HOME

02.01.09

4th Sunday in Ordinary Time

SERMON SERIES: QUESTIONS FOR GOD

SERIES 2: WORSHIP, PRAYER & ETERNAL LIIFE

PART 1: WHY DO WE WORSHIP GOD?

EXODUS 20:1-11; ACTS 17:16-34

• Pluralism & the Christian Faith
• Living In A Pluralistic Culture
• We live in a pluralistic culture
• Gone are the days when there was really only one religious faith among the people who live in America
• We used to call ourselves a Christian nation, but we can no longer make that claim
• While our nation was founded upon Christian principles, Christianity is no longer the only religion practiced here
• We may refer to ourselves as a religious nation, but we are no longer purely Christian
• Christianity is one option among many and our Constitution guarantees that each of us can choose to believe or not believe whatever we want
• While a majority of Americans still claim to be Christian, the number of those who actually practice the Christian faith is declining
• If all of those who claim to be Christian took their faith seriously and actually practiced it, every Christian Church in America would be overflowing every Sunday morning
• Other faiths, such as Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, and Sikhism, not only exist in our culture, they are growing in popularity, competing with Christianity for converts
• The Christian Response to Pluralism
• So we are caught in a dilemma:  How do we, as Christians, live out our faith in a cultural climate that’s as diverse as ours?
• Do we claim that ours is the only truth and shut out all who believe differently from us?
• Do we try to force those who are different into believing exactly the same way we believe?
• Do we try to eliminate all other faiths except Christianity in a kind of religious genocide?
• Do we engage in dialogue with people of other faiths so that we might better understand their beliefs and they ours?
• Do we seek to find commonality so we may work together and coexist peacefully with one another?
• These are difficult questions to wrestle with in light of Jesus’ commission to all who follow him: “Therefore go, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:19-20a)
• In order to live our lives effectively as Christians and witness to those who hold different beliefs in a culture as diverse as ours, we must first have a clear understanding of what we believe and why we believe it
• In his first letter to the early Christians, Peter admonishes them: “But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord.  Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.  But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.” (1 Peter 3:15-16)
• One such question that we need to wrestle with is “Why do we worship God?”
• Unless we have a clear understanding of that for ourselves, we will not be able to witness effectively to others
• Knowing What We Believe
• The Charter of Faith
• In order to begin to answer this question from a scriptural basis, the most obvious place to turn is to the Ten Commandments
• It is here that we have God’s requirements that we worship only God as God, that we make no image to represent God, that we not misuse or misrepresent the name of God, and that we set aside one day in seven to focus our attention on God
• In order to understand God’s word to us, we must set these words in the context in which they were spoken
• These words are more than just a checklist of do’s and don’ts that, if we are able to check them all off, we’re living a life of faithfulness to God
• These words are the words of a community charter spoken by God to a people that God was forming to be God’s community
• These words define relationships within the community—the people’s relationship to God and God’s to them, and the people’s relationship with other people
• It is the people’s faithfulness in living out these relationships—both to God and to each other—that makes this community unique
• This community charter begins with the reason why God’s people must worship God and God alone—vs. 2 & 3
• The reason why God’s people must have no God except God is because of what God has done for us
• For the people of Israel, the reason was that it was God alone who set them free from their bondage as slaves in Egypt
• None of the Egyptian gods nor any other god was able to do this
• Only God, the Creator and Ruler of the universe, has the power to intervene on their behalf
• Neither could they free themselves
• It was only by the power of God that they were set free, and they were set free for one purpose: to be God’s people in the world
• For us as Christians, the reason why we must worship God is that only God has the power to set us free from the shackles of sin and death
• Like the Israelites in Egypt, we, too, are powerless to free ourselves
• Only God has the power to break the cycle of sin and free us from the bondage of death
• God accomplished that through the death of Jesus Christ on the cross and through his resurrection from the tomb to new life
• And we, too, are set free for one purpose: we, too, are to be the people of God on earth, the people through whom the love and grace of God is made known to the rest of the world
• A God who can do for us what we cannot do for ourselves deserves our worship
• We worship God because of all the good things God has done for us
• The Content of the Charter
• The words of these commandments do not deny the existence of other gods, for humankind has always been in the habit of creating gods for itself
• But within this community of faith, there is no room for any god except the one true God, and God demands our loyalty and service
• No human-made representation of God is ever able to capture the fullness of God’s power and majesty, love and grace
• No other god can do for us what the one true God has already done and will continue to do
• We place ourselves at great risk when we worship anything—money, power, jobs, family, possessions—ahead of God

• An important part of our worship of God is how we use the name of God
• This commandment involves more than just speaking the name of God in a profane way
• In Old Testament thought, to know the name of anyone was to know the attributes of that person, and to take on the name of anyone was to take on that person’s attributes
• As people of God, we take on the attributes of God, so anything we do in our life that is contrary to the character of God is to misuse the name of God
• Since we are God’s people, part of our worship is to represent God in the world
• Therefore, we must be very careful that our actions and attitudes represent the actions and attitudes of God
• In order to truly worship God, in order to truly represent God in our actions and attitudes, we must get to know God personally and intimately
• Each day God gives us is a gift, and what we do with it is part of our worship
• In order to make the best of each day and know what it is that God wants us to do, we must take time out for rest, refreshment, and reflection
• We must take time to focus upon God—to glorify God in worship, to speak to God in prayer, and to allow God to speak to us so that we might know God better and understand what God wants us to do with our lives
• We cannot worship God, we cannot serve God, we cannot represent God in the world unless we take the time regularly to get to know God personally
• Knowing the God Who Can Be Known
• When Paul was preaching and teaching in Athens, Paul noticed that the people of Athens were deeply religious people, but that doesn’t mean they were people of faith
• The people of Athens in Paul’s day were a lot like the people who live in our day
• There are so many gods to be worshipped, and so many people worship a god they do not know
• Starting with the altar inscribed “To an unknown god,” Paul proceeds to introduce them to the one true God, the only God who deserves our worship
• There are several points Paul makes in his sermon to the learned men of the Aeropagus
• Paul says that this God whom he serves is not an unknown god—he is a God who can be known personally, and the way to know God personally is through faith in God’s Son, Jesus Christ
• Paul says that this God is a God who cannot be contained in temples built by human hands or represented in the carvings of artisans—he is a God who is everywhere present and available to all who call on him in faith
• This God is not a god who is created by human hands and who can be manipulated by human will—he is the Creator and giver of life to all
• Paul says that this God is not a god who is far away—he is a God who is always close by, “for in him we live and move and have our being” and “we are his offspring,” his children
• Paul says that this God is the only God who can forgive our sins, and he forgives our sins through the death and resurrection of Jesus
• In this speech to the people of Athens, Paul encapsulates the truth of the gospel
• He makes it very clear who God is and what God has done for us
• Knowing that truth, our only response can be to humble ourselves before God in worship and offer God the best of ourselves in service
• There are a lot of gods out there today, just as there were in the days of Moses and Paul
• The choice of which gods we worship and serve is entirely up to us
• But there is only one God who is able to love us as we need to be loved
• There is only one God who is willing and able to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves
• That God is the only God who truly deserves our worship