Please use your browsers back button to return to the Sermon's page

THE BENEFITS OF WEEKLY WORSHIP AT TRINITY
January 25, 2007  

Psalm 63 (NRSV)  

A Psalm of David, when he was in the Wilderness of Judah.
1  God, you are my God, I seek you,
my soul thirsts for you;
my flesh faints for you,
as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
2  So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary,
beholding your power and glory.
3  Because your steadfast love is better than life,
my lips will praise you.
4  So I will bless you as long as I live;
I will lift up my hands and call on your name.
5  My soul is satisfied as with a rich feast,
and my mouth praises you with joyful lips
6  when I think of you on my bed,
and meditate on you in the watches of the night;
7  for you have been my help,
and in the shadow of your wings I sing for joy.
8  My soul clings to you;
your right hand upholds me.
9  But those who seek to destroy my life
shall go down into the depths of the earth;
10  they shall be given over to the power of the sword,
they shall be prey for jackals.
11  But the king shall rejoice in God;
all who swear by him shall exult,
for the mouths of liars will be stopped.  

One of golf’s immortal moments came when a Scotchman demonstrated the new game to President Ulysses Grant. Carefully placing the ball on the tee, he took a mighty swing. The club hit the turf and scattered dirt all over the President’s beard and surrounding vicinity, while the ball placidly waited on the tee. Again the Scotchman swung, and again he missed. Our President waited patiently through six tries and then quietly stated, “There seems to be a fair amount of exercise in the game, but I fail to see the purpose of the ball.  

I believe that many people see worship in the same way.  A lot of up and down, the same thing week after week and ‘what’s the purpose?’  Some second graders were once asked,

“What is worship?”  One child said, “Thinking hard about God.” 

Maybe that’s what the New England Puritans meant when they said,

“Thinking greatly about the greatness of God.”

The truth is that worship begins and ends with God.  We must come prepared and ready to meet God.  Deuteronomy 16:16 says,

“Do not come before the Lord empty-handed.”

We’ve got to have God’s mindset on worship.  

19th century Danish Christian thinker - Soren Kierkegaard compared worship to a play. He wondered why we so often imagine that the minister is the leading actor or actress in a play; the Christian Educator and choir playing a supporting role and the congregation is the audience. Kierkegaard believed that the reality of worship was that the congregation is on center stage with the minister, Christian educator and choir coaching the congregation to do their best for God who is the audience.  There is only ONE in the audience.  The Lord.  God doesn’t want us to be passive spectators but active participants.  

One of the true benefits of worship is that it will reveal who we really are.  Let’s turn in our Bibles to Isaiah 6:1-8 (NRSV) to discover more…  

A Vision of God in the Temple

1  In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple.

2  Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew.

3  And one called to another and said:
‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory.’

4  The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke.

5  And I said:

‘Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!’

6  Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs.

7  The seraph touched my mouth with it and said: ‘Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.’

8  Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’ And I said, ‘Here am I; send me!’  

When we are in the presence of the Almighty, Holy God we must, “Give it up!”

Then God’s grace can shine through our weaknesses.  

You were created to worship.  That is your purpose in life.  Look at where you spend your money, your time, your affections and energy.  Follow the trail.  A trail never lies.  It always leads you back to the beginning.  If you don’t know God in your factory, office, home--how can you know God in worship?  

True worship will cause you to serve God and people.  Look at Isaiah 6:8 after he gives up his guilt and sinful ways.  He leaves the sanctuary saying,

“Here I am, Lord, Send me!”  

Worship is about God and God changing your life.  

During the tenure of the great orator Henry Ward Beecher, a visiting minister (Beecher’s brother) once substituted for the popular pastor. A large audience had already assembled to hear Beecher, and when the substitute pastor stepped into the pulpit, several disappointed listeners began to move toward the exits. That’s when the minister stood and said loudly, “All who have come here today to worship Henry Ward Beecher may now withdraw from the church. All who have come to worship God keep your seats!”  

Our prayer at Trinity is that you will join with King David in saying in Psalm 63,  

“I have looked upon you in the sanctuary,
and beheld your power and glory.
Because your steadfast love is better than life,
my lips will praise you.
So I will bless you as long as I live;
I will lift up my hands and call on your name.”  

May the awesome greatness of God be revealed in your life today!