The church's purpose

“There is an old story about a man who dreamed that an angel escorted him to church one Sunday. There he saw the keyboard musician playing vigorously, the praise team singing, the musicians playing their instruments with gusto.

“But the man heard no sound. The congregation was singing, but the sound was utterly muted. When the minister rose to speak, his lips moved, but there was no volume. In amazement, the man turned to his escort for an explanation.

“‘This is the way it sounds to us in heaven,’ said the angel. ‘You hear nothing because there is nothing to hear. These people are engaged in the form of worship, but their thoughts are on other things and their hearts are far away.’ [Robert J. Morgan, Nelson’s Complete Book of Stories, Illustrations, and Quotes, electronic ed. (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2000), 809.]

Now, I tell you this story this morning not as an indictment of worship here at Liberty Spring Christian Church, but rather as a warning. Whatever we desire to receive from our engagement in worship on Sunday mornings is secondary to what we offer.

Worship is, first and foremost, the way that we ascribe God the glory that belongs to Him, the way that we express our reverence and adoration for Him. The word comes from the Middle English word “worthship,” which meant to acknowledge the worth of God.

In this series that I’ve called “The Church — Revealed,” we have so far talked about the creation of the Church by Jesus, we’ve talked about the Holy Spirit-enabled launch of the Church in Acts, chapter 2. We’ve defined the Church as the New Covenant community of the Spirit. And we’ve looked at the four marks of this new community we call the Church.

Today, it seems appropriate to talk about the purpose of the Church, and while we’ll break it down a bit in the next couple of weeks, there is really only one purpose of the church, and that is to worship God.

As A.W. Tozer put it, “We are saved to worship God. All that Christ has done for us in the past and all that He is doing now leads to this one end.” [Tozer, Whatever Happened to Worship, 94.]

Today, because our modern worship context occurs so significantly within the bounds of this weekly service, I want to spend some time looking at what the Bible has to say about what we do here each week.

And the first place to look is to Samaria, where a woman drawing water from a well took part in a short theological debate with Jesus. You’ll find the Apostle John’s account of this meeting in John, chapter 4.

I’m sure you remember the story. Jesus asked the woman at the well for a drink of water, which led to an exchange in which He revealed that He knew her darkest secrets.

“Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet,” she responded, because she still didn’t understand that He was, in fact, the Son of God and the only one who could redeem her from her sins.

And so, since she thought of Him merely as a prophet at this point, she decided to ask a theological question that had caused much division between the Jews and the Samaritans. Where was it appropriate for people to worship God — at Mt. Gerizim, as the Samaritans did, or in Jerusalem, as the Jews did?

The correct answer to that question had always been “Jerusalem.” That is the place that God had chosen back in the days of the Old Testament for the gathered worship of the congregation of Israel.

Mt. Gerizim had been set up as a site of worship by the Northern Kingdom of Israel when it had seceded from the unified nation after the death of Solomon.

And it was set up by the Northern Kingdom’s kings in order to keep their people from going back into the Southern Kingdom of Judah to worship in Jerusalem.

This is one of the reasons there were no God-fearing kings in the Northern Kingdom’s lifespan. From the beginning, by choosing not to worship God in the place He had chosen for them, they had chosen not to worship God the way that He had desired.

And there’s a lesson here about worship that we shouldn’t miss. Acceptable worship in God’s eyes is worship that is according to His standards, not ours.

As we consider what it should look like for us to come together in worship each week, we must be careful that we are committed to worshiping God as HE wishes, and not according to our own preferences.

But Jesus didn’t give this particular theology lesson in His response to the woman at the well. Instead, He told her that things were about to change in regards to worship. Look at verse 21.

John 4:21–24 NASB95

Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. “You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. “But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

His point here is that worship was no longer connected to a physical place. Worship would no longer be in a place, but in a person, in Jesus.

Through Jesus and His Spirit, worshipers would now be able to come directly to God. That’s what it means to worship in spirit — or, perhaps, more correctly, in THE Spirit.

And to worship in truth suggests coming to God the Father through knowledge of and faith in His Son, Jesus, who described Himself as “the way, the TRUTH, and the life.”

And so, we can conclude another important thing about worship. It can only be offered by those who have a true knowledge of and faith in Jesus, those who have come acknowledging that He is the truth, those who have accepted the truth of the gospel.

Now, holding this idea of worshiping in spirit and truth in the back of our minds, let’s leave Samaria and go to heaven. That’s the one place we might expect worship to be done just as God wants it done.

We get a very good look at the worship in heaven in the Book of Revelation. For all of the woes and judgment that we see poured out upon the earth during the events John describes in this prophetic book, what’s really wonderful to see is how the Father and Son are worshiped by believers and by angels, no matter what is happening down below.

And I’m going to suggest to you that what we see about worship in the Book of Revelation tells us a lot about the manner in which we are to worship here on earth as we wait for the day when Jesus returns for those who have followed Him in faith and takes them to heaven in the Rapture.

Mazie Nakhro, a pastor and theologian in India, wrote an article in an academic publication that I’ve used to help structure this brief look into the Book of Revelation this week.

He wrote: “The worship of God in heaven is expressed through praise and thanksgiving, songs, prayers, gifts, response to God’s revelation, anticipatory silence for divine intervention, and festive celebration of God’s goodness.” [Mazie Nakhro, “The Manner of Worship according to the Book of Revelation,” Bibliotheca Sacra 158 (2001): 169. Recognition is due to Rev. Nakhro for the insights that follow.]

Praise. Thanksgiving. Songs. Prayers. Gifts. Response to God’s revelation. Anticipatory silence. And festive celebration. Those are the eight things congregational worship should include, based on what we see of worship in heaven.

I’ll argue that there’s two others missing from the list — confession and repentance. And the reason they’re missing should be obvious.

They’re missing in heaven, because in heaven there will be no more sin, no more need for confession or repentance. We will be in the very presence of the spotless Lamb of God who gave Himself as a sacrifice at the cross, taking upon Himself our sins and their just punishment, so that all who follow Him in faith would be forgiven and redeemed.

In heaven, we who have followed Jesus in faith will have received our glorified bodies, and we will no longer have even the urge to sin.

So, let’s take a look at these 10 elements of worship for Christians who are gathered together to worship in spirit and in truth.

First, we see praise as a prominent element of worship in Revelation.

The four living creatures are described in verse 8 of chapter 4 as offering unceasing praise to God for who He is.

Revelation 4:8 NASB95

And the four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within; and day and night they do not cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come.”

God’s holiness — His set apart-ness — is the very essence of His character. It is because of His holiness that He has done all the things He has done in history, and so it is proper that we praise Him for who He is, even before we praise Him for what He has done.

But in that same passage, in verse 11, we see the 24 elders around the throne worshiping and praising God also for what He has done.

Revelation 4:11 NASB95

“Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created.”

Do you see that? He is WORTHY of glory and honor and power. The 24 elders are ascribing to God the worth that is His because of His great creative acts.

“Only He is worthy because He created everything. Creation displays His glory. The psalmist recognized this when he wrote, ‘The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.’” [Mazie Nakhro, “The Manner of Worship according to the Book of Revelation,” Bibliotheca Sacra 158 (2001): 169.]

Jesus also receives praise in heaven. We see that in verses 11 and 12 of chapter 5.

Revelation 5:11–12 NASB95

Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.”

As the eternal second person of the Trinity and the Lamb who was slain so that rebellious mankind could be reconciled to God, Jesus is worthy of praise.

He is worthy to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing. He receives all these things from His Father.

And the Apostle Paul tells us that just as all things have been subjected to Christ, He will in turn be subjected to His Father, “so that God may be all in all.”

This God, who created all things, who gave us His own Son so we could be reconciled to Him, who will be the “all in all” for believers in eternity — this God deserves our praise, and His praise should be ever on our lips, especially as we gather for worship on Sundays.

And closely connected to praise is thanksgiving.

After the seventh trumpet has sounded during the Great Tribulation, the 24 elders are described in verse 16 of chapter 11 as falling on their faces in worship and saying,

Revelation 11:17–18 NASB95

saying, “We give You thanks, O Lord God, the Almighty, who are and who were, because You have taken Your great power and have begun to reign. “And the nations were enraged, and Your wrath came, and the time came for the dead to be judged, and the time to reward Your bond-servants the prophets and the saints and those who fear Your name, the small and the great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth.”

The elders are thankful because of God’s eternal reign. They are thankful for the rewards that will be received by those who have followed Jesus in faith and served Him here on earth.

And they are thankful for God’s judgment upon the wicked and for the fact that He will destroy those who destroy the earth.

We can easily understand the idea of being thankful for God’s reign and for the rewards we might receive. But what about being thankful for God’s judgment and destruction of the wicked?

It comes down to this: Justice is as much a part of God’s character as is mercy. And we cannot separate the one from the other. God is merciful, but He will bring His justice upon the earth and upon those who have denied Him and His Son.

We should be thankful that He poured out His judgment upon Jesus at the cross, because by taking upon Himself the judgment that we deserve for our sins, He gave us a way to be reconciled to God through faith in Him and in His sacrifice on our behalf.

But we should also be thankful that in His holiness, God is not arbitrary with His justice. He has told us what we must do to be saved, and He has made the way for our salvation through His very Son.

And those who insist on rejecting that gift of salvation are rejecting the way, the truth, and the life. Essentially, they are calling God a liar.

We should be thankful that one day God will vindicate His perfectly just character by destroying those who have rejected Him and defamed His righteous character.

So, praise and thanksgiving are to be elements of our worship. Now, let’s look at songs. Songs of worship break out a number of times in heaven in the Book of Revelation. “Everyone before God’s throne sings in one way or another.” [Mazie Nakhro, “The Manner of Worship according to the Book of Revelation,” Bibliotheca Sacra 158 (2001): 172.]

They sing songs of praise and thanksgiving to God and to the Lamb. They sing praise to God for who He is and for what He has done in creation. They sing praise of His work during the Great Tribulation to bring about justice and righteousness. They sing praise to Jesus for His work of redemption at the cross.

From every people group, from every place, and from every time in history, they sing old songs and new songs. They sing the song of Moses, and they sing songs that have never been heard. Look at verses 9 and 10 of chapter 5.

Revelation 5:9–10 NASB95

And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. “You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth.”

I know some of you aren’t comfortable singing around other people, but you’re gonna have to get over that in heaven, so you might as well start now. And I know some of you aren’t eager to learn new songs, but you’re going to be learning new ones in heaven, so you might as well start now.

So, praise, thanksgiving, and songs are all elements of appropriate Christian worship. And now, prayers.

We see several instances of the saints in heaven communicating with God via prayer. The martyrs in heaven, for instance, cry out to God for His vengeance.

And in chapter 8, we see that the prayers of believers can be considered as sacrifices when they are offered to God.

Revelation 8:3–4 NASB95

Another angel came and stood at the altar, holding a golden censer; and much incense was given to him, so that he might add it to the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up before God out of the angel’s hand.

Prayer — and not just MY prayers — should be central to any worship gathering of the church. I hope we will soon get back to the tradition we had of group prayer before our Sunday service, and I will be working toward implementing some kind of midweek prayer service, hopefully by the end of the year.

It’s just not possible for us to spend too much time in corporate prayer, and I hope many of you will join me as we begin to re-incorporate it into the life of this church.

Praise. Thanksgiving. Songs. Prayer. And now gifts.

Everything that we have has been given to us by God, and we should ever be looking for ways to give it back to Him. And this giving back to God is exactly what we see in the Book of Revelation.

In verse 10 of chapter 4, we see the 24 elders casting the crowns they have received for their righteous service to God back at His feet.

They recognize that even the righteous deeds they have done for God have come from Him and that it is He who deserves all honor and glory. And so they symbolically give back to Him the honor and glory He has given them with their crowns.

Everything we have, we have been given by God. It is all His anyway, and we do not honor Him by holding His blessings within clenched hands. And so, giving, too, must be part of our corporate worship.

You must be wondering by now where preaching comes into play. The greatest part of our weekly meetings is devoted to it. And here is where we see preaching, but it’s not the preaching that is important, so much as the response to it.

In chapter 10, an angel comes down out of heaven carrying a little book, representing a revelation of God, much as Scripture is God’s revelation of Himself. But look what happens with that book in verses 9-10.

Revelation 10:9–10 NASB95

So I went to the angel, telling him to give me the little book. And he said to me, “Take it and eat it; it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey.” I took the little book out of the angel’s hand and ate it, and in my mouth it was sweet as honey; and when I had eaten it, my stomach was made bitter.

The point that I’m making here is that it isn’t enough to simply come and hear me speak for 30 or 40 minutes each week. It’s not enough to simply read your Bible for a few minutes every day.

What’s important — and what constitutes worship — is that you take what you’ve heard or read and internalize it, that you allow it to change you. As James put it, be doers of the word and not hearers only.

Praise. Thanksgiving. Songs. Prayers. Gifts. Response to God’s revelation. And now, silence. We don’t often think of silence as worship, but that’s just what we see in chapter 8.

Revelation 8:1 NASB95

When the Lamb broke the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.

There is a pause between those crying out with a loud voice in the middle of chapter 7 and the sounding of the first trumpet in the middle of chapter 8.

There is silence in heaven, this place where there has been a never-ending choir singing God’s praises and the thunderous sound of the multitude of saints singing in thanksgiving.

I think this silence "is a dramatic pause symbolizing the awe and dread with which the heavenly host will await the events about to happen” as the trumpets of judgment sound. [Mazie Nakhro, “The Manner of Worship according to the Book of Revelation,” Bibliotheca Sacra 158 (2001): 177.]

And I think it’s just as appropriate for us to be silent sometimes in awe of our great and mighty God.

Have you ever just sat in silence and watched the sunset or listened as the waves crash upon the seashore? Those are just minor manifestations of God’s awesome power.

Perhaps if we thought of His power more deeply, we would be silent more often. Perhaps as we anticipate His coming judgment upon the earth, silence is, finally, the only appropriate response.

The final element of worship we find in the Book of Revelation is celebration.

And it’s appropriate that it’s the last one, because this prophetic book ends with the promise of new heavens and a new earth, of a city with streets paved in gold, of all mankind now glorified and worshiping the Father and the Son who are right in their midst, of the Church celebrating a wedding feast with her Bridegroom, Jesus Christ.

Revelation 19:7 NASB95

“Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready.”

We who have followed Jesus Christ in faith have a hope that should cause us to rejoice. We should come to each worship service with a spirit of celebration, for we who were lost have now been found.

We prodigal sons and daughters will be given a ring and a robe and a feast and will be welcomed by the Father not as servants but as sons and daughters.

Do you want to worship our sovereign God in spirit and in truth? Then come to Him each week with praise and thanksgiving, singing songs and praying, bringing gifts, responding to His word, meeting Him in awestruck silence, and celebrating the hope we have in Him.

But remember that I said there were two things missing from worship in the Book of Revelation that we must also include in our worship today: confession and repentance.

We who have followed Jesus Christ in faith are sinners saved by grace, but we are still sinners.

And we must never forget that, as people who are being conformed to the image of the sinless Christ, we are called to confess our sins and repent. We are called to admit to God when we have transgressed His holiness and to turn from our wickedness.

Each week, we have a closing song, and I have shied away from calling it an invitation, but there is a sense in which I want you to think of it that way.

For you who have put your faith in Jesus, I want you to think of it as an invitation to come down here and kneel in repentant prayer for any unconfessed sins you may have.

You can do that at your seat, but there’s something powerful about setting aside your music and coming here to spend time with God in prayer.

And if you’ve never placed your faith in Jesus, I want you to think of this closing song as your invitation to come and talk to me about how you can do so.

For you, the only effectual element of worship that we have spoken about today is prayer — and that prayer being the prayer of repentance and faith.

I would love to talk with you more about it today. Won’t you come?