Signs of Belonging: Soaring in Worship

Series: Signs of Belonging
Sermon: Soaring in Worship
George J. Saylor
April 6, 2008

I want you to think about this question- have you found the place where you belong?
Have you found the place where you have the deep and abiding assurance that you belong?
The place where you are accepted for who you are, all your strengths, and all your shortcomings?
The place where you serve a vital role, and others serve you in vital ways?
The place where you are so woven into the very fabric of the place that perhaps it would be impossible to pull out with tearing the thing apart, the place where if someone else pulled themselves away, that it would tear you apart?
Have you found where you belong? Have you experienced the sense of belonging?

We probably don’t even realize our deep need to belong until we have our first experience of not belonging. They are traumatic experiences in our lives- the first time we get cut from a team. The moment we find out we weren’t invited to a friends party. The day we open the letter and find out we don’t get into the school of our choice. All of us, I suspect, have had the moment, or maybe we feel like we are continually living in that moment, of wondering, “Where to I fit in? Where do I belong?”

I am continually intrigued by this tension in my own life and in the lives of those around me. All of us seem to live in this push and pull of wanting to be ourselves and to be part of a group. We obsess about finding our voice, our individually, our own unique style and expression. We want to stand out from the crowd. Then something happens to us and we have that moment of realization that more than anything else we desire a sense of belonging to something bigger than just ourselves. We long to find our peeps, our posse, our purpose, our entourage.

We have to find our place of belonging. It’s as human as the need to eat and sleep and breathe. Here at Connections we have a couple of convictions about belonging:
We were created to belong to God. This is the ultimate connection we must make, the ultimate belonging that must happen in our lives.
We were created to belong as a group, what we would call being the church.
We were created to belong socially, in a smaller network of friends.
We were created to belong personally, invest with a few true friends.
And we were created to belong intimately. With a spouse, with family, maybe with one or two life long friends.
Belonging is not a simple thing, it’s not even as simple as yes or no. It’s multifaceted and works out on many levels in our lives.

For the next five weeks we are talking about the Signs of Belonging here at Connections Community Church. We want people to know that these are Signs that mark and identify this church. Today I want to you first understand why they are important.

First, I like signs. Signs are very helpful. Bill Engvall has made a career out of offering people signs. Signs serve several absolutely vital functions in our lives and in our world. Signs give us information. Signs tell me where the grocery store is. They tell me what movies are playing and at what time. Signs tell me what’s on sale. They tell me who’s appearing next weekend at the JLC.

Not only do they give us information, they give us direction. You want to go to Toronto, follow the signs. Along the way they show us that we are going in the right direction, that we are going the right speed, that we are making progress. Signs keep us from getting lost, or, should we be lost, they help us get back on the right track. Signs get us to where we are going.

But even more, signs create order out of the chaos of our lives. Imagine if they took all the stop signs in London away. Signs show us the limits of safety, they warn us of danger, they keep us out of danger, they keep control and order of our lives where otherwise there would be chaos and anarchy. We need signs to navigate the world today.

In the same way we need signs to navigate our lives. We need signs to help walk the path of God, to help us arrive at the destination we were created for, if we should get lost they get us back on track, and they help keep us out of trouble and harms way.

What were we created for? Oh I’m so glad I asked that. We were created for Belonging. Like Bob Dillon sang so many years ago, you gotta serve somebody in this world. You belong to somebody or something. When you were born you belonged to your parents. Maybe now you belong to your spouse. Maybe your boss. Maybe your addiction- a bottle, a drug, adult websites. Maybe you belong the money you want to make, or the money you own. The fact of the matter is that we all belong to somebody or something.

The bible teaches about the belonging we were made for. The bible teaches us that we were created to belong to God. And this may be one of the most offensive truths of our faith in our culture. You are not your own, but are to belong to the one who made you. Ephesians 2:19 says

“You are a member of God’s family, and you belong in God’s household with every other Christian (LB).”

As we talked about before, the bible story paints a picture of perfect belonging at creation. Adam and Eve belonged to God, they belonged fully to one anther, they belonged in the Garden of Eden. We, humanity, messed up, and we’re still messed up. But we never lost the innate need to belong, the created norm of having that place and experience of belonging. So God came to buy us back through Jesus Christ.

The story is told of a boy who lived by a river and loved the water. Watching boats move up and down the river, he decided to make his own little toy boat. For days he carefully crafted the vessel, making sure everything was just perfect, just the way he wanted from stem to stern. When it was finished to his satisfaction he carefully carved his initials in the hull to mark it as his own. Then he took it out for it’s inaugural launch. He was so excited to set the ship free he pushed it out into the water where it quick caught he current and began moving downstream. Frantically the boy followed along shore as best he could, but he couldn’t keep up, and eventually lost sight of his boat. He went home with a broken heart. A week later as he was walking through town he happened by a unique toyshop, and to his amazement he saw his boat in the window. He knew in an instant it was his. He ran into the shop and told the owner that was his boat in the window. The shop owner was unmoved by the boys pleading and told him he bought the boat from a fisherman, and the boat was his. Seeing the situation clearly as he did, the boy did not hesitate. He ran home, took out all his savings, and spent it all to buy back his own boat. As he walked out he looked at his boat and smiled, saying, "Little boat, you are now twice mine- first I made, and now I have bought you."

God looks at us in much the same way- first he made us, then he bought us back through sending his own Son Jesus Christ. He made us, he knit us together in our mothers womb. Then we drifted downstream. But Jesus came to buy us back, to die on a cross to atone for our sin. And now Gods says to us, you are twice mine- twice you belong to me- I made, and I’ve bought you back. This is the message of Easter, and this is the belonging offered to us in Jesus Christ.

Just after Easter, we find that the church is born. It’s growth and development is outlined in the Book of Acts- the acts and actions of the new church being lead by the Holy Spirit. In the first chapter we find the last encounter with the risen and living Jesus before he ascends to heaven. In the second chapter the Holy Spirit comes on the followers of Jesus and their lives are transformed. They instantly go from this rag-tag bunch of turncoats, confused, afraid, disorganized, ready to run away, into this groups that boldly goes out and preaches the good news of life in Jesus. And more than that, they instantly find this community of belonging. At the end of that second chapter we read this:

2:42They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. 44All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. 46Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

That is a picture of belonging, and that passage outlines everything we are going to talk about the next five weeks. What were the signs, the marks of this new community, this thing called the church, the body of Christ, the family of God? We see at least five things clearly outlined:
∑ Soaring in Worship- they gathered in the temple courts to worship, they praised God, they broke bread and prayed.
∑ Studying God’s Word- the devoted themselves to the apostles teaching.
∑ Stewarding God’s Gifts- the held everything in common as they gathered in each others homes.
∑ Serving God’s People- they gave to everyone who was in need.
∑ Sharing God’s Love- they enjoyed the favor of all the people, and the Lord added daily to their number those who were being saved.

I want to focus for the remainder of our time on that first sign- the sign of worship. And I want to propose to you that finding your place of belonging in this world begins with this thing called worship. What is worship- it’s most basic definition- ascribing worth to someone or something- to say you are worthy of my love, my affections, my admiration, my emulation, my everything.

When we begin to look to the scriptures we begin to see that worship is actually a very big thing. Is it about one hour Sunday morning? Absolutely. The followers of Jesus from day one gathered on the day of the resurrection. They read the scriptures, they prayed prayers, they sang songs, they took communion, they baptized new believers, they welcomed outsiders in to hear the good news. And then it ended and they went home and went on with their same-old lives.

Of course not- it was the springboard that propelled them into everything else, always asking the question- does this glorify God. What is outlined is that basically, all our lives are to be worship. Worship isn't everything, it's the ONLY THING!!

Colossians 3:17 tells us, whatever you do, in word or in deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” And that’s really the gauge of worship. If we have confidence that what we are doing brings glory to God, if everything we do and say we can do and say in the name of Jesus, then it qualifies as worship. As the bible says we then worship God from waking to sleeping, in eating and drinking, at work and at play, in making love and raising kids. If you can do it to the glory of God, then it is worship, and it is what you were made for.

Nearly 400 years ago a bunch of reformers got together to write out a teaching tool to help people understand the Christian life. One of the things they wrote is called the Westminster Catechism and it begins with this question, which is absolutely brilliant, What is the chief purpose of humanity? That’s like the million dollar question. That’s what we are all ultimately asking- what the purpose of life, and in particular my life? 400 years before the purpose driven life folks we asking this question. 1600 years before that God gave the answer. Join us next week as we look at the answer.

No, I’ll spill the beans- to glorify God and enjoy him forever! That's what we as humans were made to do, or to put it another way, what makes us most human, is to bring God glory and enjoy him in the process, forever. That is what worship is all about. It’s about fulfilling your created purpose. And that simple, pithy, direct answer tells us three of the most important things we can ever learn about worship:

• It’s about God’s Glory;
• It’s about our pleasure;
• It’s about eternity.

The first sign of true worship is that it’s about God’s glory. The bible is abundantly clear on this. When Moses went to pharaoh and demanded that he set the people of Israel free what was the reason- so that they could go and worship God. When God gave the first commandments to the people what was the first one, worship the Lord your God alone. Already he was revealing that we were created to worship and drawn to worship and that we must only worship God. Psalm 29:2 says, Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness. And as we’ve already said, when the church was born it’s first sign was the sign of true worship. Bringing glory to God the Father through Jesus the Son in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Worship is to Glorify God and to enjoy God. It kills me that the world thinks worshipping God is boring. It’s like the greatest travesty the world has ever seen- that somehow we’ve made worshipping the living God lifeless and dull, that we’ve taken the greatest revelation ever given to us, the bible, and made it irrelevant. It’s supposed to be a delight, it’s supposed to be a joy, it’s supposed to be awesome. Psalm 100 tells us to worship God with thanks in our hearts, to worship God with joy! John Piper says that God is in fact most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.

And lastly, we worship forever. Worship is the start because it’s to bring God glory, it’s be a joy to us, because it’s to go on forever. So we best not be wasting our time messing up worship and doing it in a way that neither God nor people enjoy, because we are gonna be doing it a long long time. The final image we have in the bible is the revelation of John, where he sees through this window into heaven and what he sees is that at Jesus’ return heaven and earth collide, and the worshippers of God from every tongue and tribe and nation gather around God and party! They celebrate, they praise, they worship!

And because we worship God forever, we start with the end in mind. The first sign of belonging in the household of God is to gather on the first day of the week for worship. It’s what the followers of Jesus do. It starts our week and sets the tone of the whole week to come. It has been characterized by singing, by praying, by reading and talking about God’s word, by taking Communion, or the Lord’s Supper, and by baptizing new believers. The bible commends the gathering of worship to all believers and urges us to continue this practice and invite other to join us.

Let's close this service, but continue our worship, now and forever. Amen.