Worship Is a Compass

Now, friends, it's a great delight to be here in these four weeks as we talk about kind of the theology of worship.

I figure that we know the elements of a church service.

We know that we're going to sing, we know that we're going to pray or listen to the scriptures read and taught.

But I find, at least at home, that there isn't great depth in understanding why we do what we do.

So, adding to that, the kind of contemporary issue that people think regular church attendance is twice a month.

Now, it might be a little different here, I'm not sure, though some of the pastors at Trinity think that probably that's becoming more and more of an expectation or a standard in the US as well.

But certainly at home, if a person turns up twice a month, they see themselves as being very committed to this church.

Now, when I first became a Christian when I was 13, it wasn't just you went to church twice a month, you went to church twice a Sunday.

You were expected to come to church to the morning worship and the evening.

We used to call it a gospel service, kind of a youth service.

And notice then, just in the course of my own life, how our expectations have changed.

So, it's a good question to ask, not just what do we do in a church service, but why do we do it and how do we think we should benefit from doing it regularly.

So, that's kind of driving my interest in this four-part series.

Now, I love you guys asking questions along the way.

There are no dumb questions, there are just dumb answers.

So, please don't feel self-conscious about putting up your hand, rugby tackling me from the microphone or something like that.

But, I love your interaction.

So, please feel free to do that, okay?

I know that on Sunday morning, it's probably easier to err on the passive side and kind of listen.

And if that's your thing, that's fine.

But, please don't feel afraid to ask a question if you have a question that's...

Just a comment.

Or a comment even, of course.

Yeah, yeah, do it all you want.

No, the more the merrier.

My comment is that we're called to worship, the why is that we're called to worship because we were built to worship.

And because God tells us to worship Him.

Sure, sure.

Does He tell us to worship Him every week?

He gives us a Sabbath that He made it holy.

Sure.

Yeah.

Sure.

Well, then that still begs other questions, doesn't it?

Whether the Old Testament Sabbath is for Christians today and what it means that we have an eternal Sabbath that we're waiting for.

So, these are the kinds of questions that I want to raise.

And to do it in a friendly way, I'm trying to give us each week a big metaphor.

A big idea that will somehow build our conversation, but perhaps as well help our memory.

And this week, the metaphor that I'm appealing to is that worship is a compass.

With my students, at least, having some of these picture words is very, very helpful because it's not just that I want to teach them, but I want them to teach others as well.

And so, the more tools they have in their kit, pictures or kind of ideas that are readily transferable, that helps me and helps them too, I hope.

Now, I want to start with a definition, though it's pretty loose.

I want to say that worship is simply a God-centered life.

We could unpack it more.

For example, we could say that it's about both adoration and actions.

We could unpack it further and say that it's response to God's revelation.

I think all those are helpfully true.

But it's the first phrase, worship is a God-centered life, that I really want to hold on to in particular.

Because there are big debates about this.

Is worship something you do every day of the week?

Or is worship something you do on Sundays?

Or is worship just that part of the service that's singing?

So there are very broad definitions of worship and very narrow definitions of worship.

And this is a hot debate in many circles.

How do you define worship?

Is worship more about the actions of your week?

Or is worship more the attitudes and responses on Sunday?

And according to your kind of tight or broad definitions, this sometimes becomes quite heated.

So we had Don Carson come to Ridley where I teach to do a preaching school.

He's known for that, right?

And we arrived in chapel and one of my students stands up to begin the chapel service and says,

Welcome this morning to worship.

And at morning tea, not because of Don Carson's kind of influence,

but at morning tea after the chapel service, there was this hot debate.

Some people say you cannot stand up and say welcome to worship.

You're worshiping every day of the week, right?

You can say welcome to chapel or welcome to church, but not welcome to worship.

But if you're on the more Pentecostal end of the Christian spectrum,

you'll define worship even more narrowly to deal with a very particular kind of song

in a very particular place in the church service.

So when I first became a Christian, we had a hymn book in church, right?

There aren't many hymn books around anymore.

But in those days, in a hymn book, you'd have the section called Praise,

and the section called Worship, and the section called Daily Christian Living,

and the section called The Lord's Supper, and the section called Christ's Coming,

or the section called Christ's Passion.

In those days, worship was just a tiny bit of your singing.

But it's as if these days, worship is just that part of the hymn book

that's the first 30 songs.

So there are big debates about how broad or how narrow we should think of worship.

I actually think the Bible uses the worship language in both ways.

So when you look at Romans 12, 1-2, you'll be reminded that worship is for every day, right?

Let me read it to us.

I appeal to you, therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God,

to present your bodies as a living sacrifice,

holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

Don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds

so that you might discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

So at least for Paul in Romans 12, worship is just giving your body to God.

And I presume you do that on Sundays and Mondays, right?

That's the broad definition.

Everything you do in your body can be a kind of worship.

But when you get to Revelation chapters 4 and 5,

Revelation 4 · chapter mention

the word worship is applied to singing.

Either in Revelation 4, singing about the Creator,

or in Revelation 5, singing about the Redeemer.

In both instances, the songs of worship are offered before the throne.

You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honour and power,

for you created all things, and by your will they existed and they were created.

So I take it that the Bible can use the word worship narrowly,

or can use the word worship broadly.

And I'm happy with both usages of the word.

However, in these four Sunday school sessions,

we're going to be using kind of the more narrow definition,

what we do in church.

Please don't hear me saying that I don't think your Monday to Friday work is worship.

What you do in your body is worship.

But for these weeks at least, for our purposes,

we're narrowing a little our focus.

So I'm going to take a pause for a moment

and ask if you've got any comments or questions

about our learning so far.

Please, Lydia.

You mentioned worship singing to the Creator and the Redeemer.

And I know not very many, but many songs also make a point

to praise the Spirit.

I wondered if you had a comment for or against that or anything.

Yes.

So I think there's no biblical reason why you ought not to worship

or name the Spirit in your worship.

It's just that the Spirit is the shy one

who keeps pushing the glory to the Father and the Son.

So I'm not...

I don't think it's wrong.

And you could ask the same question about your praying.

Should we pray to the Spirit?

I think there's nothing wrong with that.

The Spirit is the Lord, according to 2 Corinthians 4.

But it seems to me that part of the way God works

is that the Spirit helps me in my prayers

to the Father through the Son.

So I think it's probably more appropriate

that we pray to the Father in the end.

In the Scriptures.

In the Scriptures.

Yeah.

Yeah, that's right.

He leads us to the Scriptures.

The Spirit leads us to the Scriptures as well, yes, of course.

And then illuminates them for us in our heart and mind.

Well, this is my basic idea this morning.

I'm a simple man, so there's only going to be one big idea each week.

The big idea is that when we come to church,

when we come to worship,

our main goal is to practice being the creature

and letting God be the creator.

That whatever else we do,

however long the sermon goes,

however long the singing goes,

however long the praying goes,

we've only got one job to do,

and that's to practice being a creature.

Now, this might sound kind of patently obvious,

that you can never escape being the creature,

but let me tell you,

I think that's basically the human problem, right?

That we pretend from time to time

that we actually have the rights of the creator

to create our own world in our own image.

We're created in God's image, of course,

but on the seventh day,

God rests, having made men and women,

so that he might just enjoy the creation

with men and women at its climax.

In a sense, the point of Genesis chapter 1

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

is to show us how God loves for us

to enjoy fellowship with him.

He's the creator,

and we've just recently been created, right?

It seems to me the right attitude to have to God

is to see ourselves as creature

and not as a creator.

And in Romans 1,

the inverse is explained,

that basically sin is worshipping the creature

rather than the creator,

who is forever to be praised.

So it seems like to me,

and Romans 1 is important because,

let me read it then,

it contains the worship language.

Romans 1.24,

Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts

to impurity,

to the degrading of their bodies amongst themselves,

because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie

and worshipped and served the creature

rather than the creator.

So the fundamental description of sin,

in this part of Romans at least,

is that we try and act like the creator

and worship incorrectly.

What is worshipping correctly?

It's practising being the creature

and not the creator,

letting God be in his place

and we in ours.

So what are we going to do this morning

when we go upstairs to worship?

Well, the only thing you have to do

is realise that you're practising

in any element in the service,

no matter what part of it we're up to,

you're practising being the creature.

You've just got to let go.

You've got to let God be God

and pray to him and sing to him

and learn from him.

I don't want to argue

that church is an instrument

to achieve or do something else.

Church is a way of doing evangelism.

Well, it might be on the side.

Church is a way of growing in our minds.

Well, yes, of course it is.

But actually the most basic reason

why we worship

is to practise being creatures

and dependent.

My second point is related to that

and then I'll break again

and you can ask some questions.

Is that church reflects the relationship

between the one who calls

and the ones who are called.

So God calls us.

That means we are the called ones

and we turn up in response to his voice,

in response to his initiative.

And if you read the first chapter

of 1 Corinthians,

you'll see how often the language of call

is used there to describe God

or to describe us.

It's an important point.

Lots of people will assume

that we turn up to church

and then through our intense emotions

or through our beautiful voices

or through a structure of the service,

God sees fit to come and join us.

He's a bit resistant, right?

Because it's Sunday morning after all.

He was having a nice snooze

but our loud praises somehow

kind of wake him

or our loud praises give him a throne

to sit on.

Now actually,

the basic relationship in church

is that God is here before we turn up.

God calls us.

You and I, brothers and sisters this morning,

have heard his voice

and we respond to his voice

and arrive.

He is the one who calls

and we are the ones

who respond.

It's kind of the same point

about creator and creature

with slightly different language.

He's the creator.

We're the creatures.

We learn dependence.

He's the one who calls.

We are the called ones.

So we listen to his voice

and trust his words.

He is the creator

and knows best after all.

Now this is also

pretty controversial

in lots of circles

because assumption

in lots of places is

that God will respond

and come to be with us

if our words,

our emotions

or our services

have particular characteristics.

It drives me crazy

when people start the church service

and say, you know,

please Lord,

be in our midst this morning.

Please Lord,

may you take your place

on our praises.

It just drives me crazy.

He was there in the first place.

He's the one who called us.

We're only here

because he was here first.

That's the whole point

of being a Christian, right?

God's voice

comes before our response

to his voice.

So it's good

and it's lovely

that here at Trinity

we do this,

that we begin the service

calling on

or recognising

the name

of Jesus Christ.

For he's the one

who draws us together

as his body.

It's not like we turn up

and then God

scratches his head

and realises

that he should have done

something this morning

as well.

It was his initiative.

It's his power.

It's his voice.

It's his love

which draws us together

in the first place.

Now, next week

I'll unpack this

a little bit more

because it makes

a big difference

to the elements

of a church service

and how we might

approach

or how we think

about praying

or how we think

about singing

or how we think

about Bible reading.

But both

these points

from Romans

and from Corinthians

are trying to suggest

that

the purpose

of Sunday

meeting

is that we

practice

a God

centred

life.

And if we can

practice it for an hour

on Sundays

then perhaps

some of

the muscle memory

that we've

practiced on Sundays

will carry over

into Mondays

and Tuesdays

and Wednesdays

as well.

You can also say

that we're practicing

what we're going

to be doing

for eternity.

Yes, that's right.

That's right.

There will be singing

forever.

Correct.

Yep.

And we'll be depending

on God forever.

Yeah, indeed.

I'm taking a pause

so that you can

gather your thoughts

and ask some questions

or make some comments.

What do you think

like a right

understanding

of how we do

church together

with our body

here in Trinity

how does that

help us

in our mission

as Christians

on this earth?

Like what are

the practical

implications

of having this right?

Like as we think

about we come here

and this is what

we're doing

like what are

some of the benefits

that we experience

the body

by getting this

problem.

I think about it.

Yep, so

and I'll unpack

some of it

in the next few

weeks as well.

Primarily

the church

is a gift.

It's something

God's giving to us.

He's giving

to us each other

and if we

don't regard

each other

in church

as a gift

then what we

end up doing

is making

of church

a burden

or a challenge

and I think

that just

impacts

how we

approach it

how we

invite others

to come along

what we

imagine we're

doing here

what we think

we should be

achieving

or not

achieving

so I think

it has

a whole range

of spin-offs

the next

few

picture words

that I'm using

are the church

is a gym

church

is a dinner

party

and church

is a

classroom

and church

is a

party

and so

I want

to unpack

using those

metaphors

more of

the

value

what do we

lose if we

don't turn up

is the other

way of putting

it

so

lots of

people

decide not to

come to church

because they

could listen to

a podcast

and what

they say

is get more

from the

podcast

and turning

up a church

or they

could put

on their

Christian music

on a CD

or people

don't use

CDs anymore

do they

that just

dated me

on Spotify

whatever

and that's

it has

better production

values than

their local

congregation

and so on

but I just

think that's

so wrong

headed

because

it's assuming

that it's

about achieving

a certain

kind of

standard

rather than

receiving

a generous

gift

and

that we're

doing it

together

with others

not by

ourselves

with our

earpiece

the temptation

with podcasts

for example

is that you

put in your

earpiece

or put on

your headphones

and it

sounds like

that celebrity

preacher

is whispering

to you

right

you and

he have

this kind

of really

close

relationship

he's just

talking to

you

and so

you kind

of feel

special

the problem

is of course

he's not

and secondly

you haven't

understood

his applications

because you

receive it as

application for

an individual

rather than

application for

congregation

so it's

you kind

of end up

missing all

the gifts

that God

wants to

give

yeah

and with TV

evangelism

and with

podcasts

I believe

that God

turns out

being the

second banana

and the

pastor

the speaker

ends up

being the

first banana

and takes

away from

God

yeah

yeah

it certainly

does take

away from

God

and

the hair

or the

charisma

of the

pastor

you know

I often

think about

celebrity

pastors

hair

that's

right

Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia

yeah that's

right

it's very

easy to be

distracted by

the immediate

yeah

one of my

students said

he wasn't

reading the

Bible in the

morning for

himself anymore

he was just

listening to

podcasts

and I said to

him he'd

become a

medieval

Christian

where he

now had a

priest who

was getting

him to

God

rather than

reading the

Bible for

himself

right

that's what

he was doing

he was effectively

not turning up

at church

because he

thought that

he could get

the good

oil from

the podcast

but he was

just missing

the gifts

that God

wants to

give

he says in

his word

do not forsake

the assembly

of one

another

that's

right there

yeah

yeah

yes

and he'd

say he

wasn't

he was still

turning up

once or twice

a month

that is

the assumption

about weekly

attendance

has gone

missing

yes sir

what gifts

do we get

by coming

together

to worship

that we

don't get

you know

I'm agreeing

but can you

be a little

more particular

like when we

come together

what gifts

are we

receiving

that we

don't

when a

great

worship

song

comes on

and we're

just

we turn

and we're

praising God

by ourselves

yeah

it's maturity

so I don't

think you can

be mature

alone

that is

I think

sermons

are primarily

I hope I don't

get into trouble

for this

I think sermons

are primarily

to build a

congregation

of which

you will

benefit as

an individual

but I

think corporate

maturity

is the

primary

goal

of a church

service for

that matter

for worship

as we

together

learn to

be the

creatures

before the

creator

but of course

in our world

we think

individual

maturity

and therefore

we say

well I'm

individually

maturing

by listening

to my

podcast

but actually

you're not

corporately

maturing

you're not

actually

maturing

as God

wants you

to mature

which is

to learn

your place

in the

body

in the

fellowship

right

this is

the thing

when I

give these

talks

or these

seminars

that one

of the

things that

people react

most strongly

to is that

church is for

corporate maturity

not for your

personal maturity

and that gets

often lots of

pushback

yes brother

yeah I

agree

yeah sure

so that

I do

in the end

benefit

individually

too

but I

can't say

I'm not

going to

turn up

at church

because I'm

not going

to get

anything

out of

it today

you turn

up at

church

because we're

going to get

something out

of it

today

and so

the danger

of highlighting

the individual

maturity

at the expense

of the

corporate

maturity

is that

then you

say the

podcast is

going to

do me

just fine

could you

touch on

the historical

worship

aspect

with

Israel

and the

relationship

to God

versus now

sure

so

one of

the

biggest

lessons

in

Leviticus

or in

God's

instructions

for the

temple

and the

sacrifices

is that

you have

to do

things on

God's

own

terms

he's

the one

who sets

the rules

for how

you worship

he's

the one

who's

at the

center

of the

holy

of holies

and you

can only

approach

him

recognizing

the way

he wants

us

to approach

him

so I

think

this

point

I could

expand

it

is

actually

deeply

embedded

in the

Old

Testament

storyline

that we

worship

according to

the rules

that God

has made

for worship

we can

only

approach

him

because

he's

first

approached

us

we can

only

approach

him

on the

terms

that he's

laid

down

and of

course

in

the

worship

of

Israel

they

held

strongly

to it

being a

corporate

experience

it was

after all

the whole

nation

of the

Hebrews

that God

brought out

of Egypt

through

the

Passover

sacrifice

on a

potentially

pastoral

application

level

how does

this

how would

you translate

this to

someone who

says

I'm battling

feeling just

really discouraged

and depressed

and church

just feels

overwhelming

to me

or my

boyfriend

broke up

with me

and I

just can't

get myself

out of

bed

or

my

feelings

were hurt

by someone

and I

don't want

to go

and deal

with them

how

might this

be a

helpful

thing

how would

you

communicate

this to

someone

who's

saying

it just

feels

really hard

to go

to corporate

worship

yes

so I

understand

that

there'll

be

seasons

in a

person's

life

where

corporate

worship

is very

challenging

either

they have

a kind

of a

social

phobia

that makes

being

in groups

hard

and so

on

but I'd

say this

at least

at some

level

meeting

with other

Christians

in those

seasons

is really

important

even if

it's not

in Sunday

worship

for a

small

time

but a

small

group

in the

week

or a

prayer

triplet

as a

minimum

but the

other thing

is of course

you could

say to the

person

why don't

you come

five minutes

late

and leave

five minutes

early

so that

you don't

have to

talk to

anyone

but that

you can

remind

yourself

with

the

practices

of the

service

what

God

wants

to give

and how

you've

been

blessed

what your

responsibilities

are

despite

this

season

of

depression

or

trial

one

lesson

that I've

learned

in my

Christian

walk

is that

you go

to church

especially

when you

don't

want to

go

I was

battling

addiction

for a

decade

and a

half

and I

want to

go to

church

only

when I

had

some

clean

time

under

my

belt

and it

was like

get your

act

together

and then

you can

be in

God's

presence

and I

was at

Redeemer

then

under

Keller

and I

just

couldn't

and I

just

believe

that

you go

to church

especially

when you

don't

want to

go

go

when you

want to

go

but especially

when you

don't

want to

go

and I

never

regretted

going to

church

especially

when I

didn't

want to

go

yes I

agree with

you brother

that's great

and it

happens to

me like

that where

I'm

thinking oh

my goodness

I'm feeling

overwhelmed by

this that or

the other

why don't I

kind of

cut myself

some slack

and not go

everything

no no that's

just ridiculous

that's exactly

right doesn't

doesn't actually

in the end

help you

doesn't actually

what I need

to do then

is to practice

being the

creature rather

than the

creator

and church

will help

me set

set my

compass right

again

yeah the

reason why

I've used

this picture

of the

compass is

that I

think when

you're on a

long walk

or a long

journey

then repeated

appeals to

the compass

is exactly

when you

need to

find your

bearings again

right if

you're going

two paces

a compass

isn't actually

of enormous

use but if

you know the

journey is long

and hard

with lots of

distractions

and lots of

ways that

you can be

set off track

then looking

at your compass

repeatedly to

work out are

you still tracking

north one

degree

here or

there after

a year two

years five

years ten

years can

make an

enormous

difference you

can be so

far away from

the Lord if

you've only been

the first day

one degree

off so I'm

trying to argue

that coming to

church

practicing being

the creature

rather than the

creator learning

again to be the

called one

responding to

God's call

is a way of

weakly

recalibrating

celebrating our

journey

weekly

setting

ourselves

due north

again

and I

think

we need to

do that

regularly

and I'd say

weekly

in Hebrews

2 we're

reminded that

often people

stop being

Christians

because not

because they've

made a

moral

a bad

moral choice

but they

kind of just

drift

like the

boat that

is no

longer

tethered

to the

jetty

and without

realising it

you're very

quickly a

long way

away from

where you

want to be

given the

pull of the

sea and the

winds

yes please

brother

a couple

of times

you made

implicit

references to

how often

yes

one you

just made

and I'm

just wondering

if you're

going to do

any more

than what

you just

did

which is

I think

weekly

would be

good

and you

said something

yes

sure

yes and

I do

think

weekly

is best

that is

it might

be good

if we

went to

church

twice a

day

I think

it's not

going to

happen

anytime

soon

but

weekly

is a

pattern

that the

scriptures

give us

both in

terms of

Old Testament

worship

and New

Testament

worship

as well

for the

reason that

as that

final point

makes

we're

setting our

compass to

north

we're

recalibrating

our walk

weekly

churches

like a

compass

because

the

first

Christians

moved

their

worship

day

from

Saturday

to

Sunday

to

the

Lord's

day

to

the

first

day

of

the

new

week

rather

than

the

seventh

day

of

the

old

week

that

is

what

we're

doing

on

Sundays

is

recalibrating

our

journey

around

the

new

world

world

that

was

begun

with

the

resurrection

of

Jesus

Christ

and

consequently

it's not

to say

therefore

it's not

the only

argument I

give for

weekly

worship

but at

least

this

that

we are

being

reminded

every

Sunday

of

the

new

world

that

we've

begun

to

celebrate

on

the

Lord's

day

and I

need

that

I

need

that

reminder

and that

shaping

every

week

to

orient

my

heart

to

true

north

to

the

new

heavens

and

the

new

earth

when

I'll

meet

the

Lord

face

to

face

I'll

give

in

some

texts

there

which

point

out

the

novelty

of

the

Lord's

day

the

Sunday

as

the

day

for

Christians

meeting

but of

course

in

Hebrews

4

9

as

well

we're

reminded

that

what

we're

doing

on

Sundays

is

practicing

for

the

eternal

Sabbath

and

so

it's

not a

bad

way

of

honoring

Sundays

this

being

our

Sabbath

rest

as a

way of

practicing

the

Sabbath

rest

forever

I

work

hard

and I'm

a single

man

so I

work

kind

of

too

much

basically

but

a good

thing

about

a

Sabbath

rest

is

I'm

telling

myself

I'm

not

stronger

than

God

I

need

to

rest

as

well

if

God

did

and

Sundays

might

be a

good

day

to

do

it

menos

back

신

hey

any

other

thoughts

means

so

the

original

Sabbath

was

from

sunset

Friday

to

sunset

Saturday

correct

and that

transition

into

Sunday

do you

know

exactly

how that

took place

and why

it took

place

Yes, so the earliest Christians wanted to recognise the resurrection of Christ

and on the first day of the week, on the Sunday,

and because of his resurrection and his resurrection power

and the new power we have as God's New Testament people.

So it was a model recognising the centrality of Jesus' resurrection.

I thought I read something about a Catholic priest initiating it,

inaugurating it on a Saturday, taking it away from the day, Friday,

I mean on a Sunday, taking it away from Saturday, put it on a Sunday, so I didn't know.

Yes, I say, no, it's a long time before there were Catholic priests.

So in those texts I've given you there, even the writers of the New Testament

recognised that now this day, this Sunday, this Lord's Day,

is the day where it's appropriate for Christians to gather to worship their risen King.

In the Western world, I assume it's typical in Australia as well,

like we kind of have a rhythm now of five days of work and two days of weekend.

In Australia we do two days of work and five days of work.

Have you thought much about sort of the difference between maybe a biblical view of a week

and a cultural view of a week?

Interesting.

So you mean the biblical view being six and one rather than five and two?

Well, and also, like, it just occurs to me,

there are some people who feel very inconvenienced by going to church in the morning

because it's right in the middle of their weekend.

Yeah, sure.

And you just sort of described it as being,

hey, this should be the beginning of our week.

Yeah, and if, you know, like in some of our churches in Melbourne,

people have a holiday house or a vacation house and they go away for the weekend

and they don't get back.

They think they're doing well to get to church once a month

because they're down at the beach the other weekends, whatever it might be.

I think the pattern of one and six or five and two has been the most successful in history.

So in the French Revolution they tried to make the working week ten days.

You work for nine and have the tenth off.

That didn't last very long.

And it's actually why when the French decided after their revolution to have a ten-day week,

that's when the English turned up the volume on having a Sabbath rest

because they wanted to be unlike the French, right?

And so the importance of Sabbath in Victorian England

became increasingly important to show that we're not the French.

We have a very strict six-on-one rule here, right?

Yeah, of course, and kids have sport, at least in Australia.

Kids have sport on Sunday morning, Saturday morning, Sunday morning.

So that means that it's more difficult.

It might mean that we need to think more flexibly about service times.

So I know that there are churches in Melbourne that have Sunday night services

so that those folk who've been away for the weekend at their holiday house,

their vacation house, can get to church on Sunday nights as part of their strategy.

You think, well, being as a person who doesn't have a holiday house,

I don't have much sympathy for them.

If I did, I'm sure I'd like the arrangement.

Our son used to go with us from age 11 to like 14 or 15

to the RP in Cambridge, and he got baptized,

and I'd go to Bible school and all that, and worship.

He knew the language and really loved the Lord,

and he's an oboe player, and he went to conservatory.

First boarding school, then conservatory.

Now he's in L.A., and he's auditioning all over the world for an oboe player.

And early on in his career, it was oboe on Sunday.

He's completely left to faith.

And it's a heartbreaker, and we wish, you know, what do you do?

What do you say?

Yes, that's awful.

This is his career.

He's a world-class oboe player, but he doesn't know the Lord.

He's fallen away.

Yes, so we, of course, wish that things had otherwise eventuated.

But I'd say this.

We ought not to develop our theology and our practice around the exceptions.

That is, there are going to be people who do work on Sundays,

either in trades or in professions where they have to.

That's just their job.

And you kind of go, okay.

But let's not then say, therefore, Sunday isn't the right thing to do.

Sunday, weekly worship isn't the right thing to do.

We still want to say it is, right?

We just recognise there are going to be exceptions.

We can't make law around exceptions.

You have to establish the principles and then help individual folk fit into that model,

given their own life situation.

Yes, but...

Do you have strong opinions, including communion, every time we get together,

as some denominations do, or just periodically,

or is there a biblical view of this that we can...

No, I don't know that there's a particular biblical view.

And there's a lot of theology that you have to sort through first

before you make the decision how often you have communion.

I'm an Anglican, so I do it more often than less often.

But that's just my tribe.

Good.

Well, I think we'll call it quits there.

I'll say a prayer for us, and then we can get ready for worship.

Our dear Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we thank you so much for this morning,

this opportunity to talk and to listen,

to spur each other on to love and good deeds.

Even now I ask that you'd help us in the next hour or so to worship,

to practise being creatures before our Creator,

to respond to your call,

which comes before our obedience.

And I pray that you'd help us to learn these things such that we might teach others.

For we ask it in Christ's strong name.

Amen.

If those of you in the back could take your chairs and just fill them around the tables,

and if you're up in the front, if you want to stack the chairs over here,

that would be great help.

Thank you.

Thank you.