March 19, 2006 Lent 3 Why We Worship.
(1 Corinthians 1:18-25). I tell my catechumens there are only 2 religions
on earth.
ONE religion is based in the Law, what people do or don’t do to please God
(or higher being-s). This is almost always done for their personal benefit.
They believe that by doing some actions or avoiding other actions, their God(s)
will smile on them and give them peace, enlightenment, balance, good health,
success, happy marriages, kids, and other such temporal and eternal benefits.
Now I realize that is a broad oversimplification, but I’ve never heard or
read anyone able to correct that idea, whether they are Muslim, Mormon, Mason,
Moonie, Jew, Jainist, Jehovah Witness, or other anti-Christian group.
When any non-Christian religion is examined, it always falls in the
category of Law. If you do enough good and avoid enough evil, you may possibly
evade damnation and even perhaps get a blissful afterlife. When non-Christians
view Exodus 20, they see a list of “Thou shalt nots” and use it as rules in
their game of life to see if they have followed the rules adequately to collect
riches and rewards. Again, with 1 exception, all religions in the universe are
LAW.
The OTHER religion is based in the Gospel. The Gospel is the Good News of
forgiveness we have in the cross of Christ. It does not say “do”, it proclaims
“done” – Christ has purchased and won me from all sin, death, and the power of
the devil by being my Substitute in life and death.
Thus the contrast of authentic Christianity.
“My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.” Or as
our theme hymn for Lent proclaims, “Not what these hands have done can save
this guilty soul… not what I feel or do can give me peace with God.” It goes
on to sing of Christ’s work, blood, and love alone – these save us by grace
thru faith.
We love God because He first loved us (1 John 4), and Christians believe
that God smiles on us NOT because we have done anything or avoided anything,
but rather due to His grace and peace alone.
The non-Christian looks at the cross as utter foolishness! That God would
become fully human, be utterly humbled, and then condemned by those He came to
save? For Christians, that (message of the cross) is the power of God to save.
When it comes to proof of who is right, religions of Law always demand
external things on their own terms. There must be some feeling (burning in the
bosom), experience (Jewish miracle; ritual), or inside or outside wisdom
(Gnostic, Greek) to confirm a change of faith. Their version of god fits what
they want to believe: obey the rules of the religion, and you will be blessed
in some way.
Christ crucified is a trap and a barrier to them; it goes counter to
“natural religions”.
So, keep in mind the idea of two opposing religions of works and grace as
they apply to spiritual and physical life.
Why do you worship? That sounds a little funny, but it is a very serious
question that is debated inside Christianity as well as outside. What is the
purpose of Christian worship?
The Old Sinful Man in us all views Church as Law. We do this to please
God; or our parents, or pastor. When folks don’t go to church, they are made
to feel guilty about their failure to participate, put in to the collection
plates, and other LAW ideas and events. So if life isn’t going well, they feel
if they just “get back to church” that things will go well for them again.
And, if life is great, why bother going since God isn’t mad at us?
As Luther said: the Law always accuse and condemns us, it does not bring
us to God. It does not bring a lasting relationship with God, nor does it move
people to faith.
A variant of that Old Adam version of “worship for God’s benefit” is
“worship for OUR benefit”. Sunday becomes a collection of “how-to” lectures on
steps to take to have a good marriage, successful business, or elect ‘our’
politicians to do the Lord’s business. The goal of such churches is a change
in behavior, not faith, eternal life, and salvation.
These are the sorts of misleaders Jesus was chasing out of God’s House
(John 2). Temple activity had degraded to not just moral teaching to
get-right-with-God, but had sunk to an activity to line pockets of merchants.
When church becomes no more than fundraising, it’s not worship.
But there are churches labeled “Christian” that teach worship is about
“giving glory to God” or worship is a “how-to” about teaching morals so God
will bless us for our obedience with earthly or eternal treasures. They are
based in the Law, and so the cross of Christ is often ignored, or even absent.
Unless it is Good Friday.
We’re back to the question. Why do YOU worship? If we gather with the
goal of learning only to better obey the Ten Commandments, we are like every
other religion on earth and multiculturalism is true. If worship is only about
giving glory to God, then we would do better to set up a theater and find
secular music that pleases our ears and makes us feel good. If you’re here
only because you want to obey God’s Law, you stand condemned by God for your
imperfect actions and evil motives.
Christianity is based in something wiser than our fallen nature’s wisdom
and stronger than our strength. It is based entirely on the blood of Jesus
Christ which cleanses us from ALL sins. We sin when we treat worship as
something we do for God or as something to make us feel better about ourselves.
THE PURPOSE OF CHRISTIAN WORSHIP IS TO RECEIVE THE GIFTS OF CHRIST
CRUCIFIED.
It is not by the Law (our own reason and strength) we believe in Christ or
come to Him. The Holy Ghost calls us by the Gospel thru the channel or means
of grace which are the spoken or written Holy Word of God or Holy Baptism and
Holy Communion.
God’s miracle was not to use an avenging warrior who does wonders and
gives political powers – it is His Son lifted up on the cross, the Lamb of God
Who takes away the sin of the world. God’s wisdom was not to use fallen human
logic of laws and hidden understanding for us to gain more members or eternal
life – it is the message of the scandal of God as the Suffering Servant Who
paid the debt we owe for our sins.
God used the cross so He would not nullify His holiness. God’s holy
purity demands perfect righteousness, and only the Son of God has the power to
totally purify humanity of all sin forever, making us justified by His grace.
God tells us the preaching of the Cross is the power to salvation. Faith
is not created by threats or arguments – you can’t quarrel someone into heaven.
Mechanical rituals do not endow people with faith.
Only the power of the Holy Spirit proclaiming the message of
Christ-crucified can bring a soul to faith OR keep them. That’s why Lutheran
worship [hymns, liturgy, preaching] is filled with quotes from the Bible and it
centers on Christ, not us.
It’s God opening our lips so we can praise Him. It’s God “making haste”
to deliver us. We sing from Psalm 95 about the God of our salvation. We sing
about the glorious battle of Christ against death, devil, and damnation, and
His victory on the cross. (LW#117).
God also gives His gifts to us in tangible bread and wine, offering
forgiveness we can taste, life and salvation we receive by mouth rather than by
ears and eyes.
The hymns, liturgy, and preaching DO work to change us – but not merely to
obey the Ten Commandments and live moral lives. The Gospel changes our
attitude to be like Christ, humbly serving God and people because of Christ’s
love poured into us.
Hymns, liturgy & preaching DO make us feel good – but not merely emotions
because of our slippery-slope of goodness. Our feelings are based in the
righteousness of Christ which is perfect and unchanging, not an emotional
frenzy or danceable tune.
So morals and feelings are an OUTCOME of focusing on Christ-crucified in
worship, not the goal. The Ten Commandments can be seen as an indication of
God’s love in us by our New Adam, rather than the list of do-&-don’t the Old
Adam sees. The Law is replaced by the Gospel. As the Collect says, we, who of
ourselves have no strength, are kept both outwardly and inwardly by the power
of the Gospel as we fix our spiritual eyes (and all senses) on Jesus, the
Author and Perfecter of our faith.
For the authentic Christian, worship is not seen as some thing we MUST do.
Worship is what we WANT to do, because it means we are receiving God’s gift of
Christ-crucified and we as God’s children are close to Him.
May the gift of salvation, proclaimed in Christ-crucified, bring you joy
every day, strength in every moment, wisdom beyond the world, and keep you firm
in the gift of faith forever. Amen.
Introit-Psalm 25:15, 142:1, 5-7; Gradual -Hebrews 12:2; the sermon was a bit
basic and rough, but it might serve you to prepare your own.
In His Service, Pastor Michael Harman_______________________________________________
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