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Tabernacle Presbyterian Church Rev. L. John Gable “KEEPING
THE MAIN THING THE MAIN THING " I have heard from several very reliable sources, including the primary source, Jay Steger himself, that on the weekend before I came to preach my candidating sermon here at Tab, Jay, the chair of the search committee, stood in this pulpit and by means of introduction said, “The main thing I want to tell you is that the main thing you need to know about John Gable is that his main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.” Or something to that effect. As much as I appreciate that commendation, this morning and for the next two Sunday mornings, I would like to clarify what he meant, as I believe the “main thing” for us as Christians is worship. If we are going to maintain a vibrant relationship with God and continue to grow spiritually as His people, then we have to “keep the main thing the main thing.” In our Gospel lesson this morning, Jesus is passing through the region of Samaria when He stops to get a drink of water at the well known as Jacob’s well. Here He encounters a woman, which in and of itself is most unusual, a Jewish man and a Samaritan woman. Their conversation turns to a most unusual topic; the nature of true worship. Their conversation begs us to ask the same kinds of questions about our own experience of worship today. “What really are we doing here?” “Why are we doing it?” “Why are we doing it here?” “What, if anything, do we expect to happen when we come to worship?” “What benefit do we hope to gain from this experience?” “What is the nature of true worship, and how do we even know if we are doing it right?” These are but a few of the many questions we can, and should, be asking ourselves as we consider our experience of worship. What are we doing here? Perhaps the most ready answer is, we’ve come to worship God, and I hope that is the first answer for all of us. But what does that mean? To worship means to “ascribe worth to, to pay homage to, to bow down before.” Our experience of worship arises out of the realization and the recognition that God is God, and that He alone is worthy of our adoration and praise. That is, or at least should be, our primary motivation for being here. As Richard Foster states so plainly, “If the Lord is to be Lord, then worship must have priority in our lives.” But if we are honest with ourselves, and with God, we will admit that we come to worship for other reasons as well. We come to be in the fellowship of God’s people, to hear a message or song which will comfort or encourage or inspire us. We come seeking answers to life’s deepest and most important questions, questions which the world cannot answer and longings which the world’s table cannot satisfy. We have to admit that while our worship is intended to be focused on God, we also come with needs we hope to have met. So who then really is the beneficiary of what we are doing here – is it us or is it God? Or can it be both? In the Psalm we read this morning, clearly the focus of our worship is on God. This is a call to worship; calling the people to come into the presence of God. The heart of worship is our response to God’s invitation, and worship is the essence of what God has created us to do. This is God’s idea, not our own. We don’t gather together and then invite God to join us. No, God moves before us, then calls us, invites us into His presence. Listen to the words the Psalmist uses to describe this experience of worship: “Come, let us sing (and) make a joyful noise…let us come with thanksgiving…(and) songs of praise.” Worship is, by definition and by experience, intended to be a joyful, a joy-filled expression -- why? Because, “the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods.” As Annie Dillard confesses, “I know only enough of God to want to worship Him, by any means ready at hand.” So we “bow down before Him and worship Him” because “He is our God and we are His people.” Our recognition of this relationship, Parent to child, Creator to creature, God to His people, is the foundation of our worship. When we come to the realization of who God is we have no other option, no other appropriate response, than to bow down and worship Him. Why do we come to worship? Because God is God; “It is He who made us and we are His.” I once read a Doonesbury cartoon that showed the pastor standing before the congregation, clip board in hand, saying, “OK, flock, I thought we’d run through this week’s activities. This Monday, of course, we have a lecture on nutrition from Kate Moss’ personal chef. Tuesday and Thursday will be our regular 12-step nights…” At this point he is interrupted by someone who asks, “Is that drugs or sex addiction?” Rev. Scott answers, “Drugs and sex addiction we’ve cut down to nine steps. That’s on Friday at 6:30 pm, right after organic co-gardening. Also a special treat, on Saturday night will be aerobic male-bonding night, so bring your sneakers. Any questions?” Someone near the back asks, “Yes, is there going to be a worship service this week?” “Nope, sorry, been cancelled. There was a conflict with the self esteem workshop.” Gary
Trudeau sarcastically brings into focus the importance of keeping the
main thing the main thing. No
matter what else we may do as the church, we are called to worship God. This
one act is at the center of who we are, and without it, we are not. A
football team that does not play football is not a football team. A
symphony orchestra that does not play music is not an orchestra. A
church that does not worship the living God is not a church. It
may look and act and even call itself a church, but unless the experience
of worship is at the center of its existence, it is not a church. The
essence of who we are is this: we are a people called by God to worship
God. In the words of Martin Marty, “The one thing the church
can do that the culture cannot do is worship God”, so worship God
we must. Jesus offers three timeless insights into the essential ingredients of “true worship”. First, it is worship of the “Father”. True worship is worship which focuses on God and God alone. Jesus instructs us to worship God in a personal and loving way, just as He worshipped God. Remember, it was Jesus who prayed “Abba, Daddy, Poppa”, and so He invites His followers to do the same. In worship we claim our identity, again and again, that we are Children of God. The
second ingredient of true worship is that it is to be done in “spirit.” It
is the Spirit of God which animates and enlivens our worship. This
is not merely a human enterprise we are engaged in here. Of course
we do a lot of planning and preparing, but for worship to be true worship
it must be blessed and inspired by the Spirit of God. The
third essential ingredient is that we worship in “truth”. Not
our truth, or even our version of the truth, but God’s truth,
revealed to us through His Son, Jesus Christ, and recorded for us as
God’s
Word in the Scriptures. We don’t come to worship merely
to hear someone’s opinion on a popular topic, or to hear or to
sing good music, or even to enjoy the company of good friends. We
come to place ourselves in the presence of God, to hear His Word pronounced
and proclaimed, and so to be shaped by its truth. This is the work
of the Spirit, to take this Word of God, this revelation of God’s
will, and guide us in its truth. It all sounds rather silly, doesn’t it, until you look at the kinds of worship debates we Protestants have gone through over the centuries. Will worship be silent reflection or with musical accompaniment? Will we allow an organ or only stringed instruments, either, neither or both? What about drums and guitars and amplifiers? Shall our sanctuaries be filled with images, icons, statutes, and stained glass windows, or plain? In baptism, will we be sprinkled, dipped or dunked; as often as we’d like, or once and only once; infant or adult? In communion, should we come forward or stay in our seats? Share a common loaf and a common cup, or each have our own individual servings? And who is it that will serve us these elements, pastors only, pastors and elders, pastors, elders and deacons, or anyone who feels so moved at any given time? And those who serve us and teach us and lead us, should they be women or only men, blacks or whites, homosexual or heterosexual or does it even matter? Should our worship be contemporary or traditional or something else still undefined; sanctuary or chapel or Upper Room, inserts or overheads? Should our hands be raised or shall they be kept still? Shall we speak in tongues or silence this expression of the Spirit? And the list goes on and on, and it seems that every generation of believers has thought it to be their responsibility to wrestle with the definition of true worship, over and over again, declaring how they are right and others who differ from them are wrong. It all seems a bit trivial and unnecessary when we listen to what Jesus says. True worship is “worship of the Father in spirit and in truth.” In this He tells us everything we need to know about the substance of our worship and surprisingly little about the style. Is that to say that it doesn’t matter how we worship -- that anything goes? No, of course not. But it is a good reminder that in our discussions about worship it is essential for us to keep the main thing the main thing – worship is all about God and not about us. That being said, it is also true that we come to worship with needs, great and small, with questions seeking meaning and answers. If worship is all about God, then what do we get out of it? The answer is profound in its simplicity. We get God. In worship we present ourselves before the living God and this time, this place, this activity becomes holy, because here we meet the Meeter of all of our needs. If
we come to worship with the sole expectation that our deepest questions
will be answered and our deepest needs for fellowship will be met,
then we will leave this place week after week sorely disappointed. However,
if we come as a broken and questioning people seeking God and God alone,
if our heart’s desire is to find ourselves in the presence of
God through the gathering of His people and the hearing of His Word,
then we will never be disappointed, even though the sermon may be boring
and the choir off-pitch (although I could never imagine that happening
here), because as we bow down before Him in worship God is faithful
to His Word and promises to meet us here. “So come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord our God, our Maker. For He is our God and we are His people.” Worship is what we were created by God to do; which means when we worship we keep the main thing the main thing. Amen |