What is Worship? Part 5-Doug Crum

And over again is that our worship doesn't start here.

It doesn't start at 1030.

We don't enter into worship.

We continue on into worship.

And long after the closing song or or closing prayer, our worship continues on as we go out to restaurants or or to our homes and we worship there.

And you are gonna worship as you go out to your place of work and to Walmart.

And oh, this week, sorry guys, I'm gonna say it to school.

Yeah, you're going back.

I just had to get that one in.

You guys are going back to school.

Teachers, I'm sorry.

I'm so sorry that y'all have to go back to school.

But that is where worship occurs in those hallways and in the cafeteria and on the field.

Are we to conclude that because worship can happen outside of these walls, that we don't have to come inside to worship?

I guess my real question is, are we really better together?

You may think that worship is something done better alone, but I can tell you that God never intended it.

From the very beginning, God has called his creation to worship him in unity and in harmony.

Why is this?

It's because God has always been in community and harmony.

From the very beginning, God was not alone.

John makes it very clear that in the beginning, Jesus was there.

The Spirit and the Son and the Father lived in harmony.

And God says, I want them to be like us.

And in order for them to be like us, it means that they have to live together with one another.

When God created man, he looked at them and he said, It is not good for him to be alone.

And there is not a better, more true statement than that.

But it doesn't just include the man and the wife, it includes worship.

We were not, it is not good for us to be alone.

From the very beginning, God established worship expectations and practices for his people.

And it was understood that worship would be a communal activity.

Worship of God has always been designed to be done in community as well as in private.

Some of you may find yourself reading through the psalms in different times of your life.

I love the psalms.

They are so humbling, they are so raw, they are so full of passion and life application that sometimes I feel like that David and the other psalmist sat down and wrote this little private prayer journal and they slid it across the table so that I could read it and say, Oh, I completely understand.

But here's something interesting.

The Psalms were never meant to be a private journal that were only to be read in sology.

They were written to be read and sung like a public hymn.

That was the song book for the church and for the believers and followers of God.

It's to be done in community.

But it's really hard sometimes to worship with people who are so different.

Years ago I heard someone say this.

They said to live above with people you love.

Oh, that would be great.

But to live below with people you know, that's that's a knock.

Right?

It's it's so hard to live among people who are different.

But what does this mean for us as we gather together and think differently and vote differently and dress differently, and we have men and women and kids and elderly and all in between.

How how do we do this?

In 48 hours, hundreds of classrooms all over the county are going to be filling up with students.

Some of the students are going to be ahead in their academics, others will be behind.

Some will learn by hearing, others will learn better by reading, and even others will learn by doing.

Some are considered academically gifted, and others will always struggle in the classroom.

If a student who is low is challenged, he might lose the will to work hard and just give up on reading.

If another student finds the lesson too easy, they might become disengaged or worse, become a distraction because they're bored by how easy the teaching is.

But the thing is that school is not just about letters and numbers.

It is about learning to live in community with people who are different.

That's a huge part of schooling.

It's an important part of education.

Kids, I want you to know, I'm gonna tell you up front, and some people are gonna be mad, some teachers are gonna get on to me, but I'm gonna tell you that you are gonna learn some things in school that you will not need and you will never, ever use.

I'm telling you this right now.

You can get mad at me, give me just a second.

You're gonna learn some things that really don't matter at all.

Okay, for all you, I want you to, you like, like pre-AP, like, or geometry, or geometry is good.

I love geometry.

Like, man, if you need to learn like square footage, like that's really, but but for the most part, like calculus, like 1% of the population will use calculus after they graduate.

You want to know why?

Because that 1% is gonna be a calculus teacher.

And they're gonna teach it.

And then like nobody, like nobody will use calculus.

And so you might think, let's just throw it away, it's not important.

But let me tell you this.

I believe in this really strongly.

Learning calculus is not the important part.

Learning to do hard things is the important part.

Learning to challenge yourself and struggle when you don't fully understand why you're doing something.

That is what is important.

To push yourself to learn something, you say, I don't know if this is gonna matter, but I can promise you in your life, you can ask anybody here who's left high school and gone on.

They have done hard things that they still don't fully understand, but it's called life.

And that's what we are called to do.

You're going to have to do hard things.

You are going to be around people who are lower than you.

You are going to be around people who are higher than you.

We are called to community because people matter.

If you struggle in academics, that doesn't make you a failure.

Some of the best parents and workers and chefs and CEOs did not excel in the classroom.

And acing the ACT doesn't mean that you're automatically going to be a successful millionaire.

You still have to know how to work around people who are different than you.

And in the same way, the church is not effective simply because we all think the same and we worship the same and we're all on the same level.

The church is beautiful because we are all so different.

Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?

This is what Paul says, again, to the church in Corinth.

But here's something that's really beautiful.

Uh, and and Isaac can tell you a whole lot more about this than I can, but but I can tell you a little bit about Greek.

And one thing we do know about Greek is that based on the endings, it tells us whether something is singular or plural.

And so because we live in Texas, I'll help you out just a little bit.

If if if Paul could knew English and he knew how to speak like a Texan, this is what 1 Corinthians 3 would sound like.

Do y'all not know that y'all are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in y'all?

That's serious.

These three words, they're not you singular.

He is writing to a people.

He doesn't say God lives in you and you only.

He said God lives in you all, in all y'all.

We as a people, we are God's temple.

In this verse, the Greek makes it clear that we are not simply called to worship and follow God alone.

The Christian life was never meant to be solitary.

All the Bible metaphors for churches indicate that it is never meant to be singular.

We are a body, we are a flock, we are a building, we are a holy nation, not you, you, you, we are.

We are all God's people together.

I asked you earlier when we started this to look at this, and there's something I really wanted you to see.

I saw the Lord high and exalted, seated on the throne, and the train of his robe filled the temple above him were seraphim, each with six wings.

Two wings covered their eyes, and two wings covered their feet, and with two they were flying.

And they were what?

Calling out to who?

To one another.

They were calling out to one another.

This is what the angels were doing.

They were telling each other, they were reminding each other, they were encouraging one another.

They said, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.

That's what a church is and what a church does.

I love communion.

It is great, it's amazing.

But some of it's just really hard.

It's really hard to have a meal with this many people.

Isn't it?

Have you ever been to a restaurant and you showed up there with another family and you wanted to eat, and they said, How many in your party?

And you said, eight, and they go, ooh.

Folks, if we were to walk in, can you imagine us like going to Chili's?

Like not how many, how many is in your party?

Uh 312.

Well, uh, uh, I don't we how can we see you?

We come together and we we partake of a meal.

I think it's a little odd, and I I totally get it, but I think it's weird.

This is the only cafeteria, this is the only table where you will ever sit at where everybody faces the same direction.

Isn't that weird?

I mean, honestly, this is not what a church looked like.

We were beyond a mega church.

300, that was unimaginable back then in the first century.

There was maybe a couple dozen people at most.

They they sat around in a house a lot of the times.

They were in a circle, and when they came together for a meal, it was a meal.

They looked at each other and they talked and they they shared things.

I I did something this morning that I don't ever do, but I've been studying for this.

And when I when I partook uh of of the uh the bread and of the fruit of the vine, I did something I don't ever do.

Like instead of looking down, I looked up.

And I know it was weird, but I was looking around and I was just hoping that I could see somebody and make eye contact with them.

Because when I eat meals, I talk to people and I look at them.

I want to share life with them.

I don't want to look at the back of somebody's head or always stare at the ground.

Sometimes I want to say, hey, you showed up because you want to be a part of a meal and you want to proclaim Jesus as Lord.

And I want to be around other people and I want to share this moment together.

And so we're gonna close out with doing something really weird.

But the good news is that we're almost done.

So I'm gonna ask you to do something a little premature.

We always do this, but never while I'm still here.

Normally we wait till I'm down here and the microphone is off, and then you stand up.

But I'm gonna ask you to do something weird.

If you feel comfortable, I'm not gonna tell you how to live your life, but I want to encourage you, as a family, if you'd like, I want to ask you to stand up.

I promise I won't start singing.

Don't get nervous on me here.

I'm not I'm not gonna leave.

The microphone will be off when I get started.

Okay.

So what I'd like you to do is, this is gonna be weird, but I want you to look around this room.

Just look around.

I want you to make I want to make I want you to make eye contact with somebody.

If you need to, feel if you feel comfortable, you can just kind of turn around.

I dare you.

Smile.

Look at someone and smile.

Make eye contact with somebody else in this room.

I want you to know as you're looking around, keep looking around.

I'm not important.

Look around.

The people around you are what's important.

I want you to know that there is somebody in this room, somebody who you might even be looking at, who is really, really struggling right now.

I've only been here just a little bit, and I don't want to embarrass anybody, but there's a man back over here that we've had conversations.

We share breakfast together on Tuesday.

Uh he loves the Lord.

Um, I love the Lord, and I I kind of feel like we we love each other.

And he spent he spent this week in Dallas because his little sister had a stroke.

She just died.

So he's in the family right now.

And I love that man, and I hurt for him and his wife and his in-laws as they're going through this really difficult time.

There's people in this room as you look around that are struggling.

There's some people who are insecure.

There's a person or several, I don't know, but right now just desperately need Jesus.

Look around.

There's somebody in here who needs Jesus.

And next to them is a person who right now is absolutely on fire for the Lord.

Completely different places right next to each other.

And behind them is a person who's questioning their faith.

They're not really even sure.

But we're here, and God is here.

The hand raisers, you have been called here to worship God and to love others.

The conservatives, you have been called here to worship God and to love others.

The single mother, you have been called here to worship God and to love others.

The person who seemingly has everything going on right in your life, you are here to worship God and to love others.

We're all here, the Steelers fans.

You have been called to repent.

And you've been called to worship God and to love others.

That's what we're here for.

Please do not walk out of this place thinking that you're alone in this.

We are all here together.

I beg you, I plead with you, continue to live as one body.

If you are visiting here and said, I really don't know about this place, I really don't like the guy up front, but look around.

There's some really good people out here.

I want to encourage you, find somebody here, share life with them.

These kids over here, they're they're about to, their, their worst nightmare is about to come true.

School is about to start.

I mean this seriously for our teachers.

I love our teachers.

One in particular more than others.

She's my favorite.

Like I make no bones about it.

But I want you to know it's going to be really hard.

Kids are going to be coming in.

It's going to be tough, and they need some encouragement.

Find somebody.

Leave your area.

Walk across, shake hands, give a hug, invite somebody to lunch.

Tell them, hey, I love you, and I want you to know I love God and I worship Him.

He is worthy, and He is a God who is here for us and who works through His people.

We've already stood up.

And so now I just want to ask that you would just join us as we sing this song in just a moment.

I want us to remove anything and everything that gets in the way.

And then let's just praise to God and praise God our Father right now.

And as we, as Tim comes forward, I want to ask that you would join us in singing this song.