Morning, my friends. OK, how about this?
The Lord desires to speak with you this morning.
Think about that. The Lord desires to speak with
you this morning. So if I'm right, there's we get
the picture of God up in heaven at this point and he's sitting
there thinking, I know what Brad needs today.
I know what Kelly needs today. I know what Jill needs today.
I know what Henry needs today. Psalm 100 Make a joyful noise to
the Lord all the earth. Serve the Lord with gladness,
and come into His presence with singing.
Know that the Lord He is God. It is He who has made us, and we
are His. We are His people in the sheep
of His pasture. Enter His gates with
Thanksgiving, and His courts with praise.
Give thanks to Him and bless His name, for the Lord is good and
His steadfast love endorse forever and His faithfulness to
all generations. This is the word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God. The grass Withers of flowers
fade, but the word of our Lord stands forever.
Let's pray together. Gracious Lord, grant to us a
wisdom and understanding to know this word and to live this word
now and forevermore. We pray through Christ our Lord.
We ask. Amen.
Please be seated and if you would grab your Bibles term to
Psalm 100 should be easy to find right smack in the middle of
your Bible across the board. Today, one of the things that I
want to do is I want to make sure that I recognize the
connection between what we are and what we do, what we are and
what we do. Pretty straightforward.
This is a screwdriver and it was created to drive screws.
It's fulfills its purpose when it drives screws.
Now it's nice and helpful to know that it's a screwdriver,
but that's of less importance then recognizing what it does,
that it drives screws. A hammer is created in order to
hammer nails, a razor is created to shave, etcetera, etcetera.
So it's always helpful to know not just what something is, but
remember that it's connected to what it does.
What it is is important, but what it does is also important
across the board. One of the great joys that I had
raising kids for so long was teaching them different things.
And we'd take them places. I'd show them certain things or
working around the house, demonstrate certain stuff, you
know, hey, these are brake pads. And but I just wouldn't say,
look, this is a dishwasher and say this is what it does.
These are what brake pads do. This is what a wrench is.
This is called a wrench. And this is what it does.
So there's always a connection. All right, So why am I
emphasizing this? I'm trying to avoid a problem
that the sermon series, our current sermon series could
potentially lead us to. And that is the idea that what
we're doing is we're talking about what Hebburn is.
We're, we're trying to describe what Heburn is or what Heburn
should be or what we aspire to be or, or, or our desire for
Hebron, etcetera, or something along those lines.
I'm trying to articulate what Hebron is, what we are as a
church. And I don't want there ever this
ever to become something that's intellectual or something that,
OK, now that we know what Hebron is and we're we've fulfilled the
task in which we're after. Because the point is to know
what we are so that it impacts what we do.
Just like there's a connection between this being a screwdriver
and its intended purpose to draw us drive screws.
So it is that there's a purpose between Hebron Church, what we
are, what we think of ourselves as being, and then what we are
intended to do. So when we talk about what we
are, a couple of weeks ago we started a sermon series.
And the emphasis is around characteristics or traits that
kind of describe who we are as a church or again, who we aspire
to be. And we've used the catch phrase
or a little descriptive force here.
Hebron is a biblically based, Christ centered community of
disciples, a Reformed classically evangelical church
in the Presbyterian tradition, worshipping, growing and serving
Christ in the East Hills of Pittsburgh.
OK, now it's easy from that description to see that we've
got a lot of identifications terminology in there.
And couple weeks ago we looked at what we mean when we say
we're biblically based. Last week we looked at what we
mean by the fact that we are Christ centered.
And if you were missing either of those weeks, we can easily
catch you up on what we mean by that and why those things are so
central to our self identification.
But they're important not simply for telling us who we are, but
leading us to an understanding of what we do.
What does the church do? Well, also in that statement you
might recognize that there's that phrase that we are
worshipping, growing and serving Christ, that we're worshipping,
that we are growing together and we are serving Christ.
This is the outcome of what it means that we are biblically
based, that we are Christ centered, and then as we look at
in future weeks, that we are classically Reformed and
evangelical and Presbyterian in our understanding.
These are not catch phrases. Rather they lead us to a self
description of what we do as a as an effect of all of those
characteristics. We worship, we grow, and we
serve. If you've been around our
fellowship for some period of time, you might recognize in
that catch phrase in which we've been using for a while here to
define these characteristics. Worship +2 and that worship +2,
Worship plus service plus nurture or growth, that worship
+2 is something that we've talked about for a lot of what
we want every member of the congregation to be involved in.
If you're heavily involved in heaven, what's it going to look
like for you? Well, you are going to be
involved in worship. You are going to be involved in
a growth activity and A and a growing in your knowledge and
understanding of the Lord and you're going to be involved in
service. And if you're not involved in
one of those 3 levels, then it's up to the rest of us to make
sure that we are encouraging you, that we are providing you
the opportunities, that we're doing all that we can to ensure
that that's a possibility. Because that is a natural
outgrowth. Just like the purpose of a
screwdriver is to drive screws. So the purpose of a biblically
based church, a Christ centered church, a Reformed classically
evangelical Presbyterian Church, is to lead its people in worship
and growth in our knowledge and understanding of the Lord and on
our service with one another. Now let me step back here for a
second and make an incredibly important point.
There is a lot that defines the role in the task and the purpose
of a church. If we were to ask that question,
that's not the question that we're asking in this sermon
series. But if we were to ask the
question, what is the purpose of a church, or what should a
church be or what's what should a church be doing, we come up
with some incredibly important points.
We are, by God's command, the light of this world.
God, Christ himself declares his followers are going to be the
light of the world. Well, what does that mean?
It certainly means, if nothing else, the proclamation of the
truth. It is the responsibility of the
Church of Jesus Christ to hold forth into the darkness of this
world the light of Jesus Christ, the truth of Jesus Christ.
We are failing our responsibilities if we do not do
that well, we are called the holy body of Christ, the holy,
the set apart body of Christ. That's what the church is called
and identified as well. What does that mean?
It certainly means that we have to model for the world a
holiness, that we have to model to the world a righteousness,
not just any righteousness, not any holiness, but Christ's own
holiness, Christ's own righteousness.
That means that we have to be men and women of character, that
this church has to be an institution of character that
reflects Christ's own righteousness.
We need to, and we have to above all else, be a body of Christ
that demonstrates to the world that core gospel message and
identity of forgiveness and grace.
How do we treat our enemies? How do we treat those whom we
disagree with? How do we treat those who wrong
us? If we are failing to identify
ourselves as a community, realize this, that there is
nowhere else in God's created design where there is an
institution that is designed basically around simply showing
the world forgiveness and grace. We've got that core gospel
message that out of His forgiveness and grace, you too
can live forever in His presence.
And yet how are they supposed to know what that forgiveness and
grace looks like if not for the purpose and the function of the
church? The church has that incredibly
important role of witnessing and testifying to the world about
the gospel message, communicating that gospel
message to all those who are come within its orbit.
All of these things are responsibilities of the church.
So when I highlight worship and all and and growth and service,
I'm not identifying them as the only in things that the church
is supposed to do. The church is greater and has
greater responsibilities than just worship, nurture, and
service. But it certainly can't have
less. It certainly can't have less
than that. We can't do less as a body of
Christ and worship, grow together and serve together.
And my intention is if we do those things well, they
encapsulate so much of the other responsibilities of the church
across the board. So what does it mean for us to
be a church that worships? What does it mean to be a church
that grows in our knowledge and our understanding of the Lord?
What does it mean for us to be a church that serves and ministers
to Jesus Christ? Well, let's take a look for a
second at worship. Worship is that central
characteristic, that central core that draws us together as a
people. Now it is popular and it has
been popular in days past to identify Christians that are
Christians outside of them, separated from a community of
faith that are separated from that worship experience.
And oh, they worship by golfing on a Sunday morning, or they
worship by walking through the woods, or they have an
experience with God's presence and, and while they're sleeping
or something along those lines, their eyes are closed.
And that's an worship experience.
And by God's grace in the Scriptures, we see that every
aspect of our life, everything we do is worship.
But when we talk about the purpose of the church, the
natural outcome of a church, if a church is biblically based, if
a church is Christ centered, if it is all these characteristics,
then it will be a community that worships.
We are highlighting an entirely different characteristic, a
character trait that the Scriptures make crystal clear
that if you're a follower of Jesus Christ, you will be drawn
to corporate worship. You will be a part of corporate
worship. Corporate worship will be a
priority for you, not something that you do every once in a
while, not something that crops up, but it will be a priority
for you in all that you do. Take a look at our text here,
for example. But wait, before we look at
that, what does worship entail? Most of us have haven't thought
through worship. Well, worship is that thing
where you come and you sit and you get preached to and you hear
some songs. Perhaps you sing some of the
songs and perhaps you'll listen a little bit while Jerry prays.
But most of us haven't thought through the nature of worship.
Scripture is crystal clear about worship.
It identifies some positive character traits, but it also
highlights some negative things. One of the things that is not
worship in Scripture is a rote, mindless action that you do and
you claim it for God. It is not worship when you go
through the motions. It is not worship when you
simply are present but not participating.
Worship is a full body encompassing thing.
One of the things in which we're going to try to distinguish here
is, is the head, the heart and our hands, what we think, how we
feel and what we do. And worship is an
all-encompassing experience that grabs every part of who we are
and demands that we put that before the Lord and that that is
our connection before God himself.
I went to a Pirates game couple of months ago and the Pirates
were actually in a winning streak at that point in the game
and so the stadium was fuller than than what is possible.
And I'm watching the team and I'm slightly annoyed at how the
team is playing because they're playing like they play
sometimes. And so I'm slightly annoyed by
them, etcetera. And we have a couple of guys
that have had a little bit too much to drink.
And so they start the wave. You know, if you don't know what
the way, you know, everybody here stands up and everybody.
And so they all stand up and I am grumpy because I'm watching
the team and these guys are having all kinds of bear.
And so everybody around me is way, you know, whenever it comes
up and I'm going and I'm just and I'm not.
And here's the thing. That's not worship.
Worship is not being present. Worship is giving of yourself
completely and totally to that which is happening around you.
Take a look at the text for a second verse one, make a joyful
noise to the Lord all the earth. First off, make that's a
command. This is not a request from the
Lord. This is a command of the God.
This is a command that he communicates.
It's a plural command. And so this is not where he's
saying to each of you individually, hey, I want you to
make a joyful noise. I want you to make a joyful
noise. I want you to He's talking to
the community and he's saying make a joyful noise unto the
Lord. Now, what kind of a joyful noise
are we talking about? OK, we might naturally associate
this with singing, and sorry Brendan about this, but there's
nothing magical about singing. Singing is simply an opportunity
for us to make a joyful noise. It is an opportunity for us to
engage with the Lord, not through a ritual way, but
actually in a way that engages all that we have and all that we
are, every aspect of who we are. When we're saying a joyful
noise, we are talking about coming into the Lord.
And here's a picture. Imagine walking into a room and
there's your favorite select celebrity.
I don't know who that is. Imagine your favorite celebrity.
OK, now you want to be cool. So you don't want to drool.
You know, you don't want to, you want to be, you want to be cool
about it. So you kind of play it off a
little bit. But if you're not excited, if
you're not looking out of the side of your eye all the time at
your favorite celebrity, if you don't go up and say something to
them, if you don't cheer and clap when they walk in the room,
what are you doing? And our Lord is not a favorite
celebrity. Our Lord is everything your
favorite celebrity is. Time's the gazillion.
And the Lord is present in this place.
It is utterly impossible for you, by the scriptural
understanding, not to make a joyful noise.
Again, I don't know what that is.
And that doesn't invite all of us to, you know, scream or
holler or something like that. But it it's the screaming and
hollering. The imagery of the screaming in
the holler is an image of us being drawn into God's holy
presence and we see Him who He truly is and we then express
ourselves. This is something, if you have
your Bible open to you, you can look quickly through the Psalm.
There's 5 verses here. There's 6 exclamation points.
Those exclamation points are there for a reason.
It's so you don't read this as make a joyful noise to the Lord.
All the earth serve the Lord with gladness, coming to his
presence and saying, but so that you say it like the reality that
it is, Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all the earth.
Now you're making a joyful noise to the Lord.
The Lord is the object and the focus of that joyful noise.
That's what's so wonderful about how Brendan has brought us
through worship here this morning, focusing our attention.
The focus of our focus of our attention here in worship is not
in singing. It's not in the beat, it's not
in the music. It's upon the Lord.
All of those other things are intended to draw us into His
presence. Trust me on this, it is
consistently on the minds of the staff that you pay here at this
church to seek to guide you in a healthy, worth it worship that
we are not falling into some kind of a rote mundane process
that where you will get lost. But every week consistently in
our hearts is a desire to fashion a worship service that
is going to engage you fully and completely, every part of who
you are. Because worship is essential to
a biblically based Christ centered church.
And if that's what heaven desires to be, then every aspect
of our worship is going to be in such a way that draws you in to
fully engage you so that you're just can't.
So that you can't be a person that just sits there and
grumbles as the wave goes by, but that you're caught into it.
This is an essential part of what it means for us to be a
worship service together. Make a joyful noise to the Lord.
All the earth, all the earth, there is nothing in all of
creation that is separated from this come into his presence with
singing. Why are we supposed to come into
we are coming worship is coming into the very presence of God.
Now you have the unfortunate reality of looking most of the
of your worship time at me, or if not me at Brendan.
And so we take an outsized view in your mind, and we simply
don't have a better way, or we haven't come up with a better
way at this point to do this kind of thing.
But the idea is not to see me. Do you remember the old time
where they used to wear a robe? The preacher used to wear a
black robe, and the imagery of the black robe is so that it
would hide the man. Obviously there's a guy under,
you know, this isn't the Wizard of Oz who's behind the curtain,
but you know, you would hide the man.
And so that you wouldn't be focused on my shirt or my coat
or my tie. I don't have a tie today, those
kind of things. But that you would see through
the man and you would see the Lord that is behind.
That is the goal. That's the purpose.
That's why the choir wears robes up at the up at the big house.
That's why we try to do these kind of things so that we are
not the focus, but that you have an opportunity to focus here
completely and totally upon the Lord himself.
Worship should be a natural outcome, has to be a natural
outcome of a church that is committed to biblically based
Christ centered. Now what does this mean for each
of you? For each of you, What it does is
it causes you to be evaluative about this church community and
encouraging of this church community.
When we bring you into God's presence faithfully during
worship, tell somebody about that.
When we fail to do that, tell somebody about that.
What are you praying when you pray for Hebron Church?
What possibly could you pray more for us than the, the, the,
the worship here would be drawn into God's presence with a
joyful noise, whatever that looks like, whatever that
entails. And not just for us as a
community, but we are made-up of individuals.
How can you put yourself in the right position to come into his
presence? With six exclamation points.
And I know a number of you and I know how you don't come into
this worship service with a bunch of exclamation points
because you fought with your kids on the drive in.
Because you skipped lunch or breakfast.
Sorry. Because you've got other things
on your mind. Because of all these things.
Because you spent too long. Perhaps to come into the Lord's
presence with singing every Sunday means that you need to
change your Saturday night events.
Maybe Saturday night can't be your night out.
Friday night is your night out. Maybe Saturday you say to
yourself and to your family, I'm sorry we're all together at 9:00
because we have to go to bed. Because tomorrow morning is that
moment where we come into Lord's presence with joy, making a
joyful noise. The church is created to
worship. We are created to do it and to
do it well. But that's not all.
We're also created to grow and to in our knowledge and our
understanding of the Lord, in our knowledge and understanding
of God. It is inherent in the church or
built into the very essence of the church.
Just like a screwdriver who's got a purpose of driving a
screw, so a church has got a purpose of leading people into a
knowledge and understanding of Jesus Christ.
It is why so much of the programs of our church are built
around not so much all of our programs over the church.
Everything we do, including worship, has this educational
component. Now let's stop for a second and
realize that there's no test to get into heaven.
Being a Christian is not a measure of our understanding.
It's not a measure of your knowledge.
You don't have to know certain doctrines.
You don't have to be able to articulate certain things.
None of that is true. But my friends, if you're in
love with Jesus, if you're in love with your God, how can you
not want to understand him more? How can you not want to know him
more clearly? He is he is this one that you
are Identify the most intimate part of your life with the most
important part of your life. Most of us will acknowledge
that. Then how can you not be driven
consistently to know him more and to understand him more?
Look at verse 3 for a second in our in our hymn, sorry, in our
Psalm, Psalm 100, verse 3, know that the Lord, he is God.
It is he who made us and we are his.
We are his people in the sheep of his pasture.
Once again, that opening line. Know this, this is a communal
thing. This is knowledge given for the
group as a whole, a command given to the group as a whole,
and it is a command. Know this, know the Lord.
What are we supposed to know? That the Lord, he is God first.
Secondly, that he made us third. That we are his fourth, That we
are his people 5th. That we are his sheep.
As his pastor. Now, I maintain this.
I can't build this out right now, but think about how easy it
would be to have a sermon that would be predicated simply upon
this. What is the content of our
knowledge? What are what are we trying to
communicate to people? Of course, we want to
communicate the realities of the Trinity.
We want to communicate the beauty of the of the Scriptures.
We want to communicate the depth of our understanding of the
nature of God and all those kind of things.
Everything is subsumed under those five points.
Everything is covered under this idea.
Know the Lord that he's God. Know about Christ and who he is.
Be overwhelmed by the presence of the Lord in your life.
Know that he is God. Know that we are made by Him.
You can't. John Calvin, famous theologian
argued that you can't have knowledge of God that doesn't
arise equally out of knowledge of self, of the person.
Because the more we see God for who he is, the more clearly
we'll see ourselves. The more we understand about
ourselves, the more we clearly understand God.
Know that he made us. We.
He is the Creator and we are the creature, and that means
something and that we are His. We belong to Him.
Do you know what it's like living in this world of
brokenness and sorrow and sin and separation and loneliness
and despair? Know this, my friends, that you
are His. OK.
What does it mean that we are owned by Him?
I have coin collection and stuff like that and, you know, cars,
you know. No, we are His people, OK?
We're His people. It doesn't mean that we're
created to be humans. It means that we belong in a
family with Him. We are His family, and He cares
for us like the Good Shepherd cares for the sheep.
I can maintain that if all our programs ever did, if all of
every Bible study focused on nothing more than every sermon
focused nothing more on those five points, we would cover
exactly what the Lord desires for us.
What is it that this church is supposed to communicate?
That the Lord he is God, that we are his people, the sheep of his
pastor, That we are been made by him and that we are his and
belong to him. Now, if this is the message for
the church as a whole, this is the idea for every individual
here as well. Every individual has that
responsibility to seek an understanding of the Scriptures,
to seek in the greater understanding of the Lord.
It's why we emphasize and stress the idea of Bible studies, why
we encourage, why part of our worship service is a sermon, why
every program that I hope, every program we have here at the
church somehow or other, seeks to communicate the essence and
the reality of God himself. That's on the church's
standpoint. It's upon every individual who
claims the name of Jesus Christ to act upon that love that they
have in their hearts for who Jesus is, to seek to know Him
more. Nothing is more frustrating for
the church than hypocrisy. Let's face it, the church is a
hypocritical institution and the world knows it.
And they drag us on to the that they nail us on that
consistently. But what are we called to be?
We are called to be a community that worships God, that knows
God, and then that serves God, that serves him.
Our life, our actions, what we do with our hands is supposed to
be modeled after what we think with our minds and how we act
and worship with our hearts. Our actions are to be a
reflection of these kind of things.
And so in verse 2, we're told serve the Lord with gladness.
Once again, a corporate command that he gives serve the Lord.
And by the way, the word serve there is hard.
It's labor. It's it's hard work.
So often the church does everything they can to make sure
that that your job, if you volunteer at the church and you
get involved in something, we're going to try to make it as easy
as possible for you. That's going completely against
the grain of the nature of the command.
The command is labor hard for the Lord.
And you know what's hard work? Sitting with somebody who's just
suffered a loss, ministering to somebody who is hurting,
ministering to somebody who's annoying while they're lonely,
serving with the youth when they're being youth, serving
with the kids all the time, serving in a way.
All these things are hard and they're difficult.
And that's exactly what it means, that we are to serve the
Lord, but we're supposed to serve the Lord.
Look at the end of that sentence with gladness.
There's an exclamation point there.
We are to serve the Lord with gladness.
This church has to be an institution where we are
fostering worship, where we are encouraging knowledge and growth
and understanding, where we are giving opportunities for service
and worship service and ministry.
And you as an individual have to be a person that is fostering
your worship life, where you are developing an understanding of
knowledge of our Lord and where you are serving Him faithfully
and completely in all that you do.
Now, my guess is that you can look at Hebron Church and see a
little bits of all three of those things.
Yeah, we kind of serve well. Yeah, our worship is OK.
Yeah, our our knowledge, our Bible studies are fairly good.
Maybe you have a better opinion or a worse opinion of those kind
of three things. But if we're going to be what we
are into corporately, then you need to be that way
individually. And I would encourage you to go
into a time of reflection at this point as we I pray
seriously for the Lord's blessings.
I ask for a quiet time and a time of silence here. close your
eyes if you would, and ask the following questions of yourself.
Gracious Lord, hear us as we pray at this time.
Lord, teach us how can I become more faithful in my worship?
Oh Lord, hear your people as they pray.
Oh Lord, how can I become more faithful in my discipleship and
growth? Oh Lord, hear your people as we
pray. Lord, how can I become more
faithful in my service and my ministry?
Oh Lord, hear your people as we pray Now, at this time, I'd
encourage you to stand with me and let us proclaim that which
we affirm our faith. Together, my friends, let us
draw near to God with a true heart in full assurance of
faith. Please join with me.
Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without
wavering, for He who promised is faithful.
Let us consider how we may spur one another on towards love and
good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit
of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as we
see the day of glory coming.