Sermon 13
A Sermon at Wonersh
by Jeff Wattley on 21 January 2004
Our Church Values: Thankfulness to God lies at the heart of
our worship
A man went
to church with an angel as his guide.
The church was full of people, but there was something strange about the
service. The organist moved her fingers across the keys but no music came from
the pipes. The choir rose to sing but no sound was to be heard. The sidesman
stepped up to the lectern to read the lesson but there was not even the sound
of the pages being rustled. The
congregation stood to say the Lords prayer but again: silence. Finally the
preacher stepped up into the pulpit. His
arms gesticulated, his finger pointed but still no sound was heard. So the visitor turned to the angel who had
accompanied him to the service and asked, What is
going on? What does this all mean?
And the
Angel replied, “You hear nothing because there is nothing to be heard, at least
not with heaven’s ears. They are just
going through the motions. Nothing they
are doing or saying has any real meaning for them today.” You cannot worship without the heart.
If worship
is expressing love and thanksgiving and praise to God, then it must be genuine
and heartfelt; it must be meant. I can
no more sing a hymn of praise to God whilst dreaming of a new car than I can
declare my love for my wife whilst watching Match of the Day. Jesus emphasised over and over that true
worship is in spirit and in Truth and flows from the heart of the forgiven sinner. Those who have been forgiven a much are those
who’s worship expresses much love.
So the
Value we are concerned with this week is about our heart attitude to
worship. It is expressed as follows;
Thankfulness to God lies at the heart of our
worship.
Peter Sertin, a former Vicar of Hambledon
tells a powerful story that illustrates the power of a thankful heart. In the days before the abolition of slavery
in
But the man
was not deterred and went on until he won the bidding. He paid the auctioneer and received the bill
of sale and walked over to the slave.
The crowd watched with expectation to see what would happen next. The buyer stretched out his hand with the
bill of sale towards the black man.
“Take it” he said. “You are a
free man” “I have purchased your freedom. You are free to go”.
For a
moment the slave looked blank: lost for words.
Then he fell to his knees before his unknown redeemer. Sir, he said, I will serve you and go with
you wherever you want. Your home will be
my home; your concerns will be my concerns, and your wish will be my command. I am yours.
Have we
also not been freed from slavery: have we not a Redeemer who has paid with his
life to set us free? Have we not
something to be deeply thankful for? Yet
it takes humility and repentance to admit that this is true: and until we do humble ourselves we cannot
worship God with our hearts: instead we
end up going through the motions: but
nothing is heard with heaven’s ears.
In the
Sermon on the Mount Jesus confronted the Pharisees on this very issue. They took great pride in their public
worship: and great care with the rituals and liturgies they followed; the
correct ceremony and clothing absorbed their attention. Moreover they made much of their public acts
of charity and their wordy erudite prayers.
And all the time, as Jesus exposed, their real attention was on the
impression they were making on other people.
But what about you and me? We are
all very vulnerable to the temptation to lower our sights to the level of
impression management. When singing a
great hymn, how often do we wonder if the person in front of us has noticed my
wonderful voice: and when we belt out
the wrong verse by mistake, are we concerned about what people think of us or
what we think of God?
Of course
this value is not restricted to the kind of worship we do together in
Church. Thankfulness to God is a
condition of the heart that should enable us to make our whole lives a living
sacrifice. The message our lives should
give to God is this: I will serve you
and go with you wherever you want. Your
home will be my home; your concerns will be my concerns, and your wish will be
my command. I am yours. That is what we mean when we pray: Your
Kingdom Come and Your Will be Done.
The verse
on the memory card with the vision and values that accompanies this value of
Thankfulness to God is Colossians 3 v 17:
“And whatever
you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus,
giving thanks to God the father through Him.”
Whatever you do. This certainly includes what we
do together as a church on Sundays. Paul
spells it out in v 16: The message puts
it like this…”*****”.
It also
includes everything we do in our service to God: whether it be polishing brass and cleaning
loos or preparing a lesson for the light factory or attending the PCC, we need
to learn to do it in the Name of the Lord Jesus giving thanks to God the Father
through him. When one member of the
Feast for Life Team had to hand paint invitations to some of the Feast for Life
events, this time consuming exercise was transformed from a chore into an act
of worship by praising God for every person who would receive an invitation and
praying for them to be blessed by the event.
This
thankful heart can also transform our attitude to our giving to church and
charity. Some people resent any mention
of giving: and challenge for us to increase our income in order for the
Church’s work to grow and develop. But
if we start with an honest appraisal of where we stand without Christ: and what
he has already paid to give us our liberty and the hope of eternity, then our
hearts will be changed both in worship and in stewardship from going through
the motions to releasing deep emotion in our songs of praise and in our acts of
thanksgiving.
Giving thanks to God is not an optional thing for the Christian. We can thank him for His offer of salvation through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. Jesus Christ suffered the penalty for what He did not deserve (all my sin), then freely offered to me the reward (eternal life) that I did not deserve. What an awesome God!
King David had it pretty well summed up when he wrote his Psalm of Thanksgiving; Psalm 100. Let us end by reflecting on David’s words;
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Shout joyfully to the LORD, all the earth. |
That is worship in Spirit and in
Truth
That is worship that engaged
David’s mind and his heart
That is worship that was heard
loud and clear in heaven.