CHURCH SERIES #7:
PRAISED GOD
BIBLE VERSE: ACTS 2:42-47
42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
TRANSITION: The book of Acts lays out the foundation of the early church, and quite honestly, the modern church as well. Specifically, these 5 verses here explain perfectly the role of the church and what the church is supposed to be and do. So this next series, which continues our Acts 2 series, will be a look at the specific role of the church breaking down part by part week by week.
THE OUTLINE:
A. Devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching.
B. Devoted themselves to fellowship.
C. Devoted themselves to the breaking of bread.
D. Devoted themselves to prayer.
E. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs.
F. All believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need.
G. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts.
H. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts.
I. They praised God.
J. They enjoyed the favor of all people.
K. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
INTRO: For the last series of weeks, we have been studying what it means to be a church. We have discussed various aspects, and today will be the last message in this series.
I read this memo about church attendance, thought it was creative, so I cut and pasted here for you guys, thought it would be a good introduction (it was written by a pastor named Dean Kennedy, Wellspring Community Church).
Why Go To Church
A Churchgoer wrote a letter to the editor of the newspaper and complained that it made no sense to go to church every Sunday. "I’ve gone for 30 years now," he wrote, "and in that time I have heard something like 3,000 sermons. But for the life of me, I can’t remember a single one of them. So, I think I’m wasting my time and the pastors are wasting theirs by giving sermons at all." This started a real controversy in the "Letters to the Editor" column, much to the delight of the editor.
It went on for weeks until someone wrote this clincher: I’ve been married for 30 years now. In that time my wife has cooked some 32,000 meals. But for the life of me, I cannot recall the entire menu for a single one of those meals. But I do know this: They all nourished me and gave me the strength I needed to do my work. If my wife had not given me these meals, I would be physically dead today. Likewise, if I had not gone to church for nourishment, I would be spiritually dead today!"
OPENING: From these verses, the last part in a rather long series based upon the role and responsibility of the church, we learn that there are two more aspects that is expected from the church (honestly, this church series could go on for weeks, months and maybe even years). But we learn from the last three verses, that:
GOD EXPECTS US TO BE A WORSHIPPING CONGREGATION
GOD EXPECTS US TO BE A WITNESSING CONGREGATION
1. GOD EXPECTS US TO BE A WORSHIPPING CONGREGATION
A. What is Worship?
Grammatically, worship can be either a verb or noun. According to Webster's Dictionary, its verb form includes such synonyms as "esteem," "exalt," "revere," "glorify" and "respect." As a noun, it can encompass adoration, veneration, devotion, supplication and invocation. Its actual definition, though, is "reverence, honor or homage paid to God; ceremonies or services expressing such reverence." Worship thus includes both an attitude and the actions that accompany and are motivated by it.
The Dictionary of Biblical Imagery says, "Worship is first and foremost a verb, an action" (p.970). This is revealing because so many equate worship with either a place (usually a building) or a feeling. That worship is an action becomes clearer when we examine the roots of the Hebrew and Greek words for "worship." According to the New Bible Dictionary, both the "Hebrew aboda, and the Greek latreia originally signified the labor of slaves or hired servants" (p. 1262). Therefore, the underlying concept of worship in Scripture is that of service to the One revered. This understanding greatly expands the application of worship far beyond the walls of a building. It includes any activity done in service to and because of the one worshipped.
B. Why Worship?
A man once told me that He would never bow his knee to God. He argued, "What kind of father wants his own children to bow down to him?" He thought it to be strange because he did not want his children to bow down to him. Philippians 2:9-10 says, however, "Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth." So high and great is Jesus that eventually the knees of everyone born or created will bend in reverent homage to Him. This man was so blinded that he did not understand even this.
We might consider understanding the worship of God as simple, but doing it is not always easy. It is simple only after we have learned some basic things about it. I Chronicles 16 largely consists of a psalm of praise and thanksgiving David composed to commemorate the bringing of the Ark of the Covenant to the Tabernacle in Jerusalem. In verse 29, David writes, "Give to the LORD the glory due His name; bring an offering, and come before Him. Oh, worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness!"
Let us add to this Matthew 4:9-10, the occasion of Satan's third temptation of Christ in the wilderness. "And he said to Him, ‘All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.' Then Jesus said to him, ‘Away with you, Satan! For it is written, "You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve."'"
These two verses clearly establish the most basic element of why we must worship God: because He commands it!
C. So Why Don’t People Worship the Lord?
Well, there are honestly a ton of answers to this one. Maybe some are tired. Maybe some don’t think they sing so well. Some people say they don’t like music (which is mostly a lie because more than likely their radio is on full blast). Some people say they don’t sing because it’s not their style of music. I’ve even heard some people say that it is the right song, but not sung the way they like it. Before I slam these, I do want to point that sometimes the heart can be so ravaged that words cannot be expressed and in times of that great distress, worship may not be possible.
But in almost every other circumstance, their really is one and only one reason people who called themselves saved don’t worship the Lord—and that is because they worship something else.
Leaders, now would be a good time to ask the tough question: Who in here doesn’t worship? And then accompany those questions with the more specific ones like: who tends to sit in church staring forward during music? (Remember, most churches have youth who have 1000 songs on their ipod but are prone to walk around during praise music…it’s a red flag isn’t it?).
D. What does Worship meant to You?
Leaders, this is where you shine…please provide to your students how you worship and the process you go through in praising God (this could be very detailed and last a long time).
2. GOD EXPECTS US TO BE A WITNESSING CONGREGATION
A. A Witness Requires Forgiveness.
Do we really want to be an effective witness for the Lord. Well, it involves not just saying the right things, but also doing the right things. And doing the right things always requires repentance. We need repentance as a person, and sometimes if we study the Old Testament honestly, repentance as a nation.
Following is a specific and controversial prayer—despite the fact that there is nothing in the prayer that is controversial whatsoever. The prayer was initially spoken in 1996 before the Kansas House of Representatives, but was later read over the Paul Harvey radio show…I believe the words are a pretty accurate to the shape of our nation currently.
"Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask Your forgiveness and to seek Your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says, "Woe to those who call evil good," but that’s exactly what we have done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and inverted our values. We confess that: We have ridiculed the absolute truth of Your Word and called it pluralism. We have worshipped other gods and called it multi-culturalism. We have endorsed perversion and called it an alternative lifestyle. We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery. We have neglected the needy and called it self-preservation. We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare. We have killed our unborn and called it a choice. We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable. We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self-esteem. We have abused power and called it political savvy. We have coveted our neighbor’s possessions and called it ambition. We have polluted the airwaves with profanity and called it freedom of expression. We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment. Search us, O God, and know our hearts today; try us and see if there be some wicked way in us; cleanse us from every sin and set us free. Guide and bless these men and women who have been sent here by the people of Kansas, and who have been ordained by You, to govern this great state. Grant them Your wisdom to rule and may their decisions direct us to the center of Your will... Amen
B. Being a Witness is also Mandatory According to Scripture:
BIBLE VERSE: Matthew 28:19-20
19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Friends, can I be very serious with you for a moment, very serious? Do you witness? Do you? If you do witness, are you seeing results? I mean I am not being picky here, but in the Bible…Apostles witness. Believers witness and there is just not any exception to that.
Leaders, I plan on having all the teens make a list of close friends here in order to help them get the witness out (I’ll do that prior to the close).
CLOSE:
Here is a fascinating story that I read and found absolutely fascinating…did you know there was a man who actually predicted the attack of 9/11 accurately?
My wife and I recently saw a television show on The History Channel titled, “The Man Who Predicted 911.” We were both moved by this hour presentation and its focus on one man by the name of Rick Rescorla. Long before September 11th, Rick Rescorla, the 62-year-old head of security at the Morgan Stanley Bank, developed an evacuation plan for the bank. The bank’s offices were situated high up in the South Tower at the World Trade Center. Rescorla was convinced that Osama Bin Laden would use jet planes to try and destroy the World Trade Center. The plan and its preparation were hugely unpopular with the Morgan Stanley staff, many of whom thought Rescorla was mad. On September 11, 2001, American Airlines Flight 11 hit World Trade Center Tower 1 at 8:46 am. Rick Rescorla ignored building officials’ advice to stay put and began the orderly evacuation of Morgan Stanley’s 2,800 employees on 20 floors of World Trade Center Tower 2, and 1,000 employees in WTC 5. Rescorla reminded everyone to "be proud to be an American ... everyone will be talking about you tomorrow", and sang God Bless America and other songs over his bullhorn to help evacuees stay calm as they left the building. Rescorla had most of Morgan Stanley’s 2800 employees as well as people working on other floors of WTC 2 safely out of the buildings by the time United Airlines Flight 175 hit WTC 2 at 9:07 a.m. After having reached safety, Rescorla returned to the building to rescue others still inside. He was last seen heading up the stairs of the tenth floor of the collapsing WTC 2. His remains were not recovered. As a result of Rescorla’s actions, only 6 of Morgan Stanley’s 2800 WTC employees were killed on September 11th, 2001, including Rick and three of his deputies who followed him back into the building.
HERE’S THE POINT: For some reason, this man knew the attack was coming, and because of that he was able to plan for it and save lives. Well, friends, we know that the attack is coming, and the attack is called death.
Have we layed out the rescue plans to our friends?
Sources:
Ferris, Bruce. What is Evangelism? Thompson Road Baptist Church. Sermoncentral.com.
Ritenbaugh, John. Forerunner (Personal) September-October 2000.
Santiago, Danilo. God’s Expectations From the Church. Sermoncentral.com.