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This past summer,
my family and I were blessed to get to Florida. In spite of a
trip to Disney World and Great-Grandma Hook’s 95th
birthday celebration in Tallahassee, we got to the beach at
St. Augustine. We didn’t know which beach (or even which
coast) to go to on our trip from Tallahassee back to Orlando,
so we asked our family who lives there. Of course, because
they live there, they hardly ever go to the beach, so they
each had a different opinion. (There’s a sermon in there, as
well). My Uncle Tom, who lives in Florida, is a fisherman and
contractor/ builder. He is a man of few words. When we were
talking about what beach to go to, he said: "I like the
Atlantic better than the Gulf. At the Atlantic you look out
and you’re lookin’ at water 2000 feet deep. The Gulf’s
no more than a couple hundred." The thrill of the depth
and mystery and power and challenge of that was written all
over his face. Well, we chose the Atlantic-side beach.
It was early
evening, and we got to see the Atlantic’s beautiful,
majestic, rolling waves. The littler cousins were playing in a
large tide pool that had been created by the retreating
waters. In it were trapped some little fish and those shells
that disappear into the sand. The kids splashed and laughed
and chased the fish. They were happy, and for a long time
totally absorbed in the warm friendly water, which probably
got to about two feet deep in some places. It must have seemed
deep to them. But behind the rocks that caused the tide pool
was the vast Atlantic Ocean, 2000 feet deep, right before our
eyes. And it was amazing. You know, I spend so much
time defending the Great Lakes, trying to get people to
understand their immensity, that I tell them it’s like the
ocean. Well, I realize I’d better spend a little more time
at the ocean before I make that claim. (I’d still choose the
Lakes, though.) And I’d still keep my kids in the tide pool
instead of the ocean, at least at this age.
What I was
watching was a parable. Like my kids and their cousins, many
of us worship a God of the tide pool, never quite realizing
that just beyond us is the beginning of the deep, powerful
ocean of God’s love. Many of us never quite hear the
rhythmic invitation of the ocean to come, to explore, to dive
into the depths.
The Christian
faith is like an ocean: beautiful and immense, beckoning,
powerful and mysterious. These next four weeks, we are going
to look at how to dive more deeply into the ocean of God’s
love. It is for those of us who must now leave the tide pool
and venture by faith into the deep waters of God’s call upon
our lives.
John and Charles
Wesley, leaders and founders of "the people called
Methodists," understood this call and this craving. In
their lives, too, they had moved from the tide pool to the
ocean of God’s love. For them, hearing the call meant
dedicating their lives to the Christian teaching in Colossians
3:17: "Whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in
the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father
through him."
First things
first. Going deep, committing to Christ, is not a one-time act
like joining a church or a fraternity. The call to the depths
is a call to a way of living, and the benefits to this new
life are what everyone, religious or not, wants. As human
beings, we need to know our lives count, that we are free to
express ourselves, that a great love really is possible, and
that God cares for us. These "deep" needs are unmet
frustrations in many of us, but the Wesleys saw them as
opportunities for a relationship that changes frustrations
into fulfillment. They saw that our problems have far more to
do with our heart than our head. They found an answer. The
answer is love; the way is faith (putting that love in
action); the result is deeper satisfaction. This is the way of
Jesus Christ, who said: "I am the way, the truth, and the
life. No one comes to the Father but through me" (John
14:6).
What is this way
of Jesus? It is a way of living an upright and responsible
life before God. It is actually our response to the gospel. "Like
obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts
which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who
called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior;
because it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy’"
(1 Peter 1:14-16).
That language was
easily understood in the first century, but to our ears it
sounds strange, even remote. If we could understand it in
today’s terms, we would see Peter wants us to be upright in
morality and responsible in our relationships. It means living
to the fullest extent. To John and Charles Wesley, it meant
that we draw our identity from God. We see our own
lives as extensions of God’s will. This begins to happen
when Jesus Christ makes us new people and puts us on the path
to life. The Wesleys would have called that viewpoint
"holiness of heart." We are to be as Christ is in
this world.
How do we go
beyond mediocrity? How do we go from skimming the surface of
our lives to plunging into the depths of God’s love? How do
we dive in deep? The way is Christ.
Jesus is not just
some figure from the distant past, a man whose reputation and
life influenced many, many people. Rather, Christ is a living
presence in our lives. As one woman put it, "He is my
next breath," one who opens the kingdom of God to us.
Jesus is more than any creed, any doctrine, any book, or any
thoughts we might have about him. He is the Son of God,
bringing God’s plan for the restoration of the world. God
gives us grace to grow in Christ’s likeness, to have Christ’s
mind, to share Christ’s suffering love for the world. When
we experience love, that love calls us to share its life. When
you love someone, that love sets up a craving for more love.
This is especially true when the one you love is God. God
breaks in through our loneliness and sin. He forgives us,
empowers us, and lovingly leads us on a path of increasing
love, to a kingdom of love called the kingdom of God. He
called all kinds of people from all kinds of places to this
path nearly 2000 years ago, and he calls us still.
How do we respond?
In two ways: worship and service. Each of those responses can
be divided into corporate and private. Corporate worship,
private worship (devotion), corporate service (acts of
justice), and private service. I want to spend the rest of
today on some aspects of worship.
One of the ways we
answer the call and craving, one of the ways we "go
deeper," is by worshiping as a part of a body of
believers. Worship is "the act of reverence toward a
deity." Reverence is "a feeling of deep respect,
love and awe." In Old Testament times, Abraham built
altars to the Lord and called on his name. Later, through
Moses, God established the form and principles of Israelite
worship. In the New Testament, worship was full of joy and
thanksgiving because of God’s saving act through Christ. The
early worship focused on salvation through Jesus Christ.
Worship changed from the Jewish Sabbath (the last day of the
week) to the day of Resurrection (Jesus rose on the first day
of the week). They began in private houses, as well as
synagogues. (The Jewish Christians would go twice). >From the
Bible, we know of a few elements: prayer, praise, lessons from
the Bible, and prophecy.
Tonight I want to
highlight one element we have a difficult time explaining, and
that is praise. It is somewhat troublesome when people say:
"We should praise the Lord." It sounds so
"churchy." In the Psalms and elsewhere, God demands
praise from his people. How can that be right? I can’t stand
people who are always fishing for compliments. We all despise
those people who demand assurance of how good they are, or how
smart they are, or how successful they are. How much worse are
the crowds around every dictator, every millionaire, every
celebrity, who fill that demand. Why would the Psalmist
continually say: "Praise the Lord…O praise the Lord
with me…Praise Him"? The Psalmist even tells the
whales, the snowstorms, and all kinds of other things what
they ought to do, whether they listened or not! Psalm 50:23
even says, "He who offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving
honors me," as if we could bargain with God, like the
pagans think. Quantity of praise even seems to matter (Psalm
119:164). In several Psalms, it seems to get down to
bargaining: "If I praise him, I’ll be saved"
(Psalm 30:10, 88:10, 119:175). How can that be a part of
praising?
It helped me to
read some words by C.S. Lewis on the trouble he had with
praising according to the Psalms. He said to understand it,
"it is easiest to begin with inanimate objects."
What do we mean
when we say that a picture is "admirable?"…The
sense in which the picture "deserves" or
"demands" admiration is rather this; that
admiration is the correct, adequate or appropriate response
to it. If paid, admiration will not be "thrown
away," and if we do not admire we shall be
stupid, insensible and great losers, we shall have missed
something.…It is in the process of being worshiped that
God communicates His presence to people…I have noticed how
the humblest, and at the same time most balanced and
capacious minds, praised the most, while the cranks, misfits
and malcontents praised the least (whether it was books,
artwork or cooking). Except in rare cases, praise always
seems to be inner health made audible….I think we delight
to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely
expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed
consummation…. (Reflections on the Psalms by C.S.
Lewis)
In heaven, with
all the angels and creation, is where real worship occurs. Now
that doesn’t mean that heaven will be like a church service.
For our services are merely attempts at worship. Right now, we
are merely "tuning our instruments" (Donne). The
Scotch catechism says that our "chief end is to glorify
God and enjoy Him forever." That is why we were created.
Even in the midst of tragedy and difficulties (or perhaps
especially during these times), we are to praise God.
As we go deeper,
we will look further into worship, acts of service, and acts
of justice. In the meantime, we are to worship God together.
Our plunge toward the depths of God’s love is personal and
relational. We are to worship God in spirit and in truth, with
one another as one body. After all, it’s only the beginning!
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