Come as you are - to worship

Did you watch the FA Cup Final yesterday? Some 80,000 people went to worship their teams. What sort of people went? Did you notice who was there? There was lots of blue because both team's colours are blue. After losing 1-0, Cardiff were left feeling blue too. I saw all sorts of people their: people in costume, in uniform, women, children, young, old, the rough and ready, the sophisticated, black and white. I am sure there were people from the city and from the slums. So long as they could get hold of a ticket, they would be welcome.

I was invited to a banquet on Thursday evening. We were invited to dress up, put on a jacket and tie. Unfortunately we were in Berlin for a conference and no one had mentioned that we might be meant to dress up. So I didn't have a smart pair of trousers, or shoes, or a tie, or a jacket. My room mate (not Alison, Mike Pearson, the senior pastor of Mercy Vineyard in Southampton) disclosed that not only did he not have anything smart with him; he didn't even possess a tie. He borrows his brother's when he needs to do a wedding or funeral.

But we were not going to miss out on the fun so we went anyway. Some turned up in black tie and dinner jacket, others in various fetching outfits, some in hats and trendy jackets. I have to say that the Vineyard in Europe, on the whole, does not have much of a fashion sense. The show was rescued by some of the women who had obviously had some prophetic insight and had come prepared.

 

But we were all invited, we all went, we all ate and drank and sang and enjoyed the night and came away having had a lot of fun.

One of our Vineyard values, indeed it is almost a strap line in the Vineyard, is come as you are. We invite anyone to come - whatever their background or status, whatever they are wearing.

 

Our invitation reads:

We welcome you to the community. Full stop. You do not need to be anything. You don't need to be married with kids, or tee-total, or employed or in good health and you certainly don't need to be holy. You can come from any background - religious, social, cultural or racial. Jesus accepts everyone as they are and we aim to do the same.

Today I would like to look at this in relation to worship. By worship I mean, for the purposes of this talk, the time we set aside to approach God through songs and music. The time we set aside to hear him speak to us and to express our thoughts and hopes and fears and love to him. We come to this time in many different states of mind and in many different circumstances of life. But the invitation holds true: come as you are.

Many of us come as spectators. That's OK - if you are new to this. It takes time to get used to the way we do things, to become familiar with the songs. However, worship isn't a spectator sport. It only works when you do the worship - when you give to God the worth that is his (that is what worship is - giving God his worth - he is worth it).

Many of us come as consumers - coming to get our fix, sing our favourite songs. But it is about Him not me – what does worship do for God, not me.

 

WHO ARE THE WORSHIPPERS?

Many of us disqualify ourselves at the outset. If there is a God he won't be listening to me. These people are all good people but if they knew what I was really like not only would I not be allowed to worship, I wouldn't be allowed inside the gate. You don't know what I have done.

Or maybe you think you are just not respectable enough. I come from the wrong part of town.

Sometimes we disqualify ourselves because we are nice, rich, well off, educated, important in our fields - we don't need to get on our knees or raise our hands to communicate with God - we are almost there anyway.

Let's turn to the bible and see what it says about worshippers. I am using a translation called The Message for this study because the translator uses the word worshipper. The bible is made up of several books, one is called the Psalms and it is a songbook, an ancient hymn book. There are several places in the songs where it explains who or what a worshipper is.

Psalm 132:8-10 - the worship leaders, the lead worshippers

Up, God, enjoy your new place of quiet repose, you and your mighty covenant ark; Get your priests all dressed up in justice; prompt your worshippers to sing....

 

The context of this passage is the dedication of the temple. It is a pilgrim song and is about the priests getting set to encourage the people to worship and love God. Just as our worship band today are about to do. They have rehearsed and planned and are going to prompt us to sing.

Psalm 25:12 - the repentant

My question: What are God-worshippers like? Your answer: Arrows aimed at God's bull's-eye.

 

Worshippers are arrows - flying on target to the centre of God's glory. We come off target when we allow sin to draw us away from the centre of God's glory. That is what sin does. It makes worship much harder when we are behaving badly.

When we are looking at porn and our mind is full of deplorable images, when we are treating people badly and our spirit is full of vindictiveness and anger, when we are using money poorly and our identity gets wrapped up in things rather than our relationship with God. …

 

When we confess, are forgiven, repent and make progress against sin, we find our arrows fly more easily into the centre of God's glory.

Psalm 25:14 - friends of God

God-friendship is for God-worshippers; They are the ones he confides in.

 

He does not confide in his slaves but his friends. A friendship relationship is one of trust and intimacy. As we worship God we can hear him saying, "Come as you are, friend, let's talk."

Psalm 22:22-23 - the family

Here's the story I'll tell my friends when they come to worship, and punctuate it with Hallelujahs: Shout Hallelujah, you God-worshippers; give glory, you sons of Jacob; adore him, you daughters of Israel.

 

When we turn to follow Jesus, the bible tells us that we become sons and daughters of God. The children of God give him glory, they shout, “Hallelujah”.

 

There is celebration and intimacy in this. Celebration that we have been rescued into a new relationship and now have a heavenly Father who loves and cares for us like no earthly father. Intimacy as we learn to be loved as a father loves his child and as we learn to love him too.

 

Psalm 22: 25 - (former) down and outers

I'll do what I promised right here in front of the God-worshippers. Down-and-outers sit at GOD's table and eat their fill.

 

As the old blues song goes, "Nobody knows you when you are down and out." Except that God knows and he specifically invites the down and outers. And because they are invited to the banquet they are now ex-down and outers and are worshippers instead. So if you feel down and out, you are invited too.

Psalm 22:28 - (former) rich and powerful

All the power-mongers are before him — worshipping!

Those who currently have power or wealth. Those who expect to be worshipped. Those who may be tempted to think they don't need God. They too can come to worship and indeed they too will fall on their knees one day, like all the rest.

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So, who gets to go to the banquet, who gets to go the game, who gets to be a worshipper?

The priest/worship leader, the repentant, the friend, the sons and daughters, the ex-down and outer, the ex-rich and powerful. We all get to go to the party whatever we are wearing, wherever we have come from.

This time here and now, this celebration and worship is thus a foretaste of what is to come. The kingdom for which we yearn and of which we hear only echoes, smell only the passing fragrance, is yet to fully come when all shall worship and bow down and know the King of the universe.

But we live in the now-and-not-yet. We have a taste but not yet the full understanding. We see in a cracked and dirty mirror. But it is a true taste, a glimpse of the reality and we enter in with full hearts and with anticipation of the day, the day when we will know him fully and be fully known, when we will see clearly, when we will eat our fill and drink deeply forever.

The Psalm song writer goes on in chapter 22 to give us an expectation of worship in the kingdom and a glimpse of what it will look like:

 

Psalm 22:27-29

From the four corners of the earth people are coming to their senses, are running back to GOD. Long-lost families are falling on their faces before him. GOD has taken charge; from now on he has the last word.
All the power-mongers are before him — worshipping!
All the poor and powerless, too — worshipping!
Along with those who never got it together — worshipping!