ANCHOR - Extravagant Worship :: Part Two

[Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] so it's a powerful morning at nine o'clock and to the 11:45 guys welcome as well we're in this anchor series and the hope of the anchor series is simply this that in the weeks or months or seasons to come that you and I will have theological touch points in our lives so that we can stay true with God and stay sure in a changing world and that's not a new idea we begin the series by looking at this text and Ephesians 4:11 and this is Paul speaking I think the text is going to come up on the screen but look at what he says he's talking about how the church operates in why he says so Christ himself gave the Apostles the prophets the evangelists the pastors and the teachers to equip his people for works of service so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature so that's the goal with the prophets and the evangelists and the pastors and the teachers in the in the function of the church is so that all of us would become mature attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ then and here's the key part we will no longer be infants tossed back and forth by the waves and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming but it goes on to say instead speaking the truth in love we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head that is Christ now what does that mean to you and to me it means that in about six months somebody else going to write a big New York Times bestselling novel and they're gonna have a new revelation about some insight into the ways of God and millions of people across America are gonna buy it and they're gonna read it and it's what people are gonna be talking about over lunch and at the water cooler at work and sitting next to each other on a plane oh I've read that I've read that and then a few months after that somebody within the church culture is gonna write another groundbreaking book about their revelation and their insight into the mystery of God that no one's ever known before for thousands and thousands of years and that will become the new conversation and God's trying to get ahead of the curve and he says this is the Word of God and the Spirit of God illuminates the Word of God in the person of Christ and you can know it and you can grow and you can become mature under the right kind of teaching rooted in the Word of God in the company of the house of God this is the plan of God and you can be the kind of person that when the waves blow that way in the ways blow that way and the thinking goes this way in the thinking goes that way you say no I've already got my anchor down in the Word of God not in a verse or an obscure footnote somewhere but in the thread of Scripture so if you pull on that thread that we talked about last week of the glory of God guess what the whole scripture unfolds before you if you pull on the thread of radical grace the whole story of God unfolds before you and when you pull on the thread of extravagant worship this isn't a passion City Church idea it's not really even a church idea we are extravagant worshipers it's who we are and it's what we do you hear people say it in different ways well we went to such-and-such you did well how'd it work out well blah blah blah and let me tell a positive Auburn story just some of my personal therapy today many many decades ago when I was living in Texas I was still an Auburn fan even back then and I was speaking at a conference a youth conference in Tennessee with a friend of mine who was leading worship at the conference who's also a huge Auburn fan and we were playing the next day in Gainesville Florida so I'm trying to get us all on even ground here against the number one ranked Florida Gators seem like back then they were always number one Florida Gators and my friend and I had worked out the math that if we left at the end of the last session all the way on the west side of Tennessee in central time and drove non-stop through the night we could make it to the game we had tickets at will call from one of the coaches on Auburn's team that deal ended we took turns in his van trading off through the night all the way through the night got to Gainesville drove as close as we could to the stadium ran literally to will call got our tickets and as the national anthem was being sung we walked through the gates and went to our Road is anybody have a story anyway remotely like that in your life about no not anyone here like a concert you went to or a date you went on or a trip your family took or some other crazy thing you did and just in the nick of time favor came on you from God and it all worked out after a lot of trial and travail anybody got a story like that you remember in life somewhere back in time well fortunately for us we won that game in the swamp at the last minute and the thing that we would have said to people say well what you do what we got in the thing we drove all night we didn't sleep we didn't eat we ran literally to the stadium we got there in the nick of time and then we had to drive all the way home to Atlanta Georgia after the game was over and people say man that's crazy and we go no it was worth it have you ever used those words before when someone looked at you like you'd lost your mind and he said oh no man it was worth it I've got the latest greatest whatever and yeah it cost X but it's worth it yeah we took our whole family we did the whole deal we we did this that and the other and saved up and but it was worth it see when we say those words we are defining a worship and it's heart we're saying yes it took a lot yes we plan yes we sacrifice yes we gave yes it took a lot out of us at the end of the day but what was on the other side was worth it and when we gather as the people of God and pull on the thread called extravagant worship the whole story of God unfolds and we get in that story by the grace of God and we drop anchor down into the glory of God this glorious God who would come for us in the person of Jesus Christ and we say in light of his glory and in light of His grace everything now in life is a response to God and it will not be a mediocre response to an extravagant rescue an extravagant grace radical grace always calls for extravagant worship we've said this a few times before but there is an unmistakable connection between our awareness of grace and our expression of worship there's an unmistakable connection in other words it won't be a mystery to people how much I am aware of the grace of God by the temperature of the worship in my heart and so I've said this many times but I like coming back to sort of re-emphasize that boilerplate DNA of our house pastors friends of mine will say you know you guys are a worship movement passions always been a worship movement and passion City Church is a worshiping Church we were at your church and how do you cultivate an atmosphere of worship like that at passion city church because we need that at our church and we we are that to people when they walk into this place trust me and I always say to them it really at the end of the day isn't about trying to get people to worship more I believe it's it's more faithfulness in proclaiming the true gospel of Jesus Christ which is we were dead in sin made alive in Christ and when we proclaimed that gospel day after day week after week and celebrate that gospel that's how the temperature of worship changes in our church one of our key texts at passion city church first Peter - and he says but you're a chosen race a royal priesthood a holy nation a people for God's own possession 1st Peter 2:9 but in that little transition now to the next verse is in our culture and in everything you hear a say around Passion City Church your chosen race a royal priesthood a holy nation a people for God's own possession that we may declare the praises of him who called us out of darkness and into his marvelous light for once we were not a people but now were the people of God and once we had not obtained mercy but now we have obtained mercy and when you put those two ideas together were chosen we're royal we're holy we're God's people we didn't have mercy but now we do have mercy we weren't a people but now we're God's people doesn't it make sense that in the middle is the phrase that we may declare the praises of him who called us out of darkness and into his marvelous light so we see this unfold in the New Testament in the book of Hebrews and I want you to turn there with me to chapter 13 I would say if I had to pray to pick today and was pressed and I don't like the question what's your favorite bible verse does anybody like that question I don't it's like okay well that's hard the ones that are in the Bible are my favorite Bible verses and and there are some obviously you would probably get tattooed on you if you had a choice but this text is probably the central text on worship for the New Testament church for the people the followers of Jesus this is probably the central text in my mind because it takes onboard our history through the Old Testament and then it interprets it through the work of Jesus and then it explains it in super practical terms all in two verses of Scripture and so let's read it together and then we'll unpack it a little bit today I mean I really do believe we're all going to be encouraged and inspired the enchanted a by the opportunity that we have it says in verse 15 Hebrews 13 now just above it in the paragraph if you want to backtrack to that and we'll probably reference back to it in a moment it's a snapshot of our history and it talks about how in the former days before Christ that the sacrifices were made in the temple and obedience to God for the sins of the people and it talks about how the blood was brought to the altar we sang about that this morning but that the the carcasses of the animals were left outside the city and that sounds like a strange idea maybe that's one of the verses that you're not sure you want to get tattooed on your arm oh that's beautiful what is that the carcasses were left outside the city but Jesus then captures that and it's recorded for us here by saying and so Jesus when he suffered it was body and blood so he suffered outside the city gate so the Via Dolorosa led Jesus outside of Jerusalem to the place called Golgotha and Jesus died outside the city of Jerusalem it's sort of a picture of the presence of God in the city of God the temple of God in the city of God but yet the nature of this transfer of our sin for his righteousness his righteousness for our sin of him bearing our reproach that he had to go outside the city gate outside that holy city of God outside to the garbage dump of Jerusalem to be crucified for our sins and it says in that same way that we bear in with Jesus today that he suffered for us in that way and then that's the setup for verse 15 through Jesus therefore your text probably says through Jesus then let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise the fruit of lips that confess his name and do not forget to do good and to share with others for with such sacrifices God is pleased now one word appears twice on these two verses what word is it that appears in both verse 15 and verse 16 do you see it the word sacrifice so can you tell your neighbor all worship involves sacrifice can just tell your neighbor real fast 11:45 guys just tell somebody all worship involves sacrifice now how many of you love sacrifice you wake up in the morning and you say man I can't wait today just sacrifice something no sacrifice is sort of a badge of honor for the one person who rises above the masses and says I'm gonna pay the price oh man amazing congratulations we've got a medal for you and a plaque you know I'm gonna take on that extra job so that I can make sure my kids have what they need Wow let's sacrifice and we hold that up as if that's sort of like an anomaly in culture yet we are not culture we are Church and church is predicated on sacrifice if there is no sacrifice there is no church if Jesus doesn't go outside the city and take on the sins of the world and I alone on a cross there is no church and so church is born in sacrifice think about that therefore everything that follows Christ's death burial and resurrection is born of and marked by sacrifice and so the church doesn't take on culture the church takes on Christ and as the church takes on Christ's sacrifice doesn't become an anomaly in the church it becomes the norm for the church and we say in all things we want to offer to God our very best he says through Jesus therefore looking back up to that text above let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise so so let's get a word picture for that today or a mental picture for that today we talk about door holders at passion city church people I want you to just call them volunteers because volunteers are unreliable they sign up and they show up and they're doing you a favor and whenever somebody thinks they're doing you a favor that's not the person you want to be serving under your mission shoulder to shoulder with you amen anybody run an organization at school a business and you're like man our volunteers I mean people sign up but they don't show up that's because they think they're doing you a favor oh you need somebody to to bring cookies Thursday I'll I'll bring them and you're like thank you so much ever done that thank you for coming through and making the cookie baked work kids would be sad without you depending on you text 7:30 sorry got throw up all over the kitchen table not gonna be able to make it with the cookies today and you're like ah you know volunteerism is beautiful but it's problematic if at its is okay I'm looking around and it said they need three people they got two I'm gonna wait still - she's looking at me still - oh or a favor sign me up this is not how the church works the church works with people who say I'm alright my hands up so if you if you ever have a question my hands up but you don't know what we need I know but my hands up but we're gonna need to be here 6:30 right awesome count on me I'm in thrilled privilege what an honor are you kidding me we're billing the kingdom of God here this is changing people's lives this is eternity we're marked by grace this is God's gift to us to be alive today are you kidding me yes now what do you what do you need well we need like 20 million dollars alright great I don't have 20 million dollars but I'm gonna lean in as much as I can what a privilege to be a part of creating spaces where people meet Jesus wow this is an investment I want to be a part of and when I did sign up to say I'm gonna be a part of that I didn't do it like I did for the cookie bake no knock on the cookie bake I did it for Jesus and you can count on me and I'll come through the door and I won't need to be pepped up and I won't need to be pumped up and I won't need to be propped up I'll come through the door Pepin you up and pumping you up and propping you up I'll come through the door and say hey pastor good morning I'm here to serve and I'm excited hey captain I'm here to serve and I'm excited hey team lead I'm here to serve and I'm excited today now that doesn't mean everything's rosy in my world right now it just means I came to lift and not to try drag down I came to push forward and not to pull back I came in the spirit of Jesus today to give my best for the people of God the kingdom of God and the Church of God and I'm telling you you say well that's easy for you to say well maybe not as easy as you think because maybe you think there's some sort of magic and sitting in that seat right there but what I'd offer to you and it's really not about me is you'd have no idea over the fifty nine years of my life how many times I've walked into this building carrying something very heavy in my heart very hard in my life huge conflict going on internally or externally and I've come into this place and said God I'm here today to serve you and to serve the people of this house and we all have that opportunity every single day of our lives and it comes when we have a word picture of what a door holder is versus a volunteer and you know who the ultimate door holder is Jesus the writer of Hebrews says through Jesus continually offer a sacrifice of praise meaning that when we come into worship or come into Tuesday Jesus's home the door and he's saying would you like to worship a great and glorious said a holy God great I'm gonna make the way for you to do that I am the door so I'm holding me I'm holding me I'm the ultimate door holder because I am the door holding the door come into the presence of God and every time he opens that door guess what's opening the door nail-pierced hands are opening that door every time we come into worship nail-pierced hands open the way into worship come all you heavy laden all you tired all you we read all you wayward all of you rebellious all of you who are hard-hearted all of you who've sort of lost focus come through me chew God door open with nail-pierced hands come worship God and if we have a mindset that says the reason why I can breathe life and sing worship today is because Jesus opened a way for me it changes it changes our heart and our mind as we enter into worship he says continually offer a sacrifice of praise we're gonna touch on that not Sunday offer a sacrifice of plate praise for 90 minutes offer a sacrifice of praise on above and beyond Sunday offer a sacrifice of praise if you feel good offer her sacrifice of praise of life's going great offer a sacrifice of praise he says all day every day wherever you are whatever you're doing in every circumstance and every season in every situation see Jesus holding a door with nail-pierced hands and come through that door whatever you're doing wherever you are in every season and say glory to God let my life beyond the altar as a continual sacrifice to Almighty God and this is the only reasonable response to what Christ has done for us sacrifice let's talk about it just for a moment I know you're dying to dive into that word sacrifice is the beauty of worship and at least for sacrifices have to be made for us to move out of culture and into church out of the nomenclature of the natural man and into the condition of the Christ bought son or daughter of God and the first one is the sacrifice of self jesus said if you want to follow me I'd love for you to you have to deny yourself and take up your cross every day and follow me now that sounds like a bad idea if you don't see nail pierced hands opening a doorway into the presence of a holy God and so if a might a mind can't see or a heart can't conceive of dead in sin alive in Christ no shot with God but now pierced hands opening away to God then the idea of denying self is the worst idea you can ever think of it's like why would I do that why would I not get what I want do what I want and decide what I want why would I not do that because a it doesn't work be it never leads us to the ultimate best and eternally valuable outcomes it always leads us to ourselves and even the best of us on our best days are not as good as the best of God every day and so God's not trying to restrict you in me by saying that you have to sacrifice ELF he's actually just trying to gift us with something extraordinary by saying you have to sacrifice self but all worship involves sacrifice whether it's the worship of a meal or a handbag that you want or a car that you want to buy or a grad degree that you want to earn or it's a gift that you want to make available to your children or a trip that you want to take all worship involves sacrifice it's not just in the church that that's true but in the church that sacrifice is for the ultimate but it's still sacrifice and it's the sacrifice of self can I just get real close to all of us for a moment in the Western Church we have missed out on a lot of the heart of the gospel me included and if we're not careful we will turn worship into a consumer sport so what in the world does that mean well we're the best consumers who have ever lived on earth you understand this right we spent six and a half billion dollars on Cyber Monday so if you're in business you're like amen if you own the business that makes the business happen online and you're in e-commerce somehow you just went cha-ching and you're a happy camper if you own a business that helps us do business the business thank you for that it's a year in here at passion city Church and we'd love for you to step up in a great way and bless our house now that you've been blessed with some two percent one percent three percent of six point five trillion dollars on one day we are the best Zoomers who've ever lived and if we're not careful we'll turn worship into a consumer sport I like that song oh I've already tired of that album oh there's a new album you know that nowadays you can buy a new worship album almost every day and then we churn through those songs and we're like man that was amazing I loved that then it's like okay what's next what's next i I didn't I almost did the work and then I thought and I think I can just make the point of how many songs we would have churned through in the top 20 songs that are rated as the top songs the church is singing there's a someone tracks that over the last 10 years in America and it's like amazing next song next song now there's a spiritual value for that sing to the Lord a new song so that's great and we love it and we're gonna keep writing new songs here that's not what this is about but the mentality of I need something new I need something fresh I need something that's different I oh I just found something out oh I like the 9:15 III sometimes I go to that church and for this and that one for that and a duck over there because I like that and so I liked it better when that happens and you know all my life I've heard people walk out of church and say well I like this and I like that I didn't like this and I didn't like that and that was pretty good and that was okay and that was fantastic and this and that and it's sort of like we got to worship with the mindset that this is all for me and about me coming through the consumer lens of what I like and what I don't like and the Cross sort of blows that up with dynamite and says it's really all about the God who would send Jesus on the planet Earth so if we came in today and we said from the beginning the gathering all of our stuff broke today and our musicians got stuck at the airport and all this stuff shut down and we're just gonna if you don't mind we're just going to just quietly sing acapella a song today in worship to Jesus and we're gonna do that next week too and in the next week in the next week would you come you know we're just gonna open the Word of God and read it today we're gonna meditate on Hebrews 13 15 and 16 together would you fight the traffic would you get on a shuttle would you make the effort see that's down at the heart of it Matt Redman was a part of a church in England decades ago and they felt like people were coming because Matt Redman was writing all these new songs and this experience was all it was really great and so they decided the pastor and Matt that for a season of time they weren't gonna have any music in their church and they were just gonna gather together and pray together and read the Bible together and out of that season Matt Redman wrote a song called the heart of worship I don't know if anybody's remembers that song and when the music fades and all is said and done Lord I simply come chorus I'm coming back to the heart of worship you know the words to this song and what end it's all about you see worship is a sacrifice of self for the sake of Christ it's a mind shift in a mind change it says I exist to worship God and nobody's gonna stop me from doing that I'm gonna be in the great assembly do you know why because I want to lift my voice with the people of God in the praise of my king and nobody's gonna stop me from doing that no one's gonna rob me from being in the great assembly in joining my voice to the chorus of his praise but Louie it's a big church you wouldn't know if we're here or not that doesn't matter to people who say I want to lift my voice in the great assembly for Almighty God they don't think thoughts like well there's so many thousands of people will be a passionate say to you today if I'm not there who would even know I'm just one of the people who sits way back in the corner section over here and Louie doesn't even know we're over here he's always looking over there I don't know why he looks over there but that's why we sit over here and they like he wouldn't even know who cares what Louie knows God Almighty is in this house and he loves it when his people come through the door and say I'm coming back to the heart of worship and it's all about you it's all about you God I came today and it's all about YOU Jesus I exist for you it's when we move from being consumers to being the consumed e at the altar and we say I'm not here to consume the songs and the sermons and the message and the experience I'm here to be consumed by God for his glory I am on the altar God all of me in praise of you you know one of the things that's changed in my life over time if it helped me when I didn't feel like worshiping which is a lot of the time I still feel like it today but see that doorway called Jesus changes the way we feel into the response of our heart and that's a sacrifice when you say I don't feel like it but in light of the grace of God I'm gonna worship God anyway because he is worthy of my praise and I think God would be happy with that for you to walk in the door and say I don't feel like it I didn't feel like coming I didn't feel like getting out of bed I don't feel like fighting the hassle but you know what god I'm not gonna let my feelings stop me from joining in with the chorus of all creation I exist to worship you ii sacrifice to touch on is the sacrifice of our loss pain grief or confusion and this is where a lot of worship screeches to a halt it's like if you could picture it like this there's a good God right how do you believe God is good you know you don't have to if you don't but have you believe God is good but sometimes something gets in the way of God being good right now this is the meme of all memes you know this foot it laying on the map forever and Marta hasn't said much about the driver but I'd love to get him here one Sunday just have that joyful conversation and in that is light-hearted obviously but the flip side of it is a lot of times the sacrifice of praise is the sacrifice of pain and loss and death when we know God is good but can't see it there's a famous leader of our city decades ago when I was a kid probably the leading businessman in Atlanta and he became an agnostic at least maybe more of an atheist in I read in an article where he said when I was Xyz age he was a younger man my father tragically died through an illness and I said if that is God then I'll never walk through the door of a church again and I think a lot of people understand what that's about and that's why Hebrews is such a helpful text it says through Jesus then let's continually offer a sacrifice of praise even in death and in life even on the best and in the worst even in the hardest and even in the greatest let's continually offer a sacrifice of praise to God you say well I can't see that God is good right now because something is blocking that in my view well can you see the nail pier first hands holding the door and if you can come through the door and say to Jesus on the way in you died you suffered you bled you were frustrated you were in the dark you had the father turn away you know what I feel so I'm coming in the spirit of grace and I'm gonna offer a sacrifice today it's not gonna be easy today it's not gonna be light-hearted today it's not gonna be all praise God he's so good I can't wait fire up the band it's gonna be an absolute determined sacrifice of praise today to say that even though there is no fruit on the vine and no figure on the tree and no crop in the field and no cattle in the stall yet will I praise you for the sovereign Lord is my strength and he makes my feet like the feet of a deer - even lets me go on the heights and so through it all God I see the nail-pierced hands and through it all I will offer to you a sacrifice of praise remember when I was in ICU and my dad had just had brain surgery Oh most of you know my dad went through a tragic brain virus went to a coma had to have emergency brain surgery which I had to sign a form for the day that I arrived in Atlanta to Piedmont hospital immediately went to a consultation room with a surgeon who said you need to sign this form we're gonna operate on your dad's brain tonight or he will die I was like 29 years old I'm not doing signing a form that's gonna let someone I don't even know take out part of my dad's brain he said well this is the only option and around 9:30 that night I remember signing that my mom sitting in that consultation room with me my dad had a surgery that night he had a stroke as a result of the surgery compounding what was already massive brain damage you spent weeks in intensive care at Piedmont and I'm just trying to get in touch with the person here today that says Louie you don't understand and I don't understand whatever you're going through but I know for a period of maybe a week or more my dad was running a hundred and 506 degree fever every day because of the infection that was still in his brain so they had him on a cooling mat of about 38 degrees in intensive care alone in some comatose state where neurologists would come in and poke these huge pins in the bottom of his feet just to see if they could get any reaction and we were allowed to be in there three times a day for 10 minutes and then all the rest of the day we're sitting somewhere where we can't see we can't hear we can't touch but any walk in it's just like there's your father shivering on a mat barely hanging on to life and I remember walking the building's still there I don't know if it's ICU or not but it you can see the building off of Collier I could point to the window to this day and I remember standing in that room in one of those few moments and I said god I don't know what to do in this room right now there's nothing I can do in this room right now but I will worship you I don't know what was going on deep in my heart but it was something like this if this is going on the record of the universe right now then I go on record right now and I will worship my god I don't know how it works in the spirit world I just knew in my heart if this is going somehow on the record of history and time and space the good and the bad the forces of evil and the forces of good the power of darkness and the kingdom of God if somehow this moment is making it into the record of eternity let it be known that our family will worship the Living God and I remember looking out that window and singing for some reason Jesus name above all names beautiful Savior glorious Lord Emmanuel God is with us circumstance didn't change nurse didn't walk in and say I don't know what you're just saying but look your father is walking in the room it's just an opportunity to say I loved you two weeks ago because you were good and I believe you are still the same God you were then right here in right now and I know it because nail-pierced hands are holding the door and I'm gonna worship you here he goes on to say there's a sacrifice of life so it is the fruit of lips that give thanks to his name and we're gonna do that right now he said but it's also doing good and sharing with others for with these sacrifices God is pleased what sacrifices lips that give praise to his name and a life that says I want to live it out and share what is mine with the people around me and that is why we are passion City Church we gather with fruit from our mouths to proclaim a great and glorious god of radical grace but then we come shoulder to shoulder to serve the city to love the city to give a book to every aps kid in the city to touch people through love Atlanta across the city to rally around flood victims in Houston Texas and say you're not forgotten by God we are a church that says our worship will not just be a song it's gonna be lives in the streets in lives in the city in lives in the workplace it's going to be our lives out where we go but it's also going to be our stuff on the altar to say God take it all I'm not gonna offer god something that costs me nothing in response to sacrifice I'm not gonna do the least that I can do I'm gonna do the most that I can do because I'm coming through the door to worship and the door is held open by nail-pierced hands and I will never get over the grace of God and I will never stop being a worshipper of my god we love you Jesus you

Channel: Passion City Church

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Keywords: Worship Matters, W2O2R2S2H2I2P

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Length: 44min 38sec (2678 seconds)

Published: Tue Dec 05 2017