“Acts of Devotion and Worship”
Luke 11:1-10, 24:44-53
Sandpoint United Methodist Church
July 25, 2010
Stan Norman
Please pray with me. May the words of our mouths, the meditations of our hearts, and the conduct of our lives, be always acceptable to you, O God, our strength and our blessed redeemer. Amen.
Nearly every one of my sermons contains that prayer. It’s the prayer that my late friend and mentor, Bill Brackett used to begin his sermons. I’ve modified it a little bit to fit my style of preaching and teaching. But, it’s not a Bill Brackett original, it’s an ancient prayer that an unknown Psalmist prayed 3000 years ago. It’s the final verse of Psalm 19.
I don’t say that prayer just to honor Bill Brackett, I say that prayer to remind myself that, while our prayers and worship of God may not perfect, or even our best effort sometimes, if they are offered sincerely and humbly to God, God will receive them and use them.
We have abandoned the lectionary this week, in favor of finishing the discussion that we have been having on living lives that balance the two great streams that flow through the Methodist movement, and Christianity as a whole: social justice and holiness. Two weeks ago we talked about personal acts of mercy and compassion, things like feeding the hungry and caring for the sick. Last week we talked about public acts of justice, things like opposing unfair labor practices and seeking fair and equitable treatment for people of all races and creeds. This week we are going to talk about personal acts of devotion and public acts of worship.
I want to make three points before we move on:
· First, there are no bright lines dividing up our lives into these four areas of focus. Sometimes our devotions are public and sometimes our worship is very personal. Sometimes we fight injustice by caring for others and sometimes when we take a stand on moral grounds, people are fed and clothed and sheltered.
· Second, I said this two weeks ago and I’m going to say it again… it is in our quest to know God better that we will find our joy in serving others, and it is in our quest to serve others that we will come to know God better.
· Third, devotion and worship come in many forms. We call these forms spiritual disciplines. Donald Whitney, in his classic book on the subject, lists Bible study, prayer, worship, evangelism, service, stewardship, fasting, silence and solitude, journaling, and learning as spiritual disciplines. We only have time to talk about a couple of those this morning, so will focus on prayer, Bible study, and worship.
If we have a weakness in this church when it comes to holiness it’s in the area of personal devotions. Only a few of us dedicate 30 minutes or more of quiet time each day to reading the Bible and praying. Only a few of us participate in small groups that are intentional about including prayer and Bible study in each of their meetings. In the self-evaluation that all of the United Methodist churches in the Pacific Northwest did earlier this year, our lowest marks were in discipleship growth and small group participation.
We tend to be a very active congregation. We want to be doing something all the time, instead of sitting back and letting God speak to us through prayer and Scripture. Perhaps, some of us are a little fearful that if we stop long enough to listen to what God has to say, God may say something we don’t want to hear, or send us in a direction we don’t want to go.
So, let’s talk about prayer and Bible reading for a few minutes. First, and foremost, if prayer and Bible study are not a part of your daily routine, I urge you to make a commitment, right here and right now, to change that! Prayer and Scripture are to your spiritual body, what air and food and water are to your physical body. One hour a week in church is not going keep your spirit going and growing. Feed your spirit, the way you feed your tummy. I promise you: you will not gain weight by feeding your spirit and you’ll feel better as well.
You’ve all heard the advice to “check with your doctor before beginning an exercise program, or a new diet, or taking a new medicine.” My advice to you as your spiritual “doctor” is to start now, but start slow if you are not already including personal devotions in your daily schedule. One of the best ways to start is a daily devotional guide like the “Upper Room”, or “Alive Now”.
When you’re ready to move to the next level with your daily personal devotions, and I don’t recommend that you stay at that basic level for more than a year, there are a number of excellent resources available, including specially-designed devotional Bibles. As your pastors, Gerri and I have committed to a third level of personal daily devotions based on two other Upper Room resources: “Disciplines” and the “Blue Book”. These resources include more Scripture readings, more prayers, and more readings for reflection. We would love to have several of you join us in this daily routine that connects us to God at deeper levels than we have ever known.
There is no right or wrong way to pray. God is always available for conversation and has to be the greatest listener ever. If you are concerned with what or how to pray, my advice is to talk to God just like you would talk to your best friend – because God is your best friend.
Some worry about whether they are asking for too much, too little, or the wrong things. Don’t worry about it, just let God sort that out. God is very good at sorting out what you need from what you want, and God always has out best interests at heart.
How we pray is also not important:
Three clergymen were deep in a discussion of the best positions for praying. A telephone repairman was working nearby.
“Kneeling is definitely best,” claimed one clergyman.
“No,” another contended, “I get the best results standing with my arms outstretched to heaven.”
“You’re both wrong,” the third argued. “The most effective prayer position is lying on the floor facedown.”
The telephone repairman, who had been listening to the discussion, couldn’t contain himself any longer, “Hey, guys,” he interrupted, “the best prayin’ I ever did was hangin’ upside down from a telephone pole.”
Mother Teresa says, “Love to pray. Feel often during the day the need for prayer, and take trouble to pray. Prayer enlarges the heart until it is capable of containing God’s gift of himself. Ask and seek, and your heart will grow big enough to receive him and keep him as your own.”
Sometimes the best advice comes out of the mouths of babes: After attending a prayer meeting where everyone prayed very loudly, a little kid remarked, “If they lived closer to God, they wouldn’t have to pray so loud.”
Now, let’s turn to Acts of Worship. Of course, there are many ways in which we worship, but we are talking now about the times when the Church gathers as the Body of Christ to praise God and connect with the Holy Spirit.
Jesus told the Samaritan woman at the well that God can be worshiped anywhere, not just at the Temple in Jerusalem or on Mount Gerizim, and he said that God is looking for worship that is truthful and spiritual. Listen again to that part of the story, John 4:21, New Testament page 89 in your pew Bibles:
Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. 24God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
“Spirit and truth,” what does that mean? I believe that it means we are to prepare ourselves mentally and emotionally for worship. We should, to the best of our abilities, leave all the busyness of our lives behind and be fully present when we come into God’s house, into this sanctuary…quiet and reflective, ready to worship. If you get here and can’t remember whether or not you turned off the stove, go back home and put that concern to rest before coming back. Better to miss half of the service than to come before God distracted by worldly things.
I believe worshiping in spirit and truth means reading the Scriptures in advance and praying for God to be present among us. I believe worshiping in spirit and truth means arriving at worship fully expecting to encounter the Living God. I believe worshiping in spirit and in truth means understanding that worship is not about us, and is not about getting together with our friends. Worship is all about God. Let me read you some of the lyrics of a song called “Heart of Worship” by Erin O’Donnell:
When the music fades, all is stripped away
And I simply come, longing just to bring
Something that’s of worth, that will bless your heart
I’ll bring you more than a song
For a song in itself, is not what you have required
You search much deeper within, through the way things appear
You’re looking into my heart
I’m coming back to the heart of worship
And it’s all about You, it’s all about You, Jesus
I’m sorry Lord for the thing I’ve made it
When it’s all about You, it’s all about You, Jesus
The author of the Letter to the Hebrews gives us this advice on coming to worship:
19Therefore, my friends, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, 20by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain (that is, through his flesh), 21and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22let us approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful. 24And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, 25not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
All United Methodist seminary students are required to take three Methodist courses: history, doctrine, and polity, or governance. I was always surprised, and proud, to find students in my Methodist courses from other denominations: Baptists, Lutherans, Presbyterians, even a few from the Assembly of God. I attribute the popularity of the Methodist courses at my non-denominational seminary to the good, solid practical theology of John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, who believed in a disciplined Christian life, balanced between works of mercy and works of piety. He called such a life “Going On to Perfection.”
The way to Christian perfection is best understood as one of repentance, as believers turn their backs on the sinful nature that yet remains in their heart. Works suitable for repentance, beyond “universal obedience” (that is, keeping all the commandments, watching, denying ourselves at every opportunity, taking up our cross daily, and being increasingly aware of the presence of God), include works of piety (such as the instituted means of grace: prayer, reading the Bible, receiving the Lord’s Supper, fasting, and Christian conferencing). Beyond this, works of mercy are also a suitable means of grace; examples include feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, entertaining the stranger, visiting those who are in prison or the sick, and instructing the uninformed. We may add to these counsels the wisdom suggested by reason and good judgment such that believers now avoid whatever weakens their sense of God or impairs the tenderness of their conscience on the way to perfect love.
So, we come to you this morning as your pastors and shepherds and ask you to make two commitments that will help us lead you to become the person that God so desperately wants you to be.
[Stan] Will you commit to spend at least thirty minutes each day in prayer and Bible reading? If you will, say “Amen.”
[Gerri] Will you commit to preparing your hearts and minds for worship, and to coming to worship expecting to meet the Living God? If you will, say “Amen.”
Thanks be to God! Amen and Amen!
