Why Are You Worshipping Jesus Today?

1st Sunday in Lent, 3/10/19
Deuteronomy 26:5-10


Why Are You Worshipping Jesus Today?
I. Because he has rescued you
II. Because he blesses you


Have you ever wondered why your computer’s keyboard or the keyboard on your mobile phone is laid out the way it is? Instead of being laid out in alphabetical order with ABC at the top left, it starts with QWERTY. Have you ever wondered why?

Well, there used to be a very good reason for it. In the days of manual typewriters in which you literally struck a key and a metal arm
then struck the paper in your typewriter, the typist could only strike keys up to a certain speed before the typewriter would become jammed. So, letters on the keyboard were intentionally spaced out which limited the speed at which you could type.

I can’t recall how long it’s been since I used a manual typewriter. I’m going to guess that most of you never have. So why are our keyboards still arranged according to the QWERTY configuration? Are you ready for this? Because that’s the way it’s always been done. Tradition! Seems silly, doesn’t it, especially since more efficient keyboard layouts, which actually reduce your time and energy, have been devised.

So, this Sunday morning rolled around. You’re a little less rested than usual because we transitioned to daylight savings time and you
lost an hour of sleep. But, you still made it to church. And good for you! I’m happy you’re here! But why? Why are you here this Sunday morning? You might answer, “To worship Jesus.” And I’m happy about that as well. But I still wonder why?

Is it because that’s what you usually do on Sunday morning? Are you here in worship because that’s what’s expected of you? Are you here right now because, if you decided to avoid church today, you’d feel guilty the rest of the week? Even worse, are you here because you want others to know you’re here? Just as bad, are you here to earn points with God?

Obviously, none of those reasons are good reasons to be here worshipping Jesus. They smack of worshipping for the sake of tradition or even something worse. But that leaves us with the question, “Why are you worshipping Jesus today?”

Let’s keep that question before us as we pay attention again to the words of this morning’s first lesson from Deuteronomy 26. As we do, may the Holy Spirit lead us to God-pleasing answers!

Part I.

It’s sad but true that countless people in our country—a country which prizes its freedom—need to be rescued from slavery, of sorts. The recent opioid addiction crisis and the ongoing mental illness crisis have caused some very brave and caring people to expend great effort in reaching out to these people who are “enslaved” in a matter of speaking in order to rescue them. Another example is human trafficking. The idea that helpless human beings—often teenage girls—are bought and sold for unspeakable acts is truly one of the darkest, most evil corners of our society. I’m grateful to those who are doing what they can to rescue these helpless victims.

In this morning’s text, Moses, the leader of God’s people refers to the slavery of the Israelites in Egypt. I’m guessing you’re at least vaguely familiar with that entire situation. For 400 years the Jews were at the mercy of the ruthless Egyptians. Moses refers to the mistreatment they endured, which included slave labor and infanticide. It’s hard for us even to imagine such a daily life.

But God rescued them. Moses recounts, “Then we cried out to the LORD, the God of our fathers, and the LORD heard our voice and saw our misery, toil and oppression. So the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great terror and with miraculous signs and wonders.” Moses is referring to the ten plagues, the last of which was the plague of death. With each plague God showed his absolute power over all the Egyptians gods. He led them out of Egypt and even through the waters of the Red Sea, with walls of water on the right and left, and then he sent those walls crashing down on the Pharaoh and his army. In Jewish history, there was no rescue quite like that one.

But it pales in comparison to the rescue that you and I have experienced. Are you with me on this one? Recall this morning’s Gospel reading. Jesus faces off with Satan not once, but three times, and thoroughly pounds him. Satan tried using God’s word to tempt Jesus to violate his Father’s will, but Jesus flashed the sword of that word and slashed the old evil foe.

That battle with Satan continued, to some degree, until Jesus crushed Satan on Calvary’s cross. It’s true that Satan bruised Jesus in that battle in which Jesus suffered. But the very suffering of Jesus is what crushed Satan’s power. When Jesus cried, “It is finished!” the curse of sin was removed forever.

And that’s what it took to rescue you from Satan’s hell-bound clutches. How often do you consider that? How many times each day—each week, even—do you consider that, if it weren’t for the fact that Jesus suffered and died for you, you would belong forever to Satan without any hope of ever being set free? How often do you stop your busy life just for a moment in order to ponder the depths of God’s love for you—a love which moved him to sacrifice his Son so that he could wrench you from Satan’s damning hold? And when you do ponder that saving rescue, how much time do you spend wondering how you can properly thank God for it?

Why are you worshipping Jesus today? Because he rescued you!...is one astounding answer.

Have you ever wondered why you haven’t seen someone in worship for a while? There’s a number of good reasons…sickness, work schedules, temporary relocation, perhaps some other legitimate obligations. But what about the people who could worship with us but choose not to? Could it be that they’ve failed to ponder their own spiritual rescue which cost Jesus his life? But here’s a better question: have we failed to ponder that rescue?

We need to keep that question in front of us because there are all sorts of wrong reasons for worshipping Jesus, even right now. Are you here out of a sense of duty? Do you feel as if worship is your obligation? Are you trying to earn points with God or look good before others? Those are all wrong answers to the question, “Why are you worshipping Jesus today?” This season of Lent helps you answer that question correctly. We have a Savior who always put his Father first and worshipped him alone. We have a Savior who suffered and died for all the times we’ve failed to put our God first in our lives, and for all our tainted reasons for worshipping. By his death he has rescued us from hell and empowered us by his resurrection to live for him, to worship him with our lives all week long. Why worship Jesus today? Because he has rescued you!

Part II.

The Bible tells us that God allows hardships to come into our lives in order to help us and bless us. That sounds backwards, but it’s true. For instance, when you’re going through a tough time in your life, God often uses that to cause you to recall the many blessings that you have, the things that really matter to you, such as your faith in Jesus, your family, your loved ones. Hardships help us keep the proper perspective on life.

When Moses spoke these words of our text to the Israelites, they had been wandering in the wilderness for 40 years. They were literally on the border of the Promised Land. Imagine Moses pointing to the west over the Jordan River and speaking these words, “He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.” Some of you have laid eyes on the modern Holy Land, and, when you did, the words “milk and honey” probably didn’t come to mind. Some of that is due to the wars that have ravaged this area of the world and the environmental havoc wreaked on it by human beings. But even in the days of Moses 3000 years ago, for those of us who live in the USA with its vast farmland, forests, and countless lakes and rivers, we wouldn’t have called it a land flowing with milk and honey.

But for a nation of people wandering through a wasteland for four decades, it certainly did! They considered themselves blessed to have this land promised to them by the only true God.

And that same God now points you to the blessings he as showered on you in your lifetime. While it might be true that your life hasn’t been easy and it might be true that you’ve had your fair share of heartaches, pain and disappointment (maybe even more than your fair share); it’s also true that your life has been abundantly blessed by your God. We live each day amid bounty. We don’t lack for food, clothing or shelter. On the contrary, we have far more than we truly need. Our God provides for us richly and daily.

And if that weren’t enough, he blesses us richly with spiritual blessings. As his people by faith in Jesus we live each day with the forgiveness of sins. Our God holds nothing against us. We know we are the objects of his eternal love and nothing can change that. He guides us each day of our lives with his faithful word. He empowers us to live as his children. And when this life is ended and we exhale one last time into earth’s atmosphere, he then takes us home to heaven after a life full of countless blessings.

So, why are you worshipping Jesus today? Because he blesses you.

And let’s never forget it. We won’t, when we recall that daily we show how undeserving we are. Our daily record of sins should cause our God to turn his back on us eternally. But he doesn’t! Instead, look what he does, especially in this Lenten season! On Wednesdays, we watch him go to Calvary’s cross for us. On Sundays we rejoice in his stunning victories over Satan. And we’re blessed.
Now, can you properly answer why you are worshipping Jesus today? Will it move you to worship him next Sunday? Every day? May his love for you move you to do so! Amen.