Give you a minute to find your seats while you're doing that,
if you're visiting, thank you for being here today.
My name is Kyle and I serve as lead, Pastor here.
And today, we're continuing in a series we began last week.
The series title is what happens when we worship.
And so, we're just building over the next several weeks.
A theology, if you will on what is worship, what's happening
when we worship? And then after we do that for a
few weeks, we'll get it into a specific elements of a worship
service. What are they for?
Why do we do them? Are they for our good or they
commanded by God? Is there some thing about them
that God has specifically given us?
And then we'll talk about from there.
Where do we go from here? And how do we obey?
The Lord, and those things. So, if you have your Bible, I
ask you to turn to Second Corinthians chapter 3, that's
where we'll be today. Looking at is a passage here in
second Corinthians 3. Um, last week in the series,
what we did is we said that worshiping God his way is the
most important thing you will ever do.
Worshiping God his way is, the most important thing you will
ever do. And so, we went back to the
creation events. We went back to the fall of Man,
and we saw that in that we were separated from God.
Our sin separates us from the Lord.
We're made known of our sin made aware Adam and Eve become aware
that they have sinned. They're hiding themselves from
God and then God comes to them. But while they're in that
separation, Godly worship is impossible.
They cannot do anything to get themselves back to God.
They can't do anything to return to God on their own.
And so God calls out to Adam. And and so what we said is that
we are created to reflect the glory of God in the world.
As as image bearers were told in Genesis 1 that were created in
the image of God that is were created in His image and his
likeness. Likeness to Bear His Image in
the world. But what happens from sin as it
were broken image, bearers created to be mirrors, were
broken mirrors if you will, but God intervenes God makes
atonement. He promised atonement in Genesis
chapter 3 and ultimately makes atonement in his son Christ
Jesus which not only gives us now fellowship with God.
If will come to the god through Christ, we have fellowship with
God again, it also what we see and what we saw in Genesis, is
it Ed's the pattern for Godly worship.
We got to see the pattern for that, and here's what we laid
out. If you don't have these things
in your notes, I encourage you to write them down because their
importance of what we'll be discussing over the next several
weeks. But the pattern for Godly
worship is this number one, God initiates.
God, initiates, he comes to us. He invites us, he calls us.
He is the initiator of Godly worship.
The second thing is that we see our sin, as you.
Look at a holy God, you can't help but see how Unholy you are.
And so your sin you're made aware of your sin, a judgment is
pronounced. You see that you are no longer
in Fellowship of the holy God, that you cannot be in fellowship
with this. Holy God, and then God, number
three, God provides atonements. God makes a way for there to be
Fellowship again. There's atonement for sins.
The fourth thing is after we've received this atonement, we are
committing ourselves to God through Christ committing
ourselves to him. And as we're committing
ourselves to him were welcomed back into Fellowship.
So by faith, in Christ by faith in his death and Resurrection,
we are. Welcome back into the
fellowship. Back into fellowship with God.
And so communion number five, communion with God is restored.
In other words, our fellowship is restored.
And there's a literal feasting that goes on with that
fellowship. And we talked a little about
that last week, as we took the Lord's supper together, and
then, finally number six, God commission's, are God's sins us.
God commission's us, he gives us a purpose in life and it is to
reflect his glory and all the Earth as we obey him and teach
others to do the same. Amen.
So we looked at those things. Now, today, I want to talk to
you a little bit about how the worship service itself.
Shapes us how it creates this kind of Christianity where it's
a weekly thing that we come and do and you were being shaped in
it. And here's kind of the one of
the main ideas that will run throughout this sermon is this
is that you become what you behold.
You become what you behold. And so today, the Siri or the
message title is becoming what we behold?
When I ask that you stand with me now for the reading of God's
holy word, Second Corinthians 3. I'll start in verse 12 read
through 18. Since we have such a hope.
We are very bold, not like Moses who would put a veil over his
face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of
what was being brought to an end.
But their minds were hardened for to this day when they read
the old Covenant, that same Veil remains unlifted because only
through Christ. Is it taken away?
Yes. To this day whenever Moses is
read, Read a veil Lies over their hearts, but when one turns
to the Lord, the veil is removed.
Now, the Lord is the spirit and where the spirit of the Lord is
there is freedom. And we all with unveiled face
beholding, the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the
same image from one degree of Glory to another.
This comes from the Lord who is a spirits This is God's.
Holy word. Thanks be to God.
Let's pray Heavenly Father. We thank you for your word.
We thank you that. We have it as a As a source of
Truth, absolute truth. That when we look into it, we
see the glory of yourself. Or that by it.
We might know. Truly know who God is and it's
only by the special Revelation that we have in your word that
we can know who you are. It's only by this, that we are
called into fellowship with you. Once again, it's only about this
word that we are redeemed and able to worship you.
And so father, would you help us today to Behold The Glory of
Christ in your word that we too might be transformed from one
degree of Glory to another May your spirit be among us today,
may your spirit move on our hearts and our minds today.
May your spirit sanctify us. Make us more like Christ.
The name of Jesus, we pray these prayers.
Amen. And then you may be seated, So
again, last week what we looked at is that you are created to
worship. You are a worshipper from the
womb, right? From the womb to the tomb from
life to death, you are worshipping something.
Always, now, I want to develop that thought a little bit
further today, what? Whatever you worship shapes, you
whatever, you're worshipping it forms, you and you form habits
around what you worship, right? Right, like whatever you find,
most important, whatever your heart desires, whatever your
heart longs for. What do you do you order your
day after that thing, right? You shape your life around it?
You form your life around those things.
And so what you worship influences, your thoughts, it
influences, your decision decisions each day at impacts
you. And this is true.
No matter what your worshiping, whether you're worshiping the
one true Living God or you're worshipping.
False gods in the form of idolatry what you worship.
Either prepares you for eternally worshipping your
creator or It prepares you to meet the Eternal Judgment of
that same Creator but you are worshipping.
There is no neutrality, you are a worshiper who is worshipping
and your worship either gives glory to God and is therefore
righteous worship. Or it gives Glory To Creation
and does therefore idolatrous. There's no neutrality here.
There's no neutral ground. There's no gray areas.
It's black and white. You are worshipping something.
Always, Additionally, you become what you worship.
I'm going to use the word behold because that's the word that are
passages using today. You become what you behold, the
behold. Something means to look into a
mirror at it, typically, it's talking about how you gaze at
yourself in a mirror. It's to gaze at something and
you're becoming what you behold, whatever you're looking at
another way to word. Be maybe that not literally,
it's not like your hands have eyes, but with your eyes, you're
taking hold of something and holding onto it.
You behold that thing where you become what you worship, you
become what you behold, and you are a natural-born Beholder.
You were created with the Longing To behold something,
your created with the longing, the desire to worship something.
Therefore you must be aware of how the things that you worship.
Are shaping how the things that you're beholding, are forming
you and we need to recognize the ways in which we have been
shaped by beholding the wrong things.
This would be misplaced worship or a better word.
Probably, a more straight down, the line.
Word would be idolatry this place worship is idolatry is
putting worship on something other than the Creator.
We're worshipping creation instead and this is idolatry.
Listen to the psalmist in Psalm 135, is he talks about the idol
worshippers in his day. He said the idols of the nations
are silver and gold. The work of human hands.
They have mouths but do not speak.
They have eyes, but do not see. They have ears but do not hear
nor is there any breath in their mouths?
Those who make them become like them.
So do all who Trust. Them, that last line is crucial,
those who make these idols, and worship these idols and give
themselves to be holding these Idols become like them.
They become dumb. They become stupid.
They become foolish. Why would you worship something
that you can create with human hands?
Why submit to something that you have ultimate authority over
something you've created or something that someone else has
created something that bends to your will and to your ideals
Lord, condemns idolatry here in Psalm 135 and he's essentially
making the case that it's foolish.
You become what you behold and then idolatry this is not a good
thing. It's not a good thing to become
like your Idols. It's not a good thing to pattern
your life. After the things you most
desire, if those things that you most desire are not Christ
himself. Misplaced beholding forms.
The wrong kinds of loves in US. It forms Desires in you.
It is therefore idolatrous. Jesus said you cannot serve two
masters that you will either love the one and hate the other
or hate the one and love the other.
No one can serve two Gods crisis.
Therefore, it's crucial. It's absolutely crucial to the
Salvation of your soul. That you find True North, so to
speak. That you correct, your course
less you continue and idolatry or less you as a Christian maybe
not continuing in idolatry but having idolatrous practices in
your life, a heart that is divided at times a heart that is
prone to wander. And True North is found in Godly
pure true. Regular Christian, corporate
worship. At least it should be.
This is the way to overcome and defeat idolatrous beliefs and
each one of us. Jonathan Cruz.
Wrote a book on worship and he talks about this.
He says worship takes what we love and trains us to love it
more. Worship both reflects what
matters to us and shapes, what matters to us worship.
Trains us, and transforms us. This is could be idol worship as
we saw in Psalm 135, as you see throughout the Old Testament and
the New Testament or could be Godly worship as we see in
second Corinthians 3. That what you behold you become
And so the thing I want to lay before you today is this and
write this down, should be on the screen.
God forms and shapes you as you behold the glory of Christ and
regular corporate worship, God forms and shapes you as you
behold the glory of Christ and regular corporate worship.
Now what's happening in second Corinthians 3 is, Paul is
writing and he's remembering an event that took place among
Moses and the Israelites and exodus and Exodus chapter 32,
chapter 32 and 34 we have the story of Moses and Mount Sinai.
And those idolatrous Israelites we find the Israelites in these
passages are in these chapters worshiping a golden calf.
Moses has gone up to Mount Sinai.
Got his called him up to Mount Sinai to meet with him, is
ultimately going to deliver to him the way that you properly
worship, Radisson, The Ten Commandments.
This is the way you order your life.
He's going to ultimately deliver to him that so that he can take
it to the people, but the people become Restless.
I don't want to wait on his return.
I don't want to wait on what God has.
And so they convince Aaron Moses's brother to make a golden
calf for them to worship and when Moses returns he sees the
madness and he is angry, he rebukes the people and he uses
terms that are really fitting for worshiping a cow.
He says that you are stiff-necked people.
If you ever tried to Wrangle a cow before but there's
stiff-necked right? He says you are a stiff-necked.
People who have turned aside quickly out of the way.
Also something cattle or prone to do They have become like
cattle themselves, they have busted out of their pastures.
They need to be rounded up right there, following the desires of
Their Own idolatrous Parts. And afterwards Moses goes back
up to the mountain to speak with God and while he's with God he
is also transformed he to undergoes a transformation is
he's beholding something altogether different, he's
become beholding, God. As he communes with the one true
living holy glorious God he is transformed to reflect the glory
of God. Listen to Exodus 34 29 as it
describes, what happens to Moses when Moses came down from Mount
Sinai, with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand, that
is The Ten Commandments as he came down from the mountain.
Moses did not know that the skin of his face shown because he had
been talking with God. Moses is literally shining from
the glory of the Lord of a supernatural event that we
should not ever expect to happen again.
But it happened to the prophet here.
Most and happens as a way of judgments on the Israelites but
they beheld something shiny, something created in their own
image, a glory that could was made with their own human hands.
And became like it but Moses beheld, the glory of God and was
transformed into that same image in a way.
While the Israelites became like their Idols Moses became like
his God, simply by beholding simply by communing.
God graciously, conformed, Moses to reflect his glory.
Now in the New Covenant, what we have now, post Christ Christ has
died and he's been resurrected. He sits enthroned in heaven.
Now, we await his return, he's the king of kings, the Lord of
lords, Satan is bound, right? What we have now is the ability
to worship the Lord, Hebrews tells us that we can come boldly
before the throne of grace and receive mercy and Grace and our
time of need, because we have a high priest in heaven who is
sympathetic in our weaknesses to our weaknesses but being like us
being created as a man and enduring Temptation, he endured
it to the end and was without sin and so he is able to
sympathize with us in our weaknesses.
He invites us to come boldly to the throne Some worship is
restored worship. No longer requires a priest or a
prophet or King. As we see throughout the Old
Testament. Christ is the priest Christ is
the prophet Christ is the king Christ is also the sacrificial
lamb. He became exactly what we
needed. So that worship might be
restored so that we might be in fellowship with God again.
And our passage today is unveiling the new covenants.
We lived in a time where we can Behold The Glory of Christ in
worship because his death and Resurrection has torn the veil
between God and man. if you come to the father through Christ, I
might say through faith in Christ or by faith in Christ,
then you will have restored fellowship with God.
The spirit of God who dwells in you frees, you from the bondage
of sin enabling you to cry out, Abba Father.
As Romans 8 says, And you are able to truly worship him.
Listen to Second Corinthians 3, 16 through 18 again.
But when one turns to the Lord The veil is removed.
Now, the Lord is the spirit and where the spirit of the Lord is
there is freedom. And we all with unveiled face
beholding, the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the
same image from one degree of Glory to another for this comes
from the Lord who is Spirit Amen.
So the purpose of God in corporate worship is that we
Behold Him through his son by the Holy Spirit.
If you will behold God In Worship, You Will resemble him
as His Image Bearer. You are redeemed and beholding
Christ, you were redeemed and turning to him spirit of God.
Creates a new a new heart. You live now by faith in Christ.
And now you were able to Bear the image of your maker, your
bear, you're able to Bear the glory of the Lord in your life.
It's a corporate worship matters.
You know, we were told just a few years ago, a couple years
ago, I guess that corporate worship was non-essential.
Corporate worship was non-essential.
And many people. As I talked to pastors and
friends, and we've seen it here, even many people bought the lie
that corporate worship was non-essential.
It's totally removed themselves from corporate worship for the
last two-plus years. Created new habits.
They were formed and shaped by these new habits. and now, in
many ways, they've turned their heart from God, not to God,
They're following their own stomachs.
But corporate worship is necessary.
Corporate worship is necessary because we easily forget.
Corporate worship matters because it helps us behold
Christ in a weekly liturgical or explain that term in a moment.
Liturgical practice. So that we become like Christ
bearing, the image of his glory as we are being transformed from
one degree of Glory into the same image of Christ.
So if the goal is to become like Christ through beholding, his
glory and regular corporate worship, then corporate worship
must be designed to tell that old story of the Gospel that we
sang about earlier, it must be designed so that we see the
Redemption that we have from God through Christ by the holy
spirit's and to reflect the glory of God, we talk to you
about what liturgy is for. Just a second, just kind of as a
side. Note liturgy just means a work
of the people or a public service that people come
together and do. All right, so if we think about
liturgy that way, liturgy exist everywhere.
The way we typically hear liturgy is the order of a
corporate worship service. What happens in the service and
so in that way, every church has a liturgy but not every liturgy
is good for regularly. That is Week in and week out
beholding the glory of Christ just because a church says their
Church doesn't mean they practice a god glorifying
liturgy. Amen.
Much of it is man-centered the word liturgy might make you
think of more traditional worship experiences.
You know that maybe a word that's used in in some circles
that you grew up in depending on what your church history is.
But the truth is that every church has a liturgy because
every church is coming together and performing a service, right?
It's coming together for some kind of a work and the Order of
a worship service is the Liturgy of that service.
So the way you order your life also is a liturgy, right?
Your your daily habits, your weekly habits, your monthly
routines, those things are shaping you Write it, you are
shaped by those habits. Maybe even in ways, you don't
realize, you may not realize what social media does to your
anxiety. But yet you spend a ton of time
on it not wanting to be left out, right?
Not wanting to miss out on something.
You might not realize how TV or time with certain people shapes
your life but those things shape you absolutely.
And so being with surgical in our approach to corporate
worship happens, whether we acknowledge it or not, we have
habits, we have things we do. And so we must therefore think
through the Liturgy of our corporate worship service.
What are we doing? Why do we do it?
We must search the scriptures and see has God commanded us to
worship him in a certain way. Has God commanded us to do
certain things when we're together?
Spoiler alert? He has, we must discover ways
that we can better Behold The Glory of Christ each week and
our service from the call to worship to the songs.
We sing to the way we announce things to preaching to the
dismissal and everything in between everything matters,
because everything must come under the microscope of God's
word. Are we worshiping the way he has
commanded us to do. In the same way, it's wise to
Think Through Your Daily habits. It's wise to think through your
morning, you know, don't just think about a day as a whole
think about the hours of your day.
You really want to freak yourself out.
Think about the minutes of your day like 15 minute blocks.
Track your time. See, how do you spend your day?
Do you devote yourself weekly or monthly to practicing things
that will help you intentionally Behold The Glory of Christ?
And all that you do? Why do these things even matter?
Well, because the way that a liturgy is shaped will determine
the way that you are being shaped.
Determines how your formed and God forms and shapes you as you
behold the glory of Christ in corporate worship.
And so, therefore, we must shape the Liturgy in such a way that
we all walk away each week. Knowing that we beheld Christ in
our worship service that we saw the Lord in his word and then
the songs we sang and then the prayers that were prayed in the
things that were studied. and the way that we encouraged one
another, we can walk away knowing that God is forming us
that he's shaping Us by these regular practices from one
degree of Glory to another, because we're rightly worshiping
the Lord I said, a moment ago that everything has a liturgy,
it literally does mean, you can think about this and anything
you do, our world is full of liturgies and these liturgies
are seeking to shape, your thoughts to form you to think
about whatever they determined, the good life is and to get you
to pursue that same thing to get you to yearn for it.
So Monday through Saturday, you were flooded with various
liturgies. These things are shaping you at
an unconscious level. Retail stores social media
schools universities, so on. He's saying shape, you your own
practices in your household shape, you do?
We yell a lot. We scream at one another.
Do we fight a lot? Well, guess what?
That shaping here. And it's shaping the children in
your home as well. Write these things shape and
form. But let's take retail stores.
For example, this is an example that's used by Cruise.
Retail stores preach to you the reality of your sin and thinking
that what you have is not enough.
And so, therefore, your sinner, you're broken, we don't have the
newest and best thing. My life is broken, but if I'll
get that thing, That promises salvation.
And so then you were presented with a gospel, right?
If you'll buy this, you won't feel broken anymore as a
marketing major. We were told that well mention
one, you can probably guess the other but it's like of children.
I won't mention it. There's two things that help you
sell a product one will go unnamed.
The second is to create a fear in someone that they're missing
out. But they need your product for
their life, to be whole. and so Monday, through Saturday, you're
being flooded with these liturgies, And you're presented
with the gospel, we can have the newest and best thing if will
come to their store and Shop. This is the hope of redemption
through consumption. We present our offerings.
That is our merchandise. We pick it up on the shelves, we
take it to the altar or the counter, and the priest, or the
cashier, right? Gratefully, accepts them sends
us off with a benediction and a reminder to come again and
worship soon. The liturgy.
However, you know, and I know that the good life that we are,
promised never comes through the things that we purchase, the
things we buy become obsolete, they go out of style, we get
bored with it, all right, that's typically the one that gets all
of us is just boredom with it. So we want more and more.
And we're telling ourselves once for more and more really needs
right? Or mind begins to rationalize
the things. We One is things.
We need because the messages are working.
We're hearing the gospel of consumerism loud and clear.
And so we've been trained in this worship of consumerism.
There are many other examples of how we might be involved in
Daily liturgies from someone else teaching us to Behold The
Glory of their promised, good life, their version of that, And
all of those things would have you behold something other than
your creator, they would have you behold creation and that you
would become more like the world than like Christ.
We all want the good life I mentioned earlier.
You're born with this innate. Desire for something good.
For something bigger than yourself Ecclesiastes 3:11.
I just remind myself of this often that in each one of us,
God says that he has put eternity in the heart into the
heart of every man. But so that he cannot find out
what God is up to. There's a desire in us but the
desire we can't come to ourselves.
We can't figure this out on our own because we're unable to were
broken by sin. But there is a desire and
everyone to take, hold of the good life.
And so we fall into the lies of false promises, whatever
promises us the good life and we desperately longed for it.
So we fall into it, whatever those things are.
But there is only one who has promised to give you the truly
good life. He's promised to do so, in
abundance, even in John 10:10 Christ warns those who are
standing there listening, and he says this, he says, the thief
comes only to steal and to kill and to destroy, but I have come
that they may have life and have it abundantly.
Thief has an agenda. The way that he's going to
plunder, you is not by making it obvious that you are being
plundered, until it's too late. He's going to tempt you with
anything that looks like something better than it is and
as you give yourself to it, you realize I've been duped, I'm
being plundered. And so you see this play out in
people's lives. You see it play out in your own
life probably at times. You bought the LIE.
And now you're reaping the benefits.
The curse of the LIE. Christ says, I've come to give
you life and life. Most abundant are more abundant
And so in Desiring, taking hold of the things of this world, you
were moving farther away from The Good Life Satan tempts.
You, if you will just consume this thing that I'm offering
you, then you will be like, God just as he tempted Eve in
Genesis chapter 2 or 3, sorry. And so you give in to his lies,
you behold his offerings and you think man that looks good and in
doing so you become what Ephesians 2 describes as a son
or daughter of Disobedience. You become a child of Wrath like
the rest of mankind, So how do you attain the good life?
How do you reflect the image of the glory of God?
Let's by beholding, the glory of Christ Jesus again, but when
someone turns the Lord, the veil is removed.
Now, the spirit, the Lord is the spirit and where the spirit of
the Lord is, there is freedom and we all with unveiled face
now, because we've turned from our sins turned to the Lord.
We all with unveiled face beholding, the glory of the Lord
are being transformed into. To the same image from one
degree of glory to the next. And this comes from the Lord,
who is the spirit. So again, when one turns to the
Lord, the veil is removed, that's repentance and Faith.
Repenting of your sins exercising faith in Christ
Jesus. A veil is removed.
Beholding here again means to gaze at something to take hold
of something with your eyes. It's like looking into a mirror
at yourself, except in beholding Christ.
We aren't staring at ourselves hoping to be more like Christ as
His Image. Bearers were looking at Christ
to become better image Bears. We're looking at the one to whom
we want to become like, Here's the really difficult part of
this. We know like if you grew up in
church, if you experience, you've tasted and seen this
yourself, like you know, that there are great blessings and
beholding Christ. We Face a conflict every day in
almost every situation, everything that we do, there's
this conflict and it's a conflict of worship.
Are you going to behold? The world and therefore worship
the world. Are you going to behold Christ?
And therefore worship Christ. And so when you're liturgy and
your habits, these things are shaping.
You inform you your your loves are being cultivated through
patterns and repetitions. One man said this.
He said what the heart loves the will chooses and then the Mind
justifies. Really powerful what what the
heart loves the will chooses and then the Mind justifies, in
other words, what happens is we do what we love and our brains
catch up later. It's really kind of a scary
thought. There's not always reason that
goes into what you're doing. You're acting out of Desire,
you're acting out of passion for something and so, it's
imperative that you get your passions correct that you get
this your desires right. Again, this isn't really a bad
thing to be this way. We're created this way.
And so it's not a bad thing. If what we love is what God
loves, amen. If you love what God loves and
you're pursuing the things that he loves, but what if you desire
sinful lust, what if you desire sinful passions or sinful ideals
of what the good life must be? Well then guess what?
You're going to become like them.
Just like the idolaters and Psalm 135.
And so you need to be retrained. It's hard for us to admit.
I'd be even harder to hear at first, but you need to be
retrained. And that's what Sunday worship
is. All about, Sunday worship is the
time of the week when we are told or we're reminded or we're
trained. And what living for God looks
like amen. But and how this is the really
good life. We cannot plan the worship
service. However, we want, we can't come
in and say, well, let's just try this today and see if it helps
us behold the Lord. Let's do this today and see if
it helps behold the Lord. We must be intentional.
We must plan it according to God's instruction so that we
become the kind of people that we are meant to be the kind of
people that God is creating us to be.
And if we do not, if we plan our services the way we want,
according to our own desires according to what the world
says, will help attract the most people which is happening in
churches. Everywhere I have fallen into
this myself. Then our services will look like
the world. Our services.
Are marked by a Dollar Tree. Our worship has become man
centered rather than Christ centered on we plan and
according to our desires, and not the commands of God and you
become what you behold. So, that's a really bad thing.
Christian worship is offensive offensive, not offensive.
Sorry. Christian worship is both
offensive and defensive. When we worship according to
God's standards for worship. We truly behold Christ and
therefore, we are shaped and formed into the image of Christ,
beholding Christ, not only matures Us.
By addition, it adds things to our lives, adds things of value,
helps us see what we need to pursue, but it matures You by
subtraction. The things that you're pursuing
that are not godly, the things that are you pursuing that are
according to your own desires for sinfulness, those things are
exposed in, right? Christian worship you come up
against the law of God and is James describes, the law.
He says that the law is like a mirror for us.
When we look into the law, we see ourselves as we truly are
and that the man who sees himself as he truly is, and does
not change. He walks away without want to
change, anything that that man is a fool.
Koosh. Our desires are transformed in
weekly worship. We are becoming what we behold.
And so, we put off the old man. We put on the new man, that is
ours in Christ, and we need that reminder each week.
There's the author by the name of Michael Horton.
He says, this, he says, even if we are lifelong Christians, we
forget why we came to church this Sunday until it all happens
again. This is so true.
We come in with our shallow scripts, things that have
happened to us over the week, only to be inch reintroduced to
the real script and to find ourselves by losing ourselves
all over again. Amen, he goes on.
It is as God. The spirit works on us through
the proclamation of the word that we are re scripted.
Our Lives purposes identities, and hopes, conform to that new
world into which the word and spirit, Give us new birth.
Earth instead of the other way around.
Finally he says this, he says, instead of remaking, instead of
our remaking God and His word in terms of our experience and
reason we end up being remade caught up in the action of the
Divine drama. Amen.
This is what happens in worship. That is truly for your good and
for the glory of the Lord, we come to be Sanctified by God.
That is we come to be reformed, we come to be reshaped, we come
to be re made we come to worship so that we might truly put on
the Lord. Jesus Christ and reflect.
His glory in the world brothers and sisters.
We cannot approach Sunday worship.
As though we are merely wasting an hour or two of our weekend,
even if you cannot quite see the effects week-to-week of what
regular Christian worship does in.
Your life, you are being reshaped, you are being
reformed, you are being remade by the spirit of Christ Jesus
and we can trust us because second Corinthians 3 says, as
much God forms you and he shapes you, as you behold, the glory of
Christ in corporate worship. So this has to be what we are
pursuing in our weekly worship Services.
A liturgy that is rooted in the gospel story.
God's Redemption of Mankind, through his own son, Jesus
Christ, by the power of the spirit, a service, like this
will simultaneously form within us a desire for the holy or for
a holy life and it will shape us to attain it.
The gospel is not merely a message to be heard, but it's a
life to be lived. Weekly worship should be the
time where we are LED in that lifestyle Forming Us in shaping
us to live as God's children in the land.
Gospel-centered worship services will help us.
See all the ways that God is true and good, and faithful and
steadfast in his love worship. Like, that will set the proper
course for the rest of your week.
You become what you behold and you can either become like the
World by beholding worldly things.
Practicing their liturgy for your life or you can become like
Christ by beholding Christ. Practicing, the Liturgy that God
meant for you to practice. I'll read it again.
But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed of the Lord,
is the spirit and where the spirit of the Lord is there is
freedom. And we all with unveiled face
beholding, the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the
same image from one degree of Glory to another.
But this comes from the Lord, who is Spirit The spirit then is
present in our worship. Because the spirit is present in
each believer, you behold Christ himself by the word and spirit.
We'll talk about this in this series at some point, but in
John 4, Jesus tells the woman from Samaria.
That the father is seeking worshipers, Who will worship in
spirit and Truth. And when you do that, you become
like Christ. You were formed and shaped by
God to be more and more like the Eternal Son of God in this.
You were redeemed from the curse of the Fall.
You were made into the image of God once again.
And so I ask you brothers and sisters.
Do you approach Worship in such a way as to be shaped like your
creator? Or do you Worship in such a way
as to be shaped like creation? You come to worship seeking.
What you prefer? What you like best?
Maybe it's the songs, maybe it's the style of preaching.
Maybe it's whatever Sunday school experience, May whatever
it is, right? If we come saying that worship
has to align to my desires for me to fit in, or for me to enjoy
that service. You're not worshipping, God,
you're worshiping yourself. And we need to be very careful
of preferences and worship, especially if those preferences
are ungodly. So I asked, are you being
fashion for heaven or you being fashion for Earth in your daily
and weekly practices? I encourage you to Behold The
Glory of Christ to be transformed into the same image
of Christ from one degree of Glory to another In a moment
we're going to sing and just second actually I'm going to
read some lines from it and then pray for you.
But we're going to sing, is he Worthy?
And I want to read just a few lines from this before, I pray
for you. And the team comes up and leads
us. I want to read verse 23 and the
bridge. I think it aligns very well with
what we're talking about in our worship.
Is all creation groaning. Is a new creation coming.
Is the glory of the Lord to be the lights within our midst.
Is it good that we remind ourselves of this?
Does the father truly love us. Does the spirit move Among Us
and does Jesus, our Messiah hold forever?
Those he loves those are God intend to dwell again with us.
From every people and tribe every nation and tongue.
He has made us a kingdom and Priests to God to reign with the
son. Amen.
Me pray for you and then we'll sing together.
Heavenly Father, we praise you. We praise you for your word and
your kindness toward us today and receiving your word.
We thank you. Lord, that we have Direction for
how to become more and more christ-like that we have
direction that when you commanded your people to be holy
As You Are Holy, you did not just say that and leave them
without any direction. But you've shown us clearly
Lord. How we become holy As You Are
Holy and it's Bobby holding your son Christ.
Or Hebrews reminds us that there was a time where you spoke
through the prophets and the priest.
But now you have spoken to us by your own son and that your own
son is the radiance of the glory, the only true image of
the father for us. And so Lord help us to worship
Christ. Help us to commit ourselves to
him. Or we thank you that you were
altogether different than us. We could not fashion in our own
minds that God, like you, that you far exceed, our thoughts,
your ways are nothing like our ways. or if we had your power,
if we had your character in your, if we were like, you
truly, we would We would mess everything up.
We would misuse the power. We would bend it to our own.
Will we would make others miserable in it.
The father, not you. You were perfect.
You were good. And you were holy and righteous.
Sin will not go on judged, but Lord and Christ.
You have made a way for Sinners to come to you.
We don't have to sit in our sin anymore.
We don't have to wonder, how worship can be restored.
How Fellowship can be had again with the father?
We can come to you through Christ.
Saves us to the uttermost. And so, Lord, I pray today that
if there's anyone in here who doesn't know Jesus as the Lord,
Anyone in here who's not repented of their sins and
committed themselves to Christ by faith believing that he died
and rose again, trusting in their heart that he saves them
from their sins. If there's anyone like that in
here, Lord, would you call them to yourself now?
Would you save them, Lord? Help them to respond in faith.
By your spirit who gives New Life.
And Lord for us, that are believers in here.
We thank you for weekly Worship in the reminder to gaze at you
again because we are so prone to forget.
We're so prone to wonder. And so Lord help us to glorify
your name and all that. We do whatever we put our hands
to let us do it for the glory of the Lord alone.
Lord, would you help us to see Christ and All His glory?
Help our hearts too long for him, above anything that this
world has fashioned for us or anything else.
We might make for ourselves. Was to worship him for who he
is. Lord.
Now as we sing, help us to be repentance, help us to be Christ
seeking Help us to devote ourselves to you.
Now Jesus name I pray. Amen.
Help us to devote ourselves to you.
Now Jesus name I pray. Amen.