3. Refocus Your Life Through Worship
Long Obedience in the Same Direction • Sermon • Submitted
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Welcome back to part three of Long Obedience in the Same Direction. A big thank you goes out to Chris Coker, he filled in last Sunday and did a fantastic job with Psalm 121, if you missed out on it, you need to go check it out on YouTube or on the podcast. Just search for Iowa City Church.
Last week our family was in Littleton, Colorado visiting our son Alex, who goes to Denver Seminary. So Alex wanted to take me on a hike up in the mountains, the problem was they had just had a snow storm and it was still snowing some places in the mountains. We took off for one place, but there was too much snow, so Alex took me to plan B. We took off on the snowy trail up the mountain. After a while of hiking I asked how long the hike was. He said, “2.5 miles up”. At first I thought he meant it was 2.5 miles round trip…but I quickly realized that it was 5 miles total; up and back. I’m not going to lie, it was a lot of work, I was trying very hard to keep up with my long legged son. There wasn’t a lot of talking because I was breathing so hard.
Then about half way up, it started to snow. We kept pushing forward, I had to literally tell my legs to take the next step. When we finally got to the overlook, it was snowing really heavy, but it was a beautiful sight to see this snow falling into the valley below. Needless to say, it was worth they effort and determination to reach the top.
There are a lot of similarities between a mountain hike and the Christian faith. It’s an adventure, with amazing views, but it’s a lot of work, stamina and grit…but when you get to the top…it’s totally worth it! Another word we use to describe the Christian faith is discipleship; following Jesus, being changed by Jesus and committed to the mission of Jesus. It’s a journey that is uphill, with amazing views, but often times over rugged terrain, and there are times where you have to force your legs to keep on going.
Pastor and author Eugene Peterson describes it this way: Long obedience in the same direction. His book, by that title, uses the Psalms of Ascent as a guide to help us on our journey of long obedience in the same direction as Jesus.
If you have a Bible or a device go to Psalm 120. If you are using the YouVersion Bible app, go to the Menu and look for Events. Then search for Iowa City Church. All the Scriptures and Sermon Notes will be there.
In Jesus’ day, a good Jew would try to go to Jerusalem during one of the three big feasts…as a time of worship. For the Jews of Jesus’ day, the Temple represented the presence of God. So they would journey to Jerusalem for worship as God’s people.
As we have pointed out, Jerusalem is the highest elevated city in Israel. Here’s a picture of what I’m talking about. If you were Jesus walking with the disciples from Galilee, they would walk the Jordan River valley until they reached Jericho. Once there, the would hang a right and begin the long trek up the mountain to Jerusalem…and to worship.
On their journey up the mountain, the caravans of Jewish people would sing these songs of ascent, Psalms 120 to 134. Each of these Psalms had it’s own unique focus, and acted as a step of obedience leading them towards God and toward worship. Thus these Psalms of Ascent helped these pilgrims on their journey of obedience.
We are using the Psalms of Ascent as disciples following after Jesus. So far, Psalm 120 reminded us that we need to repent and leave the lies and chaos behind. Last week, Psalm 121 reminded us that our provision comes from God…he will provide.
Today we turn our focus to Psalm 122. In this Psalm we are reminded about the importance of corporate (which means, as a group) or another word I’ll use is community worship and how it can transform our lives. Let’s stand together, and follow along while I read the Psalm.
I rejoiced with those who said to me,
“Let us go to the house of the Lord.”
Our feet are standing
in your gates, Jerusalem.
Jerusalem is built like a city
that is closely compacted together.
That is where the tribes go up—
the tribes of the Lord—
to praise the name of the Lord
according to the statute given to Israel.
There stand the thrones for judgment,
the thrones of the house of David.
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
“May those who love you be secure.
May there be peace within your walls
and security within your citadels.”
For the sake of my family and friends,
I will say, “Peace be within you.”
For the sake of the house of the Lord our God,
I will seek your prosperity.
PRAY
This psalm, written by David provides us five benefits of community worship.
Here’s the first one:
When We Worship Together We Experience Joy
I rejoiced with those who said to me,
“Let us go to the house of the Lord.”
In the 1980’s there was a sitcom called Cheers, about a bar in Boston. Here’s the chorus to the theme song for the show:
Sometimes you want to go
Where everybody knows your name
And they're always glad you came
You want to be where you can see
Our troubles are all the same
You want to be where everybody knows your name
There’s an appeal to find a place to belong. A place where it doesn’t matter who you are or what you’ve done, where our troubles are all the same. I want to find a place where people care that you are there. They know your name.
The appeal for Israel when David writes these words, they are God’s people and they belong no only to each other but to God. So David finds joy in walking with his people, the people to who he belongs, singing and walking to worship a God to who they belong.
It’s as if worship created this belonging and belonging brought joy.
So what we have learned over the last, almost two years is that Covid has kept people apart. What we have discovered is that being separated, isolated isn’t good for people. The separation has created anxiety, depression, and loneliness. It’s kept people away from attending church worship services…and not to anyone’s surprise we’ve lost our joy.
Think about it, you take away community worship times, times where you go to a place where you belong…accepted by people and by God, and you are left with confusing narratives about the pandemic, toxic political statements, and continual finger pointing about people who belong and those who don’t.
When we make it a priority to worship we discover our joy.
Let’s keep reading.
Our feet are standing
in your gates, Jerusalem.
Jerusalem is built like a city
that is closely compacted together.
David is describing how Jerusalem is built and structure for community worship. It’s specifically designed for throngs of people to come to the Temple and worship together as one people. Here’s what we learn.
2. Community Worship Provides Us With a Frame Work
Over the years, I’ve heard a lot of funny and interesting reasons why someone isn’t coming to church. One that pops up a lot is this: I worship God best out in nature by myself. Now, to be clear, one can experience and worship God in nature. However, as we all know that experience can be rather random…spontaneous, and if the person using the excuse is honest, they really don’t practice worship when they are out hunting or hiking or whatever the case maybe. It’s not planned, prepared, structured and practiced.
The point here is that one our journey of discipleship, we need regular, planned, prepared and structured worship experiences.
The apostle Paul writes about the importance of order and structure when it comes to corporate worship services.
For God is not a God of disorder but of peace—as in all the congregations of the Lord’s people.
There are certain, familiar, yet important elements we always include in our worship services. We plan them out, practice them and then allow the Holy Spirit to move and work through those elements to impact you, help you, and encourage you…change you.
Think of it this way, the most memorable and inspiring pieces of art or music or even writings came from a dedication to order, structure and discipline. The crafts you make, the food your prepare, the things you build come from a dedication to structure and order. The same is true of our discipleship journey, our growth, our transformation comes out of a regular structured worship services.
Let’s keep reading.
That is where the tribes go up—
the tribes of the Lord—
to praise the name of the Lord
according to the statute given to Israel.
There is a statute or command given for the tribes to go up to Jerusalem to worship together. So what’s the point for us?
3. Community Worship Is Commanded
I’ve been attending church my whole life and I have seen both sides of the argument: going to worship service was a duty or obligation, the other argument popped up in the last twenty years, where going to worship should be about our passion, feelings, and being inspired and moved. So I get it, no one wants to feel like their being manipulated or forced to go to church out of duty. We all want to be motivated by our passion and feelings for God. Here’s the problem, passion fades and feelings are liars. If we only went to church when we felt like it, we probably wouldn’t attend nearly as often, and that’s probably some of your reasoning as well.
This is why we need a command a statute that tells us to get out of bed and go to worship. Here’s what happens more often then not. We don’t feel like going, but we force ourselves to go and in so doing, have an amazing experience that we would have missed out on if we had stayed in bed.
When I was climbing the mountain with Alex, many times I had to tell my legs to keep going. I didn’t feel like climbing…but I was so glad that I did. The journey of discipleship is always going to be a matter of doing things you don’t feel like doing.
Let’s keep reading.
There stand the thrones for judgment,
the thrones of the house of David.
These thrones of judgment are places where kings make their declarations…actions that need to be taken. In this case David is referring to Jerusalem the place where God is and the place of God’s thrones of Judgement. What are the things God wants his people to do, what actions are they to carry out. Here is what we can take away:
4. Worship Impresses Upon Us The Word of God
All throughout our worship services we point to God and what he wants us to do and how to live. Whether it’s through the worship songs we sing, the Scriptures we study or the prayers we pray, we are seeking the throne of God and his word for our lives. The truth is, that during the week we tend to forget or become so busy that these words or actions elude us…worship grounds us…centers us on the truth of what God is calling us to do and to be. This is why community worship is so important.
Okay, last section.
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
“May those who love you be secure.
May there be peace within your walls
and security within your citadels.”
For the sake of my family and friends,
I will say, “Peace be within you.”
For the sake of the house of the Lord our God,
I will seek your prosperity.
Worship, even for the most faithful, takes up just a small percentage of a person’s life, and hour or so each week. So does it make a difference for the rest of the week? These last few verses of Psalm 122 suggest that it does.
Highlight the word “Pray”. This is a continual action, not a prayer in a worship service, but a regular daily prayer. A reminder that we are to keep on praying.
Praying for peace. Highlight that word. It’s the Hebrew word Shalom. It’s a deep and rich word that we really don’t have enough time to describe. Simply put, Shalom is about wholeness or completeness. God putting broken things back together.
The last word you should highlight is “prosperity”. Leaving worship, we seek the good, or prosperity of those around us…our family, neighbors, and community.
For those of us who are followers of Jesus, this is even more personal and real. As we wrap up our worship services we share in communion, remembering the atoning death for Jesus on the cross and his resurrection to life. What communion does for us each week is it reminds us that through Jesus we find our shalom, peace, completeness. So not matter what you have done, communion reminds you about the peace you find through Jesus.
It also reminds us that we are transformed to be ambassadors for Jesus, we are on mission with him. So we go out from church to be representatives of his in our families, neighborhoods and work places…doing good.
5. Worship Reminds Us About Who We Are And The Mission We Are On
Weekly worship helps you reset your life to live on mission for Jesus.
Here is how I would summarize the lesson of Psalm 122. When you choose to obediently worship God through a community worship service, your faith is sharpened and your life refocused.
Let me wrap up with this example. In the late 1800’s a big, strapping young man decided to become a lumber jack. He found a company in the Pacific Northwest and joined the crew. He brought his nice, shiny new axe with him…razor sharp and ready to go. He got up early, ready to impress his boss…and he felled 20 trees that day. The next day, he did the same thing, got up early but he was only able to bring down 15 trees. The next day, he got up early again, ready to go but he only chopped down 10 trees. He did the same thing on Thursday and only was able to fell five trees. That evening, one of the grizzled longing veterans pulled the exhausted young man aside as said, “Youngster, let me give you a bit of wisdom or you are going to kill yourself out here. Every morning when you get up early to go out to drop trees, the rest of us are over on the grinding wheel sharpening our tools. It doesn’t matter how hard you work if your axe isn’t sharp.”
Listen, it doesn’t matter how hard you work at life, if your faith isn’t sharp. Coming to a weekly worship service, helps sharpen your faith as you continue on your journey of following Jesus.