Church in the Peak

22/05/22 // Worship Is What We Imitate // Dave Watmore

May 24, 2022 Church in the Peak
Church in the Peak
22/05/22 // Worship Is What We Imitate // Dave Watmore
Show Notes

We have been addressing forgiveness recently on Sunday mornings but this morning I want to look at our perception of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
I heard someone in a secular setting recently say “worship is what you imitate”.
The Holy Spirit led me to John 13 v 1-17. The story of Jesus preparing his disciples for his final journey to the cross.

Jesus was trying to spell out the role of humility and having a servant heart in the Kingdom of God.

Nothing is too small in your life for Him to be involved in and to show his love for you. No fears too small, needs too silly or stresses too insignificant that he does not care about.
Jesus washing their feet shows us how to imitate Him in our lives.
We are called to be servants of others, to live in humility and love in every situation.
Ephesians 4:2-4 

Jesus is saying that when you are born again your sins are washed away and you can come into a relationship with the Lord. 

When the disciples had been sent out by Jesus and they saw great miracles. John and James rejoiced but when they came across opposition in Samaria, they asked Jesus if they should call down fire on the people to destroy them.
Jesus rebuked them. They hadn’t understood that Jesus is counter cultural. 
Their worship was of power not God. 

James and John ask if they will sit at His right hand in glory.
Their intimacy with Jesus had turned to spiritual pride. This was not the example Jesus had been setting with his servanthood in his ministry. Their worship was of their status in the group not God. 
Another rebuke.

Thomas and Philip were sent out to pray for the sick and demon possessed. Philip says “show us the Father and we will believe” Jesus says if you’ve seen me you’ve seen the Father.
Thomas says I won’t believe Jesus is resurrected unless I can put my hand in his side and see him in my own eyes. 
His worship was of his own wisdom not the Father. 

It wasn’t a soft option for them but they had not grasped the full magnitude of who Jesus is.
Until the resurrection and Pentecost.
They had some head knowledge but when the Holy Spirit fills them they finally understand the message.

We are called to be counter cultural.

John and Peter - Acts 3:1-12 

Before the resurrection and Pentecost I think they might have reached for the purse, now they’re pointing to Jesus. What a transformation.

We don’t see Thomas in Acts after the time of doubt but legend has it he went to India to start the church there.

Philip has a major effect when he goes to Samaria and the people hear his message and see the miracles. A few years earlier they were disinterested in the message but now they are turning to Christ. Even Simon the sorcerer asks to repent and be prayed for when Peter and John help Philip handle the revival by praying for the people to be filled with the Spirit.
The disciples have been changed by the power of witnessing the resurrected Jesus and the filling of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost

Application
Jesus has called us to be counter cultural by serving the community around us with humility not for status and to love one another.

Peter was shocked at the humility Jesus showed when he washed the disciples feet.
As a Christian, are you what the world expects?
As a follower of Christ do our expectations line up with the example Jesus set us?
Have you put Jesus in a box thinking he should work in a certain way?

Jesus is never the way I expect him to be full of holy grace and mercy. Are we being different to the world view of the church?