Sermon 8/28/05 Worship Meditation – Repent, Rest, Worship

Today, rather than a sermon, we are going to work through a guided worship time.

Repent
Let us begin with a conversation with Jesus.

You: Lord, I have this burden on my back and I’ve been carrying it through the week. It is very heavy and I am tired.

Jesus:
Matt 11:28-30
28 "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

Mark 6:31
"Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest."

You: Oh that sounds so good Lord. Thank you! Now how do I give you this load and find Your rest? My soul very much needs your rest.

Jesus:
John 16:33
33 "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

You: So what You are saying Lord is You will not take away my troubles but you will help carry them, right? I understand they will still be my burdens but yes I will let You bare the weight.

Jesus:
Phil 4:6-7
6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in (me) Christ Jesus.

You: Okay Lord, I understand. You want me to present my problems and sins one at a time to You. Then You will give me peace. But Lord I am ashamed by my weakness and sins.

Jesus:
Matt 12:20
20 A bruised reed (I) will not break,
and a smoldering wick (I) will not snuff out,

1 John 1:8-9
8 If (you) claim to be without sin, (you) deceive yourselves and the truth is not in (you). 9 If (you) confess (your) sins, (I am) faithful and just and will forgive (your) sins and purify (you) from all unrighteousness.

You: Thank you Jesus. That is a very great promise. I know I have sins to give You.

Classic Penitential Prayer
Most merciful God,
We confess that we have sinned against you
In thought, word, and deed,
By what we have done
And by what we have left undone.
We have not loved you with our whole heart.
We have not loved our neighbor as ourselves.

We are truly sorry and we humbly repent.
For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ,
Have mercy on us and forgive us,
That we may delight in your will,
And walk in your ways,
To the glory of your name.

Communion
As we take communion, listen to this reading:

You Took My Place
Are you dreaming? You’re not really sure. Something major has just happened and you can’t recall what. Four mighty beings approach with strides of purpose and confidence. They are not menacing, but they clearly have a duty that will be no joy for you or them. You are immediately seized by wrists and ankles and thrown down upon a wooden cross. There is a glimpse of spikes and a hammer. The strength of these beings makes struggle out of the question. The tragic reality of your situation snaps into clarity. You have died and now exist outside of time. You are being crucified and forced to exist in the forever-present, dieing on a cross.

The executioners spread your hands and without hesitation, slam the hammer onto the first spike and through your flesh . White hot pain tares from your hand, through your arm, up the neck and lodges in your brain. Several more blows seat the spike into the cross. You hope to black out from the anguish, but somehow you can’t. This fact barely has time to register when the opposite hand is splayed open and another spike is driven through it. You feel as though every nerve in your body is screaming but when the final spike is driven through both feet you realize there are now thousands more to add to the pain. The cross jostles as it is set upright and slipped into a hole. Now your anguish is complete. Nothing else registers. Your lungs burn from continually shrieking.

The first hour is the most intense, but slowly the sharpness and edginess of the pain turns to a dull throb coming from the direction of those mangled hands and feet. Straightening your knees keeps your weight from hanging on the hands, but it causes intense agony in the feet and the tradeoff is not worth the effort. Either hands, or feet must carry the brunt of the hurt and neither gives any relief. In exhaustion, you let the body hang limp.

Other thoughts creep into your awareness. How did this happen? Did I deserve this? It all becomes clear. The heavenly executioners were doing their job. There is nothing aimed at you by way of vengeance, no malice, no hatred behind this horrible reality. A deep truth is now made part of you. You know that in this new realm after death, everything is exactly as it must be. There is no longer any pretense or falsehood. You are suffering on a cross because of how you lived.

In your mind, you see before you every sin you ever committed. Many were never acknowledged before now. None of them is too terrible. There is no murder or grand theft. But there is a huge pile of small ones. Smugness, failure to love, sexual sins, gluttony, a lie when you were 12, cheating in college, stinginess as an adult, bitterness. They are all there, every one of them and it is an overwhelming collection.

At first it seemed horribly unjust that you could be crucified. But now, looking at all those sins in one place, you know this one-time, eternal act of crucifixion is the precise punishment equal to all your combined sins. It is just and right, but so terribly painful. No shame can stop you now and you throw your head back and lament of the permanent destruction you have brought on yourself.

Someone has been whispering your name for some time. A familiar sweet voice is trying to wake you out of the horror. You raise your head enough to distinguish the one calling. It is Jesus and His face is smeared with tears. When at last you are looking directly into His warm eyes He speaks to you, “Child, just say ‘yes’ and you will be brought down. A body must die and hang thus, but I would rather it be mine then yours. I love you too much to see you this way and I want to take your place. Just say ‘yes.’ Say ‘yes.’”

No sooner has the end of the ‘s’ left your lips then you find yourself standing in paradise amidst perfection and love. All you just dreamed never came to pass. You never hung on that cross because Jesus took your place back when you said yes, in another life so long ago.

That rich voice comes again, “Welcome, good and faithful servant. Welcome to My joy.”

You take in the splendor around you. Your eyes lock on His and in a choked whisper you reply, “You took my place.”

Rest
We often talk about God’s presence felt in a room, especially a sanctuary. But God’s temple is in our hearts. For a few minutes we are going to cause our minds to be still and aware of God’s presence in our hearts. It is not so much that He comes and goes as it is that we do not make the effort to be aware of His presence. A sail boat can be out in a brisk wind but if the sails are not hoisted, the boat will not move and the wind will go unnoticed. Jesus said:

John 3:8
The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.

We must hoist the sail of our hearts and let it fill with the Spirit’s wind. The way to do that is to be still and concentrate on God.

Ps 46:10
Be still, and know that I am God…

Isa 30:15
In repentance and rest is your salvation,
in quietness and trust is your strength…

During the week we take so little opportunity to come aside with Jesus as the Apostles did. Today we will make time. We’ll begin by singing an old melody about being alone with Jesus in the garden, then we will silence ourselves to enjoy His presence blowing across our hearts.

Song: In the Garden

Don’t let any other thought force its way into your mind except Jesus. Just be still, and know that He is God.

Background CD of birds.

Hands Down/Hands Up
Pray with your palms face down on your lap and imagine your problems and every concern falling out of your grasp and away from you. Next turn your palms up and imagine God filling your hands with His grace, love, and beauty.

Worship
Consider who Jesus is as we worship him.


Col 2:9
For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form…

Heb 1:3
The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.

Col 1:15-20
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.


Jesus shares the throne with God. Listen:

Rev 22:1
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb.

Matt 24:30
At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory.

Rev 5:13-14
13 Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing: "To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!" The four living creatures said, "Amen," and the elders fell down and worshiped.

Prayer