Worship Fully

Intro

It is that time of year again! We have brought back the Advent Conspiracy! But some of you may be wondering where the water bottles are? Aren’t Advent Conspiracy and water bottle synonomous? We will talk about that a little later.

First, I want to share with you a piece of knowledge that I just recently learned. Now those of you that are experienced carpenters and long time handy men, do not judge me for the piece of wisdom I am about share with you.

How many people, when using a tape measure, do the whole bend the tape approach to measuring out a wall? OK, I’m not alone in this. How many knew that on the side of the tape measure, it actually tells you long the tape measure is? Why does it do that? Because then, you can but the tape measure against the wall you are measuring to, look at the last number on the tape measure, and add the length to it.

Now I realize that some of you have had your trusty tape measure long enough you couldn’t read the side of it anymore even if you tried, but apparently this is not a new thing. I shared my new found knowledge with a fellow church member and he looked at me like, “Duh!”

Which brings me to my first question:

Have you ever done something one way, only to discover you were doing it wrong?

Another one is perogies. I have only known to do perogies one way until friends of ours threw perogies on the BBQ. Changed my life. I love perogies now. Not that I didn’t like them before, but they almost shouldn’t be called perogies, they are completely different food.

The Right Response to Christmas

I want you to keep this idea of doing things differently in your mind, because that is what the Advent Conspiracy is all about; doing Christmas differently then what is the cultural norm

But the whole Advent Conspiracy, and I would argue all of life, hinges on us fully grasping this first point. And by way of introduction, we are going to look at Luke 2. When it comes to the telling of the Christmas story, many of the traditional understanding of the first Christmas comes from Luke, with a little Matthew sprinkled in to round out the story. I would encourage you to read chapter 1 and 2 this week to fully grasp capture what is going and what we are talking about. But we are going to jump in at v.8

Luke 2:8–20 ESV

And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

The Only Appropriate Response to the Arrival of the Messiah

we have all heard this part of story, in one rendition of it or another. The choir of heaven appears to the shepherds first after the birth of Jesus. The shepherds rush to see this thing that the angels have declared to them.

Now you have to stop and consider a very important thing; this wasn’t supposed to happen to shepherds

All throughout history, whether it was the Egyptians or the Romans, shepherds were looked down upon. To be a shepherd was to be the lowest level of society. They were usually dirty, smelled bad, often slept with their flock to keep them safe. Due to their occupation, they were often separated from the rest of society and thus become disconnected. Though those who took on being a shepherd often took pride in their line of work, no one else thought highly of them.

These were the last people angels should be appearing to. But it actually adds credibility to the story. This is such an unlikely scenario that the author of the gospels would not make this up. The same thing is true about the resurrection of Jesus. Who did Jesus appear to first? The women. Women didn’t have a voice, they had no social standing, so the fact that Jesus appeared to them first adds a level of credibility to the story because that is detail that no one would make up.

But it isn’t the social standing of the shepherds that is important. It is their response to the angels that we must take note of. The shepherds left their post to see if what they heard was true. Upon finding out it was true, they returned, glorifying and praising God.

This isn’t actually the first time this response is recorded. Mary did the same thing. Gabriel told her she was to be the mother of the Savior, and then has it confirmed by her cousin Elizabeth, and breaks out in a song of praise to God.

After Jesus is born, he is taken to the temple, and a prophet, upon seeing Jesus, is overwhelmed that he gets to see his Savior and praises God for the privilege.

All throughout the Christmas story, we read as people encounter the miraculous arrival of their Lord and Savior, and the only appropriate response is to worship and praise him.

What does worship look like to you?

now contrary to most questions I ask throughtout the service, I actually want to you to ponder that one for a bit. I have a few things I am going to throw into the pot of your mind to consider a bit.

One of the problems is that we have reduced worship to what we do Sunday morning. In fact, some churches even use the term, “Worship Experience.” We even have a bad habit of calling the team that leads us in singing the worship team. The danger of misusing the word worship in these ways is that it sends the wrong message of what worship is.

Worship is More than just Songs

if we go back to the last verse of the Luke passage, notice that Luke does not use the word worship. What does he say? He says glorifying and praising God. Now these are part of worship, but they are not the full encompassing of worship. We would actually be more accurate in calling the musicians the praise team, because that is what singing songs to God is, its praise, even when the song stirs us to tears. But if our idea of worship is limited to what happens between 10 and 11 on Sunday morning, we miss out on what worship is.

Paul says this

1 Corinthians 10:31 ESV

So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

Worship is Full Life Experience

we often don’t think of eating and drink as an act of worship before God, and there is a little context that goes into this verse, but the point is still there. Worship is not just what we do here; worship is an entire life act, even down to eating and drinking.

Your job is meant to be an act of worship before God. What does that mean? Well you can be thankful you have a job. You can do your job to the best of your ability to glorify God, not yourself. If you’re in charge, you can run your business in a God honoring way. Glory, honour, praise, thanksgiving, prayer; these are all expressions of worship because they all exalt God in our lives. That is what worship is; it is keeping God on the throne of our lives. Not because God needs our worship, but because we need to worship him. Worship humbles us, keeps God in the center of our lives, and keeps us in a proper state of mind. God doesn’t need our worship, but we need to worship him.

Here is why this is so important. We need to put Christ back into Christmas. Advent is a time of preparing our hearts for the ultimate gift of all. We celebrate the fact that Jesus stripped off his divinity, came to earth in the form of a baby, helpless, humble, completely dependent on his mother to protect and provide for him. He did it all so that he could die for us, and take away the sins of the world so that we could have a relationship with our heavenly father, uninhibited by sin

The very idea of Christmas should inspire worship within us. Every Christmas tree, every wreath, every light should cause joy and praise to well up within us because they remind us that Christmas is coming. We should hardly be able to contain ourselves with all the Christmas that is around us, with even more to come.

Focus on what you are spending your time and energy on this Advent. Is it drawing you closer to God or distracting you from Him?

unfortunately, Christmas does not inspire worship in many people. It inspires stress, and lots of of it. Much like misusing the tape measure, that should have been the first indicator that we are doing Christmas wrong. I said earlier that if we don’t get this, the rest of the Advent Conspiracy won’t connect, and here’s why. When you spend less, not because we told you to but because you want to worship God better, it means something. When we actively find ways to spend more of what matters on those who matter most because we want to honor Jesus with our time and our family, it takes on new significance. When we love others out of a heart that is filled with the love of God, we love people better. We can either do these things because they’re the right thing to do, or we can do it as an act of worship to our God, and one of those reasons is more meaningful, and more fulfilling.

Romans 12:1–2 ESV

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. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

We need the Holy Spirit to renew our minds and keep Christmas is a proper perspective. We need Jesus to teach us how to worship better, and how to worship fully?

Where are the water bottles?

There aren’t going to be any water bottles, and here is why. When we do the same thing over and over again, it can be easy to reduce the Advent Conspiracy to, “I bought my flat of water, I did the right thing, let’s move on and go back to doing Christmas the way it’s always been done.” We end up simply going through the motions and completely miss the point of the conspiracy. I’m not saying everyone, but it can be a temptation.

So here is my spin on the Advent Conspiracy. Instead of me telling you who we are going to support, I want you to find a cause you want to support. If you still want to dig a well somewhere, then all the power to you. But maybe you want to support the local food bank with the money you typically put towards the water bottles. Maybe you want to put the money towards Choose Life, or there’s a project through ERDO you’ve had your eye on. Instead of me telling what to support, do a little research and find a cause that lights your fire and support that. Nothing is more worshipful then when we recognize the passions and values that God has placed in us and get behind a cause that aligns with those values.

And along the way, we get to rediscover what Christmas is really all about, and this could potentially be the best Christmas yet.

Let’s Pray