Worship Is Service!

3rd Sunday in Lent, 3/3/24 Exodus 20:1-17 Worship Is Service! I. God’s faithful service to us II. Our grateful service to him Have you noticed how the concept of customer service is slowly changing? I’m old enough to recall the days when you pulled your car up to the gas pump at the gas station and an attendant would appear, ask you how much gas you wanted, filled your gas tank with the appropriate amount, and, while your tank was filling, washed your windshield and checked your motor oil level. Now THAT was customer service. Not any more. Long ago we became used to filling our own gas tanks. And we pay for our gas right there at the gas pump. We do everything involved in this transaction without any help from anyone else. And then there’s this “service” experience. When you call a customer service number, things are heading in that self-help direction more and more each day. It’s rare to get a live person answering your phone call and speaking with you immediately. Instead, you need to listen to a long list of instructions, pressing this or that number, and perhaps even scheduling your own service appointment without speaking to a live person at all. Then again, you might not ever pick up a phone. You simply schedule it online with your mobile device. Right now, you’re attending what we commonly called “worship.” It’s what we regularly do on Sunday mornings at 10:00, and occasionally on other days and times throughout the year. We gather for worship. How would you describe that activity? Well, you sing hymns, speak prayers, listen to selections from the Bible as well as a sermon, and you bring your Lord an offering. That pretty much sums up your “worship,” doesn’t it? You’re doing something. But is that it? Is that all our worship is? Think about it for a moment. Isn’t it also what our God does for us? I’m guessing you would agree. In fact, wouldn’t you say, that of the two types of service—you doing something and God doing something—that God’s doing something is probably the more important one? Of course it is! What he does for us is ALWAYS more important than what we do for him. And at the heart of all this service is the reason why. Why does God do it? Why do you do it? With those questions about worship in mind, I’m going to ask you to consider the words of our sermon text this morning. At first glance they seem to have nothing to do with worship. Today’s sermon text is a listing of what we call the 10 Commandments. What do they have to do with worship? We don’t usually think of worship when we read through the commandments. But we should. And that’s because Exodus 17 lists not only how God wants us to serve him, but also how he serves us. And that’s what worship is! Worship is service! Let’s see what I mean as we delve into Exodus 17. I. A minute ago, I asked the question, “Why do you do what you do?” How often do you stop to ask yourself that question? Probably not often enough. What I mean is this. We get so caught up in living each day, there are so many things we need to do, there are so many things others expect us to do, that we barely have the time to ask ourselves why we do what we do. We spend most of our day in auto-pilot mode, just trying to get done what needs to be done. We focus on the task at hand, and, as soon as we’re finished with it, it’s on to the next one. And we keep going because that’s what’s expected of us, that’s what we said we would do, that’s what we’re committed to doing, that’s what defines who we are. Too often the 10 Commandments are read and recited without any mention or thought given to the introduction of the commandments that the Lord provides. But that introduction is critical for understanding the commandments properly. I read it a few minutes ago. Do recall what that introduction was. No? Then listen to it again, “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.” As far as introductions go, that’s one of the shortest. Just one sentence long. Only eighteen English words. But that introduction is packed with information and meaning. First, it tells us what God did and does. Before telling the Children of Israel how he wanted them to live as his people, he reminded them of what he had just done for them. He had brought them out of slavery in Egypt. Recall that awful period in Israel’s history. It lasted for decade after decade. At one point it involved the government-mandated murder of infant boys. The daily cry of the Jewish people was for the Lord to deliver them. And he did, in a miraculous way. The angel of death put to death all the firstborn males in Egypt and then the Lord parted the waters of the Red Sea to lead his people out of Egypt. In freeing his people from slavery in Egypt, we’re reminded of how the Lord sacrificed his Son to free us from slavery to Satan and hell. But why did the Lord do this? Not because of who the Jews were or who we are, but because of who he is. He states in the introduction to the commandments, “I am the LORD your God.” The name “LORD” is all upper-case letters. It’s that special name that God uses for himself. It emphasizes that he is the God who is always faithful to his promises to his people because of who he is. He is forgiving, loving, and merciful. Always! He acts on behalf of sinners because of who he is, not because of who we are or what we do. In fact, it is his deepest desire to have a loving, faithful, eternal relationship with us, his creatures. Think about that for a moment. It boggles the human mind! It’s beyond human comprehension. He doesn’t tell us what he expects of us BEFORE he connects himself to us; he does it AFTER he binds himself to us with an eternal promise. He promises, “I will always be your God.” Worship is service—God’s faithful service to us. So, what’s your worship attitude? As you drove to church this morning, made your way into church, and settled into your pew, were you thinking that what is about to happen is God serving you? Or, were your thoughts mainly about this is what you are doing for God? Was a sense of obligation clouding your mindset? Were you battling against an endless buffet of more pleasant and desirable things you could be doing? Is it possible that you might have thought that this isn’t the best use of your time today? Could we forget even momentarily that worship is primarily what God is doing for us, and not the other way around? It could. It can. Too often it does. Imagine being invited to a lavish feast with world dignitaries and only thinking about the fact that you could be somewhere else. Worship is God’s invitation to you to relax, sit back, and enjoy what you God is doing for you. He invites you into his presence to bless you with forgiveness and eternal life. Those blessings don’t mean much if you’re not convinced of your sinfulness and the eternal punishment you deserve. But your God comes to you to forgive you because he is eternally faithful, gracious, merciful, and forgiving. And it costs you nothing. It cost him everything, but it’s all yours by faith in Jesus. Worship is service—God’s faithful service to us. II. Life is full of opportunities to respond. Some of those responses are negative—disgust, regret, sorrow, pity. But others are positive—appreciation, thanks, commitment. After reminding us of how our God has served us and continues to serve us, he reminds us of how we can respond by serving him. He does so in the 10 Commandments. As good Lutherans, we know that the 10 Commandments are a summary of God’s law—what he expects of us. And an honest response to the 10 Commandments is not, “I’m pretty impressed with myself and my behavior. Aren’t you as well, God?” An honest response is, “I haven’t even kept the 1st Commandment which demands that I fear, love, and trust in you, Lord, above all things. My life is a daily rap sheet of violations against that commandment and all the other nine as well.” And so, we can only plead for his mercy and beg for his forgiveness. And that’s exactly what he does. He is merciful and forgiving. All the time. Every day. Right now. You are his forgiven child of God. So now, live like it! How do I do that? By making the commandments the guide and rule for your life. God’s love for us in Christ produces love for him that wants to live for him. While the rest of the world throws itself into sinful living, the child of God flees from it. And that even goes so far as to guide the way we think and feel about other people, even our enemies. Living the Christian life is a daily sacrifice of thanks to God. It’s an offering that pleases God. It fills him with joy to see his child living like the child he has called you to be and made you to be. Your worship is happening right now, here. But it’s not limited to this one hour once a week. It’s all day, every day, as you live in love and thanks to your Lord. Worship is service—our thankful service to God. God’s service to us is faithful. He always keeps his promises to us to bless us. Our service to him isn’t always faithful. Too often we miss the mark. But our God is all about forgiving us, not condemning us. We are forgiven for our less than faithful service to him. Thus, we live in thankful service to him. That’s what worship is! Daily thankful living for your Lord and Savior! By the power of the risen Savior in you, worship the Lord your God! Amen.