Back to the Well; Renewed by Christ the King

April 1, 2007: Palm Sunday

Dr. Joe Kutter, preaching

Worship is the most radical and subversive thing that you will ever do if you worship the God that Jesus named “Father.”

More than any other act that you will ever do, worship, genuine worship, shapes your character and your behavior. Genuine worship shapes your soul. In that way, worship is radical.

If you worship the God that Jesus worshipped, then your soul will begin to look like Jesus’ soul and you will be in conflict with the attitudes of this sinful world.

So what is worship? Worship happens when we say to some person or some thing or to God, “You are the most worthy thing in my life. As the most important thing in my life, I will love you with all of my heart, mind, soul and strength. Because you are the single most important thing in my life, I will shape my life, my behavior and attitudes, according to your values.”

Last week, Peggy and I watched a movie that is, in a strange sort of way, about worship. The movie is “Blood Diamond.” Let me say quickly that it is a violent movie and it is not for children.

The setting of the movie is in Sierra Leon in the late 90s. That little West African nation is being destroyed by a civil war. In order to finance the war, the rebels operate a diamond mine. The workers in this mine are men who have been kidnapped from their homes and are forced to work as slaves. Their enslavement and subservience is enforced by the most brutal kind of violence.

So, you ask, “Where is the worship? You said that this is about worship.”  Just ask the rebels, “What is the most worthy thing in your lives?” The most important thing is power. They want to hold power over their slaves. They want to acquire the power of the government. They worship the god of Power and that worship shapes their attitude and behavior. They are willing to do anything, no matter how cruel or brutal, to realize power. They may not go to church or burn candles or read inspirational literature but I assure you that in this story, they worship at the altar of Power.

There is another group in this story. These are the merchants who buy the diamonds and prepare them for the market. The merchants worship at the altar of Greed and the name of their god is Money. They know the source of the diamonds. They know about the slavery. They know the cost, the brutality and cruelty involved. They know that they are financing a cruel war but that doesn’t matter. They worship the god called Money and their spiritual discipline is Greed and in that value system, human sorrow does not matter. What they worship really does shape their values, their attitudes and their behavior.

Palm Sunday is about worship. It is about naming the person who is worthy, the one we love, the one who shapes our attitudes and values.

It was the Passover Season in Jerusalem and two parades entered the city. The first we know about from the study of history and the second we know about from the Bible. Both parades are demonstrations of worship.

Coming from the west, just a few days before the Passover Season, we have the Roman ruler of Israel, Pontius Pilate and his military entourage. You have seen the pictures of Roman soldiers marching; flags flying, the golden eagle held high, soldiers in uniform with helmets and breast plates and weapons. You’ve seen the war chariots and the horses and the coach that carries the governor in all of his Roman splendor. And you’ve heard them coming, the tromp, tromp, tromp of the soldiers marching up the road and into the city.

There is here a single message. We are in power and you are not. Get out of line and we will step on you like the bugs that we think that you are.

Where is the worship? Caesar had decreed himself to be a god. He was called “Lord and Savior.” He took the title for two reasons, actually one – to maintain power so that he could economically exploit those under his control. Caesar’s gods were Power and Money and those gods shaped his values, his attitudes and his behavior. His worship shaped his life and his government and imposed its values on the people under his control, including the people of Israel.

A few days later, another parade came from the east. An itinerate rabbi who had captured the hearts and minds of the people entered the city on a donkey. As he rode down that hill called the Mount of Olives, the crowds lined the pathway and they shouted “Hosanna”, which means, save us or this is the one who saves, and they waved palm branches in the air and they placed their cloaks on the pathway for the donkey to walk over to provide a kind of “red carpet” entrance into the city.

This represents the worship of a God very different from the Roman god of Caesar. In Jesus, we see a God who heals rather than destroys, who loves rather than exploits, who seeks justice rather than tyranny and oppression.

Let me show you a comparison of the attitudes and values of the Roman parade and the Jesus parade.

Worship matters. If you choose to worship the same God that Jesus worshiped, then you will find yourself living in opposition to other ways of worship. While the Caesars are long gone, you will find many who are still marching in the Roman parade and you will find many who worship their gods. They worship Money and Power through their attitudes and behavior.

At the end of his life, Joshua, an ancient leader of Israel, stood before his people and issued a challenge. “Choose this day who you will serve.” He could have said, “Choose this day who you will worship! Today, choose the one who will shape your values and attitudes and behavior. Choose the altar at which you will kneel and worship.

As for me, I have decided to follow Jesus and to worship Jesus’ God. I believe that he is the last, best and indeed the only hope for this world. And I know that he is my last best hope for the abundant life, now and forever.

I really do believe that “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.”

I believe that “God so loved the world that he gave His only Son” and that as God loves this world, God loves you and me and I believe that I can trust in God’s love.

I believe that God knows what I need before I ask and that I need not worry about tomorrow.

I believe that God is trustworthy.

I believe Jesus when he said, “I am with you always.”

I believe that when Jesus taught us to love our neighbors as we love ourselves, he was not imposing a burden but opening the door to the greatest blessings that God will give.

I believe that when we forgive those who sin against us, we are set free from a spiritual cancer that can kill the soul.

I believe that the honesty and integrity, as lived out in the life of Jesus, are not nearly so heavy to bear over time as the weight of dishonesty and hypocrisy.

I believe that generosity is better for my soul than selfishness and that kindness is better than meanness.

I believe that the greatest among us are those who serve and that we find ourselves as we lose ourselves in the service of Christ and his kingdom.

I believe that worshiping Jesus is the way to eternal life.

I believe Jesus and I have chosen to worship his God.

As I sat writing this last Wednesday morning at a local coffee shop, the young man behind the counter said, “Would you like a piece of fudge?”

Skeptic that I am, I answered, “What are you selling?”

“No”, he said. “The lady down the way makes it in her shop and she brings us some every day. Would you like a piece?”

Oh, Oooo, it was so good.

It was a tiny little act of random kindness. He doesn’t know me from Adam. I don’t know what he believes about anything. But it was a tiny reminder of the great generosity that we find in God. It was, for me, a reminder of the kindness and love of Jesus. For me, it was a small moment of worship that points in the direction of the God that Jesus loved and served and worshiped.

Choose this day who you will worship.