Sermon - 1 Corinthians 2:1-12 – Worshiping God

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard
Sermon - 1 Corinthians 2:1-12 – Worshiping God
Pitts Creek and Beaver Dam Presbyterian Churches
February 6, 2011

I am continuing, this morning with our look at the New Testament Book of First Corinthians. We have heard, so far, Paul's prayer thanking God for the riches of faith that has been granted to the churches of Corinth. Paul then went on to begin his discussion about the divisions in the Corinthian church that resulted from the various different expectations they had for how God would interact with humanity. Paul went on to say that the church's source of unity can only be found in the crucifixion of Christ, something no one expected. Today we will listen as Paul tells the Corinthians that the divisions in their churches have occurred because of a misunderstanding of what happens in worship. And so we will look at what does happen in worship. But before we begin all of this, please pray with me.

“Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy Heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen.” (John Calvin)

NIV 1 Corinthians 2:1 When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. 2 For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. 4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, 5 so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power. 6 We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 7 No, we speak of God's secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. 8 None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 However, as it is written: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him"-- 10 but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11 For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.

According to Paul worship is about God. Our focus should always be on God. And the proclamation we hear on Sunday should be testimony about God. We may want to talk about the weather, or the stock market, or about violence in Egypt. And these might be acceptable topics in worship as long as our primary concern is to discern what God is thinking about these things. Of course that leads to the question: how do we know what God thinks? Paul's tells us that the only way we can ever know what God is thinking is through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, being God, knows exactly what God is thinking, and communicates the mind of to us. The Holy Spirit is something like a radio or smart phone that has a direct line to God. And whenever God communicates to us through the Holy Spirit the result is the creation of and the deepening of faith. So as our faith grows we know that we have been hearing from God through the Holy Spirit.

We come to worship in order to communicate with God through God's Spirit. It works this way. Whenever Jesus Christ is proclaimed, whenever the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ is preached the Holy Spirit activates the communication channel between you and God. Worship is where the crucified Christ is proclaimed, and through this proclamation faith is formed in the congregation. This is good news for all of us preachers. Faith is formed not by what we say or how we say it, but by the Holy Spirit working through our proclamation. All preachers have to do is to proclaim the Christ cricified. This all points out the importance of worship. The reason we worship is to hear about God in Jesus Christ and to allow the Holy Spirit to help us communicate with God, and as we communicate with God our faith grows. But many people, including some church leaders, have too small a view of what worship is all about.

One common fallacy about worship is that it should be kept under control. As a highly trained religious professional I design worship each week, choosing songs to sing, putting together the order of worship, and preparing the sermon. I have every element of worship printed out and under plastic sheets in a notebook so that there will be no surprises. I even practice it a few times to make sure that I have left nothing out and everything will go smoothly. I do this so that there will be no unexpected surprises. But worship should be about surprises. If the Holy Spirit is truly at work in worship then we should expect unusual things to occur. But when was the last time any of us have said, “I have never seen that before in worship”?

When we started our early morning prayers we would do the same thing every day: call to worship, sing a song, responsive reading of a psalm, unison reading from scripture, a brief message followed by prayers for the church, community and world. But since last December I have tried something new. We still have a structure, but it is much looser. We read from a new prayer book. The time it takes to read from the prayerbook is much shorter that the half hour allocated. This leaves room for a lot of quiet time. Sometimes no one makes a sound. Sometimes someone prays out loud. Sometimes someone want to talk about the scripture we read. Every day is different. Every day is surprising. And I think we are really communicating with God through the Holy Spirit in this process.

Another fallacy about worship is that it has to be relevant. The mega churches are preoccupied with this. They believe that worship has to be adapted to suit the tastes of people you want to attract. In California I once attend the First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood. They had four worship services every Sunday morning. The first was contemplative, held in the chapel, and the pastors were dressed like monks. The second service featured a massive pipe organ, choir and a traditional service you would all find familiar. The third service was casual and had a small praise band. And the fourth service on Sunday was held in a warehouse near the church had the feel of a rock concert with the volume all the way up. They were trying to appeal to everyone in the community with different styles of worship. It is good to worship in a pleasing way, but if we go overboard in trying to meet all the expectation of people coming to church then we miss the really important expectation that God has for worship. God's expectation for worship is that we will focus of Jesus Christ, the son of God who died for our sins.

Another fallacy of worship is that the church must be popular. The church has to do something week after week just to keep people coming back. We have all heard of churches and television ministries that grew on the back of a charismatic leader. This could be a gifted preacher or talented musician. There was a church back in Eagle Rock California that exemplified this. There parking lot was too small, their building was nothing special, but they had a world renowned musician and song writer leading their music every Sunday. The church was packed for three services every week. But we have also heard of churches declining after their charismatic leader retires. Dr. Robert Schuler retired several years ago from the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove CA. Last summer a much diminished church filed for bankruptcy. In a popular church people go home as say “I liked the sermon” or “I liked the music”. This is good. But it is more important for God to like our worship. And God likes worship that is focused on his son.

And that is why we have gathered around this table today. Communion is something we have done over and over again. But today expect something surprising will happen because the Holy Spirit is here and you never know what might happen when God's Spirit is present. No one is going to confuse this table with one in a fine restaurant. All we have is some bread and some grape juice, symbols of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. A memorial meal for our risen Lord is never going to be the most popular thing happening in Pocomoke on Sunday mornings. But as we eat this bread and drink this juice remember that the Holy Spirit is present and this is your opportunity to communicate directly with God.

Lord Jesus, bless us as we gather around this table. Help us to remember your death and resurrection through this bread and wine. And send your Spirit so that we may eat in your presence to the glory of your Father. This we pray in your name. Amen.