded of how big and strong God is and that gives us strength in the storms of life.
• Worship is a way to maintain perspective in the midst of life's pressing demands. Most of us live our lives according to the "priority of the urgent". We run from urgent demand to urgent demand. The problem is that we neglect that which is important. Regular worship helps us keep things in perspective.
• Worship helps us understand the mysteries of faith. In our worship we gain a sense of God's leading and purpose in our lives.

If we take time to see the baby at all this Christmas. Worship will not only be appropriate, it will be a necessity.

Friend, are you playing at worship today or are you worshiping?

The Focus of Worship is God not Us

When the Shepherds left the manger they did not draw attention to themselves. They did not stand on the street corner and proclaim, "Guess what group of people God sent His angels to?" Or "you'll never guess who was summoned to pay tribute to the Son of God!"

No, their concern was not to draw attention to themselves. They wanted to draw attention to God.

The story is told of the Pastor of a Washington Church who picked up the phone. The person on the other end of the phone asked, "Tell me, do you expect the President to be there Sunday?" "That I cannot promise," the Pastor said politely, "but we do expect God, and we fancy that it will be incentive enough for a reasonably large attendance."

I am deeply and increasingly troubled by what I call "consumer oriented" worship. What I mean by this is the fact that people look for a place of worship much like they look for a restaurant. They look for a place that serves what they want, at a price they can afford.

Today people are constantly talking about how this church or that church does not "meet my needs". That is troubling indeed. Worship is not about what we "get" it is about what we "extend" to God.

Today our focus is on getting more people. We are constantly looking for ways to "build our client base". So, we adapt, we change, we even alter the product to make it more appealing to the masses. However, in the process we destroy the product entirely.

O Lord, we do not need more people . . . . . we need more people to be committed!

We also focus on planning more stuff. We look for new programs, new gimmicks. We make long lists of measurable goals that coincide with our express purpose statements. We organize, plan, develop new stuff. But I wonder if God would rather we just stop for awhile and pray. We do not need more stuff, we need better stuff.

In fact, I am convinced that we need less activity and more quiet.

Mind you I struggle immensely with this whole issue. I want to honor God with my efforts but I admit to wanting to share the spotlight with God. I want people to love Him but I also want them to love me. I want people to grow in grace and truth but I also want to be the one who gets the credit for their growth.

I'm sorry if my candor offends you. But it is the truth. I struggle to remember that worship puts God at the center and not us. O Lord, help me to be one who will grow to that point when I will want nothing but Christ and Him glorified.

True Worship Makes a Practical Difference

The Shepherds were changed men. These quiet outcasts were suddenly stopping people on the street in order to tell them about Jesus.

In fact, if you study the people who had direct encounters with God one thing is true. None of them were ever the same following that encounter.

It is true today. A true encounter with God make us different people. Anyone who brags about their regular worship habits but has changed nothing in their behavior doesn't know anything about real worship at all.

Look at these verses:

• Micah 6:6-8 God is not concerned with the external elements of our worship. He is concerned with the change it makes in our life
• Romans 12:1-2 True worship is a giving ourselves to the Lord. It is a willingness to stand against the current of the world if that is what it takes to be honor Him.
• Philippians 4:18 One of the greatest acts of worship is to do what God says and lend a hand to those who need help.
• Hebrews 13:16 reminds us that God considers our loving service to others to be an act of worship to Him.

In each of these cases worship is linked to practical behavioral evidences. A genuine encounter with God change us.

Think about how different things are at Christmas. People are kind and generous. We notice each other. We take time with each other. If this is the difference that takes place just from being in the neighborhood of the manger, what would happen if we went in and met the King?

The true worshiper is the one who meets with God and then

sits with the hurting

makes time for the lonely

shares with the needy

encourages the weary

and much more. But we'll talk more of that next week.

Will you be different because of the hour you have spent here????

Conclusion

Do you ever wonder what happened to the Shepherds after that night? Did they just go back to work and live happily ever after? Were they still around 30 years later when Jesus began His public ministry? Did they remember Him? Did they go to hear Him preach? Were they moved by His words?

Unfortunately, we will never know the answers to those questions. But the key question today is not about the Shepherds. It's about you. What effect will Christmas have on you?

Will you simply walk away and commence following the world's preoccupations?

Will you go back to worshiping your work, working at your play and playing at your worship?

Or will you take a good look at the manger? Will you be profoundly altered by the birth of the King? Will you leave this place glorifying and praising God for the wonders of His love?

Rev. Bruce Goettsche

Union Church of LaHarpe, Illinois, USA*

PO Box 493
107 Center Street
LaHarpe, Illinois 61450
Phone: 217-659-7784