Why Come To Church (part 4) - Worship

2 Kings 5:1 – 19a
Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man and in high favor with his master, because by him the Lord had given victory to Aram. The man, though a mighty warrior, suffered from leprosy. 2 Now the Arameans on one of their raids had taken a young girl captive from the land of Israel, and she served Naaman's wife. 3 She said to her mistress, "If only my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy." 4 So Naaman went in and told his lord just what the girl from the land of Israel had said. 5 And the king of Aram said, "Go then, and I will send along a letter to the king of Israel." He went, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten sets of garments. 6 He brought the letter to the king of Israel, which read, "When this letter reaches you, know that I have sent to you my servant Naaman, that you may cure him of his leprosy." 7 When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, "Am I God, to give death or life, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? Just look and see how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me." 8 But when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent a message to the king, "Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come to me, that he may learn that there is a prophet in Israel." 9 So Naaman came with his horses and chariots, and halted at the entrance of Elisha's house. 10 Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, "Go, wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored and you shall be clean." 11 But Naaman became angry and went away, saying, "I thought that for me he would surely come out, and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and would wave his hand over the spot, and cure the leprosy! 12 Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them, and be clean?" He turned and went away in a rage. 13 But his servants approached and said to him, "Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? How much more, when all he said to you was, "Wash, and be clean'?" 14 So he went down and immersed himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; his flesh was restored like the flesh of a young boy, and he was clean. 15 Then he returned to the man of God, he and all his company; he came and stood before him and said, "Now I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel; please accept a present from your servant." 16 But he said, "As the Lord lives, whom I serve, I will accept nothing!" He urged him to accept, but he refused. 17 Then Naaman said, "If not, please let two mule-loads of earth be given to your servant; for your servant will no longer offer burnt offering or sacrifice to any god except the Lord. 18 But may the Lord pardon your servant on one count: when my master goes into the house of Rimmon to worship there, leaning on my arm, and I bow down in the house of Rimmon, when I do bow down in the house of Rimmon, may the Lord pardon your servant on this one count." 19 He said to him, "Go in peace."

Naaman was a successful man. He had the respect of those in positions above him as well as those in his household. I imagine he must have been a good man in many ways or the young girl who was his wife’s servant, who was taken captive from the land of Israel, wouldn’t have wanted him to be healed of his leprosy. Naaman was also a man of hope. When he heard of an opportunity to be healed, he looked into it immediately. Naaman was successful, but his future did not look good. At some point his leprosy was probably going to get the best of him. He was already suffering but as the disease progressed his disfiguring skin sores would become worse, his nerve damage would increase, and eventually he would become debilitated. It is no wonder that Naaman eagerly sought out a healing, even from a rival nation and a prophet of a different God than his own.

The king of Israel suspected Naaman’s request was a trick to create a grievance that would lead to a war between the two nations. The Israeli servant girl did not tell Naaman to go to the king, though. She told him to go to the prophet. From Elisha’s perspective this was an opportunity to show the Arameans “that there is a prophet in Israel." Elisha called for Naaman, but when he got to his house, Elisha sent a messenger instead of coming out himself. Plus, there was no showy magic or sacrifice offered. The messenger just told Naaman to "Go, wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored and you shall be clean." Naaman was offended. How dare Elisha not come out to meet him! Naaman said, "I thought that for me he would surely come out, and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and would wave his hand over the spot, and cure the leprosy!” This is Naaman … not some common person. Naaman, the mighty man of war, commander of the Aramean army and favoured by the king of Aram. Was Elisha just telling him that he was dirty and needed to take a bath? How insulting! The rivers of Damascus are far superiour to those in Israel And besides, Naaman came with treasures to lavish on the person who would heal him. If he came with treasures, certainly he should get better treatment than this.

Naaman’s servants convinced him to go ahead and give this a try. And so Naaman washed seven times in the Jordan river and after the seventh time he came out with the skin of a young boy. His leprosy was healed. Were it not for the young servant girl and for Naaman’s servants, he would never have known the healing power of the God of Israel. Were it not for the ordinary river in which Naaman washed, he may never have attributed his healing properly to the God of Israel. Had Elisha come out with his hands waving and calling on the name of God, Naaman might have given credit to Elisha rather than to God. If Elisha had told Naaman to do some heroic act or to wash in some pristine river, those actions or the river might have been given the credit for Naaman’s healing. But it was an ordinary river and the instructions were given by the messenger of the prophet. It had to be. Naaman could only give credit where credit was due. "Now I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel,” he proclaimed.

Naaman become a convert to the God of Israel. He wanted to worship God but at the time there was a belief that gods exercised their domain over a local area. So he asked Elisha if he could take two mule-loads of earth back home with him. This way he would be worshipping the God of Israel on Israel’s soil. Naaman wanted to worship the god who healed him. He wanted to pour out his appreciation and express his adoration for the one revealed to him as the only god in all the earth. He did have a concern. In spite of his revelation, he had a job to do. Part of his job was to bring his master into the house of the god Rimmon where they would both worship. Naaman asked Elisha if he could be pardoned for performing this part of his job. Elisha said to him, "Go in peace." If Naaman was bowing down before Rimmon with his body but not his heart, Elisha knew it wasn’t real worship.

The prophet Isaiah understood the same thing about the worship that the people of Israel performed to the God of Israel.

Isaiah 29:13, 14 The Lord said: Because these people draw near with their mouths and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their worship of me is a human commandment learned by rote; so I will again do amazing things with this people, shocking and amazing. The wisdom of their wise shall perish, and the discernment of the discerning shall be hidden.

(The Message) Psalm 51:15 – 17 Unbutton my lips, dear God; I'll let loose with your praise. Going through the motions doesn't please you, a flawless performance is nothing to you. I learned God-worship when my pride was shattered. Heart-shattered lives ready for love don't for a moment escape God's notice.

Worship is heart-driven and heart-felt. Naaman’s pride had been broken and his heart melted within him. The prophet Isaiah is burdened with grief that the people’s heart is far from God, even when they lift up their voices in praise. The Psalmist begs for God’s praise to be released from within.

We come to church to worship God. Our Sunday morning meeting time is called a worship service. In our prayers, praises, and songs first and foremost we are to draw our hearts near to God. Our worship is not our order of service; it is our adoration, thanksgiving, and openness to love. Our acts of worship bring together the heavenly realm and the earthly realm. This is one way to experience the intersection of the temporal world and the transcendent world, just like we talked about a couple of weeks ago.

Our next reading is from The Book of the Revelation written by John of Patmos. He begins in the first chapter by telling us that he was “in the spirit on the Lord's day.” This is his account of the revelatory vision that he was given. In chapter 4 of this vision he writes this:

Rev 4:1 - 11
1 After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this." 2 At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. 3 And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian. A rainbow, resembling an emerald, encircled the throne. 4 Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. 5 From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. Before the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God. 6 Also before the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal. In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. 7 The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. 8 Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings. Day and night they never stop saying: "HOLY, HOLY, HOLY IS THE Lord GOD ALMIGHTY, WHO WAS, AND IS, AND IS TO COME." 9 Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne, and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say: 11 "You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being."

Our worship of God – our adoration and praise – comes from a heart that is open to love, filled with humility, and has a desire to draw close to the Divine Beloved. Our worship needn’t be shame based. In other words, we don’t worship Jesus because we think we are wretched and miserable creatures. That seems to me to be a less than exuberant expression of adoration. When we prepare our hearts to give our devotion to God, we should remind ourselves of the glory of God, of God’s magnificence. We don’t praise because we are so awful. We praise because Jesus is so good!

When we worship we can see our own brokenness. That might be scary. But our broken heart can and needs to worship God. When we worship we can see our needs and our shortcomings. We are wonderfully and amazingly made by the God of whom the elders fall down to worship in The Book of the Revelation. We are not always shiny and perfect. But, we are created by the will of Jesus and in Jesus we have our life. This is the declaration of worship that the elders are making. Something like this is also said in The Book of Acts 17:28, "In God we live and move and have our being”

We come to church to worship together. I believe our souls become stronger when we worship. Our adoration for God doesn’t have to fade away during the week. We can honor God during the week by drawing near with our hearts no matter what we are doing. This then will also strengthen our worship time when we come together Sunday morning. Worship is an opportunity to break through our own brokenness and reach toward the wholeness that God offers in Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit. We open ourselves up to God’s healing touch, to a deepening of our souls, and to richer understanding of God’s beauty and glory.

In times of trouble, our worship can lift us up even if our circumstances don’t change.
In times of joy, our worship can help us express the depth of our joy.
In times of everyday ho-hum, our worship can fill us with purpose and motivation.