Creekside Church Sermon of September 8 , 2002 "Worship is a Big Deal" Psalm 96:1-9	Rev. David Bibbee
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I want to begin with a reeling exercise. You won't reel in fishing line. I want you to reel in the years to when you were in elementary school. Some of us will have to reel more than others. Keep reeling until you arrive at the memory of what you were asked to do on the first day of the new school year. Do you remember writing those "What I did on my summer vacation," essays? Do you remember what you wrote? I wrote about helping my grandfather clean chickens. I was the executioner who whacked their heads off with a hatchet, a procedure I described in graphic detail. As I recall, the teacher said something to the effect, "Didn't you do anything else this summer?"

This morning I feel like I'm giving a "What I did on my summer sabbatical" report. I will be sharing aspects of it the next six Sundays in a sermon series on the theme "Lost in Wonder, Love, and Praise: Learning to Worship Again for the First Time." I'm anxious to introduce you to different practices in music which are bringing new life to worship in churches across the denominational landscape. We will be discussing the need for creativity and care in the planning and the act of worship. I hope we can learn to practice constructive criticism about our assumptions and practices of worship and apply the same scrutiny to new and old worship elements we will consider including in our worship. I want us to be caught up in the enthusiasm and growth which the Holy Spirit is creating in churches that are willing to trust and try.

I visited Methodist, Nazarene, non-denominational, Catholic, Lutheran, Congregational, and Presbyterian churches in Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. I met with the staff of these churches. I interviewed members young and old, asking, "What's so special about your church?" In the churches that are growing there is a consistent reply, "We are here because we are a part of something special." Most of their responses included the three W's. Not the worldwide web, but welcome, worship, and witness.

God is orchestrating something wonderful. The spiritual renewal churches are experiencing is inseparable from worship renewal. And the Holy Spirit is making it happen. We are part of an old story which must be told to a world that doesn't have a central story that can hold it together. It's our job to tell the old, old story of Jesus and his love, while remembering the instruction of Psalm 96…"O sing to the Lord a new song."

The three-month worship tour you granted has helped me un-learn some things. It helped me to re-learn other things. It pointed me toward things I must learn anew. This is the journey I'm asking you to take with me. If renewing worship was just a matter of adding some instruments, singing different songs, and tinkering with the order of service, it would be easy. But there's more to it than that, and this is what the sermon series is all about.

In the time I have left I want to raise a question about worship. "What's the big deal?" Psalm 96 gives an answer. Worship is a big deal because God is the biggest and best of all deals. You have seen the TV commercials for the American Freight Warehouse in Osceola. What makes the commercials unique is their high-strung, hyper-charged spokesman. "There has never been another furniture sale like this one - - no where, no how, no way! Bedroom suites $699.99. Sleeper sofas $399.99. Lamps at an unbelievably low $29.99!" His voice is insufferable. Prolonged exposure results in insanity, but I admire the guy's passion and intensity.

Passion and intensity mark each verse of Psalm 96. It is a call to worship the Creator of the universe, the God of all gods. The God who saves us, loves us, guides and protects us, before whose presence we tremble in awe. God is the source of our being and our only object of adoration. Notice how we are to respond: "Sing to the Lord. Declare his grace. Ascribe glory due his name. Bring an offering. Worship the Lord." We do this because of who God is. The word worship means "worth-ship." God alone is worthy of our worship.

But the point of it is lost on the culture in which we live. The world judges the value of a thing based on its serving a useful purpose. How will I benefit? How will it make my life easier? Will it save time? Will it enhance my appeal? Will it fold out into a bed? From the outside looking in, worship doesn't do anything. When it's over, what do you have to show for it? Why waste your time on something that doesn't give you anything back?

The purpose of worship isn't to get anything. There is a simple reason we worship. We worship because we can. Worship is not a novel idea that someone cooked up thousands of years ago. We worship because we were created with the capacity to do it. Worship was never our idea. God made it a possibility.

Why do we worship? Because we are capable, but also because we must. We really don't have a choice. We worship because the desire is standard equipment when we roll off the assembly line. We are hard-wired for it.

Let's do a little exercise. Make yourselves comfortable and close your eyes. Whatever is on your mind, set it aside for now. I don't want you to think about anything. No thoughts, no images, no words, no sensations. For the next thirty seconds wipe the slate of your thoughts clean. Well, were you successful? Of course not! Our minds are constantly at work. Our brains do not have an "off" switch.

We cannot turn off the yearning for worship, either. The reformer John Calvin said this urge proves the existence of God. He said there is no culture on earth, no matter how primitive or advanced, that doesn't reach beyond itself in search of something greater. All people have this need to connect with something beyond themselves. Unfortunately, God doesn't often top the list.

This is especially the case in our pagan culture. There is more idol worship today than in Moses', or Jesus' day. Today's idols are not carved and chiseled out of wood or stone. People bow down before the idols of power, pleasure, security, success, ease, entertainment, technology, the almighty dollar, and Elvis.

It's not "whether" we worship. It's what and who. In 1974, Bob Dylan recorded a song with a chorus that went::

But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed,
You're going to have serve somebody,
Well it may be the devil or it may be the Lord,
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

The God we serve is whatever god we worship. The object is everything. Even our worship of the one and only God can be misguided and lead us to serve something less than God. The purpose of worship is not to attract people. It is not about increasing the membership roll and offerings. The purpose of worship is not to earn credits with God, or get him to look more favorably upon us, or get on his good side, or earn a little more of his love. Nothing you can do can make God love you more, or less. The sole reason we worship God, is God.

How we worship is a big deal because God is a big deal. 1). We worship because we can. 2.) We worship because we can't help ourselves - - it's what God has programmed us to do. 3.) We worship because God deserves it, desires it, and delights in our praise and love.

It's a big deal, all right…to stand in God's presence, to learn God's purposes, and be changed into people who become God's witnesses in this world.

Oh, sing to the Lord a new song
Declare his glories and wondrous works
Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name
Worship God with your very best
And tremble before him, all the earth.

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