"People: A Worshiping Community" - God With Us: Part 3 - Pr. Erwin Nanasi - March 21, 2026

God has always cherished a worshiping people; from the first time humanity called upon the name of the Lord to the great multitude before the throne at the outset of our future eternity. But what is the purpose of congregational worship? Is our faith best expressed individually or corporately? Join us this Saturday at 11:30 a.m. (ET) as Pastor Erwin Nanasi invites us to live as ambassadors and members of Christ’s body in God’s unfolding story. Our message this week is the third and final message in our series “God With Us: Place, Time, People” titled “People: A Worshiping Community.”

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:05

Let us pray. Oh Lord, we are your body. We all have a unique purpose. We are members of the same body, and Jesus is the head. He is the leader. He's the one that gives us gifts, gives us talents. He's the one that wants this church to be fully built. Thank you so much that we can be here today to worship. I pray that you will remain with us, that your Holy Spirit will speak to us the way that only the Holy Spirit can. Speak to our hearts, speak to our minds, transform us so that we can become more like you. That is our prayer in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. Thank you so much for singing. I'll just grab a stand here. Isn't it good to come together in worship? To enjoy that together in unity. That is the blessing. Now, it's been a privilege for me to get the time to share a few sermons with you. This was a sermon series of three parts. And uh we started together. The first one, you know, the place where God meets us. There are times God has set apart to meet us, but today we come to a final, most personal truth. In the first part, if you remember, if you haven't been here, just repeat. Um, we stood with the woman at the well. Remember that sermon? With the woman at the well, and uh we learned that worship is not confined to a mountain or to a building. God is not limited to place, he meets us where we are. Last week, we discovered that God did not only sanctify space, but he sanctified time. And the Sabbath is his palace in time, a weekly appointment with his people. Now, today I'm gonna ask what kind of people gather in that time that he has sanctified? What kind of people does God dwell among? God not only meets us in a place, not only meets us in time, but he meets us in a people. A holy, royal covenant people. 1 Peter chapter 2 says, You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession. How would we walk? How would we talk if that was in fact true? That we are a royal priesthood, we are a set-apart nation, we are his special possession. And then Ephesians, as we have read together, we're built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. Do you hear that language? God is in fact saying that we are not just a people, we are a dwelling place, we are a sanctuary, we are a temple, not merely of stone, but of souls. Not merely architecture, but an assembly. God is building himself a people. So my attempt this morning, and we do not have much time, and believe me, I could talk about this for quite a long time. We're going to survey scripture. So if you have a Bible in front of you, it might help you to just see the sections that we're going to go through. I might give you some references, and if you want a more detailed overview, I'll give it to you if you send me an email. But today we're just going to survey from Genesis to Revelation, if you will, what scripture might have to say about worship. Now, some of you might go, well, you missed the text, Pastor. You missed my favorite passage, you missed what goes awry over here. I know, because we don't have all the time. So today it's going to be a survey. We're zooming out, we're zooming out and starting with Genesis onward, realizing that worship was not always just private or individualistic. Worship actually has to do with the covenantal, communal, and identity forming people. You think of Adam and Eve. You know, they built an altar. Cain and Abel built an altar. We know how that went. But only in Genesis chapter 4, verse 26, and you can mark that in your Bible if you want. In Genesis chapter 4, verse 26, it says, And to Seth, to him also there was born a son, and he called his name Enos. And then began man to call upon the name of the Lord. Many theologians would agree that at this time is perhaps the time where congregational or corporate worship must have started. It wasn't no longer that one person was doing it. No, now people were starting to assemble. And what did that look like over time? You continue. Noah built an altar, Abram built an altar, Isaac calls on the name of the Lord, Jacob encounters God and builds an altar. Even before temples and rituals and synagogues later on in formal services, there's a clear pattern. God gathers people to himself, and those people respond to him in worship. Sometimes we might be tempted to think that, oh, let's just make sure we have a lot of music and we will somehow evoke the presence of God. But music itself is a response to God. Prayer itself is a response to God. We're going, we're fast forwarding here. We're already in Exodus now. There is Moses, right? And he shares the explicit words in this text: you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. You know, the Exodus is not just the liberation from Egypt, but it is actually the liberation for worship. The whole point of them getting out of bondage, getting out of slavery was so that they could worship. Let my people go so that they can serve me. Let them make me a sanctuary that I may what? What did God say? Let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them. That's Exodus 25, verse 8. This is not just a structure, not just a system. He wanted presence among his people. And what I love so much about this, he didn't just say, I want to hover over my people, I want to walk beside my people. He says that he wants to dwell among them. And you think that's pretty personal. And yet, he wanted to be closer still. You think of the mosaic, the sanctuary model. By the way, I think the sanctuary model is something that we ought to study a little bit more. There's so many different tenets of theology, so many tenants of how we worship that might seem right in the moment, but when we look at scripture and we see the way that God has given us a pattern of worship in the sanctuary, we can be enlightened in how we ought to worship today. You think of the priesthood, the mediation, the cleansing, the sacrifice, the sacred assembly. One thing becomes clear as you read through it. Sin is costly, sin separates. I think one of the first times that I actually became more aware and more appreciative of the text is when I was in the Arctic Circle as a missionary. And there I was, and I was starting to read, and I was trying to somehow share with people what was special to me. And I started with Genesis. You know, there's God and there's a tree of life, and they looked at me puzzled, tree? They'd never seen a tree in their life. So I had to explain what a tree was. So, you know, he's the good shepherd, sheep. They'd never seen sheep in their life. And so I kept on going, and guess what? In Exodus and Leviticus, when I started sharing with them about the sanctuary, they were all eyes and ears. Sacrifices? Animals? Well, how did they prepare those? And then reading through all the details that we in North America, I would say, often skip over those passages. It's like, well, we got the principle, all right? Let's go next one. For them, what I used to hear was this God loves people by the way that he prepares the sacrifices, the details. What was considered holy, what was considered, and how they were to prepare it. For them, read us more from Leviticus, read us more from Exodus. This is our language right there. Although your sin might be as red as scarlet, it'll be whiter than snow. Snow, we understand. Anyway, I get ahead of myself. But I learned a lot about how scripture is the word of God. If we become too selective with our word, it's like, well, maybe people will respond only to this passage. We're limiting the power of God. This is the word of God. It is living, and it will respond, it will apply to people all over the world. But the sanctuary teaches us not only the doctrine, it teaches us about the value of repentance, of confession, cleansing, thanksgiving, holiness, how we approach God, the different elements of worship, if you will. There is prayer there, there are songs there, there's the reading of scripture there, there's giving there. Permit me, just as your worship pastor, to have a little application here. Sometimes the music that we sing or the worship services that we attend do not fully represent the sanctuary understanding. What do I mean by this? There's a verse that summarizes this well. If you want to flip there, just note it down. 1 John 1 9 says, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to what? To cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If you look at this in the sanctuary service, there were different compartments, right? You had the courtyard, then you had a holy place, and then you had a most holy place. In the courtyard, that is where we are saved from the penalty of sin, justification. And then here in the holy place, you're saved from the power of sin. That's sanctification. And then in the most holy place, you are saved from the presence of sin, glorification. It's a pattern that is showing us in history, in time, and also ultimately when Jesus comes again. However, when our worship only revolves around one thing, we tend to miss out on the larger story. There's nothing wrong with having songs about justification. There's nothing wrong with having songs about God saving us from the penalty of sin. But there's also something to be said about God saving us from the power of sin in our lives. Isn't that true? The same God that can save us from our sins past is the one that can keep us from falling, that can keep us from sinning. It's the same one that ultimately is going to take care of sin altogether. Our worship gotta express that. Because God is expressing that. If you look at the worship components, you know, sometimes people ask, you know, what is the most holy instrument? And then you have debates. Is it the organ? Well, the organ is not really in here. Is it the harp? Well, the harp is there, but a bit later. What is the instrument that God really asked for worship? That's my question for you. You can get back to me uh later if you have the answer. Um, we can have a nice Bible study. Well, what is the instrument that God actually ordained for worship? That he calls for to worship for. It's not the harp, it's not the lute, it's not the lie or the a drum. Um, it's a different instrument. He calls it, it's a call to worship, and it's also a call to war sometimes. Sometimes it's used with one instrument, sometimes with two. It's very interesting. But as time progresses, we are now with David in the book of Samuel and then also in the book of Chronicles. David, he does something interesting. He interprets what Moses is saying in the sanctuary service by saying that there gotta be more song. And you now see the development that whenever sacrifices were offered, and often people would come with their sacrifices, aren't you glad that we no longer have to bring those sacrifices? But sometimes we oversimplify it. We think that we can worship without bringing any sacrifice, but there is no mention in scripture that there is any worship experience without a sacrifice. There's going to be something that you will surrender, otherwise, you are God. But David does something very interesting. He's realizing that whenever the sacrifices are mentioned, and now in Chronicles, especially if you read Chronicles, 1 Chronicles chapter 25, with all the order of different things, it's interesting that the sacrifices are not just given by themselves, they often are accompanied with songs. They're accompanied with what? With songs. That's why even today, sometimes we call the singing portion of a service the song service. It's a service of song. That in of itself is the offering. So for churches that have scratched music altogether, they might be missing out on one truth, and that is this. When we sing together, we recount the times that people were looking forward to the ultimate sacrifice of Christ. Christ Himself giving the sacrifice, and us singing about that sacrifice is saying we believe that Jesus died for us and that he is going to come again. By taking away the songs, we're actually taking away one of the most corporate experiences in the church service. Singing actually is part of us remembering why we're here. God created this world, He saves us from sin, He wants us to be with Him forever. And that's one of the moments, if you're honest, where we can be most participatory in. When we're praying, often it is one person praying. When there's preaching, often there's one person preaching. Giving might be one where you can give and it can be a corporate experience. But singing is the experience that everybody, young or old, rich or poor, we can all engage in singing. Does that make sense? That's a that's a moment where we can all express in harmony what we believe. Well, it's interesting because those songs are accompanying those sacrifices that are given. I love the order there, by the way. Talk about leadership and mentorship in 1 Chronicles chapter 25. 288 musicians rotating in 24 groups, the PhD with the student, the scholar with the student, worshiping together in rotation. Beautiful model of humility. Israel did not just offer sacrifices, they learned how to sing offerings before God. Music did not replace the truth, it actually carried it in their hearts. And then you think of the book of Psalms. It's a long book, isn't it? It's a collection of psalms. And some of you might have your favorite Psalm that you know by heart, one that you have learned early on. Maybe there's a Psalm that you've discovered later in life. Wow, this is really talking about my experience. Very rich. And the gospel story is in the Psalms, eschatology is in the Psalms. All the things related to last day events is in the Psalms. You think of holy living, it's in the Psalms. You think of rawness of emotion, it's in the Psalms, isn't it? Sometimes I wonder whether the Psalms, you know, could be a little more than just a devotional reading or a little text. No, the Psalms are rich. In fact, when Jesus was dying on the cross, he was quoting from the Psalms. He essentially was telling the people keep listening to the song. Keep listening to the end of the Psalm. Keep going. And we're going to talk about that as we come into Passion Week. The Psalms are full of praise. They're also full of lament, confession, thanksgiving, longing, trust, repentance, hope. That teaches not just what to think, but also how we can feel before God. Isn't that wonderful? The church doesn't only need songs for victory, but also songs of repentance, songs of grief, songs of waiting, songs for holiness, for mercy, songs that tell the truth. A people sing its theology. A people sing its story. A people sing the good news. Alan White put it this way: singing as a part of religious service is as much an act of worship as is prayer. Not less, as much. And interestingly enough, neurologically speaking, babies even in the womb can perceive a lot musically. And when they are born, in the early stages, so much has to do with the exposure of music that you listen to right now. But what I found most recently in the studies on Alzheimer's is that when people are incapable of perhaps remembering things or even with speaking, music seems to unlock parts of the brain that then brings them right back. And as they studied it more carefully, the music that they listened to when they were 13 or 14 years old, in middle school, if you will, is the music that they'll hearken back to. Which there's some responsibility here for us as a church, I believe, right? What music and what expressions do we have so that the generations that we are forming are well equipped, are well rounded to carry them through all the different ups and downs of life. Because the music that you listen to as a young person is stored right there. In fact, this afternoon you have an opportunity to support young people that are in that age group that are going to play at 4 p.m. I invite you to be there to support them as they play music and as they raise funds for this benefit concert. But as you zoom out of scripture, just looking at it, yes, there were faithful people. They would worship God. But there are also people that sometimes faithful, sometimes struggling. Maybe that's you as well. Struggle with confining God to a place or an object, idolatry, or violating his law of holy time, the Sabbath. Isn't that what happened? Sometimes the people of God ended up in bondage, they ended up in exile. And the prophets had to kind of remind them, hey, it is about true worship. If you go to Amos chapter 5, in Amos chapter 5, verse 23, that's a really interesting verse. Amos is talking to the people, and he says the following He says, Take away the noise of thy violins. They want to hear it. And you're thinking, What? Take away the noise of the violins. Isn't the violin a you know acceptable offering to the Lord? Isn't that a good instrument? Well, you can use the right instrument in the wrong way. And you can have perfect performance and expression outwardly, and yet your heart be in a different place. And God is saying here that He doesn't want such music. He wants a people whose songs and lives agree. He doesn't just look for a performance. Polished music is not good enough. Correct liturgy is not good enough. Attendance is not good enough. A beautiful order of service is not enough. If there's no justice, if there's no humility, if there's no obedience, no mercy, no surrender, then worship loses its signal, its noise. As though one gesture like that can repair what the heart has abandoned. But sometimes we might be tempted to do that with God. We're separated from Him and then we come and we just try to. Of course, God will accept us where we are. But He's not merely looking for an outward people or a musical people. He's looking for a faithful people. We're fast forwarding. We're in Christ's life. Christ's life was introduced with music. He himself was engaged in praying, he was engaged in preaching, he was engaged in sharing, right? He was engaged in so many different elements of worship that we see developed over the history of time. Fellowship, giving. Yet he ultimately was the true temple, the true sacrifice, the true priest, the true Passover Lamb, the true mediator. When Christ came to this earth, he gave us a model. And now we have the privilege. Not like the people that lived in the Old Testament where they had to foreshadow something. Now we can be Christ-centered because we have the revelation of who Jesus Christ is. That's very powerful. Not to be a Christ-centered people is a big mistake. Because it means that we're not really interested in God and a relationship with Him. We're more interested in all kinds of abstracts or theories or things that are leading toward it. The New Testament church is modeling after him. They sing Psalms, they sing hymns, they sing spiritual songs, they break bread together, they have fellowship, they pray together. By the way, I know that many of us love John chapter 316, but for a worship leader, the other 316 is Colossians 3.16. You might want to turn there. Colossians 3.16. That's the other 316. The other 316 is saying the following. Let the word of Christ what? I'm having a hard time hearing you. What does it say? Let the word of Christ. Oh yeah. I'm starting to hear it now. Colossians 3, 6. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. Same concept. He wants to tabernacle, not just above us, not next to us, in us. He wants to dwell in us. And not just, you know, in a reduced form, not just, well, here, and you know, maybe you can add this to your life. No, he wants to be present richly. The word of Christ dwell in you richly, in all wisdom, teaching, admonishing, in what way? And this is why we cannot miss out on the worship component through music or through singing. In Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. If a church wants to have the richest experience, it gotta be a singing church. You might think, well, I'm not really much of a singer. I don't know why you're preaching to me. I'm not in your choir. Preach to them. But God is actually saying, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly this way. In Ephesians, he's talking about it again. There's some there trying to manufacture being in the Spirit by drinking wine. He says, do not be drunk with wine, but be filled with the Holy Spirit in this way. Essentially saying, you can have, you know, euphoria, you can have the joy by singing congregationally to God and to one another. And this is, by the way, why I appreciate that our sanctuary is illuminated when we worship. If the sanctuary is darkened, like we would be in a theater, so you miss out on the component of singing to each other because you cannot see each other. And while I'm appreciative of the live stream, and I'm glad that we have it, because it gives you a proximity to knowing what is going on, even there sometimes it's difficult to have the singing to each other or speaking to each other in the various forms. Does that make sense? This is not a criticism, this is just a reality. And this is why I miss our old sanctuary because that was almost made for having such experiences where you could come together to worship congregationally. The architecture model of that. And the people were fashioned because of it. Worship is more than singing, alright? But nevertheless. In Hebrews, the believers are urged to not neglect assembling together. Because a church is not merely a collection of saved individuals, the church is a gathered body of Christ. What does that mean? Boy, now this is where we're really getting into it. I'm gonna give you the Cliff Notes. The Cliff Notes is in the Old Testament, God dwells in a sanctuary, but in the New Testament, God dwells in his people. So while we might have our thoughts on the space that God has, on the places that he might meet them, on the times that he meets them, God, in fact, today is saying he wants you to be such a sanctuary. Now think of the most beautiful sanctuary that you know. The most beautiful place. Think of the time that you're at least distracted. And God is saying, That's how I want to feel when I'm with you. Even more so. His Spirit wants to fill us because we are his temple. Isn't that a powerful thought? It doesn't end there. It says we are living stones, we are a spiritual house, we are a holy priesthood. We don't just do church, we are built into one. That's powerful. Otherwise, we are not more than the pile of rocks that is now on the old Spencerville property. We're just a bunch of rocks. No, it takes building together, it takes growing together. And God is saying, I want to do that with my people. I want them to be a fully furnished, fully completed sanctuary of people. That's powerful. Yes, excellence matters. Sometimes we say, Well, they meant it well. But is sincerity a substitute for skill? Erwin, you're stepping on some toes now. But let's go further. Is skill a substitute for spirituality? We've been given natural talents, but we've also been given spiritual gifts. Here's the difference for me natural talents might beautify, but spiritual gifts edify. Even when it comes to music, beloved. If music is merely enjoyed because it impresses us, it misses the component in church life. In church life, worship ought to edify and build people up. Does that make sense? Otherwise, it's just a concert. I've gone to a lot of concerts. They've left me unchanged, but they were flawless. I mean, we're talking perfection. Unchanged. And that might be your experience as well. But when we come to worship, is it just that we're coming for skill? Is it just because we come and I'm not suggesting that we come to worship with crippled sacrifices? God wanted the sacrifice, yes, but he also is looking for a people that really want to be with him. I wish to share so much more about this, but our time is running. The main point is what we sing shapes us, how we pray shapes us. How we hear the Bible read shapes us. What we hear preached shapes us. What we give towards is shaping us. There's different components of what leads to that architecturally as well. I'd love to talk about that. Some churches are saying, hey, the most important component is the sacraments. Everything is there. Obviously, Reformation responded to that and said, no, wait a minute, it's in the Word of God, it has to be preached. Oh, there are others that have now responded and said, Yeah, well, preaching is one thing, but it really has to be experienced. Let there be more music. Now there's others that are saying, no, it has to be relevant to personal life. If it's not therapeutic, it's not for me. Oh, wait a minute, if it's not missional, it's not for me. I only come to church because I want to be sent. Others are saying, well, it's attractional. It just has to be excellent. I'm coming here to actually be engaged. Why do you come to church? It's an honest question. What are you looking for in church? And how is it in harmony with what God is sharing on worship? Because worship is a response. What we believe on that is going to shape the building that we're going to build. It's going to shape the way that we design our worship services. It's the way that we're going to be teaching in Sabbath school. It's the way that we care ourselves during the whole week. I won't have the answers all here, but I think we ought to ask the questions. In whatever respective realm you are, with your natural talent, with your spiritual gifts, how are we building the church? Not just to impress, not just to exhibit, not just an oddward show, but how are we identifying what God has given to us to build each other up in music and in worship, in prayer, in giving, in preaching, in administration, in scholarship, as a student? How do we do that? That is the question. Perhaps you can take some time to read Revelation chapter 4 and 5. I urge you to do it. In Revelation chapter 4 and 5, all these elements are seen. It's beautiful. Although you have the whole Godhead present, notice they're not just speaking, they're actually reading from the scroll. God Himself is reading from the scroll of what he has written. That's how powerful the Word Himself is to God. There's congregational singing, there's a posture of worship, there's prayer, there's giving, there's surrendering, there's fellowship. It's beautiful. Worshiping the Creator, keeping the commandments, having the faith of Jesus. Essentially, what it seems to me is this a thought I want to leave with you. Could it be that our worship experience every Sabbath is just a rehearsal for eternity? What you experience during the week is a warm-up. Coming together on Sabbath is the rehearsal. The actual performance, the actual thing we're going toward is eternity. That's what he wants us to be ready for. So the question then is not, well, how were the songs today? How was the sermon today? Did I enjoy worship today? No, the question is: am I becoming the kind of person who would feel at home in heaven? That's what it's about, the heavenly sanctuary. Are you being prepared every week as we join together? And in your homes respectively, every day, that is preparing you more for heaven. Because the more that we do that, the more we actually are going to contribute to be more of a piece of heaven for the people we are around. So, in closing, where does God meet us? He meets us in place. Yes, he meets us in time, but now we also see he meets us in people all throughout scripture. A people shaped by his word, a people gathered in his presence, a people singing truth, a people praying independence, a people hearing scripture, a people built up in the spirit, a people whose songs and lives agree, a people prepared for his return. When the Son of Man returns, will he find faith on this earth? Not attendance, not talent, not activity, faith. Actually believing that what he said is true. Because the the devil is going to try to tempt us like he did from the very beginning. Has God really said? Has God really said? And what we're saying is we're pledging our allegiance to the Lord by keeping holy time, by assembling together, by becoming the holy dwelling, by allowing the spirit to move, not just in talent, but in spiritual gifts, to reflect the image of the Creator, a peculiar people, a faithful people, a worshiping people, because God is still with us in place, in time, and now in a people. My prayer is that He will find that people in us here at Spencerville. And that we would be shaped and more prepared, longing for heaven. It's just a rehearsal. This is the rehearsal for what is gonna come in heaven. As we're singing together, and we're singing about the holiness of God, I want you to think about that. And frankly, if today you have realized, or throughout this series, or perhaps how the Lord has been speaking to you, that there's more to being with God than just your individual connection with him, but that we're built together. Yes, there's the woman at the well, yes, there's time with Sabbath, as we talked about, but there's also a people. Are we God's people? Are we going to be faithful to him? Are we going to respond to him and say, Yes, I want to follow you. I want to follow you. Whatever that might mean. So that the warm ups that we have every day and the rehearsal, so to speak, that we have on Sabbath is preparing us more for that heavenly place. And we become more like that. That's my desire for all of us.