Bad things happen when people get together:
IL – Me in college - throwing eggs on cars, throwing snow balls, dropping bags of water
IL – History: My Lai, 1968, Genocides, Lynch mobs,
IL – bible: Tower of Babel, Not entering the promised land, Golden Calf,
Why?
Groupthink - deindividuation --> group pressure, deterioration of mental efficiency and moral judgement - we get dumber and badder and we lose self-awareness
But…good things also happen when people get together…
IL – My own experience: Chicago – blizzard of 1979
IL – History: March on Washington
Martin Luther King's historic "I Have a Dream" speech was delivered during this August 1963 rally to promote racial equality in the United States. More than 200,000 demonstrators gathered peacefully at the Lincoln Memorial in D.C., and the event is credited with pressuring President John F. Kennedy to draw up firm civil rights legislation.
Tiananmen Square, 1989
A mass of at least 1 million people, mostly students seeking democratic reform, had peacefully occupied Beijing's Tiananmen Square for seven weeks when the Chinese military unexpectedly rolled in tanks to clear them out. Numbers are imprecise, but it is estimated that at least several hundred protesters were killed in the city, drawing harsh criticism from the international community.
IL – Promise Keepers
IL – Weekend of service
And really good things happen when people gather together for corporate worship
IL – Dedication of the temple – Solomon
1 When Solomon finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple. 2 The priests could not enter the temple of the LORD because the glory of the LORD filled it. 3 When all the Israelites saw the fire coming down and the glory of the LORD above the temple, they knelt on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and they worshiped and gave thanks to the LORD, saying, "He is good; his love endures forever." 4 Then the king and all the people offered sacrifices before the LORD. 5 And King Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty-two thousand head of cattle and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep and goats. So the king and all the people dedicated the temple of God. 6 The priests took their positions, as did the Levites with the LORD's musical instruments, which King David had made for praising the LORD and which were used when he gave thanks, saying, "His love endures forever." Opposite the Levites, the priests blew their trumpets, and all the Israelites were standing. 7 Solomon consecrated the middle part of the courtyard in front of the temple of the LORD, and there he offered burnt offerings and the fat of the fellowship offerings, because the bronze altar he had made could not hold the burnt offerings, the grain offerings and the fat portions. 8 So Solomon observed the festival at that time for seven days, and all Israel with him--a vast assembly, people from Lebo Hamath to the Wadi of Egypt. 9 On the eighth day they held an assembly, for they had celebrated the dedication of the altar for seven days and the festival for seven days more. 2 Chronicles 7:1-9
IL – Acts 2:42ff
42 They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. Acts 2:42-47
IL – David believed in the power of corporate worship -– that when a large body of God’s people get together good things happen…and his worshippers – 4000 worship leaders – playing musical instruments
5 Four thousand are to be gatekeepers and four thousand are to praise the LORD with the musical instruments I have provided for that purpose." 1 Chronicles 23:5
With 134 musicians, the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra is the largest major symphony in the world. The next largest is Berlin with 112. If you combined all the musicians of the top 10 largest symphonies in the entire world, they would equal 1,097. Then add to their number members of the 30 next largest orchestras in the world, and you would have an extraordinary symphony consisting of more than 3,500 musicians! You would still come up 100s of musicians short of the 4,000 David employed for his worship (1 Chron. 23:5)! DAVID WAS ALL ABOUT EXTRAVAGENT WORSHIP
There is something very essential about corporate worship…
There is something transforming about us gathering together…
This is why it is very, very good that you have prioritized this moment in time to sit among the people of God in corporate worship. Worship is essential to the soul – to a human life.
It is more essential than you’ve thought, bigger than you’ve been making it…more awe inspiring, life shaping and heart healing than you have imagined. In this 4 week series I want to make a compelling case for you to make corporate worship a driving value of your life. To convince you to put it on your calendar in pen, to become a person or a family who commits to the Way of Worship.
First week: Corporate worship reorients you from yourself and your pain to your great and powerful God.
Magnus Deus--the great God (transcendence)
Corporate worship reorients us away from our pain, our anxiety and depression, our petty self-centeredness and our sin unlike anything else on this planet.
Last week: Corporate worship invites you to experience deeply the presence of God who dearly loves you.
Coram Deo--in the presence of God (nearness, intimacy or immanence )
The presence of God melts hard hearts and revives dead hearts.Intimacy with God gives me my identity as one who is beloved.
Next week: Corporate worship launches you out into the wildness of the mission of God.
Missio Dei--the mission of God
Today: Corporate worship allows you to enjoy the community of the passionate people of God.
Communitas Dei --- the community of God
Not only enjoy and find pleasure but it is a shaping experience…
Corporate worship among the people of God…
1. When we worship together we get our identity clarified.
Corporate worship re-enforces your identity
Psalm 95:1
1 Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. 2 Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song. 3 For the LORD is the great God, the great King above all gods. 4 In his hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to him. 5 The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land. 6 Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker; 7 for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care. Psalm 95:1-7
Ø Corporate worship helps us with our theology – our notions of God especially in relation to each of us.
Ø CW helps us rally behind him and what he stands for.
9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 1 Peter 2:9-10
1 Corinthians 12:7, 27 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good . . . Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
Ø Our faith is a team sport. Not an individual sport. Following Jesus is not about me simply improving my practices – it’s about us together – so when we gather for worship it is a wonderful reminder.
o No it is not sufficient to worship God simply by walking in the woods.
o No, unless you are a shut in, it is not cool to simply watch the video…you gotta be there
a. part of a body – I Corinthians
corporate worship is a theological reminder of who we are – we are a collective – a body!
Personal worship is not a substitute for corporate worship. We are baptized into the Body of Christ and are members of His body. There is no biblical idea of a member of the body existing apart from the body.
PARTICIPATION: In His infinite wisdom and creativity, God designed the church to function in much the same way as the human body with each part performing its unique role in concert with all the others. Not only do we desire to involve those whose hearts beat to create and contribute to the worship of God and whose gifts are complementary, but we depend on those who serve voluntarily to help the church fulfill its mission in a healthy, sustainable way. Participation is not exclusively relegated to those leading worship experiences. To achieve our goal of helping people engage with God, we seek to conquer passive consumerism and elicit full participation—spiritually, emotionally, mentally, and physically—through invitation, example, and resourceful design.
Romans 12:1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.
Note: A good place to touch on getting there on time and staying to the end.
2. When we worship together we get to taste the diversity of God’s kingdom.
Much of our time we spend most of our time among people just like us…age, etc.
a. age
b. gender
c. racial
d. ethnic or national
e. socio-economic
9 After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. Revelation 7:9
22 I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23 The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. 24 The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. 25 On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. 26 The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. Revelation 21:22-26
4 One generation will commend your works to another; they will tell of your mighty acts. 5 They will speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty, and I will meditate on your wonderful works. Psalm 145:4-5
DIVERSITY: Worship that is truly representative of God’s Kingdom is inclusive of all nations and races. In addition it takes into account the variety of spiritual maturity levels, personality differences, learning styles, and personal preferences of God’s people gathered. Our approach to worship, therefore, is eclectic—utilizing best practices from the past and the present, respectful of liturgy but deliberately delivering the unexpected, and seeking to authentically incorporate voices, music, and Christian traditions outside of white, suburban America.
3. When we worship together God’s power and authority is released among us.
18 “Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be[a] bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be[b] loosed in heaven.19 “Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”
What we cannot obtain by solitary worship we may by corporate...because where our individual strength fails, there union and agreement are powerful Chrysostom 400 A
To join our voices in worship is the beginning of an uprising against the disorder of the world – Karl Barth
42 They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. Acts 2:42-47