I want to remind you of our worship together last week: It is essential that we learn to recognize who God is! Why? Because when we do, our automatic response will always be … worship. In a similar fashion, when we come to recognize all that God has done for us … we’ll be on our way to being true worshipers as well. Listen to Paul’s words to the church at Rome, from Romans, Chapter 7…
“So the trouble is not with the law, for it is spiritual and good. The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin. 15 I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate. 16 But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good. 17 So I am not the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it. 18 And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t. 19 I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. 20 But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.” – Romans 7:14-20 (NLT)
Do you guys remember when Jesus healed the man who was born blind? After his healing, the man was called before the Pharisees; they asked him to explain what had happened with Jesus. So, he explained the healing of his sight, to the best of his ability. But, the Pharisees refused to believe…
Finally, the man chided them just a bit. Here’s what he said (John 9:30-34, NLT):
“‘Why, that’s very strange!’ the man replied. ‘He healed my eyes, and yet you don’t know where he comes from? 31 We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners, but he is ready to hear those who worship him and do his will. 32 Ever since the world began, no one has been able to open the eyes of someone born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he couldn’t have done it.’ 34 ‘You were born a total sinner!’ they answered. ‘Are you trying to teach us?’ And they threw him out of the synagogue…”
They were right, you know. He was ‘born a total sinner,’ … but so were they! That’s the part they failed to recognize that day, wasn’t it? They were so busy admiring their personal connection to the church—what they thought was their own righteousness—that they failed to recognize how truly unrighteous they were!
Folks, self-righteousness may be the most hideous—most insidious—form of sin that there is! How many times have we been tempted to compare ourselves with others and say something like, “Well, at least I’m not nearly as bad as that person.” Somehow we come to think that God likes us better than others. (Smothers Brothers?) But, how absurd! There’s not one person in this world that is anything apart from God’s grace! The truth is that … all of our good deeds piled up together could never make us righteous in the sight of God. Without God’s mercy—the great gift of His Son Jesus, we are all helplessly and hopelessly lost…
As we come to the close of this worship series called “Born to Worship,” let’s remember why this series has taken place—that we might become true worshipers of God. And today, if you honestly want to become a true worshiper, recognizing what God has done for you is imperative!
Unfortunately for many, it’s a bit like John Fischer describes in his book 12 Steps for the Recovering Pharisee: “Our degree of astonishment is related to our personal knowledge of sin. If I have not faced and am not facing the sin in my life, I am not likely to be very impressed with my salvation. It’s a nice thing for God to do this for me and all, but I don’t really get it.” That’s what too many people think… Have you yet come to recognize what God has done for you?
One pastor likens sin to an iceberg. All we can see of an iceberg is the little part that sticks out of the water. Most of it’s hidden below the surface. Time after time I’ve encountered Christians who have this attitude: “If I could just get a handle on this one area of my life, I’d probably be a pretty good person.” But, do you know what would happen if you chopped off the top of an iceberg? More of it would simply rise up out of the water…
When it comes to our sin, if God showed us the entire picture all at once, we couldn’t handle it. It’d be just too much to comprehend. The Bible says (Jer. 17:9, NLT), “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?” The answer: God does. And we are probably far worse than we think…
Has anyone ever asked you, “Well, do you want the good news or the bad news first?” I always want the bad news first, saving the best for last. So, here it is. First…
THE BAD NEWS… Romans 3:23 (NLT) says, “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.” In other words, even the best we have to offer God, on our own, will never be good enough for us to be righteous before Him!
Maybe this is just me, but let me ask a question today: Have you ever been doing something for God, like praying publicly for instance, and afterward thought to yourself: “Wow! That was a really good prayer! I wonder if anyone else noticed how good it was!” Nobody?
Or, how ‘bout if you’re leading worship (choir/praise band) and you get done with a particularly moving song … and things went really well … and you thought to yourself: “Wow! We are awesome! I wonder if anyone else noticed how awesome we were today.” Nobody?
Come on… Some of you are smiling because you can relate, can’t you? The truth is, you and I are far worse than we realize … most of the time. Romans 14:23b says, “If you do anything you believe is not right, you are sinning.” My guess is that, for most of us, before we brush our teeth in the morning, we’ve probably accomplished that… But, folks, if our human state—being born into sin—is considered bad news, the good news is that … it’s only temporary in Christ! So here’s THE GOOD NEWS… Romans 3:24-26 (NLT) continues with this:
“Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. 25 For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, 26 for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he declares sinners to be right in his sight when they believe in Jesus.”
Folks, the GOOD NEWS is that God adopted depraved sinners like us! Ephesians 2:1 says, “Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins.” Can a dead person make themselves alive again? No; of course not! God grabbed on to you, brought you back to life, and said, “This one is mine!” God loved you that much!!!!
A couple of days ago (Oct. 20) Oswald Chambers, in his devotional MUHH, quoted Paul’s words from Romans 5:8 when he said, “But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.” Do you need that translated? Chambers says, “…the love of God demonstrated itself to me while I cared nothing about Him.”
What did Romans 3:24 say again? “Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus….” God adopted us and, not only that, but (and here’s some more of the GOOD NEWS)…
God has forgiven us, too! Psalm 103:12 says (and if you don’t write anything else down this morning, write this down), “He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west.” God’s only Son, the Savior, suffered and died for your sins; the GOOD NEWS is that they’re gone…
I’ve heard it said before that the message of the Gospel should be called ‘an amazing double-transfer.’
- Everything that is vile or evil in US … is transferred to Jesus … and…
- Everything that is good and right in Jesus … is transferred to US!
Jesus, through his life, death & resurrection, takes our sin away from us … and we stand credited with every righteous thought, word, and deed ever performed by the Lord Jesus while he was here on earth (Isaiah 53:6; Galatians 3:13; Philippians 3:9; Romans 5:18; 2 Corinthians 5:21). If Jesus is your Savior right now, you are righteous and holy before God… (And if he’s not, you come and talk to me, because you too can be righteous and holy before God today!) So, what does all of this mean to us … as worshipers?
That great reformer, Martin Luther, once described worship as … one leper returning. Do you remember the story of the ten lepers that Jesus healed (If not, see Luke 17:11-19)? Only one returned to Jesus and said, “Thank you!”
We who have been healed from something far worse than a physical disease like leprosy should be always thankful for what the Lord has done for us! Does the simple recognition of what has been done for YOU … not stir within you a desire to worship God right now?
We can now know LOVE like we’ve never known it before … if we choose to! The Lord of all creation … reached down and rescued YOU! He came for all humanity, but as I was reminded the other day by a pastor I was listening to, If you had been the only person on earth who needed Jesus to come … he would have come just for YOU! Isn’t that AN AMAZING LOVE?
Again, if you honestly want to become a true worshiper, recognizing what God has done for you is imperative! He loved us first. He came to us while we were still ignoring him. And he rescued us, probably before we even knew we needed rescuing. So, with grateful hearts … let us worship our loving Father together—even with our everyday lives…