Sermon Tone Analysis

Today we are going to ask and answer one of the most practical questions in regards to worship: How do we participate in worship in a way that both glorifies God and edifies us?

We begin with the word “service.”

One of the more common words for worship in the New Testament literally means “service.”

In fact, we often call our time of worship a “worship service.”

But what service are we to render unto God?

As our Creator, God does not need anything from us.

This was Paul’s message to the Athenians.

Turn with me to our first Scripture lesson:

This is our first point:

God is Not Served by Our Giving

Athens was a city filled with idols.

Overlooking the city was the magnificent Parthenon, which housed the idol of Athena, but the city was filled with lesser temples as well.

Idols were set up along prominent streets and could be found in almost every household.

As Paul made his way up to the Areopogus he undoubtedly passed dozens of idols.

How his heart must have been broken by such sin and deception!

In confronting the idolatrous worship of the Athenians, the first point Paul makes is that the one true God is not “served by human hands.”

This is not without significance, because at the heart of all idolatry is human pride.

Rather than making God great, idolatry makes humanity great.

The idea that somehow we can “give” something to God makes Him dependent upon us.

In addition, it is a denial of our natural limitations a a creator and our spiritual inability as a fallen creator.

The reality is that apart from God’s grace we are totally incapable of knowing and serving God.

This is by design, because God’s glory is manifest most brightly when He gives.

God goes on to say this to the Athenians:

Take a deep breath and consider what Paul just wrote—the very breath you take is a gift from God! A God who gives every creature its breath, is too great to be represented by an idol of silver or gold.

Such a God is glorious beyond our imaginations and as we gratefully receive from Him we glorify Him!

This leads to our second point.

God is Served by Our Receiving

This is powerfully illustrated by the familiar story of Martha and Mary.

This story is usually associated with Christian service or spiritual gifts, but as you will learn to day, it has a lot to say about our worship.

Let us hear afresh this story.

Turn with me to Luke 10:38-42.

Many pastors and laypeople approach worship like Martha, “service” is a task to be done for the Lord.

Let me use a pastor as an example:

On the surface preparing and preaching a sermon seems like a task to be done.

The average pastor spends 20 hours a week studying for and writing a sermon.

Like Martha they are laboring away, “cooking” up a sermon!

Then on Sunday morning they dish it up and serve it to their congregation.

If this is what preaching is it is easy to see why many pastors feel their efforts are a “gift” that they are offering to up to God.

But this is NOT what preaching is!

In our study on biblical worship we have learned about the Dialogical Principle.

Throughout Scripture God speaks to his people and the people respond.

A sermon is not a culinary dish “cooked up” by the pastor in his study, it is the Word of God delivered to the people through the pastor.

Ideally when the pastor is preparing his sermon he is prayerfully studying the Word to hear what God is saying in that passage so that he can pass that on to his congregation.

A pastor should prepare for the service by sitting a Jesus’ feet as Mary did to learn from the Lord.

This same attitude of humbly sitting at Jesus’ feet and receiving is also true for the whole congregation.

Your job in worship is to receive God’s word and then respond to it.

You are not here to be a Martha, but a Mary.

God doesn’t need what you can bring to the table, nor is He glorified by what you bring, God is glorified by what He brings to the table.

Think of it this way, if people left Mary and Martha’s house that day impressed more with the portions that came out of Martha’s kitchen than with the portions that came out of Jesus’ mouth, who would have received the glory?

People, especially women, try to defend Martha, but that fact remains that there is a time and a place to be in the kitchen—but when Jesus is in the house teaching it is most definitely NOT the time to be in the kitchen!

When we gather as a church in worship Jesus is in the house!

For...

We participate in worship by sitting at Jesus feet and receiving from Him, but this does not mean that worship is passive?

NO!

"Sitting at Jesus’ Feet” Requires Great Effort and Concentration

Earlier this morning we used Q&A 90 from the Westminister Shorter Catechism for our confession of faith.

Let me read that confession again and as I do note how active receiving the Word of God must be.

How is the Word to be read and heard, that it may become effectual to salvation?

That the Word may become effectual to salvation, we must attend thereunto with diligence, (Prov.

8:34) preparation, (1 Pet.

2:1–2) and prayer; (Ps.

119:18) receive it with faith and love, (Heb.

4:2, 2 Thess.

2:10) lay it up in our hearts, (Ps.

119:11) and practice it in our lives.

(Luke 8:15, James 1:25)

Receiving God’s grace through the ordinary means of the Word, the sacraments and prayer is one of the most difficult things we can do.

Our sinful pride gets bored with the ordinary, in our pride we want the excitement of the extraordinary.

Consider what God teachers us in John 6.

The chapter opens with Jesus miraculously feeding 5000.

The people loved it!

Miracles—that is the type of worship service that will keep people coming back!

That evening Jesus crosses the lake to the other side, the people rush over to find him.

Rather than being impressed by their zealous efforts, Jesus rebukes them.

They are not willing to be like Mary and work to receive spiritual food.

The ordinary words of Jesus do not impress them, they want to see an extraordinary miracle!

Jesus response that he and his Word is the true manna from heaven.

The Jews did not like this at all.

In other words, it takes a divine miracle to receive God’s grace from ordinary things like the Word, the sacraments and prayer!

Jesus goes on to say this:

Without the Holy Spirit working a miracle in our hearts it is impossible to be fed by the ordinary means of grace.

This is the number one reason people leave Christian worship service “unfed.”

It is not because sermons or music or anything else is lacking, it is because the Holy Spirit is lacking within them.

This is why the Catechism says, “That the Word may become effectual to salvation, we must attend to it with diligence, preparation, and prayer.”

The success of a Sunday morning worship service is dependent on the pastor and congregation seeking the Holy Spirit’s blessing Monday through Saturday.

When they do so a miracles really does happen—the Holy Spirit works in the pastor and congregation so that the Word, Sacrament and Prayer are received in power!

Preparing for a worship service in order that the Holy Spirit is present is anything but passive.

In addition, during the worship service we must be attentive to all that God is saying.

Sitting at Jesus’ feet is active work, not passive daydreaming!

The next two weeks we will look at how to do this active work of receiving God’s grace.

First, by looking at how to Maximize the Means of Grace and then at what we to do Monday through Saturday in Private Worship.