“The Church’s Worship”

Sunday morning sermon audio from Preston Highlands Baptist Church.

What Does the New Covenant Create?

We’ve been considering the new covenant for the last two weeks, how God promised to make a new people with new hearts enabled to love and obey him, and how all of this was purchased by the blood of Jesus. 

In the new covenant, like all the covenants, God enters into a special relationship with a group of people, not just isolated individuals.  One of the most common refrains of the new covenant is, “I will be their God, and they shall be my people” (Jer. 31:33, 32:38; Ezek. 36:28).  In the new covenant, God is forming a people for himself, a people who love, serve, and obey him.  In other words, in the new covenant, God is creating a worshipping community, or gathering worshippers, for himself.  In Christ, God is creating a community of worshippers. 

A Gathering and a Lifestyle

The Bible has a lot to say about this community of worshippers, and the Bible’s emphasis may not be what you expect.  The New Testament’s emphasis on worship is that it’s a shared experience that involves your entire life.  Through the new covenant, God is gathering a people whose entire lives reveal his worth.  Two words capture what we’ll see regarding worship today: worship is about a gathering and a lifestyle. 

Based on what we’ll see today, the notion that you can be a worshipper of God and not be committed to a specific group, or gathering, of other worshippers of God, or that you can be a worshipper of God and live a life that looks like everyone else will be seen as a biblical impossibility.  By definition, becoming a worshipper of God means joining your life to other worshippers of God and living a life that shows that God is your most valuable possession.

Here’s what we’ll learn from the New Testament about worship today: We have joined a worship gathering in heaven, we will join a worship gathering in heaven, we must join a worship gathering on earth, and we should never stop worshipping.

We Have Joined a Worship Gathering in Heaven

First, we have joined a worship gathering in heaven.  What I mean is that we’re currently part of a gathering, an assembly, or ekklesia, or church, that spans all ages and places and peoples.  This is often referred to as the universal, or invisible, church. 

When we enter into the new covenant through faith in Jesus, we join all believers from all time for a worship service in heaven.  I’m getting this from Hebrews 12:18-24.  Verses 18-21 describe the church we don’t attend.  The author of Hebrews describes the scene of the people of Israel at Mount Sinai in seven tangible experiences.  He says, “You (i.e. Christians) have not come to: what may be touched, a blazing fire, darkness, gloom, a tempest, the sound of a trumpet, and a voice that made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them.”  Christians have not come into this kind of gathering, or church.

So where have we come?  In verses 22-24, he describes the assembly that we have come into, the church we do attend.  There are seven marks of this meeting as well.

There’s a stark contrast between the two assemblies.  The gloom of Mount Sinai characterized the meeting place of the old covenant, the glory of Mount Zion characterizes the meeting place of the new covenant.  One assembly is visible, one invisible, one is temporary, one is permanent, one is imperfect, one is perfect, one is based on law, one is based on the gospel.  In “the heavenly Jerusalem,” fear is replaced with joy, Moses is replaced with Jesus, and a kingdom that can never be shaken is promised (v. 28). 

One theologian describes the scene like this, “This church is not one we attend on Sundays and leave two hours later: it is the continual, heavenly gathering which contains all Christians permanently, relating to God through Christ.  The contrast is not between the experience of the Israelites at Sinai and our experience on Sundays, but between their meeting God on earth, and our meeting him in heaven.”  In Christ, God has brought us into his presence, even now.

The Gospel Is Meant to Move Us

We can draw two points of application from this contrast, one for us as a church, one for us as individuals.  What can we as a church learn?  Consider that the gathering at Sinai was a multisensory experience like none other.  The people’s senses of sight, touch, sound, and even smell were evoked by God’s visible presence descending on Mount Sinai. 

The heavenly assembly is just as spectacular and sensational, but by contrast, it’s only seen through the eyes of faith.  The author of Hebrews is saying that the invisible assembly in heaven is better than the visible one at Sinai, even if we can experience it with our senses.

What does this mean for local churches like ours?  I think it means that the awe and wonder and mystery and transcendence that we all crave isn’t meant to be produced by outward sensational forms, but rather by the gospel.  Through the eyes of faith we’ll see the glory of God in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Though it’s not wrong for churches to have smoke machines and lights and candles and incense and loud music and dark rooms, these things could end up hindering worshippers from being moved by the beauty and power of the gospel alone. 

The form our worship takes says something about what we think about the sufficiency of the gospel to evoke wonder and worship in our hearts.  Please don’t hear me saying that these other things are wrong or sinful.  I’m only suggesting that simpler outward forms of worship seem to ensure that the gospel itself is what’s impacting us.  This is why we have a few musicians and simpler instrumentation, why we keep the lights on and the display on the screen simple.  God aims to capture our heart’s imagination through his Word and by his Spirit.      

Where We Really Are

For us as individuals, this means that, no matter where we are in life, if we’re in Christ, we have come into God’s presence.  Your family may reject you.  Your friends may ignore you.  Your coworkers may make fun of you.  Your spouse may not love you.  Your kids or grandkids may have walked away from the faith.  Your life may seem meaningless.  Your money may be out.  Your job may seem pointless.  Your past may haunt you.  Your marital status may frustrate you.  Your body may be failing you.    

All this and more may be true about you.  But if you’re in Christ, “you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God.”  You’ve been signed up to live in heaven with Jesus and the countless millions who’ve been sprinkled by his blood and declared righteous through faith in him.  You’ve come into a party with more angels than can be numbered.  God has given you a place and purpose than no one or no thing can ever take away from you.  No matter what’s going on, this is your reality, and, as we’ll see next, this is also your destiny.

We Will Join a Worship Gathering in Heaven

Second, those called into the new covenant through the gospel, will join a worship gathering in heaven.  Those in Christ are already in heaven and not yet in heaven.  We’re positionally in God’s presence in heaven while we’re physically on earth.

We’ll one day literally and physically join with all God’s people in order to worship God.  I’m getting this from Revelation 7:9-12 and 22:1-5.  When Jesus returns, all who’ve trusted in him will be given new bodies and enter a new world.  We’ll see him, and we will worship him. 

This “great multitude that no one could number” will be made up of people from every people group on the earth (7:9).  We’ll be wearing robes “made white in the blood of the Lamb” (v. 14).  There won’t be any more hunger, thirst, pain, sin, disease, or death.  We’ll never cry again.  Everything “accursed” will be gone (22:3).  The Lord will be our light.  We’ll see his face and bear his name.  We’ll live in a city-garden where all the nations will be healed.  We’ll finally be able to worship and serve God without distraction and with complete joy. 

This is more than a never-ending church service.  We’ll reign with God forever and ever (v. 5).  We’ll do his work in his new heavens and new earth and never get tired or bored.  We’ll experience new levels and capacities for joy and pleasure and connection and love every day.  And we’ll do all of this together, as part of God’s “multitude.” 

This is the end of our existence.  This is what everything in your life is building and crescendoing toward.  I think we all intuitively long for this.  C. S. Lewis said, “If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, then the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.”  Life in another world enjoying God with God’s people is what we were made and saved for.  Is it what you long for? 

We Must Join a Worship Gathering on Earth

Third, those called into the new covenant people of God by the gospel, must join a worship gathering on earth.  If we say we’re part of the heavenly assembly of God, then we must be part of one of his earthly assemblies, or churches.

The writer of Hebrews actually says that this is one of the implications of the new covenant in Hebrews 10:15-25.  Do you see the flow of his argument?  In light of what God has done for us in the new covenant (vv. 15-18), we should “therefore” (v. 19) do several things.  We should draw near to God (v. 22), persevere in the faith (v. 23), and “stir up,” or encourage, each other to “love and good works,” all while “not neglecting to meet together” (vv. 24-25). 

What we’ve been given in the new covenant compels us to want to be close to God and to other believers.  Being a member of the new covenant community means gathering regularly with other members of the new covenant community.  We should not neglect to meet together.

The church isn’t a building to be opened or closed, not an event to watch, but a community that gathers regularly around the word of God.  Churches aren’t content providers, they’re families.  The church isn’t what happens on stage but is the gathering of God’s people.  The church isn’t some sacred space to go to so that we can experience some mystical power source.  Rather, the church is a group of people who want to be together to worship God and encourage one another.  The church isn’t a building we want to be in but a people we want to be with. 

Some people think of Christianity as an experience like a monk would have, thinking that our individual religious experience is the essence of being a Christian.  Many Christians even think that their faith is private and personal, an interior thing that they practice by themselves.  But this way of thinking is not found anywhere in the Bible.  In Acts, the first Christians wanted to be together.  They began their week by gathering together.    

This is why we tell our members that, unless you’re sick or out of town, we expect you to gather with the Lord’s people on the Lord’s Day.  Our Church Covenant says, “We covenant to not forsake the assembling of ourselves together.”  During these strange times, I of course understand that not everyone is able or comfortable to gather because of age, health, or concern about the coronavirus.  But, on the basis of Hebrews 10:25, I can say that, coronavirus concerns notwithstanding, if you choose to miss church for a reason other than being sick or out of town, you’re disobeying God’s word. 

How Should We Get Ready for Church?

If you’re convinced that gathering with the church is as important as I’m saying it is, is there anything that you can do to make it a richer part of your weekly routine?  Let me give you four things.

First, show up on time.  This probably means going to bed earlier on Saturday night.  Showing up 10-15 minutes before the service allows you to get kids checked in if necessary, talk to church members you haven’t seen all week, and be ready to go when the service starts.

Second, pray.  Pray for your heart to be open, pray for the preaching, singing, praying, and fellowship.  Pray that you’d be ready to serve others and receive from others. 

Third, come ready to receive.  This sounds self-centered, but it’s actually the opposite.  You can’t even be a Christian if you can’t receive.  We come to Christ to receive from him, not to give to him.  We’re poor and empty and lonely and sinful people.  We need so much.  Come to church with an open heart, ready to receive grace, strength, wisdom, and love from God.

Fourth, come ready to give.  The gathering of the church isn’t a spectator event, with a few people in the spotlight and everyone else looking on.  We’re called to use our unique gifts to build up the body (Eph. 4:16).  Come ready to encourage people.  One practical way to do this is to get here 15 minutes early and plan to stay 15 minutes late in order to talk to people. 

As one writer says, “How we prepare for worship will in many ways determine what we experience in worship.”  The weekly gathering of the church is something that we should do on purpose, something we should do actively, not passively.

We Should Never Stop Worshipping

Fourth and finally, as members of the new covenant community, we should never stop worshipping.  In the new covenant, God moved worship from away from specific forms and places and to a simple, inward event meant to effect every part of our lives.

The best place to see this is John 4:23-24.  In his discussion with this Samaritan woman, Jesus says that God is looking for people who worship him “in spirit and truth” (v. 23).  What does this mean? 

Worshipping God “in spirit” refers to worship that is carried along by the Holy Spirit, worship that is mainly an inward and spiritual event, not an outward, bodily event. 

Worshipping God “in truth” means that we respond to, and are guided by, true views of God.  True worship involves right affections in the heart towards God and right thoughts in the head about God.

Interestingly, Jesus says nothing about music when he talks about “true worship.”  Music can be part of worshipping God, but it was never meant to be the heart of it.  This is why I think it best to not call rooms like this “worship centers” or call Mason our “worship leader.”  These terms can lead us to think that this is the place where we worship God and Mason is the guy who’s going to make that happen.  “Main Hall” and “music leader” seem to better teach what these places and people are. 

In the new covenant, Jesus becomes the place where we meet God.  Jesus is the new temple where God’s presence dwells.  In the new covenant, God’s people don’t need a building, a priesthood, or a sacrificial system to worship God.  We just need Jesus.

A Life of Worship

Worship is an inner spiritual event based on who God has revealed himself to be in Christ.  But, as I said, this simple, inward event is supposed to affect every part of our lives.  What do I mean?

The writers of the New Testament often connect worship with how we live.  One example is Romans 12:1, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.”  Paul says that we should give our bodies to God as an act of worship.  What do you do with your body?  Everything!  Paul is saying that our physical bodies are part of our spiritual worship.

Back over in Hebrews, we see this connection again.  In 12:28, the writer says that we should “offer to God acceptable worship.”  Then immediately following this in chapter 13, he says that we should love one another, take care of the poor, honor the marriage bed, don’t fall in love with money, and obey and imitate your leaders. 

Worship in the new covenant is an inward spiritual event that affects every part of our lives.  Because Jesus has brought us into God’s presence, we must remember that the entirety of our lives are lived in God’s presence.  We don’t “enter his presence” in this room only on Sundays.  We’re permanently in his presence because of Christ.   

So when you’re at work, you’re in God’s presence.  When you’re talking to your spouse, playing with your children, watching TV, cleaning, eating, exercising, sleeping, playing, voting, mowing your yard, driving to work, walking to class, in a Zoom meeting, and in this room singing songs, you’re in the presence of Almighty God.  Therefore, all of life is meant to be lived in worship to him.

What We Must Do

Those brought into the new covenant through faith in Jesus have joined a worship gathering in heaven, will join a worship gathering in heaven, must join a worship gathering on earth, and should never stop worshipping. 

Worship is the most important work of the church.  We can do many things as a church, but worship is the thing we must do.  God saved us to live lives that reflect his worth together, to live lives of worship.