Wirksworth | 19/04/26 | Worship | Julia Garratt

Wirksworth

Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/354059/episodes/19039205-wirksworth-19-04-26-worship-julia-garratt.mp3

Julia continued our series looking at what makes a church a church, focussing on worship.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Okay, good morning everybody.

SPEAKER_03 0:06

I'm just gonna pray for Julia.

SPEAKER_00 0:08

Steve's gonna pray for me before I start.

SPEAKER_03 0:11

I love that Julia's ready.

SPEAKER_00 0:14

I love that you're ready.

SPEAKER_03 0:14

I don't need to say anything. God, you've got all the words. Flow through Julia this morning. Holy Spirit talk through her, penetrate our hearts as well. Praise you, Lord. Amen.

SPEAKER_00 0:24

Amen. Thank you. As a new church gathering, I'm not allowed to say plant, am I? A new church site, we're kind of going over kind of elements that are important to us as a community, as a fellowship, as a church. So when Neil did the list and worship was on it, I grabbed it. So I'm really excited to bring this, and it was really good to just spend some time digging into worship. What I've tried to do in this is kind of explain what worship is, and I've done a little look at the Old Testament, I've done a bit of a look at the New Testament, but I've also wanted to bring my reflection on worship, my experience, things like that. So I hope it comes across well. When I practiced it yesterday, it was a nightmare. I was literally tripping over my words all of the time, but I was tired yesterday evening. So just yeah, trusting God that I can get it all out properly this morning. So the subject is we are a worshiping community. So what is worship? Let's start at the very basic. The dictionary definition of worship is to have or show a strong feeling of respect and admiration for a God. And the word worship comes from an old English word called worth ship, which means to give worth to or hold something in high esteem. Before I gave my life to Jesus, like most, I thought of worship in a religious context. In a cold and sanitized way, I guess, a bit like that dictionary definition. In fact, my mum only used to send me to church. I mean, we used to go at Christmas and Easter, but otherwise, she only used to send me to church when I'd come home drunk on a Saturday night the night before. So she used to get me up and drag me to church, and I've still got memories of sitting in these really hard pews feeling so sick. So sick. I guess was after those ones of being in church on after a night out. But my my second positive experience of worship in that sense was one that moved me hugely. And I was 24 and I worked, walked into a church down south, non-denominational, and it was like everyone was in the moment. The hands were raised, tongues were being spoken, there were small gatherings of people praying for each other. And at that moment at that time in my life, I was quite heavily into the occult, and so it moved me hugely that in a church I could see something spiritually happening. And it was just a few weeks later in that church that I gave my life to Jesus, and he revealed himself to me through a word that was given during a time of worship. How cool is that! So it changed my life in a moment as I met with him and became his. The words were barely out of God's mouth in that sense. Later in Deuteronomy 12, God gave regulations around the acts of worship. It should come up here. So, New Living Translation. Rather, you must seek the Lord your God at the place of worship he himself will choose from among all the tribes, the place where his name will be honored. There you will bring your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, your sacred offerings, your offsprings, your offsprings, your offerings to fulfill your voluntary offerings and your offerings of the firstborn animals of your herds and flocks. There you and your families will feast in the presence of the Lord your God. And you will rejoice in all you have accomplished, because the Lord your God has blessed you. I love the word feast in that. And it reminds me of the banqueting table in Psalm 23 that was written by David just 400 years later, and it made me think, I'm sure he would have been influenced by that scripture, because it's just such an amazing word. At the end of that chapter in verse 32, God says to his people, Israel, so be careful to obey all the commands I give to you. You must not add anything to them or subtract anything from them. As we know, that didn't happen. They pursued their own desires, their wants, and created other gods to bow down to. And this happens throughout the Old Testament. Isaiah the prophet in chapter 29 says, and so the Lord says, These people say they are mine. They honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, and their worship of me is nothing but man-made rules learned by rote. You see, the problem with the acts of worship in the Old Testament, it was based on rules and regulations. The people were told to do this. The passage I read out in Deuteronomy literally says, you must. Now, some of us are naturally rule keepers, and some of us are naturally rule breakers. For those of us who have children, you will know this. And as parents of four, we have a big mixture. And Neil and I are a big mixture. I'll let you decide who's who. However, none of us are perfect. So we will all ultimately fail. We will all break the rules. And there have been seasons in my own life where my worship has not been for God, but about giving my attention to other things, where I'm more taken up with the children, life, its problems, my health, people who've upset me. And when I come to church, I've switched off. I know the songs, I know the smile to paste on, but my heart, as Isaiah said, was far, far from God. In Genesis, God created us to be in his presence constantly. We were never made to be apart from him. He walked in the garden with us in the cool of the evening. However, because of the fall and sin coming into this world, this perfect relationship was broken. God knew that our only hope was to stay true to him, focused on him and him alone. And that truth is still the same today. It's still the most important thing for us in living out our true identity and purpose. We must pursue and desire his presence every day. And that's true worship. So, God in the Old Testament asked his people to worship them with their time, not their children, their time, their money, their wealth, their livestock as sacrifices, but he could not force them to bring their hearts. Why not? Because he gave us free will. He wants us to choose him voluntarily. He wants us to love him because we want to. So he had to use another way. He had to show us another way because we can't help ourselves. We can't save ourselves. Our instinct is to do things our way. We just needed to see that for ourselves. And that's really what happens during the Old Testament. God wasn't scratching his head, wondering what to do. The answer was always there at the very beginning. And it was Jesus. So, Jesus, he died for us, and it was probably the ultimate display of love. And when he died on that cross, he was God in flesh. God knew we could not help ourselves. We would be a slave to our sinful nature and Satan, who is the prince of this world. So he died for us. He was the ultimate sacrifice and giving himself freely so that through him we could have our slate made clean, so that we could come into God's presence. The temple curtain was torn into so we could run into the Holy of Holies. An unclean people mixed with a holy God. Jesus came to dwell in us and make our bodies his temple, which is what we've been singing about this morning and what Annette was showing with the puppets. He comes to fill us by his Holy Spirit. So, New Testament, what does Jesus say about worship? In John 4, verse 23 to 24, to the Samaritan woman at the well, he says, But the time is coming, indeed, it's here now, when true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way. For God is spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. Now we couldn't get the Passion translation up on here, but I'll read it to you because I love it. From now on, worshipping the Father will not be a matter of the right place, but with the right heart. For God is a spirit, and he longs to have sincere worshippers who adore him in the realm of spirit and in truth. So what does that mean? The overarching lesson that Jesus was trying to get across was that worship was not to be confined to a single geographical area like the temple, or governed by Old Testament law. Worship in spirit becomes about the heart. Nothing is external, no external actions at all. Worship can happen anywhere as we carry his spirit in us. He lives in our physical being. One of the religious scholars, a Pharisee, asked Jesus, teacher, what commandment in the law is the greatest? And Jesus answered him, Love the Lord, Matthew 22, this is verse 37. Love the Lord your God with every passion of your heart, with all the energy of your being, and with every thought that was within you. I've just read the passion, which I love. Again, I'll repeat that. Love the Lord your God with every passion of your heart, with all of the energy of your being, and with every thought that is within you. That's quite God, isn't it? David in Psalm 27, verse 4, says, One thing I have asked of the Lord that I will seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, and to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. That is surely true worship. A soul completely surrendered to him. When Jesus spoke about worshiping in truth, he was speaking about the truth of his word in the scriptures. The truth of who God is. He is. We need to know him, his character, his love for us. Scripture is full of the truth of who he is. We know he will never leave or forsake us, and he created us before time began. He's good, he's kind, he's gracious, he's merciful. So our worship is on the basis of this rock solid foundation that will never change, because his word says so. Worship is not done out of obligation or fear, but out of a love for him, because he first loved us. Paul says in Romans verse, sorry, Romans 12, verse 1. And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice, the kind he will find truly acceptable. This is the way to truly worship him. Don't copy the behaviour and customs of the world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. So, God, through the Holy Spirit, does all of the work in us. Our effort is only required in our worship for Him. Holy Spirit does all of the work. Our effort is only required in our worship for him. It sounds easy, but unfortunately it's not. We're always trying to sort and fix ourselves, others, situations. I'm a great one for that. And in doing this, we are not allowing him to fully work in us. In fact, we're blocking him. We've been kind of uh talking about books, and we've got a selection of books. Where is it on the table? Around there. And I picked this one up when we first did our first meeting here: a Bill Johnson book, Face to Face with God. And there's a couple of things he says in there, which I really liked. He says, few people give him God a life to rest upon as they are not entering into his rest. I'll say it again, few people give him a life to rest upon as they are not entering into his rest. And he's talking about the Sabbath rest, isn't he? What does our Sabbath rest look like? It's where a place where our soul can be. And again, going back to King David in Psalm 27, he talks about gazing upon his beauty, inquiring in his temple, feasting in his presence. That is our rest. I don't do this enough. I'm very guilty of this. There are so many distractions that turn my gaze constantly from the very sustenance my soul needs. So, a question for you. To who or what are you building your altar today? Who are you building it for today? Are you building it for Jesus? Another quote in this book, he says, the only type of worship is extravagant worship. And that got me thinking. The meaning of extravagance is something that lacks restraint, isn't it? You're giving everything. Um and I just had a funny memory when I was thinking about this, and there's probably one person in the room who will remember this. Many years ago, we had a lady that used to come to our church, and she liked extravagant worship, and she literally used to pogo up and down, and it wasn't often in time to the music, and she loved like flailing around, and it was yeah, it was different. Nothing wrong with it, it was just different, and we're so British, I'm so British, and so kind of like conformist and polite. And the person standing next to me turned round and said, Julia, I am so glad that heaven is such a big place. So extravagant worship. I mean, David, King David um did extravagant worship, didn't he? And I think his wife sneered at him because he did. But actually, we're talking about heart, aren't we? God looks at our heart. So we can have extravagance in a quiet way, can't we? Or we could have extravagance in a loud way. That's not the meaning. It's our extra our worship should be extravagant, lacking nothing, giving everything. It's a heart response, it's not an outward display. Even Satan knew how important worship is. When he was tempting Jesus in the desert after his baptism, after yeah, after Jesus' baptism, he asked Jesus to worship him, offering him all the kingdoms of the earth in exchange. So we must give time to worship. Joe spoke a few weeks ago and talked about obedience. Jesus said, if you love me, you will keep my commands in John 14, verse 15. Obedience is a discipline that eventually creates righteousness. In Romans 6, verse 16, it says, You can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living. Moses had to go up a mountain to meet God, but ultimately God in the person of Jesus came down that mountain, didn't he? He came down that mountain to us, and he's walking amongst us. And most often we don't even realize because our hearts are so divided and we're too busy with other things. Making idols of other things, just like the Israelites did. King David cried out for an undivided heart, didn't he? He knew the struggle. So choosing to worship no matter what is true worship, knowing that we were first loved by him and he alone directs our paths. Our worship is not about our feelings. Worship in the good times is easy, and in the desert times it's hard, and many songs have been written about this. Elizabeth Elliott, a Christian missionary, author, and speaker, said worship is not an experience, worship is an act, and this takes discipline. We are to worship in spirit and in truth. Never mind about the Feelings we are to worship despite them. Our family have been going through some tough stuff recently. And I have found myself so very, very angry at times with God, probably angrier with him than I've ever been. It's woken me at night and kept me awake. And I've had tears in the day. And for a while I indulged it. Because sometimes it feels nice, doesn't it, to indulge it. But ultimately I knew what I had to do. I had to bring it to Jesus, repent, and claim back my peace. And I've had to do that a number of times. Because you see, holding on to anger and bitterness or disappointment or any overwhelming hurt will ultimately come back to bite us. If we are not handing it over to God, and then the enemy will love it. Satan will wield those feelings into something far more ugly and use them against us. I was reminded in the Garden of Eden where the serpent encouraged Adam and Eve to eat the forbidden fruit from the tree, saying it will give you life, when in fact it gave us all death. Jesus says, Come and eat bread and wine. This is my body and my blood. I will give you life. Anything that Satan brings or gives will bring us death. So hurt, anger, bitterness are safer given back to God, who is kind and gracious, and he will use them for our good and for his glory. So is our Christian walk a bit like that walk the Israelites did towards the promised land? And does worship just bring us closer, just for a moment, to that promised land, our inheritance? Do we get a glimpse of what's to come? In my journal, I wrote recently, and this was on a sad day, I wrote, I will worship steadily, walking in the direction I know is right, in faith, because that's all I can do, because I'm out of other feelings. Anything positive, anyway. So I will walk and I will look up at you, God, because you know all the answers. And you always keep your word, and I can trust you with everything, even when I don't see or hear the answers I want to. So can we worship him better if our relationship with him is in really good shape? Absolutely not. Neil has said so often that it doesn't matter what kind of day, week, month you've had, whether you've read your Bible, whether you've done your voluntary work, whether you've whatever. It doesn't make any good any difference at all. God looks at our heart. His mercies are fresh and new every morning, like the manna in the desert. Satan is very good at reframing the simplest of truths. And they can catch us out if we're not careful. So don't let the enemy whisper to you otherwise. Worship is not about us, it's about him. So why or why do we almost make everything about us? When going through difficult times, what we cling to becomes really so important. Recently we've had some sad news about some people who live in Vancouver. Our daughter and her son are at a church there, and we've visited a few times now, and we've got to know this lovely couple called Reese and Sarah. And they lead the church out there. And Rhys was diagnosed with brain cancer probably two or three years ago. He's 53. And he passed away a month ago. And I watched the live stream of his funeral last week and listened to his wife speaking. And I want to share this with you because what she said was so obvious. It's those simple truths, but we forget them. She spoke, um she gave the verse Romans twelve, verse twelve. Have we lost the it's okay. It's okay. Romans twelve, verse twelve. Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble and keep on praying. Always hope because you are not alone. Even when things spiral out of control, remember you were never in control in the first place. We were never in control in the first place, but he who is in control is with us. So we rejoice in this hope with our eyes fixed on him in complete assurance. So I'm wrapping up this talk about a worshiping community. Worship is a whole life response. Through the good and through the bad, we worship him and him alone. But those wors that worship in those difficult times is probably the sweetest, the most precious thing we can ever give back to him. It's an opportunity to surrender our lives completely to him. I have a song that I love. Um it's by a lady called Kim Walker Smith. I don't know if any of you will have heard of her. Um, and I'm gonna play just a short excerpt of this song, just four minutes, um, just as a time of reflection for everyone. And then after that time, I think Andy's gonna fade it out, and we're gonna stand up and we're gonna carry on worshipping Jesus.

SPEAKER_02 28:41

Thank you.

unknown 28:42

Thank you!

SPEAKER_01 30:10

More than you try to sing all my kids.