The Shepherd’s Voice

Giving, As An Act of Worship

Readings for Sunday, January 10^th

Isa 43:1-7
Psalm 29
Acts 8:14-17
Lk 3:15-17, 21-22

What is worship all about? Why do we get up on Sunday morning, sleepy eyed, get cleaned up and go to church? What motivates you to come to church, to worship?

Some might be saying it’s the right thing to do; it’s what my parents taught me. It’s what I’ve always done; it’s a pattern, a habit. It makes me a better person. It teaches me about right and wrong. I go because my wife or husband, my mom or dad wants me to go.

If these are the reasons you come than I say why bother. It’s not that these aren’t valid reasons, they may be, but they are just weak reasons; secondary reasons, not primary reason. These reasons are based on tradition, on an old understanding of how you should live or act on Sundays.

These reasons do NOT stand the test of time; they do not adequately motivate when times get tough or when schedules get impacted. If you can find a reason not to come, you will. We are all motivated by different things in life.

An elderly woman had just returned to her home from an evening of church services when she was startled by an intruder. She caught the man in the act of robbing her home of its valuables and came up behind him and yelled, “Stop! Acts 2:38!” Which of course is – (Repent and be baptized, in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven.)

The burglar stopped in his tracks. The woman calmly called the police and explained what she had done. As the officer cuffed the man to take him in, he asked the burglar, “Why did you just stand there? What’s that? Why did you stop the robbery when the old lady yelled out the scripture from Acts?

“Scripture?” replied the burglar. “She said she had an axe and two .38′s!”

Does scripture, God’s Word motivate you or do you need another reason to come?
Coming to church, coming to worship God is not about tradition, not about family pressure, not about learning the law, and it’s not about having an encounter with an axe and two .38’s.

Today, in our readings we are given many reasons why we should worship God. Before I go into them let me explain what worship is. If we break down the word, it means honoring something of worth. The word itself comes from the two words “worth-ship”, in the old English sense it had to do with the elevating of respect (worship) towards someone of elevated social status. Our liturgy in worship is called the work of the people.

So… do we value God, do you respect God, do you fear God? Do you know that God loves you? In our first reading – Isaiah said, “Thus says the Lord”….. “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.” God claims ownership of us.

God has taken action on out behalf. God has called us, and come to the aid of his people. This was a very real concept to the people of Israel. Isaiah remembers when they walked through the waters, God kept them safe.

Isaiah also tells us, “For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt as your ransom”, Why? – “Because you are precious in my sight, and honored, and I love you, I give people in return for you, nations in exchange for your life.”

These words were music to the ears of the people of Israel and they should be music to our ears as well, but do we believe them? Is God important today? Do we feel rescued by God, do we understand we are being saved by God on a daily basis?

That’s a question you need to ask and answer for yourselves. Again God wants us to bring our offspring to him and further in verse 7, Isaiah said “everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.” All people are being called to God, to be part of God’s kingdom, part of a new creation.

The people of Israel knew this and they practiced it. They knew the Holy God of Israel, who brought them out of Egypt and they gave sacrifices, offerings to God to show their thankfulness. (I Cor 29:14) We know from history that worshipers brought things they valued to the altar and left them there. Sacrifice was equated with worship.(Ps 54:6, 96:8-9)

The essence of faith is worship and the essence of worship is sacrifice. Giving to God is an act of worshiping God. This giving is NOT because the church needs our money, we give because we want to worship God. This is a spiritual need we all have.

There are two components to giving. In our worship services we talk about it is our duty and delight to praise God, to worship God. We will cover this concept in more detail in a later sermon, but for now, know that there is an obligation to support our God, our church, and our community, but giving as an act of worship includes sacrifice, stemming from thankfulness, which leads to our delight as we honor God.

In our gospel text today it says “As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah.” People of Israel, at this time were waiting for a Messiah and they thought John was the fulfillment of that prophecy. John said he was not.

John said there was someone coming after him and “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” As we talk about what God has done for us we cannot forget the most important gift God has given us, the gift of His Son, the Savior. In our delight, our expectation we also need to understand the coming of Christ and our need to be baptized.

This Sunday is called the Baptism of our Lord Sunday to highlight the beginning of Jesus’ ministry into this world. Luke tells us here that, “when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven. It said, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.’”

Jesus baptism, our baptism is important. Thus far we have talked about sacrifice, worship, and giving as an act of worship and now we need to talk about combining the two and getting completely wet. In his book ‘Giving to God’ the author Mark Powell tells about the baptism of the Gauls. The Gauls were a war like people who inhabited what we now call France and Belgium. They spoke a Celtic language and were Druidic by religion. By the time the Romans conquered the area they were thought to be under control in a positive sense.

The story goes that as missionaries ventured into this territory and were converted the Gauls would submit to baptism, but it had to be done in a certain way. When a converted warrior was baptized in a river or stream, just as they were dunked into the water they would hold one hand or arm high in the air so it was never submerged. Their logic so it seemed was that when the next battle or skirmish broke out, the warlike Gaul could proclaim, “This arm is not baptized!” so they could take up a club or sword or axe and ride off to destroy the enemy with that arm. This is a picture of a people who were trying to keep one part of their body, one primary aspect of their identity free from the influence of baptism.

I don’t know about you, but I can relate to this because it’s an image of how for years I never wanted to give my entire self over to God’s control. I always wanted to keep one aspect of my life in my control, not God’s control. We all want to be in self-control, but God has something else in mind, God wants us to get comfortable with getting completely wet, completely submerged in the grace and mercy of God’s kingdom.

For most of us not getting completely wet will mean different things. For some it may mean that we need to adjust our thinking in regards to how we spend our time. What do we do or what are we unwilling to do for the benefit of God’s kingdom. Is God calling us to be more involved in social ministry, in the music ministry, in Bible study, in giving of our resources to God, or maybe it’s something all together different for you. If you’ve been a Christian all your life, and many of us fall into this category this may be a threatening concept, but like the angel Gabriel said to Mary when she was confronted with being the vessel of God’s grace, for with God nothing is impossible.

God doesn’t expect that we will work miracles, we can leave that completely up to God, but what God expects is for us to be filled with hope, filled with expectation, and a desire to move forward in our lives. What are we going to do to enlarge God’s kingdom here on earth?

Please ask yourself, what can I do to get completely wet, to get completely involved in God’s work of building God’s kingdom in the coming year. What is my sacrifice, my worship as I come before God each week? Do I come out of honor and respect or is it just habit?

Our goal as people of God needs to be to raise up sacrifice and worship. We need to honor God with expectation like the people in John’s time. We need to recognize giving for what it really is an act of worship.

Worship is not about an axe and two .38’s. It’s not about coming here because it’s a habit or out of a sense of guilt. In reality worship is not about us, it’s all about God. We come to worship God because of what God has done for us. We give ourselves to God because of what Jesus has done for each of us on the cross. Get completely wet this year.

Amen.

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