Spiritual Disciplines ~ Worship

I have often wondered how these crowds who waved palm branches and shouted Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord as Jesus entered Jerusalem could have been the same ones who just a few days later cried out to Pilate, crucify him, crucify him. Now the reality is that they may not have been the same crowds. The city of Jerusalem was filled with all kinds of people who had gathered for the yearly celebration of the Passover so the crowds who paraded into the city with Jesus could have been a completely different group of people from those that were stirred up on Friday to call for his death, but even if that’s true, even if the crowds were different, where were these people who worshipped Jesus when he was being tried? Where were these Palm Sunday crowds when Jesus was being beaten in the public square? Where were they when Jesus was forced to carry a cross? Why were they not speaking up for Jesus when he needed them the most? Why had their worship of Jesus on Sunday not sustained them for the events and the choices they faced later during the week?


Since we don’t have clear answers for those questions, let me ask another one. Does our worship of Jesus on Sunday strengthen us, empower us, and direct us for the trials and the choices that we face on Friday? Or on Tuesday, Monday, Saturday or any day of the week? Does our worship of Jesus change us? Does it fill us with power and courage, grace and love? Does our worship of God give direction to our lives so that we look more and more like Jesus? All through this Lenten season we have been talking about how spiritual disciplines are tools that we can use to strengthen our faith so that our lives look more like the life of Christ. Study, solitude, simplicity, submission and service are all tools that we can use to give direction and shape to our lives so that we reflect Jesus to the world, and worship is also one of those tools. Worship is a spiritual discipline that can change our lives and strengthen our faith.

But what exactly is worship? Is worship just singing, praying, preaching and the reading of God’s word? Is worship just the combination of what we do on Sunday morning, or is worship something more, something deeper? In his book Celebration of Discipline Richard Foster gives a great definition of worship, he says worship is to know and feel and to experience the living God in the midst of the gathered community. He goes on to say that worship is not our entering into the presence of God as much as it is the presence of God entering into us. So as we gather in the presence of God what happens is that God’s presence and his power enters into us and it is that divine presence that changes us. What we do in worship doesn’t change us it is the presence and power of God that changes us – it is always the presence and power of God that has changed his people.

In Exodus 34 when Moses came down off of Mt. Sinai after meeting with God it says that his face was radiant – physically I think it actually glowed because the people backed away in fear, they hadn’t seen anything like that before, and then every time Moses met with God in the tabernacle it says that his face would become radiant. Being in the presence of God changed Moses, but it didn’t just change the way he looked, it changed Moses on the inside as well. Meeting with God gave Moses courage and hope as he led the people of Israel through the wilderness, over time the presence of God changed Moses and it can change us as well, our face may not physically radiate out light, but our lives will change so that we will radiate out the love and grace and power of God. Worship needs to change us from the inside out and it needs to change our thoughts and words and actions and it can if the object of our worship is Jesus and if we truly open our lives up to his presence.

As we look at worship as a spiritual discipline, let’s go back to that Palm Sunday story and learn some fundamental truths about worship. The first thing we see in this story is that Jesus is the one who has set up this whole event. Jesus told his disciples where to go to find the donkey and he was the one who told them to bring the donkey to him, so Jesus obviously had a plan for that donkey. Jesus chose the day, the mode of transportation and the route for the parade and so if we look at this parade as an act of worship or a worship service we see that it is Jesus who initiates the whole thing. Can I let you on a little secret? It is always God who initiates the worship experience. We might think that we start the worship process by gathering together or by choosing to worship God, but if God had not first called us into his presence, we would not be here. If God had not opened the door for us to enter into his presence we would not be in his presence. Worship is always by the invitation of God and the good news is that God is always inviting.

Look at Revelation 3:20.

So it is Jesus who comes to us. Where ever we are in our lives or in our faith today, Jesus comes to us and he stands at the door and knocks with the hope and the desire that we will respond. Jesus is the one who invites us to meet with him and to eat with him. So God initiates worship and invites us into his presence and the reason God does this is because he wants to share his love with us – I think we see this in the Palm Sunday story as well. Jesus was the son of God and he could have chosen a powerful majestic horse to ride into the city to proclaim victory, but he didn’t, he chose a donkey. Jesus chose to come in humility to make himself available to us. When we gather in worship we don’t have to come and gravel before God, we aren’t like Dorothy and the scarecrow coming before the great and powerful Oz with our knees trembling and our hearts failing us, we enter into the presence of God with boldness and confidence because God loves us and because God is inviting us to be here. Listen to this from Hebrews 4:16 and 10:19

So we see from the Palm Sunday story that God initiates worship by making himself available to us, but it also makes clear that Jesus needs to be the object of our worship. They only one they are worshipping that day is Jesus, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. We need to worship God and God alone. The first 2 commandments say this: you shall have no other god before me and you shall not bow down to or worship any idol or the form of anything in heaven or on earth. Since Jesus is not just the son of God but God in the flesh - we are to worship Jesus alone. Philippians 2:10 says that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, so we worship Jesus Christ alone which means that we place nothing in our lives before our commitment to Him. Now those are easy words to say, but much harder to live. The kind of worship we are talking about here calls for complete surrender to God, which is why submission is a spiritual discipline that we need to work on day after day after day. There is no worship, no true worship without our submission and the one we submit our lives to is Jesus Christ.

So God initiates worship and Jesus is the object of our worship, but if worship is going to change us we have to be open to the presence of God and we have to allow God’s presence and power to enter into us. Did we think about that as we gathered together for worship this morning? Did we come here anticipating God speaking to us? Did we come looking for God to change us? It’s not enough to gather together and say and do all the right things, it’s not enough to come together and go through the motions, if worship is going to change us and shape us into the image of Jesus we have to allow the presence of God to enter into our hearts and lives.

Let’s go back to those Palm Sunday crowds for a moment, they said all the right things (Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord) and they did all the right things (they took of their coats and laid them and palm branches on the ground in front of Jesus), but their lives weren’t changed and we know that because five days later they had abandoned Jesus and left him alone to die.

Just think about the disciples for a moment, they were all there that day. They marched into the city with Jesus and they saw him riding on a donkey – coming in humility, and yet their hearts and lives weren’t changed because while they watched their leader showing the power of humility, all that filled their hearts and minds were hopes of status and power and position. While Jesus was showing them the way of humility and sacrifice they were talking about who would sit at Jesus’ right and left hand in his kingdom. So while they were all saying and doing the right things they had not opened up their hearts and lives to allow the presence of God to enter in and change them.

So let me ask us the uncomfortable question, did we come here this morning with a heart and life open to the presence and power of Jesus? Did we gather today expecting and wanting the presence of God to enter into our hearts and to begin a process of changing us? Worship will only change us if we want our worship to change us. Worship is only a spiritual discipline if we open ourselves up to the presence of God which is right here – right now. Like the Palm Sunday crowds, we can go through the motions and sing, pray, listen and give but if we don’t open ourselves up to the presence of God and if we don’t eagerly expect and desire to be changed – we will not be changed.

Jesus is right here today, he’s not riding on a donkey, but he does stand at the door of our hearts and knocks and if we will open the door, if we will allow him in – Jesus will come and eat with us – he will feed us and strengthen us and bring us the power we need for all of life. Jesus is here today but he will not force himself upon us. God’s love gives us so much that he gives us the freedom to choose and so the choice is ours, are we willing to open ourselves up to presence and the love of Jesus. That has been the choice given to everyone since this Palm Sunday parade. The choice to follow to Jesus, to really follow – not just in words but with our lives fully surrendered to God, that choice is ours. Will we worship Jesus Christ the one who comes in the name of the Lord?

I hope you will make that choice today and I hope you will make that choice often during this coming week. We have some wonderful opportunities to worship this week and I hope you will take advantage of them. Tonight there is the Easter Cantata where we can gather and ask God to speak to us through song and word and times of reflection. There is last Lenten breakfast on Wed. at 7am at Trinity UMC, there is the Maundy Thursday service with communion and 2 Good Friday services and an Easter Sunrise service and then the celebration of the resurrection next Sunday. So many moments where we can gather in eager expectation that God will not just meet with us, but that God’s presence and power will enter into us and change us. So come let us worship – let us worship Jesus Christ, the one who comes in the name of the Lord.