A Community of Worship
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Series Overview
Sermon Questions
Good morning Chapel family. Congratulations to our high school seniors—great job!
We’re taking three weeks to talk about worship. And last week we said it’s not a question of if you worship; it’s always a question of (everybody?...) what you worship—because everybody worships something. That thing could be God…or it could be the Yankees, or Taylor Swift, or craft beer, or Long Beach Island. Or sitting on the beach at Long Beach Island, drinking craft beer and listening to Taylor Swift while watching a Yankees game. The point is, we are incredibly creative in what we choose to worship. Everybody worships.
We also said that one of the reasons worship is so important is that it shapes you into the person you’re becoming. So whatever you worship, that’s what will form you into who you’ll be five years from now; ten years from now. Worship shapes you more than anything else.
So this week I want to build on that with one more thought, and here it is: the most powerful worship is the worship we do in community with other people. The most powerful worship—the worship that shapes us the most—is the worship we do in community with others. If you are sitting in this room today, you decided to get up, and get dressed, and say no to a million other things that you could have done, and get in your car, and drive to The Chapel, so you could worship alongside other people. Right? And I’m just going to guess that the reason you chose to do that is that at some level, you realize it’s just not the same to read your Bible at home, by yourself. It’s not the same to listen to worship music in your bedroom. It’s not the same—I’m just going to say it—it’s not the same to watch church online. I don’t want to disrespect anyone watching online—I’m so glad we have our online service, especially for people who physically can’t get here. But it’s not the same as being here in person. That’s why Hebrews 10:25 says don’t give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing. That’s why, in Psalm 122, David says, “I rejoiced with those who said to me, ‘Let us go the house of the Lord.’” The most powerful worship—the worship that shapes us the most—is the worship we do in community with other people.
So today, we’re going to talk about that. What is this thing we do when we gather on Sunday mornings? What is it supposed to look like? How do we get it wrong sometimes? And how is it supposed to affect us? I’m really thankful we have David Santistevan with us this morning. David has devoted his life to helping churches worship more biblically and more effectively, so a little bit later I’m going to invite David up to share some thoughts with us.
So…let’s read today’s Scripture: Acts chapter two, beginning in verse 42. I invite you to hear the Word of God…
42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. This is the Word of the Lord.
So today I want to talk about three things: The Errors of Gathered Worship, The Elements of Gathered Worship, and The Effects of Gathered Worship. Okay? The errors, the elements, and the effects of gathered worship.
So, first: The Errors of Gathered Worship. How do we sometimes get worship wrong? Probably lots of ways, but I see three common errors the Bible warns us of.
First, Hypocrisy. When you read the Hebrew prophets, they warn the people of hypocrisy over and over again—specifically in the way they viewed the temple. For example, Jeremiah 7, verses 9 and 10: 9 “‘Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal and follow other gods you have not known, 10 and then come and stand before me in this house, which bears my Name, and say, “We are safe”—safe to do all these detestable things? So there were people who had completely divided their religious life from their everyday life. So they thought, “We can do anything we want during the week, as long as we come to the temple on the Sabbath.” And God says, “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
I once knew a police officer who had a partner for a few years—not a romantic partner; a police partner—so they would ride the squad car together. And his partner was a married man, but he was having an affair with another woman. So my friend said once a week, when they were out on patrol, his partner would say, “Let’s stop at this church—wait here while I go to mass, because I have to ask forgiveness for my affair.” So my friend would wait in the squad car while his partner went to mass; he would come out and go right back to his affair. And God says, “You’ve got to be kidding me.” That’s hypocrisy.
In the New Testament, James warns us of the same thing. He says, “Some of you are going to church every week, and then you go out and deprive your workers of their wages. You’re oppressing the poor. Do you think attending church makes up for that?” So God cares just as much about what we do outside church as what we do inside church. Sounds kind of obvious, doesn’t it? But we need that reminder. Never use your attendance at church to sort of “check the box” and excuse ungodly living outside of church. That’s hypocrisy.
The second error is Performance. This is the mindset that church is like a show, where the people up front are performing, and the people in the congregation are the audience. So when you come to church, you can develop this very passive view, where you’re not participating; you’re not contributing; you’re just passively taking it all in. And the New Testament never presents church like that. You know how you can tell when people view it as a performance? When they leave church and rate the service. How’d you like the music? I’d give it about a seven—I didn’t like that last song. How about the sermon? I’d give it a five—Pastor Dave was kind of off today.
We’re going to talk a lot about singing today. So when we gather to sing worship, it’s not the people on stage singing, and the people in the congregation listening. I read this on the web site of David, our guest today: “Worship Leaders exist to shine a spotlight on the glory of God and get out of the way.” I love that! If you talk to Lauren Tapia, our worship director, she will tell you her whole goal is for the congregation to actively participate in worship. When you guys are the loudest, that’s when she’s the happiest. Because she knows her role is to catalyze and lead us to worship God. So the center of attention is not the people on the stage; the people on stage are only there to point all of our attention upward to God. It’s not a performance.
And then one more common error. Selfishness. This is related to the previous one. It’s the mindset that I go to church primarily to “get something out of it.” Now: hopefully you do get something out of it, but that’s a by-product. That’s not the main purpose you’re here.
In the first century church at Corinth, their selfishness really came out when they received communion. Look at 1 Corinthians 11, starting in verse 20: 20 So then, when you come together, it is not the Lord’s Supper you eat, 21 for when you are eating, some of you go ahead with your own private suppers. As a result, one person remains hungry and another gets drunk. 22 Don’t you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God by humiliating those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? Certainly not in this matter! So instead of waiting for each other, and receiving the bread and the cup together, it had become very individualistic. People were bringing their own bread and wine—can you imagine that—people walking into The Chapel on communion Sunday with a loaf of bread and bottle of wine? Meanwhile, the less wealthy members of the church were sitting there with nothing. And it was just chaos. No concern for each other; it’s all about me. And Paul the Apostle basically says, “You’re missing the whole point.” So we gather here on Sundays not primarily for ourselves. We gather to lift praise to God, and to show love and consideration to one another. And by the way, when we do that—when we take our focus off ourselves—that’s when we’ll actually get the most out of it.
So those are some common errors we make. Honestly, some of you walked away from church in the past, because you were disgusted by the hypocrisy. Right? We’ve recently seen some huge megachurches crash because they had a performance mentality—and a celebrity mentality—and it all came crashing down. So these are timeless errors. May God give us the grace, as a church family, to not fall into hypocrisy or performance or selfishness. Amen?
Okay, so what should church look like? Let’s talk about The Elements of Gathered Worship. Our Scripture reading this morning from Acts chapter two is sort of a snapshot of how the early church functioned. A lot of theologians believe it’s a blueprint for how a healthy church operates, especially in their worship gatherings. So I’m going to re-read it, and as I do, see if you can hear what elements should be included in a healthy church. You ready?
Acts 2, verses 42 to 47…42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
I hear six main things that are part of healthy church worship. So I’m going to comment on the first five pretty quickly, and then I’m going to invite up our guest, David, to go deeper on the last one. So here we go—six elements of a healthy church…
First, teaching. It says They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching. At that time, the New Testament hadn’t been written yet. But they had the Hebrew Scriptures, and they had the teaching of the apostles—the disciples of Christ—about how Jesus had fulfilled those Hebrew Scriptures. So every time they gathered, someone would stand up and teach. A few years later, in his second letter to Timothy, listen to what Paul tells Timothy, who was a young pastor—this is 2 Timothy 4:2… 2 Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. 3 For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. Sounds a whole lot like 2023, doesn’t it? Every one of us is bombarded by
secular voices and secular narratives all through the week, so one of the main roles of gathered worship is to hear the Word of God taught. And it’s different from just listening to sermons on your own. I listen to a lot of sermons in my car, and sometimes when I walk or hike, and it’s great. But it’s not the same as hearing the word preached as part of a gathered congregation. Jesus said when two or more are gathered in his name, there’s a special kind of blessing that’s there. As a preacher, there are times when I stand in front of this congregation, especially when our hearts have been prepared through musical worship, and I can just feel the sacredness of the moment, and the hunger of the people of God to hear the Word of God. It is awesome. And that only happens in gathered worship.
Second element is fellowship. Acts 2:42 says they devoted themselves…to fellowship. It also says they shared their stuff and they shared meals in their homes. So when these people came together for gathered worship, it was a family. I mean, they knew each other. You know, this culture we’re living in has become so isolating. Loneliness has become epidemic. And when the church is functioning in a healthy way, people find real community and friendship in their church family. One of my favorite things is when the service has been over for 30 minutes, and there are still little groups of people (and sometimes animals) all around the auditorium, all around the lobby, talking and laughing and crying and praying for each other. That’s how it’s supposed to work. That’s part of worship!
Third element I see is communion. Acts 2:42 says they devoted themselves…to the breaking of bread. And that’s talking about communion—the Lord’s Supper—the Eucharist. Remember, back in Old Testament days, if you wanted to approach God, you had to a bring a sacrifice, which the priests would take and lay on the altar. Only then could you come into God’s presence. So coming to the temple to worship was kind of complicated! Not anymore. Because Jesus has come as the perfect and final sacrifice. And every time we take communion together, it reminds us: this is why we can approach God freely. Some churches observe communion once a week; other churches, like us, do it once a month. Jesus never said how often we had to do it, but every healthy church does it regularly.
Fourth thing is prayer. Acts 2:42 says they devoted themselves…to prayer. Look what else Paul told young Pastor Timothy—this is 1 Timothy 2:1…1 I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— 2 for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. There should be times in our services devoted to prayer. This is why we have a pastoral prayer every week, usually led by Pastor Paul—it’s a time to lift up the needs of the church family to God. This is why we leave a minute of silence before the sermon, so you can have private prayer. This is why I close every service in prayer, to ask for God’s blessing before we leave. Prayer is part of worship.
Fifth is giving. Acts 2:45 says They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. So there was an atmosphere of generosity, especially toward the poor. In the letters of first and second Corinthians, we find much more instruction on giving in church—we should give generously; we should give cheerfully, etc. But the most important principle is that our giving is always in response to God’s amazing generosity toward us. Like Jesus said to his disciples: Freely you have received; now freely give. So even though we no longer pass an offering plate in church, we have an offering box in the back, and we remind people about the importance of giving every week, because giving is part of worship.
And then, finally, the thing we normally think of when we think of worship, is praise. Acts 2:47 says this first-century church was known for praising God. And of course praise is most commonly expressed through music. So to help us understand this better, I want to invite up our special guest. Would you give a warm Chapel welcome to David Santistevan?
Dave G: Welcome, David! Can you tell us what you do, and how you got here?
David S: Talk about your journey through being a worship pastor to your current role.
Dave G: Why would you say that music and singing are such an important part of worship?
David S: 400 references to singing in the Bible, unifies us…other benefits…?
Dave G: Is there a difference between a secular view of music and a Christian view?
David S: Consumerist, me-centered danger….instead of “how does this glorify God, and how can I contribute?”
Dave G: So you travel all over the country coaching worship leaders. And obviously northern New Jersey is where you find the greatest people. But honestly, do you notice any regional differences in how people worship, and how people need to grow in how their worship?
David S: Talk about how much you love NJ J. Then…challenge for people in Northeast to express emotions in worship. (I want to be careful here, because the great majority of our people aren’t hand-raisers and we don’t want to shame them for that—so I think a more general challenge of engaging our emotions in a way that’s genuine, and entering fully into worship).
Dave G: Is there anything else you’d like the Chapel family to know about worship?
David S: Deep responsibility on worship leaders/teams, but we don’t talk enough about the responsibility of the congregation—prepare yourself for Sunday—to come and, no matter the sound, I’m going to stand with my brothers and sisters in Christ and declare God’s praise.
Dave G: One last question—as a worship leader, what’s your favorite thing to experience?
David S: When the people of God are singing together. Quieting the instruments and hearing the people of God singing.
That is a beautiful thing, isn’t it? And that actually leads me right into the final point of today’s message. And I’m going to ask David to stay up here with me and chime in whenever he wants.
So, third and final point: The Effects of Gathered Worship. When our church worships in this healthy way, what are some of the results?
Well, first of all, Awe. Acts 2:43 says Everyone was filled with awe. And David, I think that’s what you were just talking about: this realization that we are in the presence of God. There’s something supernatural going on here. You know, we talked earlier about some other things that people are tempted to worship, in place of God. And honestly, when you gather with other people and focus on those things, there can be some level of awe that you experience. Some of you just went and saw Taylor Swift in concert—my daughter did—and she said it was kind of awesome—just an amazing experience. Some of you have been to a Yankees game recently, and it’s kind of awesome to think of the history of Babe Ruth and Joe DeMaggio and it’s got some level of awe. But those are counterfeit kinds of awe. Because they’re temporary. They’re earthbound. And they’re not worthy of our worship. But God is. We are in the presence of the eternal Creator of the universe. And when we gather together in his name, to worship him, that’s where we find the awe that our hearts crave.
Secondly, healthy worship produces Growth. Acts 2:47 says the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. Not because they had billboards or direct mailers or a social media marketing campaign. They were just being the church, and worshiping God through their words and their actions. And people saw that and they were intrigued, because it was so different. And the
church grew. Ultimately church growth is God’s work, right? It says the Lord added to their number. But God seems to use healthy churches rather than unhealthy churches to grow his kingdom, and a big part of health is how we worship.
And then finally, healthy worship produces Mission. When you look at the early church, they spent a lot of time in gathered worship—that was really important to them! But that’s not the only thing they did. Because after they gathered together, they would always scatter apart—back out into the world. They knew the world is filled with people who are broken and hurting and desperately need the hope of Christ.
And it’s the same today. If we are doing what we’re supposed to do when we gather together—teaching and fellowship and praise—then we will leave this place with a strong sense of mission. If you’ve been at The Chapel for a while, you know there’s a closing prayer that I pray at least a couple of times every month. And I never really planned to say this, but it just came out once and it stuck. Do you know the prayer I’m talking about? “Lord, as we walk out these doors into the world, help us to represent Jesus really well.” Because I am convinced that’s what this world needs more than anything else.
So David, why don’t you close us out with praise?
