INTRODUCTION
- The sermons you hear on Sunday mornings are the result of a lot of time, effort and energy
- From the time the Lord begins to give me a theme- a title- and a particular passage of Scripture
- To the time the message is preached I will have invested roughly 25-40 hours in prayer, Bible study, reflection, research, writing, editing and memorizing
- Now you take that- and combine it with the time:
- Jackie spends planning and preparing the music
- Our choir, Praise ensemble, musicians and singers spend rehearsing
- Pam devotes to preparing the children’s message
- It takes Pam, Jackie and me to prepare the order of worship and program the computer presentations you see
- Ben McCorkle works to make sure the sound system is right
- David Kroenke and Nick Shriner spend making sure they’re ready to operate the video system
- The ushers, deacons, worship purpose team members and flower & baptismal committees invest in fulfilling their responsibilities
- I’m guessing each Sunday morning worship service is the result of well over one hundred man-hours of labor
TRANSITION
- Which begs the question: What kind of return is GOD getting for all that time, effort and energy?
- I mean let’s get one thing straight:
- What we’re doing on Sunday mornings isn’t about you!
- Now if you- quote- get something out of it
- That’s fine, well and good
- But genuine Christian worship is about praising, exalting, loving. glorifying and proclaiming:
- Our Father who is in heaven
- And His only begotten Son- Jesus the Christ
- So- does all this work allow us to praise, exalt, love, glorify and proclaim the Lord in worship?
- It does-
- If we stick to the basics
- If we do what we’re told to do in the pages of God’s Word
- Otherwise- we’re just wasting our time
- Which brings us to the point of this morning’s message
- Today we’re going to be looking at the second chapter of 1 Timothy
- Which focuses on what Christians ought to do in worship
- So please read 1 Timothy 2:1-2
THE PRIMACY OF PRAYER
- Let me tell you something that drives me nuts- God isn’t too crazy about it either
- It drives me nuts to hear people say they’re going to preaching
- No! No! NO! You’re not going to preaching
- Bear in mind- this is a preacher talking to you
- But the time we spend together between 10:30 and 11:30 on Sunday morning is a time of worship
- Preaching is a part of it- an important part of it- but it’s not the main thing!
- Notice what Paul says here:
- I urge- The Greek indicates the absolute importance of what Paul is about to teach
- I urge, then, first of all- Again- the Greek carries the idea of primacy
- In other words Paul is saying: Let me tell you what is the primary- the main thing- you should emphasize in worship
- He goes on to list four things
- Requests
- Prayers
- Intercession
- And thanksgiving
- What’s interesting is that the first three things Paul mentions all involve prayer
- Requests-
- The idea here is that you make your needs and desires known to God
- That you come before Him in a spirit that recognizes that He is God- and that you are His helpless, needy child
- Prayers-
- This carries the idea of a conversation- or a time of communion with God
- When you worship you’re supposed to be in close and intimate contact with God- no matter what else is going on at a particular time in the service
- Intercession-
- This means you pray on the behalf of others
- You stop staring at your belly button, and start being concerned for the needs of your brothers and sisters in Christ!
- I believe that one of the problems we have in worship today is that prayer is almost an afterthought
- Hey! We’re gonna worship. Let’s-
- Have some high-energy music and praise!
- Make sure the pastor gets plenty of time to preach the morning message
- And then- if there’s any time left- we can pray
- Only don’t make it take too long
- After all- people’s minds start to wander if their eyes are closed for too long
- Folks- when God’s Word emphasizes the importance of four things in worship
- And three of them deal with a spirit of prayer
- You’d better learn to focus your mind on God- and PRAY!
- Before we go on I want you to look at verse 8:
- Do you know what we’ve got here? It’s a description of the body language of prayer in worship
- Demonstrate
- Standing erect
- Eyes directed towards heaven
- Palms turned upward
- I want you to try this
- I’m going to pray
- And you’re going assume this posture of prayer
- Lead a short prayer that includes requests for God’s grace and an acknowledgement of our dependence on Him
- That was different- wasn’t it?
- But if you were like me- this posture of prayer made you aware of your utter dependence on God
- Father- you are God
- And I am your small and helpless child
- If you were like me- this posture made you realize that you’re waiting for God to pour out His blessings in your life
- Lord- fill me with your mercy and grace
- Touch me with your power and presence
- Maybe we ought to be doing more of that in worship
- Granted- it doesn’t look like a typically Baptist thing to do
- But it IS a Biblical thing to do- and that’s what matters most!
THE PRIMACY OF THE LORD’S SUPPER
- Now let’s shift our focus to the last of the four elements of worship Paul mentions in 1 Timothy 2 - thanksgiving
- The word ‘thanksgiving’ is a translation of the Greek word eucharistia
- Eucharistia is used in the New Testament to refer to the Lord’s Supper or Holy Communion
- Folks- there’s no question the central act of Christian worship is supposed to be the Lord’s Supper
- More than any other thing we do it proclaims the greatest event in history
- Namely that Jesus Christ- God’s one and only Son- died on the Cross for the sin of the world
- All of this sounds pretty straight-forward
- As Jesus broke the bread He told the disciples: This is My body...
- As He handed them the cup He said: This is My blood...
- The question is: What do these words mean?
- Are we supposed to take them literally- or is there something else going on?
- Different Christians have answered these questions in different ways over the years
- Roman Catholics and Greek Orthodox Christians have taken the words quite literally
- They believe in a doctrine called transubstantiation
- According to this teaching- the bread and wine is supernaturally transformed into the physical body and blood of Christ during the act of Communion
- Lutherans and other denominations espouse a doctrine called consubstantiation
- According to this belief the bread and wine don’t change their physical properties- they’re still bread and wine
- But in a spiritual sense the elements co-exist with the actual, physical body and blood of Christ
- Evangelical churches take a different approach to this question
- Our focus isn’t on the words This is My body and This is my blood
- Our focus is on the words Do this in remembrance of Me
- When we share the Lord’s Supper we believe...
- That nothing changes the fundamental nature of the elements
- Those dry, tasteless wafers are still dry, tasteless wafers you can choke on if you’re not careful
- And the grape juice (we ought to be using real wine- but that’s a subject for another day) the grape juice is still grape juice
- We’re remembering- and giving thanks- for the sacrifice Jesus made on the Cross for our sin
- Now there’s one other question that comes up whenever the Lord’s Supper is discussed: How often should it be observed?
- Many churches- including a lot of evangelical churches- celebrate it every Sunday
- Baptist churches- including Sunset Road- generally celebrate the Supper once a quarter- and on a few special occasions throughout the year
- So who’s right?
- The truth is the Bible doesn’t say one way or the other
- Now if you want my personal opinion I think we need to observe the Supper
- A little more often than we do- because it’s so important
- But not so often that it becomes a meaningless ritual
- You know- over the years I’ve overheard people say to one another: Ah- let’s skip worship this morning. All they’re doing is taking the Lord’s Supper
- Folks- those are words that should only come out of the mouth of Satan!
- As born-again believers-
- Who were saved by the sacrifice Jesus made on the Cross
- We should ALWAYS be ready to celebrate the Lord’s Supper with joy and thanksgiving!
GOD WANTS ALL MEN (AND WOMEN) TO BE SAVED
- If you believe in the doctrine of predestination- 1 Timothy 2:4 will drive you crazy
- Predestination is the doctrine that says God has already decided- or determined
- Who will be saved- and spend eternity with Him in heaven
- And who will be lost- and spend eternity with Satan in hell
- Folks- I don’t know how you can believe that when this verse explicitly says: God... wants all men (or all human beings) to be saved
- Folks- God’s love is so great that He wants everyone to be a part of His family
- Without any exceptions
- In God’s plan of salvation there is no one who is beyond the scope of God’s mercy and grace
- In Matthew 18:14 Jesus puts it this way: In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost.
- Now it’s easy to read 1 Timothy 2:4 and Matthew 18:14 and conclude that God intends to save everyone
- People who believe in universalism have drawn this conclusion
- The way they’ve got it figured-
- God is going to save everyone
- Because that’s God wants to do
- But that’s not what 1 Timothy 2:4 says
- It doesn’t just say: God wants everyone to be saved
- It says God’s desire is that all people be saved and...come to a knowledge of the truth
- The idea here is that:
- God is willing to save anyone and everyone of their sin
- BUT in order to be saved a person has to arrive at a point where they accept a knowledge of the truth
- And what is the truth? Read what it says in verses 5-6
- Folks- here’s the truth:
- God wants you to be saved
- But in order to be saved you MUST take Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and Lord
- Let us pray
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