Amelia Church of Christ - Christian Church in Amelia, OH near Cincinnati in Clermont County

This is week #3 of a series called One. In this series, we are striving to be the church that Jesus prayed for us to be. He prayed that His church would be one.

And one of the most unifying things that the church does is worship. When the church comes together to worship as one, barriers are broken down. It makes us one.

Worship reminds us that we are all in the same boat. We are all sinners who would have no hope if it weren’t for the blood of Jesus. And in worship, we come together as one to celebrate what God has done and praise Him for who He is.

Check out this Scripture from the book of 2 Chronicles. “All the Levites who were musicians—Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun and their sons and relatives—stood on the east side of the altar, dressed in fine linen and playing cymbals, harps and lyres. They were accompanied by 120 priests sounding trumpets.

The trumpeters and singers joined in unison, as with one voice, to give praise and thanks to the LORD. Accompanied by trumpets, cymbals and other instruments, they raised their voices in praise to the LORD and sang: "He is good; his love endures forever."

Then the temple of the LORD was filled with a cloud, and the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the temple of God.” (2 Chronicles 5:12-14, NIV)

That’s what is going to happen here today. We are going to join together in worship, “as with one voice.” We are going to come together as one in worship.

And we are going to pray for God to do the same thing that He did with the Old Testament Israelites. We are praying for Him to fill this place with His glory.

Did you notice that the Israelites had to stop what they were doing because the glory of the Lord filled the place? They couldn’t even continue their worship.

Sometimes when God enters the scene, it messes you up. God can completely derail you in the very best way.

Today is going to be different…and it’s going to be amazing. We are going to spend the entire day worshipping in all kinds of different ways. And God is going to show up today. And when God shows up, the best laid plans can be derailed.

There may be moments today when you can’t sing because you are so overwhelmed by God. That’s ok. In fact, that’s awesome.

There may be times when you just need to sit and be still before God. That’s great. Don’t worry about the fact that everyone else is standing or singing. You can sit and be still if you need to.

There may be times when you need to sing so loud and so off-key that everyone turns around and looks at you. That’s awesome, too. Sing loud and sing proud.

Here’s the point of this morning. We are unified. We are one as God’s church. And we are going to come together as one to worship our one Lord: Jesus Christ.

And we are going to begin worshipping by allowing Jesus to do what He does best…forgive us. Cleanse us. Purify us.

The Bible says in 1 John, “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:8-9, NIV)

Confession is really the starting block for worship. If we waltz in here like everything is ok and nothing is wrong, the Bible has a harsh truth for us. It says that if we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we act like everything is ok when it isn’t, we deceive ourselves. It doesn’t say we deceive God, because God can’t be deceived. But we deceive ourselves.

Confession is the cure. When you actually own up to your sin and you confess it to Jesus, that’s when the Bible says that he will forgive our sin and purify us from all unrighteousness.

All. Nothing held back. His forgiveness knows no limit. His grace knows no bounds. You can’t confess a sin that scares Him. You can’t confess a sin that surprises Him. He is faithful. He is just. And He will forgive your sin. All of it. He will purify you from all unrighteousness. All of it.

And so that’s how we’re opening up our worship today. There is a cross on the floor in the back of the auditorium. And as we start to sing, we’re going to invite you to go back to that cross. There are paper and pens back there. We’re inviting you to write down a sin that you are struggling with right now. Or maybe it’s a sin from your past that you’ve never confessed to God and the guilt is still weighing on you.

Write it on a piece of paper. Fold that paper in half. Then take one of the hammers and a nail and nail that sin to the cross. And when you drop the hammer and walk back to your seat, leave that sin behind. Leave your guilt behind. Own the promise that God will forgive and cleanse you completely. Totally. Nothing held back.

Our band is going to lead us in worship with several songs. At any point, feel free to walk back to the cross and participate in this act of honest confession.

Then come back and worship Jesus like you are free…because you are.

“Then a voice came from the throne, saying: "Praise our God, all you his servants, you who fear him, both small and great!"

[You are never too big or too small to worship.]

Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: [everyone in heaven worshipping in unity] "Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready.” (Revelation 19:5-7, NIV)

We come together in worship because of everything that God is and everything God has done. He is worthy of worship because He is glory. He is worthy of worship because He is good.

He has invited us to the wedding supper of the Lamb. That great banquet that we’ll all enjoy in heaven. And we are invited because of what Jesus has done for us.

We are the church, His bride. He gave His life for us so we could spend our lives and our eternities with Him.

That is why we worship, church. That is why we worship. We worship because we have a God who would rather die for us than live without us. We worship because we have a God who went through hell so we would never have to.

And that’s also why we want to give you a chance to respond. All morning long, we’ve been worshipping a God who gave up everything He had to love us. And we want to give you the chance to make Him the Savior and Lord of your life. If you’ve never given your life to Christ and been baptized into Him, we invite you to come this morning.

The invitation is open. You are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb. You are invited to life with God, now and for all eternity. The price has been paid. The gift was been offered. All you need to do is accept it. We invite you to come today.

Mike Edmisten

Tags: confession, One, unity, worship