John 4:19-26: Why are we here?
Sermon preached at Barclay Church, Edinburgh by Dr Fiona J. Tweedie
6 July 2003

INTRODUCTION

Why are we here? Why are we here? This is a question that has haunted the best philosophers down the centuries, and it's a question that haunts many of us today.

It's an ambiguous question – am I asking about our cosmic position – what are we doing here on earth – what's life for? Or am I asking why we're sitting in Barclay Church at 11:30 on Sunday 6 July 2003? We could be out in the park, or making lunch or playing football or catching up on the housework or whatever. What are we here for?

It's a question that is deliberately ambiguous, two questions rolled together, two questions that seem to be so different, and yet two questions that have the same answer –

Why are we here? We are here to worship God!

Yes, that is why we are here on this planet. We were created to glorify God – in Isaiah we see God calling his children from all directions, children “whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made” [Isaiah 43:7] Paul tells the Ephesians that they were chosen, “in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.” [Ephesians 1:12]

We've seen recently here that we have all been given spiritual gifts, gifts to use for our own purpose, our unique ministry that we have been chosen and designed for. But underneath all that, our foundation is the same – what we are here for, what our basic purpose is, is to worship and glorify God.

We might reply, but isn't that really selfish? – Has God created us just to get some glory, some worship? Are we only here because God got lonely and needed an ego boost? First – God didn't get lonely – God, the Son and the Spirit have had eternal fellowship in the Trinity. Second – God doesn't need anything – God is so far above us that there's nothing, nothing that we can do for him that he needs. Third, God is worthy of that glory, we're not. He is perfect, we're not. If we do or achieve anything, our human selfishness creeps in – we are jealous of others, or just want to make a name for ourselves. Herod Agrippa died because he accepted glory from the crowd and didn't give it to God. But God isn't stealing glory from someone else – he is the creator God who deserves all glory, who is worthy of glory and it is right that we should glorify him.

What are we here for? We are here to worship God!

What are we here for? We are here to worship God!

How do we worship? The passage we read tells us – we “must worship in spirit and in truth” [v24.] In the Old Testament the Jews were given chapters and chapters of instruction about the correct way to worship. If you got it wrong, you could die. Two of Aaron's sons died, King Uzziah caught leprosy. In the New Testament though, we don't get definitive instructions about music, about hymns, about sitting, about standing, about waving our hands around or keeping them still. Just two words – spirit, and truth. Let's spend a minute or two looking at them:

We generally think of ourselves as having two parts – the physical body, and the mind, soul or spirit. When we worship in spirit, then, we're to engage this second bit – not just show up, stand up, sing some songs, sit down, and if we're feeling particularly friendly, shake hands with the person next to us. Worshipping in the spirit means engaging one's whole self – the mind as well as the body. We should be thinking about God, not yesterday's football scores or today's gossip. Our God is a jealous God, he doesn't want to share our mind with counting the organ pipes or wondering what's for lunch. Does your mind keep wandering? “Hearts 2, Celtic 0...” “31, 32, 33 and that small pipe you can barely see...” “Have I peeled enough potatoes?” Well, bring it back! Are the pauses in the prayers too long for you? Well insert your own prayers – paraphrase what the person leading the prayer is saying, talk to God yourself. Is the sermon drifting on and on without an end in sight.... ? Engage with the speaker. Think about what they're saying. Do you agree with it? What does it mean to you personally? How could you apply it in your life? What bits will you ask about later? Engage your mind, worship in spirit.

The second way in which we are called to worship is in truth. There can be no deception between us and God. You might be able to convince the person you're sitting beside that you really want to be here to worship God – but God will know. He knows when you sleep and when you wake, he has the hairs on your head numbered, he knew how many husbands the Samaritan women had had, so he certainly knows whether you want to be here or not. There can be no hypocrisy with God.

To worship in truth is to know what we're here to worship. That's why we said the Apostles' creed earlier - to affirm to ourselves and to proclaim to others what we believe, who our God is and what he has done. If you're not sure about any aspects of the creed, find out – this is your God, this is your faith.

In today's society, the one thing that is permanent is change. Gone are the days of a “job for life”. The new employment situation – contract working, down-sizing, - favours flexibility over loyalty. Re-training is common – work in an insurance company for a few years, train to be a teacher; work in a university, go into industry to meet the real world, escape back into the ivory tower. Change, discovering new careers, encountering new technologies, means that we have to learn, and go on learning.

In many careers today “Continuing Professional Development” is an important part of the job. Doctors go to courses to learn about the latest diseases, diagnostic techniques and possible treatments. As a lecturer, I used to go to “How to teach” courses – new ways of helping students to understand, in my case, statistics. We were expected to attend a number of these each year, to make sure that we understood what we were doing, why we were doing it, and how to do it better.

So often, in our Christian life, we stop learning. We may have picked up the basics years before, but then stop. Often the only learning we do, is by listening to the sermon, or a brief daily study. Valuable as those are, they don't always answer the questions that we have. How can I be a Christian at work? How do I handle stress? How do I patch things up with my neighbours? God is calling us to grow, to develop, to get deeper in his river, as the song goes. Get answers to your questions – know the truth.

At an introductory level, there's the Alpha course – we'll be running another one in September here at Barclay. If you're looking for something deeper than that there are various books and studies available – try the “Books to Read” corner in the Pillar Hall, or Wesley Owen. Ask your friends if they have any books, or suggest to your housegroup that you study a particular area. If there's an area that you think other people might want to learn about as well, suggest it to your elder, the Church Life Team, or whoever is preaching. We listened to a series on prayer at the start of the year because we asked Graham to preach on that. There are various talks and lectures in Edinburgh that you can go to, or even distance learning courses from Bible Colleges, so you can learn what you want to at the pace you want to.

Worship in truth - Don't just take my word for it, don't just recite the creed without thinking about it – check it for yourself – find out – know who you're here to worship – worship in truth.

Worship in spirit. Worship in truth. Another way of considering these words adds a whole new dimension to worship, and Robin Plant is going to speak in more detail on this tonight. We were created to give glory to God the Father and have been given the Holy Spirit to help us do that. Christ died for us to allow us to approach God and for our worship to be acceptable. He declared “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life” - in worshipping in spirit and truth, we are actually joining in the worship of the Trinity, the Spirit and the Son worshipping the Father – becoming part of that eternal community and joining with the praise of the angels in heaven.

Well, let's be honest – I don't always walk away from here feeling that I've joined with Jesus, the Spirit and the angels in heavenly worship. But why not? Has God forgotten to extend the worship invitation to Barclay? Or am I too busy to respond to it?

Picture the scene – a letter comes with the post. A blue envelope – handwritten – promsies more than the usual collection of bills and junk mail. We open it first, wondering what is in store. An invitation! A wedding, or wedding anniversary, an important birthday! Where will it be? When will it be? What will I wear???

We think about it, we plan – do I need my hair cut? Should I get a new dress? new shoes? What about getting there – can I ask a friend to take me? Will I get a taxi? How will I get home? How will I find a babysitter? We plan, then we prepare – I get my hair ready, choose my clothes with care, a necklace or earrings, make up, handbag. I might spend ages getting ready for a party, How did I get here?

We should plan for worship – pray for it, that it would be acceptable to God. Pray for those who would lead it, that they would be inspired by the Spirit. Pray for those who would attend it, that they will find God here. Pray for yourself, that you will be aware of the presence of the Lord, that you can come close to worship him and to receive from him.

When we go to a party or special event, we have certain expectations – we might know who'll be there, there might be food, music, dancing. When we come to worship, what do we expect? If all we expect is a dreary, boring service with nothing to look forward to but a cup of tea and a biscuit afterwards, this is probably what we'll experience. If we expect to come to wait upon God, to praise him, invoke His presence, to learn from him and listen to him, then THAT is what we will experience, and lives will be changed.

For many people, worship is what happens in church, between 11 and 12:15 or so. Or “worship” might even mean a period of singing before the sermon, or a song that is quieter, more reflective, and preferably accompanied on guitar. I'd like to end by considering another definition of worship - “Worship is life!”

Psalm 34 starts with David exclaiming “I will extol the LORD at all times; his praise will always be on my lips.” The writer to the Hebrews urges, “Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise”. Paul tells the Corinthians, “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” If's it's pleasing to God, it doesn't matter what we do in life, as long as we do it for the glory of God. God sees what we do and if our worship is acceptable it pleases him no matter who sees us in this world.

But 21^st century life can be so stressful – how can we worship in the midst of our worries? 21^st century life can be so mundane – how can we worship when we have to clean the kitchen, do the washing, hoover the house, again? How can we worship when we're stuck in traffic, waiting for a bus, in the queue at the shops? Yet God is everywhere – he doesn't live in the steeple, watching us when we're here, yet blind to what we do when we're not here. Our God is beside us in our worries, beside us as we clean, beside us as we wait.

Brother Laurence was a monk in the seventeenth century, when kitchen labour-saving devices were a long way from being invented. He could have spent the hours of work in the kitchen bemoaning the fact that he wasn't doing something “more important”. But he knew that God was there as he peeled the vegetables, and he resolved to make peeling vegetables his form of worship. - do it all for the glory of God. He spoke of practising the presence of God. God is with us wherever we are and whatever we are doing, but do we remember that? He loves us, he longs for us to be aware of him, to pray, to talk with him, to do the things he would like us to do. Do we live our lives aware that it is worship? Do we do all for the glory of God?

Many people have been influenced by a leader, whether a teacher at school, a Sunday school teacher, a youth leader, a minister. We remember the advice and support they gave us – we try to do the things they'd like us to do, to behave in the way they did. In that way, we are praising that person, in acting as we do we're showing others that this person is worthy of imitation, of listening to. If we can act to praise a person who has influenced us, how much more worthy is our Father in heaven of such praise and worship in our daily lives.

Why are we here? – we are here to worship!

To worship in spirit and truth.

What is worship? Worship is life!

May our lives be acceptable worship to Him who is worthy of all glory and praise

Amen