Wonderful. Well, sorry for the small delay as we got our technology to work.
This is our fourth session asking the question, what is worship?
And each week I've tried to draw our attention to a particular picture or metaphor
which might help us think about what it is we contribute to Sunday worship
and what it is we might benefit from Sunday worship.
This week our theme is worship is a gym.
For some of us that will be an attractive image, for others on Sunday morning not particularly attractive at all.
So let me pray for us and then I'll ask us perhaps to reflect on the last few weeks.
Our dear God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, we thank you so much for these weeks to talk and to listen
and to learn to reflect on our lives before you and particularly our life in Sunday worship.
So please help us again this morning.
Give to us, as we don't deserve, that we might know better how to serve you in this world for Christ's sake.
Amen.
Okay, so perhaps some initial reflections on the last few weeks.
Are there images or thoughts or questions which have arisen for you between Sundays?
This is my adult teaching methodology that recalling last time's class can actually long-term be of educational value.
So I'll give you a shot at it anyway.
Yes, please.
After last week, I thought of the idea that it doesn't seem to you or to me to be biblical
to think that if we just get our emotions or sing correctly, or emotions up to a certain level
or sing correctly up to a certain level, then that will result in God's presence among us.
Sure.
I wonder if some churches have a different temptation to think if we just get our thinking
correct enough or our theology up to a certain level of correctness, then God will show up in us.
Yeah, sure.
So for those of you at the back who might not have heard, the question was, okay, we might
agree that God doesn't arrive in church when we've reached a certain level of emotional intensity.
But is it also true that God doesn't arrive in church just because we've reached a certain level of intellectual capacity?
And of course that's right.
We are not saved by having right doctrine.
We're saved through the merits of Jesus Christ.
And correct doctrine guards our experience of salvation.
It helps us to know that the salvation we've received is to be rightly understood or appropriated, right?
But we're not saved by having right thoughts.
Otherwise, only the really smart or the people who think they're really smart could be Christians.
So no, it's not that we need to aim at a high intellectual capacity in church either.
That's quite true.
And it probably showed the kinds of experiences I have in places that I biased my presentation last week to one side rather than the other.
Thank you.
Well, this week our theme is the gym.
Not that the word gym is used in the scriptures as far as I can find.
But you might like to share out loud some of the sporting or physical pictures of the Christian life which the New Testament or indeed the Old presents to us.
So a time of open sharing.
What are some of the texts or themes which pick up sporting or physical imagery?
Yes.
Running a race.
We're running a race which probably is Hebrews 12, right?
We fix our eyes on Jesus who's run the race before us.
Yep.
Boxing.
Boxing, yes.
In 1 Corinthians 9, Paul says we do not box as though we're just hitting the air.
Yep.
The crown of righteousness.
Correct.
That's right.
So there's those kinds of pictures about sporting events even if they're not describing a particular sport.
Or competing according to the rules.
Competing according to the rules of the race.
Yeah, that's right.
That you might win the crown.
Correct.
Wrestling.
Wrestling, yeah, indeed.
Like in Colossians 4 where Paul describes wrestling in prayer.
And interestingly in that one, there's two different kinds of wrestling in the ancient world.
And the wrestling that Paul's referring to in Colossians 4 is the close combat wrestling,
the kind of every tiny manoeuvre is important in the bout, as every tiny prayer is important for the Lord.
And there's a classic one.
And there's a classic one that is actually my scene.
That is walking.
Walking according to the gospel.
Walking, which is actually one of the most used images to describe the Christian life.
It's not spectacular.
And you might not think it's a sport.
But in my world, it's the most sporting I ever become.
And it's a pretty important image because it's a slow and steady, slow and steady image.
It's not fast and heavy exertion.
It's kind of keeping on, keeping on, which I think for most of us, right, is a pretty important reminder and image of what the challenges of living as a Christian.
There's also in 1 Timothy, Paul describes us training.
That is, godliness, to be trained in godliness has value in all things.
Those physical sports might have value in some things.
So there is the language of training used there and in other places too.
So it's not inappropriate for me to say that Christian worship, Christian living more generally, Christian worship in particular, is a gym.
Now I want to explain this just a little more.
Oh, brother, yes.
Hey, where do I find that rustling at in the Bible?
Colossians 4, where Paul describes the believers as, or not even the believers, it might be one individual wrestling in prayer.
I'm the name of the person who's been praying, wrestling in prayer escapes me.
That we wrestle not.
Oh, see, I beg your pardon.
Yeah, sure, sure, that's right, that's right.
Yep, yep.
But we take every thought captive, which might be a sporting imagery as well.
Can you express it a match between Jacob and God?
Yes, thank you, sure, great.
And Jacob came out of that not so well off, right?
The reason I use the language of Jim, or the picture of Jim, to describe church,
is that there are two ways of thinking about what we do on Sundays,
and both of them relate to that image.
You could come to church to have one spiritual muscle exercised,
or you could come to church to have multiple spiritual muscles exercised.
And this has been a big debate, particularly in America, for the last 150 years.
Do you come to church just to do one thing well,
or do you come to church to do five different things?
None of them might be done as well, but nonetheless, all are important for your Christian life.
Or, to sharpen a little bit further,
do you come to church to learn how to make decisions for the Lord,
to be challenged, to decide, to follow,
in which case the only muscle that's getting a workout is your willpower?
Or do you come to church to have multiple spiritual muscles exercised,
that your will, and your mind, and your imagination,
and your praying, and your serving are all stretched as well?
So, about 100 and...
It's almost 200 years ago now, I suppose,
in the United States, there was a second great awakening.
The phrase might be familiar to some of you.
And it was decided that when you're out in the fields or in the camps on the frontier,
you'd preach, but you'd preach with one particular goal,
and that is to win people to Christ,
to call people to make a decision for the Lord.
It's not a bad thing to do.
You must do it.
However, what happened then was that experience on the frontier
was taken into Sunday church services too,
so that Sunday church services became more and more just about winning people to Christ,
calling for people to make a decision for the Lord.
See, traditionally, church services had multiple features.
You'd go to church to listen to a sermon,
to read the scriptures, to say a psalm,
to sing hymns or songs,
to take communion.
You'd go to church to learn to serve your community
or to serve those who are present in the building.
You'd have lots of goals.
But from that awakening,
the goals for church were narrowed
till they were really just one kind of goal.
So I go to a church in Melbourne
which meets in a cinema.
That's fine.
And its services have one goal each week.
It's basically a few songs in a sermon that goes for an hour.
And the last five minutes of the sermon,
it's almost always,
come to the Lord,
make a decision for Christ.
That's fine as far as it goes.
But can you see what's happened?
What once was evangelism in a camp on the frontier
has now become the regular practice in Sunday meetings.
So we don't pray in our church services
where I go to church.
And we take communion very infrequently.
We never confess our sins.
Now, I go there because I'm wanting to encourage the leadership, right?
They're a young crew and that's my job in the fellowship.
And they know that I find this difficult.
And they know how I've explained
why I think church should be about exercising
five or ten spiritual muscles,
not just one.
But the pastoral team are basically evangelists.
And so they can't see past the importance
at every opportunity of calling people to Christ.
Now, if I had a blackboard or a whiteboard
or some kind of visual help,
I'd, at this stage, draw a graph.
And for those kind of services
that just have one spiritual muscle
that's being worked out,
basically, if you drew a graph,
it would be a straight line.
At the beginning of the service,
it would be kind of down at the crossing
of the X and Y axis.
And the end of the service,
you'd have risen up to a high intensity.
It's a straight line.
Everything is aimed towards the final five minutes
of the service when you call people to faith in Christ.
That's the kind of one spiritual muscle model.
Whereas at Trinity or elsewhere,
in more classically defined churches,
there's five or ten things,
ten goals for the Sunday meeting, right?
Now, that kind of graph,
if you were to draw it,
would have lots of ups and downs.
A bit of intensity.
You'd lose some intensity
because people close their eyes
and fall asleep during the prayers.
And then a little bit more intensity
as the Bible reader gets fired up.
And a little bit less intensity
when the preacher loses you in that story.
And then,
and so you see what I'm saying?
It's kind of,
it's up and down.
So it's less kind of neat.
But we're getting an all-bodied tone.
Not many people go to the gym to say,
I'm going to go to the gym for the rest of my life
only to work on my arms.
Well, there might be some weird people like that.
But you kind of,
you kind of cycle through,
I don't know these things,
I'm just making it up really.
But you kind of cycle through the apparatus, right?
So that you exercise your legs
or your upper body strength
or, I don't know,
your ears or whatever you do.
That's the way you go to the gym
to work out a series of muscles.
And it seems to me
that's what we should be doing in church as well,
working out a series of spiritual muscles.
So the revivalist model
is the one where only one spiritual muscle
is being stretched.
And the more classical church model
is where several spiritual muscles
are being trained.
Now, I get that there's a point
to calling people to Christ in Sunday worship,
and often our pastors can do a good job of that.
And I don't mind if that happens occasionally,
that you design the whole service
around inviting guests.
However, it seems to me that
our own life as a Christian
is probably jeopardised.
That's probably too strong a word.
Our life as a Christian at least
faces extra challenges
if we're not exercising
several spiritual muscles
on Sundays.
Can you see my point?
There's, not for now,
but there's also a handout
in your packet there
on something I wrote a few years ago
on two ways to worship.
Picking up this very idea
is worship about one spiritual muscle
or several spiritual muscles,
which you can read
and over Sunday lunch.
Let me make one more point
and then I'll open
for questions or comments.
It seems to me that this idea
that our Christian worship exercises
several spiritual muscles
picks up a theme
throughout the scriptures
that our spirituality
should be integrated.
That each part of your life
touches every other part of your life,
every area of your spiritual existence
is going to impact
other parts of your living.
So, for example,
on your sheet,
in 1 Thessalonians 5.23,
Paul prays that
at the return of the Lord,
the Thessalonian believers
might be sanctified
in body, mind and spirit.
That all of them
has to get ready for the Lord,
not just their willpower.
Right?
We remind in Romans 12
that Paul is asking for them to,
he's encouraging them
to think about their spiritual worship
and their spiritual worship
involves their bodies.
All of them,
not just their willpower.
In Matthew 22,
Jesus asks us
to worship the Lord
with mind,
soul and strength.
And indeed,
in Acts chapter 2,
when the believers assemble,
they commit themselves
to four things
in their church service.
Let me just get this right
because I always forget the order.
Acts 2.42,
they devoted themselves
to the apostles' teaching
and fellowship,
to the breaking of bread
and the prayers.
So they devoted themselves
to teaching,
Bible reading and sermon,
presumably.
They devoted themselves
to fellowship.
They were engaged
at quite a deep level
with those in the group.
They devoted themselves
to the breaking of the bread,
which I take
as the Lord's Supper
because it's not just
to breaking bread,
it's to the breaking
of the bread.
It's not like
they became Christians
and said,
oh, we've got to eat now.
We've never thought
about eating before,
but now we're Christians
and we're turning up
to Sunday worship.
We need to break bread.
No, of course they were eating
before they were Christians.
But now they're committed
to the breaking
of the bread together,
to the Lord's Supper.
And to the prayers,
again with the article.
I think they had
a set form of prayers
that they used
just like they did
in the synagogue.
So my basic idea
this morning
that we'll unpack now
a little more
through conversation
is that church
is like a gym.
It's like a gym
where we try
and exercise
multiple spiritual muscles.
It probably means
that we don't do
any of the exercises
quite as well
as if we only
did one exercise.
It means that
the guy sitting next to you,
the gal sitting next to you,
is better at that apparatus
than I am.
That is,
it's a less neat way
of thinking about
Sunday worship
with lots of different
kinds of activities,
with lots of different
kinds of people
around us
exercising in them.
But nonetheless,
it seems to me
to be the more
appropriate picture
of our Christian
living generally
and our Sunday
worship in particular.
Now,
I wonder if you might
share some thoughts
or comments,
reactions
as we take
a breather.
It strikes me
that this
exercising
multiple muscles
approach to worship
is almost
painting
in an evangelistic
way
a more
whole picture
of what it is
to be Christian.
Interesting,
yes,
of course.
There is a sort
of hospitality
and call
innate.
implicit in them.
Yes,
it's a great point
that we could think
that to do evangelism
in church
is only to have
a sermon
with a particular
kind of last
five minutes
that calls people.
But actually,
it might be
in our world
also evangelism
to show people
what living
as a Christian
is like
when we say
our prayers
or when we gather
to eat and drink
together in the supper
or as we
lament.
Yeah,
yeah,
thank you.
That's a good point.
It's a kind of
narrow definition
of evangelism
as well.
Yeah,
yeah.
What's your thinking
on the importance
or not importance
of posture
that we are
to Sunday worship service?
Yeah,
it's interesting
that in some
Pentecostal circles,
kneeling has become
a thing again,
at least in Australia.
I don't know
how it works here.
That's one example
of posture
where you reinforce
with your body
an attitude
of spirit
and if the Lord
is our master
then it's appropriate
to kneel
before him,
that kind of thing.
It doesn't do much
for me,
I must say.
However,
I understand
that putting your body
on the line
and expressing
in bodily terms
what's going on
internally
might well
prove valuable
for some.
And of course
Pentecostals
might raise their
arms in the air
as well
and not just
Pentecostals perhaps
which I'm
not so used
to doing.
There's nothing
wrong with it.
In fact,
in 1 Timothy 2
quite a controversial
text.
Nonetheless,
the men are told
to raise their
hands in holy
prayer
and we don't
do that so often
as a command.
Please brother.
Somewhat outside
of the worship
context,
I feel like
at least the part
of the evangelical
church that I'm
familiar with
has overemphasized
will in
sanctification
and growing
in Christ
and holiness.
As if we just
decide hard enough
at this particular
point,
that will carry us
through.
Yeah,
sure.
There's a reaction
going on,
isn't there,
in evangelical
churches that I
visit where
we've become
so slack
in our Christian
obedience that
the preacher
often will call
for us to
make decisions
but I think
you're right,
becoming more
like Christ
involves making
decisions but
involves other
facets of my
walk as well.
So we don't,
it's not that we
want to stop
calling people to
make decisions
because there's
lots of commands
in the scripture
that we just have
to obey it,
just obey it,
okay,
because that's
what the Lord
says.
but there
are other
ways that the
scriptures encourage
or motivate us
to obedience as
well.
One of the great
things about
reading,
say,
Proverbs 1-8,
so Proverbs 1-8,
Proverbs 1-9 has
general principles
and Proverbs
chapter 9 forward
for the rest of
the book are
individual Proverbs.
So you don't get
the chapter 9 on
unless you first
understood chapters
1-8.
Chapters 1-8 is
all about
motivations for
an obedient
lifestyle.
And there's a
stack of,
I think it's
in Australianism,
right?
There's a whole
list of different
kinds of
motivations in
Proverbs 1-8
which are more
than just appealing
to the will.
Sister?
I'm thinking
that the
service,
that exercises
all the
muscles
is like a
panoply of
colours.
Yes.
You know,
all different
colours.
Yep, yep.
What comes to
my mind.
Yes, sure,
sure.
And you
mentioned,
I think it
was last
week,
how you
often think
with pictures
and with,
yeah.
And I think
that's right
that this
is a
multi-coloured
tapestry
we're weaving.
I think
what happens,
interesting,
churches that
are more
focused on
calling for
decision,
is that
they actually
do use
lots of
colours in
their
building,
literally
with their
lighting,
or the,
so I think
they,
there's a
kind of
compensation
going on
within the
space,
that there's
more video
production,
which will
involve
colours.
There'll be
actual
different
lighting
gantries
or
ways of
colouring
the space
itself.
But you're
right,
it's a
multi-coloured
way of
thinking about
Sunday
worship.
Yeah.
I remember
when I first
started coming
to Trinity,
I had come
from a
church that
was much
like what
you described,
not necessarily
evangelistic,
but just
singing
sermons.
And when I
first came
here,
I felt
like I
was,
I was
given a
feast.
Interesting.
And not
just,
you know,
cookies and
milk.
How lovely.
I hope the
pastors are
hearing that.
Yeah,
sure,
sure.
I felt so
fed and
nourished.
Yeah,
sure.
And I
think that's
sort of what
you're saying.
Yeah,
yeah.
It's a
multi-level,
many different
things.
That's right.
Words in the
songs or the
sermon or
whatever.
Yeah,
yeah.
Yes,
that's right.
It's long
term,
I think it's
actually better
for our
spiritual health
to have
those different,
for the
Lord to
address us
in different
ways during
worship.
Yeah,
that's
correct.
Sometimes
I do this,
I run the
chapel services
every day
where I
teach at
Ridley.
And every
so often
when we
have
communion,
I get
people to
bring in
a whole
lot of
food and
drink to
put on
the communion
table.
So some
bottles of
wine,
some fruit,
some cheese,
some meat,
to remind us
that actually
though week
by week the
bread and the
wine are kind
of morsels,
they're very
tiny morsels.
Nonetheless,
God is offering
us eternally a
feast,
and that
filling the
table with
other food
stuffs can
perhaps remind
us of what
we're waiting
for,
and then at
the end of
the service
get people to
come and take
away whatever
it is they
want.
It doesn't
happen very
often,
but it does
happen often
enough that we
can be reminded
of the feast
that we've come
to celebrate.
Well, I
think organising
worship and
conducting
worship is an
extraordinarily
difficult skill,
especially if you
think that
Sunday worship
should be a
workout for
multiple spiritual
muscles.
It's kind of a
bit easier if
you know there's
only one spiritual
muscle you're
doing,
and then the
music for the
first half of
the service is
just loosening
you up so
that the one
muscle that
then is exercised
during or at
the end of the
sermon can be
better applied.
But leading
service or organising
worship is a
massively difficult
project,
especially if you
want to exercise
multiple spiritual
muscles.
So I've got
there a random
chart of the
kinds of things
we might do in
church, and I
haven't done the
maths, but the
permutations and
combinations on
each of these
elements interacting
with the others
in other columns
is just massive.
So for church
on Sundays we
gather, we
read, we
hear a sermon,
we sing, we
pray, we
might well say
a creed,
participate in
the sacraments,
there might be
some testimonies
or interviews,
occasionally you'll
find wedding
vows, committal
prayer, burial,
notices and a
dismissal.
The actual
elements of
the verse.
And then if
you multiply
those elements
by the
different kinds
of dimensions
of each of
the elements,
sometimes the
element is
directed upwards,
sometimes it's
directed to
those around
us horizontally.
Sometimes you're
stressing the
objective gift or
the objective
promise of God,
and sometimes
you're cultivating
the subjective,
emotional,
personal dimension.
sometimes you're
referring to the
past or the
present or the
future, sometimes
the song is more
individual, sometimes
more corporate,
sometimes you're
drawing out kind of
thoughts or
intellect, sometimes
emotions, sometimes
you're calling
people to act,
sometimes you're
asking people to
reflect.
Sometimes sight is
the important
feature, you
gather the kids
around the
baptismal pool so
they can see and
feel some of the
water splashing
over the edge, but
sometimes hearing is
the more appropriate
sense.
Sometimes we
stress space,
sometimes time,
sometimes repetition,
sometimes a unique
event that's only
going to ever happen
once for a person
like their baptism.
Sometimes it's a
serious moment,
sometimes more
humorous.
Sometimes you're
speaking for
motivation,
sometimes you're
speaking for
information.
There's tension
release, lament
and praise, gift
and demand, or
silence compared
with words.
So there's, each
of the elements can
connect with several
of those dimensions,
right?
It's actually very
complicated.
Have we had
enough of the
vertical so far in
the service?
Have we had
enough of the
intellectual?
Have we had
enough of the
praise?
And in any
service, I want
to come away and
ask the question,
have the people
today been asked
to do something,
to feel something,
and to think
something?
I ask myself the
same from sermons.
Have I, in my
sermon, asked
people to do
something, to feel
something, and to
think something?
My basic point is
that organising and
participation in
worship is actually
a really significant
and complicated
task.
But I figure that
that's still the
better option if
worship is a gym in
which we're exercising
several different
spiritual muscles.
But I have another
point to make, which
would normally be a
whole other session,
but Nick encouraged
me to do it just
briefly at the end
of this morning.
I think church is
weird.
If you're new at
the faith, or if
you've never been to
church before, we do
lots of things that
are very strange.
And you know what?
That's perfectly fine.
Because, in the end,
church is a dress
rehearsal for heaven.
Of course non-Christians
are going to find
stuff strange in our
fellowship, because
we're training for our
heavenly destination,
and to reach that
kind of destination
does require us doing
something that our
non-Christian family or
friends do find weird,
or that haven't
crossed their minds to
undertake.
So in a sense,
church could be a
classroom, or a
gym, or a
compass.
I think I said
something else in the
last few weeks as
well.
But certainly it's a
dress rehearsal,
because we're training
for the main event,
which is heaven.
So I think actually
church is heaven
brought forward.
Not because church
is perfect, like
heaven is perfect.
Of course we all
recognize that.
But what God has
done by giving us
his spirit is to
bring forward for
believers the
spiritual destination,
or in Acts chapter
2, when the
spirit is poured out
on the day of
Pentecost.
This was fulfilling
a prophecy of Joel,
of course, in Joel
chapter 2, that on
the last day God
would pour out his
spirit.
The spirit coming is a
sign of the end of
the world coming.
It's just that when
it did come in Acts
chapter 2, it was
discovered that the
end of the world
comes in two parts.
Jesus' first coming
and ultimately his
second coming, his
return.
So in the meantime,
because we have the
spirit, because we are
the body of Christ and
the spirit is with us,
we are a down payment
on heaven.
We are a bit of heaven
brought forward.
Church on Sundays is a
dress rehearsal for the
main event.
as an extra reason why I
think it's okay to have
several different spiritual
muscles being exercised.
Whatever it takes,
brothers and sisters, to
get you to heaven, that's
what I think we need to be
doing in our Sunday
worship.
And so, because human
beings are complicated,
bodies and minds and
souls and spirit, then I
think it takes a number
of different elements
to rightly stretch us
and exercise us for the
main event.
If I push back a little
bit further, I'd say this.
What's the purpose of the
universe?
Now I'm getting, this is
kind of big for Sunday
morning, right?
Well, the whole purpose of
the universe is for the
Father to give a bride to
the Son, and for the Son to
return the bride as the
kingdom to the Father.
The whole purpose of the
universe is for the Father to
give a bride to the Son, and
for the Son, according to 1
Corinthians 15, to give the
kingdom back to the Father.
So, if we are the bride, if
the church is the bride that
the Father gives to the Son,
and we are the kingdom that
the Son returns to the
Father, then us, the church,
are not just a sideline in
God's plans for the cosmos.
We are at the heart of God's
purposes for the cosmos.
Because we are the bride that
he gives to the Son, and we
are the kingdom that the Son
returns to the Father at the
last day.
And if the church has that kind
of eternal, deliberate role in
God's purposes, then our Sunday
worship, of course, has to reflect
those big cosmic themes.
We are the bride, and we are the
kingdom.
That's trying to back out from the
nitty-gritty of particular elements
in a Sunday service to remind us of
the big story of the universe.
Unbelievably, right, that we are at
the heart of.
It's extraordinary.
Perhaps some thoughts or questions,
then.
I think the folks that strip elements
out of services and tend to focus on
maybe just a few things, one of their
critiques of, historically, of the
churches that keep multiple elements
is that joy and atoning rejoicing
kind of gets lost sometimes at
churches that are trying to be
faithful to all these multiple
elements.
And I think they might hear you say,
this should be a foretaste of heaven,
and I think they would be nodding
vigorously.
Yes.
And I think they would say, yes,
this is a foretaste of heaven, so
what's going to happen when Jesus
returns?
We're going to be hopping around like
wild animals and slamming that.
Yes, sure, sure, sure.
Slamming that.
So how do you respond to that?
So there are two ways of responding.
The first is to say, is heaven just
about singing songs?
Or is heaven about serving the Lord?
Of course, in Revelation 4 and 5,
the people sing a song.
In Revelation 4, it's about the creator.
And in Revelation 5, it's about the
redeemer.
So I'm not saying that heaven doesn't
involve worship.
But actually, I do want to argue that
Revelation 4 and 5 are about life after
death, but not about life after life after
death.
What heaven's going to be like is Revelation 21 and 22.
And Revelation 4 and 5 are the description of heaven
until the Lord returns to the earth.
That is, we look at Revelation 4 and 5, we say, heaven's about singing,
therefore let's do church about singing.
I think actually, Revelation 4 and 5 are about the kind of experience those
who've died in the Lord are having now.
But that's not actually the ultimate goal.
The ultimate goal is Revelation 21 and 22, the making of new heavens and earth in which
righteousness dwells.
So that's my first point, that actually, heaven's about more than singing.
It's about serving.
And secondly, the danger is, of course, in having multiple elements in our church
service, that we don't do any of them so well.
It takes lots of skills, lots of organisation, lots of different kinds of apparatuses in the
gym.
And in a sense, it would be easy to put all our time and energy into just having
kind of excellent music.
That's, of course, the downside.
That sometimes services that do a bit of everything feel a little less professional,
a little bit less kind of excellent.
I'm happy to put up with that.
What would you say to someone who said, yes, we should exercise everything,
but Sunday we do this muscle.
Wednesday we have the prayers.
Oh, yes.
Yes, sure.
I'd say that muscle.
Sure.
Well, first of all, I'd be glad that they're thinking in terms of multiple spiritual muscles,
so that's a step forward.
But it could be as well that in a church service, we exercise three particular muscles this Sunday,
but next Sunday we're aware of we want to concentrate on a different three.
I'm not saying that all 75 spiritual muscles have to be exercised in every Sunday service,
right?
And we can, through good planning and so on, make some choices.
We only have 90 minutes after all.
But I'd still say, is the spiritual muscle you're exercising on Wednesday night in your Bible study group
really seen then as a spiritual muscle that all of us need to exercise
or just for the elite who can find the time and the space to get out on Wednesday night?
Sorry.
Yes, sir.
75 spiritual muscles?
Where do you find this, that you find?
I could have said 78.
I was just making it up.
Because I backed up what you said, going back to where it got.
Yeah, sure.
Everything there is true.
Sure, sure.
Well, we can start making a list.
I can't promise it will be 75, but there's a whole lot of them there.
Where can I find them?
Start reading with Matthew chapter 1.
But I don't want to finish this series of studies just talking about our Sunday worship.
I want us to pray this hymn out loud together.
We won't have music, but I think we can afford to say it out loud anyway.
Which reminds us that though we worship in church on Sundays,
In the end, our worship in the world is of great importance to the Lord as well,
As we pursue our heavenly goal, our destination in heaven.
So let's say this hymn as a prayer out loud together.
Forth in thy name, O Lord, I go, my daily labour to pursue,
Thee only thee resolve to know, in all I think or speak or do.
The task thy wisdom hath assigned, O let me cheerfully fulfill,
In all my works thy presence find, and prove thy good and perfect will.
Preserve me from my calling snare, and hide my simple heart above,
Above the thorns of choking care, the gilded baits of worldly love.
Thee may I set at my right hand, whose eyes my inmost substance see,
And labour on thy command, and offer all my works to thee.
Give me to bear thy easy yoke, and every moment watch and pray,
And still to things eternal look, and hasten to thy glorious day.
For thee delightfully employ, whate'er thy bounteous grace hath given,
And run my course with even joy, and closely walk with thee to heaven.
So let me pray.
Please, Lord, help us this morning in our worship, every day in our worship,
That we might be rightly exercised,
That we might know your care and your provision,
To help us arrive safely on the shores of heaven.
Thank you for these, my brothers and sisters at Trinity,
And this opportunity to talk and to share.
Please keep us safe.
In your word, for your son's sake.
Amen.