We have kicked off the year 2010 with a series of messages that continues today about a topic that you can argue is of crucial importance to everyone: knowing God. They say that it’s not about what you know but about who you know. If that’s the case, then it seems pretty important that you and I know God. The first Sunday of this year we looked at how you and I can know God as we “download” his grace and truth in the spiritually powerful act of the Lord’s Supper. Last Sunday, Scott Mitchell took you on a tour of baptism, which is the other spiritually powerful sacrament of the church that is the entry point into our relationship with God, something like choosing your username and password in order to get on a computer. We took those two topics—communion and baptism—in that order because of our tradition of having the Lord’s Supper on the first Sunday of the new year, and because the second Sunday is the day on which the church remembers the baptism of Jesus. In a way, though, we have gotten ahead of ourselves. The prior question in any discussion of knowing God should always be this question: how can we even dare to approach God at all? How can we presume to think that God would want us to know him? How can we engage God in a way that is appropriate and respectful? Or, in the computer imagery that I’ve used to title these sermons, if we’re going to download grace, and if we’re going to have a username and password to get started, then what is the nature of the online etiquette required in order to have a relationship with God?

Back in the early days of personal computing, I was taught that there are certain rules of how you engage other people online, especially when you are writing. You should never use too many exclamation points, or else you sound hysterical. You should never use capital letters too much, or else you will sound like you are always shouting. And you should be careful about too many cutesy symbols and slang, or else you won’t sound serious and thoughtful. Those rules, of course, are somewhat flexible, depending upon to whom you are emailing or texting. What, then are the rules of etiquette with an awesome God? This question takes us to the very heart of what it means to know God, which is to say that we have come to the place where we must talk about the worship of God.

The issue of worship is the fundamental issue when it comes to any consideration of this business of knowing God. Everything else about God and us must be grounded in the act of worship. Everything in our discipleship to Christ must be based in our worship of God. Everything about the very reality of our existence and the living out of our lives has to do with whether or not we worship God as we know him in Christ. N. T. Wright, the British theologian, writes this: “When we begin to glimpse the reality of God, the natural reaction is to worship him. Not to have that reaction is a fairly sure sign that we haven’t yet really understood who he is or what he’s done.”ⁱ

All last fall, we looked closely at the basic Christian message of who God is and what God has done, in the creation of all things, in calling Israel to be his people, and in the gift of the Messiah, Jesus, who is the Redeemer of the world. The Christian message is that the awesome power and intelligence that creates and sustains all of existence is also the love and grace that forgives and renews us so that we might have complete, absolute, unmitigated joy in the depth of our souls, even in the midst of all the pain and suffering of this life. If and when you and I catch even a glimpse of this great truth in the depth of our own souls, then all we can do is worship this God.

That is what is going on in the ancient song of the Psalmist and in the fantastic vision of John. Literally speaking, worship means “to shape the worth” of something. The Psalmist pictures the entire creation shaping, speaking, even shouting the worth of its Creator. John glimpses the center of heaven itself, where amazing creatures and representatives of all humanity continually sing of the One who is Eternal: “who was and is and is to come.” Think of it. To be in the presence of God is to be in that place where the universe was conceived and designed and constructed. It is to be in that place where all reality finds its definition and purpose. It is to be in that place where the very heartbeat of every shred of matter and being is measured out. It is to be in the presence of the Almighty One without whom you and I would not exist. That deserves our worship, does it not? Worship is the most fundamental of all the fundamentals because it takes us to the place where everything began, where everything continues, and to where everything is going, including us.

To know God, you and I need to do some basic things, like take communion and be baptized. Fundamental to anything and everything we do, however, is our worship. Worship is what we say and do that expresses our knowledge that God is God. Worship is what we say and do that reminds us of what we know, because we so regularly forget. Worship is what we say and do that opens our souls to receive from God even more knowledge of the depth and breadth and height of who he is. Worship is what takes us from out of the lies and misperceptions and misunderstandings about life and about us and takes us back to the bedrock reality of life, which is in the heart and mind of God. When we worship, we come back to the very source of life.

N. T. Wright succinctly observes two facts about the impact of worship that Christians have always known. It is a truth of life that we become like that which we worship and if we worship God as revealed in Christ, then we become more truly human, as we were meant to be.

The words of the Psalm that we have said together and the words of John’s revelation both take us into the reality of God as Creator, or Father. Later on in Revelation, John will see the Risen Lord Jesus Christ on the throne with God. You see, the amazing God we worship is the same God who was in Jesus Christ, reconciling the world to himself. The amazing God we worship is not just about power, but about love, not just about righteousness, but about forgiveness, not just about creating all things, but about redeeming all things. This is the God whom we worship and this is the kind of creatures we believe he made us to be: loving, forgiving, and redeeming. We worship God in Christ Jesus, who was the perfect image of God and human in one person, therefore when we worship God in Christ, we worship that which we ourselves would hope to become.

Now, I’ve just taken you through a very quick review of some very complex and important theology. But let’s take this business of worship into a very different place. Think for a moment about what you feel inside and how you react when you are privileged to witness something very moving and very special. For instance, two nights ago I had the privilege and joy of hearing one of the world’s great guitar players perform. His name is Mike Loudermilk, and he can make one simple guitar sound like an orchestra. I could listen to him for hours. To hear him play is to have all the aches and sorrows of your heart melt away for a while. You don’t want him to stop, and you wish like anything that you could play like him. When he finishes playing a piece, you just want to burst with appreciation and admiration.

Every one of us, I hope, knows that same feeling, of admiration, of awe, of thanks, and of praise. You might have it when you watch a great football game, or when you stand in front of a great piece of art. You might have it when you reach for the hand of your soon-to-be-spouse as the minister prepares to join you in marriage, or when your child is being born. You might have it when you meet a soldier who has been wounded in battle as he protects your way of life, or you might have it when you simply witness the sun setting in a blaze of light. Whenever and however it happens, you know the feeling, how you want to shout and dance and pray and sing and just bask in the wonder and emotion and power and beauty of it all.

That is what worship is. It is when you cannot contain your love and appreciation for God. It is when you need to remember Jesus’ forgiveness and offer of another chance. It is when you realize that God has let you come back into his heart because he has never stopped and never will stop loving you. There is really only one simple rule of worship, one simple rule of online etiquette when you are in touch with God. When you come to him, worship him. Tell him and show him how much he is worth. You’ll never stop worshipping God, then, because God is worth everything.

Amen.

ⁱ N. T. Wright, Simply Christian, HarperSanFrancisco, New York, 2006, p. 143.