Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, long-suffering, bearing with one another and forgiving one another. If anyone has a complaint against another, even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. bond of perfection, and let the peace of God's rule in your hearts, to which you also were called in one body, and be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus. giving thanks to God the Father through him. All right we'll sort of mention that and a variety of others as we go a lot of references to the psalms in between contemplating whether should we have a hymn at the end or should we have those three at the start and have one at the end there you are No one else cares so you win. In that case we'll do the meditation now and we're into the second part of the beginnings of the Christian Church. For those of you who were not asleep last time we had the beginnings of the Christian Church part one. which was about serving and various bits that we looked at last time as the start of how the church was to look up to those who were serving and leading. Today we're looking at a different subject and I thought there were going to be several of them but as you'll hear there aren't. So, last time we looked at Antioch and how important it was to the growth of the modern Christian church. We looked at how it was fed and led, initially by Barnabas and Paul and later by other men. Now we want to move on to determine what else we can learn from the early church to help us as we worship and serve in the modern generation. Today we'll consider what the early church meant when it said it was coming to worship. It sounded a bit frightening and I thought we'll do about three sections but as you'll see we're not going to. So we're going to look broadly at worshipping. Now certainly I guess we want to be a worshipping church but I guess first we need to define what worship is. So from the secular dictionary we find it's the feeling or expression of reverence and adoration for a deity. The Bible doesn't give a formal definition of worship, but from the Old English it is worthship, or speaking or singing of how good and powerful God is. As we find in Acts 13 verse 2 from the NIV, it reads, the church was a worshipping church whilst they were worshipping the Lord and fasting. Sadly, in the modern days, when you mention worship, it conjures up that slot within the service when hymns or songs are played and sung. And that leads on to the definition of a worship leader, who can, if you're not careful, take prominence in the service. And we've seen that in at least one holiday church when we've been away and visiting. But worship's far more than that. The We Believe Guide that we've all got and read thoroughly all the way through has a section on worship. It says, and I quote, in summary, public worship should be solemn, not light, flippant or trivial. Simple, not pompous, ritualistic or ceremonial. Cheerful, not gloomy or forbidding. Not hypocritical, but sincere and pure. I wonder if you ask yourself if that's what it's like here week after week. It then goes on to highlight that worship should include reading of scripture, preaching, public prayer, praise in song. So we'll come on to some other of those later. However, let's start with music as a part of worship. Although praising God in music should be free of contention, sadly, it often leads to strife. And I'm sure we've all had experience of it. In our circles, there may be disputes between the minister and the organist. Had any of those? No. In liturgical circles, there may be disputes between the choirs, the choir masters, and the vicar. In some liberal or charismatic churches, often the worship leader may dominate the whole meeting. We've got to be open about the issues that come up. There may be disputes over modern verses new hymn, old hymns, hymns against psalms, or whatever instruments are acceptable in providing accompaniment for hymns. There's also a current live debate about whether new hymns that are good in lyrics and in melody should be excluded because of the church background of the writer. I'm not going to probe into some of those tonight. Throughout the Bible though, singing is an integral part of worship and praise. I'm not going to get you to look them all up. You can take a copy of the notes later and look them up. Psalm 96 verse 2, and I'm very sorry to break into one of Daniel or Philip's talks from the year 2038. We read, sing to the Lord, bless or praise his name. Or from the Thursday series in 2040, they believed his promises and sang his praise from Psalm 106 verse 12. As Norman pointed out to us in November, we should be thankful to the reformers for congregational singing. Indeed, praise to God often comes easiest when we sing. In Psalm 51, 15, we read, O Lord, open my lips and my mouth will declare your praise. There are some issues here, of course. I remember when we got married, we went to see Pastor Wood prior to the wedding. We'd chosen the Lord's my shepherd. as one of our hymns. He looked at us, and those of you who knew him, he had piercing blue eyes, I assume they were blue eyes, and he said to us, but can you sing it and mean it? And we were terrified. I also know of some people who say that they don't feel they can sing some hymns as they feel hypocritical, because they do not mean what they're singing. and I'm not sure whether that's good or bad or not. I can understand the thought but if you don't sing them maybe you're never going to understand the words that are implied. It's also true that you can sing hymns without worshipping. I'm grateful to author William Nelson for this illustration and you've probably heard it before, I don't know. An outstanding actor had recited Psalm 23 in his usual excellent eloquence, and on completion had been greeted by a grand standing ovation. Subsequently, he invited anyone from the audience who was familiar with the psalm to come up on stage and recite it. An old man volunteered and began, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. At the end of his recitation, there was complete, you know, the shepherd. In summary, we need to know who we are worshipping as much as why we're worshipping. In response to the who, we only have to listen to Paul in his letter to the Ephesians. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, because in him, Jesus, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace. And if you'd rather hear Peter, he urges us to praise because in his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. So this gives us a clear indication of who the church at Antioch worshipped and why we should do the same. You can go to a great concert and sing along to the words, but worship is more than a great tune and great lyrics. There has to be a real involvement of the heart and the brain at the same time. So I'm going to give you about three or four bits of what worship has to be, and you may add some more yourself. Worship has to be joyful. We gauge David's attitude to worship in Psalm 122, I rejoiced with those who said to me, let us go up to the house of the Lord. There's surely something wrong with our worship if we do not come in and then leave with joy in our hearts. Doesn't mean to say we're glowing and happy, but there should be a joy in our hearts. Coming to worship a God who has done so much for us should not be a chore or a habit, but it should fill us with expectation of what God will do amongst us on that day. As in Psalm 26, David states, I love the house where you live, O Lord, the place where your glory dwells. So it should be joyful, it should be full of gratitude. The key verses here are Paul's words in Colossians 3, 15 and 16. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body, and be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. Worship should also be full of humility. We do not have earthly priests, but we do have a high priest in heaven who's seated next to his father, interceding on our behalf. We learn from Hebrews 4.16 that we can approach the throne of grace with confidence. However, this doesn't mean our worship should contain self-confidence. or arrogance. Once again, and this is my favourite word, it's all about balance, isn't it? We should come to worship joyfully and with confidence, but we should recognise that God is holy and deserves our adoration and respect. So joyful, full of gratitude, humility, worship should also be from the heart as well as from the brain. We can know every confession, every catechism, every doctrine, but if the heart is not engaged our worship will be dull and lifeless. This thought is put into poetry by the old hymn writer who asks, I often say my prayers, but do I ever pray? We could mimic that with, I often open mouth my hymns, but do I ever sing? Well we could say, I often listen to the sermon, but do I ever worship God through the sermon? This is perfectly put by Isaiah chapter 29 and verse 13. These people come near to me with their mouth and honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. It's also explained by the saviour when talking to the Samaritan woman. God is spirit and his worshippers must worship in spirit and in truth. That's John 4, 24. And lastly, worship is to glorify God. Although singing hymns will often provoke a warm feeling within us, their main purpose is to bring glory to God and not to men. That all seems logical, doesn't it? We've been bought with a price. We've been united through the resurrection of Christ. We have a certain hope for eternity. Why would we not come to worship with peace in our hearts and gratitude to all three parts of the Trinity? And we teach and build each other up partially through the means of the hymns that we sing to God, but also to each other. Once again we refer to the Psalms. In Psalm 100 verse 2 and 4, David tells us to serve the Lord with gladness, come before his presence with singing, enter his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise. So most of the former references are from the Old Testament, but we also looked at that one in Colossians 3.16 from the New Testament, and we've read it, so we won't read it again. But a familiar theme comes out in Ephesians 5 and 19, similar words, very, very similar about certainly singing in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. So since we've got those three parts to worship, worship in song, we really need to look at those categories. And I'm sure you might come to me and say, it's not what I understood, but this is what I've understood and several people I've read. Psalms, literally a poem written to be sung to the accompaniment of a stringed instrument. The definition we believe is spiritual poems set to music, including the Old Testament Psalms, but not limited to them. The Psalms are established music of God's people sung by the Jews in the tabernacle and in the temple and even on their way up to the feasts at Jerusalem. Essentially then, the Psalms are singing the words of Scripture. Many of our hymns have taken the word of the Psalms and reinterpreted them. Give us, for instance, Psalm 100. all people that on earth do dwell. And we sang, you might have noticed, Psalm 46, first off, not exactly, but put to a different tune. So the Psalms often anticipate the coming of Christ and set a precedent for praising God through music. We're reminded by the Savior himself that the Psalms spoke of him, Luke 24, 44. So that's Psalms, and I think we sort of understand what Psalms are, but hymns, Hymns was a word more familiar really to the Gentiles. In the ancient empires, hymns were sung in praise of heroes and gods. Little G. However, as the good news of the gospel spread over the world, the church transformed hymns into songs of praise to the one true God. Again, We Believe says, hymns are songs of praise to the Lord. Again, they may be Old Testament Psalms or hymns of praise composed by Christians. That's the way that we believe defines it. The Romans in particular didn't really know what to make of the trend that they were seeing. Pliny, please, Jonathan will be pleased to mention Pliny, I'm sure. The governor of Bithynia wrote to Emperor Trajan asking for advice on how to handle the rapidly growing number of Christians in his realm. He commented that the Christians were observed singing a hymn to Christ as to a God. He couldn't understand how songs to heroes and gods could be sung to one shamefully crucified on a cross. So when Paul encouraged the believers to sing hymns, he was asking them to radically claim the music of the culture and claim it for the gospel. And I can't help but also say it reminds us of that comment of William Booth, why should the devil have all the best tunes? And what are spiritual songs? Well, defined in we believe as compositions on distinctly Christian themes, suitable to fellowship meetings of the church, sung accompanied or unaccompanied. A bit of a problem with the last bit because I do like the sound of an organ, but I'm sure it's probably right. Song is a generic word in Greek, meaning all sorts of songs, but Paul appends the word spiritual to narrow its meaning down. So he intends that we should sing music that's the result of the Spirit of God working in the hearts of writers within their own culture. Putting it another way, it's music that's set apart and intended for the glory of God in corporate worship. It's to teach us truth that we can share together and to exalt and encourage one another. I do have questions. There are a lot of songs we like that are on CDs from groups that we like, but you could never translate some of that into church music. It's Christian songs, but it's not suitable for a congregation. So again, you need to have songs that have got good lyrics, that have got a good scriptural theme, a good music, but it also needs to be possible to sing it in church like all of the five songs that are being practiced for the carol service. So what is unacceptable worship? I mean if we look at what is unacceptable we get a good feel for what is acceptable. We find particular references in Amos and Isaiah of worship that's not acceptable to God. In Amos 5 21 23 he says, away with the noise of your songs, I will not listen to the music of your harps. Well this was not because they were out of tune in singing or because the harp wasn't an acceptable instrument. What we find in later verses is that words spoken or attitudes adopted in worship are meaningless if our hearts are not right and if our lives do not reflect our words and thoughts during the service. Similar theme is seen in Isaiah where God says, when you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you. Even if you offer many prayers, I will not listen. Now that part of worship relates not to music, but to prayer. And the reason why God is angry then is because the worshipers came with evil deeds, oppression, and a lack of concern for widows and orphans as they came into worship. So it would seem that, more than our choice of tunes, our choice of instruments, God is more concerned that we come with the right attitude, that we come with consistent lives, and that we come to glorify him and not man. Having said that, worship, in particular singing, is for the benefit of God and not man. We must recognize that worship is also for our mutual encouragement. To quote William Nelson again, to be gathered together with fellow believers and to be taken along in joyful praise to God can be an uplifting experience. We all experienced lockdown and hated that we couldn't meet together. We were glad of electronic streaming, but it didn't replace worship together. All we were feeling at that time was exactly what the writer to the Hebrews wrote in chapter 10 of Hebrews, not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together as is the manner of some, but exalting one another and so much the more as you see the day approaching. So it's not just true of Sunday services, but we see what an encouragement it was the other Thursday, two weeks ago, to share with each other at the prayer meeting. I remember a time some years ago when we had a number of conversions close together. probably 20, 30 years ago, I don't know. And you didn't want to be missing from a service for fear that you weren't there when the Lord touched someone else. Church really should be that exciting, shouldn't it? It's also true that if our worship is true and joyful, there will be an effect on the unbelievers amongst us. 1 Corinthians 14.25, Paul says that if an unbeliever comes into a meeting where all the All the folk there are united in worship. He is convinced by all, he is convicted by all, and thus the secrets of his heart are revealed. And so, falling on his face, he will worship God and report that God is truly among you. Well, there's a challenge to us. How do people feel when they come into our services? The church at Antioch came to be known as Christians or Christ's followers. So it was evident to all those around them that Christ was at the center of their worship and their lives. The other Thursday at the prayer meeting, we heard the comment that not enough is preached on heaven. I agree with that statement, and that's one of the reasons why we did a three point talk some five years ago on heaven. at the rest hour. If I was asked, or if I was asking, I would say, what is going to be one of the main activities in heaven? I usually get responses, but you know, I'm sure some would say worship. Before I was converted, I would have thought that that sounded really boring. Are we going to heaven and we're going to worship most of the time? Didn't sound great as an unconverted person. Maybe that was a reflection on my understanding of worship, or possibly of the joyfulness of the church worship at the time, or maybe a bit of both. The Apostle John is given just a small glimpse into heaven at the start of Revelation. In heaven there's going to be plenty of singing, there's plenty of praise of God and there is a centrality of Christ. Just listen to some of the mentions of praise and worship in Revelation. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. Worthy is the Lamb. To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honour and glory and power. So let us treat our worship on earth as just a small foretaste of what's coming in heaven. I was going to talk about praying tonight, but once again I'm running out of time. So next time we'll consider prayer and maybe worship and evangelism. You never know. That's if I get asked back, I suppose. So how do we do as a church? Let's do a summary of what I think we've learned for the benefit of Caroline. So how do we at Belvedere fare in our worship? It's the traffic at the bottom of the road. What style and type of church do we really want to be? Let me summarise what I believe the Bible has taught us and piece together those bits that we've come across. Worship is more than just singing. Worship should be joyful. Worship should be full of gratitude. God has given us so much that we should be full of gratitude to him and it should be reflected in our worship. Several of us, the boys and my sister, are reading through a book about the gifts of Christmas period, an Advent book, and tonight was Be Grateful for Your Church. And yeah, it really sort of rung true. A church, some church, your church, even though it's full of people that are awkward and difficult and, and, and, is that your church? What's the theme? And we should be really grateful. We should come with full of gratitude, not only for what God has done for us, but who he's put us together with. Worship should be full of humility. There's nothing worse, really, than a church where either the leader is full of his own self-importance or some in the church are. and the result of that will surely be conflict and problems. Worship should be Christ-centered. We all know places where maybe there's a brief mention or not at all should be Christ-centered. Worship should be from the heart as well as from the head. I guess we tend to be worried about the excesses of certain parts of the church and therefore emotion gets ignored. It should be heartfelt as well as head felt. Worship should glorify God and not man. we should use a variety of psalms and hymns and spiritual songs in our worship. If you look at the three we've chosen tonight, one is a psalm but by a modern author, one of them is what I would define as a hymn, very old hymn, and one is a newer song but with a scriptural theme from also I think a psalm. So whatever our definition of those things is we really need to think through. I don't like that. Why don't you like that? Because it's too old because it's too new, whatever it is. We should mutually encourage each other in worship. We should always attempt to be present for worship. We should use worship as a dress rehearsal for heaven. More on other aspects of worship next time.