Here I Am To Worship

(Genesis 6:9-9:28 excerpts) Introduction: As we work our way through these opening stories of the Bible, we have already encountered the five purposes of life. In chapter 1 we learn that we were created in the image of God and the implications of this is unpacked in the following stories: We are created for fellowship (be fruitful and multiply) We are created for service (and rule over the other creatures) We are created for mission (subdue the earth) And we were created for WORSHIP: The Eden story of chapter 2 describes a Temple scenario: o Source of the four rivers o The garden courtyard o Adam and Eve as caretakers of the courtyard where the Lord would come and walk with them. The first recorded act of the second generation is worship The first recorded act of the line of Seth is, At this time people began to call on the name of the Lord. The first descendant of Seth to have more recorded than whom their first son was and how long they lived is Enoch of who it is said that he walked with God- a story that emphasizes that we are created for Gods pleasure.

And now we come to the flood story and we find that the first recorded act following the disembarkation from the ark is an act of worship: 8:18-20: So Noah came out, together with his sons and his wife and his sons wives. All the animals and all the creatures that move along the ground and all the birdseverything that moves on the earthcame out of the ark, one kind after another. Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. The aftershocks or fallout from the choices made by Adam and Eve and Cain and his decedents echoes down thorough history to our very time disrupting all that we experience. Martin Marty, a well-known and respected interpreter of religion and culture today suggests that the multi-cultures within [our] larger society are products of response to needs in the late modern world. He spells out four such needs: Identity: This is need to answer the question, who am I?

Loyalty: This is the need to spell out, to whom do I belong? Whom shall I trust? Values: This is the need to answer the question, by what shall I live? What do I pass on to my children? What would I like to see prevail in respect to the true, the beautiful, and the good? Power: This is the need to answer the question, how can I protect myself? Or, how can I make my way over against others? How do I throw off the oppressor and how can I be free? This ends up being a list of some of the deepest human yearnings and in attempting to answer these yearnings we find ourselves turning in many directions and attaching ourselves to various groups, movements or philosophies of life. The Story presented to us in the Bible has already shown us that there are two possible paths for us to tread in our quest to answer such questions. Our own way! Gods way! WE recommend today, AGAIN, Gods way. And that begins with ACKNOWLEDGING God which is to say it is the to WORSHIP God. So I invite you to consider with me how in worship we can find true answers to these questions, these yearnings of our heart. 1. Identity: Who am I? a. We know ourselves by our interaction with others around us. Someone questioned that statement observing how others can give us a very poor answer to our identity. My point exactly! But the answer is not to try and reconfigure ourselves from within. We cant do that without the help of others. And thus the proliferation of sub-cultures! Jesus answer to the woman at the well points us in the true direction here b. The beloved of God! Noah didnt offer his sacrifices out of fear or to meet some need in God. His sacrifice is an act of love in response to this God who preserved our lives despite ourselves! 8:21 c. Worship is the conscious and deliberate choice that our identity can be found best by making the God the focus of our existence. Psalm 40 d. The story of the Scottish nobleman and peasant. 2. Loyalty: To whom do I belong? Whom shall I trust? a. By the 7th generation of Cains descendants trust had become a real issue! In fact Cain already knew that as he left the presence of God he couldnt trust anybody! Is this why he or his son, Enoch, began to build cities? b. The deep yearning that is being expressed in the question of loyalty is one of intimacy! Connection, belonging. The sexual confusion of our western late modern or postmodern world is nothing less than the symptom of how profoundly our world and its answers to this need miss the mark.

c. Again, the woman at the well: She was looking for an answer to her need for intimacy and what she found in Jesus was an answer to that longing- God is seeking those who will worship him in spirit and truth. d. Noahs sacrifice was a recognition that his relationship with God was one that must take center stage in his life as he sought to maintain intimacy with this one who loved him and chose to MAINTAIN that relationship of intimacy: 8:21 and 9:8-17 3. Values: By what shall I live? a. As we attend attentively to worship the question of values becomes ever clearer for us. We begin to value what God values and what God values is depth of character! b. Noahs sacrifice of the animals demonstrates how highly he valued his relationship with God. But its not about the animals: Psalm 40 again! c. And then there is this: For God so loved the world d. God values US! 1 John beloved let us love one another e. This leads us to the forth need addressed by Worship 4. Power: How can I protect myself? How can I make my way over against others? a. Once again I point you back to the text! i. 8:21; 9:8-17 b. Worship is my conscious, deliberate, purposeful acknowledgement that I am the handiwork of God, the God revealed in the Bible. It is my heart response to be his child, a citizen of his kingdom! c. Here is how the theologian, author and speaker, Marva Dawn puts it, Participating in Gods reign comforts us with the assurance that we do not need to protect ourselves, that instead God will make a future for us. i. Have you noticed how much fear is used in our culture to control our responses, politics and even our purchasing habits? 1. Threat of Weapons of mass destruction! (Nuclear, biological, chemical) 2. Terrorism! 3. Vulnerability! d. The whole heritage of Noah was one of trust in God for his future! Noahs sacrifice was his recognition that God is FAITHFUL and God WILL provide! e. Our worship is an act of TRUST and in worship we seek to express and make know to ourselves and others that the God who reveals himself in the Bible is trustworthy because we have learned that- GOD IS LOVE and perfect love casts out all fear! I mentioned earlier this morning that there are two paths to take. Jesus speaks of these two paths as the broad way and the narrow way. The narrow way is the way of worship of the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Beloved, make worship a priority in your life!