Sermon, 2010-10-10, House of Worship, The Foundation1 | Page
Show video –Behind the Heart of Worship
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Did you get the story?
The Pastor felt the church was just going through the motions in worship.
And that people were thinking that worship was about us and how it makes us feel.
So, they stripped it all a away for a while.
Until, people started to put the focus back where it belonged.
And Matt Redman (who has written many songs we sing these days) wrote a song about it.
And it goes:
The Heart of Worship
When the music fades,all is stripped away
and I simply come.
Longing just to bring something that’s of worth,
that will bless your heart.
I’ll bring You more than a song,
for a song in itself is not what You have required.
You search much deeper within
through the way things appear.
You’re looking into my heart.
I’m coming back to the heart of worship,
and it’s all about You. It’s all about You, Jesus.
I’m sorry, Lord, for the thing I’ve made it,
when it’s all about You. It’s all about You, Jesus.
It’s all about Jesus.
What is Christian worship about?
Who is Christian worship about?
Jesus is the beginning.
Jesus is the middle.
Jesus is the end.
Today that’s what I want to say to you.
Today, that’s what I want you to take away.
Today, I want you to get so much that every time you come here to worship, you remember
that all this is about Jesus so that it would help you focus worship Him in spirit truth.
Title slide
We have been talking about worship in a series of messages called House of Worship.
That’s a biblical idea.
God has throughout history had houses of worship
where his people gather to worship Him.
So, we’ve been using that house as a metaphor to talk about why we worship the way we do.
We’ve talked about how if Christian worship were a house,
That house would have four rooms.
Those rooms would be:
our gathering time room – when we sing and praise and pray
then we would move into the sermon room – where God’s Word is opened and discussed
then we move into the response room – where we often receive the Lord’s Supper
and then the final room is the sending room – we go forth to share our faith and worship.
Our house of worship has four rooms.
We’ve also talked about several things that we do in this house of worship.
We talked about praising God– which could be considered the staircase, cause it elevates
We talked about singing and song – which could be like the windows on our house.
It lets in light and air into our house of worship.
And last week Pastor Tyler did a fine job talking about prayer.
Didn’t he?
And He talked about how Jesus said God’s house is a house of prayer
and what Jesus taught prayer.
Today I want to conclude with thefocus - that Jesus is the center, the heart, of our worship.
And the Bible tells us how we can relate that to our house picture.
What part of our house of worship would Jesus be?
Ephesians 2:19-22 says
You are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
He’s the chief cornerstone.
What’s a cornerstone?
Do you know what a cornerstone is?
That’s the first stone that is laid in a foundation.
It has to be solid.
It has to be perfectly straight.
Every angle comes off of it – left, right, and up and down.
We are being built together into a house, that God will dwell in by his Spirit.
And Jesus Christ is the cornerstone of the foundation of this house.
In1 Corinthians 3:9, 11God’s Word alsosays
For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building.... [and] no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ is the foundation!
What do you think this means?
What does it mean that Jesus is the church’s foundation?
Or the cornerstone of the foundation?
Here’s what that means to me.
It’s about how Jesus Christ was God in the flesh.
He called Himself God’s Son
He lived a perfect life.
He did great miracles to show He was God.
He taught great truths.
He showed us who God is and how to love God.
Then,He died on a cross a death he didn’t deserve to die.
God let it happen because he planned to offer us a deal.
All of humanity had sinned against God and deserved death as a punishment.
Jesus was brutally murdered, but did nothing ever to sin against God.
God said, I’ll let his death count as yours and mine,
if we believe in Jesus and follow Him to God.
When we do that, we get a fresh start with God.
Our relationship is renewed.
And we have his Spirit is born is us.
For those of us who have done that, we find a new life.
He changes us.
Some of us were terribly broken and he helped us and healed.
That was me.
Others hadn’t messed it all up before we surrendered our lives to Him.
So we just know a good life . where we know the good in us is Him
and the good things in life are because of Him.
Jesus becomes the foundation of our life, then.
I am crucified with Christ.
Jesus Christ now lives in me.
We base our lives on what He did for us
and on what He is to us in our lives now.
We build a new life based on Him and his teachings.
We live for Him as our Lord.
He is our foundation.
And, so when a bunch of us come together to worship, we are like a house,
and we have the same foundation.
And He is the foundation of our worship.
What is Christian worship about?
Who is Christian worship about?
In worship we worship Jesus.
We celebrate who Jesus is.
We celebrate what Jesus has done for us
and what Jesus continues to do for us.
And, I’d add that we celebrate and worship Him together for two reasons:
#1. Is to tell Him thanks. And to tell Him we love Him.
We give ourselves to him because he’s worth it.
#2. Is so that other people can hear who He is and what He does.
We celebrate who Jesus is and what He’s done so new people can hear and know.
That’s really why He wants our focus to continually be on Him.
Not because He’s self centered,
but because when we worship Him we draw others to know Him.
Jesus said,
John 12:32
“But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.”
He said this about when he died on the cross.
But, he didn’t mean for that to be once and done.
He meant that when we lift Him up, and celebrate his cross, he will draw people to himself.
Where is Jesus in your life today?
Is He your foundation?
Jesus is the foundation of this house of worship
And the Bible uses another building metaphor to say who Jesus is.
Acts 4:10-11
It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. He is “the stone you builders rejected, which has become the capstone.”
What is a capstone?
It is the highest stone of a structure
In an arch, it is the stone that would go in last that would hold it all together.
It is the stone that finished the project.
Jesus finished God’s work.
Even though the builders rejected Him, and crucified him,
He became the capstone. He finished God’s work.
He’s the high point of God’s work.
The end of it all.
Matthew 5:17
"Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.
Everything in the OT and especially in OT worship was fulfilledin the person of JC.
He is God’s eternal Word (John 1:1, 14)
His new creation (2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:15; Rev. 21–22)
The new Adam (1 Cor. 15:45; Rom. 5:14)
The new covenant (Matt. 26:28; Heb. 8–13)
The new circumcision (Col. 2:11–12)
The new Passover lamb (1 Cor. 5:7; John 1:29, Rev. 5)
The new manna, the bread from heaven (John 6:30–58)
The new temple (John 2:19–22)
The new sacrifice, (Eph. 5:2)
Our new high priest (Heb. 3:1)
The new Sabbath (Col. 2:16–17)
Worshiping Jesus is fulfilling all worship. He is all, and in all.
All that went before is fulfilled in him.
Jesus is the capstone of God’s house of worship!
He is the cornerstone – He is the beginning!
He is the capstone – He is the end!
Jesus said,
Revelation 21:6
“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End.”
Jesus is the beginning.
Jesus is the end.
And, Jesus is the middle, too.
Matthew 18:20
“For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.”
He is present in our worship.
We are not just us remembering some historical events.
We are not us celebrating historical persons.
We are in a sacred conversation with a living God who has revealed Himself thru Jesus Christ.
Who is present with us by his Spirit.
Our worship of Christ is living and alive because Jesus is alive!
So, Jesus is in our midst in our worship
And He is at the center of our worship.
Our worship Christ centered.
And by that I mean several things:
- We focus on the salvation we’ve received in Jesus.
- We submit to how Jesus is our high priest – He is our mediator between God and man.
- We celebrate Jesus’ life, death, and his resurrection.
- We are constantly acknowledging that Jesus has first place in our worship and in our lives.
- We embrace Christ’s mission and passion for the world and for the lost in our worship.
Someone has said, how do you know you have worshiped?
And they answer: You have worshiped if you obey God.
Our worship of Christ does not end here, it goes outward into our lives and world.
- We exalt Christ.
- We speak his Name.
- We sings hymns and songs that praise Jesus and teach us what he’s done.
Jesus Christ is at the center of our worship!
This is Jesus’ house.
Jesus is the beginning, middle, end of our house of worship.
So, what is today’s date?
10-10-10.
That’s the other outline of our message this morning.
The same beginning, middle, and end.
- Our worship is a celebration of Jesus Christ.
- His life, death, and resurrection are the foundation for all our worship.
- In Him all biblical worship is fulfilled.
- Jesus Christ is at the center of our all worship.
- And, He is truly present in our worship.
Today, we are going to conclude our worship time by receiving the Lord’s Supper.
In our communion we experience the real presence of Jesus Christ.
Not in the way that Catholics teach that the bread becomes the real body of Christ.
But in the spiritual way as Jesus Christ is truly present with us as we gather in his name.
And in the sacred re-enactment of the Lord’s Supper,He is present.
And his body is the bread from heaven that was broken for us.
And his grace is active and transforming us
as we bow our heads and bend our knees to receive Him
with great thanksgiving in worship.
This is our response today to the Word of Jesus.
As we receive today,
I invite you to give Him thanks for all He has done for you.
I invite you to worship him – express your desire to know Him and to love Him.
I invite you to confess your sins to Him and receive his grace for a new life.
And I invite you to receive Him as your Savior and Lord.
Today, our communion will be received at our altar rail, standing or kneeling.
In a moment our ushers will come forward and they will set a rail all the way across.
Then they will assist and direct you to come down the center aisle.
As you do, you will fill in left to right continuously.
You will kneel or stand if kneeling is difficult.
You will receive the bread and the cup.
Either before or after you can express your worship in a prayer.
And then you will rise
Go to the outside aisle you are closest to.
Place your cup in the small basket
And return to your seat.
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